The Awakeneers are still living in Willow Point and have just released a new single. Cortes Currents interviewed them over ZOOM and we had our cameras turned off to preserve bandwidth.

Isa McKenty explained how he came to write ‘December in the North’: 

“It was the day before one of our concerts in the Acoustic Matinee Series. I was supposed to be practicing for that, but it started snowing and I looked out my window. It was so pretty that I wrote ‘December in the North’ instead of practicing. It was actually a year to the day between when I started writing the song and when we recorded most of the tracks that you’ll hear on the recording.”

Cortes Currents: What is the story behind this song?

“It was many snowy winters in the interior of BC, in Chilcotin and on Cortes. Things like skating on Jack’s Pond and with the campfire to warm up your hands afterward; having a wood cook stove and no electricity; coming in from playing. I am the youngest so I remember the fun parts of the snowy winters, not hauling firewood or trying to fix the frozen water pipes or those kinds of things. I remember jumping off the switchback trail to our house into the snow drifts and  basically being taken care of by the other people who were doing the hard stuff.” 

Cortes Currents: Are these Cortes memories? 

Isa McKenty: “Some of them are from Cortes, although there’s not really enough snow on Cortes to jump in and not hit the ground.  (Laughter) The snow-jumping was in the Kootenays.” 

Cortes Currents: How old were you when you came to Cortes? 

Isa McKenty: “I think I was six.” 

His father, Robert McKenty, added, “We’ve heard a lot of original songs for the first time and when this one arrived, just before the Christmas season, it was immediately recognized by all of us that the lyrical line and the whole way that the song came together was really choice.  It covers such a range of simplicity as well as experience that all ages remember and can relate to it, at least if they’re from the North and they remember the first snow.”

Cortes Currents: Have you played it anywhere yet? 

Robert McKenty: “We had to shovel the van in order to get out to go play the concert where we presented it a few days after Isa first came up with it. Then we had to shovel the driveway to the venue in order to be able to get in and let other people get in.”  

Isa McKenty: “There were some questionable rumours about whether I was writing the song while the other band members were shuffling out the driveway, but that’s not how I remember it.” (Laughter)

“Actually, one of the nifty things about this song is we started playing it days after it was written at the Acoustic Matinee Series and then on Manda’s radio show (Folk U) on Cortes.  Francis’ cello part was written in the bathroom of the Cortes Radio station right before that show. We were also trying to figure out how to count the songs so that we could all stay together because my songs aren’t always easy to count. (Chuckles) An astute listener will notice that we played the song differently on that radio show than the recording. And if you try to count  the song on that radio show, it won’t go well.” (Laughter) 

(Our cameras were off, to preserve bandwidth) 

Cortes Currents: Okay, Who’s laughing? (More laughter)

Immanuel McKenty: “Everyone who’s trying to play it with him, which is all the rest of the band.” 

Francis McKenty: “Rose was laughing the loudest because she plays percussion on that song.” (Laughter) 

Cortes Currents: How is ‘December in the North’ being released?  

Isa McKenty: “It is being released on all the normal streaming services but also for free on our website because that seemed like a fitting thing to do given the content of the song and the season.” 

Francis McKenty: “It’s also on our free app.”  (Laughter)

Immanuel McKenty: “It was a super fun song to accompany Isa on, and I had originally actually tried playing bass. Because sometimes, Isa usually plays the electric bass on our songs. But when he writes songs, he’s usually playing guitar, which is kind of fun for me because I get to play the bass, which I’m not particularly good at, but I do quite enjoy. When he wrote this song, I  tried writing a bass part for it, but we both also realized that the bass part I was playing was completely not a good fit for the song. So I picked up my violin and the violin part for the song just kind of popped out and seemed quite fitting.” 

Isa McKenty: “It seemed like you didn’t even have to write it, you just played it and I was very impressed. It always seems slightly unfair when you write a song and then someone else comes up with a part that’s way more catchy than any of the parts you wrote. Now when I have this song stuck in my head, it’s always a violin part.” 

Links of Interest:

• The Awakeneers website
• Where you can download the song for free
• The Awakeneers on Spotify
• The Awakeneers on Cortes Currents and Folk U

All photos courtesy the Awakeneers

Sign-up for Cortes Currents email-out:

To receive an emailed catalogue of articles on Cortes Currents, send a (blank) email to subscribe to your desired frequency:

• Daily, (articles posted during the last 24 hours) – cortescurrents-daily+subscribe@cortes.groups.io
• Weekly Digest cortescurrents – cortescurrents-weekly+subscribe@cortes.groups.io