Live music nights at our flagship Granville Street coffeehouse are always a good time, with talented performers, welcoming cafe culture and of course, plenty of plates of our famous cheesecake all around. The lineup of musicians this month is as good as ever, with a mix of singer-songwriters and instrumental aficionados to keep your toes tapping. On July 18, Raine Hamilton takes the stage — we chatted with this unique talent known for her inventive melodies, sage lyrics and quick wit. With a new EP out and a Western Canada tour underway, we’re pleased as punch that she was able to make our music venue:
Trees Organic. You’ve been described as “a cross between a shorter, more musical Tina Fey, and a shorter, funnier Joni Mitchell”. How does your humour impact your performance as a musician?
Raine. Humour helps me to relate and connect with an audience. I think it helps to create an interpersonal experience. It makes the already engaging aural experience of music an even more personal and human one.
Trees Organic. You’re about to tour Western Canada. How do you feel going into it?
Raine. Right now I am getting ready; getting all of my ducks in a row, or, even better, in a tight, very organized pyramid formation. It is fun! It is a good feeling to spend my days on something that I value so dearly. I am setting up the infrastructure to share my art. Times are good.
Trees Organic. What sets the Small Packages EP apart?
Raine. I like the way my friend April put it: ‘You provide us safe passage to the rumbling underbelly of life, to the rough and beautiful places that are usually terrifying.’
The songs on the EP are truly vulnerable and are created from a healing and transformative place. I think they can offer others safe passage to that place. Sometimes I feel like I am holding the door open.
Trees Organic. How did you get your start as a musician? Who are your inspirations?
Raine. I got an early start as a musician. My parents met in a rock band in the 1970s. They were called Nighthawk and they were amazing. So I had a constant and early exposure to great music of the 60s and 70s (Beatles, Dylan, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Joni Mitchell and a million others), and my parents were live-in musician and songwriting role models. My Dad, Bill Hamilton is still an active writer and performer.
Trees Organic. What’s next for Raine Hamilton?
Raine. I have a full length record coming out in June of 2015. And then, the world!
Check out the full live music schedule to make sure you get to see your favourite musicians in our Vancouver cafe — or just swing by and enjoy some music with your coffee & cheesecake!
