Emm Gryner's Willing To Let You Take Her Back To Your Place

Emm Gryner has been very busy.

The indie singer-songwriter is currently on tour with Hot One, playing bass with the pop-rock quartet. At the same time she has also been promoting and playing some shows in support of her latest release, The Summer Of High Hopes. Recently in Toronto she played back-to-back shows, one gig with Hot One and the other showcasing her own material.

"It's the perils of putting two albums out at the same time, which I won't do again," Gryner says with a laugh.

Despite this juggling act, Gryner appears to be enjoying her current tour with Hot One. "It's actually going well," she enthuses. "We haven't played live before last month, so it's been cool to work out what we're actually doing."

"On certain days we have kids from the School Of Rock, the actual School Of Rock. We have them opening and they do cover songs and stuff. It's been a really fun tour."

Gryner's next plan is to do a separate solo tour. However, rather than play more traditional venues, she's interested in performing in people's homes.

"I would like to do a cross Canada living room tour," says Gryner. "Not very many people have done it. We're going to figure it out somehow, but it's challenging. You can't go out there and play for an hour and half and then go chill out in your dressing room. It's a unique thing to do, especially if it is Victoria to St. John's. I probably would lean towards doing it solo. I also might like to play real pianos everywhere I go."

In her recent concerts, Gryner has been demonstrating greater command in her singing. She's much more confident and accurate in her higher range, sometimes performing her older songs better than she did originally. She credits Nathan Larson, her co-conspirator in Hot One and also the producer of roughly half of The Summer Of High Hopes, for her vocal progress.

"He really helped me find my voice and helped me accept that I have an instrument that works," Gryner explains, "instead of putting on a voice or over-dramatizing. You can just sing if you want to. That really freed me up to just relax and sing."

Here are Emm Gryner's upcoming tour dates:
Dec. 20 Toronto, Ontario @ The Mod Club Christmas w/Andy Kim
Dec. 21 Toronto, Ontario @ The Drake w/Neverending White Lights
Jan. 19 Stratford, Ontario @ Pazzo Ristorante
Jan. 28 Toronto, Ontario @ Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame Gala