"Kingston, Ontario's 'Weeping Tile' will be coming to our fair city next Saturday for a gig at Louis'. On Monday afternoon I (Michael Oleksyn) had a chance to speak to vocalist Sarah Harmer on the phone from Kingston, Ontario.
The band was formed by Harmer, who had played in bands since her high school days in Toronto. They began playing as a trio around the Kingston-Toronto-Ottawa area in 1993, and recorded their first album 'eepee' at the Funhouse Studio in Kingston. Luther Wright joined the band a year after its origin. Luther was a founding member of 'The Mugworks', and has a side project called 'Luther Wright and the Wrongs'. Drummer Camille Giroux joined the band after the recording of 1995s album 'Cold Snap'. The final addition was bassist Sticky in August 1996, before their national headlining tour.
In advance of recording their new album 'Valentino', they tried the new songs on a brief tour of Eastern Canada. This tour was used to give the new material a test run before heading into the Funhouse to record the new album. The title for the new album was inspired by Luther writing 'Valentino' on the demos they recorded on Valentine's Day.
Harmer does most of the song writing herself and when asked what her inspiration was she responded that it was from her life. She uses a journal, and writes letters in order to receive her inspiration, while at other times the music comes first and the lyrics are written at that moment. For example the song on the new album 'Old Perfume', was originally recorded by Harmer on her walkman at the spur of the moment, and was discovered by Luther and re-recorded as a stripped down acoustic country song. As she calls it, the song is 'a moment in time'. She is, as well, of the opinion that Kingston is a fertile musical environment.
As a band that plays mostly bars, they still get a nice mix of people when they play in these establishments. Harmer thinks that it is better to have a two show night with an early all-ages show and then a licensed show later in the evening. The band particularily enjoyed themselves at their last show at Louis' and are looking forward to Saturday. The road is a tough place for bands in Canada, Harmer said, because bands make no money and the venues are having trouble bringing in the bands. The reason she likes to play is for the 'high'.
'Weeping Tile' will be primed for the show on Saturday, so go check them out, and help support live Canadian music."
