Could you tell me about the first time you guys started playing music together? And did you know that you had something special?
Jade: We met at the hair salon where I worked. At the time, I was cutting Zach’s hair and we were talking about music and stuff. Then he called me back and he was like, hey, I want to start a country duo, would you be interested in seeing if our voices match well together? And I was like, sure. So I invited him at my place, and we started to play music together. I learned a song just to see if it worked. So we played it, and we were like, wow, our harmonies fit well and we were having a great time. So we decided let’s do this for real.
Did you both come into it with the same kind of musical influences?
Zach: We both love all kinds of music, but our bands of the moment are different. Jade and I are both very open minded when it comes to music. We both listen to pop. We listen to rap, we both listen to punk rock, I grew up playing in punk rock bands. So we are both very open minded. I don’t think it would have worked actually, if she was hyper focused just on country music. Which is why our songs tend to lean a bit more pop. I think that’s because we both love a good catchy song, that tells a good story. So we were both on the same page in that respect.
Can you tell me the story behind your song, ‘Sweetheart of Summer’?
Zach: That’s actually a song about how summertime is just when everything comes alive. That’s where you have these moments where you either meet someone, or somebody who’s either in and out of your life for that summer, but for a very intense period of time, or that you end up spending the rest of your life with. So when we recorded that song it was during the pandemic, at the tail end of the pandemic, so we were like, this is a song, I think people are gonna really resonate with because I think that a lot of people were famished for a summer in which they could just move around freely and just live the life they used to live before the pandemic.
How does the songwriting process work with you guys, are you both heavily involved in that?
Jade: So Zach and I obviously write together but sometimes we also have an outside pitch that comes to us and we just think the best song wins. Sometimes I come up with a melody and then I’ll ask Zach, do you have a riff for that or Zach has a song already, and I add melodies and stuff. So it’s pretty much different every time. Sometimes we write over zoom, sometimes in person, and sometimes with other people too. We love working with other songwriters.
I was wondering what the Canadian country music scene is like for you?
Zach: I guess Canadian country music tends to veer slightly more traditional, not much more, but slightly more traditional than the states. So, we are surrounded by an immense amount of talent but also talent that tends to veer a little bit more on the organic side of things. So if anything, it’s really pushed us to not be afraid to, have some big guitars, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, in our songs. The Canadian country scene, is just the friendliest scene in the world. Everybody’s so nice, welcoming, so if anything like that has really been just such an amazing thing to be a part of. It’s a very collaborative scene, it’s such a small knit community.
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