When guitarist Sophie Heppell and bass player Melissa Walker came together to form Two Bears North, Heppell didn’t really play guitar, and Walker didn’t really play the upright bass.
The two were respected Edmonton musicians—they’d been in a number of bands together since meeting seven years ago—and they wanted more creative control over their music. Proficiency in the instruments didn’t really seem like an issue.
Heppell was already writing some killer songs, she just couldn’t quite play them yet. This meant that the group actually did things a little backwards: they recorded their first album in April 2013, and didn’t play a live show until June.
“I think our musical sense outweighed our ability to actually execute it,” Heppell said with a giggle.
“I had these ideas for songs, and stuff like that, but I couldn’t actually play them—which I think it’s a positive thing to write above your ability level, but when your ability level is zero it’s not necessarily that impressive.”
She still remembers their first live show in their current form: Walker had ditched the idea of upright bass, moving to electric, and they had brought in Nich Davie on the drums.
It was a sold-out show at Edmonton’s Wunderbar, and to her surprise, Heppell was feeling really nervous.
“It was such an interesting feeling to be so nervous, because I’ve played shows in bands for years,” she said, still sounding genuinely bewildered.
But this was her first time fronting a group, and having to talk to and engage the crowd. Heppell said that while Wunderbar is great for the local music scene, it isn’t exactly known for its stellar sound, and she and the band still joke about how she turned into the “Wicked Witch of the West” on stage that night.
“I could just hear this kind of growling, nervous sound, and [I remember] just the shock of thinking, ‘oh my gosh that’s me: that’s coming out of my mouth.’”
After a few more shows, however, she and the group got a lot more comfortable. It was Heppell’s desire for a strong work ethic that lead her and Walker to start Two Bears North, and she applied that to learning guitar, improving dramatically in a short time.
She admitted that she’s still no virtuoso, but now she’s more than competent. And that lack of complete technical expertise in the early days forced her to rethink how she writes songs, as she searched for ways to execute the sounds she wanted.
“I sort of hunt more for sounds, other than what the go-to chord would be, and I find that very fun and freeing, and it gives us sort of a more unique sound,” she said.
So far that’s been working for Two Bears North. This year they picked up a slew of nominations at the Edmonton Music Awards, and even won the People’s Choice Award. In January they will head back to the studio to record a follow-up to their debut record Comeocean.
“It feels really good to be in control of your own dreams,” Heppell said.
Trevor Nichols
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