After a performance at this past October’s Music New Brunswick Week, Moncton native Julie Doiron returns to her home province for a show at Parkindale Hall on Saturday evening.
Julie’s return is in support of her newest record So Many Days, released in October on Aporia Records. The album is Doiron’s 10th release since Eric’s Trip originally parted ways in the late 1990s.
For the making of So Many Days, Julie enlisted the help of her former Eric’s Trip bandmate Rick White, who also lent a hand in making her two prior efforts, 2007’s Woke Myself Up and 2009’s I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day. Given the pair’s extensive musical history, 22 years and counting, working with Rick was a rather easy decision, Julie says.
“My working relationship with Rick is great,” the affable musician says. “Rick and I have known each other for so long, it is easy for us to work together. It wasn’t always like that but after the first Eric’s Trip reunion shows in 2001, it seemed to be much easier to consider working together again.”
The past three years between studio efforts have been anything but idle for Julie. She tells The Times & Transcript she toured her last record for approximately a year and a half. Immediately after that, she toured for a year as a part of the band backing Tragically Hip vocalist Gord Downie. That was followed by a somewhat unanticipated detour of her folk-inspired collaboration with Daniel Romano and Fred Squire under the guise of Daniel, Fred & Julie.
“Once all of those activities had wrapped up, I took some time off to just enjoy having a normal life at home,” she says. “It is a big reason why this record took so long to make. I truly relish the experience of playing with others, though. I have found that it tends to teach me so much more than when I perform on my own.”
In light of her recent collaboration with two members of the Cancer Bats and Eamon McGrath (billed as Julie Doiron & the Wrong Guys), being on her own is something Julie will have to be accustomed to over the next six months of her life. The promotional efforts behind So Many Days will really ramp up in the new year.
“I have some shows scheduled for Ontario at the end of January and then will be heading to perform in Europe in February, Japan in March and possibly Australia after that. Until then, however, I am going to be pretty happy to stay at home.
“I’m really looking forward to returning to play Parkindale Hall this weekend,” Julie says. “It is going to be a solo show, which is nice because it allows me to play a host of material that doesn’t necessarily need to be rehearsed. The hall is a great venue for a solo show.”