Corey Bonnevie’s bedroom rock tapestry has evolved into one of Saint John’s most exciting new ensembles. Listen to the band’s latest single, Wish You Didn’t Know, off the group’s forthcoming sophomore album.
Matt Carter
What started off as a solo project by Saint John musician and Monopolized Records founder Corey Bonnevie has now become a band. Actually, Doctor Mother Father has been functioning as a trio ever since Bonnevie was asked to play at 107.3 Local FM’s Best of Saint John awards show in 2021 shortly after the release of his debut album, Catholic. That was when he brought two other local musicians into the fold – Colin Ferris (Sheik, Cool Dudes Fighting, Butcher) and Kortni Nicols (Lionsault).
“They agreed to do it and we got a 30 minute set together for the show at the Imperial Theatre,” said Bonnevie. “That’s still the only place we’ve played in Saint John, which is really funny to me.”
Inspired in part by his new found trio, Bonnevie began writing a new album shortly after the group’s debut live performance.
“That show was a reminder that, yeah, playing music with people is fun. So I set a goal to write and record an album and have it finished by the end of the year. I pretty well hit it,” he said.
“Where the first album was just me, this one ended up being more like, I really want to record on tape, I want us to record as a band, and I want us all to play together,” said Bonnevie. “Those were the rules and we did that. All the bed tracks are all of us playing together to tape.”
Wish You Didn’t Know is the first single from the upcoming album. Blending the edginess of garage rock with power pop’s instant and lasting appeal, Doctor Mother Father’s new single is straight ahead energy showcasing Bonnevie’s exceptional chops as a rock guitarist and songwriter.
For Bonnevie, having other musicians to play with and bounce ideas off of is what helped give the project an entirely new life.
“[This time] it wasn’t me just throwing a pile of layers on top of things,” he said. “I started thinking of Doctor Mother Father as a band instead of a recording project so I was thinking about what we could achieve live when a lot of these songs came together.
“Wish You Didn’t Know is a song about working relationships. Trying to work with others towards a common goal and how that can be difficult sometimes. Especially when it comes to passion projects where there is no money in the equation.”
Contrasting the darker side of the music business which was a major theme for Doctor Mother Father’s debut, Wish You Didn’t Know and a lot of the forthcoming record draws much of its inspiration from the events of the past two years.
“I thought about doing character writing because I thought I should probably get out of my head,” said Bonnevie. “The last album was written before Covid and I think because the new stuff was written during that period, it may be a reflection of what it felt like to be a musician in that time.”
Wish You Didn’t Know is now available for streaming on all major platforms and is available to purchase via Bandcamp. Details on the forthcoming record are expected in the coming weeks.
Band photo by Naomi Peters. Design by KC Wilcox.
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