Canada.com: John Kennedy
To anyone who dreams of fame and fortune in the Canadian music business, the new docudrama Shaye is more reality check than reality show.
The four-part series, airing Sunday nights on E! starting Sept. 9, offers a glimpse behind the scenes of Toronto trio Shaye when it set out to launch its sophomore album last winter.
Ex-Newfoundlanders Kim Stockwood and Damhnait Doyle and PEI native Tara MacLean are shown balancing family, friendships and the pressures of the music industry. All three had pre-Shaye solo careers and all three continue to work on their own projects outside of the group.
The illusion of glamour ends with the show’s Charlie’s Angels-inspired opening montage, in which manager Sheri Jones introduces the three women. What follows are boardroom debates with record label staff over remixes and videos; an auto show performance in front of a sparse and indifferent audience; the loss of their musical director; and one group member’s refusal to go on tour.
And let’s not forget an accident involving a curling iron.
What the series also shows, however, is the warmth and wit of Stockwood, Doyle and MacLean. It’s also a valuable showcase for Shaye’s collection of songs from 2003’s The Bridge and this year’s Lake of Fire.
“We had a huge hit (“Happy Baby”) and a Juno nomination and we didn’t even go gold,” MacLean says of the trio’s first effort to break out. “But we’re not in this for the money. We love it and we hope it goes well. But success has different meanings.”
While recording their debut album, the women threw around a number of potential names for the group, including Broad Band, Threesome and Dare’s Tree (as in, “dare’s tree of dem”).
The ensemble took its name, which is Gaelic for courage and freedom, from MacLean’s sister Shaye Martirano, who died in 2002 at the age of 26 from injuries she suffered in a car accident on a New Brunswick highway.
MacLean says her sister’s influence is palpable.
“We feel her all around us,” she says. “When you’re playing music you’re really open and you’re feeling things that you don’t feel any other time. When I’m up there and I’m singing, sometimes the lights play tricks. I feel her there in the wings, in the shadows. I feel her in the lights.”
That presence has had a strong impact on the group, MacLean adds.
“If it wasn’t for this, we might not be together. She really is a glue. I can’t leave these girls because we are sisters now. We don’t just walk away.”
In one emotional scene in the first episode, the group pays tribute to its namesake during a performance inside a Halifax shopping mall. Tears start rolling down the cheeks of MacLean’s mother and grandmother as the trio sings “Star,” a song written in honour of MacLean’s sister, and the audience responds with a standing ovation.
Much of the series focuses on the family lives of Shaye’s two moms, Stockwood and MacLean. In episode one, MacLean brings baby Stella with her on a promotional tour and Stockwood juggles feeding her youngest son, Sam, while taking a call from the group’s Halifax-based manager.
“Everything is harder when you have kids,” says MacLean. “It is the most enriching thing you can do in your life and we’re so glad we did it but it’s so hard. All the moms out there know what we’re talking about.”
She and Stockwood are also faced with making tough decisions about touring, much to the dismay of Doyle.
“I really don’t want to be away from the kids for long periods of time and I don’t want to bring them with me (on tour),” Stockwood says. “It can be done but it’s not what I want to do.”
Though it spawned two moderately successful singles, the Lake of Fire album failed to take off so there are hopes the show will give it a boost.
“We put three years into making this record,” says MacLean.
Shaye enlisted Zerofootprint to ensure the CD is carbon neutral.
“They do that by replacing the materials that you use. They’ll plant trees in forests anywhere you choose and restore watersheds and put green spaces in cities,” explains MacLean. “It ends up costing about 10 or 15 cents more per CD and we feel like our artwork hasn’t made a big negative environment impact.”
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