Artist Information
Biography
outside the lines
Roused into existence in 1992 at a bank machine on the campus of Thunder Bay’s Lakehead University, outside the lines is a musical experience which pivots around jen metcalfe and lena gray, two strong-minded songwriters/vocalists/musicians, who proudly adopt Northwestern Ontario as home. Sharing a vast pride in their common landings, their's is a sound with enduring resonance.
outside the lines congeal independent sparks into a collective fire of original material with a feel all their own, though they'd never neglect to mention that they're standing on the shoulders of giants... Their's is a sound saturated in a full spectrum of influences: With Irish roots keeping her blood running green, Jen jests that she was raised somewhere between Mama Cass, classic rock and Camelot, while Lena breathes deep a vibe blending a spectrum from Melissa Etheridge to Elvis Presley. A common thread of inspiration in the duo can unnavoidably be found in the music & musings of Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers; of which both are very proud to enjoy as their connective tissue!
An outside the lines performance is always laced with songs drenched in personal reflections of human interactions and connections with the natural world...
outside the lines have returned "home" to the place they started on stage, as a duo --- the summer of 2005 saw the launch of their second studio album, titled "iNSiDE"... It is a bold turn for outside the lines, following a strong premiere collection of original songs featured on their july/2000 release of a 13 track package, titled: ORGANIZED @ LAST. "iNSiDE", launched in June 2005, is an all-original collection of songs born of 13 years of the musical companionship of jen & lena, both scribes & composers individually...
Produced by Shelley Jacobson in Thunder Bay, "iNSiDE" is an auditory feast of quips, laughter, nature, friends, and even a dash of techno-folk c/o mama jake! Both being "products of the 70's" themselves, jen and lena have threaded together all of these pieces with the intention to serve up a whole-album journey --- sample some energy & harmony today in the audio section of this EPK !
Raised in Southern Ontario, jen metcalfe satiated a life-long romance with the notion of "North", with her migration to Thunder Bay in 1989 to attend Lakehead University. jen has bent her life around music, it's resonance & social power; in her own songwriting-right, she draws on personal philosophies of the here & now combined with forward-looking analogies. in all of her shape-shifting, she tends to be spot-lighting music/it's creators or threading it in as an obvious base-element of ANY gathering... jen is an author, composer, publisher, presenter and programmer/broadcaster of music. ~ www.luradio.ca, Lakehead 102.7 FM tuesdays 4-6pm ~ get bent! feels good!
Many moons ago, lena gray left the thriving metropolis of Toronto, where she was raised, for the wide open spaces of the other side of the map, also to attend Lakehead University. She settled in Northwestern Ontario where the environs were especially fertile for cultivating her diverse and evolving passions. Her calling comes as much from the northern lights as it does from the city crows. lena's quest is for enlightened balance through celebrating life and all its "many-splendoured" permeatations.
Thunder Bay is a hub, and outside the lines feel blessed by the artists they can look forward to shared time and space with ... jen and lena will once again be launched into glorious performance opportunities!
heralding to their muse’s clarion call, outside the lines strive to deliver uplifting, down-to-earth, backwoods, city-street, toe-tappin’, feather-rufflin’, audience-friendly, folk-n-rollin’ entertainment...
Instrumentation
Jen Metcalfe (songwriter/composer/SOCAN) ~ vox + 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars
Lena Gray (songwriter/composer/SOCAN) ~ vox + 6 string acoustic guitar, harmonica, hand percussion
Discography
june 2005 ~ "iNSiDE", the second full length CD published indie-pendently by outside the lines
june 2000 ~ "ORGANIZED @ LAST", the premiere studio project published indie-pendently by outside the lines
Video
Press
Setlist
outside the lines have published two 13 track CDs of entirely original songs to date, and have material in the works for future efforts as well... The original material recorded and performed by jen metcalfe & lena gray is comprised of a list shared equally by the two songwriters... you can find 3 samples of recent recordings in the Audio section of this EPK !
Also fans of performing cover songs, jen and lena share a strong passion for the music of the Indigo Girls + show it on stage... not a set has gone by in 13 years without at least a few Indigo Girls' songs on the roster! Filling out the mix include covers of such artists as Melissa Etheridge, Neil Young, the Stampeders, Spirit of the West, Great Big Sea, Buffy St.Marie, and even the Eagles, Walt Disney & the Beatles... the list goes on, depending on the mood !
Given a focused concert opportunity with limited time, outside the lines apply enthusiastic focus to their original material, making sure to showcase their own art... They transfer their energy fluidly from coffee shops to concert halls, to the local pub, filling entire evenings with ease!
