Photo by Andrew Carver
You can’t always plan for some of the best things in life. Case in point: Julie Doiron & The Wrong Guys.
The unique thing about the group – comprised of Moncton native Julie Doiron and indie musician Eamon McGrath along with Jaye Schwarzer and Mike Peters of the heavy metal/punk band the Cancer Bats – is that they never expressly set out to form a band. After all, they each have their own respective careers to concern themselves with.
Performing at Moncton’s Tide & Boar Gastropub tomorrow evening, Wrong Guy Eamon McGrath believes that the lack of a master plan is the exact reason why the band works so well together.
“I firmly believe that what helps make this band so special is that the whole thing was birthed out of thin air. We never planned any of this out. It all started with everyone in the band just hanging out together, having been introduced to one another at a festival each of us was performing at in 2011,” Eamon says.
“As we got to hanging out though, Julie made mention of a couple of shows that she did not have a backing band for. It just so happened that one of the shows she had been booked for was alongside a louder band and so doing an acoustic-style set just wasn’t in the cards. She asked if the three of us would be interested in backing her up. Things just went from there.”
In 2011, with only a handful of shows under their belts, the group decided to head into the studio to record a couple of original songs. The result, the Heartbeats 7-inch single was released via the We Are Busy Bodies label.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the music made by Julie Doiron & The Wrong Guys is a direct reflection of where each of the members have come from. This is to say that Doiron’s self-aware, poetic lyrics have been fused with a punk-inspired energy that is diametrically opposed to the intimate sound of her typical solo material.
“I think that this band is unique because of what Julie brings to the group but her songs in turn take on a unique identity because of us. Despite having come from such different musical backgrounds, I really feel as though each of us have a good understanding of where the others are coming from.
“We are good partners in crime because we share a do-it-yourself approach to everything that we do. It has been at the forefront of our respective careers. We have individual perspectives that we are able to bring to the table as a band as well.”
Because Julie Doiron & The Wrong Guys have proven to be such a happy accident of sorts, Eamon says that the group is understandably hesitant about establishing any kind of goals for their future. He worries that should the band start mapping out those specifics, he feels they are then at risk of putting expiration dates on the whole project, thus taking away from the unpremeditated nature of the group.
This doesn’t mean that they don’t have things that they would like to do should all of the planets properly align, however.
“We do have a bigger understanding of what we would like to do in terms of writing more music and releasing a record,” Eamon says. “We are a little hesitant to write it into stone however as we don’t want a set schedule to pollute the spirit of the band.
“I have no doubt that a record will rise to fruition eventually. We are working to figure out a way to make touring affordable and possible as we are individually busy outside of the Wrong Guys.
“But that is okay with us, to take things one step at a time. The beautiful thing about the group is that I don’t think it will ever stop being a thing because the group is about four friends getting together to make music. It is as simple as that.”
What: Julie Doiron & The Wrong Guys, The North Lakes and The Meds
When: Saturday Jan. 18, 9:00 p.m.
Where: Tide & Boar Gastropub, 700 Main St., Moncton
Article published in the January 17, 2014 edition of the Times & Transcript