A group of veteran Edmonton musicians came together, semi-reluctantly, to create a house band in late 2021.
They had zero inkling that two years later, they’d be a true-blue band, one rooted in friendship, killer musicianship and soul music.
Yet in late 2023 they found themselves still together, in a studio recording an album, no less.
We talked with Dana Wylie (vocals, keyboard) and Harry Gregg (bass) about the group’s story of serendipity.
It all started with a request to start a house band for a weekly pro jam (i.e. jam night for professional musicians) at Soho YEG. “I remember thinking, for various reasons, ‘is this really my thing?’ says Dana. “But because it was the end of COVID and there was no work, I thought, ‘if a gig comes along, I have to take it.’ So I did even though I had some reservations.”
The group played four cover songs each week to kick off the weekly jam. By the next summer, it started to dawn on them: they sounded great. And they were having a blast.
“We were getting better and tighter and the energy between us was starting to feel so good that it was like, ‘wow, we’re a band,” says Dana.
“It really started to gel into something, like ‘we should write, we should record, we should come up with a name.’ So we applied for a couple of grants and got them and just recorded our first album a few weeks ago.”
Their residency at Soho came to an end. “We decided we wanted to keep playing. We wanted to turn the gig into more of a residency where our band could play together every week. It’s a fantastic thing for a band that’s just developing, playing together that much.”
They found a spot at Blues on Whyte, starting in September, and they now play every Wednesday. The band also features Jamie Cooper on drums, Kyle Mosiuk and Chad Murphy on guitar, and Rooster Davis on organ.
“We have a pretty sweet deal right now,” says Harry. “It’s hard for us to go on the road a lot. We’re all busy; there’s lots going on for everybody. For now it’s good that we can play a lot, here.”
As for their name, Dana, Harry and Jamie were at the Soho jam one night and their friend Emmet Van Etten was introducing a young man about to play. Van Etten told the crowd the young musician had just purchased his dream car and everyone should congratulate him. The guy protested a little, saying essentially that it was a hunk of junk. “Emmet replied, ‘well, a secondhand dream car then.’ The three of us looked at each other and said, ‘hey, that sounds like a band name,” says Harry.
The group just recorded their first album, Answer The Call, a few weeks ago. The sound is their own roots, rock and soul aesthetic.
“Our biggest current influences are Tedeschi Trucks Band and Lake Street Dive,” says Harry. “It’s roots music but it leans pretty heavily on the soul side of things.”
The album title has several meanings for them, but one is the band’s unexpected existence. “We got the call and we answered it and we had no idea that we would be here now,” says Dana.
Secondhand Dreamcar plays every Wednesday at The Commercial at Blues On Whyte. Look here for more band info and concert dates.
