Her Campus: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Maddy O’Regan: I’m a Communications and Arts Administration student, hoping to combine my love for the arts and organization into my future career.I’ve been playing music in Ottawa for a few years now, and I started off subbing for The Musettes and I have recently joined the lovely Jessica Pearson Band. I’ve also been writing songs non-stop for the past few months. I’m gearing up to do a bunch of projects with them – performances, recording videos, and potentially having some of them be on a soundtrack album for an independent Canadian film! Overall it’s been a very exciting and extremely busy year for me!
HC: What would you describe your genre as?
MO: I would describe my song writing as soft indie-folk. I rely on meaningful lyrics that reach the audience on an emotional level. However, when writing with Jessica, we lean more towards Country-folk, with a bit of guitar, mandolin, and fiddle.
HC: When did you start singing/playing?
MO: I started playing violin (my main instrument) when I was 4 and a half, due to my mother being a violin teacher. I got my first ukulele in grade 10. The earliest memory of me singing, was in elementary school, playing with Barbies, making them do singing competitions.
HC: Who is your favourite musician or band?
MO: Hands down, Hey Rosetta. It’s been 4 years, and I’ve been to about 7 of their shows, and for some reason no other band/singer has taken over their place. Harry Connick Jr. is also pretty awesome. The Good Lovelies are also pretty amazing and very sweet in person!
HC: What is your favourite part about performing?
MO: The crowd’s reaction is insane. You go into each performance being almost completely dependent on how the audience is going to react. When they’re having a good time, we’re having a phenomenal time. So don’t be afraid to get a lil crazy guys!
HC: If you had a superpower what would it be?
MO: Flying. Duh. Of course! You might think Harry Potter kick-started that dream, but Kiki’s Delivery Service has got to be given all of the credit.
HC: Where do you see yourself in five years?
MO: Graduated (of course), traveling, playing, and writing with anyone that’ll let me!
HC: Any advice for beginner musicians?
MO: Like Shia LaBeouf said, JUST DO IT! Get out there and start doing whatever you want to pursue! And a huge thing is patience! It’s going to be frustrating as hell, unless you’re secretly a prodigy. So chill and try to have fun ☺
HC: What’s next for you and your music?
MO: Jessica and I are heading to a creative retreat in Scotland, Aberdeenshire. For a week we’ll be participating in writing workshops and basically spending our days jamming with other musicians. From there we’ll hopefully have a few new tunes under our belt, and we’ll be hitting the pubs and venues of Ireland and Scotland, and see where it takes us! We will be launching an Indie GoGo campaign very soon to help us explore the sights and sounds of these great places – so much music for us to see and experience, and we’re absolutely stoked! Keep a look out on The Jessica Pearson Band Facebook for the campaign launch!
HC: Where can we see you perform next?
MO: The Jessica Pearson Band and I have a few shows this semester, alongside a ton of amazing musicians, leading up to our time in the UK and Ireland. Confirmed dates are below, but we’re slowly getting more and more!
- Pressed Café- February 4th
- Zaphods – February 19th
- Avalon – March 13th
- Zaphods Monday Showcase – March 28th
- Live! On Elgin – April 23rd
If you’d like to follow the lovely Maddy and her friend Jessica, check out the social media links below!
Maddy: Facebook, Instagram
Jessica Pearson: Website, Facebook
Sources: Photo by Patrick Kidney