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Photo by: Yvonne Chew at Unceded Traditions. Unceded Territories. Gallery Reception.

This summer has probably been our most busy summer yet! We’re super grateful for all the gigs. We also feel that we’ve worked hard and it’s so nice to get a really positive response.

Kispiox Valley music Festival was such a good time. So many awesome people! Also, we really enjoyed all of the music. For those that don’t know, Kispiox is gorgeous Gitxsan territory. We stayed in a serene house with a big backyard, pigs, a dog and five little puppies during our time there. So idyllic….

It was an honour sharing the stage with inspiring Indigenous musicians Kinnie Starr, Diyet and Joel West at Celebrating Together Festival in Smithers. We were a little concerned about the forest fires on our way up there but everything ended up working out in the end. The organizers and everyone else involved were so lovely. It also rained previous to our performance slot which was great!

Drum is Calling in Vancouver was a treat to perform at as well. It was also the first time we had our own trailer and full on artist area. Talk about spoiled! The Unceded Traditions, Unceded Territories exhibit reception at Queen Elizabeth with the band was a blast too. We also had a chance to catch up with extremely talented Haida artist Jim Hart.

Performing in a project for so many years can be very rewarding. If you’re dedicated and fully into it you grow, get smarter about how you go about things, and make lasting meaningful connections and friendships. This summer was  beautiful reminder of that.

Thanks to everyone that’s supported us this year!

xox

Gillian

 

Wow! Giving Voice on June 15th was SO special! I’ve taken a little bit of downtime and time off from posting as much because we’ve been pretty busy with gigs. Also, Giving Voice required a lot of love and energy in order to happen. We are so happy that the night happened and that it was such a success.  There was a great turn-out and all the diverse artists involved added their own unique magic to the night.

We’ll say it again…a BIG thank you to Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art and Christ Church Cathedral for being such awesome partners. THANK YOU all you lovely audience members that were in attendance! ALSO, a very big thank you to our concert funders! Some of the themes of the night included celebrating diversity,  bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artist spaces and continuing the legacy of Bill Reid’s music concerts.

Below are some pics that the talented Derek Stevens Photography took during the night. The rest of the photos can be found on Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art’s facebook and Sister Says’s facebook pages.

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xo

Gillian

We can’t wait for our show happening on November 11th (Remembrance Day) with Victoria based synth pop/rock band Fortune Killers (formerly Isobel Trigger), indie-folk rock act Zulu Panda and captivating loop artist Cassandra Bangel at Hindenburg in Vancouver! We’ll be performing with our full band which includes Max Ley on drums, Keith Sinclair on guitar and Trevor Ainsworth on percussion. Fortune Killers will also be releasing their brand new single “Fool’s Gold!”

RSVP here to the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/990249604418367/

Tickets can be purchased NOW on eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sister-says-fortune-killers-zulu-panda-cassandra-bangel-live-tickets-6779667167?aff=es2

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xo

 

Gillian

 

 

This September Rob and I have taken some time to decompress & organize plans coming up. We’ve also been songwriting quite a lot for the recording of our 3rd release which will likely be an EP….

Here’s a few other news worthy items:

-Check out the sneak peak of Sister Say’s artist spotlight on Digital Drum! Our artist spotlight and video with Digital Drum is coming soon…check out our Instagram at @sister_says for the post (it can be also found on our other main social media sites).

-Rob and I are looking forward to presenting some music at a First People’s Cultural Council private event coming up.

-Gillian with be playing the lead role in talented filmmaker Patrick Shannon’s new short film. Watch for it. Check out more about Patrick here: http://evilpatrick.ca/

-Here’s an awesome lyric video that a youth program called ReelLit from an alternative school in the West End in Toronto created for our song Give me my love!!

 

xo

Gillian

 

 

 

 

This week has been a particularly busy one for Rob and I! It’s been amazing.

We recently were at The Space Studio in Vancouver, recording a performance and new track “Full like the Moon” for a Digital Drum  video, an Indigenous music platform  (out soon…). We had a great time!  The Space Studio team + Digital Drum folks were great. Daniel Klenner was engineering and created such wonderful sound.

Below is a pic of the studio and some of our set up….some of our team, Lonny Eagleton on guitar and Max Ley on drums joined Rob and I and it was such a treat.

BUT WAIT. NEXT SISTER SAYS SHOWS:

We’re super stoked to be performing at Kaslo Jazz Festival in Kaslo, BC with guitarist Keith Sinclair and drummer Max Ley on July 30th. We’ll also be doing a duo set with hip hop duo Mobb Bounce’s Travis Hebert  on percussion at Edge of the World Music Festival in Haida Gwaii, BC on August 7th .

ALSO….

Currently Rob is on tour, playing bass, with talented bluesy rock and roll artist Sadie Campbell. Rob and I have both been prepping for our  week long Contemporary Songwriting Workshop in Haida Gwaii. It’s for ages 15-30 and is free! If you know anyone who might be interested tell them to visit this page: https://www.facebook.com/events/275770729440064/ (all the info is here about rsvping/location etc). Also..my dear and talented songwriter/artist friend Claire Love Wilson and I will be doing a set of songs we wrote together and songs from our other projects at Jeff Gladstone and The Bad Ideas Cabaret at Guilt and Co. in Vancouver this Tues, 9:30pm till late.

Hope to see you all soon…

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xo

Gillian

We had a great Aboriginal Day/weekend & summer solstice in Vancouver!!  How about you? We performed at Canada Place (with Trevor Ainsworth on percussion) & Trout Lake (as a duo). So many talented artists and the weather was great…..below is a pic of Trout Lake on Aboriginal Day. Our next performance is in our home town, Port Coquitlam, on July 10th at the Leigh Square bandshell as part of Music in the Park from 2pm-4pm. We’ll be performing as a five piece with guitarist Keith Sinclair, drummer Max Ley and Trevor Ainsworth on percussion. It’s sounding rilly soulful and funky….you might want to check it out. Keep scrolling down for pics of our last shows.

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Contemporary-classical Indigenous artist Jeremy Dutcher, visiting from Toronto, and balladier singer-songwriter Claire Love Wilson from Vancouver joined us in performing at Capilano Tea House in Gastown last month. What a gorgeous night it was, filled with smiling faces with delicious teas and botanical sodas. We can’t wait to do another show there, soon!

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Also! Thank you Unifor Canada again for inviting us to play at your event at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver early this month & for all your support! Here’s a little pic of the set up below. We performed with Keith Sinclair on guitar and Trevor Ainsworth on drums. Our Dad, who is also a musician, also played a few tunes!

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xo

Gillian

 

Thank you everyone again who attended the first run of Silenced (workshop piece). What a ride! Rob and I feel so amazingly lucky to have been given the opportunity to collaborate with such talented and wonderful people. Big thanks to Urban Ink Collective, Urban Ink & rEvolver Festival.

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Our next show is at The beautiful Capilano Tea House in Gastown. It’s an extra special night because contemporary-classical Indigenous artist Jeremy Dutcher, all the way from Toronto, will be performing! Balladier pixie Claire Love Wilson also shares the bill. It’s going to be a great night of chill, music and botanical soda/tea goodness. Buy your ticket online or at the door but I suggest online because the space is intimate and tickets will be going fast! RSVP HERE.

xo

Gillian

 

 

We’ve had a great week so far! Last Wednesday we performed at Union Gospel Mission’s Summer Connect which brought around 35 on-site service providers together to offer a variety of essential services to Vancouver’s homeless, under-housed and most vulnerable.

Thought I’d also share another photo of our time at Donald Quan’s Musideum, too. Here Rob and I are (below) with Donald Quan, and our Toronto musicians keyboardist Shin Kim and drummer Rakesh Tewari. More photos are posted on our facebook page!

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This weekend we perform at Canada Place on Saturday for National Aboriginal Day at 12pm and 4:35pm. CLICK HERE for more info.

We also play at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre on Sunday at 9:40am for their National Aboriginal Day celebrations. CLICK HERE for more info.

We’ll see you this weekend!

xo

Gillian