Success in the B.C. music industry never disconnected Vicky Sjohall from her northern wires.
The Vancouver-based singer-songwriter loves living beside the ocean - her street is seaside - but she got her bonds with nature thanks to the lakes and forests around Prince George. That's where she will be June 4 when she performs her favourite original tunes mixed with some choice covers.
Sjohall came to prominence in the B.C. music scene thanks to the big bang of her band Cherrybomb. She and rock star Jenny Galt formed a strong front duo with the support of Dave Gannett, Mike Magnussen and Cory Curtis. They put out four well-received albums and toured internationally.
The band faded away, but the music carried on for all the members. Sjohall formed up another band, Violet Finch, which semi-regularly gigs around the Lower Mainland doing unique covers. She also has solo career that kicked off in 2009 with the album Simple Pleasures.
"I feel so fortunate that I've had as many opportunities as I've had," she told The Citizen, tickled to finally be featured in her hometown newspaper. "Cherrybomb was a big launching pad for my career. I'd only been playing about a year at that point. I'd just finished university for health and wellness and kinesiology, and when graduated I got hit by a vehicle while I was on my bicycle. My wrist was broken, but other than that it was just my bike and helmet that got smashed.
But I couldn't do anything physical for a very long time, I was in a cast for a year, two surgeries, and during that period is when I decided I would go wholly into music, I loved music, so I went after guitar and singing and I met these girls. They had been playing a lot longer than me, I was the green one, but they got me going."
Eventually Sjohall developed the skills, confidence and network to establish a band. It was 1999 and they were almost an instant hit.
"I couldn't believe the traction we got," she said. "I'd be walking down the street and strangers would wave and say 'Cherrybomb' which was kind of strange, but a lot of fun. The band got pretty well known, locally. We never got to the point of radio play because pop-rock with lots of harmonies was hard to be placed on any of the formats in those days, but we were gigging a lot, around Vancouver, nationally, and touring outside of Canada as well."
Through thick and thin, Sjohall has been able to keep music at the top of her career aspirations. She works it like a job, making herself write songs, rehearse on instruments, and getting up on stage as much as possible.
Last fall was her last time in Prince George. She still has a lot of family and friends in the area, so it isn't hard to get motivated to come up to P.G. and put on a show.
"Oh I love it. I have very fond memories and nostalgia for P.G.," she said. "I've lived in Vancouver since '92 and when people hear me say I'm from Prince George and sometimes they go 'ugggh' I say you know what, that's not my impression. I love it."
It's still a place of inspiration, too, but instead of thinking back and using memories to infuse her songs, she gets to do the work right in her hometown, and in fact her home neighbourhood.
"I have the opportunity to sit and write," she said.
"I stay with my sister, and the kids are at school and everyone is gone during the day. Sometimes it's nice to not be in your own house, where all your distractions are. My sister has a great place, and it's on the street we grew up on, just down the road from the house I grew up in and from Pinewood Elementary where we went to school and my nieces and nephews went to school. So I can just feel that familiarity and work away at songs, half lazy and half work."
Her circle of old friends and acquaintances can blend with new fans when Sjohall takes the stage at Nancy O's on Tuesday.
Showtime is 8 p.m. Cover is $8 at the door.
