As the last notes of Steve Seskin's encore faded, and the house lights came up, Alexis Normand of Rosie and the Riveters was gracious enough to take the time to answer a few of our questions covering, among many other things, her mission as a musician, and the touchstones that form Rosie and the Riveters' singular look and sound. 

Calgary Folk Club: Could we get your impressions of playing the Calgary Folk Club?

Alexis Normand: This is the first time Rosie and the Riveters have been here, and the second time I personally have been here... A couple years ago they had the CFMA awards show in Calgary, and I performed here at the Folk Club for the showcases, and just like last time, this time has been a treat. The audience here... It's really heartwarming, you know? People who are so attentive and so open and so willing to participate - it's really and truly a privilege to play here.

CFC: Your group's merchandise is a lot more varied than the CDs and occasional shirts that many of our other featured artists sell. What came first: the idea to sell such a broad range of R&tR merchandise, or the project you support with the proceeds? 

AN: It kind of all came together. We thought, what would be interesting merch, that we could sell, that people would be interested in, and that works with our brand and with our music? The aprons are sourced from thrift shops... whenever we're in one, we make a bee-line for the apron section, see if there's anything we can pick up, and have them embroidered and sell. The soap, it's a friend of ours who makes it in Saskatchewan, so we try to support her soapmaking business. We were thinking, our whole band is about coming together, doing something positive together, sharing each other's strengths, but we wanted to have that impact go beyond the scope of ourselves. We do uplifting shows, but even beyond that we want to have some other impact on the community, and that's where we thought of doing microfinancing. We thought, what's affordable, what can we do, what do we want to give - merch sells well, let's give twenty percent of that to finance projects around the world.

CFC: A moment ago you mentioned choosing merchandies that suits your brand - it's safe to say Rosie and the Riveters does have a brand, or an aesthetic, and that it's consistent and well-developed. What was the inspiration for that?

AN: We started off as a gospel band. One of the first songs we worked on was Keys to the Kingdom, and I remember listening to a version sung by Abigail Washburn, and she had this little banjo line, and I thought "I wonder if we can sing that." So I wrote this arrangement, and it naturally had this very 40's vibe, this vintage vibe, and we fell into it very naturally. It just felt really nice. So all the other songs we worked on sounded similar - in that style. So we thought, well, our sound is like that, what if we transpose that to our look, too? And we all liked the idea of dressing up and sticking out in a certain way, and it just seemed an image that was very evocative for all of us. And so when it came to developing our merch, when it came to writing songs, when it came to developing anything else that had to do with our band, it just made it a lot easier, you know? We had this visual and audio reference. 

CFC: Any final thoughts?

AN: What I love about this is that it's a true testament to how music brings community together. Arts and culture, I really feel like that's what it does. My mission as a musician is to provide opportunities for people to come together and live moments in community together; that we laugh together, we may cry together... And I feel like that really brings people together, and makes them more involved in their communities and feel like they might belong, and the evenings that I've experienced at the Calgary Folk Club are a result of this. The proof is that it's a club that's existed for forty-four years, and people show up early to get their seats, and show up to buy their season tickets. Not only do they enjoy the music, but I think they enjoy the company.