By Stephen Dafoe
Morinville – If you’ve heard their music, it is hard to believe rock-pop-soul band Rend have only been playing together for a year. The band has a big different sound that is catching a lot of attention in the capital region and beyond. With their CD debut, No Lines, getting both media attention and lots of radio play, Rend could be the next big thing. Morinville and area residents will have an opportunity to see the band live Mar. 31 in an all-ages show at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre.
The five-piece band is made up of Carol-Lynne Quinn (vocals/keys), Charis Logan (drums), Jeff Quinn (bass), Steve Roe (Guitar), and Nate Glubish (piano/synthesizer).
Although a rock/pop band, Rend has a little different sound than many, something lead singer Carol-Lynne Quinn attributes to the fact four of the five band members studied music together at Grant MacEwan University. “We were obviously influenced by all the different styles that we learned,” Quinn said, noting those lessons included a study of jazz, soul and R&B. “We had to go through everything. I think that comes out a little bit in our playing, but in the end our sound is definitely a rock/pop base and then there are hints of soul.”
Another facet of Rend’s multi-faceted sound is the addition of Nate Glubish, the band’s piano and synthesizer player. “Having piano in there kind of breaks it up and brings it a little more into a different sound,” Quinn explained. “A lot of rock bands don’t have a piano player, and it brings out something different.”
While there are elements of older musical genres in Rend’s sound, the band’s lyrics also harkens back to an earlier era when it was more important for lyrics to have meaning.
“We feel as a band that we want to have substance in our lyrics,” Quinn said. “We don’t want to write a song that has no meaning. We want it to be our job to influence our listeners to feel like there is hope in hard times. We feel like we really want to not just make music but to make music that has substance so that people feel better. If they’re having a bad day they can put on our song and feel like let’s go do this. They feel connected to something.”
CD launch
A lot of that musical connectivity is contained in the band’s first CD, No Lines, a highly-polished first album that provides listeners with a lot of reason to listen again and again. The band was assisted by a $10,000 grant through the Rawlco Radio’s 10K20 program, an initiative that funds 20 bands each year across the country.
“I’d been planning to do a CD for a long time,” Quinn said, adding she had heard of the Rawlco Radio grant when she was at McEwan. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want to make an album until I had the right people with me. When Rend formed, I was like, ‘OK, this is the right band. This is the feel we want.’”
No Lines was released in February of this year, and has kept the band busy over the past month. That busyness is not likely to settle down anytime soon as Rend widens its performance circle further and further outside of Edmonton. Quinn said following the Morinville show at the end of March, the band will be heading to British Columbia on a 10-day tour.
Looking forward to Morinville
Although the Mar. 31 concert is not Rend’s first Morinville performance, it is their first full stage gig in the community, something Quinn and the rest of the band are looking forward to. “We’re really excited,” she said. “We really appreciate Morinville. We always talk about how smaller towns have so much support.”
Quinn said the upcoming Morinville show will be a full concert 90-minute performance. Opening for Rend will be the Morinville Jazz Band.
The show is being brought to town through a partnership between Higher Grounds Expresso Bar, MorinvilleNews.com, and the Morinville Community Cultural Centre. Fifty per cent of profits from the show will be donated to Morinville’s Youth in Action Committee to assist with youth programing in the community.
Morinville’s youth worker, A. D. Richardson, said she is looking forward to the show and delighted to be involved. “I am so excited that members of the community are bringing great local talent to Morinville for all ages to enjoy while supporting youth programming,” Richardson said. “I am overwhelmed with the huge amount of support that so many businesses have shown for youth programming and am so grateful to Higher Grounds and Morinville News for showing their support in such a public way. These two businesses have been with “Camp Youth In Action” since the start of my position.
Richardson said shows like the upcoming Rend concert allow youth in the community an opportunity to experience the best of live music while being totally inclusive. “I know that this is just the beginning of amazing things to come for community members of all ages,” she said.
Tickets for the Mar. 31 all-ages show are $15 each and available at Higher Grounds, Smith Music and the cultural centre. The performance will be nightclub seating and is limited to 150 tickets. Alcohol will not be served at the concert. A concession will be run by Higher Grounds.
