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...

This is just a quick note to talk about the progress we've been making on our next full length album. We've been releasing singles for the past few years in attempt to get the algorithm going on the streaming sites and for a bit it has seemed to work. However we, Daniel, Isabelle and I, all feel like its time to collect a few of our favorite songs and add them to the growing pile of completed new tracks to bind them together into a new album.  We have four completely new songs never released and are working hard on finished a pair of freshly started tracks. It is our intention to grab just a few of the songs we've released over the past three years to complete the music journey. I confess it is rather excited to have so much new material and all of it is sounded quite great - plus I've made a handful of updated mixes from our other repertoire that will someday become B-sides or part of an EP in the future. As always we shall be giving our previews of tracks on our bandc...

  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 almost ready to release our next single, this time the very upbeat Goodbye Bad Times. I think it's easy to hear the impact that Daniel Clement has made on the band's sound, as this one is about a quirky and fun as anything we've ever done: possible even more so!  Have a listen today on exclusively on Soundcloud , or come hear it live on June 8th at the Rickshaw when we perform it as part of our set opening for the legendary Images In Vogue! 

 Isabelle, Daniel and I have been working on several new songs. The first to be finished is our latest collaboration "Goodbye Bad Times."  We performed it live for the very first time this past Thursday night at The Cascade Room and all were pleasantly surprised at how well it was received!  Once again we've asked our brilliant friend, the artist Robert Edmonds, to create a cover for the song and I'm intrigued to see what it inspires.  This idea was born of a late night jam Isabelle and I had after a band rehearsal night. We'd gone for a late dinner and returned to the studio a bit intoxicated and just started playing around with the instruments We sent Dan a voice memo sometime in the wee hours and forgot about it. In his own remarkable fashion Dan then showed up to our next rehearsal with a fully thought out guitar part with changes and chorus ideas. We were working on Danser tout le temps pretty hard at this point so we noted it but set it aside for a month or...

 We are extremely happy to release this new single. It reflects the change in sound we've developed since adding Daniel Clement on guitar. Danser tout le temps is a fun exploration into disco, This video is our first collaboration with Vancouver artist Jean Vercoe , who was the camera operator on the night. We invited a handful of friends to come down to the Boutique Empire studio in East Van. to help us film a video for the song. My reasoning was that we'd look better on camera if we were actually playing our instruments and singing rather than just acting, plus having an audience tends to pull a performance out of you. Big thanks to Minna, Phoebe, Shephanie, Cindy, Sean, Mike and Matt for having fun with us.  Video filmed and edited at Boutique Empire Studio Produced by Boutique Empire Camera Operator - Jean Vercoe Directer, editor - Mark R Henning Music produced by Mark R Henning Recorded and mixed at Boutique Empire Studio, Vancouver, Canada Words and music - Combine...

 We had a fun night in the Boutique Empire studio on Monday evening, when Sean McFarland (aka Jean Vercoe) took to the camera and filmed us performing live in the studio our new single "Danser Tour le Temps."  In effort to give the video a little more authenticity we actually played our parts to a small group for friends who heard it for the first time. A little bit of dancing and fun was had by all! Tonight Isabelle and I had the chance to have a first look at the footage and cut together a rough edit to start building our next video. It is turning out really well and big thanks to everyone who came out on that rainy Monday night to help us celebrate our new single. Progress is being made, the video is looking good and the song is set for mastering.  We shall be setting the release date very soon! Here's just a quick glance at one of the shots we liked from the video.

 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...

  We are excited to be performing with our pals Rat Silo on Friday December 29th at the Princeton. Rat Silo is hosting the night and will be performing two sets starting from around 9pm.   Combine the V will hit the stage likely at 11:30 or so.  Quite looking forward to this gig. We habitually meet on Fridays for a pre-rehearsal pint at the Princeton as its only two blocks away from my studio.  It will be fun to try our material out on that stage. I am planning on bringing a sub-woofer to ensure our sound has a chance to impress! The live set is progressing rapidly. With Dan Clement 's addition to the band we are more prolific and the new material is a lot more up tempo. We shall be making a formal introduction to our new single "Danser Tout le Temps" this night. It's quite a cool dance track that has all three of us excited and singing in French! More on that imminently. If you are in Vancouver and looking for a party on Friday come down to the Princeton. I don...

 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

  Isabelle and I are very excited to release our next single. We Are Not Alone was initially inspired from a day spent on the water whale watching last September as part of a birthday present for Isabelle! While we where out there the magnitude of the animals in the water, and the sheer vastness of the ocean all around us and the seemingly infinite horizon really made an impression on me. Perhaps this was due to spending so much time inside over the past couple covid years.  As our ferry returned from Vancouver Island and the city of Vancouver slowly began to appear as a tiny dot on the shoreline I was hit again with the scale of the world and how self absorbed I had been over the past decades. All my life was contained in a dot on the horizon and seemed so huge while we were there. Yet the moment we left the city the whole world began to filter into my consciousness. After getting back that weekend Isabelle and I went into the studio and We Are Not Alone was born.  Pete...

 We are very pleased to announce that we have a new album about to drop!   Paros is a collection of remixes, remasters, and new tracks (including Façon Fashion , the song made popular on the Netflix series Tiny Pretty Things ) being released on Thorvald Records, April 29th. The anthology is curated and directed by Thorvald Record label chief, record producer and impresario Stefan Sigerson .  We have collaborated for over a decade on songs, dating back to our Crumbling Hearts ep, where he co-produced and co-wrote several tracks. His support over the years has always been uplifting and inspiring, so it's exciting to launch this package out to the world with his new label's guidance and assistance!  A wonderful surprise from this venture has been the connection with graphic artist Steven R Gilmore . (famous for branding Nettwerk Records, Steven was the graphic artist on the 1988 After All album, as well as the debut Pure album Pureafunalia .)   He has created ...

Hello! Isabelle here. Just wanted to share a little bit about our song Thunde r from the lyrical perspective.  The lyrics for Thunder were born from an idea sparked at my studio at the shop, the hum of the sewing machine plain to hear in the backdrop of my original voice memo. “I’m feeling you, it’s coming through like thunder” I've often found that as I sew or iron away my mind can drift off into analyzing conversations and moments that have been caught in my head. Last summer we were in the process of moving from our home of 24 years and I realize that I was kind of saying goodbye to that place. It had always been such a safe, protective and creative space. It was like losing a friend. The same as with friendship there is an ebb and flow as we need it and it’s okay when things change, in fact it’s completely natural. As we walk away from an old home I feel no pain because I believe in the new adventure and all that it holds. The cool thing is that I played the nugget ...

 We have been writing away these past 18 months or so, trying not to let the time escape us during this Covid 19 era.  Back in the summer of 2020 Combine ran into our friend Rob Darch, who gifted us an anniversary present of a recording weekend at Hipposonic studios. Hipposonic is located in the exact studio space that was once Little Mountain Sound   (world famous for records by Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith... Pure and countless other massive hits).  Isabelle and I had started several new songs but weren't too sure which were the ones we wanted to record so I made the decision to go for broke and record as much as possible over that August weekend. We loaded up with 6 songs, ranging from the very moody track we are releasing this week ( Thunder ) to some dance numbers and a couple out-right rockers which have kinda fallen behind.  It was a fun session with two different drummers, a violinist, a trumpet player and everyone from my folkband Farmteam coming i...

      At the beginning of 2021 I took over Ryan Dahle's studio in the Song City building here in Vancouver. As one of the tasks I set for myself Isabelle and I recorded the following song, "The Love Ballad". We had collaborated and written this song for another person to sing back in 2018 but that fell through so the song just kinda sat on a hard drive for the past years. Then, while we were in Hipposonic Studio this past summer (thanks again for the great session Rob Darch!) Isabelle suggested we try tracking drums and other instruments on the demo. In the fast paced session we blasted through 6 songs (including the ballad) and then took everything home to discover what we'd captured.  After much reflection I decided the version we'd recorded was not the version I wanted to present to the world. Nothing wrong with any of the parts we'd tracks individually but the song didn't sound like our own yet. So over the xmas season Isabelle and I rehea...

Isabelle and I have been writing new songs for the past several months and we have studio time booked this coming weekend at the wonderful Hipposonic Studio here in Vancouver. I've asked several drummer friends to help us out with their talents and help record bed tracks for probably five songs (or more depending on how well things work out). Among the new tracks we will be tracking drums in the studio for the song below. We wrote it this summer after a fun night in the jam space, it was kind of a laugh at first but the song kept getting better. Then Isabelle shared with me a CFOX Summer Song Contest that we figured we should apply for (more news on the that later). I know I should wait to see if we are accepted through the first round of judging but I'm rather excited about this track and though we could see who was listening by just sharing it on our blog (which I confess I have been terrible at updating much lately). So, if you have a few minutes please check out our song ca...