Tucker Lane were formed in 2015 by Leslie Stanwyck (vocals), Johnny Sinclair (bass) and Brent Carlin (guitar). Warren Medernach (drums) was added in 2017. Tucker Lane are from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Leslie and Johnny were members of the internationally acclaimed Toronto band The Pursuit of Happiness. They made two albums with TPOH, ‘Love Junk’ which went platinum and featured the hit songs, ‘I’m An Adult Now’, ‘She’s So Young’, and ‘Hard To Laugh’, and the second TPOH album, ‘One-Sided Story’ which went gold.
Leslie Stanwyck of the band stopped by Amplify so that we could ask a few questions about the release of the new album and some other stuff.
Q: We just had the opportunity to listen to the album and wanted to say that it sounds really good! Tell us about the genesis of Tucker Lane.
A: Thank You for listening! When we moved to Saskatoon from Toronto, Johnny and I started playing around town as an acoustic duo. Shortly after we added two members and became a band. People at the bars would ask us if we had any Country music in our repertoire. The requests kept coming so we figured we better learn some that fit into our comfort zone, like Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams. Then we thought why not just write some of our own with that vibe. And then one review said we sounded like Chrissie of the Pretenders singing for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and that made us happy.
Q: How have the previous band experiences influenced the Tucker Lane musical output?
A: The music is still upbeat with an emphasis on melody and guitars, just like the bands we came from. And we still have the desire to keep creating original music.
Q: Where does the country influence come from since you seem to be a genre bending band.
A: We all grew up listening to the radio in the day when there was every type of genre on one station. You would hear Rhinestone Cowboy on the same station as Superstition. Also, we were all fans of the Rolling Stones, who at times had a Country sound. Some of our favourite songs off some Stones albums are Torn and Frayed and Country Honk.
Q: Has living in Saskatoon influenced the musical direction of the band.
A: For sure! When we did our first album, our friend Jay Semko said we should join the Saskatchewan Country Music Association. They welcomed us with open arms, and we met so many talented Country musicians here in Saskatoon. Going to all their shows has been a lot of fun and we have done some gigs with a lot of these artists that are a lot more country than we’ll ever be.
Q: You have a new album coming out soon. Tell us all about it.
A: Our new album is called Random Fireworks on a Beach Obscured by Trees. One-night last summer we drove up to Turtle Lake and arrived around 10:00 pm, just as it was getting dark. There were people on the beach shooting off fireworks. It wasn’t July 1st or July 4th, it was just a random event. Johnny took a lot of pictures with his phone. Later, scrolling back he said, “look at how pretty all these random fireworks on a beach obscured by trees are?”. So, we thought that all these songs are like little explosions of joy and beauty much like fireworks. This meant something special to us. There is a lot of different styles on this record, but it all sounds like Tucker Lane. There are some Americana flavored songs, some that are a little more pop, some are more rock, some are bluesy, and some are country pop.
Q: Who’s worked with the band on this album? Collaborations?
A: A lot of the writing was done within the band. There are a couple of co-writes with my long-time friend and earliest writing partner Nadine Rusinek and a couple songs with a new writing partner Lindsay Czitron. We added multi-instrumentalist Sam Derbawka in the studio, who played mandolin, pedal steel and violin on many of the tracks. We recorded it ourselves and it was mixed by Bart McKay here in Saskatoon and mastered locally at Case Mastering. Creative Saskatchewan helped with a recording grant which made a lot of this possible.
Q: How was the album recorded with so many limitations on gathering?
A: After the first lockdown was lifted in Saskatchewan and we could expand our personal bubbles, we included the other two members of Tucker Lane, Brent Carlin and Warren Medernach. We started jamming again, after a 3-month separation and it was fun and invigorating. We wrote a bunch of new tunes and everybody had time to focus on getting it done.
Q: Your last album was released in 2015. What has happened in the last 5 years?
A: We got our debut album ready to go and then our long-time manager from Universal Honey had some health issues and we took a step back and didn’t do any promotion for that record. We played a lot of gigs in and around Saskatoon in that time. Johnny and I then took some time to record a one-off album called Parallels by Gillian Snider and Leslie Stanwyck as well as worked with some up and coming new Saskatchewan artists, writing, recording and producing for them. That ate up a lot of our time and inevitably pushed back Tucker Lane’s writing and recording. We also last year increased Tucker Lane’s activity with a couple of lockdown videos and filmed and recorded two separate nights of live music in our backyard to a small crowd. We edited it and mixed it and have been putting out the performances on our Tucker Lane YouTube channel as the Campfire Sessions. We also released a new Universal Honey 6 song EP in 2020. In addition to that, we have been releasing our Universal Honey catalog. Our debut Magic Basement was released in March 2020. We’re just about to release our 3rd Universal Honey album on January 29th and continuing into 2021 with all 7 albums going on to streaming for the first time. We are also proud parents and have spent a lot of time with our son. 5 years seems like a long time between albums, but the time seems right for us to put our Tucker Lane album.
Q: With the pandemic grinding touring to a halt, what plans does the band have for the rest of 2021.
A: We plan to do as much online promotion as we can for Tucker Lane, with videos, live streams, single releases etc. And once it warms up, we will definitely do another Campfire Session in the backyard with expanded production. Hopefully, all this will all translate into live gigs when the industry comes back.
Q: We’d like to thank you for your time and ask what bands you they are currently listening to for inspiration.
A: Brent Carlin is a big fan of the Drive By Truckers. I’ve made a Happy Place playlist of songs I have loved through the ages that I’ve been listening to alot, with songs from Badfinger, Paul Westerberg, Shovels & Rope, Julian Cope, among many others. Johnny’s been listening to the 2020 album by the Dream Syndicate called The Universe Inside as well as a lot of Paisley Underground bands from the 80’s California scene. Warren has been listening to Tucker Lane.
Tucker Lane Social Media
Website: https://www.tuckerlane.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tuckerlaneband
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tuckerlaneband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuckerlaneband/
