Vocal heroes

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Chic Gamine

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

That old saw seems to be the motto of busy Winnipeg vocal quintet Chic Gamine, who will perform their first full home concert Tuesday at the West End Cultural Centre (tickets $21 in advance, $25 at the door).

Two years ago this lively fivesome, consisting of four female singers and one male drummer, had just formed, three of the women from St. Boniface a cappella group Madrigaïa.

Without missing a beat, they picked a new name, found a catchy sound and recorded a CD near Montreal. They have performed around North America, heard their songs played on national radio, won a Juno Award for best roots album and earned nominations from the Canadian folk and Western Canadian music associations.

"We're not in a hurry to be a flash in the pan," says group member Andrina Turenne, 27.

"We don't need to have a hit record or meet Britney Spears. We just want to keep doing the best we can do."

Madrigaïa came to a fork in the road in the late spring of 2007. Three of its seven members, including Ariane Jean and Annick Brémault, wanted to continue singing together.

They still had a relationship with a U.S. booker, the Herschel Freeman Agency of Tennessee. Freeman told them he'd be able to hold their spot in a Los Angeles industry showcase in late August if they came up with a new name and some material.

The women went to work. They wanted a fourth voice, for harmonic versatility, and chose Alexa Dirks, a newcomer they'd heard with her band Little Boy Boom at the King's Head Pub.

They also wanted a drummer, to provide the rhythmic heartbeat. The previous winter they had hit it off with a Montrealer, Sacha Daoud, who had been in a world beat group called Gaia, a good omen.

They drew up a list of group names that worked in French and English, because they planned to continue mining a bilingual vein in their lyrics.

After settling on Chic Gamine (which they pronounce "shik gah-min," in the Franco-Manitoban way), the five musicians holed up in Turenne's parents' Lac du Bonnet cottage, where they wrote and arranged 90 minutes of material in less than a week.

Then they piled into an un-air-conditioned 1996 Mazda MPV for the long drive to California.

"It was hot," Dirks, 21, recalls. "We were hanging out the windows at gas stations."

Their 15-minute showcase performance, to poker-faced industry types, was as unremarkable as these things tend to be.

But a concert Freeman had arranged for them shortly after, at Northern California's Strawberry Festival, had crowds stomping their approval.

In November they booked a small recording studio near Montreal, owned by a friend of Daoud's.

They felt they couldn't tour successfully without a CD to serve as a calling card and to sell from the stage.

The total financial investment to get them up and running was close to six figures.

But the gamble paid off. Their self-titled album, which they released in June 2008, caught on with fans and critics.

They made a guest appearance at Festival du Voyageur this past winter and at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 2008. They've also done numerous gigs in Canada but much of their time has been spent on the road in the U.S.

They opened for Smokey Robinson in Idaho and jammed with Mavis Staples during their second appearance at the Strawberry Festival. They paid off their debt within 18 months and bought themselves a van, a 2007 Ford E350.

"It's amazing what they've done in only two years," says Dirks' father, Ray, a Winnipeg artist and curator.

"All four women are leader types, yet they're really do love each other and they stick up for each other, which is rare in that business."

Daoud, 33, says he counts his lucky stars being the lone male in the band.

"The women are very organized and focused," he says. "Somebody always makes sure there's gas in the van."

Their manager, Nova Scotia-based André Bourgeois, believes they have big potential.

"The multilingual nature of what they do opens a lot of doors," he says.

"They're built for speed in a world where major labels are falling away. When people hear them, they love them."

Speaking of love, that first winter, Daoud hooked up with Brémault. Their first child is due in November.

Because of this, the Chics will take a breather this fall after they do another industry showcase in September in Phoenix.

They plan to write new material while they await the blessed event and record a second album in January in Montreal.

Then next spring, they'll be back in the van with an extra passenger.

"The baby will provide a great vibe," Daoud says. "Life goes on."

morley.walker@freepress.mb.ca

The four Winnipeg chicks in the pop quintet Chic Gamine come from a cultured background. And we don't mean they ate a lot of yogurt.

1

ANNICK BRÉMAULT, 31

-- is the daughter of singer-songwriter Nicole Brémault and musician and film producer Norm Dugas. Her sibs are musicians Sarah and Christian Dugas, both currently with the Winnipeg roots band the Duhks.

2

ARIANE JEAN, 28

-- is the daughter of Gérard Jean, the Ziz half of the famed '70s St. Boniface musical duo Gerry & Ziz, and Lorraine Jean, a flutist and pianist in her youth.

3

ANDRINA TURENNE, 27

-- is the daughter of Gérald Turenne, a founder of the Festival du Voyageur, and Lorraine Turenne, a former singer in Les Fantaises.

4

ALEXA DIRKS, 21

-- is the daughter of Winnipeg artist and curator Ray Dirks and Katie Dirks, a former singer in her college choirs.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 13, 2009 E10