Good things come to those who travel
Easily Amused hit the road to promote their debut CD
PREVIEW
EASILY AMUSED
Saturday, January 19
Bow Valley Music Club
They say that when you're an up-and-coming musician, you have to pay your dues. Winnipeg-based singer-songwriters Renee Lamoureux and Keith Macpherson know this as well as anyone. As folk-pop duo (and sometimes full-on band) Easily Amused, Lamoureux and Macpherson have a collection of road maps, travel mugs and gas station receipts that even a long-haul trucker would envy.
Despite the title of their 2001 debut release, Novice, these two are no strangers to life on the road. In the past year, they have brought their acoustic guitars and natural sounding harmonies to over 100 audiences in approximately 80 North American cities, while traveling about 15,000 km (they apparently had plenty of time to do the math while driving from Arizona to California on a recent tour).
Endless hours spent in cramped cars and vans over their four-year history has led to tensions from time to time, something Lamoureux says she and band mate Macpherson have learned to deal with.
"We seemed to argue a lot more when we first started," admits Lamoureux, "but we're doing better. It can be difficult when one of us is getting on the other's nerves. Now we know when to take our space. I think we’re maturing more, too, so it just seems to be working out better."
In addition to constant touring and songwriting, Lamoureux and Macpherson have decided to take the music business by the horns, tackling day-to-day tasks such as booking, management and promotion themselves, with the help of a few friends in Winnipeg.
Their steadfast determination to make it in this life they’ve chosen is clear when Lamoureux explains a common theme that pops up in many of their songs.
"I think the general theme is about growing, going through different experiences, and living through them," she says.
When you log thousands of kilometres a year on the odometer, it is important to find ways to amuse yourself. Lamoureux and Macpherson tell us some of the places that have helped them pass the time while on tour.
· Cork & Cleaver "Beef & Booze" in Fargo, ND – featuring the famous Jimmy Dean Sausages.
· Flagstaff Hotel ($20 per night!) – complete with 1 a.m. phone calls from a mystery woman asking, "Is this room number 10?"
· The Pilgrim Inn in Caronport, Saskatchewan – the recycled buffet... we were stranded there for four days.
· Peebles, Saskatchewan – Great place for wagon rides and pancakes on the farm.
· Pipers Restaurant, in the Arizona desert – bombarded with ties and business cards, beans and hoedowns.
·Elgin, Ontario – small town, very few amenities, but it has a bowling alley!
· Lewiston Maine – the longest radio interview (two-hours) in Easily Amused history at the town's college radio station. |
