Entertainment Features

8:47 -- Perfect Timing For Elijah Woods X Jamie Fine

8:47 -- Perfect Timing For Elijah Woods X Jamie Fine

By David DeRocco dave@gobeweekly.com  https://twitter.com/?lang=en 

If you’re planning on heading to the upcoming Marianas Trench shows in Hamilton and St. Catharines March 12 and 15th, don’t make the mistake of skipping the opener. If you do you’ll miss the opportunity to see ELIJAH WOOD X JAMIE FINE, the 2018 iHeartRAdio MMVA winner as Best New Canadian Artist and a Juno-nominated act already on a trajectory for stardom.

 As a breakthrough original artist, the duo turned exposure on the TV show The Launch into a chart-topping debut single, “Ain’t Easy.” With a hot new single "You" and an their EP 8:47 ready to drop March 8th, Elijan Woods x Jamie Fine will be offering further proof of the exceptional quality of their music – a heavenly hybrid of rhythmic pop and hip hop filtered through a rock sensibility when performed live. With Fine’s powerhouse vocal and the richly textured sonic landscapes that define Woods’ approach to music making, the two are already crafting some of the most stylized genre-defying music being made in Canada today. In the midst of packing for the tour with Marianas Trench, the pair took time to chat with GoBeWeekly about  their origin, their hopes for the future and their on-tour catering.  

GoBe: You’re packing up for the big tour. What’s the one must-have item you need to survive life on the road.

 Elijah: A lot of new pair of boxers. I continually buy new boxers when I’m on the road.

JAMIE: For me, my noise cancelling headphones to block our Elijah.

 GoBe: Your career seems to be one piece of good news after another, with the hit singles and success and new EP on its way. Are you both constantly positive or do you ever entertain thoughts that the bottom has to drop out, even temporarily.

 Elijah: I think what’s so interesting about doing something creative is that there are those peaks and valleys. There’s constantly lows and constantly highs, it’s just trying to find a way to balance those out. The highs publically are amazing but often times what happens is Jamie and I sort of get caught up doing whatever we’re doing and then the public reacts to that two months later, so we’ve already emotionally detached ourselves from it. This EP for example, we wrote most of this collectively over the last few years. These are songs we really care and about we’re really excited about to see them come to fruition. But we’re already writing new music. It’s very interesting to have these accolades pan out at a different time we’re feeling them.

 GoBe: So how did the fate of the universe bring you two unlikely partners together into this musical collaboration.

 JAMIE: I think it sounds pretty corny I guess when we say it out loud, but Elijah and I are both under the impression that it was meant to be, especially in the time of our lives when we met. We were 21 or 20, four or five years ago, we were both at college. I was in a totally different department studying culinary and had graduated and was working at the college at the time and Elijah was in the music industry arts program. Our guitarist now is a guy named Matt who was recording me on an iPhone without we knowing. He was in the same program as Elijah and he showed it to Elijah.

 Elijah: I just kind of freaked out. We’ve all had the opportunity to experience Jamie Fines voice and it’s pretty infectious. I heard that quality straight out of the gate and I needed more. That weekend I dragged her into the studio. We never really looked back.

 GoBe: Jamie, were there no aspirations to be a singer before that?

 JAMIE: I had all the aspirations. It was something I knew I wanted to do since grade 7. It’s tough for any family or any parents when your kid comes up to you and says ‘hey, I’d love to be that one in a million.’ I can’t imagine a lot of family members saying, ‘ya, go for it’ without encouraging to have a back up plan. So it was about finding what I was passionate about, For me that was cooking.

 GoBe: Your catering on the road must be excellent.

 JAMIE: Unfortunately, we don’t have the full size RV yet. We’ll invite you on the road once we get the full size.

 GoBe: There’s no denying you two are creating something unique; the music landscapes you create Elijah are the perfect fit for Jamie’s voice.

 Elijah: Thanks, that’s a really good way to put it. I like that word, landscapes. I’ve never used it before. I think I’m going to steal that.

 GoBe: There are a lot of styles woven into the music you make; is that a conscious decision in your approach to making music.

 Eljah: Something we try to do is encompass a lot of styles. Our live show is vastly different from what we release online and through streaming services. We really try to encompass as much emotion and energy into each song as we can whether live or in performance. Live we lean toward more of that rock sort of appeal

 GoBe: You’ve obviously resonated with a lot of fans, reaching over 30 million streams of your songs. I know that’s not 30 million sales, which would be way better, but what do those large numbers mean to you at this point in your career.

 Elijah: It’s a necessary creative validation. A lot of time when you’re writing music in the studio it’s more about ‘let me express myself in the only way I know how and then put it in a presentable package.’ But you never really know if it’s going to be consumed in a way you want it to or in any manner. So having large streaming counts, it only validates that feeling further and fuels creativity. People are connecting to this and that’s all we want.

 GoBe: What are your goals for the new EP. You’ve got a long road ahead despite the ground you’ve successfully covered rather quickly. What’s the hope for the next stage.

 JAMIE: I think we’re really looking forward to exactly what you just said, the long road. Elijah and I are really lucky to have each other and be doing what we love to do. We’re really excited to put out this body of work. With the lead up it’s only shown us how important this is. The next two years will be just continuing to show people what we do. We want to avoid setting specific goals. I’d love to tell ya I’d love to win a Grammy in two years. But the best thing to keep us grounded and enjoy what we do is to just keep making music.

For more info, visit: http://www.ewxjf.com/