Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Interview with Rose Weekes

Hey guys, welcome back to another week here in beautiful Vancouver. Hopefully a lot of you got a chance to hit up the very last Sharks! On Fire! concert. I heard it was awesome. So this week I was able to interview the Co-owner of Hammer Records Rose Weekes. Rose is very talented and very busy, from singing to rapping, Filiming concerts, doing photography, being a mother of an eighth month old son and even doing a web series with her husband James, called #Vancouvermusicians. Where they interview local Vancouver musicians. Very recently Rose and James have decided to take their adventure to Toronto, where I'm sure they are going to make just as big of an impact as they did here. So lets get to talking with Rose.


ITS - Who inspired you to pursue a career in music?

Rose - "My Dad originally inspired me to pursue a career in music. He's a Winnipeg musician through and through. He plays the drums, so, I grew up listening to a very eclectic variety of music. From Pop and Rock to Polka, Metal, Punk and Classical. "Anything with a good rhythm," as Dad always says. Having that early connection to music really pushed me in the direction of wanting a career in The Arts from a very young age."

ITS - Your husband James and yourself started a new web series called #vancouvermusicians. Explain the premise behind it and how you guys came up with the idea.

Rose - "James and I are very committed to supporting the local music scene. That means everything from seeing live shows from bands, going to the venues, to even simply connecting with the fans of local artists by providing awesome video and picture services for a reminder of a good night of music. It also means we're dedicated to bringing out certain thoughts and opinions from those people in order to keep the scene alive, thriving, and ever changing. All great things have come about through revisions and editing! 

#VancouverMusicians is all about getting your voice heard. It's about people in the music community as a whole, coming together to share similar (and different!) thoughts and ideas, make new connections, and bring light to certain aspects that just may need some "editing." We have artists, musicians, engineers, producers, venue owners, fans and friends of all genres, backgrounds, and experience levels sharing what they have to say. It's great to see this community of music lovers come together, blur the boundaries of what genre is which, and get behind the movement of making Vancouver a hub for music of all kinds. An eclectic city where you can entrust any night of the week to have some good, live music going on somewhere."

ITS - So you have been to quite a lot of shows lately and have seen numerous bands, if you were to headline a show who would you want to have open for you.

Rose - "If I were to headline a show? Hm. That's tough, as I'm not as experienced with a band as most of the musicians I'd love to play with are. There's also many bands in the Vancouver scene that I would consider to be personal favourites of mine (Aviator Shades, Rude City Riot, Pigeon Park and Red Eye Empire I'm talking about you! Among others of course), but we wouldn't match up genre wise. I think one hell of a great night of music would come from a lineup like My project, Bullets Over Beauty, then Incura ending the night with an epic bang."

ITS - You recently released a new song called "Blurry" with Rebecca Boux. Where did the inspiration come from for this song?

Rose - "This song is all about having a good night, with good friends, doing whatever you want to, and looking good while doing it. The inspiration came one wild night of catching up with an old friend I hadn't seen in years, who finally made the short jump to Vancouver from the Island for a visit. The two of us, with James, were listening to some of the beats we've produced here at Hammer Records and thought this track would make a fun, current, club style song you could blast anytime and feel like dancing. The three of us wrote and recorded the song in a night, and the rest is history! It's not the genre I typically perform- I'm definitely more comfortable on the rock/metal side of music, but the sing/rap style of vocals was a lot of fun to do, and something I'll probably do again in the future."

ITS - What are some plans for 2014 that you may have going and that your fans can expect from you.

Rose - "Actually, there's some BIG things in the planning stages right now. James, our son Eliseo and I are going to be relocating and taking Hammer Records out East, to Ontario. James and I have some cool projects on the go currently. We'll be crafting up some new merch, writing more songs, and launching the first album from North Van artist, "Rayne," under our label. We're also going to be working on a full fledged documentary for Vancouver bands and musicians to watch as a How To guide to entering and surviving the Vancouver Music Scene, and Rebecca and I will hopefully be shooting a music video for "Blurry" in the next couple of months. Keep your eyes and ears on our Facebook page for everything that will be coming up." 

ITS - A fun question I like to ask, if you choose 1 type of food to live off of what would it be?
 
Rose - "Probably sushi. Or stir fry. You can sort of rope all, or most, of your food groups into those and I like to eat healthy! Give me veggies over chocolate any day"
 
If you would like to follow Rose and see what's going to be in store for her great career you can check her on social media.
 
twitter.com/RoseWeekes   
www.youtube.com/user/RoseMarieAnson   
 
You can check out the lyric video for Blurry here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JfXKlfN-Wg
 
 

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