From Joan Jett to The Echo Chamber: Moncton's Radium Doxy

(Radium Doxy at Phaze III during No Funswick 2016 . L-R, Tracy, Kate & Christine. Photo by Ray 13. )

Radium Doxy has quickly become one of Moncton’s loudest and incomparable bands to see live, all thanks to a universal love of Joan Jett.

The band’s drummer Kate Johnson said a friend wanted to do a one off, entirely female Joan Jett cover show in the summer of 2015. “Our bass player didn’t even play bass at the time,” she said. They had just less than six weeks to learn the songs. “It happened and it went really well,” said Johnson. “We all had a lot of fun.”

They decided to keep playing together, writing a few songs at their first jam. They're now a force to be reckoned with, creating heavy-hitting punk music with the perfect amount of angst, pop and fury.

The band is made up of Johnson, Tracy Robertson on guitar and vocals and Christine Robichaud on bass and vocals. Robichaud, a vet technician, has a background playing the saxophone and accordion.

“She’s doing fantastic. She played sax for years, she has a natural musical ear,” said Johnson.

Robertson has been playing in bands since she was in high school; she’s now working on her Masters degree in physics at the University of Moncton. Johnson, a growth engineer at a startup called Alongside, began playing drums during a snow day while working at Calactus.

“There were drums above the restaurant in the original Claude’s House.” Once the cleaning was finished in the restaurant, she went upstairs and started playing them.

“It’s the best therapy in the world.”

Since then, the three have been playing in and around the city alongside White Lung, Outtacontroller, Future Girls and Sonic Avenues and released a four-track demo earlier in November.

The women recently spent a day recording four songs at the Echo Chamber in Halifax with hopes of releasing a 7 inch. “The whole experience was really neat. The Echo Chamber itself is really interesting," said Johnson. “James O’Toole (Outtacontroller) was super fantastic. He really made us feel comfortable and gave us all the room we needed to keep cracking at it,” said Johnson.

Johnson said that preparation for recording was a great opportunity to refine some parts of their songs.

“You have to practice in a different way than you do for a live show, really breaking down the pieces.”

(Kate at the Echo Chamber in Halifax. Nov, 2016. Photo by Tracy Robertson.)

“Tracy, for instance, plays with a loop pedal to keep the sound full while she does leads, so stripping that away in practice gave the chance to tweak other pieces of the songs.”

Robertson said recording was like a mini band vacation, necessary after playing several shows in October.

“We had so many laughs, and it was the perfect balance between getting stuff done at a good pace and taking our time to get it right,” she said.

Robichaud said the band was determined and ready to record. Once they finished the first track everything fell into place.

“We practiced the songs instrumental only for like four weeks to make sure we could hit all the changes without relying on the lyrics,” said Robichaud.

Radium Doxy are one of the few all female bands in the city. Together they feed of each other's energy playing live, during their band practices on Brandon Street and in the studio.

“I'm really grateful that we are a trio of ladies that communicate well, knowing when to push, when to give room, and how to help each other really made the process so much smoother," said Johnson. Listen to Radium Doxy here: