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A star on the rise
by Corey LeBlanc coreyleblanc@thecasket.ca
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Antigonish singer/songwriter Molly Thomason has been busy this summer, including a performance at last weekend's Evolve Festival. (Connor MacEachern photo)
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I knew her when …
Those will be words passing the lips of many when they talk about Molly Thomason, an up-and-coming singer/songwriter.
The third single from her debut CD Through the Static is soaring up the East Coast Countdown charts. If Summer Rain reaches #1, it will join Kiss Me and Textbook Cute, creating Molly’s hat-trick on the popular countdown.
“Hopefully, it is going to #1,” she said softly prior to taking the stage July 21 as the opening act for the Music on Main concert series in Antigonish.
“It’s really exciting. To have three off one CD, especially the first CD, would be really, really cool.
“I don’t know because the Trews have a really good song up there, so I am going to have to see if I can sneak up there,” she added.
Molly’s Summer Rain sits third with Antigonish rockers The Trews close behind in fourth with Highway of Heroes on the last weekly East Coast Countdown top-10.
“No, not really,” she laughed when asked if she expected this much success with her first full-length recording.
“I kind of expected it to be one of those ones that no one really pays attention to and you move on to a bigger one,” Molly said.
“It’s been really good. The attention I have been getting is really, really motivating to keep going.”
In less than two years, the 15-year-old has certainly been going. Along with her first CD, Molly has criss-crossed Nova Scotia, performing her original songs at a variety of venues and festivals, including Granville Green in Port Hawkesbury and Riverfest in Bridgewater.
Last weekend, she performed at Evolve and this weekend she will take the stage at the New Glasgow Riverfront Jubilee.
In a fledgling career that has included several firsts, Molly was the youngest recipient of support from the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage Emerging Music program, which assisted in the making of Through the Static. She was 14.
Her summer season isn’t even in full swing and the Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional High School student has performed in the Halifax for Haiti fundraiser at the Halifax Metro Centre, made it to the semi-finals of an international song writing competition with her song Little Bones and had her piece People Lie chosen for a new music video through an Atlantic Film Festival competition.
Spring performances included sharing the spotlight with Old Man Luedecke and Ryan McGrath, as well as singing in several bars while travelling in Paris and the United Kingdom.
Only one thing has slowed her done, precluding an appearance at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso.
“I had my wisdom teeth out.
“I really wasn’t there,” she quipped.
In August, she will return to Harmony Bazaar – the all-women music festival in Lockeport.
Earlier this month, she made an appearance in Halifax for a David Bowie tribute as part of the launch of Pride Week.
“I am also doing a song writing camp with Steven MacDougall from Slowcoaster and Gordie Sampson,” she said.
“That should be awesome and really exciting.”
Second CD in the works
If that wasn’t enough, the petite blond is in the middle of work on her second CD.
“I have all the songs written.
“I have too many songs written basically,” she added.
Molly will be working with Dartmouth-based producer Dale Murray beginning in mid-August.
“It’s going to be a lot more personal than the first CD – the writing is a lot more personal and I think a little more mature,” she said.
Molly added it is probably not going to be as “poppy” as Through the Static.
“It’s going to be more of an indie-type feeling to it – Teagan and Sara, Death Cab for Cutie type of idea,” she said.
Even though she has a busy schedule, Molly said she “loves every minute of it.”
“I am writing a lot. It is becoming more personal – more of an escape than just finding things that hasn’t happened to me to write about,” she said.
“Everything that I am writing about has basically happened to me or has something to do with somebody I have met or something like that.”
Molly agreed creating more personal songs can make the writing process easier.
“But, it makes playing harder at times because depending on the situation it can get awkward. It can get sad or uncomfortable.
“Writing them does become more of a therapy than it used to be. Playing them is liberating as well – a nice way of letting go of things,” she added.
Molly said one of the great things so far has been the amazing artists she has been able to share the stage. That list includes East Coast stars such as Dave Carroll, Christina Martin, Ian Sherwood, Irish Mythen, Charlie A’Court, and The Trews.
“That’s kind of the theme for the next CD – friends and mentors. The CD is kind of a tribute to the past two years and what has happened because of my first CD,” Molly said.
She added she hopes to have many of the artists she has performed with join her on the album.
“I am going to have a lot of special guests. It is going to be a lot of collaboration and a really meaningful CD.”
Along with the music, Molly also has a financial focus this summer.
“Definitely raising a lot of money for the CD,” she laughed.
“I want to keep promoting [Through the Static] because I don’t think I have milked it to its full potential,” she added about what’s on her to-do list.
“I want to do as many live gigs as possible as well and hopefully a music video, but I am not sure that’s going to happen yet.”
When Molly, who turns 16 in September, starts Grade 11 this fall her answer to the age-old question: “how was your summer?” will definitely be a lengthy and exciting one.
To vote for Summer Rain on the East Coast Countdown, go to www.eastcoastcountdown.com.
For more about Molly, visit www.mollythomason.ca
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