Miss Quincy and the Showdown, an all-girl trio of no fixed address, rolls into Banff this weekend.
The showdown takes place Sunday (March 10) at the Rose & Crown.
The last time Quincy was in the Valley, the band had more of a roots folk feel, whereas now the sound is louder, raunchier and more electric.
“We’re now an all-girl trio, with drums and bass and electric guitar – our genre has evolved,” said Quincy. “Last time we were there, we were more into rootsy, folk, and we’ve moved into the roots and blues, rock ‘n’ roll area.
“It’s a pretty natural evolution, it’s what we’re wanting to play and what feels good. The music I’m writing works well with this instrumentation – it’s very much rooted in blues, but it’s louder and more raw.”
The Banff show comes near the end of a tour of Western Canada. Touring relentlessly is the mainstay of the band, stressed Quincy.
“Last year we toured for eight months of the year, that’s intense, and we toured across Canada a few times, we spent a few months in Europe and we recorded a new album – it was busy,” she said.
The touring doesn’t stop there. Following this string of shows, at the end of March the band heads overseas for a stint in Europe.
“There’s a lot of music appreciation in Europe, and I find the audiences in Europe love anything Americana – I like to call us Canadiana – but they love anything with that vibe to it, and they really love anything that mentions cowboys – that’s how I was raised, so cowboys are just inherent in my music, it’s not explicit,” she said. “Those things go well with our European influences.
“I don’t think we’ll be on the road quite as much this year, but we still have a pretty full tour schedule lined up,” she added. “We’re touring for a few months in Europe in spring, and then we’re recording an album in late spring, and then we’ll be doing festivals throughout the summer and more touring in fall, so it might end up adding up to eight months.”
Deciding to tour Western Canada in winter was an inevitable decision, she said.
“I think we’re just crazy, I think that’s what happened – we love touring in Alberta, Western Canada is just kinda our place,” she said. “We don’t have a hometown, but we’re all from Western Canada, and it just feels like home, so it makes sense for us to tour here.
“And as for winter, if we’re not touring and playing shows, then we’re not making money.”
Though Quincy grew up in “in the middle of nowhere” near Fort St. John, B.C., for the last few years she and the band have effectively been homeless.
“Now we’re the band without a hometown,” she said. “In spring we’ll be recording a new album in Vancouver, so we’ll have a temporary home base.”
Quincy has been a prolific songwriter, having released her first album – Your Mama Don’t Like Me – in 2011 and her second – Like The Devil Does – a year later. Her third record should hit the streets this fall.
“Of the two albums I have, I wouldn’t say they’re dramatically different, they’re more natural progressions, and the next album will be the same,” she explained. “Because we’re a touring band and we play live so much, it’s really just what is evolving naturally, it’s what we’re playing live on stage.
“Because we play shows so many nights of the year, our songs get road-tested and what we’re playing live is what informs the songwriting and the sound. The sound is very based in blues, but I wouldn’t say we’re a straight-up blues band. We play a lot of bars, we’re entertainers, it’s a bit of a raw, gritty sound, and the shows are really fun. I’d say that’s the overriding factor, the shows are fun and people come and party.”
While in her early days playing quieter venues suited her music more, Quincy now prefers the setting of a bar.
“Right now we’re very comfortable in a bar – it’s music to drink to, music to party to,” she said. “That’s not saying the songwriting is less important than it needs to be – the songwriting is very important – and there’s a lot of time and focus on that, but the music we’re playing works well in a party setting.
“There’s a number of road songs, as we’ve spent so much time on the road, and I wouldn’t be a songwriter if I wasn’t singing about broken hearts and such once in a while, but we try to stay away from too much of the singer-songwriter stuff.”
While Quincy’s first two albums were made with musicians of various genders, the decision to transition to being an all-female band was a good choice, she said.
“I thought it’d be fun and interesting and I don’t know any other band that plays the style that we play, that’s all girls,” said Quincy. “It’s fun, and I’m learning lots musically and in the trio format, because every member in a trio is so essential.”
A highlight of this summer’s festivals will be an appearance at the North Country Fair near Slave Lake.
For more information on the band, visit missquincy.net
