In True Spirit

The Return of Leanne Mayer

Reconnect with a hometown session and fellow alumni Leanne Mayer who will be performing this coming Friday and Saturday at The Fed. The Kirkland Laker will be visiting the stage both nights from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. for a weekend with her fans and friends.

“This is an invite to come out to the Fed,” says the proud graduate. “I’m calling it a KLCVI (Kirkland Lake Collegiate & Vocational Institute) reunion.”

Mayer left K.L. and her music roots in 2002 to move to London, Ontario where she still lives now. After re-igniting her interests she has since rocketed to the top of her game and career with her singles, CDs and stage performances. This will be her first time playing The Fed and her first booking back in K.L. since before the pandemic.

Amy Danchuk, bar manager for The Fed who booked Mayer, says she went to high school with Leanne back in the KLCVI days and has followed her musical journey on social media the past few years.

“It’s wonderful to see her many successes in the London, ON area,” praises Danchuk. “Leanne reached out to me about playing at The Fed, and of course I jumped at the opportunity. We look forward to welcoming Leanne at the Fed, and having our customers experience an intimate night of great music, food and drinks.”

“We have a special feature menu,” continues Danchuk, “created for the Friday and Saturday to compliment the show. We hope to see some KLCVI alumni out as well.”

“I’m super pumped,” praises Leanne Mayer. “Kirkland Lake is my home town. I love it there. I’ve been gone twenty years this year believe it or not, which is crazy to me. And I’ve still got a lot of family and friends there too so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m pumped that it’s two nights as well at the Fed. I think it’s the last place that I haven’t played in Kirkland Lake. “

The past couple of years Mayer did visit for some family and cottage time and recalls the night she was invited to join friend and fellow musician Connie Wilberforce, lead vocalist for Blue On Black (Wilberforce, Claude Laurente, Darren Phillips, Dan Raimondo).

“I went to the White Eagle with my dad,” says Mayer, “and she (Wilberforce) had me up to do a couple songs with her and the band she was in.”

“I love when other performers are in the audience,” praises Wilberforce, “especially Leanne Mayer. I am one of Leanne’s biggest fans and supporters.”

“Leanne is a very kind and humble entertainer,” continues Wilberforce who also graduated from KLCVI. “She has worked so very hard. I love asking her to come up and do a few songs. It shows great camaraderie and also challenges the band. She is super talented, singing in a range that is very powerful. I will always ask her to come up. The crowd loves it.”

Growing up, Mayer says she didn’t really have any music people around her but her father had a big stereo and even bigger record collection. From around five or six years old, he would let her make tapes. “So I always had an appreciation to music,” reminisces Mayer, “and I always had free reign on the record collection.”

“So many favorites,” says Mayer, “like CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival) for sure. Tina Turner was big in our house. Whitney Houston. I used to love Anne Murray’s Christmas albums. There weren’t as many woman musicians, or I wasn’t aware of it because Northern Ontario, there was no internet, right. Growing up we just had access to what we had. But there’s definitely more now. But everything (music), my parents loved Elvis, so many different types of music. But CCR is still one of my favorite bands.”

All grown up, Mayer had a job at Pineger Youth Centre where a co-worker would eventually get to hear her sing.

“I got my start there with Jamie Taylor,” praises Mayer, “and Bubba Cale. Junior Benoit used to play drums with us too.”

“Jamie is phenomenal. Jamie has always been an inspiration to me even before I met him. I went to Sacred Heart School and he would come into the school and play for us. So he was my first exposure to a live musician in my life. And then years later I worked at Pineger and we all went out to Karaoke, and I’d never done that before because I was pretty secretive about my singing.”

“Long story short,” continues Mayer, “we all went out, he heard me sing, and then he said there was a contest the following week in New Liskeard called the Spirit of the North.”
“And you would perform,” recalls Mayer. “There would be other people, then ten people would win spots on a CD. It was over the course of a weekend. You’d perform and then make it into the finals, then you’d find out from there. We won a spot, so we got to record in New Liskeard and I recorded one of Jamie’s songs that he wrote, called “If You Want”.

Spirit of the North was a music festival and compilation CD contest in the mid to late nineties spearheaded by local musician and recording artist Jeff Addison who “assumed many hats” each year from head volunteer, stage and studio musician, song writer, graphic designer, judge and a contestant. He says the concept was born to provide an opportunity and platform for independent and amateur artists to get experience and exposure, which at the time was lacking in the area.

“We started the concept,” says the Haileybury musician, “with fundraising events around the “Tri-towns” (now known as Temiskaming Shores). These fundraisers took the form of a coffee house series that we had dubbed “The Bean Pub Coffee Houses”. These events would showcase local musicians and artists throughout the 705 and beyond. These shows would culminate into the Spirit of the North Music Festival held on Summerfest weekend in New Liskeard every year.”

“Over the Summerfest weekend,” continues Addison, “more than thirty to forty artists and groups would entertain the masses for a chance to win one of ten spots on our compilation album. The album’s goal was to fill a variety of genres in order to fairly represent the local demographical music pool. For the most part we achieved that, depending the number of genre entries and of course the caliber of talent. Through our events we met and fostered numerous young aspiring talent. It’s especially rewarding to see where kids from the twelve and under category are today.”

“I truly think this kind of thing is needed once again in the area.”

Addison says he remembers Mayer and that he and Taylor have had a few chances to catch up. After the contest Mayer says she started singing with Taylor, Cale and Benoit in a cover band and would show up at the Bellevue to join them for her set. From there Mayer says after a few years they won another spot on the Spirit of the North compilation CD where she performed another of Taylor’s originals, The Burning Bed.

“Leanne was great to meet and play with back in the day,” praises local musician and bassist Bubba Cale. “Initially the diamond in the rough scenario who became a full gem.” Cale says sadly he’s out of town this week and won’t be able to see her.

“And like James Taylor knew when he first met her,” adds Cale, “she was a talented singer, later to additionally play the ukulele. We won a few music contests along the way together. Leanne was always great to jam with.”

“I had just written the song for KL’s 75th anniversary,” says singer, songwriter and Rockslide front man James A. Taylor, “and was doing a tour of the public schools sharing the song and music. Leanne was, I think, in grade 4 at the time and was at one of the schools . Later on in life we ended up working together at Pineger and we became friends .”

Taylor also recalls the staff function where he first heard her sing and the events that followed. “I told her she had perfect pitch,” continues Taylor, “which is very rare and asked her if she wanted to enter their Spirit of the North Song Contest. After winning the contests and then singing with Taylor, Benoit and Cale on stage from time to time Taylor says, “she honed her skills at the Bellevue Tavern.”

Taylor would see Mayer occasionally after she moved to London and one night he was booked for an event and told her to come join him on stage . “She hadn’t done that in many years,” says Taylor, “but she decided to join me anyways. After that event I told her that she needed to get her self playing guitar or ukulele or something to be independent. She decided to pick up the ukulele and the rest is history.”

“Jamie was huge,” praises Mayer, “huge in giving me the confidence, teaching me how to be in a band, how to perform, and all the things that go along with it. Then I moved down here and I didn’t do anything for a long time. I moved and didn’t have contact with anyone in the music field for a good decade before I forced myself back in.”

Mayer’s music career respawned at an open mic in London where she met Nick Ross, her bandmate for the last decade. Ross also encouraged Mayer to learn an instrument, because as a vocalist, Ross warned, “you’re at the mercy of your band.”

“And if you don’t have a band, you can’t really perform,” continues Mayer. “Unless you’re doing it to a backing track, which isn’t really what I wanted to do.”

Mayer says as soon as she picked up the ukelele, “it was just magical.”
“It was like, you know the magic moment when your heart’s in your eyes and you’re watching everything in slow motion. Everything just made sense and I played it solidly.”

Soon after, Mayer was pregnant with her second child, and working. Every lunch hour she’d sit in the basement and play basically for forty-five minutes to learn enough cover songs to be able to solo by the time she was on maternity leave.

“I probably played ten hours a week,” says Mayer, “learning it, and I just loved it. And it was going well, so then I thought, ‘you know, I’m going to do solo shows within a year.’ And then I just started kinda writing and I just – I never really had any big goals, I just would see something on the horizon and then I would shoot for that.”

“And that’s how I’ve gotten here,” adds Mayer. “And stayed too.”

“Because I think a lot of people, myself too – when I was young, I was so eager to be famous, and I thought you had to be famous to have a career in music as well. I thought that’s what I wanted. But no, that’s not what I would want.” She says she loves the balance that she has doing music “pretty heavily” part-time, and working as an employment consultant part-time, and not having to rely on full time music which takes the stress off.

“Because I’ve seen a lot of people, more talented than I, give up after burning out after a few years.”

“It’s your values though,” adds Mayer. “It’s not what everybody wants. I know people that have toured and are doing well in the eyes of the public, but it’s not a life. You have no home that you’re grounded to. You’re on the road . You’re around people that want a piece of you all the time. Nothing feels substantial. It’s a tough life. Ya, you have money, but that’s not the most important thing.”

Mayer says she would consider a coast-to-coast tour several years from now when her two kids are more self sufficient. She’s confident she’ll do it, but doesn’t want to do a world tour.

When asked what she does for fun in her spare time Mayer laughs, “I don’t have any spare time. I spend a lot of time with my kids. I jog. I like listening to documentaries or pod casts til I pass out. Gigging is my fun.”

The married, multitasking mother of two says she doesn’t know how many shows she does a year but will often do three gigs a week, although recently just finishing seven gigs in eight days. In April she took on the role of director for Shout Sister, an all women’s non auditioning choir. It’s a company designed by Georgette Fry, a Juno nominated musician dedicated to raising funds and awareness for women and children in crisis. Shout Sister employs women “whose enthusiasm for keeping the arts alive can’t help but reach and inspire those who are eager to share the same goals.” Mayer runs the London chapter. There were 90 women last season, and they do an annual concert to raise funds for a charity of their choice. They didn’t perform last year due to COVID but did participate among other groups in Mayer’s fundraiser which raised for ATLOHSA Family Healing Services, the indigenous non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to strengthening community through Indigenous-led programs and services that offer holistic healing and wellness.

“We raised 1,700 dollars for them,” praises Mayer. “It was the second annual event which means the first was started during COVID. “Because I was going crazy,” says Mayer, “and needed something to focus on. The one good thing about COVID is that I definitely got a lot more time with my kids.”

“I thought,” continues Mayer, “what can I do to make something better. And it went well so we did it again. Bigger this time.”

Mayer says she doesn’t have a direct connection with First Nations communities but had a lot of friends growing up who did, and a lot of friends now, and says we can all take steps towards retribution and helping where we can in erasing ignorance, being more accepting, and learning more about their culture.
“It’s a small, minute attempt on my behalf,” says Mayer, “and if everybody did something little everyday to try to make it better, it would be a lot better.”

On October 17th, Mayer will be among a group of selected guest speakers on All Women L.E.A.D. (Leverage. Empower. Achieve. Do.), a membership platform for becoming a source of support for women in all areas of leadership. Hosted by city of London social worker Jennifer Slay, different speakers come in and tell their stories, talking about their lives and how they got to where they are, and then some of the challenges along the way that they’ve had as a way to inspire other people to follow their dreams. Slay is also an author, counsellor, life coach, trainer and motivational speaker.

“It’s going to be fun,” praises Mayer. “She’s a phenomenal person and everything she does is really well put together, so it’s really an honor to work with her.”

“I asked her to host my non-profit community fundraiser for ATLOHSA. They’re building a womens shelter. Then we just got along really well.”

“They gave us some pretty thought provoking questions too,” adds Mayer, “to answer. So I just have to sit with it. I’m not going to write out a script, I’m better on the fly. So I’ll get my thoughts organized to what I want to say and then do it. It’s ten minutes long so it will go by really quick.”

“It’s a huge honor to be asked to do it because I haven’t done a lot of speaking engagements.”

Mayer confesses it’s different but she’s not really nervous. Just like her performances.
“I don’t really get nervous when I perform,” says Mayer. “I get really excited. And I think excitement – or nerves is the way you look at it. If you’re nervous about something you’re expecting something negative to happen. And if you’re excited about something you’re expecting something good to happen.”

Right now the singer/songwriter is getting excited about her new singles. In August Mayer released her online single The Hard Way and has more coming out in the near future. “Then I’m thinking I’m just going to hold off until January,” says Mayer, “because you get too close to December and there’s so much going on. I’ve got one called Bitten, and one called Rat Race . Rat Race will be the new year (January 9, 2023) and Bitten will be the next one (November 7,2022).

“Then I’ve got three more ready to record, so in January or February we’re going back into the studio. I’d like to do one more and put in a full length but I’m hoping to put that out by November next year. But that might be a bit too much of a chunk. We’ll see. There will at least be more additional singles and then the full length will be very close after that.”

Bitten was co-written with Nick Ross but Mayer wrote all the others.” Then my bandmates have come in and filled in their parts. I would write it, bring it to them, and then we’d play it together.”
Mayer and her band mates are currently looking for a permanent drummer but she says everybody else has been permanent – the sax player (Tracey Frank), bass player (Adam McNeill) , and guitar player (Mike Trudgen). Frank is the longest since 2017 and performs on Renegade, the song that’s on Mayer’s first EP.

“It’s so funny how I met her actually. I used to be the house musician in this little café in Woodstock and she came in with her spouse. And they were just listening as I was telling the story about Renegade and how I was currently in the studio recording it.” Mayer’s producer wanted to give it a zydeco influence, a Lousiana, blues infused style of music centred around the accordian.

“And she’s like, ‘my first band was a zydeco band!’. I hadn’t heard of this genre prior to this. So, then I was like, ‘this is destiny knocking at my door. You have to record with me.”

Frank went on to play a bigger venue with Mayer and then joined permanently. The bass and guitar players would follow later. For bookings it’s just Leanne Mayer. Sometimes they’ll call them the Leanne Mayer Band or Leanne Mayer and the Renegades.

“Because we’ve used that before just to specify that it’s me with a band, because I do a lot of solo stuff.” Mayer will be performing solo this weekend, and at Whiskeyjack Beer Company in Haileybury this Thursday night.

“It’s a little brewery,” says Mayer. “I haven’t been there but I got the lead from Jamie. He said they had music so I cold called them and they’re hosting a 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. , fifteen dollar ticket. A little intimate show and they apparently really like original music so that’s exciting. I’ve played a lot of breweries. They’re big supporters of local musicians.” Mayer adds this comes as no suprise that the two work well together since the brewers are so passionate about local beer.

“The Whiskeyjack Beer Company is a fantastic place to eat and enjoy local craft beverages,” praises Addison who has performed in the past. “Luc and Marc-Andre have been big supporters of local music.” Addison will be playing Whiskeyjack with long time friend and collaborator Kelly Adams as “Addison & Adams” on October 1st.

Mayer says she’s lucky to be surrounded by a lot of great musicians, and that London is a really great music city. In November 2021, it became recognized as Canada’s first UNESCO City of Music which Mayer says “is a big designation for us.” Under the UNESCO plan, cities within the Music network commit to developing both local and international opportunities for their music community.

“It attracts more things,” praises Mayer, “and there’s always something going on. I get really inspired by seeing other people perform. Normally it’s just if I’m on the bill with somebody else because I do perform at a lot of the same times as other people that I want to see unfortunately. But it’s great being on a bill with other people because I actually get to see other acts and I just find that so inspiring.”

“There are a lot of good acts in London.”

Mayer was recently notified that she will be opening for Jeremie Albino and the Rosehall Band on September 29th. Presented by the London Music Hall, the acts will be performing at Rum Runners in London. Combined with Whiskeyjack’s and The Fed that’s three gigs this week for Mayer, but the K.L. born and raised musician says she still sees this weekend as a vacation.

“I still want to do a few gigs,” says Mayer. “I just don’t want to do it the whole time. I want to visit family and friends. It’s not that I’m closed to it. I just want to treat it as a working holiday.”