City Sounds: Dear Rouge (Part Two)
In part two of the Dear Rouge edition of City Sounds, Drew McTaggert speaks to their strong start, the benefit of music festivals, and what we can expect next from the duo.
Q: You won the Peak Performance Project in 2012 – what has changed since then?
Everything [laughs.] The Peak Performance Project was the first thing we did as a band. Our first show was for the Peak Performance Project. And our sixth show was the final show for the project. I had some friends who did it – so Danielle and I both set our eyes on it and thought lets do it. Then they gave us money to do our music together.
So it has totally changed. Believe it or not, that money goes really, really fast in the music industry. Especially because we were new, we needed a lot of stuff. We needed to create a record and that opened up the door to where we are right now.
Q: You’re headed to Rifflandia this week – what’s the difference between playing festivals versus smaller venues?
Festivals are great because people are there to see, experience and, hear music – they are there to have a good time. It’s such a great environment to play in because everyone is there for the music and there are so many bands playing, so if people don’t want to listen to you, they will go see another band. You find you have such great shows because people are so excited. A lot of people go to festivals trying to explore new music so, as a newer band it’s really great to play to that. We have a great spot on the Sunday stage and, hopefully, if a lot of people haven’t heard us before they will see us that day.
We’re excited for Rifflandia, because believe it or not, we have only played one show in Victoria and haven’t been back since. This is a great spot for us – everyone is really supportive of us over there and a lot of people from Vancouver will be travelling to the festival. And you get to play a lot of small venues too, which is so fun.
Q: What’s next for Dear Rouge?
New groups are fun, because you have to be on your toes. Everything is changing so quickly. We would like to release our album, as it’s now done. It’s been recorded for a while, but we’re talking about different strategies to release it.
This fall we have a great tour lined up and it’s going to be really fun, with the last show ending in Vancouver (it’s going to be announced at the end of this month). I can’t tell you who we’re playing with, but it’s going to be two bands that are awesome at one of Vancouver’s best venues. Hopefully we will release our debut record soon, but the tour is locked in so we will be playing some shows.
Stay in the loop about Dear Rouge’s upcoming album & tour dates at dearrouge.com.
Categories: MPMG