Musicians come to their craft through various paths and even though Nelson singer, songwriter and musician Rhoneil Eurchuk started singing in her mid 20s, her first album Seeds has been met by nationwide praise.
“I wanted to sing and play instruments for a long time but I thought that I couldn’t,” said Eurchuk. “I thought it was something that you had to start when you’re younger but I did a lot of karaoke.”
It was on stage while doing karaoke in Montreal that Eurchuk was invited to join her first band.
The experience was important in teaching her that music and singing wasn’t as hard as she thought, but she was faced a challenge that plagues many touring musicians.
“I had to perform really big shows having no experience and having stage fright,” she said. “I ended up drinking a lot at that time just to overcome my stage fright and I don’t think that was the healthiest thing for me.”
After a few years, Eurchuk gave up drinking all together.
“That lifestyle, if you don’t have a really good sense of who you are, can get you sucked into a really unhealthy lifestyle if you’re a touring musician,” she said.
Eurchuk’s first album was recorded in Nelson and she said that the experience was more emotional that she expected.
“It was like you make this little baby and then you have to let go of it and once it’s done, it’s done,” she said. “It’s not growing anymore. It was hard. It seems cheesy but I felt a lot of ups and downs along the way. I just really wanted everyone to like it. I had to learn that what I make has to be true to what I want it to be and I can’t let other people’s impressions of it effect me because it’s my thing and it’s what I want it to be. It’s not going to be everyone’s favourite album.”
With the experience of recording Seeds under her belt, Eurchuk recently finished recording her second album in a cabin in the Valhallas.
“I think the sound is really different,” she said. “I feel like I went through puberty or something because my voice is way lower. I don’t know how that happened. I think over the years I’ve been singing lower and lower. There is tons of electronic sounds like old drum machines from the ‘80s, loop stations and synthesizers where there was just acoustic instruments on the last album.”
Eurchuk shares the stage with The Fugitives tonight at The Royal.