Chic Gamine will perform at the West End Cultural Centre on February 10th 2012 as they head out on a mini Canadian tour. What’s Chic Gamine got in store for the New Year? Well, how about a “new” album.
The band will be releasing their debut American album comprised of favourite songs from both of their previous Canadian releases. All the tunes are being freshly mixed courtesy of Dana Nielson, one of Rick Rubin’s long-time L.A. based producer/engineers. His mixing has brought a new life to the songs and the Chic Gamine is excited to get them out there!
2011 saw Chic Gamine play a handful of festivals all over North America including Strawberry Festival, Calgary Folkfest, Dawson City Music Fest, Trout Forest, Harvest Sun Festival, Burlington Sound of Music Festival and Shelter Valley Festival. During this time, the band enjoyed the opportunity to accompany Marc Broussard on his nation-wide tour. After an eventful trip to New York which saw the band play a handful of dates, it was back to Toronto where the band filmed a children’s TV show for CBC called Mamma Yamma.
In 2007, four women travelled halfway across the continent to stand together with one man for the very first time in a Montreal basement, throw together some songs in a home recording studio, and make a demo.
With a chance at a red-hot California showcase looming, three old friends and former band-mates — singers Ariane Jean, Andrina Turenne and Annick Bremault found the perfect fusion with drummer and percussionist Sacha Daoud and a fourth siren-voiced singer, Alexa Dirks; in a matter of weeks, they were recording in that Montreal home studio, and a band was born.
It was exciting. It was new. It was totally spontaneous. It was also the start of a journey that, in less than two years, would take four Winnipeg musicians and one Montreal musician from that fateful basement to Canada’s top stages, critic’s best-of lists, a coveted spot on Radio-Canada/Espace Musique’s seven musical revelations of 2009-2010, and beyond.
Then came that demo; then an album; then came opening slots for folks such as Smokey Robinson, the nod on CBC Radio-Canada Revelation’s top seven artists of 2009-10, and a shiny 2009 Juno Award for Best Roots/Traditional Album.
