Amelia Curran & The Mercy Band

Halifax's happening performer Amelia Curran is in her prime. With the release of 2006s "War Brides," Curran finds herself at the center of attention. She has been nominated for Female Solo Recording and Folk Recording at this year's East Coast Music Awards. Aside from the excitement of this geographic recognition, Curran is currently working with the In The Dead of Winter Festival, the second annual occasion scheduled for February 7-11.

Amelia Curran's recording career began with her move from Newfoundland to Halifax, and the subsequent production of “Barricade” in 2000. This record was well received by critics and the industry, as she was nominated for Female Artist of the Year at the 2001 ECMA's. This success spurred Curran on to release two more recordings within two years. Curran teamed up with a seven piece band and released "Trip Down Little Road," under the alias, The Sense Amelia Project. In 2003, accolades surrounded Curran and her new endeavor, as she received her second ECMA nomination for Rock Group of the Year. Following her 2003 release, Amelia set out on her own, this time with "Lullabies for Barflies," a vulnerable album full of memories of her bar scene upbringing. "Lullabies for Barflies" brought Curran her third ECMA nomination in 2004.

Curran has since remained an unsigned artist.

"I’ve never gone out and pitched my work to any major labels," says Curran. "So far it’s just been easier to get the job done myself."

In the same breath Curran clarifies that she has not made a political or social choice to remain unsigned.

"The time will come when I’ll need to dish out those responsibilities and work with a company," she says. "I don’t subscribe to the notion that the industry is out to get you, I feel it’s another language and sometimes difficult for artistic people to stay afloat in."

After such prolific production, she took a step back to carefully examine her work. Three years since the release of "Lullabies for Barflies," Curran recently unleashed "War Brides," an introspective and historically haunting album. "War Brides" brings Curran up to her fifth ECMA nomination for Female Artist and Folk Recording of the Year.

When asked about her success Curran is cautiously aloof, it seems that nominations are more about recognition rather than awards.

Curran is notorious for ignoring gender separation in the music industry. "I don’t like talking about gender politics in music because I don’t like to credit them with even existing – although they do."

Curran is not fazed by being recognized in a gender specific category.

"Being nominated for Female Artist of the Year at the ECMA’s is a bit shoulder-shrugging. I perused the categories and wondered where I fit in, and "female" seems kind of obvious. Why does the gender separation exist? Is it like the Olympics? Can men and women simply not compete in the same category because one would kick the other’s butt? I don’t know, some things are cheap. But in award shows everybody wants the pat on the back, and any way to dish them out is done. Maybe there will be a "Best Artist with Dyed Hair" category next year," she casually jokes.

"Maybe award shows are more for the media than the artists, the way some weddings are for the mother rather than for the bride."


Curran muses on about her growth over the past six years of musical nominations.
"I jumped into producing music very quickly, so my growing and learning as an artist happened sort of publicly, which is outrageously embarrassing, but there you go," she says. "My playing is better, and more importantly, my writing. That’s bound to happen I think."

Curran is keeping busy with the awards kafuffle, but she is taking a break from the pandemonium to dive into another aspect of the music industry, as she is helping to organize the In the Dead of Winter Festival with her musical comrades Tanya Davis, Don Brownrigg, and Heather Gibson. This frosty festival is just the ticket to drive away winter boredom.

Curran anticipates the event, "I'm going to be going crazy through the whole thing. I’ll be playing twice – once as part of a song circle, and once with The Mercy Band on Thursday, Feb. 8th."

It doesn’t look like there will be much rest in Curran’s future, "The Mercy Band will be putting a new album out this spring – "Academy", which we recorded last year. We’ll be touring all summer and hope to get out of the country in the fall."

When speaking of the verdict of her music, Curran comments, "People who take music in lyrically make their own judgments. The most important thing is if the song is any good or not. A crappy song isn’t going to make anybody think or feel anything." Curran concludes, "A final work of art is like the top of Everest, you have to look around and try and breathe deeply, pat yourself on the back, and go on looking for another Everest."

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I wrote this article orginally for the Gazette and then for Filly, and it was never published. I figured i'd post it up here.

Notes

I am going to lose fingers to my own stupidity and lack of mittens. This late Halifax winter is slowly getting the better of me.

I need to pick up my socks. I need to put more effort into life, but especially into my academic career. It may not bring me great joy, but I need to make a last ditch attempt to pull up my grades and possibly maintain my scholarship for next year.

I need to clean my room. I need to stop replanting pots. I need to do laundry. I need to put things away when I use them. I need to be creative and follow through on my ideas.

I need to be okay.

Oh, Beautiful! Majestic! Eagle! 2/3 Band Shots

SWC & LD,

Of OBME!

The delightful Art Wall at 2010, my surrogate home.

"The Burrito Blanket is a bit like the depression monster." There are a select few people on this planet that would understand that sentence and its true meaning.
If you understand, I love you.

this is my 1000th post.

Loving you is staying up late listening to projected imaginings of what you are listening to, while nursing a silent cyber connection.

Loving you is me pushing you and you pushing me into better well rounded creatures.

Loving you is a new way of looking at the world.

human behavior.

I am always amazed by the beautiful crying women in black and white films. When I cry, I get all pink and blotchy, swolen cheeked and sniffly nose. I am not beautiful. When you cry, you sob, end of the world tears fall from your eyes, make up smudges and you are beautifully human.

I have a selective interest in films.

delayed christmas feeling

Christmas Lights 1

Chirstmas Lights II

rebekah higgs - broken city - december 28th 2006

i am turning into a green thumb

I am obsessed with plants these days. I feel as if I am suffocating in this institutional one room living space. My plants are suffering too, and being the type of person to care deeply about the well being of any living thing, I decided to transplant them into larger prettier pots. I think they will be happier now. My obsession with plants is much like my obsession with animals, except that it is frowned upon to have anything moving in residence. It is not frowned upon to have copious amounts of plants. I want to be that old lady who spends hours watering plants. I think I get this from my mother. Her watering can is one of the highest quality objects she owns, we added a sun room to our house just for her plants. In the spring she starts her own seeds and patiently and carefully coaxes them into flowers in our fantastic backyard garden.

I breathe easier when I have something living around me.

confession.

Sometimes I freak out just for the sake of freaking out. I don't really know why I do this, I can't explain it. Sometimes I realize how irrational it is, but sometimes I am okay with irrationality.

I hate fish, they are so wildly unpredictable.

the mutual admiration society present:

Stage Presence: A

Audience Reaction: A+

Sound: A

Childlike Ambition: A+

Innovation: A+

I come from the West, characterized by a dog eat dog mentality. This competition is pervasive, extending even to the arts community. This scene where image has become everything, cynicism, skepticism and hate are the underlying qualities that make every scenester into a natural born critic. It seems that in this setting that friendship should be the primary goal, over fame and fortune. I am from a place where every musician stands solo on the stage.
This makes my move to Halifax even more perplexing.

On Saturday evening I joined my new musical friends at St. Matthew’s church for a artistic interpretation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, performed by the childlike Rich Aucoin. The most astonishing thing about this show was the celebrities in attendance. Glancing around Rebekah Higgs was spotted in the pews with her parents. Jenn Grant and her Down with the Butterfly boyfriend Jason Burns were surrounded by the boys of In-Flight Safety and The Just Barelys were sitting nearby. Waves were sent across balconies, enthusiastic clapping ensued and overall hijinks were to be observed. In addition to the audience peer support, Laura Peek, Brent Randall and His Pinecones and Jason Ball were on the bill.

In a church, in February, all of these phenomenally talented performers were present to support one man and his madness inspired multi-dimensional artistic creation. Aucoin demonstrated his proficiency with vocals, synthesizer, trumpet and a cacophony of prerecorded tracks. All the above was performed over a church wall projection of the Grinch. Not only is it remarkable that a on a chilly Saturday evening in mid-winter a group of adults would collect to watch a childhood Christmas movie and listen to the music of a drug induced persuasion, but that the audience was full of the hip and happening young musical professionals in Halifax.
The evening was concluded with an adorable production of Halifax talent. Fractions of the Halifamous shuffled up on stage while Aucoin arranged them on the riser like stairs at the front of the church; a choir of eager hipsters. The drum set, metalaphones, piano and other assorted instruments were manned, and off they went into a fabrication, described something like: Broken Social Scene, minus the drunken strumming; plus, The Arcade Fire minus the funeral theme.

All in all this was an excellent production. I’m thrilled to be drawn into a co-op community of musical and artistic creators who support whole heartedly, draw inspiration from each other, and are not afraid to try something totally new.