ABOUT

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“Gillian might just be the Janis of our generation.” - Beyond the Watch

Gillian Nicola is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter from Hamilton, Ontario. With a variety of musical influences from many genres, Gillian creates a sound that honours her diverse taste. As a listener, Gillian searches for unique voices, authenticity and vulnerability in music: qualities she infuses into her own songwriting. With her band, Gillian Nicola & The Radio Interference, they combine the honesty of folk music with the power of rock and soul to create a sound both unique to them and one that offers something for everyone.

Gillian Nicola’s love of music began at a young age. She began classical singing lessons at age 7 and joined the Hamilton Children’s Choir, where she developed a strong formal training in music. After completing studies at the University of Toronto, Gillian stormed onto the Hamilton and Toronto music scenes in 2012 with her first acoustic EP, Afterburn. She followed this soon after with 2013’s Chasing the Wind, a 6-song EP created with her bandmates. The album was not only a personal success: Chasing the Wind was nominated for two Hamilton Music Awards and the Toronto Independent Music Awards. Gillian celebrated this release with an Ontario tour, with an exciting homecoming show at The Rivoli (Toronto).

Gillian started off 2015 with a bang, with a performance at the 2015 JUNO Concert Series: The Love Song Edition at Hamilton’s Mills’ Hardware. Soon after, Gillian was declared a Regional Finalist in the CBC Searchlight Competition. Gillian is currently in pre-production for her next EP, Painting Pictures, with Dan Hosh of Hamilton’s prestigious Catherine North Studios (Whitehorse, City & Colour, Rose Cousins, Said The Whale). The FACTOR-funded recording will be a slight change in direction for Gillian, while her roots are certainly still in folk music, new influences have inspired her to write with different sounds in mind. The sound on this new recording is inspired by musicians such as Kathleen Edwards, Neko Case and Joni Mitchell, which is evident through non-traditional chord choices and rhythmic patterns throughout the songs, and the contrast of light and dark sounds. The recording will feature a sampling of tracks that cover a variety of situations: love, grief, life changes and loss. Painting Pictures will be released in the fall of 2015. Until then, you can find Gillian throughout Southern Ontario promising nothing but good ol’ fashioned, honest music.