L.A. Beat

Everyone is a-twitter about social media, which is in my face and everyone elses, but Lethbridge singer -songwriter Alyssa McQuaid is using it to her advantage by posting videos of her performing some of her favourite covers and a few of her own songs almost weekly.

“People have been requesting them ever since I put up a video of me performing Sugarland’s ’Stuck Like Glue (back in July),’” McQuaid said before a gig at the Front Row Pub adding she is primarily posting cover songs her fans request, though there are a couple originals.

“It’s had 21,000 hits, so  I thought it would be a good way to get exposure,” she continued adding she has sporadically been putting up simple videos of just her playing her guitar in her living room for the past four years, however they have been gaining popularity steadily ever since.

“I have a little video camera I got for Christmas. So I just set it up in my house and play. It takes one or two hors to record and upload it onto YouTube,” McQuaid noted.

“ That’s how (young piano player) Greyson Chance got discovered because Ellen DeGeneres found the video (a cover of Lady Gaga’s ‘Paparazzi,’ ) on YouTube. A lot of bands get discovered through Youtube and other social networking tools, ” she observed.

“It’s really good. People are hitting on the videos, so it’s a new way to get fans. Hopefully they will be looking at my other stuff too,” continued McQuaid, who is putting the final touches on her second CD to be called “Stay Beautiful.”

 

The Cd, which was recorded in Calgary includes eight original songs and two covers plus includes a full band backing her.
She is getting comments on her videos from all over the world, as far away as Japan, Brazil and Australia, but the most  touching is a comment from a soldier overseas, who plays her cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” every time he is about to go out on a mission.

“It is really amazing to have people respond the way they have. I’ll get some negative comments, but not often. They’ll say things like ‘you don’t sound anything like the original.’ But then, I don’t want to sound like the original either. They just want to get traffic to their site,” she said.

“But getting the message from the soldier, that was really amazing,” she enthused.
The most recent video went up three weeks ago — an original called “Stay Beautiful,” which she wrote about the effects of bullying.

The new CD, “Stay Beautiful” is expected to be finished and released Nov. 12. She is looking for a location for a CD release party next month as well as looking  to form a band, which will inlcude her brother on guitar.

A version of this article also appears in the Oct.  27 edition of the Lethbridge Sun-Times

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