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Uptown Magazine - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News

December 13, 2007


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2007-12-13

Making it real

Making music is no longer a pipe dream for local songstress Sheena Grobb

Jen Zoratti

In July 2006, a promising singer/songwriter named Sheena Grobb, an alumnus of the festival's Young Performers Program, took to the mainstage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival to play a short set between The Wailin' Jennys and Bedouin Soundclash. That August, she released her debut EP, Safe Guarded Space - which quickly earned her 'one-to-watch' status on the local scene.

This past summer Grobb went on to headline her first summer tour - and the EP went on to be nominated in the best pop recording category at this year's Western Canadian Music Awards in Moose Jaw.

Yes, it's certainly been a good year-and-a-half for Sheena - but the 23-year-old songstress is already looking ahead to her next first: a full-length recording. The album is still in its formative stages but Grobb already knows exactly what she wants it to sound like - or, more accurately, what she doesn't want it to sound like.

"The focus will be much more reflective of my live show," Grobb says over the phone, as she prepares for a quick weekend jaunt to play a couple of shows in B.C.

"My biggest criticism I have with the EP was that it seemed too built-up and too overdone. With the exception of bass and a percussionist, the next one should be pretty minimal."

The album will be a decidedly more pared-down affair - and that idea doesn't just apply to music. Safe Guarded Space, while a sonically pretty and diverse portrait of Grobb's intricate lyricism, took six months to complete, thus making it feel disjointed in places.

"This time around, I want to take three weeks and just immerse myself in it and stay in the energy of it," Grobb says. "The EP. sounds disconnected in some places and out of my hands a bit. The few things I didn't like about it can be attributed to that. This (the album) will be a closer, more complete package."

That said, Grobb isn't as relentlessly hard on herself as she sounds - at least, not any more.

"For my first attempt, the EP was good," she laughs. "We did the best we could with what we had. And I'm definitely proud of it. But I'm looking forward to growing above and beyond it.

"I recorded my first demo when I was 15 or 16, and I used to be very critical," she adds. "The way I've grown out of that is a refreshing change. I see them all as necessary steps now."

Another vital step in Grobb's journey as a musician was this summer's headlining tour. Playing a mix of intimate rooms and festival stages allowed her to better flex her muscles as a performer - something which will no doubt translate on the new record.

"One welcome benefit was, when you're playing consecutive shows, you can start focusing on things other than the show," she says. "Experience-wise, that was very noticeable. I felt I could connect with the room more. When I was little, I had problems with stage fright. Now, it's become a way of life."

Music may be a way of life for Grobb these days, but that almost wasn't the case.

It might sound odd to hear her say she's been battling stage fright she was little (after all, who doesn't have a particularly humbling memory of a piano recital?) but the singer/songwriter was already writing songs when she was 10 - an age when most kids spend their time testing out bad words in a sentence or actively speculating on who does or does not have cooties.

Grobb was one of those prodigal exceptions, looking ahead to honing her natural gift into something that could, potentially, turn into a fruitful career. Unlike most kids with a big dream, however, she was strangely practical about hers.

"I had this impression in my mind that it was a dream that would never be realized," Grobb says. "I wanted to be onstage since I was a little girl, but I rejected it for a long time. It was a pipe dream. It scared me, to pursue a dream that might not pan out. For me, I had to go through a whole U of M education degree, graduating as a high school chemistry teacher. And let me tell you, getting up in front of a classroom full of students is a lot harder than getting up in front of a room full of music fans."

While she might be able to double as a substitute chem teacher in a pinch, Grobb got more out of her time at U of M than she expected. It reminded her that music wasn't just a skill she happened to have - it was something she was supposed to do.

"I actually didn't realize that until I was in there," she says. "You teach students, not a subject, and I think music does that. It teaches and it inspires. That's what I get out of music and that's what I want to do with music."

Grobb also credits the Young Performers Program for making sure her musical fire never went out.

"Without Young Performers, I would have forgotten my dream," Grobb says. "I would have convinced myself it couldn't happen. Maybe it was the spirit of the Folk Fest, but I felt at home playing music. I felt a responsibility to myself. Not everyone was born with the abilities I was born with, and for me to shut that off would be just as much of a tragedy as not going to school - another opportunity that not everyone has."

Grobb doesn't plan on returning to the classroom anytime soon. For now, she's allowing her once-rejected dream to take precedence.

"I've really started to find my voice," Grobb says. "I've found a comfort level with myself. For women in their early 20s, I think there are so many transitions happening. And that's coming through in the songs I'm writing - and I hope to continue on that path of self discovery."

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