Kimberley musician Gwen Davies just released their first EP titled “Kind of Yellow”, which is now available for download on iTunes.
Many Kimberley and Cranbrook locals know Davies and her grandfather, Don, for their musical talents.
Davies says they started singing when they were very young and hasn’t looked back since.
“I basically started singing as soon as I could talk,” Davies said. “I started voice lessons at a young age and once I got older I tried piano lessons, but they weren’t for me. I found I was much better at teaching myself, so I just sat down and the piano and played. I learned most of the theory through music class at school.”
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Davies says that her grandfather was inspiration to their musical career.
“He was always performing and playing piano and singing when I was growing up,” Davies said. “He was a huge influence on me.”
Davies says writing and releasing an album is something she’s wanted to do for a long time, and is excited to share their music with the world.
“I started recording the album in my grade 11 year, so two years ago now. It took quite a while,” said Davies.
Davies says that the inspiration for the album all started with an independent study class at Selkirk.
“I did an independent-directed study in Grade 11 for songwriting, and one of the requirements was that I make a music video. For that video I had to find a band to come together and write music for them to play with me,” said Davies. “I ended up with two songs that I really enjoyed and they were all such talented musicians so I wanted to continue to collaborate. They are so amazing and it was a really cool experience.”
Their band includes Jeremy Woods on bass, Alejandro Blanco Peces on violin, Emma Macleod on drumkit and Josh Newel on vibraphone and tambourine.
They add that the songs are all originals, most of which she wrote between the ages of 14 and 16.
“I started writing songs when I was really young, but they were pretty bad. I was too young to be writing songs and music,” Davies laughed. “I stopped for a while but a few years later I came back to it and those songs have stuck with me.”
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They say the process wasn’t fast or easy, but was well worth it.
“I’ve never done anything like this before, you know, I’ve uploaded songs to YouTube but this is a completely different process,” Davies said. “This was a lot harder because there is a lot more planning involved. Once the songs were all recorded it had to be mastered, and that was a whole new thing for me. Then we had to go through a process called EQ (equalization), which was very confusing to me, but I learned a lot.”
Once the whole process was complete they were able to upload it onto iTunes where it’s now available for anyone to listen.
Davies is in year one of University at Capilano in Vancouver, and is continuing to pursue their passion by getting their Diploma in Musical Theatre. Davies hopes to continue on to get a degree.
