Megan Lane

September 4, 2014

Well, Dorothy, we're not in Bud's anymore.

Since Megan Lane moved to Montreal, had an intimate moment with a coyote/wolf on a Quebec island on New Year's Eve and got together with Hawksley Workman to produce and play on a new album, her music has undergone a transformation. She's sounding like the animal she met in the woods, but more importantly like the one she has inside herself. This woman moves by instinct.

Mind you, instinct is all fine and dandy as long as you have the chops to fall back on, and that's where the hours at Bud's and in some corner practising for many more hours help to ground the new sound in musical basics and some terrific playing.

The album opens with a blast, wild guitars escorting Whiskey to Remember, another of the anesthetics we use when we suffer for love. In Cabin in the Woods, Lane exploits the juxtaposition of the subject matter and the pulsing keys of the dance music beat. Someday We Will Leave This Town has a boingy boingy beat as well, compliments of the synths of Mr. Workman.

But before you think that this dance beat and synths are what this new animal is all about, take a listen to Lane's guitar on Someday, as well as on Make Me an Animal and Never Easy, just to give a couple of examples. She tears it up. Then on the album's longest track, Coyote/Wolf, she goes for the simplicity of a well-strummed acoustic guitar, as she does on What These Walls Hold.

Underneath the synths, the new beats, the stellar guitar work, and some just plain good songwriting, there's an ethos here of you and me against the world: we leave this town, we know what these walls hold, "you are the coyote, I am the wolf," neither loved by society at large, but an entity unto themselves. This is an album of fierce love for the animal on the margins. - The StarPhoenix

September 11, 2014

When Megan Lane sat down to write her new album, it’s not surprising that she originally planned to write a blues record. After all, she has made a name for herself fas having serious blues guitar chops. But Sounding the Animal, which was produced by Hawksley Workman, ended up becoming a very different beast.

“I was writing 12 hours a day every day. I was doing it like a practice and not just when I felt inspired,” the multi-instrumentalist from Saskatoon said. “It just turned out most of my creative energy wasn’t going in that direction, it went in more of a riff-rock direction. After doing some co-writing with Hawksley we kind of created a direction.”

The result is slick and catchy, but retains the bluesy spontaneity Lane is known for. You can catch her in town at Irene’s on Saturday.

Lane made songwriting more than a full-time job with Sounding the Animal, writing more than 50 songs in a two-year burst. But in the end only 12 made the new album, her fourth.

“So often you write a record and end up with a favourite or two favourites and I wanted them all to be favourites,” she said.

Lane said it can be hard to let go, but “I think that’s a big step in me becoming an artist. One of my big mottos was ‘Don’t be precious about anything’.”

Lane said working with Workman was like being in the lab with a mad scientist with a huge collection of guitars and amps.

“It was just such a fun time to play with all of those amazing vintage guitars and pedals and running things through old tape machines. It was an absolute blast,” she said.

One of the old songs that did make the cut dates all the way back to New Year’s Eve 2011. Coyote/Wolf (a title Lane recently had tattooed on her arm) was inspired by an encounter with an unusual animal. Ten minutes before the clock struck midnight, a giant coywolf emerged from the woods and looked directly into Lane’s eyes.

“I have a connection to animals and I feel like when they approach you like that it means something.”

The moment was the creative beginning for Sounding the Animal. It was also the song that initially got Workman interested in working with Lane. The pair ended up co-writing two songs, Soul Becomes a Ghost and Never Easy, for the record.

Lane has released a video for the album’s first single Someday We Will Leave This Town (watch it at meganlane.com), which she co-wrote with Calgary transgender musician Rae Spoon. It’s something of an anthem for people who feel out of place in their hometowns. It was a theme both musicians felt a strong connection to.

“We both come from smaller prairie cities and we’re both queer people. We thought let’s try to write something inspiring for people who have been through what we’ve been through,” she said.

Megan Lane (with Jennis)

Where: Irene’s

When: Sept. 13 at 9:30 p.m.

Tickets: $10, information: irenespub.ca - Ottawa Citizen

August 22, 2014

Not surprisingly, when Megan Lane sat down to write her new album, she planned to write a blues record.

She made a name for herself from a young age for her serious blues guitar chops. But Sounding the Animal, produced by Hawksley Workman, ended up becoming a very different beast.

“I was writing 12 hours a day, every day. I was doing it like a practice and not just when I felt inspired,” the Saskatoon multi-instrumentalist said. “It just turned out most of my creative energy wasn’t going in that direction, it went in more of a riff-rock direction. After doing some co-writing with Hawksley we kind of created a direction.”

The result is slick and catchy, but retains the bluesy spontaneity Lane is known for.

Lane made songwriting more than a full-time job with Sounding the Animal, eventually creating more than 50 songs to choose from for the album, her fourth.

“So often you write a record and end up with a favourite or two favourites and I wanted them all to be favourites,” she said.

She spent two years writing. Most of the material from the first year didn’t make it to the album. Lane said it can be hard to let go, but she knew it was an important part of moving forward as a songwriter.

“I think that’s a big step in me becoming an artist. One of my big mottoes was ‘Don’t be precious about anything.’ If you hang on too tightly to everything you create, you’re blocking more creativity that could be coming in and creating even better things.”

She and Workman narrowed the field to 12 songs, which make up the final draft of Sounding the Animal.

Lane got to put her impressive axe skills to good use on the album.

Lane said Workman was like a mad scientist with a huge collection of guitars and amps. They tried countless permutations until they found the perfect sound for each song.

“It was just such a fun time to play with all of those amazing vintage guitars and pedals and running things through old tape machines. It was an absolute blast,” she said.

One of the old songs that did make the cut, dates all the way back to New Year’s Eve 2011. Coyote/Wolf (a title Lane recently had tattooed on her arm) was inspired by an encounter with an unusual animal. Ten minutes before the clock struck midnight, a giant coyote emerged from the woods and looked directly into Lane’s eyes.

“I have a connection to animals and I feel like when they approach you like that it means something. I couldn’t figure out if it was a wolf or a coyote.”

A year later, she found out about coywolfs, a coyote/wolf hybrid. The moment was the creative beginning for Sounding the Animal.

It was also the song that initially got Workman interested in working with Lane. The pair ended up co-writing two songs, Soul Becomes a Ghost and Never Easy, for the record.

Lane recently released a video for the album’s first single, Someday We Will Leave This Town, which she co-wrote with Calgary transgender musician Rae Spoon. It’s something of an anthem for people who feel out of place in their hometowns.

“We both come from smaller prairie cities and we’re both queer people. We thought let’s try to write something inspiring for people who have been through what we’ve been through,” she said.

It’s a catchy song with a positive message Lane hopes will plant seeds in people’s heads.

Lane will be accompanied on her Canadian tour, which stops in Vancouver at the Biltmore on Aug. 26, by vocalist and bass player Trisha Foster and drummer Roger Mercier.

“Playing this material is so much fun. It’s a marathon. It’s more of an intense workout than I have ever had on stage,” she said.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun - Vancouver Sun

August 20, 2014

Megan Lane considers her first three records demos, a series of becomings and, though she considers the recently released Sounding the Animal her attainment of song-writer status, the Saskatoon-born guitarist might be engulfed in this shifting sense of musical self for her entire career.

Her first record, Purple and Blue (2004) is — like many debuts, Lane said — infused with an innocence. In Lane’s case, this was the innocence of a 14-year old member of a rural city’s LGBTQ community who used to lock herself in her room and strum a guitar for hours on end.

Sounding the Animal, 10 years junior to Purple and Blue, comes with an entirely different musical place — though still with Lane’s queer sensibilities — and, according to the musician, deals in instinct, intuition and “stripping yourself down to your inner animal,” set to heavily urgent and, at times, animalistic sound.

“There’s a lot of fear and a lot of love and a lot of very basic human emotion,” Lane said.

The album was two years in the making, and Lane estimates that she wrote around 50 tracks to completion before he and Canadian cabaret pop star Hawksley Workman, a producer credit on the record, got together and picked the 12 best — two of which are co-writes with Workman, and another collaboration with gender-queer pop artist Rae Spoon.

Lane and Spoon share a similar background, both having grown up queer in prairies communities — their collaborative effort came out in the record’s single Someday We Will Leave This Town.

“We wanted to write an anthem for the underdog, because we’ve both been there before,” Lane said.

To achieve the desired rawness of Sounding the Animal, Workman and Lane enlisted 12 amps, around 20 guitars and “just a floor of pedals.”

“Hawksley is this crazy tone genius, and he was just buzzing around the room plugging and unplugging things and fiddling with pedal nobs and then he’d go ‘OK! That’s it; that’s it ...’ He’s really a genius when it comes to chasing sound,” Lane said, adding that she and Workman had been in contact for years through various friends, and were just waiting for the right project to collaborate on.

Despite the title of Sounding the Animal’s single, and the city’s relatively small LGBTQ community, Lane loves living in Saskatoon.

According to the musician, many who identify as queer don’t stick around to build communities in small, rural towns or cities as it’s a challenging thing to do. However, Lane, who has performed at Saskatoon’s pride festival since her youth, is happy to be a part of her home city’s growing community.

“There’s not necessarily as large of an (LGBTQ) community here, or perhaps, less ally-ship in smaller cities, just because it’s still growing,” she said.

“It can be easier to just hop the plane sometimes to Montreal or Vancouver or Toronto and walk in the streets and have that sense of ambiguity and find a queer community anywhere and everywhere.”

Megan Lane will take the stage in Edmonton at the ARTery this coming Monday. - Edmonton Examiner

Issue 83, September 2014

Megan Lane

Sie ist eine der besten Gitarristinnen Kanadas. Die queere Singer/Songwriterin Megan Lane. Bekannt für ihren wunderbaren Bluessound, veröffentlichte sie am 22.8.14 ihr neues Album „Sounding The Animal“ (Coyote/Wolf Rec. s. auch diese aktuelle Ausgabe Nr. 83 September 2014 „Artefakt“). Und das ist nicht nur neu, sondern auch anders. Die erste Single daraus „Someday We Will Leave This Town“ entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit Trans*Ikone Rae Spoon (s. unten) aus Montreal. „Ich habe mich als Künstlerin entwickelt“, so die Megan Lane zu ihrem neuesten Werk. „Meine Arbeit hat sich verändert, aber es kommt vom organischsten Ort aller.“ Und so verbindet die queere Musikerin 80er Rock und Mainstreammelodien von heute, wie sie selbst sagt. Ein bisschen wie Tegan And Sara mit plötzlichem Rockgitarrensolo. Ziemlich cool und hitverdächtig. Es ist ihr viertes Album nach ihrem Debut „Purple And Blue“ 2004. 2009 erschien ihr letztes Album „Bow & Drill The Spark“. Alle Alben gibt es u. a. über ihre Website meganlane.com als CD zu kaufen oder als Download. In Deutschland sind die Alben auf Amazon als CD-Import oder als Download erhältlich. Im September 2014 ist Megan Lane in ihrer Heimat Kanada auf Tour. Bereits mit 12 gab die queere Musikerin Konzerte. Sie wuchs in einem kleinen Ort in der kanadischen Prärieprovinz Saskatchewan auf. Ihre Urgroßmutter hatte einen Antiquitätenladen und bracht ihr bei, offen zu sein für alle Dinge, da sie daran glaubte, dass allem eine Energie innewohne. Megan Lane bezeichnete sich selbst in einem Interview mal als „hexenartig“ und „weird“. - weird: Das Stadtmagazin fur lesbische Frauen in Bielfeld

August 19, 2014

Canadian rocker takes her new sound, and album, on the road

Megan Lane is best known for her blues sound, but her new album, Sounding the Animal, takes a decidedly pop approach to showcase her vocals and guitar skills. “I have evolved as an artist. My work has changed, but it’s come from the most organic place,” she says.

“I’ve learned to embrace the guilty pleasure of ’80s rock songs, with the big choruses, or the 2014 mainstream melody you can’t get out of your head,” she says. “These catchy choruses and hooks live inside of us once we’ve heard them, and I wanted to do that to people.”

Lane may be the driving force, but her new album has had some help from famous friends. The album’s leading single, “Someday We Will Leave this Town,” was co-written by Lane and trans icon Rae Spoon. Both Spoon and Lane grew up in similar situations (being queer in small towns) and were able to tranlate their experiences into powerful anthems.

But the biggest influence on the album comes from fellow Canadian rocker Hawksley Workman. “We couldn’t have found a better match than Hawksley to produce this record,” Lane says. “He chased tones and textures like a boss, killed the drum tracks and watched every move I made like a hawk. We both also come from similar backgrounds, having been child prodigies on our home turfs, both living and breathing music our entire lives.”

A veteran when it comes to live shows, Lane is preparing to tour Animal throughout Canada. The tour begins Aug 22 and makes its way to Vancouver on Aug 26. “I’m extremely excited to perform the new songs,” she says. “We’re pulling out all the stops for this tour to really represent Sounding the Animal to our utmost potential. It’s a theatrical show; it’s going to be an out-of-the-ordinary, mind-blowing experience.” - Vancouver Daily Xtra

August 7, 2014

With delightful easy humour, Megan Lane describes the years of hard work, hard knocks and fun that brought her bluesy style to pop rock

If the road to a music career is paved with practise then Megan Lane should have a pretty smooth ride from this point forward.

Sister of Canadian songbird Jen Lane, with brother, Jeremy Lane, releasing online, she has stories a-plenty of a family raised by music fans where toys were instruments and Christmas lists boiled down to begging for a rock ’n’ roll electric guitar.

Like any formidable talent, her first songwriting masterpiece isn’t about the technique, the hours of theory, starting the blues circuit at age 12, mastering the vibrato needed, or the skill to make the guitar sound as though it too has feelings, but rather about telling her story.

“I think you grow up faster when you’re faced with really heavy things like being a social outcast or having to fear for your life in certain situations,” she explained.

Both her and Rae Spoon, with whom she co-wrote the first single, Someday We Will Leave This Town, off her new album, Sounding the Animal, grew up queer in small town Saskatchewan. The upbeat riff rock anthem, humorously influenced by the What Does the Fox Say? phenomenon in its video, sticks in the head like peanut butter to the roof of your mouth, leaving fans a taste of its upbeat bop pop for hours.

The album is technically her third full-length effort, but the first she is proud of, with friend and fellow musician Hawksley Workman producing, co-writing and lending his musical hand to the creation.

Penned in Montreal, and in a cabin in Saskatchewan's boreal forest, it marks a major step outside the box for the young blues fiend.

“Blues was a real guitar sport, but I kind of out grew it as I wanted to try and experiment with lots of different structures and with songwriting,” she said.

Writing 50 songs before selecting the best ones, Lane wasn’t precious with the material. The result, nevertheless, does include a song about a cabin in a woods, as one might expect, but it also hosts a hidden ghost.

“I’m kind of like a weird witchy being. My great-grandma was kind of like this pretty interesting lady that owned an antique store and believed everything held energy, so she taught us to be open to these things,” she said.

The album drops Aug. 22 and Lane hits Kelowna for her first appearance in years, on Aug. 30, to play Fernando’s Pub on Bernard Avenue. - Kelowna Capital News

September 4, 2014

When Megan Lane sat down to write her new album, it's not surprising she planned to write a blues record. After all, she made a name for herself from a young age for her serious blues guitar chops. But Sounding the Animal, produced by Hawksley Workman, ended up becoming a different beast.

"I was writing 12 hours a day, every day. I was doing it like a practice and not just when I felt inspired," the Saskatoon multi-instrumentalist said. "It just turned out most of my creative energy wasn't going in that direction, it went in more of a riff-rock direction. After doing some co-writing with Hawksley we kind of created a direction."

The result is slick and catchy, but retains the bluesy spontaneity Lane is known for.

Lane made songwriting more than a full-time job with Sounding the Animal, eventually creating more than 50 songs to choose from for the album, her fourth.

"So often you write a record and end up with a favourite or two favourites and I wanted them all to be favourites," she said.

She spent two years writing. Most of the material from the first year didn't make it into the album.

Lane said it can be hard to let go, but knew it was an important part of moving forward as a songwriter.

"I think that's a big step in me becoming an artist. One of my big mottos was 'don't be precious about anything.'" She and Workman narrowed the field to 12 songs, which make up the final draft of Sounding the Animal.

Lane got to put her impressive axe skills to good use on the album.

Lane said Workman was like a mad scientist with a huge collection of guitars and amps. They tried countless permutations until they found the perfect sound for each song.

One of the old songs that did make the cut dates all the way back to New Year's Eve 2011. Coyote/Wolf (a title Lane recently had tattooed on her arm) was inspired by an encounter with an unusual animal. Ten minutes before the clock struck midnight, a giant coyote emerged from the woods and looked directly into Lane's eyes.

"I have a connection to animals and I feel like when they approach you like that it means something."

A year later, she found out about coywolfs, a coyote/wolf hybrid. The moment was the creative beginning for Sounding the Animal. It was also the song that initially got Workman interested in working with Lane. The pair ended up co-writing two songs, Soul Becomes a Ghost and Never Easy, for the record.

Lane recently released a video for the album's first single Someday We Will Leave This Town (watch it at meganlane.com), which she co-wrote with Calgary transgender musician Rae Spoon. It's something of an anthem for people who feel out of place in their hometowns.

It was a theme both musicians felt a strong connection to.

"We both come from smaller prairie cities and we're both queer people. We thought let's try to write something inspiring for people who have been through what we've been through," she said.

It's a catchy song with a positive message Lane hopes will plant seeds in people's heads.

Lane will share the new music - along with vocalist and bass player Trisha Foster and drummer Roger Mercier - at The Artful Dodger. Lane said it's a big sound and a theatrical show.

"Playing this material is so much fun. It's a marathon. It's more of an intense workout than I have ever had on stage," she said.

Megan Lane When: Sept. 7 Where: The Artful Dodger
© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post - Regina LeaderPost

August 20, 2014

When Megan Lane sat down to write her new album, it's not surprising that she planned to write a blues record. After all, she made a name for herself from a young age for her serious blues guitar chops. But Sounding the Animal, which was produced by Hawksley Workman, ended up becoming a very different beast.

"I was writing 12 hours a day every day. I was doing it like a practice and not just when I felt inspired," the Saskatoon multi-instrumentalist said. "It just turned out most of my creative energy wasn't going in that direction, it went in more of a riff-rock direction. After doing some co-writing with Hawksley we kind of created a direction."

The result is slick and catchy, but retains the bluesy spontaneity Lane is known for.

Lane made songwriting more than a full-time job with Sounding the Animal, eventually creating more than 50 songs to choose from for the album, her fourth.

"So often you write a record and end up with a favourite or two favourites and I wanted them all to be favourites," she said.

She spent two years writing. Most of the material from the first year didn't make it to the album.

Lane said it can be hard to let go, but she knew it was an important part of moving forward as a songwriter.

"I think that's a big step in me becoming an artist. One of my big mottos was 'Don't be precious about anything.' If you hang on too tightly to everything you create, you're blocking more creativity that could be coming in and creating even better things."

She and Workman narrowed the field to 12 songs, which make up the final draft of Sounding the Animal.

Lane got to put her impressive axe skills to good use on the album.

Lane said Workman was like a mad scientist with a huge collection of guitars and amps. They tried countless permutations until they found the perfect sound for each song.

"It was just such a fun time to play with all of those amazing vintage guitars and pedals and running things through old tape machines. It was an absolute blast," she said.

One of the old songs that did make the cut dates all the way back to New Year's Eve 2011. Coyote/Wolf (a title Lane recently had tattooed on her arm) was inspired by an encounter with an unusual animal. Ten minutes before the clock struck midnight, a giant coyote emerged from the woods and looked directly into Lane's eyes.

"I have a connection to animals and I feel like when they approach you like that it means something. I couldn't figure out if it was a wolf or a coyote."

A year later, she found out about coywolfs, a coyote/wolf hybrid. The moment was the creative beginning for Sounding the Animal. It was also the song that initially got Workman interested in working with Lane. The pair ended up co-writing two songs, Soul Becomes a Ghost and Never Easy, for the record.

Lane recently released a video for the album's first single Someday We Will Leave This Town (watch it at meganlane.com), which she co-wrote with Calgary transgender musician Rae Spoon. It's something of an anthem for people who feel out of place in their hometowns. It was a theme both musicians felt a strong connection to.

"We both come from smaller prairie cities and we're both queer people. We thought let's try to write something inspiring for people who have been through what we've been through," she said.

It's a catchy song with a positive message Lane hopes will plant seeds in people's heads.

Lane will share the new music - along with vocalist and bass player Trisha Foster and drummer Roger Mercier - at a CD release party on Friday, followed by a Canadian tour. Lane said it's a big sound and a theatrical show.

The whole thing takes place on a stage complete with furs and taxidermied animals, in keeping with the album's theme.

"Playing this material is so much fun. It's a marathon. It's more of an intense workout than I have ever had on stage," she said. - Edmonton Journal

April 10, 2014

Megan Lane @ Neat Cafe, Burnstown, Saturday

If you're not already heading to Joel Plaskett with the N.A.C. Orchestra Saturday night, you have a myriad of options. My pick is Saskatooner Megan Lane in Burnstown, Ont. Megan Lane was at Neat Cafe not too long ago but as a musical backbencher: she was part of master beatboxing rhymer C.R. Avery's show.

The Neat web site says: "To put it succinctly, people tend to leave a C.R. Avery Burlesque show in a state of shock; which they did. There was also a flood of queries on who his guitar player was. Well, she was Megan Lane and she's on tour." A pretty sweet review, or preview in this case.

This week I was granted a sneak peek of three tunes from Megan's third album, produced by Hawksley Workman. The tune "Someday We Will Leave This Town" is an anthem for the disenfranchised, and Megan's camp says it's going to be the single of the summer. It's got a fantastic Tegan & Sara-esque quality to it, but in this case it's Megan & Rae.

One of my favourite voices, Rae Spoon, came to the writing table with Megan and they penned it together. The record Sounding the Animal isn't available until August, but buzz is already building. In fact, a videographer for Strombo show is travelling with Megan Lane & her band to Neat Cafe from Toronto. He's going behind-the-scenes of the tour for a promo video, so they really want folks to come be part of the excitement at Neat Saturday night. If you've not been it's a fantastic, cozy space with great acoustics and even better food, so go early for a meal. - CBC News

August 20, 2014

When Megan Lane sat down to write her new album, it's not surprising that she planned to write a blues record. After all, she made a name for herself from a young age for her serious blues guitar chops. But Sounding the Animal, which was produced by Hawksley Workman, ended up becoming a very different beast.

"I was writing 12 hours a day every day. I was doing it like a practice and not just when I felt inspired," the Saskatoon multi-instrumentalist said. "It just turned out most of my creative energy wasn't going in that direction, it went in more of a riff-rock direction. After doing some co-writing with Hawksley we kind of created a direction."

The result is slick and catchy, but retains the bluesy spontaneity Lane is known for.

Lane made songwriting more than a full-time job with Sounding the Animal, eventually creating more than 50 songs to choose from for the album, her fourth.

"So often you write a record and end up with a favourite or two favourites and I wanted them all to be favourites," she said.

She spent two years writing. Most of the material from the first year didn't make it to the album.

Lane said it can be hard to let go, but she knew it was an important part of moving forward as a songwriter.

"I think that's a big step in me becoming an artist. One of my big mottos was 'Don't be precious about anything.' If you hang on too tightly to everything you create, you're blocking more creativity that could be coming in and creating even better things."

She and Workman narrowed the field to 12 songs, which make up the final draft of Sounding the Animal.

Lane got to put her impressive axe skills to good use on the album.

Lane said Workman was like a mad scientist with a huge collection of guitars and amps. They tried countless permutations until they found the perfect sound for each song.

"It was just such a fun time to play with all of those amazing vintage guitars and pedals and running things through old tape machines. It was an absolute blast," she said.

One of the old songs that did make the cut dates all the way back to New Year's Eve 2011. Coyote/Wolf (a title Lane recently had tattooed on her arm) was inspired by an encounter with an unusual animal. Ten minutes before the clock struck midnight, a giant coyote emerged from the woods and looked directly into Lane's eyes.

"I have a connection to animals and I feel like when they approach you like that it means something. I couldn't figure out if it was a wolf or a coyote."

A year later, she found out about coywolfs, a coyote/wolf hybrid. The moment was the creative beginning for Sounding the Animal. It was also the song that initially got Workman interested in working with Lane. The pair ended up co-writing two songs, Soul Becomes a Ghost and Never Easy, for the record.

Lane recently released a video for the album's first single Someday We Will Leave This Town (watch it at meganlane.com), which she co-wrote with Calgary transgender musician Rae Spoon. It's something of an anthem for people who feel out of place in their hometowns. It was a theme both musicians felt a strong connection to.

"We both come from smaller prairie cities and we're both queer people. We thought let's try to write something inspiring for people who have been through what we've been through," she said.

It's a catchy song with a positive message Lane hopes will plant seeds in people's heads.

Lane will share the new music - along with vocalist and bass player Trisha Foster and drummer Roger Mercier - at a CD release party on Friday, followed by a Canadian tour. Lane said it's a big sound and a theatrical show.

The whole thing takes place on a stage complete with furs and taxidermied animals, in keeping with the album's theme.

"Playing this material is so much fun. It's a marathon. It's more of an intense workout than I have ever had on stage," she said.

smckay@thestarphoenix.com

MEGAN LANE

Friday, 10 p.m. Capitol Music Club Tickets $10 Box office: Capitol Music Club Facebook page or at the door
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix - Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Megan Lane’s youthful sound

Saskatoon’s Megan Lane started music young too but she’s been growing up fast, as you can witness when she returns to play Blues On Whyte the last week of this year.

After forming an attachment to Elvis at age eight, she picked up guitar and made her debut in a jam session at 11. The blues-rocker singer-guitarist had her first full-length album out at 15 and it was promptly nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award.

For years, Lane was a regular at weekly jams in Saskatoon’s popular blues hangout, Bud’s Blues, tapping her influences from old-school blues, greats like Buddy Guy, upstarts like Johnny Lang, and prairie-based mentors like Big Dave McLean. As her creative vision continues to expand, she’s been sorting out her career, getting better at writing songs about those classic inspirations — life, love and sadness.

“I’m probably known more as a blues musician, probably because I’m a female lead guitarist,’’ offers Lane, “but some of the younger people at shows see me as a rocker and we do play some loud, high-energy stuff.’’

At 23, Lane has been criss-crossing the country for more than a decade, usually fronting a trio. She shared a stage with the likes of Colin James and Buffy Saint Marie to play for the Queen at Saskatchewan’s centennial celebration in 2005 and has appeared on both CBC and CTV television nationally. More recently, she has been thrilled to hit a few of the festivals with her power trio.

“I’ve had opportunities to play with more musicians but I love the freedom of a trio, to be able to go somewhere spontaneous that’s still within the structure of a song.’’

Lane’s last couple of albums, Wrapped In Plastic (2006) and Bow And Drill The Spark (2009), have won her a lot more attention as they gradually leaned toward a rock direction, but that may change. Since she left her hometown four months ago and moved to Montreal, she has been rediscovering the blues as she explores that city’s roots, soul and funk scene. Now she’s busy recording an all-acoustic blues EP, and her upcoming shows here will open with a few acoustic tunes.

Bassist Graham Tilsley and drummer Kyle Krysa (a Grant MacEwan grad) will fill out Megan Lane’s trio when she hits the Commercial Hotel’s Blues On Whyte, 10329 Whyte Ave. (780-439-5058) Dec. 26 to 28.
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal


Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/young+musicians+right+musical+track/3988865/story.html#ixzz18anr6OFu - The Edmonton Journal

MEGAN LANE
tele-toting blues-rocker brings her sound to town
By Lindsay Wilson


For Megan Lane, pre-teen days spent perched at the edge of her bed learning Jimi Hendrix riffs on her guitar were certainly not spent in vain. Years later, Lane has worked her way up the ropes and is now recognized among the pros as a soulful vocalist who sports a mean axe (which would be a G & L Asat Classic) and an agglomeration of solid, original material.??

It’s a long way since the all-ages jam at Bud’s on Broadway, the Saskatoon’s blues bar where Lane began to play live by age eleven.??

“I’ve been obsessed with music from a very young age. When I was a toddler my parents would put the Rolling Stones on the ghetto blaster and I would essentially use it as a pillow. I always wanted to listen to music, and loudly,” says Lane.??

Somewhere along the path of musical education, playing music loudly morphed into playing it with passion – evident in any Megan Lane song. The girl possesses a bone-chillingly powerful voice with enough dynamic to hold the listener, song after song. ??

Finding a sweet spot somewhere between blues, rock, jazz and soul, Lane worries not about writing under some imaginary set of guidelines, but about writing quality original material that moves audiences all over.??

“Over the years I have struggled to become a better writer by putting genre ?pressures aside and focusing on writing raw, real and genuine material. This has ?been a slow process throughout my albums. In Bow and Drill the Spark I feel I’m ?moving closer to the songwriter I strive to be. This album also has a heavier sound ?than the last two releases, and is lyrically and musically more mature than the ?previous records.”

??Her third album, Bow and Drill the Spark (2009), shines as a rock album with powerful elements of blues, highlighting Lane’s versatility as a musician. For her, no matter where she takes her music, the blues remains a comfortable place to work from.??

“My blues influences have strongly shaped my sound. No matter where my muses ?take me, the blues will always be the canvas on which I will create original music,” admits the Saskatoon native.??

No stranger to the road, Lane focuses her energy into touring with her current power trio, The Megan Lane Band, and is enjoying the groove she and her band are creating.??

“Dynamics, space, and time. The potential for a group to achieve one state of mind ?and move together within it is most achievable with the old school three-piece. ?Spontaneity creates passion, and nothing can imitate the fullness and power to ?heartfelt music,” explains Lane, who continues on to explain that the greatest challenge in today’s music market is convincing people to open their minds up to original ideas and new sounds.??

This month sees The Megan Lane Band performing in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Vancouver and Calgary. Her spring tour winds up in Ottawa at The National Arts Center Theatre, where Lane will be opening up acoustically for Colin James, followed by a full band showcase at the Library and Archives Canada Auditorium, along with Little Miss Higgins, Romi Mayes and Suzie Vinnick.??When not totally consumed by the music, Lane devotes much time to slam poetry, community cultural groups and charity work. She received recognition from the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan for her societal contributions in 2005.??

“I think no matter the career path I chose in life, I would and always will be ?committed to furthering equality, compassion not just tolerance and justice in our ?society. I am hopeful that this comes through not only in my charitable ?contributions, but through my art as well,” says Lane. - BeatRoute

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Do not get your eyes checked; that denim-blue blur you see on the music scene is probably just Megan Lane.
The Saskatoon blueswoman seems to be everywhere these days, from pitching her hometown as a good site for the Juno awards to playing for the Queen. On Friday, she'll appear in front of 60,000 people on Parliament Hill for Canada's birthday, then open for the Downchild Blues Band at Bessborough Gardens. Those last two gigs take place in the space of 27 hours.
"Summer is always the busiest season but this summer is definitely the busiest I've been and that's totally what I'm going for,'' Lane said recently. She's also on both official Saskatchewan centennial rock tours. And she plays at the closing ceremonies for the Canada Summer Games.
"I think I'm jumping over a hurdle right now,'' she says.
The starting leap of the season was Lane's contribution to the Lieutenant Governor's Centennial Gala where she got to meet stars like Colin James and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Like many who first see the 17-year-old, James had no idea what kind of raw, gut-shot blues Lane is capable of producing.
"Once he heard me play he couldn't believe it, really. He was like 'holy smokes, like, you're pretty rockin.'
"People are usually pretty shocked to see that come out of a little chick.''
Instant fans, James and Sainte-Marie made sure Lane got to meet Joni Mitchell.
"Buffy grabbed me by the arm and pulled me over. Colin and Buffy, they were bragging me up.''
Lane also got to meet Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who walked by with Prince Phillip and greeted each performer. The Queen took a few seconds longer with Lane, leaning in and saying something to her. Everyone would love to know what the Queen said in those few seconds -- everyone including Lane herself.
It turns out that between the in-ear monitor Lane was wearing and the huge orchestra right behind them, even Lane herself doesn't know.
"Everybody's asking, and I did not hear her,'' Lane says glumly.
"My heart just dropped into my stomach. I smiled and gave a nod and she said 'good, good' and moved on.
"It's too bad, eh? I wanna get somebody who reads lips.''
One of the funnest gigs recently was staging Saskatchewan Night at the Juno Awards in Winnipeg, an event to sway organizers to hold the Junos in Saskatoon. Guitarists like Lane, Shaun Verreault and Jordan Cook lined up and rocked out in unison.
"That was so much fun. It had all of us guitar players who started out jamming at the Saturday jams at Bud's. It sounded so amazing.''
The rehearsal was, if anything, even more of a riot.
"We were goofing off like you can't believe, imitating each other's guitar faces.''
One of the many gigs Lane is looking forward to is the Bessborough Gardens.
She remembers seeing Jonny Lang play there when she was about 11 -- a year before she'd even played in public.
"I'll be great. It's just such a beautiful place and the stage is nice and big.
Fans will note Lane's new look -- a short haircut replaces the dreadlocks she wore for four years.
"I just totally needed a change. It feels so good to be able to properly wash my hair.''
As for summer, guess what? - she's looking forward to it. "It's going to be great. It's going to be awesome.''
- The StarPhoenix, By Cam Fuller

Megan Lane: youthful, energetic and real

By Alyssa Ingold for The Session

Petite in stature at 5'4", gentle blue eyes, youthfully mature and philosophically poetic in every word…this is Megan Lane, the singer and guitarist of the funk-blues-R & B-soul band Megan Lane and Deep Set Soul.

Although only 16, she is already deemed a seasoned musician by fellow musicians and peers. In fact, Megan officially released her first album "Purple and Blue" this March, and it's gaining success and credibility by the minute. As such, she had CD release parties in Saskatoon, Swift Current and Regina locations, accompanied by a mini tour throughout southern Saskatchewan.

There is no doubt about it; Megan is no stranger to the stage. She has been performing since the age of 12 at concerts, local public jam sessions, festivals and showcasing events throughout Western Canada, each of which have made her quite well known amoung classmates and locals.

In fact, not more than two minutes after I joined Megan for coffee, she was approached by an adoring fan.

"Excuse me," said the women who approached Megan from the other end of the coffeehouse. "Are you Megan Lane?"

Megan shyly nodded her dreadlocked mane as she humbly smiled, with a simple and polite "Yes."

The fan was ecstatic.

"I'm moving out of the city at the end of the month and I was hoping to get your CD before I leave," the woman earnestly yet excitedly explained. "I just love your music. Where can I get one of your CDs?"

Megan seemed pleased as she politely told the woman about her upcoming CD release party at Lydia's in Saskatoon, her hometown, where she would have CDs and other merchandise for sale.

The woman said she would be sure to go the CD release party, and thanked Megan for her time before she departed.

This is the story of Megan Lane. She performs, she draws attention, and then takes it all in with gracious professionalism.

Although Megan didn't take guitar lessons until she was 11, she had always been surrounded by musical influences. While her parents are music lovers in general, both her older sister and brother are heavily involved in the Saskatchewan music scene, with her parents managing each of their children's music careers. Her sister Jen, now 21, recently released her second album, "Injection," a modern folk-jazz album. Her 18-year-old brother Jeremy plays Tom Waits style music.

At the age of 12 Megan starting performing at a local all-ages music club called Bud's, where jams took place on Saturday afternoons.

"I was first introduced to Bud's jams when I went there with my friend Zack from elementary school," Megan explained. "There were lots of young musicians there, like Jordan Cook and The Mocking Shadows, and I wanted to do the same thing."

By performing at Bud's jams, Megan was able to meet and network with other experienced musicians. At this time, she met her drummer Bryce Lemky and bassist Dai Kobayashi, who now form her three-piece band.

Soon after, Megan began getting calls to do shows and perform at music festivals all over Saskatchewan.

"I love doing live shows," Megan said. "It's great to see the audience's reactions and to connect with the crowd."

In fact, Megan incorporated her love of performing and the stage in the theme of her album because she feels 'purple' and 'blue' when she performs.

"Purple is anger and blue is love," Megan explained. "I feel a contrast between the two when I'm on stage and I lose myself in the music."

Anyone who has seen Megan live or has listened to her CD can testify that she is not only a talented songwriter, but also a very poetic and philosophical person. Having written and produced every song on the album, Megan was able to bare her soul in the music.

"Everything inspires me to write," Megan explains. "I write about life situations that everyone faces and the human race in general. I even wrote a song on the album in respect to the war victims in other cultures."

Being blues based, Megan's album has an authentic, live three-piece band sound that was influenced by artists like B.B. King, Jimmy Hendrix, Johnny Lang, and even Fiona Apple.

"Live is what we do," Megan said. "Our fans have grown with us when it comes to live performance, but we want them to appreciate the amount of studio creativity we have added to each song on the album."

Having independently produced her album at Audio Art Recording in Saskatoon, Megan is grateful for the artistic freedom she was able to express during her recording time. As such, she is carefully looking for a major-label record deal that will still allow her to remain creative and produce music that is true to her heart.

"It's not about fame or making money," Megan sincerely stated. "It's about playing music and expressing my feelings."

In this light, Megan says music is her life and she will work everything else around it, even challenges that occasionally cross her career path. - The Session; Saskatchewan Recording Industry Association

Monday, October 02, 2006

Megan Lane Article for Planet S Magazine


MEGAN MOVES FORWARD

Teen Guitar Phenom Takes The Next Step With Confident, Mature Sophomore Release.



By Craig Silliphant



For Planet S Magazine



Megan Lane saunters across the stage of the darkened club and flips the switch on her amp, filling the room with an audible buzz as the tubes warm up. A few skeptical faces pepper the crowd, as they take note of Lane's diminutive size, pale skin, and poker-faced expression. They've been lied to before by other 'teen prodigies', who were nothing more than beginners with overly ambitious parents. Lane slings her guitar over her shoulders, giving one last look to her band mates, bassist David "The Squid" Parker, and drummer Jordan Trask. As her fingers light up across the fret board, a colossal sound escapes from her amplifier, sailing out the front door --- taking the skeptical looks with it. People passing by outside hear the wailing music and glance at the marquee as they pass, to see who is kicking up the drifting blues-rock fuss.

"All it takes is one note," jokes Lane.

If you made it through 2005 without knowing who young blues mistress Megan Lane is, you are decidedly among the minority. Somehow, you missed Saskatchewan's favourite teen prodigy rocking out for no less than Queen Elizabeth II at the Lieutenant Governor's Centennial Gala, while sharing the stage with some of Saskatchewan's better known performers. You also missed her playing a tribute to Joni Mitchell on Parliament Hill for Canada Day, and you somehow managed to miss her traversing the province with Tom Cochrane and Wide Mouth Mason on the Saskatchewan Centennial Tour. Last year, Megan Lane was 17 and everywhere. If her ubiquitous nature has nothing to do with the involvement of some sort of Fred Flintstone type clone, then what is it?

"A show that has something for everyone," explains Lane. "Lots of variety. Some songs that'll make you want to dance, but [also songs that will] stimulate your thoughts and emotions at the same time. I like to think that we never disappoint."

More than halfway through 2006, Lane shows no signs of slowing down. Having ditched her trademark dreads a while back and dropped the Deep Soul Set moniker, Lane is back on the scene with the follow up to her debut LP, 2004's Purple and Blue. The new opus is called Wrapped In Plastic and it finds Lane turning 18 and becoming even more comfortable in her songwriting. She has been working steadily towards this since she was a preteen, earning the respect of her elders along the way, including the likes of underground prairie blues legend Big Dave McLean.

"I started going to the blues jam at Bud's when I was about 10 or 12," recalls Lane. "[I started] taking guitar lessons shortly after that. [I was performing] in bars and festivals by the time I was 12. I couldn't get enough of the rush of playing live shows. I still can't. The blues scene is very tight here in Saskatoon. The all-ages blues jam at Bud's helped me big time. Having so many mentors and supporters. People to keep your confidence up, no matter what level you're at. I call them my 'music family'."

Whether in a club, or on karaoke crapfests like Canadian Idol, audiences seem to have an unexplainable attraction to teenage musicians. They watch with rapt attention, mesmerized as big musician sounds come from the mouths and instruments of little artists. So many of these teen musicians are illusionists, trading on nothing but manufactured hype and the novelty factor before sinking into obscurity by age 20, but talking to Megan Lane, you instantly sense that her commitment level goes well beyond her years --- and she's got the talent to match it. Her music also showcases a vast amount of confidence in every guitar note and every pushed syllable of her steamy voice.

Now that she has turned 18, the time is nigh to abandon the juicy positioning of 'teen guitar whiz'. But with her commitment and songwriting abilities, it's difficult to imagine any sort of stall in Lane's career --- especially after hearing the determination in her voice when she speaks about her future.

"Being young helps with advertising when breaking ground in new cities," says Lane, "and I'm already feeling that changing as I get older. But I work hard at what I do, and I feel my music. I know people can hear that. So I'm not worried, simply because I won't stop making music, no matter what. It's almost as though I have no choice but to do this, because without it, I wouldn't be me."


- Planet S Magazine

Grande Prairie music fans have a history with Megan Lane. The Saskatchewan-based singer/blues guitarist returns to the Swan City next week to play some new music she’s been working on for her third album, before she heads into the recording studio.

“I finally got enough good material, I didn’t want to settle on any half-assed songs,” she said about her writing process over the last year. Along with her band, Lane has been working on the pre-production for the new disc, which they will record in studio in December and January.

She’ll be co-producing with Josh Palmer, a long-time friend and “amazing musician” said Lane.

“He’s really got an ear for that sort of thing, so I’m passing the trust over to him a little bit – which is a big step for me,” she said. Lane produced her last two discs, and feels Palmer’s production will enhance the next album without costing her a friendship.

“There’s definitely risk involved,” she said, “but risk is so important.”

“I’m looking forward to having another set of ears producing ... these songs may go places I’ve never thought they could go, which is cool,” she added.


Lane said it’s hard to define how her sound has evolved since she recorded 2006’s “Wrapped in Plastic”.

“I’d probably have to be somewhere outside my body to figure that out,” she joked when asked about the changes the past two years have brought. “Some of the songs are a little bit heavier, some of them are lighter, it’s very dynamic, just like the last two albums.”

Lane had the chance to get to Grande Prairie last winter.

“It’s always lots of fun playing (in Grande Prairie). I mean, it’s lots of fun just to play in general and we tour as much as we can,” she said. At the last set of shows in 2007, Lane said fans bought a good number of CDs so she wouldn’t be surprised if more of the crowd knew at least some of her older material.

“Hopefully, a lot of people will come out who are more familiar with our music, but newbies are welcome as well,” said Lane.

Because the crowd could be made up of people new to Lane, and those more familiar, she said she’ll cover all her bases by playing songs from all the three CDs of material.

She said that at each visit, she’s recognizing more people through the glare of the stage lights, and some are beginning to request her songs as well.

“Since I’ve done three or four cross-Canada (tours) it’s starting to happen and people are starting to, you know, bring our CDs to their friends and order them off iTunes.”

“There’s nothing better than when somebody requests an original song, of course, you play it,” said Lane, clearly pleased.

Audiences across Canada will get a bigger taste of what Lane has been cooking up in the studio, as she’s planning to cover the country once the new disc is in stores. While nothing has been finalized, Lane said it was likely her new CD would be available in record stores through a distribution deal.

In the past, Lane said she wasn’t as comfortable with the idea of longer tours to far-flung parts of Canada. That’s changed, even in the face of the familiar issues like band members’ other commitments.

“I just said, ‘OK, I’m not going to worry about that, I’m going to book and if I need to find a fill-in bass player, I’ll find a fill-in bass player’.”

Another change in how Lane is presenting herself to the public, is her recent decision to move into more merchandising, by making T-shirts to offer alongside her music. Finding the right design has been tough, as she likes to have creative input on every aspect of her career.

“I’ve never had anybody come up with something that I would wear,” she said. By making stickers and shirts, she can introduce herself through fans to new eyes and hopefully, ears.

“Little things done to help, to advertise, is good because there’s a chance that somebody might actually listen to the music – it all comes down to the music,” she explained.

In the future, Lane would like to get on the bill for more festivals shows. “The festival circuit would be amazing but that would take time,” she said of the plan. “I think this album is the first big step – because with the past two, I’ve learned a lot.”

She’s hoping that getting her disc into stores will help raise her exposure to music lovers. “Some people are collectors and they like to have the disc, and that’s how I am. I don’t have an MP3 player. All of the guys laugh at me because I bring the very biggest bag of CDs every trip, cause that’s just the way I am.”

Megan Lane plays Better than Fred’s with her band, on Dec. 19 and 20 for a $5 cover. For more information, check out Lane’s page on MySpace, CD Baby or the iTunes Store. - Ian Kucerak/Encore!

Saskatchewan shines at gala

Joanne Paulson
The StarPhoenix

May 20, 2005

Saskatchewan, you looked good on national TV last night. And so commercial-free.

Bless Mother Corp. for showing us in our best light, with (a few exceptions) smooth camera work that displayed our artists and our landscape so well.

The Lieutenant Governor's Centennial Gala, despite its earlier setbacks, did us proud, mingling First Nations and European cultures with aplomb.

The opening number was hardly a surprise. Brad Johner, Andrea Menard, Theresa Sokyrka and Megan Lane came out to sing the centennial anthem, Saskatchewan, We Love This Place, dramatized with a First Nations beat.

Then comic Brent Butt appeared as host of the show, and soon gave everyone the cue for Queen Elizabeth II's arrival.

"When I say canola, everyone please stand, and she'll think we've been standing the whole time," said Butt, who always knows how to be funny without being offensive.

CBC broke away from Megan Lane's subsequent solo performance when the Queen and Prince Philip arrived, accompanied by Lt.-Gov. Lynda Haverstock and commentary from hosts Sheila Coles and Costa Maragos (who politely did not appear too often). A young choir greeted Her Majesty with God Save The Queen, which may not be the most inspiring song but was actually moving on this night. Michael Burgess followed with O Canada, in both official languages, rather less successfully.

Then it was back to the show. There wasn't quite a river running through it -- more of a runway painted like a river -- but it worked for Butt, who wandered it in his usual slightly nervous style and treated us to his funny and bittersweet comic song, Nothing Rhymes with Saskatchewan. OK, Butt can't really sing, but nobody cares. He's too great.

What followed was an impressive lineup of Saskatchewan stars.

Buffy Sainte-Marie looked beautiful, and sounded magnificent, as if the years since she first sang Universal Soldier have never passed. Connie Kaldor's contralto was in excellent form, and she sang intimately to the audience. Poet Lorna Crozier presented her mythic poem about light, Saskatchewan's legacy from God; poets aren't usually performers, but this one is.

And if there was any doubt that Andrea Menard is a star of nova power, her performance of Sonny Makes Me Sunny and Big Yellow Taxi put that to rest. Menard's beautiful voice, mingled with a style that is sincere, theatrical and relaxed, is never to be missed.

Colin James was great, especially in his second song. The medley tribute to Joni Mitchell, arguably our most famous ex-pat, was terrific . . . especially Lane's steaming hot version of Woodstock. And then, the Queen appeared on stage; what a final moment, especially for the artists who shook her hand.

The pace and mood did lag a few times during the show, and a couple of moments were lame; but in the overall effect, it was hard not to echo anthem-writer Stan Garchinski: We love this place. We do rock, Saskatchewan. - The Saskatoon StarPhoenix

SOUNDING THE ANIMAL
Megan Lane
[COYOTE/WOLF RECORDS]
Saskatoon vocalist and multi-instrumentalist
Megan Lane — who has been performing
professionally since the age of 12 — offers
a knockout punch with her latest album,
Sounding the Animal. Lane’s confident vocals power captivating, electronica-infused rock. The guitars are often reminiscent of Billy Duffy’s work for The Cult in their Dreamtime and Love era; they are that good. The first single, “Someday We Will Leave This Town,” is hopeful and inspiring; it promises those who feel alienated that they will eventually find a niche and a supportive community. -- DENISE REICH - Shameless Magazine (Toronto, ON)

March 4, 2015 --

Megan Lane has been challenging boundaries since before she was a teenager. So far it's working great.

The Saskatoon blues player was rocking an open stage before she was high school age. As a blues guitarist, she's a woman in a male-dominated position.

Even when they're her own boundaries, she pushes through; sitting down to write her latest album, the plan was to get back to her roots with a straight-up blues record. It didn't turn out that way.
"I don't do well with limits. Saying I was writing a blues record was limits. When I find those, I tend to push against them," Lane says.
The resulting album, Sounding the Album, isn't a complete departure. She still displays the guitar virtuosity that made her reputation.
But instead of straight blues it's an exercise in riff rock and hard-hitting jams you can stomp your feet to.

"You make plans not to carry out those exact plans. It's just to get you started," she says. It seems to have paid off. The first single, Someday We Will Leave This Town, has seen radio play across Canada and earned her an award for Best Rock Song from RightOutTV. The video was well received, and there's another on the way.

Since the album's August release, Lane has been hard at work, as always. The tour has taken her near and far but this month she's taken time to stay in her hometown. She'll show off her latest stuff at the Capitol this Friday, then it's back to work, with South by Southwest and a European tour on the calendar.
It's a busy schedule, and music doesn't pay what it used to.
Unlike most, Lane was lucky enough to find her passion early and has managed to ride it out.

"It's ridiculously hard to do this for a living. You gotta really want to do it."

Lane is one of a collection of Saskatoon rockers who cut their teeth on the blues jams at Bud's on Broadway. She was 10 or 11 the first time she went.

"I was just a geeky kid who was really into playing guitar," she says.
A friend's mom brought them out. She was amazed there was a place people could get up and just jam.

"It inspired me to go home and work on my chops, and then head down there and get the courage to jump up and play," she says.
Her parents helped as well. They were friends with the parents of Kyle Riabko, who would go on to star on Broadway. "So they set up kind of a play date and we hung out and jammed at Kyle's place," Lane says.

Once she got the courage to get up on stage, she made a quick impression, and was soon playing with other locals. She started touring in her teens, building a name as someone with chops beyond her years.
Eventually, she dropped out of high school to pursue music full time. More than 10 years later, she's still at it.

"It's a totally messy, weird industry and we're just doing our best," she says. "Everything is constantly changing and evolving, so you just roll with it."

During an early tour in Ontario, Lane made an impression on longtime Canadian rocker Hawksley Workman. "My manager at the time was also from Saskatchewan, and she said there was this kind of astonishing young blues guitar player," Workman says.

They talked on the phone about working together. It took more than a decade, but the collaboration finally came together.
"That's what happens in music. You'll have an idea one day, and sometime it takes 10 years to put it together," he says.
The process of writing with another artist was daunting for Lane.

"I originally was petrified to co-write, because it's a really intimate thing you're doing," she says. Workman says he didn't feel her nerves at all. She came to his studio and he showed her his idea of what he thought her record could sound like.

"It was almost a bit like being able to look into the future, and go 'here's what we want the record to kind of feel like, and let's write into that feeling,'" he says.

That meant focusing on her biggest strength. "Megan is such a phenomenal guitar player. I didn't want it to have to adhere to singer-songwriter standards," he says. "I wanted her to sort of feel she could have a songwriting voice as a virtuous guitar player. She could build songs around riffs, and not shy away from putting the guitar in the middle of what she's doing."

Workman isn't the only other artist to help out on the album. Someday We Will Leave This Town was done with Calgary's Rae Spoon. "I thought it was really fun to write with Megan. She's super excited about music. There wasn't really a
moment where we were stuck," Spoon says.

The song draws on themes of teenage alienation, derived from Lane and Spoon's experiences as queer youth growing up on the prairies, although that wasn't their original intention.

"I was, like, it would be cool if she had a big, anthemic pop song. That's all I was thinking," Spoon says.

Similar to how the rest of the album's sound morphed from blues to rock, that song went in directions they didn't anticipate.

"We were like, let's not write a 'gay' song, but we're both just so gay, it ended up super-queer anyway,"
Lane says, laughing. "Once that started to happen, we just went with it. I've had a lot of people say it's got a good underdog vibe."

The song's video also embraces alternative cultures. During a month-long residency at a bar in Toronto, Lane started seeing more and more furries, a subculture devoted to dressing in exaggerated
animal costumes. She thought it was fun, and says it's an example of how members of alternative scenes naturally find each other.

"It's like playing a gig in Winnipeg. You play a couple nights at a blues bar. The first night one lesbian is there, and the next night there's 10. It was just kind of that," she says.
She invited some of the furries to be in her video, and even donned some fur and fake fangs herself.

Her next video, for the song Cabin in the Woods, was produced by Dayna Danger, a queer activist and visual artist. Lane is very excited about it, largely because of how fun the shoot was.
"We just set up the lights, had our list of shots, had everything ready to go, then just cracked into the whiskey and just sort of went for it," she says.

Although she doesn't shy away from talking about her sexuality, Lane doesn't feel her art focuses on it in the same way as someone like Danger. "I'm just a musician that's queer, and that's fine. Whatever, right?" she says.

As for acceptance, she has seen some improvement in the atmosphere that inspired Someday We Will Leave This Town, but says there's a way to go.
"I think it's changing, but I think it's ridiculously, tortoise-slow compared to big cities. But it's the prairies, you know? Things can get a bit frozen in time here," she says.

Lane herself is anything but frozen, with a packed schedule for the year. She's working on an album of Sounding the Animal b-sides, featuring many of the tracks - including the more traditional bluesy ones - that didn't make the first record.

There will be lots of travel, including the South by Southwest gig, something she has wanted to do for a long time. Come summer, Lane will play as many festivals as she can. The change of sound on her latest album has opened some new doors for her.
"Right now, riff rock and guitar music is kind of in, so younger audiences are into it," she says.

From there, it's off to Austria, Germany and Switzerland, more new experiences. In the music business, her latest successes are just another rung on the ladder.
"There's just opportunities arising as we push the record, so the plan is to just keep rocking," she says. - LeaderPost

Saskatoon vocalist and multi-instrumentalist
Megan Lane — who has been performing
professionally since the age of 12 — offers
a knockout punch with her latest album,
Sounding the Animal. Lane’s confident vocals power captivating, electronica-infused rock. The guitars are often reminiscent of Billy Duffy’s work for The Cult in their Dreamtime and Love era; they are that good. The first single, “Someday We Will Leave This Town,” is hopeful and inspiring; it promises those who feel alienated that they will eventually find a niche and a supportive community. -- Denise Reich - Shameless Magazine

Megan Lane has been challenging boundaries since before she was a teenager. So far it's working great.
The Saskatoon blues player was rocking an open stage before she was high school age. As a blues guitarist, she's a woman in a male-dominated position.

Even when they're her own boundaries, she pushes through; sitting down to write her latest album, the plan was to get back to her roots with a straight-up blues record. It didn't turn out that way.
"I don't do well with limits. Saying I was writing a blues record was limits. When I find those, I tend to push against them," Lane says.
The resulting album, Sounding the Album, isn't a complete departure. She still displays the guitar virtuosity that made her reputation.
But instead of straight blues it's an exercise in riff rock and hard-hitting jams you can stomp your feet to.
"You make plans not to carry out those exact plans. It's just to get you started," she says.
It seems to have paid off. The first single, Someday We Will Leave This Town, has seen radio play across Canada and earned her an award for Best Rock Song from RightOutTV. The video was well received, and there's another on the way.
Since the album's August release, Lane has been hard at work, as always. The tour has taken her near and far but this month she's taken time to stay in her hometown. She'll show off her latest stuff at the Capitol this Friday, then it's back to work, with South by Southwest and a European tour on the calendar.
It's a busy schedule, and music doesn't pay what it used to.
Unlike most, Lane was lucky enough to find her passion early and has managed to ride it out.
"It's ridiculously hard to do this for a living. You gotta really want to do it."
Lane is one of a collection of Saskatoon rockers who cut their teeth on the blues jams at Bud's on Broadway. She was 10 or 11 the first time she went.
"I was just a geeky kid who was really into playing guitar," she says.
A friend's mom brought them out. She was amazed there was a place people could get up and just jam.
"It inspired me to go home and work on my chops, and then head down there and get the courage to jump up and play," she says.
Her parents helped as well. They were friends with the parents of Kyle Riabko, who would go on to star on Broadway.
"So they set up kind of a play date and we hung out and jammed at Kyle's place," Lane says.
Once she got the courage to get up on stage, she made a quick impression, and was soon playing with other locals. She started touring in her teens, building a name as someone with chops beyond her years.
Eventually, she dropped out of high school to pursue music full time. More than 10 years later, she's still at it.
"It's a totally messy, weird industry and we're just doing our best," she says. "Everything is constantly changing and evolving, so you just roll with it."
During an early tour in Ontario, Lane made an impression on longtime Canadian rocker Hawksley Workman.
"My manager at the time was also from Saskatchewan, and she said there was this kind of astonishing young blues guitar player," Workman says.
They talked on the phone about working together. It took more than a decade, but the collaboration finally came together.
"That's what happens in music. You'll have an idea one day, and sometimes it takes 10 years to put it together," he says.
The process of writing with another artist was daunting for Lane.
"I originally was petrified to co-write, because it's a really intimate thing you're doing," she says.
Workman says he didn't feel her nerves at all. She came to his studio and he showed her his idea of what he thought her record could sound like.
"It was almost a bit like being able to look into the future, and go 'here's what we want the record to
kind of feel like, and let's write into that feeling,'" he says.
That meant focusing on her biggest strength. "Megan is such a phenomenal guitar player. I didn't want it to have to adhere to singer-songwriter standards," he says.
"I wanted her to sort of feel she could have a songwriting voice as a virtuous guitar player. She could build songs around riffs, and not shy away from putting the guitar in the middle of what she's doing."
Workman isn't the only other artist to help out on the album. Someday We Will Leave This Town was done with Calgary's Rae Spoon.
"I thought it was really fun to write with Megan. She's super excited about music. There wasn't really a moment where we were stuck," Spoon says.
The song draws on themes of teenage alienation, derived from Lane and Spoon's experiences as queer youth growing up on the prairies, although that wasn't their original intention.
"I was, like, it would be cool if she had a big, anthemic pop song. That's all I was thinking," Spoon says.
Similar to how the rest of the album's sound morphed from blues to rock, that song went in directions they didn't anticipate.
"We were like, let's not write a 'gay' song, but we're both just so gay, it ended up super-queer anyway," Lane says, laughing.
"Once that started to happen, we just went with it. I've had a lot of people say it's got a good underdog vibe."
The song's video also embraces alternative cultures. During a month-long residency at a bar in Toronto, Lane started seeing more and more furries, a subculture devoted to dressing in exaggerated
animal costumes. She thought it was fun, and says it's an example of how members of alternative scenes naturally find each other.
"It's like playing a gig in Winnipeg. You play a couple nights at a blues bar. The first night one lesbian is there, and the next night there's 10. It was just kind of that," she says.
She invited some of the furries to be in her video, and even donned some fur and fake fangs herself.
Her next video, for the song Cabin in the Woods, was produced by Dayna Danger, a queer activist and visual artist. Lane is very excited about it, largely because of how fun the shoot was.
"We just set up the lights, had our list of shots, had everything ready to go, then just cracked into the whiskey and just sort of went for it," she says.
Although she doesn't shy away from talking about her sexuality, Lane doesn't feel her art focuses on it in the same way as someone like Danger.
"I'm just a musician that's queer, and that's fine. Whatever, right?" she says.
As for acceptance, she has seen some improvement in the atmosphere that inspired Someday We Will Leave This Town, but says there's a way to go.
"I think it's changing, but I think it's ridiculously, tortoise-slow compared to big cities. But it's the prairies, you know? Things can get a bit frozen in time here," she says.
Lane herself is anything but frozen, with a packed schedule for the year. She's working on an album of Sounding the Animal b-sides, featuring many of the tracks - including the more traditional bluesy ones - that didn't make the first record.
There will be lots of travel, including the South by Southwest gig, something she has wanted to do for a long time. Come summer, Lane will play as many festivals as she can. The change of sound on her latest album has opened some new doors for her.
"Right now, riff rock and guitar music is kind of in, so younger audiences are into it," she says.
From there, it's off to Austria, Germany and Switzerland, more new experiences. In the music business, her latest successes are just another rung on the ladder.
"There's just opportunities arising as we push the record, so the plan is to just keep rocking," she says. - LeaderPost