Julie Doiron
| Julie Doiron | |
|---|---|
 Julie Doiron live in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Julie Elaine Doiron |
| Also known as | Broken Girl |
| Born | June 28, 1972 |
| Origin | Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Genres | Folk rock, indie rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter, photographer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass, drums |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | Jagjaguwar, Sappy, Endearing, Sub Pop |
| Associated acts | Eric's Trip, Wooden Stars, Shotgun & Jaybird, Calm Down It's Monday, Gordon Downie, Daniel, Fred & Julie |
Julie Doiron (born June 28, 1972 in Moncton, New Brunswick) is an award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter of Acadian heritage.[1][2]
Career
Doiron started playing guitar (later switching to bass) in Eric's Trip at the age of 18, having joined the band at the insistence of her then-boyfriend, Eric's Trip guitarist Rick White. Shortly before the band's break-up in 1996, she released a solo album under the name Broken Girl, which followed two previous 7" EPs ("Dog Love, Pt. 2" & "Nora") also released under that name. All of her subsequent material has been released under her own name. Although most of her solo material has been written and performed in English, she also released an album of French language material, Désormais.
In 1999, Doiron recorded an album with the Ottawa band Wooden Stars, which was the first time she had worked with a band since the end of Eric's Trip. She shared a Juno Award for Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars in March 2000.
Eric's Trip reunited in 2001, and have played shows periodically ever since. She has also appeared as a guest musician on albums by The Tragically Hip (2000s Music at Work), Gordon Downie (2001's Coke Machine Glow, 2003's Battle of the Nudes and 2010's The Grand Bounce), and Herman Düne. She has also released a split record co-credited to the alternative country band Okkervil River, and collaborated with American musician Phil Elverum on the 2008 Mount Eerie album Lost Wisdom. She played with indie rock band Shotgun & Jaybird until their demise in 2007. She also played drums as part of a short-lived duo with Fred Squire. Initially called "Blue Heeler", they changed their name to "Calm Down Its Monday", and released a split 7" EP on K Records, with 2 solo Julie songs on the flip side.
Apart from her musical career, Doiron is an avid photographer, having published a book of her photographs entitled The Longest Winter with words by Ottawa writer Ian Roy. She often does her own promotional photos and cover artwork along with her ex-husband, painter Jon Claytor.
Her album Woke Myself Up was shortlisted for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize.[3][4][5]
In 2009, Doiron told a reporter from The Strand, a college newspaper at the University of Toronto, that she and Chad VanGaalen were exploring the possibility of collaborating on an album.[6] She appeared on a track from VanGaalen's EP of Soft Airplane B-sides that year, but no further news pertaining to a potential album collaboration has been released.
During the tour to support the 2009 album I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day, the mayor of Bruno, Saskatchewan proclaimed June 7, 2009 as "Julie Doiron Day". Doiron performed at the local All Citizens arts centre on that day.[7]
Over the three-year period between I Can Wonder and her 2012 album So Many Days, Doiron moved several times, residing at different times in Montreal, Toronto and Sackville.[8] While living in Toronto, she had difficulty making ends meet due to the city's high cost of living,[9] and began teaching yoga classes, and performing a weekly residency at the Saving Gigi club, to help pay the bills.[9] By the time So Many Days was released in the fall of 2012, she had moved back to Sackville.[10]
In July 2014, Doiron's song "The Life of Dreams", from I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day, appeared in an iPhone commercial.[11]
In 2016, Doiron collaborated with musicians Jon McKiel, C.L. McLaughlin, Michael C. Duguay, James Anderson and Chris Meaney on the project Weird Lines, whose self-titled album was released on Sappy Futures in July.[12]
Collaborations
- Appeared on the 2005 Herman Dune album Not On Top, playing bass and providing vocals
- Provided vocals for several tracks on the 1999 album The Moon by The Wooden Stars
- Provided vocals on Snailhouse's 2001 album The Opposite Is Also True
- Contributed vocals on Baby Eagle's 2007 No Blues
- Contributed vocals to Attack in Black's song "I'm A Rock" on the Autumnal Tour 2008 7"
- Contributed vocals on Daniel Romano's 2013 album Come Cry With Me
Discography
Studio albums
- Broken Girl * (Sub Pop, Sappy) – 1996 (Reissued by Jagjaguwar with the "Dog Love, Pt. 2" & "Nora" EP's as bonus tracks) - 2003
- Loneliest in the Morning (Sub Pop, Jagjaguwar (reissue with bonus tracks)) – 1997
- Will You Still Love Me? * (Tree Records, Sappy) – 1999
- Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars (Tree, Sappy) – 1999, Jagjaguwar (CD reissue in 2002, vinyl only re-issue in 2013)
- Désormais * (Jagjaguwar, Endearing Records) – 2001
- Heart and Crime (Jagjaguwar, Endearing) – 2002
- Goodnight Nobody (Jagjaguwar, Endearing) – 2004
- Woke Myself Up (Jagjaguwar, Endearing) – 2007
- I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day (Jagjaguwar, Endearing) – 2009
- So Many Days (Aporia Records) – 2012
Albums marked with * have not been issued on vinyl LP
Other
- Dog Love Part 2 7" (as Broken Girl) (Sappy Records) – 1993
- Nora 7" (as Broken Girl) (Sappy) – 1995
- "More of Our Stupid Noise (So Fast) - 1996 Squirtgun Records
- Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars - Who will be the one 7" (plumline) – 1999?
- Julie Doiron / Okkervil River (CD Split with Okkervil River) (Acuarela) – 2003
- Will You Still Love Me? + Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars (Japan Edition 2 disc with original booklet)(P-VINE Record, Japan) – 2003
- Heart and Crime + Désormais (Japan Edition 2 disc with original booklet)(P-VINE Record, Japan) – 2003
- Lost Wisdom (Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron and Frederick Squire) – 2008
- Daniel, Fred & Julie (with Daniel Romano and Frederick Squire) (You've Changed Records) – 2009
- Weird Lines - 2016
Notes and references
- ↑ Exclaim – Eric's Trip: Timeline
- ↑ "Feist leads nominees for Indie Music Awards". CBC.ca. January 31, 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ↑ "Arcade Fire, Feist on Polaris short list". CBC News. July 10, 2007. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- ↑ "Feist, Fire get Polaris noms". Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2007.
- ↑ Love, Noah (2007-07-10). "Arcade Fire, Feist And The Dears Among Polaris Nominees". Chart (magazine). Retrieved 2008-11-20.
- ↑ Annie Bender, "Living the life of dreams". The Strand, April 9, 2009.
- ↑ "June 7 Named Julie Doiron Day in Bruno, Saskatchewan". Exclaim!, June 9, 2009.
- ↑ "Julie Doiron, 'So Many Days' (album stream)". Exclaim!, October 16, 2012.
- 1 2 "Saving Julie Doiron, one small show at a time". The Globe and Mail, January 10, 2012.
- ↑ "Days in the life of Julie Doiron". Victoria Times Colonist, November 15, 2012.
- ↑ "Julie Doiron strikes deal for Apple ad using Life of Dreams song". CBC News, July 16, 2014.
- ↑ "Weird Lines: Weird Lines (album stream)". Exclaim!, July 4, 2016.
External links
- Julie Doiron on Myspace
- Short story review of Woke Myself Up at The Wheel's Still in Spin