Mad Violet Leaves Pop Behind, Embracing their East-Coast Roots
"It was natural, it wasn’t a conscious movement, me coming from a more rootsy, fiddle oriented background and Brenley coming from a place where she would hear her parents old country records," says MacIsaac about the band’s tonal shift. "With Worry the Jury we were still trying to find a sound and pop seemed like the thing at the time and so the more we’ve written together I think the more our songwriting has grown mature."
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MacIsaac and MacEachern met in the Green Room in Toronto, a haunt that MacEachern describes as "an artsy, hang out place where you see a lot of artists." While eavesdropping on the table next to her, MacEachern heard the name "MacIsaac" and in one of those small world moments, the two young women discovered that they had a common Cape Breton heritage; Lisa and Brenley’s fathers had been school chums. |
MacEachern was part of a band called Zoebliss at the time and invited MacIsaac, who had years of experience by being second fiddle to her brother Ashley, to jam with them. The two became friends, each working hard to make a name for themselves in the music business and eventually they both ended up in London England auditioning for the same bands.
Although neither musician ended up winning their respective audition, producer John Reynolds saw potential in another musical outfit. Reynolds suggested that MacIsaac and MacEachern combine their efforts to create an entirely new band that he’d produce. And thus, Mad Violet was born.
Reynolds produced Worry the Jury as well as Caravan, overseeing the band as it segued into its new sound; a sound that the ladies feel better captures their personalities and tastes, and translates better to their live shows. "Our first record was pretty polished, it was very produced with a lot of samples and it had a lot of things that were very difficult to reproduce live," says MacEachern. "This album is pretty raw, what you hear is what you get; it could have been recorded live on stage.
"We actually considered working with a new producer this time around because we weren’t sure if John was the right guy as he’s more of a pop producer," she continued. "But we listened to some of the traditional Irish music he’s worked on and it just seemed like a fit; it even worked out better this time around."
Another aspect that worked for the band was getting out of town to write the album’s songs. Like the New Mexico pilgrimage that preceded Worry The Jury, Mad Violet sat down to build Caravan on Byron Beach after the end of their Australian tour. "There are too many distractions at home," says MacIsaac, "the computer, the cell phone and everybody trying to get a hold of you because they know that they can. Where as when you're on the road if you don’t want to be gotten a hold of you can do that. There was nothing in the Caravan except a guitar, a case of wine and a couple of surfboards."
The name of the album is dedicated to the type of Dodge car the girls drove while in Australia that they nicknamed ‘Greta’.
Outside of the change in style, the other big, new thing with this album is that MacIsaac and MacEachern did the writing and singing together as opposed to separately. "We’ve spent so much time together in the last six years, doing so many live shows, that when we went in the studio we tried things the traditional way where I did lead vocals first and it felt really strange waiting for Lisa’s harmony to come in and it wasn’t there."
"We weren’t able to feed of each other’s energy and push each other," adds MacIsaac. "There’s just a certain feeling you get when you’re singing with someone; your voice changes, your tone changes, the mood changes because you’re blending and feeling this moment at the same time with somebody else."
One wonders if the stylistic jump between albums means if we are seeing the final version of Mad Violet’s sound or simply another phase in their evolution. "I have a feeling we’ll be ever-evolving and growing our inner musician," says MacIsaac.
"I always embrace change," offers MacEachern, "and it might not be very different than what we just did, but I’ll embrace that too."
As their world travels continue, Mad Violet says they will always be influenced by the music around them. To hear a sample of Mad Violet’s new sound visit there page on MySpace or the band’s website at www.madviolet.com.
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