In the dawn of their latest release, ‘Breath of Fresh Air’, I had the incredible opportunity to get to know Nicole and Armand from Broadtree.. This is a Canadian duo that exudes passion, purpose and determination!
As you will read in the below, in depth interview with the pair, Nicole and Armand created Broadtree after a loss of their beloved creative work, on stage as actors, caused by the introduction of Covid-19 into our lives.
Like many stories we have heard, resulting from Covid-19, the pandemic has created something new and beautiful through Broadtree.. They have used this time and their platform to speak out and create a much needed voice for many groups and causes that they are passionate about, including (but not limited to) racial equality, first nations rights in Canada, support for the LGBTQ community and mental health.
‘Breath of Fresh Air’ is the latest release from Broadtree.. This is a song that had been brewing with the pair for a while, as they experienced first-hand, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We didn’t want to write a song that screamed ‘this is a song about the pandemic’. So instead we personified COVID as the one inflicting that sort of pain before we’re finally free as the story of the song is told.” – Armand
If you would like to find out more about the inspiration for Broadtree’s single, you can head to our ‘Song of the Week’ video, where Nicole and Armand talk about the creation of ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ here.
Let’s jump into the interview!
Would you like to start by telling us a little about where Broadtree began?
Armand: It’s sometimes strange to think that this all started as the two of us just recording one single song to keep creative and busy during the plague (as we like to call it).
Most are surprised to hear where things started to where we are now. Once we recorded the song, that turned into filming a music video, which was followed by a livestream show.
We knew pretty quickly that this was something that was way more than what we originally set out to do. 10 months, a full length album, 2 EPs, and 4 single releases later and we still can’t wait to keep the momentum going.
What was it that first inspired you to begin making music into a career?
Nicole: Ever since I was little, before I ever thought of music as something you COULD have a career, I’ve always been deeply affected by storytelling through song. For me, the ‘career’ aspect manifested itself as Musical Theatre. I used to rush home from school every day to ‘practice my singing’, not for any other reason than that I enjoyed it, but I was very academic and never thought of it as something to actually pursue professionally.
I fell in love with performing while doing musicals in high school, and when it came time to graduate, I switched gears completely to study Musical Theatre in university. That was the first time I’d ever had any kind of vocal training.
I’ve always dreamed about writing my own songs and having them become something real – Armand and Broadtree gave me the push to actually try it!
Armand: I think I was 16 when I got my first guitar. I just wanted to be in a band like the other cool kids in school. I was given an acoustic guitar because my parents wanted to make sure I was serious about it.
I taught myself (and have yet to take a lesson to date!), started my first band in high school, and knew that it was something I always wanted to have in my life in some way.
The first time you step in front of a crowd to play your own music is something special and it’s a feeling you want to make last as long as you can.
What does life look like for you, beyond music?
Armand: We both met in a theatre production and with things slowly opening up here in Canada, getting back on stage as an actor is something I don’t think either of us can wait for.
I also run a mentalism show in Toronto that’s been on hold since last February, so I’m super eager to get that back up and running.
Safe to say that performing is a big part of both our lives. Outside of that, finally seeing live music and theatre again is going to be a pretty emotional experience.
Nicole: Since we started out on this journey, it’s sort of become pretty all-encompassing.
Before the plague, I spent most of my time touring across Canada in musicals.
The performing arts are opening up a bit more now, a few acting gigs are popping up here and there. I’m currently part of a few musical theatre workshops. I especially can’t wait for the opportunity to travel again!
I understand that both of you are actors and have a deep love of musical theatre.. How has this impacted the way you have gone about your musical journey?
Nicole: I think it has a big influence on our songwriting.
We really focus on creating characters, setting up the world they exist in, examining their motivations and feelings and how they feel about one another, much like you would in creating a character in a show. Especially when writing duets, I think that approach is what makes our songs unique and engaging.
It’s all about the storytelling. In terms of performing, we like to have fun and interact and play off each other in a sometimes very theatrical way, and people really seem to take to it.
Armand: We bring a lot of who we are to the table – we had some pretty rough months leading into the pandemic and we had a lot to talk about, write about, and let out.
But it went beyond that. Our experience of say, living with mental illness, turned into us developing a story with so much detail that made it much easier to write. Essentially our experiences turn into those characters that we get to shape into something else entirely.
How would you describe the feel of your music?
Nicole: Going back to the previous question, people often describe our music as ‘Broadway over a bed of country music’, which sounds crazy, but it works! It makes sense that musical theatre would sneak its way into our sound, because it’s such a huge influence on both of us.
As for the country side, that’s what I grew up with, so it comes most naturally to me of all the genres, plus country music lends itself so well to the type of storytelling we do in a way that other genres may not.
Armand: Musical theatre is definitely apparent in a number of our songs.
While Nicole brought the country sound that’s become the foundation of our music, our songwriting and storytelling, for me at least, comes from artists like Taylor Swift.
Regardless of whether it’s her older country tunes or her more recent pop releases, she has this way of painting a picture in every line of every song that also snuck its way into our lyrics.
I’m a huge Bon Jovi fan, and their country album is on my list of favourite albums, so it’s safe to say that played a part as well.
Where do you find your inspiration for your songs?
Nicole: A lot of it comes from taking our own experiences and transferring them over to the character we’ve created, using that to delve deeper into what that experience is. But sometimes it’s just a concept we think could be interesting to explore, like ‘two best friends have to say goodbye indefinitely’ or ‘describing the experience of life as an actor’.
Between the two of us, those relatively simple ideas can expand beyond anything we originally imagined and make a great story.
Armand: Sometimes inspiration for a story can come from anywhere to create our “concepts”, as we like to call them. We find two characters from a show we love and say “hey, what if we wrote a song about them going through this experience?” which gets to be really fun, as we get to build from scratch in a sense.
We’re strong and active advocates about a lot of causes like racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, Indigenous rights, and mental health/illness, so those will also make their way into some of our songs as well.
Do you have any releases on the horizon? Would you like to tell us about what is coming up?
Nicole: We just released our latest single, ‘Breath of Fresh Air’, last Friday. We want to take our time a bit and do more writing, but we have releases planned for early next year; we should have an EP out in the spring, and we’ve got a Christmas song in the works, as well as a new music video on the horizon.
At the moment, though, we’re excited to announce we’ll be touring across Ontario over the next few months!
You can find our tour dates through the linktree on our Instagram.
What would success in music look like for you?
Nicole: A few months ago we would’ve said playing a live gig – but now we’re embarking on our first tour! It’s already gone beyond anything we could’ve hoped at this point.
All I can hope for is more of the same, with some growth – touring even further, writing and releasing a plethora of new songs.
Paying off all our expenses LOL Meeting and sharing the stage with other incredible singer-songwriters.
Armand: I echo all of that. We started this whole thing such a short time ago – if you had told us we’d be where we are right now while we were recording our first single, without a doubt we would’ve laughed at how ridiculous that sounded.
We originally had a goal of “let’s write a song together” which turned into a full album, a thought of “we should make a statement for Pride” turned into one of our most successful singles yet, and “we’re finally booked for a show!” become a full 2 month tour.
It’s happened SO fast that it’s been hard to keep up, but I think we’re living in our own definition of success. The biggest thing we want to focus on is enjoying the ride.
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learnt along the way?
Nicole: That teamwork isn’t scary, even with subjects that are deeply personal, if you find the right people to work with.
Armand: Being vulnerable with the right person that “gets it” can be a life changing thing. It not only comes out in your art, but it strengthens who you are as an individual, while having this amazing pillar of support in your life.
Where can people find your music?
Nicole: Anywhere! On all your streamy-weamy platforms – Apple Music, Spotify, Tiktok, Napster… 😉 Just search ‘Broadtree’.
Armand: Keep up with us on social media. We are extremely active on Instagram and answer every DM we get, whether it’s to chat about something fun or even talk about more serious issues like mental health.
We always hope our music is one thing people can connect to and find comfort in, but we’re a message away if you ever want to go beyond that.
You can find more about Broadtree by heading to https://linktr.ee/broadtree
Karen Harding is a Melbourne, Australia based singer/songwriter, founder of Sounds On The Couch, and founder and operator of boutique music PR service for emerging and independent artists, Rise Indie.