When the sound of Hey Romeo spills out of speakers, and it could be those in a car
tuned into a local radio station, a couple of high end pieces of audio artwork paired
in a home stereo, earplugs in a ipod, or massive bins in a concert hall, one thing
always factors into the equation at hand.
Quite simply, the bright, soulful sound of Hey Romeo becomes the soundtrack for
everything else that is going on in day-to-day life.
It's a sound, where classic country phrasing and sentiments like honky-tonk heartaches,
dovetail beautifully with the slick steps and bounce of upbeat urban adventures.
Stacie Roper, Rob Shapiro, and Darren Gusnowsky are the collective heartbeat of
Hey Romeo and over the past eight years, this trio of accomplished musicians have
put in the required hard work, to make the group one of the "real" rising star acts
in Canadian country music.
Along with the prerequisite of superior talent, Hey Romeo is a combination of unique
and likeable personalities and perseverance. Those ingredients came together in
Alberta in 2002, after Stacie, Rob and Darren had all spent their formative years
figuring out who they were musically.
Kick-starting a band is one thing, keeping it on the rails and pointed in the right
direction for any length of time is another. From the outset, Shapiro remembers
that, "there was a unique tone to what we were doing with Hey Romeo and one that
deserved our commitment."
That they had all grown and survived in the very competitive Alberta music scene
was one of the calling cards that enabled the group, which initially worked under
another name, to stand out from the pack.
Although market circumstances make it much more difficult to perform on a regular
basis than back in the mid-nineties when countless venues with stages were the order
of the day, this trio consistently stitched together performance itineraries that
were the envy of their peers.
A woman who sings from the heart and shoots from the hip, Stacie Roper knows exactly
what sounds and artists have been an inspiration to her over the years.
"I love the harmonies of the Statler Brothers, the feel of The Mavericks, the voice
of Alison Krauss, and the strength of Martina McBride," states Roper who has also
taken a few cues from eighties ladies like Cyndi Lauper and Debbie Harry, at least
when it comes to connecting with an audience.
Roper’s gift for injecting the spirit of country music was apparent not long after
she first started performing in front of audiences as a young singer. At a talent
contest where she chose to sing a number from a Broadway musical, Roper turned heads
for a number of reasons. Not only did she get everyone’s attention thanks to a impressive
reading of the tune, Roper still laughs when she recalls that one of the judges
figured she had injected "a little too much country twang", into the number.
That sensibility of Roper’s is front and centre in Hey Romeo and after working with
Rob and Darren for a number of years, Roper has no doubts that she’s made the right
professional and artistic decision in staying in "this" band, as opposed to opting
for a solo career.
"They are my best friends, family, and business partners all rolled into one. I
love them and what we are doing, and it seems that a lot of other people are loving
what we’re doing to."
A schooled musician, Rob’s tastes cut a wide swath in contemporary music.
Anyone who has had the opportunity to converse with Rob for a while understands
that the piano playing singer-songwriter adheres to the Duke Ellington philosophy
that, "there are only two kinds of music, good and bad."
"I guess I have one foot in neo traditional country music like dwight and the mavericks
and the other in really good rock and roll," says the keyboard player who was schooled
in jazz music at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton.
Rob figures that he first realized he had a deep connection to country music when
he heard Townes Van Zandt. There is also nothing he’d rather do than write a song
"that touches people and is a hit", although he’d probably settle for two songs
that cover those bases.
That said, Rob Shapiro is one who thrives off of the energy that is generated when
he, Stacie and Darren are delivering one of their new songs to the hey romeo faithful.
He considers Hey Romeo winning the CCMA Top new Group of the Year award and CCMA
keyboard player of the year as the highlights of his career thus far, but he would
like nothing better than to reach the point where he and his bandmates are considered
the Blue Rodeo or Tragically Hip of country music in Canada.
Another musician who is in it "for the long run", guitarist, singer, and tunesmith
Darren Gusnowsky loves the country-honk of the Exile On Mainstreet era Rolling Stones,
and the seamless harmonies of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in their prime.
There’s nothing like setting the bar high. So just to add another key element
into Darren’s musical personality, he has no problem remembering that it was his
mother turning him on to Ricky Skaggs, which convinced him he should pay more attention
to hardcore country sounds.
"Here I am all these years later, winning an award with Stacie and Rob at the CCMA’s,
hearing our songs on the radio, and standing side stage at show we’ve opened for
the Kentucky Headhunters and Marty Stuart," says Gusnowsky, with an "it doesn’t
get much better than this" inflection.
Another team player, Gusnowsky figures one of the lessons left to learn, or at least
to put into effect all the time is to, "listen twice as much as you talk."
For this musician who is proud to call Alberta home, the end goal is to create a
sound that is consistently identified as one that can only be that of Hey Romeo.
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