From the sunniest of warm summer days to the darkest of cold winter nights, Fredericton band She Roars! has managed to create a different genre by melding the two extremes together, producing an innovative and comfortable acoustic pop-punk sound.
After getting together in late 2007, the band has taken the Fredericton music scene by storm. Their first self-titled, five-song EP was widely popular and their debut full-length album Companion will be officially launched at The Capital Complex on Thursday night.
She Roars! was formed when drummer Kyle Clark and bassist Chris McIntosh were both playing in local metal bands. They decided to join forces with acoustic guitarist and principle songwriter Max Leblanc. After the band’s first practice, Clark said they decided they “wanted to be a band that could be seen as professional” and “able to play with those larger acts.”
The band toiled away for a few months before The Capital Complex’s booking agent Zachary Atkinson asked them to play a show around April 2008.
“The first show was bigger than we expected to be and it was really different,” Clark said. “It was nerve-wracking because a lot of the guys hadn’t played in a lot of bands – well they had, but they really hadn’t played in a band where they were in the forefront.”
They were well-received by the crowd and Clark said after writing and recording their self-titled EP they began playing a show a week. Immediately they saw their stock grow around the city.
After about a year of playing shows around the Maritimes and writing new songs, Clark said it was pretty clear when they were working on their new album that there would be missing parts if they didn’t have a second guitarist. The band then asked Nic Murrins to join their ranks two weeks before their summer tour last year.
Leblanc writes most of the songs himself with Clark occasionally giving lyrical and structural input before the song is brought to the rest of the band.
“He brings [an idea or song] to me and I either say, “Yeah that’s awesome!” or I say, “No it sucks,”” Clark said with a laugh.
It’s taken the band almost two years to complete their first full-length album and as Clark describes, budget constraints and other responsibilities made the process difficult.
“We put a lot more into more production and we hired some other people to do parts,” Clark said. “So basically we just ran into money
snags and then we went on tour for a while and other commitments just seemed to get in the way all the time.”
But the process is finally complete and She Roars! fans everywhere can expect more confident and self-assuming set of songs.
Companion moves away from the folk-heavy sound on their EP and as Clark described,“this one has a little more rock n’
roll to it, maybe like a little more straightforward. More of that Blink-182 inspired pop-punk feel.”
These are ten enthralling songs from the beginning of Petty Thieves’ tom-heavy start to the intertwining vocal parts
that lead to the anthemic finale of Some Bridges.
This album shows clear signs of being two years in the making with every moment meticulously arranged. It’s both
an album you’d want to rock out to or lie down and listen to with your earmuff headphones. It’s fist-pumpingly dancy and incredibly intimate and one thing is for certain – they’ve got it right.
Companion is a crisp and sharp album from start to finish. Its tight drumming, smooth bass lines, powerful acoustic guitar chord progressions and electric guitar lines step up the songs to another level.
Gods and Ghosts, the seventh song on the album, is easily the most inspirationally driven song on the record. From the beginning of the track, the mix of Leblanc’s delicate guitar picking and voice gives you goosebumps, building into a chorus of layered vocal tracks and pulsating instrumentation that make you feel like you’re flying at high speeds.
It mixes well with its extremely poetic lyrics (I will bring you back in time/ they’ll still be sleeping/ mix all your worries/ with kerosene/ they will light us on our journey) and is satisfying but still leaves you wanting more.
Whether the lyrics are of their own experiences or made-up stories, She Roars! has a personal touch complimented by the subtle but highly effective sounds of sound engineer and co-producer Brad Perry’s space-filling organs. While most songs steer away from the usual verse-chorus structure – primarily made of recurring movements and ideas – the band has somehow managed to make the songs easy to follow.
She Roars! has already started working on their next album that Clark said will be more of a mix of the folk sound from their EP and pop-punk feel of their full-length album.
But before they can head back to the studio comes their highly-anticipated CD release party at The Capital Complex this Thursday, as well as shows in Saint John, Halifax and Charlottetown.
“And then after that, it’s all 2012,” Clark said.
Check out the She Roars! Official CD Release Party this Thursday, Oct. 6th at The Capital Complex with Westerberg Suicides. Cover is $5 for students and $7 general admission. Doors open at 10:30 p.m. The first 10 people get a free copy of “Companion.”
