It was an infection that led Candace Curr down the pathway of becoming a singer/songwriter.
“I had a really bad ear infection a few years ago and lost my hearing for a couple months and started writing,” she said. “Just journal writing.”
When Curr’s hearing returned she started playing around with the acoustic guitar.
“I picked up the guitar and my musical friends around me … started putting the things I had wrote down into song.”
Since then, Curr, who is also a Northwest Coast artist, has been balancing her time as a painter and musician.
“The paintings and the music are just forms of expression that allow me to work through whatever it is I am going through at the moment,” Curr said.
Acoustic Performance Oct.29 at the Dinghy Dock, Canada's only floating pub. 3 performers (myself… http://t.co/JikLrYrP6x
— Candace curr (@candace_curr) September 30, 2014
Tomorrow night (Oct. 29), the Nanaimoite, who just released her first single Hear Me, will be performing at the Dinghy Dock Pub alongside Deep Roots and the Auliya Vicious Band.
Curr, who is working towards the release of her first record, began regularly performing this past March and has already played to crowds in Nanaimo, Vancouver and Osoyoos.
“I play acoustic guitar and the ukulele and I write about love and love songs,” the singer/songwriter said about her music.
This past February, Curr took part in the Aboriginal Music Performers Camp at the Falcon Trails Resort in Falcon Beach, Man. Organized by Manitoba Music and the Canada Council for the Arts, the camp plays host to 20 musicians from across the nation, who participate in a number of workshops that are intended to help them improve on their musicianship and business skills.
“It’s a five day intensive training where they bring in industry professionals and we can sit with them and in a workshop set-up and also one on one,” Curr explained.
The week-long camp also included a performance critique sessions, where artists are judged on their performance abilities. Curr said the critique portion was extremely beneficial to her.
“That was a huge learning curve for me, which helped a lot,” she said.
While at the camp, Curr met and became friends with Rob Thomson of the Vancouver-based group Sister Says.
“We actually sat together on the plane ride back to Vancouver and figured out that we had a lot in common with our musical tastes,” Curr said.
After landing in Vancouver, Curr invited Thomson to be a co-writer on her upcoming record.
“Once we sat down together we realized that it was just a really good fit,” she said. “So invited him to co-write the arrangements on the album.”
So far Curr has been able to strike a balance between her work as a painter and her work as a musician on top of working full-time in Vancouver and raising her daughter.
“I don’t sleep very much,” she said laughing. “I have endless lists of things I want to create that no one is holding me accountable for except for my own self. I try to work through the list as I go. Sometimes they get put aside for life.”
Following her performance in Nanaimo, Curr will be working on completing her album, which she hopes to have out next summer.
Curr plays with Deep Roots and the Auliya Vicious Band at the Dinghy Dock Pub on Wednesday at 7 p.m. For more information on Curr please visit www.facebook.com/candace.curr.art. You can also check out her music on YouTube.
arts@nanaimobulletin.comTwitter: @npescod