Victorious Combinations

 We put out our summer single " Smooth Sailing " on July 1st, and have been blessed with many radio plays around Canada, but especially here at home in Vancouver. Thanks to CFRO and CBC for the love!    Smooth Sailing is definitive Combine the Victorious sound. Blending Fleetwood Mac with Sade over a Sting inspired chord progression but somehow ends up sounding even more like us. Daniel Clement  (guitarist) and I became friends in Junior High in White Rock, BC.  Back in 1981 we started rehearsing our band Idle Minx in his family's garage. We know each other quite well and musically even better. The old records we shared as teenagers are the shorthand between us that has become the modern sound of Combine the Victorious.  And with this song, as with so many of our songs, this one was born from another Isabelle Dunlop chorus hook. As soon as she sang that we all knew we had a good song on the line.  Dan's guitar work on this one is lovely. The chorus gu...

  We are quite excited about our new single " Awkward Connector ." This is a song where the original idea came from Daniel Clement , guitarist, and we worked on it over the summer. We did try playing it live a few times while we were in Manitoba but it never felt like we had it totally finished. November 1st we are releasing it into the world with hopes it will find us new friends!  Featuring Isabelle 's vocals once again with Dan's lush guitars filling in many of the spaces. The synths were a fun addition as I explored a few of the new virtual analog synths I'd purchased this past year. Several of the sounds are multiple layers of synths to complete the sonic palette.  Once again our friend Greg Hanberry came into the studio to add a conga part to the song. His congas have really become integral to the Combine the Victorious sound over the past two years. He's now played on at least five of our songs!  To complete the release we asked our frequent artist col...

We took advantage of the great evening to put together a few live videos for our songs from the Rickshaw show. In the case of I Really Like Your Style , the video looked better than the audio we recorded, so I opted to cut together a performance style video with the studio music to back it. Thankfully everything lined up nicely so it wasn't even an ordeal to do! Have a look and let us know what you think. We've had a lot of great response to I Really Like Your Style since we released it last October and I'm hoping people will like it even more now with a video to accompany the song.    Camera operators - Benn McGuire and Jean Vercoe Editor - Mark Henning Music originally from the Boutique Empire release "I Really Like Your Style" [BE23033] Produced, recorded and mixed at Boutique Empire Studio by Mark Henning Lead vocals - Isabelle Dunlop Guitar, backing vocals - Daniel Clement Bass, sequencing, backing vocals -Mark Henning Congas, backing vocals - Greg Ha...

 It would be an understatement to say we had a good time at our show last weekend. The show was sold out and the audience was incredible, supportive, appreciative, dancing, singing, cheering! We could not have asked for a better night. Thanks again to Images In Vogue for asking us to be a part of the show and to the wonderful folks at the Rickshaw Theatre for taking care of us.  Here are the final two songs we performed that evening, our latest song Goodbye Bad Times and a favorite of ours to close the show We Are Not Alone.  Please check them out! Goodbye Bad Times - Live at the Rickshaw We Are Not Alone - Live at the Rickshaw

 We are excited to release our new single "Goodbye Bad Times" tomorrow! We've opted to release it as a double single with a radio edit just to give a little bit more. Running order on is: Goodbye Bad Times Danser tout le temps (Bonsoir Paris mix) Goodbye Bad Times (radio edits) We need to give a big shout out to our favorite conga player and secret soul singer Greg Hanberry who features dramatically in the climax of the final chorus! Greg has been rehearsing with us for the past several months in preparation of our show with Images In Vogue . As we developed the recording for Goodbye Bad Times he heard an outro rant (his work) - so I said just show me. He did a one off and we were all blown away! Makes the whole song burst open. Please check out his own band The Motibulator .   We will post links tomorrow when the song goes up on Apple Music and Spotify etc.  Where do you listen? 

 We have been recording a new single this past month. It is a funny one that emerged quite naturally right before a rehearsal. I had been sorting through my overly large and needlessly over complicated Ableton Live set and hit a wrong scene and a basic four on the floor kick and hi hat pattern played. The scene had been set at 130 bpm though, which is much faster than most of the songs we play, so it set me to playing a simple octave sequence on A. It had a Kraftwerk-like charm.  When Isabelle and Dan (Daniel Clement is our new guitarist) arrived I played them the core elements and Dan quickly came up with the arpeggio guitar part, which later came to define the chorus. Isabelle left the room momentarily but when she returned she was singing in French! Why? dunno, but it all felt right. Danser tout le Temps was born! We jammed on it for a few rehearsals and even tried a super loose version of it at our last Cascade Room gig.  It wasn't fully realized at that point though...

 It is really exciting to release this single today! This is the first song we've written with our new guitarist (and longtime friend) Daniel Clement . I Really Like Your Style is a slight departure from the trip-hop inspired songs of the past few years. We start out with a kind of homage to that sound but then quickly shift into a more uplifting reggae influenced sound that builds to a charming chorus filled with Isabelle's lifting melody.  This song has been brewing in the background for a while now but truly came to life when we shared it with Dan. The addition of the guitar changed everything about our approach and the song transformed into the shape we have today. During the past months one day in rehearsal Dan and I were jamming on a descending riff and then Isabelle popped into the studio and sang the line "Is this everything you wanted." I was so surprised by that melody and the lyric I knew we had to incorporate it into the song. I had been needlessly concern...

 We are excited to release our next song, " I Really Like Your Style ." This will be the first song we have written with our new guitarist Daniel Clement . It's been a bit of a journey getting this one together.    It started as a completely different song back in 2021 with now only the chorus line remaining the same. Originally I had written a completely different lyric for the verses but they were not working for me on review a year later. So early 2023 we abandoned the old arrangement and began the version we will be releasing. Isabelle took over writing the lyric for the entire song, and thanks to a lucky moment while we were rehearsing we unveiled a totally new intro for the song. I have been consciously attempting to keep our ideas in a certain tempo and mood in hopes of creating a unified collection of material for a full length release. Well " I Really Like Your Style " has turned into a happier song, with a strong lean into reggae for influence in the c...

 We are pleased to announce that our next single will be released worldwide on January 25th 2023. Rushes Over Me combines the dark moodiness of trip-hop with 90's inspired shoe-gaze and features the trumpet of Felix Taylor.  Words and Music: Combine the Victorious (Dunlop/Henning) Produced and recorded by Mark Henning Vocals - Isabelle Dunlop Bass, guitar, keyboards: Mark Henning Drums: Leigh Grant Percussion: Greg Hanberry Trumpet: Chad "Felix" Taylor