Being There

Keeping An Eye On The Simple Stuff
After dazzling us at the North-by-Northeast Music Festival, Being There talks to Easily Amused about songwriting, touring, and finding one's own in the Canadian and international music scenes.

Click here for a chance to win Simple Stuff by Easily Amused on CD!

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Keeping An Eye On The Simple Stuff
by Lisa Hood-Anklewicz

About two months ago I wandered into the back room of a bar in downtown Toronto and felt like I had just made my own private musical discovery. Never mind that my reason for being there was on behalf of the magazine (no pun intended), or that there were other people in the room. Onstage was a five piece band, hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, that I knew very little about. But I was immediately struck by the infectious pop music that was pouring off the stage, and the vocal power of both singers. Forgetting the job I had for the evening, I allowed myself a few moments of pure enjoyment before I started to snap a few photos and scribble notes.

The band on stage was Easily Amused, headed up by founding members Renee Lamoureux and Keith Macpherson. The crowd that night was small and slightly distanced from the stage, however Macpherson kept a running stage banter that made you feel as welcome as old friends, and their music made you want to sing along, even if you didn’t know the words. Considering I was covering the North-by-Northeast festival as press for Being There and, for the most part, spent the weekend randomly jumping from venue to venue for five or six bands a night, I didn’t always know what I was going into. That night I walked out of Easily Amused’s showcase with a sense of triumph. I felt like I had just discovered one of my favourite artists all over again.

Lamoureux and Macpherson have the looks of the girl and boy next-door, but basically are just down to earth people with a great ear for music. Based around a couple of acoustic guitars, there is a sense of folk music infused in their highly addictive melodies. The lyrics are simple and honest and are delivered by two powerful voices that harmonize beautifully together as well as stand distinctively on their own.

In 1997, Renee Lamoureux and Keith Macpherson were introduced to each other through Lamoureux’s cousin, who, after seeing both perform separately, thought they might collaborate well together. Lamoureux and Macpherson gave it a shot, wrote some songs, and started to play together in coffee shops and on street corners, but soon went their separate ways.

In the end, it would turn out that Lamoureux’s cousin’s hunch was on the money. Joining forces again about a year later, and following up with a debut release entitled Novice in 2001, Lamoureux and Macpherson have since been making their own way through Canada’s independent music scene. A distracting game of soccer during a basement band practice led their bass player to mutter that he was easily amused, giving Lamoureux and Macpherson their moniker.

Novice helped the duo land the “Best Online Indie Artist” award from Canadian-Music.com in 2002. Reflecting back on the award, Lamoureux says “It definitely created a buzz for us in the Canadian music industry. We made a lot of contacts through that contest and it helped us get to the next step.” That next step would be their release of their sophomore album Simple Stuff, which was partially the result of interest from Melanie Doane.

Macpherson recalls, “We had run into Melanie [Doane] in a hotel elevator in Winnipeg when she was on tour with Great Big Sea. Both Renee and I were a little star struck, but we asked her if we could give her some demos to listen to. From there we kept in touch with her and when it came time to do the second record, Mel suggested working with her brother, Creighton.” Creighton Doane came on board as producer and the trio found an instant bond. “I always laugh and say that Creighton is like our Lanois, cause he gets us on so many levels.”

Simple Stuff is an album packed with one great song after another, with Lamoureux and Macpherson taking turns on vocals. The title track and “Only A Girl” are songs of a personal perspective that showcase Lamoureux’s incredible vocal range and power. While Macpherson kicks the album off with “No One’s Fool”, a powerful and addictive pop-rock song, he sneaks up on you later and almost takes you off guard with the quiet “Boys Don’t Cry.” The lyrics are incredibly thought provoking, and the musical accompaniment makes it all the more moving: “Saw the world with eyes / open wide and bright / innocent smile / in a world of greed / everyone in need / I stayed a child.”

Since releasing Simple Stuff last year, the Winnipeg duo has been touring on a pretty hectic schedule in both Canada and the United States in order to get the music out there. An unorganized tour schedule involving zig-zagging across the continent may frustrate some artists, but Macpherson is just eager for the experience. “It is surprising, but after being on the road so much, it seems almost normal for me to be out there driving and playing. If we just decided to be a ‘studio’ band, I would never know if my music was working.” Lamoureux agrees, and adds that she feels lucky. “A lot of bands out there want to be on the road touring and haven't had the chance yet. So that's kind of our payoff. We seem to have a good balance of touring and coming home for a bit to rest; that keeps us calm and sane.”

Working entirely as independent artists, Lamoureux and Macpherson have immersed themselves deeply in the business side of the music industry. Lamoureux says, “A lot of times it feels like ninety percent business and ten percent music. We do all the business ourselves all the time! In a way it's pretty cool because we have learned so much by doing it on our own. I am very satisfied with how our career has progressed. I think we've surprised ourselves with how far we've gone and we only want to keep pursuing it. I love doing what I do because it's such a challenge and it never gets boring.”

The effort has been paying off, as Simple Stuff has granted them with a nomination for a Western Canadian Music Award in the “Outstanding Pop Album” category last year, as well as earned them considerable air play on college radio, with the album breaking its way into the CMJ Top 200. With their band, they played a showcase at this years Juno Awards for a crowd of 5000, followed by June’s North-by-Northeast festival in Toronto.

Currently back in Winnipeg for a short break from touring, Lamoureux and Macpherson are back with producer Creighton Doane working on the band’s third album. According to a recent posting to their website, Lamoureux says that she and Macpherson are also writing songs for a musical, something new for the duo.

At a younger age, Lamoureux says she listened to a range of pop music, “I think the fact that I listened to such a wide variety of music helped me to develop my songwriting skills.” On the other hand, Macpherson says although it was artists like Bob Dylan and Neil Young who first inspired his songwriting, he finds himself a very loyal Paul McCartney and John Lennon fan. “I think the latter (Lennon/McCartney) really inspires my songwriting and pushes me to consider broad ranged melodies and better lyric choices.”

When approaching their songwritting, Lamoureux and Macpherson both find inspiration in different ways. Lamoureux listens to life around her. “Lyrics will happen more when I've heard an interesting story and then I'll journal write about it. It's hard to say really how song writing happens. You just have to open yourself up to it and it comes,” she says. Macpherson’s lyrics come with the music, “I have always been stronger at writing the melody initially. Melody seems to come more naturally for me. I usually record melodies when they come to me and sing whatever words rhythmically pop into my head to suit the melody.”

“I hope my lyrics speak to other people besides myself. I always feel that if I write lyrics from a place of honesty, that is all I can control,” Macpherson says. The songs each have a sense of self-awareness and self-reflection in the lyrics. Perhaps it is the honesty that Macpherson puts into his writing or the therapeutic feeling that Lamoureux feels when she writes that convey these senses.

Left to interpretation, the lyrics to “Only A Girl” convey the frustration of someone who is stuck at a moment in their life. “I am only a girl who suffers like you / I have just the amount of patience that you do too / I have the courage to be brave / I can conquer anything / but something’s got me trapped inside.” Considering their listener’s perspective of their music, Lamoureux says, “I would hope that they feel like they can relate because what we write about is normal life stuff that happens to everyone. I'm just writing about how I'm feeling in the moment and I think everybody has the same kinds of feelings in life.”

When it comes to their live shows, their music has two unique outlets, as Easily Amused performs both as a duo and with a full band. “There are pluses and minuses to both. Having a band is amazing cause you get to rock out and really feel the tunes. I get that safe feeling when I'm with the band, like I can do anything on stage and if I goof up, they've got my back.” says Lamoureux. “I am more of a band person if I had to choose.”

Like many artists that tour with a band and then give playing solo a try, Lamoureux says that the shows can be more intimate and there is more storytelling involved. “You do have that naked feeling on stage though, which at first made me feel very uncomfortable since I'm not much of a big talker. So it was a challenge for me. Now I've gotten used to it and I don't mind if there's a silent moment in the set.” With the power of Lamoureux and Macpherson’s voices, an Easily Amused show in either setting have their own nuance of beauty for the music. “No matter what setting though, you just have to really get into your music from start to finish and it will be a great show.”

For the latest Easily Amused news, visit their website at http://www.easilyamused.ca/

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