After an 11-year break, Victoria-based rock band The Origin is back.
The trio of Thomas Hayward (guitar, vocals), Sean Allan (bass, mixing) and Curtis Duggan (multi-instrumentalist, vocals) played with other members in The Origin from 2006 to 2008. Back then they played Logan’s and other venues around town which have since changed their name, sometimes twice. They played Nanaimo too. Back then, there were a lot of bands and a lot more places to play, said Hayward from his Royal Oak home.
“The plan, when venues are open, is to get back into playing live,” Hayward said. “Logistically, we will have to add members. We all agree that would be great.”
Eventually, careers called and some members departed, putting the band on pause. When COVID-19 forced them to put a lid on their social lives in the spring, they started writing and recording. Now they’re back with We Need a Song To Drive To, released earlier this month as the first track from the forthcoming four-song EP Make Up Your Mind, due out by the end of 2020.
“Absolutely, this is 100 per cent a COVID-19 project, and the availability of recording software that made it happen,” Hayward said. “We’re pretty pumped and committed to continue.”
The trio met as St. Andrew’s Regional School students and are still friends. They stayed in touch while launching individual careers and are all still active musicians.
With Allan based on the mainland, and Duggan back and forth between there and here, they were able to share files. They retained a drummer, Loel Campbell of Wintersleep, based in Nova Scotia.
“The way tech is now, it’s so advanced and accessible,” Hayward said. “If not this wouldn’t be possible with Allan in Vancouver, and Campbell in Halifax.”
Hayward never stopped writing music and actually wrote the first track, We Need a Song To Drive To, as part of his personal collection.
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“When we hired Campbell he wanted to hear what we sounded like, so I included it, and he latched on to it,” Hayward said. “We send him the tracks and he drums on top, sends the files back.”
Before The Origin, Duggan and Hayward formed Kilamanca. They played two years of gigs at Steamers, Legends (Strathcona), and Evolution (the Duke Saloon) before founding The Origin.
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