Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
To date, there have been 73 New Music Monday features published through this collaboration.
This week, Conjure Hand is the New Music Monday highlight!
Conjure Hand is comprised of AJ Kovar on vocals and guitar, Victor Horne on bass, Duncan Chisholm on drums, Arin Argus on guitar and Vincent Dupuis on keys.
Since last speaking with Victoria Buzz, the 1970s blues rock inspired band has been hard at work releasing two albums, touring and recording a couple of new singles they just released in March.
“We had these two songs that we had, that were written pretty early on, near the end of the Spellbound Blues sessions,” Kovar explained.
The two songs, “Baby (I Won’t Let Go)” and “Mama I’ll Walk My Way” were both released on March 18th, and represent the last two songs with Dupuis on keys before that band transitions to a four-piece model.
While their music is often rooted in telling stories of Black history and lower class struggles throughout the Americas, Kovar and Argus say this doesn’t limit them to problems that are unique to Black peoples’ experiences.
“I think these are a glimpse of the variety we have in store as a band—we definitely have a feel-good side to our band, it’s not all doom and gloom,” said Kovar.
“I think that in not writing about something that’s exclusively Black or BIPOC, it’s to say that Black people and people of colour can just enjoy things and that’s something that people sometimes forget—it’s not all about liberation, we just want to enjoy stuff like any other human.”
“We still have normal love songs, normal girl problems or partner problems, just like anyone else,” he added.
Argus also noted that these two songs feel more spacious, which lets the elements of the song really pop and represent a taste of what is to come as the band continues to write and record.
Highlight Track – “Baby (I Won’t Let You Go)”
Kovar says that “Baby (I Won’t Let You Go)” was inspired by the birth of his child, who is now two-years-old, and a couple of songs that really stuck with him.
“It was definitely influenced by a release called ‘Humble Pie’ by a man called Humble Pie, that and some early KISS,” he explained.
“And the birth of my daughter was the biggest influence behind it. I just wanted to put those two artists together and that idea, and we kind of went with it.”
Kovar added that the song began with a riff he wrote over two years ago and was waiting for something to put it to that felt right.
“I pulled the riff off my old cell phone and kind of sat on it for a while, then we were able to put it together with keys and stuff for a different vibe.”
He also noted that this song was the first collaboration with Nigerian choir singers who sang backup vocals on the track.
Argus added that this song feels more like an exploration of pop and funk, as compared to the 70s hard rock sound they are normally rooted in.
The second single released alongside this one, “Mama I’ll Walk My Way” was the first Conjure Hand track written and sung by Argus.
“The second song ‘Mama I’ll Walk My Way’ is a song about rebellion and breaking away from an abusive family, and being disillusioned about freedom and being close to ending up on the streets,” he explained.
“The song came to mind when I first moved to Victoria two years back and seeing a lot of the problems on the streets with drugs and homelessness being more visible here.”
This song aims at telling the story of how quickly one could lose everything.
Check out Conjure Hand’s “Baby (I Won’t Let You Go)” below:
<iframe style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;” src=”https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2590386904/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3584584607/transparent=true/” seamless><a href=”https://conjurehand.bandcamp.com/album/baby-i-wont-let-go”>Baby (I Won't Let Go) by Conjure Hand</a></iframe>
To listen to “Baby (I Won’t Let You Go),” “Mama I’ll Walk My Way” and the rest of Conjure Hand’s discography, check them out on Bandcamp, Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music.
Next up for Conjure Hand is a small Alberta tour that will follow a show in Victoria with Sludgebeg, a doom/sludge metal band from the prairies.
They’ll be playing in Victoria at the Phoenix Bar and Grill on Quadra Street on April 30th before heading out east to play in Calgary and Lethbridge.
Additionally, Conjure Hand has launched their own record label, Black Witch Records, which is aimed at bringing Canadian artists together regardless of genre.
To stay in the loop with future shows and releases, follow Conjure Hand on Instagram.
Related:
- New Music Monday: Standard Issue Pleasure Model releases dynamic new album ‘Tripsitter’
- New Music Monday: Blush. releases chaotic house party music video ahead of upcoming EP
- New Music Monday: Slugger releases new album and embraces new band members
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
“I like that they highlight a lot of local musicians here and local talent,” Argus told Victoria Buzz.
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of Conjure Hand in the comments below!
