Nick and Sue. This edition is brought to you
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More from them in a bit. Chatterbox. When the
stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue. Welcome
back to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue
and Nick and today our special guest is Rachel
Brunet. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox
giving you all you need to know about musical
entertainment. Oh yeah! Chatterbox! And now in
Chats Box, we're just lucky enough to welcome
Rachel Brunette. Rachel, welcome. How are you?
Hello, Rachel. Hi, Sue and Nick. I'm doing very
well, thank you. Great. Very, very good. Great
to meet you at last. And we got to know of you
and your songs through Chris Spira of Space Angel
Music. And of course, you've had quite a success
this season in Hits or Misses because I think
you were the first one this season and only the
third artist and the fourth occasion of someone
getting the maximum 24 points. With Last in Line?
Correct, right. Let's start off, you tell us
about that song, and I know Sue was bopping away,
you really liked that, you were pleased when
it got through, and the 24. So tell us a bit
of the story about that song, then we'll talk
about how it all started, perhaps. Okay, perfect.
Well, that song last in line. Actually, I wrote
it a few years ago. In fact, my children were
quite young, although I did have them later on.
One of my sons, I believe it was Thomas, he said,
he asked me a question and I said, well, when
you have a voice, then you have a choice. And
I thought, I'm gonna write that down. That's
gonna be good. And then I, you know, eventually
I started writing the song and I then sort of
parked it a little bit and wrote a few other
songs in between. And then I just, I started
again probably two years ago at rewriting it
and it's a song that I wrote that is about um
putting myself first and realizing to take the
courage to put myself first and feeling good
about that and um you know it's and it's then
it's it's evolved quite a bit and into uh this
song now. So would you say because this is the
first song that we're talking about of course
would would we to be fair to say working on one
song Are your songs generally from real life
experiences? Definitely, yes. So every song that
you write or you've written is true to life,
yeah? So far, yes, so far. The next ones are
coming. I'm sort of going to, you know, I guess
as a newer writer, I'm new to this. I produced
my first song when I was 52. And that stemmed
from real life experiences. And my second single,
that was a collaboration and it's somewhat just
sort of, you know, it's it meshed with the other
sort of the other song. And this one, Last in
Line, was more of my empowering song. That's
why I think it took a little bit longer to write,
but I'm very proud of it. So yeah, it has been
a common theme. That's it. Maybe one thing that
you should think of doing, Rachel, is perhaps
you should think about writing a book or doing
some podcasts or online videos or something of
how to keep looking great in your 50s. Oh, wow.
Whatever you're doing, you're doing right. Well,
I wish I just had nice skin in my 50s. Whatever
you're doing, keep doing it. It's working out,
isn't it? I'll see you in the fresh air in Canada.
In Canada, yeah. Right let's take you back to
when you were a kid and that and what sort of
stuff was being played at home? What sort of
stuff was around you know when you were sort
of like investigating your parents record collections
or whatever was there or older siblings maybe?
What was in the collections and what were you
listening to? Well, first and foremost, I'm an
only child, and I do have a half -brother, but
my father was the oldest of nine. And there was
nine brothers and one sister, so they were...
And I grew up listening to classic rock and everything
from, you know, ELO to Steve Miller Band, ACDC,
I mean, Glenn Campbell, like all of that across
the board. And, you know, I've just I've just
grown up with classic rock. And then I, you know,
I grew up loving that and being exposed to those
songs as well, even in the 50s and 60s as well.
But I sort of grew a passion for you know, the
big hair bands, you know, in the eighties and
stuff. Yeah, so we did that. And so that was
really a lot of the influences in the music growing
up and just hearing lots of constant rock and
roll, constant music, being such a, I'm the oldest
now of 20 grandchildren. So we had big, big,
and we have a large extended family. And so music
is definitely key. It's always been a constant
in my life for sure. Fantastic. And as a kid,
How did this listening to the music become becoming
a singer -songwriter? What sort of age were you
when you decided you wanted to be a singer and
a songwriter? What sort of age were you? Well,
I started quite young I played piano for many
years and you know I had entered some festivals
and singing and singing and playing piano and
then I was just you know back in the day where
we had the radio the ghetto blaster and would
listen to the countdown the five at five and
and then it stopped record and write down the
lyrics that's before the first albums came out
and they had the the lyrics on them and Right.
I don't know that I ever really thought of becoming
a singer I I did like to write a lot. I was definitely,
I journaled quite a bit and then that progressed
into writing a lot of poetry. When I traveled,
I traveled quite a bit in my twenties. And then
I thought, you know what, why not? Let's write
a song. And that all came about. And now I've
got the bug and I don't think it's going to stop
for a long time. I was going to ask, was it poetry?
Writing poetry as a kid that turned into the
songwriting. But you must have known it was coming.
So you just... What do your children think of
your music? My children support it very much.
So they're now teenagers. One's almost 16 and
the other one's 17. I don't know, they they support
me. They love coming to my shows. I mean, especially
my oldest Nathan, he's like our roadie now and
he brings our gear because I also play in a band
and lead singer for one of my bands, which is
No Looking Back. So we do several shows and they
enjoy it. They're quite proud of me. And of course,
I'm always screaming and yelling and, you know,
sharing all of my, you know, my my wins, if you
wish, being on the radio and stuff. So they're
happy. They're proud of me. It's not for sure.
Tell us about your early gigs and concerts you
did. What sort of venues was that when you did
your first? Tell us about the first one. Was
it a bar or what was it? My very very first ones
were like when I was a child, much younger. Those
were festivals and Kingswood festivals and stuff.
But my first gig I think was at a club here in
Ajax which was at we were We were the opener
for the headliner and that was one of our first
gigs with my band No Looking Back and then since
then I've just progressed and actually tomorrow
is going to be our 69th show. So it's yeah since
we started at the end of 2024. Oh wonderful and
tell us about some of the releases that you've
done. Well first of all tell us about the first
release tell us about that what was special about
that one. That was my first single, it was called
Morning, Noon and Night. And I wrote that one
basically in four hours with a friend of mine
remotely. And he called me up and he said, what
do you think of this riff? And then we just,
we started writing and it, you know, the lyrics
were just pouring out. It was at a time that
it was very, it was a time that I needed to make
a change and the song just came together. And
so that was my first single, Morning, Noon and
Night. And then then I met a good friend of mine.
In fact, he's a singer songwriter. He's actually
a songwriter. And he approached me with one of
his songs Oil and Water. So I put the melody
to that. And then we brought that to Barry Haggerty,
who was our producer at Haggerty Sound. And and
we recorded that together. So that was my second
one. Yeah. Cool. And how many would you say you've
brought out so far? So, so far I have Morning,
New, Tonight, Oil and Water. I just released
Last in Line. I also did a really, really nice
project that I'm very proud of. And NTQ Music
approached me, a friend of mine, Dave McPherson,
and he's done, he created a song called Happy
Mother's Day. And it's something that's very
different and unique. He's a rapper from Jamaica
originally. And so this part here, I'm playing
the R &B sound, the R &B music. And it's really
cool. It's quite different. It's really a nice
piece. It's celebrating all the mothers of this
world. And so I was asked to do a collaboration
on that and that was also released this year.
And yeah, I have a few other ones that are coming
out that I'm working on and that's exciting.
Well, there was something that you sent me today,
which I know you got to work on the master. So
tell us about this new song that we can expect
to hear pretty soon. This song is called I Have
to Go. A friend of mine now, Robert Farnley,
he's actually he's from England originally or
in that area and he used to have a band that
they played at the same time as The Beatles and
he reached out to me on a platform called Bandmix
that we have here in Canada. It's sort of a social
media platform for artists. And he reached out
to me and he said, I'm, I'm a songwriter and
I used to be a singer, but I can't sing very
well anymore. So let's, uh, you know, why don't
we collaborate? And so he sent me a few songs
and this one sort of, you know, touched my heart
and we got together and, and we wrote it together.
So that one's coming out. Well, I listened to
it and to be honest with you, I don't know what
needs mastering on it. It sounded pretty good.
So there you go. Yeah you'll see some sort of
perfections to whatever but it did sound very
good but it did sound good. Let me fall to that
one. And of course, The Last in Line, the one
that we really got to know you through on our
shows, like The Hit and Miss and the new release
shows and things like that. That, of course,
was a really great song, I think, to get the
British audience to know you properly, you know,
on a bigger scale. And, of course, Chatterbox
going to all the 200 odd stations is also another
good outlet. And it's a great song for them to
get to know you. I really loved it. It kicks.
It's good. You know, it really is. thank you
thank you very much i know they're going to be
loving that definitely okay so you're going to
say something no it's just what you've just googled
you know what's going to come up yeah i know
what's coming su knows what's coming rachel does
okay what we've gotten rachel we have gone to
google gemini the ai thing and we put in your
name And we've like to see what she knows about
you, what she says about you, and how correct
she might be. She tried telling me that you were
from Whitby and I said, I thought she was from
Asia. I said, ah, they're next to each other.
They are. Oh, she's not that right. OK. Durham
region. That's good. Yeah, perfect. Because I
wouldn't have known that in a million years.
OK. Your lead vocalist for the Ontario rock band
No Looking Back, NLB in brackets, so you've got
a little trendy track line, NLB is it? Solo songs,
Morning, Noon and Night you've talked about,
debut single from October 2023, she got that
right? Yes, around there, correct. You're doing
all right, really. It's described as an uplifting
country rock track about resilience, emotional
recovery, and finding self -worth. Sue Gemini,
not us. Oil and Water, single from 2025. and
last in line single from July 2026 a country
rock anthem based on standing up for yourself
overcoming toxic relationships and taking back
control of your life which is basically what
you said wasn't it so yeah she's doing quite
well yeah she is she is yeah good you know what
i will do i will promise you that if there was
anything really bad and i thought was totally
wrong or if it was funny and wrong fine uh because
there is a way of getting it corrected but if
it was really bad and wrong then i wouldn't just
bring it up on air i promise thank you because
it could be because it's so easy for an ai to
get somebody with a similar name mixed up or
pronouncing it wrong or you know Okay, your solo,
it's not much else, but yeah, your solo recordings
are produced at Hackety Sound Studios alongside
Barry Hackety, a multi -time Canadian country
music association, a CCMA, Guitar Player of the
Year nominee, and her music often weaves themes
of personal growth and self -empowerment into
radio -friendly melodies. I think that's... I
like the picture. Yes, a good picture has come
up. I wonder where that's come from. You're on
stage? It's from Facebook, so they've nabbed
one from your Facebook profile, but a nice picture
of you on stage has come up with as well. I think
with just a few songs, I think that's quite a
nice little write -up, and they've got the right
person. That's good. Well, that's good. It's
something to build on, isn't it? So with this
music, there'll be more. So, yeah. Probably,
when you've come on this show, it'll probably
go there, because a lot of the guests, once you've
been on Chatterbox and they've... podcast and
things it does seem to tie them up which is brilliant
so yeah she's quite a good person into you she's
very helpful to you Gemini yes you have to obviously
have your wits about you to think hold on you
know just in case and you've got to think that
doesn't sound right and of course the good thing
is what people are going to realize when they're
dealing with any of these AI assistants is that
of course especially Gemini it does have in a
very light gray very light writing at the side
it says where the information's come from okay
as long as you remember that and if you double
click that you're not sure then that's pretty
good because that's where you need to be going
to correct it so i think generally she's done
quite well hasn't she yeah in general you know
when we bring it up with artists so there you
go Glad Gemini passed the test, that's good.
Nick and Sue. We're taking a quick break to talk
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Rachel, is there anybody you'd like to do a duo
with? Well, absolutely. Funny that you mentioned
that. I did meet, um, so on the, um, on R &I,
we joined the, uh, we, you know, we joined the
chat room and, uh, Recently, I met Chad Rivett
in the chat room, and he had mentioned that,
you know, he liked my voice. And funny enough,
he said, you know, I'd like to maybe do a duet
with you. And I was really excited that he had
proposed that. And it turns out that both of
our families are originally from Cornwall, Ontario,
my family and his family. So what a small world.
He lives only a few hours away from me here.
But so I think Chad, we had just discussed it
and probably it might be in the works by the
end of the year. So definitely. Okay, wonderful.
So we've got that as a potential plan. We know
about your brand new single, Just Me's Mastering.
What else have we got between now and the end
of the year? Just say if we had you back in six
months time, what would you like to be telling
Sue and myself and the Chatterbox listeners that
you've achieved? Well, I will be also I'm working
currently in the studio with another on another
collaboration a friend of mine Who was written
a lovely song and it's called take care So we're
and we're just starting to to produce that and
that'll probably be out in about a month a month
and a half as well and I've got that one and
I've got probably two or three more singles that
I'm working on so definitely I would say by probably
by next year, next March or so, I'm looking at
having three more releases. So I've got some
momentum now and I'm building on that. And it's
just, I find that there's bouts of creativity.
Sometimes it's like, I can't even write one sentence.
And then when sometimes in the morning you wake
up and it's just like, where are all of these
ideas coming from? So I'm certainly, I bank on
those and write everything down. So right now
I feel like I'm in a period of creativity. and
yeah just playing lots of music lots of shows
and you know working on uh working on with the
band and they're learning my songs which i'm
very very grateful for and yeah sure it's good
now if do you look upon as the songwriting and
uh the you know the platforms where people can
download the songs or stream them are you looking
upon that as perhaps being uh the shop window
for the gigs or the concerts, or are you looking
upon the concerts, the live shows, being a shop
window for the streaming and the downloading
and people to actually buy your stuff? Which
way round do you look at it? Because people have
different ways. Right. I think for myself probably
is probably the live shows. Definitely. So yes,
because I'm using my band sort of as a segue
to, you know, we play a lot of the classic rock
and we use what we play my songs. As far as the
platforms and social media, you have to invest
a lot of time in that. And, you know, quite frankly,
I'm not I'm just I'm doing really well, I feel.
But I think it's it's really just about getting
getting the word out there as opposed to, you
know. Maybe one day I'll hit it big with a big
single and that sort of will continue. That'd
be a worldwide single, won't it? It wouldn't
just be an Asian one, it'd be worldwide because
you're getting quite a bit of notice now in the
UK. Yes, absolutely. Thanks to Chris Byer, right?
When he does for me as an artist and I see him
with a lot of other artists, I'm very, very grateful
for that. Well, he's a good person because basically,
I mean, obviously we choose who we have on, we
choose our airplanes, hopefully choose our playlists
and things, but when he comes in with the Space
Angel music artists and anybody that's involved
with him in any capacity, it's very much a case
that he does know as well enough, of course,
he's got... We message each other many times
each week. We work together a lot. Always something
going on. But the whole point is he says, oh,
I've got this great song from Rachel Brunet.
I must send it to you. So he'd give it a listen.
So what he basically does is that. is wearing
a mind, I get several thousand emails a week
off of people just soliciting their songs or
whatever the right wording would be. I can't
even look at them. Somebody's got to grab me
that way. Because when we work with him, because
we're in constant direct contact, I'll send you
some songs, Dick, blah, blah, blah. So that's
how we got to know about you. So of course he
breaks down that big barrier of getting straight
to us. Exactly. I'm sure you're bombarded with
artists. I mean, I think there's probably 100
,000 songs being released a week on Spotify,
for example. So that's a lot. And exactly. So
having him in my corner has been definitely a
blessing. And he's just lovely, right? He really
cares about his artists. And then, you know,
we just hope that you on the other end will like
the songs. Yeah, so it's great. It's definitely
a good way to network and to get into the music
scene for sure. And Rach, we say thank you to
you for coming in the chat room on a regular
basis and supporting the other artists. That's
important. There's a number of artists which
is really great. It's nice. It's really good.
It makes them feel special because You probably
know yourself with radio, Rachel. The majority
of people that listen to a radio station, you
don't see, you don't hear. On R &I and some of
the stations the chat box goes to is actually
on FM and things, and in London it's on FM. These
people are driving around in their cars and working
and that. Of course, they're not in chat rooms,
they don't do that. They have the radio in the
background for what the radio's for. It's what
we traditionally would have the radio on it for,
it's for company. It's not to do the chat room
and do it... else. So the majority, huge majority,
are at home listening. Huge majority. And we're
talking about 90 odd percent easy, you know.
To say that even in London there's probably a
minimum of 2 ,000 people listening on FM on just
one station without the 230 stations, that's
the sort of powerful I think it is. So when people
like you come and support in the chat room, that
I think gives the others a lift. Yes, I agree.
Seeing figures is only good for advertisers.
It's not good for anyone's morale when they're
in the chat room. So having that there, yeah,
but so it's great. And of course the band is
good, you tell them how good, you know, so it's
important. So if you can get that chat room to
10 or 15 or something, that's good because there's
national stations. I mean, I'm talking about
major stations that would love to have 15 people
in on a Monday or a Saturday or Sunday. They
would though. I know, it's incredible. I find,
honestly, it takes up a, you know, I really look
forward to it. I feel like I have an extended
family now on the chat, you know, and we're constantly
supporting each other. And it just, it really
uplifts me. It's a big part of my week. And I
really look forward to it again. And we were
talking, like, there's a few of the artists that
are in the UK. And, you know, I'm thinking, okay,
now I want to go visit them. So it's great. And
we do encourage each other. And I find that it's
very sincere. And I like that very much. And
all the different styles of music, right? Because
it's nice to support each other, for sure. And
of course to hear you on the air, that's always
a pleasure. The bantering, yes, I love that.
A lot of people do that. It's funny sometimes.
Great, the Americans get it because they find
the humour zany, although we don't think we're
zany. The Canadians get our humour, the Brits
get our humour, but you do get people from some
countries that actually think we're arguing.
Don't actually argue. There's some extreme sarcasm
there. And I tell you what, I get as much as...
Seriously, that's totally even, trust me. I had
a phone call from my mobile company. I'll move
the camera down if you can. Sorry, I've actually
got a headache, the light's going right in my
eye. I had a phone call from my phone company
one day and we were having banter in the background
and the guy goes, do you want me to call the
police? Do you feel safe? Seriously, when he
was in Scotland? Seriously, yes. Can I introduce
you to somebody? Yes. Okay. This is Twinkle.
This is our love of our life. She's been beautiful.
She's been beautiful. I want you to say hello.
She's just moved next to us. There she is. Nice.
There you go. There you are. That's Rachel. Salty.
There you go, my darling. I'm looking. I have
two cats as well. Bullet and shave. They're snoozing.
I don't blame them. I don't blame them. So let's
do your, before we let you go, let's do your
social media. Websites, if you got it. If not,
what social media platforms? The whole lot. Chuck
it up now, please, Rachel. Right. I have. I don't
have a website, but I am on on social media with
so Rachel Brunette Music for Facebook and Instagram.
And I also have my band No Looking Back. We're
also on Facebook and Instagram as well. Those
are the platforms. I also have all my things,
my songs streaming on Spotify through Rachel
Brunette and YouTube. And yeah, I think, and
then Bandcamp and a few extras. Yeah, so I use
the platform from CD Baby here and now, so you're
able to download my music on iTunes as well and
all the major platforms. So if you look for me,
you'll find me. wonderful and brunette quite
literally well rachel is uh it's all very actually
quite easy spelling isn't it rachel is r -a -c
-a -t -l brunette b -r -u -n -e -t so nice and
easy uh i'm sure they would still come up with
you even if they've done some weird spelling
of rachel but nice and simple there um so just
to uh recap we have last in line which is out
at the moment all your songs are available for
streaming and downloading but last in line um
which has done very well on here final for a
couple of weeks time. So yeah, that's about at
the moment, we'll give that a play and your new
one, which I'll get you to say the title again,
I know I've got it here, and your new song which
is about to come out once it's mastered, I have
to go as well, it's something to look out for,
so yeah. We'll have to go in a minute, we have
to go in three minutes twenty seconds anyway.
Rachel, please do me a favour, please give your
cats a cuddle for me, please. I will, I will,
absolutely. I should shake the treats, they'd
probably come out. Rachel, it's been great meeting
you, it's great having a chat. Likewise. And
we look forward to the next time, darling. We
do, there will be next time. So, yeah, keep us
updated, but there's no harm in chucking me a
little message when you've got a post or something
or whatever. Yeah, there we go. Okay. Thank you
very much, it was really nice meeting you both.
I'll probably see you before, but if not, we
will see you in the finals. There's no show Sunday,
don't forget. We're not around Sunday. Yeah,
we're not around Sunday, so there's no show.
Okay. Take care Rachel. Take care. Cheers then,
bye bye. Bye for now. You've been listening to
the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and Nick
and today our special guest was Rachel Brunet.
If you're interested in becoming a future guest
on the Chatterbox Redux podcast or the radio
show Chatterbox UK, you're welcome to submit
songs, books or whatever it is you do. and send
us a CV, synopsis, or press release. However,
we receive several thousand such press releases
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one individually. Why not email us or leave a
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don't miss a future episode. Sue, myself Nick
and Twinkle the tuxedo cat. Thank you very much
for your company and we look forward to welcoming
you again next time for another Chatterbox Redux
podcast. In the meantime, take care, we thank
you for your company and we catch you then. Bye
bye. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving
you all you need to know about musical attainment.
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