Rebecca Lascue

Rebecca Lascue, a local Regina singer is currently on her first tour. Rage met with Lascue just before she left for her tour to discuss her music career. Coming from a very musical family, she’s been a musician since she was little, but has only been pursuing it seriously since she graduated university about a year ago.

Lascue usually plays a duo with her boyfriend of almost 3 years, Michael Paul, but she will be performing alone on her tour. “I’m excited to get more confidence as a solo performer, but he’s way better than me at guitar and just instrumentals. I’ve gotten used to having him on stage to play off of. I had my first show by myself last night and I’d been practicing my butt off trying to get ready, but still I was like, oh I wish Michael was here!”

The duo has played many shows before, including at the very first Rage event. They’ve also played at open mics in Europe, where she says the audience tends to appreciate music more. “Here if you go to an open mic it’s like background music. A lot of the opportunities here are for background music, but there the audience was very attentive. Like if you talk you will get shushed. And the talent was phenomenal.”

About her first tour, she says she doesn’t know what to expect, but she is excited. Her tour consisted of 18 shows, several of which were en route on the VIA Rail train. “I hope I actually have time to be creative. I feel like lately it’s been so business, with booking and planning this tour.”

Lascue does all her own booking for now, which she says she doesn’t mind. “I’ve learned a lot, I’ve gotten a lot better at contacting venues. That used to terrify me; if I didn’t hear back, I’d be like, oh they didn’t like me! But you learn that typically you have to contact them a few times and be patient. So now the next challenge is media and writing press releases.”

Aside from getting inspiration from her educational background in psychology, a lot of Lascue’s inspiration for songs comes from relationships. “Good love is hard to write about, but breakups are an excellent source of material.”

In the future for Lascue lies recording an EP and hopefully a European tour. “My life is a big question mark right now. The more I’m out of school, the more I realize that stuff just goes how it goes and there’s not a strict timeline, and with music it really seems like it’s a slow build. You have to put in a lot of time and leg work.”

Lascue is really excited to be opening for Rae Spoon Saturday, February 25th at the Artesian. Tickets are $10 advance at Mysteria Gallery or $12 at the door. Head on down to check out this lovely young musician for yourself!

Check out Rebecca's website here: http://www.rebeccalascue.com/

And she's also been blogging about her tour, so you can read about that here: http://www.rebeccalascue.blogspot.com/ - Rage Regina

“My day has consisted of sitting in a diner, drinking coffee, and talking with my friend,” laughed local musician Rebecca Lascue. While this may seem like a pretty easy day for most people, Lascue is nonetheless hard at work on her Excessive Wordiness Tour, which is taking her across Eastern Canada.

Despite coming from an extensive family background in music and playing since she was a child, the recent University of Regina grad is only now finding the time to pursue music now that her formal education is complete.

“Now that that’s done, I thought it’s the time of my life to take a few years and have fun and explore my passions,” Lascue said. “I’ve learned so much … university takes a lot of attention and time, and I never felt like I had the time to pursue music.

“Since I’ve been out of school … I find that music is a full-time job between practicing, booking, managing a website, and all that stuff. It takes a ton of time, but it’s nice to have the opportunity to do it, finally.”

This isn’t to say that her education was a complete impediment to her music, as she said that her studying of psychology has helped influence her songwriting.

“Psychology is so important because it’s all about people, understanding yourself and your relationships,” Lascue said. “As a musician, what I write about a lot are relationships and observations. I think having that background helps me in that way. One song I was writing while I was studying for a physiology exam, so some of that worked its way into the lyrics. Another one of my songs talks about spotlight attention in a romantic way, but it’s a psychological phenomenon that we had been studying. It was cool getting that stuff emerged into the music.”

Her interest in psychology and healthcare also led Lascue to book not only the traditional venues of clubs and bars, but hospitals as well.

“Music can be very therapeutic, and I think that if you’re lucky enough to have that gift, it’s important to use it to help others and not only because you love it and want to play shows and build your career,” Lascue said. “I had a show in Montreal a few nights ago in a rehab hospital, and it was amazing. They were such a great crowd … they really appreciate it.”

However, this isn’t something that’s new to Lascue, as she’s done “a lot of that in the city too. My mom, my sister, my brother, and I will go to nursing homes and sing. I really like doing it, and I think it’s important.”

Now that Lascue has been given the chance to indulge in her musical goals, she’s found that “once you decide you want to do it and start putting things in motion, all these other opportunities start coming up. I’ve switched my plan so many times.”

Originally on this plan was to do some recording at the start of the year,

“It can be hard in music because there’s no straight path. There are so many different ways you can choose to go,” Lascue said. “Initially, I wanted to record an EP earlier this year, but the timing wasn’t really right, and Michael [Paul], who plays with me, is still in school. It didn’t really seem like the right time, so I decided to tour and work on my live skills.”

Having said that, her hopes of recording this year are still fully intact, and she is looking to record an EP later in the year as well as doing more touring.

“I’m hoping to record the EP in September and do a big release. My goal for next year is to do a European tour,” Lascue said. “I have no idea how I’d organize that, but I had no idea how I’d organize this tour either, and it’s come together.” - Paul Bogdan (The Carillon)

Rebecca Lascue has been playing music from as far back as she can remember. Her mother started teaching her siblings and herself how to sing and play instruments when they could barely speak. Her grandmother performed many times in Western Canada and the United States with an unbelievable stage presence and strong charisma. All this led to Rebecca’s passion for music today.
Rebecca recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) majoring in Psychology. She believes her educational background has influenced her music greatly; she has learned to appreciate her creativity in a different way. “It’s almost like the more I was expected to conform to a very academic way of seeing the world, the more I felt the need to defend and explore a more creative and whimsical approach to life,” says Rebecca. She has studied interpersonal relationships a lot, focusing on the romantics. Many of her songs are centered on that theme, so she feels it has been interesting merging personal experiences and academic knowledge together in order to create music.

Rebecca is quite the traveler and she believes her travels have had quite the effect on her music, both directly and indirectly. She has built up a large stock of creative images, experiences and stories to draw inspirations from over the years.

For the past two years, Rebecca has been playing in an acoustic duo with Michael Paul with shows all over Saskatchewan. They hope to record their first six-song EP with Orion Paradis within the year.

For more information on Rebecca Lascue, visit her website at www.myspace.com/rebeccalascue. - Brandy Exner (The Session, Sask Music)

Recently, Buzzcity caught up to Regina’s Rebecca Lascue and Michael Paul. Rebecca’s original songs, coupled with Michael’s backup vocals and guitar stylings are building a solid base of support among local fans of folk and indie pop music. The duo have played in Ireland and a number of venues across Canada, and Rebecca’s powerful and soul searching lyrics are attracting a growing base of fans. This summer they are appearing at several venues in southern Saskatchewan including the 2nd annual “All Folked Up” festival in Montmartre, Juy 8-10, which also features other Regina artists like Tyler Gilbert. - Brian Bowman

Regina singer/songwriter Rebecca Lascue and her boyfriend and band mate Michael Paul will be performing for people drinking their coffee at Java Express on August 20. The couple has spent the summer performing all over Saskatchewan at events such as All Folked Up in Montmartre and Taste of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Lascue, 24, described their music as folk, singer/songwriter and Indie pop. “It’s more acoustic, chill-out, relaxing type music. We have some fast songs too but it’s really focused on the vocals for me,” she said. Lascue, who used to perform with Saskatchewan Express, said it will be the couple’s first concert in Moose Jaw. “I met Michael a few years ago when we were doing a play. He was the sound guy and I was acting and we have played together since then.” Paul plays the guitar, bass, percussion and sings background vocals for Lascue, who also plays the piano and some guitar. She writes most of the songs. Read more in a future Times-Herald edition. - Rebecca Lawrence

*Steps outisde the box of conventional pop songwriting
*A voice that conveys deep emotion - goosebumps
*Jazzy classical influences in her songwriting - Singer/songwriter and part of Semko Fontaine Taylor

I have known Rebecca for a few years now (and recently played a show with her and Michael), and have seen her develop from a good songwriter into an EXCELLENT songwriter - a haunting and beautiful voice, combined with serious musical chops and songs that define honesty and the emotions we can all relate to - soon everyone in Canada (and beyond!!!) is going to know Rebecca and her music!!!!!!!!

- Singer/songwriter and part of Semko Fontaine Taylor

Love, Loss, and Hot Chocolate is the new EP.

Rebecca Lascue released her debut EP Love, Loss, and Hot Chocolate on Nov. 18. The six tracks are unique, ranging from Celtic-inspired to haunting, layered melodies reflecting on matters of the heart.

Her music is easy to listen and sing along to, but her voice is truly breathtaking. With clear and strong vocals, the EP is a definite hit in my books, and is sure to become popular with audiences across the country.

I spoke with Lascue shortly before the album was released, and she was a bit nervous to begin to get feedback. Lascue has little to worry about, though. Her first review came from a young girl who heard Lascue’s music in her voice lesson class.

“This little eight-year-old started singing the songs back to me the other day, and she goes, ‘Your songs are even better than ‘Let It Go.’ That is the best compliment!” Lascue laughed.

Lascue’s music will undoubtedly find fans in older generations as well. This singer-songwriter has created an easy to love EP with songs inspired by matters we can all relate to.

“‘The Ties That Bind’ … is about mental illness and how that affects your relationships and how people cope with it — in a way that no one would know that’s what it’s about, but it is. The [songs] all have a different story,” Lascue said.

“Irish Wanderer” is the only love song on the EP, and Lascue laughed as she told me how she wrote the song after having had an awful day.

“I sat down to write a snarky song, and the only love song I have came out.”

The song has traces of Celtic influence, something Lascue accredits to her time spent in Ireland in 2009.

“I started to notice after that some Irish, Celtic notes coming in my music without meaning for it to,” explained Lascue. “I don’t actually know if I could do that on purpose.”

Lascue has been working on the EP, on and off, for about two years. She always wanted to pursue music, so after graduating with an Honours Degree in Psychology from the U of R, and after exploring work as an actor, she decided last fall it would be her next project.

“I’ve been wanting to be doing music stuff forever. I have a vivid memory of being in grade eight and being like, ‘I want to be a singer!’” Lascue says.

Unlike most of us who had equally ambitious goals as young teenagers, Lascue has made hers a reality.

“It’s been crazy. It’s been a huge, huge learning curve for me,” Lascue said. “There is so much other stuff that goes into this that is just crazy and, I think, probably pushes all artists outside their comfort zone. All the business stuff, the marketing stuff — there is just so much to do and not much time to do it.”

Fortunately, Lascue has a great support system to help her through the process. Friends and family back her up on her EP and help her distribute posters, build websites, and all the other fun stuff that comes with recording and promoting an album.

“I am at the point now where I’m like okay. I’ve invested in this product and I want to use it to its full potential and keep momentum going and keep working on it, whether that’s lots of touring or, ideally, another release in the next while,” says Lascue.

Her EP release show comes to Regina Nov. 28 at the Artesian. It will be an “intimate show where people can come and relax and have a good time,” says Lascue.

Keep your eyes and ears out for this singer-songwriter, because she is bound to be creating only bigger and better things! - The Carillon