If the BullHorn Saloon is your destination hot spot April 26, you may be pleasantly surprised to look at the stage and see a return to retro.
Vintage pop five-piece, The Lovebullies, will be rocking the retro in mini skirts, beehive hair and go-go boots in their signature sassy style that entertains crowds throughout Calgary and area.
Caroline Connolly is the front woman, singer/songwriter and ‘tambourinist extraordinaire’ who calls Cochrane her home, and her band mates her kin.
“We’re like a family — we love what we do so much…It’s almost like we’ve been on a ten-year honeymoon,” said the singer, who is joined by Chantal Vitalis and Kevin Herring on guitar, Joni Brent on bass and Paul Jahn on drums.
Known for their dynamic live performances, musicianship and their original approach to 1960s-inspired psychedelic pop, The Lovebullies have been playing for crowds large and small for some 10 years and are starting to look at recording their third album.
Their debut album, When I Get Through With You (2008) was followed by their double release (available on vinyl and mp3 download only), Swang Swang Swang (2010), both produced and recorded by David Kean of the Audities Foundation in Bearspaw.
The Audities Foundation is a non-profit recording studio located in Bearspaw, complete with a reserve of more than 150 vintage instruments and electronic recording equipment pieces.
“Chantal and I are creative partners and we co-write on most of our originals now,” explained Connolly, admitting that following 18 months of struggling to get music down on paper, she thought her songwriting well had perhaps dried up.
“I thought maybe I was born with a finite number of songs and maybe I had written them all…but in the last 4-5 months, the well has gotten deeper.”
For Connelly, the songwriting process can never be forced or contrived.
“When a song comes to me, it comes to me quickly and almost in its entirety,” she said, adding that performance and production is key.
“I think we deliver a well-rounded show that appeals to a wide audience. People listen with their eyes. If you can put on a good show visually and sound great — that’s the trick.”
Inspired by the music that ‘speaks to her soul’, Connelly said she’s always been enamored with the pin-up girls and icons of the fifties and sixties — Dusty Springfield, Patsy Cline, Doris Day and most notably, Julie London.
The mother of three and owner of Mud River Photography said the band continues to be embraced by a thriving and supportive live music scene in Calgary and would like to honour that through a live recording in the coming months.
For those in Calgary this weekend, The Lovebullies will be playing at Mikey’s Juke Joint April 18.
Learn more at thelovebullies.com.
