Fans of Victoria’s soul music scene are in for a treat as a popular local soul band will be returning with a new sound for a special performance in October.
Members of the Chantrelles will be picking up their trumpets, guitars and saxophones to perform at Garden City Grooves, a music festival celebrating funk, soul and groove music on Oct. 3.
“I’ve been in love with soul music my whole life and it’s a really great chance to play with all my friends again,” said frontwoman and former Victoria resident Chance Lovett.
The now nine-person band originally formed in 2011 and quickly rose to success with its classic 60s soul sound.
For Lovett, her passion for the music was born after watching The Commitments, a 1991
film about a young man wanting to start his own band.
“I watched it probably before I should have,” she laughed. “There was lots of swearing in it. I watched it over and over again. It was just something about the music.”
Lovett went on to study at the Victoria Conservatory of Music where she met two of the band members. They eventually formed the Chantrelles and went on tour across Canada performing in various venues, including several shows in Victoria at Rifflandia and Lucky Bar.
Before the band parted ways, their last show was at the inaugural Garden City Grooves festival three years ago.
“It’s coming full circle for us to be getting back on that stage together,” Lovett said, adding not all members are returning and they won’t be playing any of their old songs. “It’s fun, it’s natural.”
The renamed Chance Lovett and the Broken Hearted are one of nine B.C. artists performing at Garden City Grooves this weekend.
Dawn Pemberton, a Vancouver-based artist, Victoria’s own The New Groovement, The New Souls, Boomshack and Impulse Response are also set to hit this year’s stage.
Nathan Ambrose, Esquimalt resident and one of the event organizers, said Victoria’s funk and soul scene has emerged over the last four to five years.
“(There’s) a lot of young people here in Victoria and a lot of them have come from the music programs around town and are getting into this music,” Ambrose said. “They’re playing it and starting bands. It’s a microcosm of what’s happening in Victoria in general; a small to medium-sized city shooting for the stars and having so much talent.”
The festival runs from Oct. 1 to 3 at various venues around Greater Victoria. For more information, visit gardencitygrooves.com.
