Sue Newberry & The Law

Sue Newberry & The Law / Drake Hotel / 8PM
Toronto/Peterborough / Pop Rock
www.suenewberry.com

There's more to Sue Newberry than just the "danceability" and pop songs - there's undeniable strength and reach into her personal experience in her lyrics.



Sue Newberry & The Law / Drake Hotel / 8PM
Toronto/Peterborough / Pop Rock
www.suenewberry.com
Why: Flawless. - examiner.com

“There’s something about this musician that puts her in a league of her own. She’s breaking ground in the music scene and its boring doldrums. Newberry is going to wake everyone up.”

Mark Bergin, entertainment critic, Eastern Ontario EMC

EMC (Kingston & Eastern Ontario) - July 2011
Something Quirky This Way Comes  - By Mark Bergin

EMC Entertainment - The music scene in Kingston isn't exactly thriving, but places like The Mansion have been doing their best to change that. Get ready to experience the newest musician and her band on Kingston's music scene. Sioux Newberry brings her deceivingly cute, fun rock to The Mansion when she performs with her band, The Law, next week, on July 21. It's a show I don't plan on missing. Get your tickets now.

I've heard a lot of bands and performed in a few over the years. There's a certain magnetic buzz in the air when a new one comes along that's a cut above everything else.

Enter Sioux Newberry. She's going to rock the music world. There's something about this musician that puts her in a league of her own. She's not a household name and knows she's yet to make it big, but she has what it takes to grab the music world by the jugular and give it a good shake, much like punk did in the 1970s and 1980s. Remember what the likes of Patti Smith, Bauhaus and Shane McGowan did to the music scene? Tsunami of change.

Sioux Newberry is poised to have that effect. Minus the in your face "God Save the Queen" of the Sex Pistols. She may sing songs as meaningful, but she won't spit in your face while doing so. She'll smile sweetly while tearing apart the seams of social norms and examining what's underneath. Newberry's pop sounds, with the biting and significant lyrics underneath, could just shake things up in a time when nothing's really rocking the boat. No one's being different. Everyone's trying to fit a genre and sound like someone else.

Then there's Sioux Newberry. Good luck classifying her.

Her voice has been described as sweet, but I'd prefer to call it stylized and haunting, like 60s surf music. Amidst the fun riffs, there's something mysterious, naughty even, lurking between the cracks of the floorboards in her house. It's like eating cherry pie, but someone has tossed in some weirdexquisitely delicious, but definitely weirdspice. Think Mary Had a Little Lamb with an undercurrent of Peter Murphy and Bauhaus Goth. Or perhaps you go to the ever-so-predictable family wedding and end up in Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Newberry's songwriting is refreshing, truthful, and I would even go out on a limb and say full of integrity.

FACTOR, the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings, was founded in 1982 as a non-profit organization dedicated to support recording artists, songwriters and others in the recording industry. Newberry was chosen as a FACTOR Grant recipient for New Talent in 2010. For good reason. Not only is her sound commercially marketable, she has something to saythere's an unusual combination.

Definitely an indie-pop artist, there's a poetic rivalry between the synth pop and guitar sounds in her music. It's interesting that her band is called The Law, since Newberry doesn't seem to follow rules well. She's breaking ground in the music scene and its boring doldrums. Newberry's going to wake everyone up.

"Most people come up and tell me they weren't expecting what they heardin a good way. It's a really positive response."

Newberry describes her music as eclectic, but she says her brother, David, who has played in her bands, pegs it best as "literate funrock."

"The music I write is so much fun," she said. "I continue to write more literate and poetic songs. Most of them are surrounded in themes of loss and difficult subject matter of life."

She said she enjoys the dichotomy of an upbeat and really fun sound, with lyrics that have more substance and meanings that dig deeper.

The members of her current band didn't come from a synth pop background, so Newberry was nervous at first about working with them.

"I thought they might not be interested in the sound," she said. "But the guys have said they like the darker lyrics. They tell me the best songs hold their own."

Her band consists of Mimmie Adams on vocals and keyboards, Brendan Bailey on percussion and cajon, Dan Nicks on vocals, synthesizer and bells, Matt Longo on bass, and Michael McClung on electric guitar.

Sioux Newberry and The Law share the stage at The Mansion on July 21 with two other acts: Andrew Laviolette and Tarantula.

For more information about Sioux Ne - EMC (Kingston & Eastern Ontario)

"You'll probably want to listen to it over and over."


SUE NEWBERRY AND THE LAW / SHINE SHINE SHINE / MARCH 28TH

I got super excited when I saw that Sue Newberry and the Law had a song called the Ledge 'cause I thought it was a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song "The Ledge" from Tusk.. That would be so fucking cool, I said to myself. I'm not the type to hold onto less popular songs by major artists just in case I need to impress any babes or blow anyone's mind. You know the type: you're all sitting around talking about how great "Second Hand News" is and then some jackass launches into a monologue on how they lost their edge after Peter Green went cukoo bird or how "Sisters of the Moon" makes "Rhianna" sound like dog farts. That's not me folks. I say FLEETWOOD MAC FOR ALL!

But it turns out Sue Newberry and the Law's "The Ledge" is an original off their new EP Shine Shine Shine, and is excellent in its own right. In fact, you'll probably want to listen to it over and over. Y'all can even catch them live on the 28th at 3030. - Blog T.O.

Toronto's Sue Newberry & the Law are on the verge of releasing their debut EP Shine Shine Shine Shine. Newberry enlisted some heavy help, bringing in Great Lake Swimmer Bret Higgins to produce the record.

There's not a weak track among the six that comprise the EP. However, stylistically they are all over the map, making it more a collection of songs than a cohesive piece of work as a whole.



A lengthy banjo introduction kicks off "Gold", before it begins growing into a strong statement song. That is a strange contrast to "Pavlov", a bouncy pop gem that borders on the cutesy (but not in that annoying cutesy way). "The Law" his forceful, but not hard, as the band strains to rein in a controlled frenzy of an arrangement.

The keyboard-driven "The Ledge" has the group barreling headlong towards Metric territory. The band are in New Pornographers mode on "Manitoba", with Newberry more than ably filling the role of Neko Case.

On a song-by-song basis Shine Shine Shine Shine is quite an enjoyable trip. More importantly though, it accomplishes what any good EP should strive to do: it makes you anticipate a full length.

Sue Newberry & the Law play an EP release show at 3030 Dundas West in Toronto on March 28th.

Best tracks: "Pavlov", "Manitoba"

Track listing for Shine Shine Shine Shine:

Gold
Pavlov
The Ledge
The Law
Manitoba
King's Horses
- Snob's Music

Shine Shine Shine Shine
Sue Newberry & The Law

Musical talent clearly runs in the Newberry clan. David Newberry is a fine roots-oriented songsmith, and now sister Sue Newberry and her five-piece band The Law arrive on the scene with this impressive debut mini-album. Their sound has been termed "Dusty Springfield meets Metric", and it's an attractive amalgam of indie pop, rock and

roots elements, given a clean production sheen by Bret Higgins (Great Lake Swimmers). The quietly haunting "Gold" and "The Ledge" are real highlights of an arresting piece of work. The band tours the East Coast and Quebec, April 21-27. Go to www.suenewberry.com for details.
-Kerry Doole
- New Canadian Music

By Kerry Doole

This Vancouver, BC-based folk rock singer-songwriter has earned praise from peers like David Francey, and this, his full-length debut, shows why. The album is produced, mixed and mastered by Jon Wood, the man behind fine albums from the likes of Herald Nix and Rodney DeCroo. He is also responsible for most of the diverse instrumentation that, along with the female harmony vocals, is used so judiciously here. That combination adds potency to "We Reap What We Sow," a haunting gem

featuring accordion and the sweet voice of Sioux Newberry.

There's a '60s boho/beat feel to much of Newberry's material. "Come On" has a distinctly Dylan-esque feel (circa "Subterranean Homesick Blues"), while Walt Whitman gets a name check in "All Of My Friends Are Famous." His voice has the ring of truth and there's poetic insight aplenty in these songs. Newberry has learned much already and is an artist to watch. (Northern Electric)
- Exclaim! Magazine - May 2010

Written by Mike Butler
Monday, 24 November 2008

“Songwriting just gives you a different angle from which to approach and research topics without having to preach,” says Sioux Newberry, one half of Newberry vs. Newberry (with brother David). “It’s a great way to really get inside a subject.”

It’s not often you hear songwriters talking about research, but if there’s a good way to describe the sound captured on Freight Lines, the new record from the Vancouver/Peterborough based folk duo, it’s “well researched.” The duo draws heavily on traditional folk themes in order to tell their honest and personal stories; it’s obvious the Newberry siblings have done their musical homework. Songs about traveling, brotherhood, leftist politics and whiskey are presented here in a way that’s representative of skills learned not just on a guitar but also in a library. The Newberrys are students of popular music as much as they are practitioners.

On the musical front, the story remains much the same. The sounds that come out in the pair’s playing include solo singer-songwriter-style guitar picking, jug band rhythms, alt-country electric guitar, and people hitting beer bottles with sticks or something. The whole record has a reverb quality to it that reminds me of late 80s Replacements albums, complemented by two-part harmonies which evoke the kind of melancholy and longing so characteristic of those records.

I had the chance to see Newberry vs. Newberry live at The Spill last week and was pleased to discover that their live show added a kick in the pants to the songs on the album. All too often I enjoy a softer record like this one only to be let down by a total lack of energy when the songs are transferred to the stage. Something tells me that the Newberrys might feel the same way.

Never stopping for long and never playing the same instruments for more than two songs in a row, the siblings kept the set frenetic enough to warrant attention from the audience in a “what will they do next?” capacity. The songs themselves were played in an infectiously fun manner, complete with dance moves and mandolins. It culminated in Dave running to the back of the bar and singing a call and answer song across the room with Sioux. I was a big fan of that one. It was like a demanding invitation to include yourself in the fun the two of them were clearly having.

Once again I can’t help but think that this has to be more than a little premeditated, inspired no doubt by the hundreds of boring shows by great bands the pair has seen in their “research.”

Sadly, Newberry vs. Newberry will not be back in Peterborough for awhile, although Sioux says she’ll be playing a handful of shows on her own in the new year. For updates and tour dates check out myspace.com/newberryvsnewberry.
- Trent Arthur

Who knows what the true story is behind this brother-sister team. Both accomplished musicians, Sioux and David have established themselves as solo performers and in various groups. Coming from hip-hop and punk rock pasts respectively both Newberrys bring an obvious love of earnest Americana to their joint project with a welcome genre-bending edge.
Newberry vs. Newberry, the guise these two take when making musicd, is releasing their album, Freight Lines, at The Spill on February 1st as a part of their cross-Eastern Canada tour.
The album features both their solo material and songs written specifically for the project and demonstrates the versatility of their songwriting and breadth of their influences without losing cohesion. They takle the genre of alt-country with a true love of their influences and though the album is often clever, it's never too clever for its own good. In an era where the popularity of country music often relies on irony and fetishism, the Newberrys avoid such traps and stay on the good side of sincerity. Though their press material may joke that there are lots of songs about boats and trains the songs aren't glamorous and carry a refreshingly earnest love for trains from two people known for their wit.
This quality makes the album stand up to more than a cursory listen. As strong musicians and vocalists the Newberrys back each other up well and seamlessly. Classic instrumentation and Sioux's especially strong voice make the album sound like it's been in your CD player for months. Catchy and remarkably lush for a duo, the songs stay stuck in your head. - Trent Arthur

Sue Newberry & The Law (pop-rock)
Saturday, June 21, 12am / Dakota Tavern
Sue Newberry & The Law bring more to the stage than just smart pop-songs. The 6-members band is a departure from (then "Sioux") Newberry's folk-roots days. All of her deep poetic songwriting-storytelling is still there with a greater "expression" as she calls it, with the full band. And if there's such a genre as "funrock" (as named by brother David), then Sue Newberry & the Law are it. - BlogTO

There might be a long list of acts to go through when it comes to choosing which acts to watch during this year’s crazy NXNE but the one band that we are seriously curious and inspired about it is none other than Sue Newberry and The Law. This may due to a lot of things such as the six member band’s incredible tight sound or maybe its the truthful lyrics of Sue Newberry or maybe its the fact that the music of Sue Newberry is just so damn enjoyable. Having been invited to showcase at many industry events along with working with producer Bret Higgins of Great Lakes Swimmers, Sue Newberry and the Law are past those growing pains and ready to take the nation by storm. They have certainly blossomed into a band that many of us especially in the industry should pay attention to. FERNTV talked to Sue who might in fact be the new sheriff in town when it comes to music...

(interview follows) - fernTV