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 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

We are proud to announce our latest single " Crazy Story ," official release date is Sept 14th, 2022 Label: Boutique Empire, catalog number BE22052 The video below was filmed mostly at the Boutique Empire studio here in East Vancouver. There are a few segments that were videod around Vancouver, including a moment of live performance that was captured at the Isabelle Dunlop Clothing store on Main Street this spring.  Thanks to Seam McFarland for his camera work on that.  The rest of the clip features a heavily kaleidoscopic looking piano, the old Baldwin upright I inherited from my dearly departed and always missed friend Todd Simko. That piano took up a big part of the personality of this song and though it is quite a tricky thing to get or keep in tune it is very inspiring! Have a look and please let us know what you think of the song and video. We have been submitting our new singles to radio so if you have the will please try requesting it at a local station that might pla...

  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...

I had the pleasure of chatting music with Don Thatcher last weekend for his show Don's Hit List. We covered music from my days with Pure as well as some of his goose bump moments in our Combine the Victorious songs.  It was a great interview and I had a really good time going over some of the recording sessions and ideas we've had over the years.  Please give it a listen if you have even been interested in old Pure songs like "Anna is a Speedfreak" as well as the story behind our latest single "The Bolsheviks." Cheers! Mark Henning

We are excited to finally release a new song.  We wrote this one over the summer, it was born from the cowbell pattern we'd originally written for another song.  That one kinda ran out of steam and was abandoned. The Bolsheviks was created after Isabelle suggested muting the guitar parts on the other track.  Suddenly everything opened up and we had a fresh idea.  I was just fooling around with a keyboard line and the melody instantly came out. At that point we both knew the old idea was done and a completely new song idea was in its place. Lyrically it's an interesting combination between us, with Isabelle handling the refrain and me taking on the bridge.  We've played at this kind of thing before but it was a lot of fun to come up with the "Dont" section.  Maybe it's my subconscious trying to encapsulate the world of facebook and social media in a song; or maybe not. Anyway, very pleased to share this today.  It feels like a fresh start for Co...

We are excited to announce the release of our second full length album, Autonomous.  Twelve songs that combine the style and sound of modern electronic dance music with more experimental and traditional song writing.   Have a listen, download it, share it, comment on it.  We'd love to hear what you think!! Autonomous by Combine the Victorious DANCE - ENJOY! with love from Mark and Isabelle thanks to: Robert Edmonds for the artwork  Don Harrison for the guitar Leigh Grant for the drums Stefan Sigerson for the bass and brilliance Ingrid Schroeder and Barry Flynn for the song writing Jordy Birch for the additional production Paul Schroeder and Adam Percy for their brilliant mixes & Matt Kennedy, Hugh Ellenwood, Elaine Henderson, Jesse Smith, Kevin Jones, Misty Reid, Jane Dunlop, Vince Tuckwood, Patrick Gilmore, Helen Mitteregger, Hajnalka Mandula, Richard Bafaro, our families, The Population Drops, Jim Newto...

We present our late addition to the album " Encryption ".   Just finished this one over the weekend and created the cubist video from some cool live footage our friend, the great and creative Stefan Sigerson, shot last March at a live show. This one fills in the gaps between the more pop songs on Autonomous , such as Stop Givin Up On Love and the deeper dance tracks like Stand In Front of Tanks .  Kind of a spy music track.

Our new track - It's Still On - has a long history.  We initially wrote and recorded a version for our second release, the Disagreements EP.   It was an ok recording but really in retrospect I always heard it as a demo rather than a finished record.  We'd shared the writing with our pals Barry Flynn and Ingrid Schroeder and it was an exciting moment.  However, the years rolled by and the song started to feel forgotten. We were considering tunes to play for Isabelle's parents Golden Anniversary, and, because there was going to be a piano at the party, I recalled our old song Please .  It was written around a completely free form piano part, with wildly varying tempos and time signatures, very romantic.  Isabelle and I began rehearsing for Scotland and after the first time we tried it just with piano for accompaniment we both felt the excitement again. While over in Scotland, we had the pleasure of driving up through the Highlands and had a brilliant vis...

We had a great show on Sunday night performing at VALT2013 in the Centre for Digital Media.  The new five piece band, including Leigh Grant (former drummer of 90's alt rock band Pure ), sounded incredible.  I don't think we've sounded better in fact.  Here's just a few photos that have made their way to us from the show.  We had a digital media artist running extra images for us during the gig, which none of us actually saw while we were on stage, but in fact made for quite an interesting looking event! Thanks to Michelle Harding for sharing her photos with us!