Interview: Niki English, lead singer and songwriter for Western Avenue country band.
Country music was once described in the famous B.J. Thomas 1975 recording, as “somebody done -somebody-wrong songs”. the genre’s stock in trade got expanded to include trucks, beer and unemployment. Not Western Avenue. they are a whole different ballgame.
The Canadian-based trio of Niki English, Keith Robertson and Matt Williams have developed country into a powerful vehicle for deep feeling and expressive writing without sacrificing an inch of country vitality. They combine the ethos of country with the warmth of love songs and the heat of rock. The lyrics they write and play are about loss and joy and nostalgia, and most of all, about hope. And they do it with great hooks, earworm melodies and classic country arrangements . They call it “hot country”, and it’s a long way from somebody-done-somebody- wrong songs.
It is no wonder Western Avenue has been nominated for the Nashville Universe Award for best country vocal group. Niki English, songwriter and lead singer of Western Avenue joined us on Music Friday Live!
Patrick: Niki English, welcome to Music Friday Live!.
Niki: Hi, thanks for having me.
Patrick. Niki, I have been dying to ask you this since I discovered your music – where did the name “Western Avenue” come from?
Niki: It was a street we used to jam on back in the day, when we were first starting out and I was thinking one night, lying in bed trying to sleep, and my mind was everywhere but sleeping and I thought that “Western Avenue” would be a cool band name for us because we are country with a little bit of crossover. The very next night, Keith came over for a practice and he had the very same idea. It was sort of like fate.
Patrick. And great minds think alike. Niki, the song that caught my ear was Wherever You Are. That song and the video that goes with it tells a story that has been told a million times in various ways, but the way your music and Dave Woods’ words conveyed the anguish of separation in that song was unique. It is poetry and pain married in music. Where did that come from – are the lyrics and the edge you give them with your music from personal experience?
Niki: Dave would be the best one to ask about the lyrics. He sent me the lyrics and I sat down behind the piano and it just kind of came. I just started chording around and tried to go for the feel of what the lyrics are trying to say and it comes out.
Patrick: Niki I know your father was a powerful force in your musical career, and you can’t be wherever he is now. Since he produced you, I know he is in a very good place. Can you tell us how his life, and his death affected your life and your music?
Niki: He had a great impact. Ever since I was a little girl he would play the piano or have the guitar out there was always music going on. He would encourage me to sing and I always loved singing, especially since the Little Mermaid (film) came out. I just fell in love with singing., He would always try to get me to sing in front of people, and that was always the hardest thing because I was so shy. He died when I was 18 years old and up to that point I never really sang in front of anybody. But once he passed it gave me the courage to sing in public in his honor. It helped me a lot.
Patrick: It certainly did and you have obviously gotten over the shyness. Another emotion that you pack into your music, and especially in your first hit single, “Highway Headin’Out of Town”, is wanderlust, and the idea of building a future. I was struck by the lines in that song I want to feel the wheels under our dreams keep rolling and the line You and I are a different kind. Is this a song about you and Keith and your philosophy in life.
Niki: Dave wrote those lines and he certainly has a way with words. But it really it hit home for me and Keith because it is very true to how we are living our life right now.
Patrick: It is also true to your music. Your music is different than a lot of country music. Did you set out to do that, or did it just flow that way – that the combination of Dave’s writing and your music and the way you work together just creates something different in country music?
Niki: I think so. Also, we have a wide range of music influences from Merle Haggard to Journey to Def Leopard . We have a lot of 80’s influences and if you put all that together it just made us what we are today.
Patrick: You have a new EP, titled Western Avenue, with you on the cover in a hot red gown, suitable for receiving an award in. This is your first collection of songs, although the band’s been together for 7 years. Why did you wait so long to record an original collection?
Niki: I don’t really know. I think we just got comfortable with playing cover songs in the pubs. We had our own songs written but we were waiting for when the time was right.
Patrick: And why is the time right now?
Niki: I don’t know. We just decided to do it.
Patrick: How do you draw the line between rock and country?
Niki: That is a tough one, especially with today’s country music, it is hard to find that line anymore. I guess it just about staying wholesome and keeping it real.
Patrick: The song “This I promise You” is sad, melancholy, nostalgic, loving and hopeful, …quite a feat to cram all those emotions into a single song! The arrangement is almost pop, but it is unmistakably a country song. Did you have to work on that – to get all that emotion into one song and then give it the hooks of pop and the feel of country?
Niki: Keith wrote this song and I think he had a huge Rick Springfield influence in it – he loves that band, it’s hilarious. So that is where that come from, and we just worked together and produced it to what it is now.
Patrick: Do you start with lyrics and put music to it, or do you come to them with music and ask if they can put words to it.
Niki: It depends on the song. I have done a lot of songs where I just sit behind the piano with Dave’s lyrics and write the music, like with “Highway” I had Dave’s lyrics and grabbed Keith and told him to start playing guitar riffs and we came up with the final song. Every song has its own process.
Patrick: One of our listeners wants to know if you play any classic country songs – you know, trucks and beer and that kind of stuff?
Niki: Keith is a huge classic country fan. As for our live shows, we have not incorporated it yet, but may in the future. We love classic country.
Patrick: You have been nominated for a Nashville Universe award. What is that all about.
Niki: We have been nominated for the first time for the NU for Best Country Vocal Group. You can go to the Nashville Universe website and vote for us.
Patrick: I will. Congratulations and thank you for being with us today.
Patrick O’Heffernan
Niki English, lead singer and songwriter for Western Avenue
Country/country rock http://www.westernavenue.ca/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/westernavenue4
EP: Western Avenue available at iTunes, HMV and indiepool
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