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In 1980, after losing a leg to cancer, Terry Fox began an epic cross-country journey to raise money for cancer research. After 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (a marathon a day), Terry was forced to stop the run outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The cancer had appeared in his lungs. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981. He was only 22, yet his selflessness, his compassion and his tenacity were superhuman and belied his years. As an immigrant from Scotland, I didn't know much about the Terry Fox story but the more I learned about this amazing young man, the more compelled I was to capture his story in song. As I was writing the song, I kept coming back to Terry's unique "foxtrot" double hop I had heard on a documentary. So I incorporated the unique cadence and began building my recording around the sound of Terry's running. The result is "Run Fox Run", a song that has travelled on the inspiration of Terry Fox to “Terry Fox Runs” as far away as Vietnam, Taiwan and India. "His spirit runs farther and stronger each day....." Listen to the song here

We’ve got a couple of shows coming up and would love to see you out there:

Sunday, Jan 18 · 3–5pm

Red Clover Ale Co — Brandon, VT

https://redcloverale.com/

Saturday, March 28 · 6–8pm (CANCELLED)

Shelburne Vineyard — Shelburne, VT

https://www.shelburnevineyard.com/

Swing by for some Django-era jazz, good drinks, and a relaxed afternoon/evening. Hope to see some familiar faces.

My third record, "Tightrope of Dreams", was an album reflecting on the high wire of dreams I had pursued in a career making music, and balancing the influences of my Scottish homeland and my new home in Canada. I think the group of songs, and particularly the title track and album cover, capture this journey. Musically, it is an interesting hybrid between Canamericana and Celtic roots. The album has a couple of songs, "Five Minutes" and "Strong In Broken Places", that were winners in the Unisong and International Songwriting Competitions respectively. The record was mostly tracked at Puck’s Farm and became a collaborative production, working with engineers Keith Mariash and then Michael Banton-Jones. If you are someone who is interested in album liner notes, check out the “Behind The Song” story segments on the lyric and credits pages and listen to the record here.

L to R - Sean O 'Connor, Drew Birston, David Leask, Keith Mariash, Mark Mariash, Steve O'Connor

Ancestors’ Eyes has a family theme throughout the album and is a musical look at some of the people who have influenced my journey - a lover, a mother, a father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather. The title track is the perfect centrepiece, capturing a startling discovery about my own ancestor.

 Not long after moving to Canada, I read a book about the legend of Prince Henry Sinclair. This Scottish adventurer travelled with an Italian navigator named Antonio Zeno, and a party of two hundred men from the Orkney Islands to Guysborough, Nova Scotia in 1398 - 90 years before Columbus came to the shores of North America. From Nova Scotia, they explored the land and waterways traveling as far as Massachusetts. It is understood that they came in peace and made no claims upon the lands of the Mi’kmaq people with whom they lived. Indeed, the legends of these indigenous people recount their harmonious relations with the visiting Earl of Orkney. It may be that their peaceful approach to the new land and its people contributed to them being overlooked by the pages of history. I was fascinated by this story, perhaps because of my own journey across the Atlantic some 600 years later and wanted to write a song about the legend. The song "Prince Henry”, co-written with Kristi Magraw, was released on a limited edition EP called “In The Blood”, along with an an earlier demo version of Ancestors' Eyes.

 That recording was circulated amongst the Sinclair Clan and eventually made it overseas to the UK where it reached Niven Sinclair. Niven had devoted a lot of effort publicizing Prince Henry Sinclair's story and was so moved by the song that he phoned me. After discussing the Sinclair story, Niven drew attention to my own surname, Leask, and mentioned that there were a lot of Leasks on the Orkney Islands. He offered to search my own ancestry through his contacts. I was absolutely flabbergasted when Niven faxed me evidence to show that a Thomas Leask was very close to Prince Henry and in all likelihood sailed with him to the new world. Niven concluded his fax by saying, "There's a reason you wrote this song, for what is born in the bone is not lost in the blood." It sent shivers down my spine and this experience of discovery inspired the song "Ancestors' Eyes.”

There are some fine musicians featured on the record including Troy McLaggan, guitar; Mark Kelso, drums; Jon Goldsmith, piano and B3 organ; Todd Lumley, accordion; Suzie Vinnick, background vocals; Collin Barrett, bass; Loretto Reid, tin whistle and John Johnson on sax.  It was engineered and mixed by the late, great Michael Banton-Jones who was nominated for a JUNO for his work on the tracks “Halfway to Heaven” and “Take Me In.” 

We had fun working on the cover design using the image from a 100 year old portrait of my wife’s great-grandfather and, with designer Todd Lumley's creative genius, managed to pull together what I think is a pretty dramatic looking cover. You can listen to the record here.

Lige om lidt er året 2025 slut. Og mon ikke du kender følelsen af, at året kun lige er begyndt? Det gør vi i hvert fald.

Tiden flyver, når man har det sjovt, siger man.

Det er lige præcis det, der er sket for os. Året er fløjet afsted - simpelthen fordi vi har lavet noget, vi elsker.

For første gang nogenside har vi begge prioriteret musikken. Skabt plads til den i hverdagen. Ladet den komme først. Det har gjort, at vi virkelig har kunnet rykke på ting - og det er en fantastisk oplevelse, når man er et kreativt væsen, der hele tiden får nye ideer, som kræver tid at eksekvere på.

For os har året budt på to udgivelser af vores debutsigler “Om Hjørner” og “Flygter Fordi”. De to singler var med til at give os perspektiv på, hvor omfattende det er at udgive musik selv, men også hvor forløsende det er at nå i mål med det - og ikke mindst at opleve folk lytte til det og endda synge med på teksten til koncerter.

Det er virkelig en stor oplevelse som kreativ selvstændig!

To vigtige læringer

2025 har også været året, hvor vi for alvor har formået at komme ud over scenekanten.

Da vi gik gang med at booke koncerter, satte vi os et - syntes vi selv den gang - meget optimistisk mål om 5 koncerter i løbet af året. Det blev til 11. På spillesteder som Rust, Harders, Huset og Urban13.

Det er vildt at sidde nu, et år efter, vi satte os vores mål, og genkalde os følelsen af, hvor nervøse vi var for, om vi overhovedet ville kunne lykkes med at booke koncerter. Om nogen overhovedet ville se potentiale i Drømmer Om…

For os har det ført til to vigtige erkendelser:

1) Det handler om at tro på, at vi kan opnå målet. Dét er den gyldne nøgle til faktisk at nå det.

2) Alt kan ikke planlægges. Mange af vores koncerter er kommet på banen, fordi vi har mødt andre fantastiske musikere til vores egne koncerter. Noget vi aldrig kunne have planlagt, da vi sad på en café i januar og forsøgte at booke spillejobs. Og som Sandra fra “Spot på en musiker”, der om nogen kender til livet som freelance/selvstændig, sagde til os, da vi i for et par uger siden besøgte Frederiksberg lokalradio for at blive interviewet om Drømmer Om som projekt: “Hvis man planlægger hele året på forhånd, kan man jo aldrig sige ja til nye muligheder”.

Et år i koncerternes tegn

Og så til koncerterne: Wow, bare wow for en oplevelse, det har været!

Inden, vi gik ind i 2025, kunne en hvilken som helst person have spurgt os, om vi kan lide at spille koncerter, og svaret ville have været det samme: “Vi er jo mest sådan nogle introværte studiemus”.

Sådan har vi det ikke længere. Langt fra! Vi har virkelig fået øjnene op for magien ved at stå på en scene, formidle vores musik og budskaber og skabe et unikt rum sammen med publikum.

Hver gang, vi mødes, har en af os grublet over en ide til, hvordan vi kan udvikle vores live-set. “Hvad med, at vi indfører et dj-agtigt element ?” eller “Hvad hvis vi stiller os sådan her overfor hinanden, måske det vil skabe en fed dynamik?”.

Derfor glæder vi os allerede til, at vi igen kan kaste os over live-musikken igen. Men for nu er fokus fuldt ud rettet mod at nå i mål med vores EP, som vi glæder os HELT ENORMT MEGET til at dele med jer i det nye år.

Udover ny musik, flere koncerter og hvem ved hvad ellers (!), så kommer 2026 også til at byde på forandringer på Sleeve-fronten. Platformen udvikler sig hele tiden, og dens founders er i gang med at finde den mest ideelle form for både os som musikere og jer som læsere.

Vi lover at holde jer opdateret!

De allerbedste jule- og nytårshilsner

/ Drømmer Om