Zoebliss official website

The hungry yellow flames licking at the damp fall air have begun to recede into a seething crimson that now casts a trance-inducing glow on the windowpanes outside of Zoloto Station. A foreshadowing veil of darkness has dispatched the artists from their cozy bonfire reclines resulting in five sets of footprints in the dew covered grass leading to the back door. Soon, even as the aroma of tobacco and red wine is still dissipating with smouldering ashes into the night, a thick chunky bass and percussion groove from within, ripples the gold tinted glass with a pulsing intensity inspired by elements of funk, dub reggae, trip hop and African legend Fela Kuti. As you begin to release your whole body to the seduction of these rhythmic waves, the folky drone of the tenor guitar, moaning cello, silky violin and mind numbing ebow take turns sending you deeper. Now that you can no longer think, but only feel the embrace of the music, you are carried away by a smooth passionate vocal that shares all of her emotions and holds you close until you have reached your own personal state of ...zoebliss.

What started as a solo recording project by singer/songwriter Brenley MacEachern (vocals, acoustic guitar, tenor guitar) at Adrian Lawryshyn's (bass, guitar, cello & songwriter) studio in Terra Cotta, Ontario (NW of Toronto) in early 1997 quickly developed into a symbiotic creation of zoebliss. On April 13th, after spending thirty of the last fourty-eight hours together recording 'Where are you', Brenley and Adrian knew, without even saying that a partnership was born. Brenley's Folk roots, melodic hooks and provocative lyrics combined with Adrian's funky bass lines, diverse arrangements and passion for rythem allowed the amalgamation of their musical visions to grow into a unique sonic mosaic.

With their band not fully formed at the time, but a desire to continue their recording journey without delay, Brenley and Adrian acquired the talents of several well-known Toronto musicians for their debut CD. Enter Kurt Swinghammer, whose inventive guitar style, sitar, ebow and mini moog accented the zoebliss sound. Andy Stochansky lent his percussive craft to the project (while on hiatus from the Ani DiFranco tour) incorporating kit, djembe, talking drum and dumbek. Sheila Gruner (of Black Cabbage) laid down some beautiful sinewy violin on a number of songs that compliments the complexity of this music.

The experienced trio of Andrew Trigg (percussion), Mike Rockwood (guitar), and John Hall (drums) were brought on as permanent members of zoebliss in the spring of '98. The melding of this quintet of musicians brings to the fore a fresh expressive style that combines magnified originality, musical diversity and outstanding vocals, which the band refers to as "folky trip-hop".

With the release of their debut CD '13april' in June of '98 the band immediately peaked the interest of the record industry. In quick succession, following the release of the CD, the band... Played at the NXNE music festival in Toronto... Was chosen as one of eleven bands from all of the NXNE applicants to appear on Toronto's Edge 102 New Rock Search CD. Received airplay of their first single 'Wicked Ways' on Edge 102 and campus radio and they opened for The Wild Strawberries and K's Choice at the CNE in Toronto. In July, the band travelled to New York City for a showcase at the request of Just Talent ( formally ID Entertainment), a management company who currently handles artists such as Tricky, Bad Religion, Victoria Williams and MeShell N'degeocello. 'Just Talent', who now represents zoebliss in the U.S. promptly acquired some 'demo' capital from MCA in Los Angeles and are currently working towards promoting the band state side. For their part the band is already writing new songs for their next release and has been performing material from '13april' over the last few months on a club tour.

The cohesiveness displayed by this band is certainly not indicative of their short time spent together. It is easy to find yourself enslaved in the melodic passion of zoebliss that allows the mood of the moment to take you over as each artist leaves a little piece of themselves right there on the stage as open and as raw as the penetrating music itself.

zoebliss performs for The Barenaked Ladies?!
Last Saturday night (Sept 11th) zoebliss was booked to play a corporate party in Yorkville (Toronto) at the Hugo Boss head office. The band thought the party was for Hugo Boss but it was actually for the premiere of The Barenaked Ladies (BNL) new film 'Barenaked in America' directed by Jason Priestly. Barenaked Ladies Ed Robertson and Tyler Stewart were very kind to introduce themselves to Brenley and the band between sets and compliment them on their music.

'Barenaked In America' was premiered as part of The Toronto International Film Festival and is a 90 minute rockumentary that follows The BNL for two weeks while on tour in the United States. It may make it into theatres or just go straight to video. Either way keep your eyes open for it because the word buzzing around the party was that it's a good movie filled with plenty of humor.