Post by SweetOne on Sept 23, 2007 22:11:32 GMT -4
From today's (Sept. 23) Toronto Star (my response will follow in the next post):
Shaye no longer a trio, except on TV
Docu-reality show charts rise, fall of homegrown girl group who'd rather be moms
Sep 23, 2007 04:30 AM
GREG QUILL
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
Only Canadians would work so hard to make compelling television of the story of a one-hit band that dissolved after its second album failed to light a fire, and then dare to air it six whole months after the trio – singers Kim Stockwood, Damhnait (pronounced "Davnet") Doyle and Tara MacLean – lost their big-time record deal and the entire five-year enterprise collapsed.
That's essentially the honest but less-than-uplifting narrative that unfolds in Shaye, which premiered a couple of weeks ago, and picks up with the second show tonight at 10 on E!. The final two parts of the series air Sept. 30 and Oct. 4.
Americans would have done this differently, of course. The TV series would have been in the record company's control and used as a powerful promotional tool prior to the launch of the album, by which time the three lead characters would have become overnight celebrities, household names, and their record's success assured.
The irony isn't lost on Stockwood and Doyle, who shrugged their shoulders over a lunch a few days ago. MacLean was absent, preparing for the birth of her second child and the start of sessions for her third solo CD.
"Who knows? The TV show might boost record sales (of their current album, Lake of Fire) and we might get back together again," said Stockwood, a mother of two young sons and the wife of Alan Reid, the powerful head of the A&R division of Universal Music Canada.
Veteran songwriters and performers, they don't seem at all shattered by the well-chronicled rise and fall of their joint effort, the pop band Shaye, named after MacLean's late sister, a cancer victim.
"We should have gone out and played live more often, but getting us together is like mobilizing an army," Stockwood explained. "And the expenses are enormous, because we have to fly everywhere with babies and nannies.
"I'm 41, and my most important job right now is raising children and making a home. When we went to our first meeting at EMI, before we were signed, we handed them a list of things we weren't willing to do."
That list included heading off together in a van for parts unknown, and playing in bars for a handful of locals, she said. "They saw us perform and saw something they liked, so they went ahead and signed us."
Two albums, a bona fide radio hit ("Happy Baby," from the first CD, The Bridge), a couple of expensive videos and a label executive shuffle later, Shaye is, in effect, a ghost band whose entertaining experiences, dramatically set up in the series made by Breakthrough Films over the past 15 months, amount to little more than personal scrapbook fodder. It's hard to root for a band that has thrown in the towel – and that's the series' major flaw.
"I had no expectations when we started this band," Doyle said. "We're lucky to have had a hit record, and for the experience we've gained as individuals. I think the TV series is an honest glimpse at what goes on in the music business, but it's not The Osbournes.
"There are no rules in the music industry any more. You just throw spaghetti at walls and hope some of it sticks."
Shaye no longer a trio, except on TV
Docu-reality show charts rise, fall of homegrown girl group who'd rather be moms
Sep 23, 2007 04:30 AM
GREG QUILL
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
Only Canadians would work so hard to make compelling television of the story of a one-hit band that dissolved after its second album failed to light a fire, and then dare to air it six whole months after the trio – singers Kim Stockwood, Damhnait (pronounced "Davnet") Doyle and Tara MacLean – lost their big-time record deal and the entire five-year enterprise collapsed.
That's essentially the honest but less-than-uplifting narrative that unfolds in Shaye, which premiered a couple of weeks ago, and picks up with the second show tonight at 10 on E!. The final two parts of the series air Sept. 30 and Oct. 4.
Americans would have done this differently, of course. The TV series would have been in the record company's control and used as a powerful promotional tool prior to the launch of the album, by which time the three lead characters would have become overnight celebrities, household names, and their record's success assured.
The irony isn't lost on Stockwood and Doyle, who shrugged their shoulders over a lunch a few days ago. MacLean was absent, preparing for the birth of her second child and the start of sessions for her third solo CD.
"Who knows? The TV show might boost record sales (of their current album, Lake of Fire) and we might get back together again," said Stockwood, a mother of two young sons and the wife of Alan Reid, the powerful head of the A&R division of Universal Music Canada.
Veteran songwriters and performers, they don't seem at all shattered by the well-chronicled rise and fall of their joint effort, the pop band Shaye, named after MacLean's late sister, a cancer victim.
"We should have gone out and played live more often, but getting us together is like mobilizing an army," Stockwood explained. "And the expenses are enormous, because we have to fly everywhere with babies and nannies.
"I'm 41, and my most important job right now is raising children and making a home. When we went to our first meeting at EMI, before we were signed, we handed them a list of things we weren't willing to do."
That list included heading off together in a van for parts unknown, and playing in bars for a handful of locals, she said. "They saw us perform and saw something they liked, so they went ahead and signed us."
Two albums, a bona fide radio hit ("Happy Baby," from the first CD, The Bridge), a couple of expensive videos and a label executive shuffle later, Shaye is, in effect, a ghost band whose entertaining experiences, dramatically set up in the series made by Breakthrough Films over the past 15 months, amount to little more than personal scrapbook fodder. It's hard to root for a band that has thrown in the towel – and that's the series' major flaw.
"I had no expectations when we started this band," Doyle said. "We're lucky to have had a hit record, and for the experience we've gained as individuals. I think the TV series is an honest glimpse at what goes on in the music business, but it's not The Osbournes.
"There are no rules in the music industry any more. You just throw spaghetti at walls and hope some of it sticks."
