|
Visit Best Made Axes to hear our new jingle: "Chopping Time"
History of the Billie Hollies
One summer long ago, Donna left Brandon and moved into Janet’s house in Toronto. Luckily Janet had just left for the summer to go to Italy. While Janet was in Italy, she sent for Julia (who had just discovered a large sum of money in the lining of her antique wardrobe) to come help with the children. When Janet returned, Donna moved out, but was soon invited back to babysit Janet’s children on the days when Julia couldn’t.
One day Janet had a big birthday party for her husband. Janet introduced Julia to Donna and Donna hollered to Julia over the mingling crowd that they should play Schubert’s virtuoso epic for clarinet and soprano “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen”. Julia and Donna started working on repertoire for their first concert: “Poppies in July” featuring works by Spohr, Rorem, and Hollaender. After this happy event they appeared at another recital where they finally performed the fabled Schubert piece. Next they collaborated with sawist/glassist Selina Martin, accordianist Annelise Noronha, and bassist Jordan O’Connor to arrange and perform three melodies by Debussy at a one-time performance where they called themselves “The Laments”. Then Donna acquired an autoharp and wrote some songs. As a faithful friend, Janet was one of 3 audience members at Donna’s last solo gig, and asked her if it might be nice to play music together. They both agreed it would be extraspecially nice to play music with Julia as well.
One day Coralie moved from Winnipeg to Toronto and attended a party of Donna’s. Coralie impressed Donna with her ability to harmonize with pretty much everything including a 5-person stoned rendition of “Band on the Run”. Later Donna invited Coralie to join her and Janet and Julia for a jam session in the basement of Donna’s home while Donna ran upstairs and downstairs accommodating the telephone repair technician. Donna decided to occupy her neglected houseguests with tea and sweet treats and a tradition for the Billie Hollies was born.
What's in store for the Billie Hollies next?
They just had some of their songs used in a CBC documentary (A Kick In The Head). They are working on a full-length album produced by Paul Linklater and hope to finish it before the end of this year. They will continue to play gigs in and around Big Toronto but hope to increase their territory to include Nanaimo, Finland, and Easter Island.
|
