‘Super-surreal dream’

East Kildonan

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/03/2025 (247 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Living the dream” is usually a figure of speech, but for Winnipeg musician Jace Bodner, the phrase can quite literally describe his last few months.

Bodner is a singer and songwriter who, as leader of the Jace Bodner Band, played a variety of styles during his career in Winnipeg, including soul, funk, rock, pop and folk. His latest EP, a funky rock collection Don’t Ruin the Love, was released in June 2024 alongside a Lego stop-motion music video, made over the course of six months, in partnership with 47 Filmworks.

At the end of 2024, the 23-year-old musician packed his bags and set off to Nice, France — making the big leap across the water to start his new gig as guitarist in The Phly Boyz, an acoustic group of roaming musicians who play at destination venues around the world.

It was as though “the stars aligned,” Bodner said in a recent Zoom call — the result of a Stevie Wonder cover he posted to TikTok last spring.

“All of this happened because the band leader, Evan, was searching for guitar players,” the East Kildonan resident said. “He downloaded TikTok like — that day — and looked up ‘Stevie Wonder cover’ … so he reached out to me, and then he deleted TikTok, because he doesn’t like (it), but he just thought he would look around for a bit and he found me. So, if I didn’t post that cover that particular day, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

When first contacted by the French group, Bodner thought it was some kind of social media scam. Instead, it has become a “super-surreal dream.”

The Phly Boyz are an upscale “strolling band.” In the French musical tradition, these are groups of musicians which typically busk at fairs and in the crowds around cultural and sporting events. But these Boyz – who officially became a group in 2008 after meeting a couple of years earlier at the Berklee College of Music – have taken the concept a step further. Although the band is based in Nice, it barely performs in France. Instead, The Phly Boyz perform at enues around the world, playing parties and events hosted by royalty, entertainment celebrities, sports stars and other big hitters. At time of writing, Bodner had done just three major gigs — in Dubai, Italy and Switzerland — but the band has jobs lined up in New York City, India, and more.

“It’s very cool. It’s very personal, you’re interacting with people a lot, like you’re right up in people’s faces,” Bodner said of playing as part of a roaming band. “So it’s very different, but it’s super-cool.”

Bodner said he loves performing — and that love was one of the reasons he pursued a career in music in the first place. It didn’t hurt that he comes from a musical family, either. His father is Jay Bodner, best-known as the lead singer with Indian City and Eagle & Hawk, while his mother teaches music.

“I performed with a band for the first time in Grade 9 … that was kind of the start of it. And then in high school, I formed another band. And then after high school, I just started gigging as much as possible and getting out there,” he said.

“Winnipeg, it’s not a massive city, but it has a super-strong arts scene … (there are) tons of arts stuff happening and you can really become a part of it. And I did, and that was great.”

Bodner and his band hosted a ‘Bye Bye Bodner’ party at Sidestage in December, at which he said a temporary farewell to the Winnipeg scene. Since then, it’s been upwards and onward.

“My dream has always been to perform music, play music, and that’s your life, and you have a comfortable life from it,” he said. “It kind of fulfills my idea of success. Because it’s like, ‘Oh man … I did it.’ I got this job, that’s a job in music where it’s super-cool, and I’m living an awesome, comfortable life.”

Bodner is also grateful that his new band-mates have given him the time and freedom to continue recording his own music during his time in France — while also being super-supportive throughout the last few months.

His hope is to continue working on material for his first full-length album.

To keep up with The Phly Boyz and Bodner, visit @thephlyboyz and @jacebodner on Instagram, respectively. You can find out more about The Phly Boyz at phlyboz.com

To watch the music video for ‘Don’t Ruin The Love,’ — which Bodner credits as being a very passionate example of his work — visit wfp.to/WV7