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VIDEO: 54-40 singer Osborne and daughter debut rock duo A Family Curse with ‘Cemetery Blues’

The sound: ‘Diving into a fantasy world of Americana and fuzz-driven blues rock,’ Kandle says
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The rock duo A Family Curse features 54-40 singer Neil Osborne, right, and his daughter, Kandle.

54-40 singer Neil Osborne and daughter Kandle have created A Family Curse, a new rock duo.

Their self-titled debut album is set for release July 27, and a video for the song “Cemetery Blues” debuted on Wednesday morning, June 1.

A tour of some Ontario cities starts June 10 at Toronto’s El Mocambo club.

Kandle describes the duo’s sound as “diving into a fantasy world of Americana and fuzz-driven blues rock,” with the added imagery of a father-daughter duo taking listeners “on a journey from robbing banks to getting stranded in the desert and catching fire.”

Raised in Tsawwassen, Osborne co-founded 54-40 in 1980 with bassist Brad Merritt, and the alt-rock band continues to record and tour.

Osborne’s A Family Curse collaboration with Kandle began a few years ago when Neil and fellow songwriter Danny Michel recorded music with melodies and lyrics from Kandle. The songs idled for a time before Osborne rediscovered them, and Kandle went to work on additional lyrics.

What emerged was a DIY album where the two played and recorded everything at home, according to a news release on indoorrecess.com.

“I gave Kiz (Kandle) a nice chord progression with just three major chords. Just three. C, G and F,” Neil said about the song “Cemetery Blues.”

Michel and Neil then “whipped up a drum, bass, piano and guitar track. I told Kiz, ‘Now sing something nice, you know, happy like,’ and she comes up with Cemetery Blues.”



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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