They’ve rocked every sound stage in the Sea to Sky and then some. They’ve played all the major events, released music videos, played a pile of private events and even been nominated for a BC Country Award.
Heck, we’ve brought ’em onstage two years running for Arts Whistler’s very own Hear and Now Festival. But these days, the Pemberton powerhouse that is Dakota Pearl is the most excited to release their next EP, a fresh track arriving July 23rd.
Arts Whistler had a chance to chat with Adam– songwriter, lead vocals and guitar in the band- to find out more.
So tell us about Dakota Pearl’s beginning- how did it all start?
To keep the long story short, I’d been playing in the same band for 20 years and had put out 11 records and I was ready for a change. I had been working on a separate project, recording 7 records under the alias Fatymagee which was slowly becoming more and more country. After meeting a couple fellas who filled out the lineup I wrote some more s**t and along comes the very first Pemberton Festival in 2014 and Bam! Dakota Pearl was born.
Why did you name yourselves Dakota Pearl? Where did that come from?
We named ourselves after a potato oddly enough. We are all from Pemberton the seed potato capital of North America.
How would you describe your music style?
Country rock with a s**t ton of soul, blood sweet and tears.
How many albums have you done over the years?
With Dakota we’ve recorded three records, our latest to be released early fall 2019.
What has been your most memorable performance?
I’m gonna have to say the Pemberton Music Festival, incredible just incredible.
What do you love about being based here in the Sea to Sky?
The mountains. The mountains provide us with everything we need. From snow to bike to hunting, our souls are complete. We love the Pemberton and the folks in it and the Pemberton Valley is incredibly beautiful.
What would be your dream gig?
Every friggen gig is the dream gig. Sometimes it feels criminal that we get to do what we love, we love playing. Don’t care where or when, we always give it everything we’ve got.
You have a new EP coming out – tell us about it!
The new EP is gonna blow doors off. It’s called ‘Nothing to Lose’. We raised the bar with our writing, our performance and our dedication to creating a kick a** vibe. Thanks to Paul Shatto on our last EP and most recent work with Jeff Johnson on this album we’ve never felt more comfortable wearing our hearts on our sleeve. We have defiantly become a more confident and complete unit.
Where can people find it/buy it/hear it?
You can find it at dakotapearl.com as well as all other services such as iTunes and Spotify and you’ll be able to hear it across Canada on most of the country stations as of July 23rd.
Good luck with the big release! We are excited to hear ‘Nothing to Lose’ and we can’t wait to catch Dakota Pearl live here at home in the Sea to Sky!
Check out the ‘Nothing to Lose’ EP Release Party on Saturday July 20th at the Pem Ho Pub in Pemberton or experience Dakota Pearl at the Sea to Sky Gondola Concert Series in Squamish on Friday, August 30th.
Dakota Pearl is:
Adam Leggett- songwriter, lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Dave Tremble- lead guitar
Gavin McDermott- bass guitar
Dean Feser- drums and backing vocals
Bruce Macdiarmid- pedal steel and guitar
Rosalind Steel- keys and backing vocals
