NEWS RELEASE
MY FRIEND'S HOUSE
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The band knew they had a great song. They just weren’t sure who should sing it.
Several years ago, Jason Murphy of the band Shipyard Kitchen Party, penned This Ain’t A House, a song inspired by the work of Collingwood Women’s Shelter, My Friend’s House and the ‘Me Too’ movement.
“The song came together in my head quickly,” says Murphy. “I brought it to the band and we all liked it. But my voice just didn’t sound right for it. We meant to work on it more with our lead female vocalist Sacha Law. But we got busy with other projects and the song went on the backburner.”
During the COVID crisis, Shipyard guitarist John Eaton was taking note of the celebrities and musicians uniting to release videos of socially distanced performances. “With organizations like My Friend’s House struggling to raise awareness and funds, we started thinking that maybe this was the time to record the song, using it as a way to bring the music community together and support a great cause. “
Eaton reached out to videographer Ryan MacIntyre and Villa Sound Recording Studio’s, Adam Fair. Both immediately agreed to donate their expertise to capture the audio and visuals of the song. Next, Eaton put together a collection of talented musicians to record the track, including pianist Angie Nussie, violinist Victoria Yeh, guitarist Derek McLean, bass player, Doug Smith and drummer Darrell Dennis.
For the singers, Eaton recruited a cast of some of Georgian Bay’s best vocal talent to support Shipyard’s Sacha Law; including Marcia Alderson of the band Motown and Marley, recording artist Emily Chambers, Ella Baker, Mollie Fisher and Melanie Case.
“It was the easiest project I’ve ever pitched,” says Eaton. “There is so much admiration in this community for My Friend’s House. Everyone jumped to help out and soon we had more than a dozen artists involved in making This Ain’t a House come to life.”
The single and video for the song will be released on March 1. The Town of Collingwood will feature the song in its International Women’s Day celebrations and My Friend’s House will feature it on its various platforms and advertising.
“These are extremely challenging times for victims of domestic violence and the institutions that support them,” says Alison Fitzgerald, executive director of My Friend’s House. “The support of our community, reflected in projects like this, means everything to us.”
As for the artists, all are glad to have had an opportunity to participate and perform again during the forced downtime of COVID.
“Ironically, it would have been really difficult to get a group this size together but for the lockdown,” says Eaton. “One of the great things about the song is that we’ll all be able to look on it as something we did as artists that was productive and helpful during a really difficult time.”
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