Unique sound
Laura Cole is sliding into paradise
Laura Cole’s new single “Piece of Paradise,” swaying with iconic Hawaiian slide guitar, would be perfect for an enchanting scene in Frank Capra’s film classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”: Mary Hatch magically transforming the front room of a onceabandoned house into a Hawaiian paradise for lifelong love George Bailey after the newlyweds miss their honeymoon.
“That is awesome! I love it,” exclaims Cole, adding that she and partner/musician Chris Chiarcos’ “piece of paradise” is not a tropical island getaway, but really her parents’ pool house.
Many hands assisted in the pool-house recording project, from Hamilton guitarist Mark Foley to family friend — and acclaimed producer — Daniel Lanois.
Lanois has known Laura Cole’s father, keyboards player Ron Cole, for many years.
One day “Uncle Dan” visited the pool house with a vintage drum machine.
“Dan brought us this Rhythm King because he heard a couple of our songs and thought it would be a good idea. So he let us borrow this amazing drum-box.
That is how we ended up writing our new album’s title track ‘Piece of Paradise.’ Chris had no idea how to play slide steel so we tossed on the Rhythm King, he taught himself slide guitar to the beats, and we wrote a song.”
Cole says the idea of Hawaiian slide guitar is carried throughout the whole album.
“There are hints of slide guitar on almost every song, plus a couple of new age songs. We are also a little bit more electronic on a couple of the later tunes,” she notes.
Another unique sound on “Piece of Paradise” is the Wurlitzer.
“People like to lend us instruments and we obviously use them, so my dad was lent that by a lady who just wanted someone to play it. Eventually, she did end up wanting it back, but my dad did not want to part with it so he brought it from her.
“It is my favourite!” she exclaims. “I have grown up with my dad playing that to me ... well, it is just the best sound. It reminds me of my childhood and getting into music,” says Cole, adding her dad plays keys on the new album.
“We begged, borrowed and stole everything we could to get gear and the best sound. We have all of these people on board to help us with our record the best way they can. It really shines through,” says Cole.
“It is a little bit more of a humble scene here as opposed to Toronto. Not everyone is trying to be a rock star in Hamilton, really. We are just being ourselves embracing our lifestyle and what we grew up with. It is a pretty tight scene here.”
Chiarcos also loves digging into his technical role at their pool-house paradise.
“Chris did 100 per cent of the engineering figuring everything out,” Cole says proudly. “It is sweet how much he has learned. I can teach myself to sew, create and fabricate things. But I am not a software person so that was really cool to watch Chris go through everything when we made this record.”
Other album personnel (who are also playing at the Rhapsody) include Mike Tokarchuk on guitar, Chiarcos’ twin brother Brian Chiarcos on drums, Ron Cole on keyboards, and Mike Alonzo on Hawaiian slide guitar.
Cole’s works include her 2014 debut “Dirty Cheat” and the 2015 single “Come Be With Me Love” written by Cole for 2015 thriller “88” with Christopher Lloyd and Katharine Isabelle.
“Piece of Paradise” is Cole’s second album. It’s soulful and sexy, set to a catchy multi-genre beat from tropical title track to sassy revelation “Zip It.”
In addition to her own work, Cole recently worked with British electronic musician Harvey Summers composing and singing songs for his 2016 album “Human.”
Summers is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer who works in film and TV soundtracks including “Looking” and “Walking Dead.”
“Harvey did inspire us to make a true album,” she says. “It was cool to be involved in the record with him. He’s a one-stop shop doing everything. It opened the door to us saying we can do this. Working on the Lanois level is a little bit different. Dan is working with incredible high-up people. And we absorb that big time every time we are given the opportunity.
“Harvey’s on a little more of a personal level. He is an electronic guy and a big fan of Dan’s. Harvey actually has the Lanois guitar strap,” she adds with a laugh.