The members of the Northbound 51 band hope their debut album brings a sense of connectedness to people, allowing them to relate to the songs.
Hailing from Moose Factory, the band includes three members: bass player Stan Louttit, lead guitarist Darrell McLeod and lead singer and guitarist Marilyn Gunner-McLeod.
Their upcoming self-titled album, Northbound 51, will be dropping in mid-October. There will be five songs on the album.
“We’re more than halfway done. I just have to finalize some things with our graphic designer,” Gunner-McLeod said.
The members started working on the album last year. The band already played the songs live a few years ago but some of the songs have undergone some changes.
“We had the songs for a while now. So we were like, ‘OK, let’s just go now. We’ve waited too long,” Gunner-McLeod said.
This July, the members headed to a studio in Toronto where they recorded the album in five days.
For Gunner-McLeod, the whole experience — recording, meeting the engineer, the producer and learning about the production process — has been very positive, exciting and surreal.
“We utilized every minute to ensure that we that we did all we wanted to do for every song,” she said. “When the engineer played back the songs, I was like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s us.’ It’s exciting and I say that with total humility, just that we did it. We finally did it.”
Louttit said he’s excited and happy to release the album.
“There’s a bit of nostalgic thing to them for me,” Louttit said. “I think people will really relate to the songs because some of them are about travelling on the train to Moose Factory and always coming home, no matter where we go in our lives.”
Gunner-McLeod described the band’s genre as a mix of country, rock and folk.
The song Keep On is upbeat, while Father is a very sentimental song talking about the members' parents and grandparents who are no longer here.
“We do say a Cree phrase on Father. That’s nice, it really pays homage right to the people,” Gunner-McLeod said. “You’ll hear a lot of home, a lot of our identity in the song.”
Open Road talks about home, while Run Together is about life relationships. There is also a song called Northbound Train.
Louttit joked their goal is to take over Ontario and then Canada. Once the album is out, he said he wants to hear feedback from listeners and see whether the songs meant anything to them.
The band wants to do a quality job on the CD, he said.
“Not only the songs to be very good to listen to, but they would sound good to listen to on the CD in your truck or whatever home system you have or whatever streaming device you might have,” Louttit said.
The band came together several years ago.
They’ve been playing at different gigs and music gatherings in Moose Factory, along the coast, and wherever they’re invited, she said.
The northbound in the band name's refers to their life in the north and the significance of the train that takes them home from Cochrane, Gunner-McLeod said. The number 51 comes from Moose Factory’s coordinates which are 51.2625 N, 80.5930 W.
Gunner-McLeod said the members work together very well, respecting each other’s opinions, encouraging and wanting the best for each other.
Writing songs can be scary as you put yourself out there and share a part of who you are to people, Gunner-McLeod said.
“You think you write a song and it’s like, ‘Wow, do I really want to say that or share that?’” she said. “That's something I've learned along the way. You have to be very open and very honest. And so, I’m still learning that piece.”
Gunner-McLeod was nine when she started playing guitar. She’s always had love and passion for music and it's a big part of who she is.
“I always say with humility that people still want to listen to us play as a band. (I'm) very grateful for that and for the following we have,” she said.
