Andrea Desjarlais and Malcolm Paterson are the quirky personalities behind the acoustic duo, Amaranth Road. Their ability to see both the light and dark sides of love carries well in their album, Love Lies Bleeding.
Here they allow others to see a glimpse of their journey, from inspiration, to creation, and everything in between.
How Did the Two of You Meet and Form Your Acoustic Duo?
A: Believe it or not, we met on the internet at plentyoffish.com. My experience with online dating began as a joke. A few friends and I thought it would be a fun way to pass time and get out a bit. After a number of truly horrible dates I was ready to give up on the whole thing and only agreed to go on a date with Malcolm because the guy I was supposed to meet that night bailed on me at the last minute.
Apparently fate was on my side because Malcolm and I really hit it off. Since music was one of our mutual interests we played some tunes together on our first date and so began our journey down the Amaranth Road. We played an open mic night that went so well that we thought we might want to aim at something a bit more ambitious and the idea of recording an acoustic album slowly took shape. Malcolm was already working on a solo project, so he had a fair bit of recording experience and I had done some song writing in the past and was keen to do more. It took almost a year but we wrote and recorded twelve songs and called ourselves Amaranth Road.
M: Andrea was actually my first and only internet date. Although I wasn’t looking to work with anyone else musically at the time (I was in a rock band), I did intentionally search out someone to date that shared my passion for music. It wasn’t until about six months after I met her that Andrea played a song for me that she had written years before (at the edge); I was very impressed. I helped her refine the chord structures as she modified some of the lyrics. We enjoyed working on this, and immediately started writing more songs together.
Your Blog Is Titled, “Walking the Amaranth Road“, What is the Amaranth Road?
A: I began the blog after Malcolm and I had started our music duo and I thought that our band name had resonance for our entire life together. As you probably know, band names are extraordinarily tricky things. Malcolm and I wanted to come up with something that felt folky and organic, suggested a journey or a process of unfolding, and somehow said something about the two of us. I had initially joked that Malcolm and I should name our band after a gluten-free grain because we both have intolerances to gluten.
Somehow names like quinoa and sorghum didn't have an appealing ring, but I loved the sound of the word Amaranth. A bit of research revealed that Amaranth has multiple meanings. The Amaranth is also a mythological Greek flower that is said to never wilt and this conjured up images for me of magic, romance, and an idea of eternity. The Amaranth Road is about traveling through the world, seeking out the exotic and striving for romance and beauty.
But it also has a more down-to-earth, inside joke-style resonance that is about finding ways to enjoy a gluten free life, and learning to overcome obstacles which in the case of Malcolm and I frequently revolve around how to eat in a world saturated in wheat, dairy, and eggs--all things that we have to avoid! And so the Amaranth Road is about the highly epic and the humbly mundane but at all times it's about traveling in the world with grace and having someone to share the journey with.
Where Do You See The Amaranth Road Taking You in the Future?
M: Carnegie Hall. I’m sure that Andrea and I would be more than welcome to go there to watch some great artists perform. Honestly, the direction that Amaranth Road will take has yet to be determined. It could be anything from playing local gigs as an acoustic duo to taking on more members and developing a band. We have also discussed the possibility of recording a rock album in the future.
A: The album itself might not take us anywhere. We're just happy to have done it and if personal satisfaction is all that comes of it that's fine with me! But the Amaranth Road in its more metaphorical incarnation as a guiding principle for our lives is taking us to all sorts of exciting places, the next one being a marriage in July of 2010. Apparently my gluten, dairy, and egg-free cooking is so stunning that Malcolm wants to keep me around forever, so he proposed this summer at the top of Grouse Mountain. We don't know what's next for us in terms of our musical collaborations, but we do know that music will always be a part of our lives. I'm grateful that it's something we can share together and with our friends and family.
When asked if there were any other projects in the works, Malcolm shared his upcoming solo project. His Latin inspired rock album is expected to be released in 2011. It seems that the journey down the Amaranth Road will be a long one for this duo.
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