Dearly Beloved's Music Evolves From Sad Situation

Toronto music scene institution Rob Higgins has created a new band in Dearly Beloved and a boisterous debut called You Are The Jaguar. Higgins' band name couldn't be more appropriate.

Higgins' father passed away last week and it's from both the pain and a new appreciation for life that the inspiration for Dearly Beloved and the debut album were born.

"I spent the last 12 months with my dad in the hospital, and really that's where this record comes from," Higgins explains.

"The name of the band and the concept of my friends playing live with me, that all came from having spent so much time in the hospital with my dad and just needing a place to put that energy. I needed someway to express what I was going through 'cause it was really hard.

"When my dad first got sick, I started having these panic attacks, so I left to Florida for a week to get away from the stress of being here. And when I got there I wrote eight of the 10 songs for the album on the balcony with my acoustic guitar. So it's interesting to listen to the record now. It sounds like what it was like to go through those things. I don't want to sound fucking pretentious, but it feels like the closest thing to honest art that I've ever been involved with — a real extension of my life."

The way Dearly Beloved came to be an ensemble was through Higgins' need for extension. What started out a solo effort soon became an album made with friends and an impromptu band. Singer Niva Chow from Sticky Rice, guitarist Damon Richardson, who used to play drums for Danko Jones, and Sometimes Why guitarist John Pogue are a few names involved in the project. This makes for an interesting group dynamic of friends playing together without the pressures of being an official lineup.

"DB has evolved from this one guy making a record to this really tight family," Higgins says. "We hug on stage and shit.

"We scream our faces off and play the heaviest possible song we can muscle out on stage, say goodnight and then hug each other. I love these fucking people. They are people I hang out with, and it's the coolest fucking band I've ever been in."

Higgins, who is Geddy Lee's nephew, believes "the only way people are going to care about DB is if they come and see us live." So get out and see the raw spectacle of Dearly Beloved for yourself when they rock Toronto's Drake Hotel at 11 p.m. on June 8 at as part of Chart's North By Northeast Music Festival showcase.