The 50th edition of Local Spins on WYCE spotlighted the Holland singer-songwriter who’s had a fun and turbulent year. Read the story and listen to the radio podcast featuring her in-studio performance.
Music That’s Tough to Describe: Olivia Mainville, second from right, and The Aquatic Troupe. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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Singer-songwriter Olivia Mainville has had the sort of topsy-turvy, event-filled year that makes heads spin.
Mainville
The Holland-based singer, violinist and guitarist joined and left the up-and-coming West Michigan folk-rock band Watching for Foxes, started appearing on-air as a Grand Rapids radio show host, toured extensively as a solo artist including a stint with Caravan of Thieves, formed her own band, fractured her pelvis in a serious car accident near Petoskey, hired a new manager, started collaborating with folk singer Libby DeCamp from eastern Michigan’s DeCamp Sisters and continued to hone her eclectic sound.
Indeed, just this week, Mainville settled on a name for her band: Olivia Mainville & The Aquatic Troupe.
“Last year, my music was very, very folky. This year, not so much. However, we still do use traditional instruments in our more rock-like songs,” the 19-year-old says of her “experimental” tunes, adding that trying to explaining her musical style is “the hardest question anybody ever asked me.”
“If there’s one thing I haven’t figured out yet, it’s the genre of music we play. I’m not sure which words to place together to describe it perfectly. Some words I use when describing my sound are baroque, swing, rock, pop, ragtime, old-timey, alternative, folk and gypsy.”
Mainville recently wrapped up work on a new 11-song album – the follow-up to her 2014 EP, “Full Steam Ahead” – at Grand Rapids’ River City Studios, with hopes of releasing it in September.
On the Air: The band performing during Local Spins on WYCE. (Photo/Anna Sink)
“We spent four days in the studio working on it from 9 a.m. until about 11 p.m. or midnight. Everything flew by so fast and it was just a ton of fun,” Mainville says of working with recording engineer and producer Roy Wallace.
“We also have the amazing Gerry Leonard (guitarist for David Bowie) playing on one of our songs from the album, so we’re super-excited about that.”
Before solidifying her new band lineup, Mainville already was turning heads across the state with her enthusiasm and distinctive approach, playing many shows with “core” band members Andy Fettig (bass, trumpet, guitar, Omnichord) and Cullen Montel (percussion).
She’s since added DeCamp on banjo, vocals, guitar and violin, Kameryn Ogden (of the Detroit area’s Air is the Arche) on vocals and Bleu Quick on horns, bass and guitar.
HEALING UP AND TOURING THE STATE
On Friday, she squeezed the six-piece band into Studio X for an on-air appearance for Local Spins on WYCE, performing the new songs “I Need Time” and “Some Other Day,” and talking about her eclectic music. Listen to the entire podcast below.
Audiences can hear Mainville and the new band when they play SpeakEZ Lounge in Grand Rapids at 8 p.m. Wednesday as part of the Local Spins Wednesdays series, or by heading to Brooklyn, Mich., next weekend when they play the main stage at Holler Fest. (Mainville also plays Northport Brewing on Sept. 3 and Our Brewing in Holland on Sept. 4.)
Eyeing a September Album Release: Mainville at WYCE. (Photo/Anna Sink)
With a new manager, Marcia Taylor, on board, Mainville also hopes to work her way “further out of Michigan to play more shows” with her band as she expands her audience.
But there have been setbacks. Mainville and Montel were injured in a January car crash on snowy roads outside Petoskey on their way to a Traverse City performance. Mainville suffered a slight concussion, lacerations and four fractures to her pelvis, while Cullen was treated for a concussion and facial injuries.
“It only took about a month until all the pain was gone,” Mainville recalls. “I only have a few scars on my hand and a piece of glass that’s still stuck in there somewhere. Unfortunately, I won’t be fully recovered for about five years. That’s when the fractures on my pelvis will heal up.”
The accident also forced her to miss several shows with Watching for Foxes, a folk-hued band she joined in 2014. And after her recovery, she was invited to tour as a solo artist with Connecticutt’s Caravan of Thieves, a fast-rising national act and one of Mainville’s favorite bands.
“It kind of made me realize that what I really wanted to do was focus on my own stuff,” she says. “I can’t put 110 percent into two things at the same time. I love Watching for Foxes dearly, and love watching them grow as a band as I do on my own with my band.”
Mainville also has spent time as a volunteer programmer with Grand Rapids community radio station WYCE-FM, making announcements on-air and manning the controls for “Acoustic Café,” a pre-recorded syndicated radio show.
“It’s a ton of fun,” she says. “Everything is kind of connected in a way. By working on talking on the radio, I think it helps me with my fluency when talking at shows and being interviewed on the radio.”
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (Aug. 14, 2015)
The 50th edition of Local Spins on WYCE also featured the debut of new tracks by Michigan artists Jimmie Stagger (from his much-anticipated new studio album, “Graveyard of My Own”), The Sailor Kicks, Jack & The Bear and Wicker Basket, along with music from Greensky Bluegrass, Andy Frisinger, Brad Fritcher + trois, Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra with Edye Evans Hyde and The Legal Immigrants.
Olivia Mainville & The Aquatic Troupe (Photo/Anna Sink)
Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC
