The Bustle

What’s your style/genre? We share a love for the blues, in all of its forms. It’s a language that allows us to wholeheartedly express ourselves and explore our creativity as musicians. What’s new? We are excited to announce that our band won the local Thunder Bay Blues Society Blues Challenge and we will be representing Northwestern Ontario at the International Blues Challenge (IBC) from January 16 to 20, 2024 in Memphis, Tennessee. This prestigious music competition takes place on historical Beale Street and is the world’s largest gathering of blues musicians. We also recently performed in the Blues Shakedown concert at the Da Vinci Centre and are honoured to have shared the stage with Shawn Holt and Toronzo Cannon. We are also excited to be recording some of our songs next month at Pickled Egg Studio with audio engineer Bernhard Wolski. How long have you been around? We played in a band called The Angies, an all-female Rolling Stones cover band, from 2017 to 2019. The three of us have been back together since 2021 to share our love of the blues and create original tunes. Best song you’ve written? We love the song “Killing Me” because it’s the first song we wrote together and also the one that we find is most well-received! At the same time, it’s also hard to just pick one. We find that there are parts of each of our songs that get stuck in our heads and we love a good hook. Favourite song you cover? We've only played one cover live: “Voodoo Woman” by Koko Taylor. It’s got such a nice groove and Jen embodies Koko’s spirit! If you could collaborate with any musician/band, living or dead, who would it be and why? For Sam, it would be Marcus King. He lives and breathes blues so naturally and she finds him to be an inspiration to guitar playing, singing, and music composition. Jenny would love to be in the same room as John Lee Hooker and find out how he is able to sit on a groove for seemingly hours and keep it absolutely electric. And Jen would love to collaborate with John Mayer and find out his recipe for creating the tastiest grooves in a three-piece dynamic! What would be your dream gig? Sam fantasizes about playing at the Royal Albert Hall where all the greats have played. Jenny is inspired to play Massey Hall after seeing Gordon Lightfoot perform there. And Jen has always wanted the experience of playing the Winnipeg Folk Festival. What’s the best thing about performing live shows? Connecting with each other on stage. We’re like an old married couple. We’ve played together for many years and yet we’re always surprising each other with a slight turn on a vocal phrase, guitar solo, or drum fill. These small surprises are what energize us and put a smile on each of our faces. We also love dancing and singing with everyone in the crowd. Music is a social endeavour and experiencing that with an energetic group of people is humbling and what truly excites us! Where do you draw inspiration from in your music? We are inspired by a lot of artists! Jenny pulls from the Rolling Stones and has a deep appreciation for blues artists like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and Taj Mahal. You can hear hints of Marcus King and Susan Tedeschi in Jen’s vocals. Jen also follows the lead of the John Mayer Trio when writing songs. And Sam pulls her guitar grit from artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons, and Angus Young. We also draw inspiration from each other and push each other in ways that perhaps we have not been pushed before. For example, Sam and Jenny have never stepped in front of a microphone on stage until this band and this has opened up so many creative possibilities. What do you hope people take away from your music? Too often, we get pulled away by the stress of life. We hope our music and live performances can bring people back to the here and now, where we can sing, dance, connect with each other, and feel alive. We also hope people—young and old—can relate to the stories we are telling. It’s not always pleasant. Sometimes it can even feel downright sad and awkward. And, if they’re willing, we invite people to feel it all and discover something about themselves they didn’t know before. And we hope we can inspire other women in music. Wherever you are out there: You are worthy! Contact: The Bustle on Facebook