Cortes Island’s own Jemma Hicken just released her first major album, ‘Get it Together.’ Cortes Currents interviewed her shortly before that.  

“I love performing and  I love playing music by myself too, but it does feel special to come back to Cortes and be able to perform on Cortes because it’s really where it started for me,” she said.

“Home is definitely Cortes. I was just telling somebody the other day, that there’s a beach access down at the bottom of Hayes Road. I grew up on Potlatch, so that was the closest beach access to my house. There’s this big rock at the bottom of the beach access. It’s a rock that you can climb on, sit on, and I went down there alot. My parents also got married at that rock. I spent a lot of time at that one big rock, and if I was to pinpoint the centre of my universe, that would be it.”

CC: Tell us about the album.

JH: “I’m so excited! It came out on July 21st and It’s been a long time coming. I’ve had so many songs that have been backlogged. There’s been a whole host of things in the way. I didn’t have the time or space to do the recording, but finally I bit the bullet this year and contacted Corwin Fox in Cumberland. He has a studio called Hidden Well.”

“We did all of the recordings in April. It was a pretty fast process, just a couple of months from start to finish. It was really amazing. I went in twice over the course of maybe six or seven days and recorded all of my parts.”

“Corwin  recorded, mixed, mastered, and produced the album. He’s been adding instruments to the songs over the next couple of months after that. It’s been really exciting to get to hear them with new textures and layers coming to life in the studio. So he’s a huge part of it and I’m really excited to release it. It’s gonna be fun.” 

CC: This would actually be a good time to play one of the songs you have for us. 

[The song ‘Scattered’ plays from 2:45 – 6:05 in the podcast]  

JH: “It’s my first major album, I would say. I released one when I was 17, so 11 years ago. That was a home recorded album.  I feel a bit cringey when I listen to it, but it’s my first album under the name ‘Jemma and the Good Thing,’ which is my performance name.”

CC: You’ve also released two singles.  

JH: “I went to do my Bachelor’s Degree in Edmonton, and while I was there I had a band called ‘Jemma and the Good Thing,’ a name that has continued on. My band and I won a songwriting contest with Bent River Records, in 2019. They recorded two singles for us for free, it was part of the prize of the songwriting contest.”

CC: What is it that makes you want to play music? 

JH: “What a big question!” 

“When I sing, my body feels good. That’s always been an important part for me, just like the physicality of singing feels so nice, and I’ve been singing since I was really little. My mom sings and my grandma sings, so we sang together when I was a kid. Singing with other people makes me feel really good. Harmonizing just feels so good in your body, so that’s one piece of it for sure.” 

“The other piece, for me, is songwriting. That is different altogether, I think songwriting has always been cathartic. It’s just really important for me to be able to do it. It’s a place where I feel like I can get my emotions out and turn my sometimes negative emotions or sometimes positive emotions into something tangible that I can share or sometimes not share, but it feels really good to get it out and turn it into something that exists a little more tangibly than just emotions.” 

“I grew up singing and then went to an alternative school in Vancouver until I was seven or eight. I don’t actually have a ton of memories of that school or that time, but I do remember singing alot there. I remember being in circles, and the first feelings of harmonizing at that school, so  that was early on.” 

“My family moved to Cortes when I was eight.”

“My parents are Tim Hicken and Elizabeth Burr. My dad was a teacher at the public school when we lived here, and my mom was a yoga teacher.” 

CC: What years was he the teacher? 

JH: “He taught at Linnaea first, and we moved here in 2003. He must have taught at Linnaea until 2006 or 2007, and then he taught at the public school for three years, or maybe even four years.”  

“I went to Linnaea and I definitely got a lot more of that good feeling from Monday morning singing circles. Dayna Davis teaches at the public school part time right now, I think, because she’s getting ready to retire. She and Jean Le Cheminant, who just passed away last year, were both huge influences for me. They were the two music teachers at the school. They led the Monday Morning Singing Circles, and led a lot of songs that are still in my mind. Really beautiful harmony songs like the ‘Dear Henry, Dear Henry’ –  Do you know that one? The ‘Hole in My Bucket’ song?  Lots of really beautiful songs, lots of just funny songs and I just remember really loving singing in that Monday morning circle every week.” 

“I  sang at every chance that I could get at Linnaea. There were lots of chances. We did lots of concerts, and we did the school musicals every year that were these huge feeling productions at the Gorge Hall that everybody at the school really contributed a lot to.” 

“I remember performing with my friend Pocket, who also grew up on Cortes and went to Linnaea. We performed at one of the coffeehouses ages ago. We would have been eight or nine.” 

“I moved off Cortes for high school. My parents bought me a keyboard for my birthday and I started really playing with the keyboard. Then I got myself a ukulele.”

“I moved to the Comox Valley, lived in Victoria for a little while and in Edmonton for three years during my bachelor’s degree.” 

“The last year of my bachelor’s degree was during COVID. So I actually moved back to Cortes for my last year of university. Then, because it was by distance, my partner and I and my parents all went in on buying land together. So we’ve been really slowly developing the land and making it a little bit livable.”

“Now Dan and I have a trailer, electricity and water. It feels very livable back there. We have lived here full time for two years. I went on a couple of trips, but mostly we were here.”

“Last year my partner started his master’s degree in Victoria. So we moved to Victoria for  this past winter and now we’re back. We’re not sure what the next move is going to be. We’ll see, but Cortes is definitely the base.” 

CC: Is this your day job, so to speak?

JM: “Performing? Mmmm, It’s my night job. (laughs) Nope, this summer I’m working for the Cortes Island Community Foundation as their summer student. When I’m in the city, I’m usually serving as my day job.”  

“It’s so hard to make music a full time career, especially as a singer/songwriter when you don’t have the instrumental capability to be a side person in somebody else’s project. I could definitely sing backup vocals, but it’s not as in demand as playing bass, or playing drums.”

CC: Where do you perform? 

JH: “I perform at the Vancouver Island Musicfest  this coming weekend (July 12-14). I’m really excited about that, and nervous. It’s definitely the biggest gig I’ve played. I’ve been volunteering with the stage crew at that festival for a really long time. So, it feels really good to be performing there. I’ve watched so many world class musicians go through those stages. I know the amount of talent that’s been on the stage before.  I want to do it justice.” 

“This year I’m on a couple of very little local tours. I’ve been going over to Vancouver Island and doing some tours around there. I was playing in Spirit Square in Campbell River, I was playing at a brewery in Nanoose Bay, I’m going to be playing at a little festival called 39 Days of July in Duncan. I played at the Village Square Series in Cumberland. There’s a bunch of  community events that need music and it’s been really fun.” 

CC: So what’s coming up on Cortes, Quadra and at Campbell River?

JM: “The first gig that I’m going to play on Cortes, was booked by me because I’m organizing the Friday Market music. I’ll be playing on August 4th at the Village Commons tent behind the Friday Market.” 

“There’s going to be music every week on Fridays. I feel really excited about being on the booking side of things and being able to contribute to organizing other people’s gigs too.” 

“Then I will be playing at Lovefest on August 12th, and I’m really excited about that. Last year, Lovefest was the highlight of my summer. It was such a beautiful day.” 

“I’m not playing at all on Quadra, although I just applied yesterday for Quadrapalooza. I think they’ve mostly done all of their booking, so I might not get in this year, but maybe next year.”

“Then, in Campbell River, I am going to play at the Pier Street Market in late July, and I’ll be playing at Beach Fire Brewing in early August.” 

CC: Are all of these paying gigs?

JH: “They are.” 

CC: What about the Friday Market?  

JH: “Yep.”

CC: I’m not going to ask how much.

JM: “The Friday Market one doesn’t have a huge amount of funding, but it’s enough that it doesn’t feel embarrassing to offer it.”

“Most of them are decent pay and a lot of them give us free food too, which is noce.”

CC: What does it feel like dealing with all the musicians as the organizer? 

JH: “It feels exciting. It’s really nice to be able to offer people gigs because I know as a musician how much I appreciate it when somebody reaches out to me and thinks I would be good for that gig.”

“I feel really happy to be able to reach out to other musicians and offer them gigs and offer them a little bit of pay on an island that usually doesn’t have very many paying gigs to offer.” 

You can buy digital copies of ‘Get It Together’ for $10 Canadian at jemmaandthegoodthing.bandcamp.com She will also be selling them at Lovefest and other performances. You can contact her at [email protected] 

Music Credits for the Podcast

• The songs ‘Scattered,’ ‘Skim Milk’ and ’Pocket Dial’ are taken from Jemma Hicken and the Good Thing, Get it Together, produced at the Hidden Well recording studio in Cumberland BC and released July 21, 2023

All photos courtesy Jemma Hicken or Jemma Hicken and the Good Thing Facebook page.

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