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Nice Horse formed in Calgary in 2016 and has created a stir not just for their sound but their attitude. The four musicians recently received a historic five nominations for the 2022 Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards.
No all-female band has ever been nominated in this way before. The music video for their song “High School” was nominated for Video of the Year, and each member of the band was nominated for the instrument they play:
- Brandi Sidoryk — Bass Player of the Year
- Krista Wodelet — Drummer of the Year
- Tara McLeod — Guitar Player of the Year
- Katie Rox — Specialty Instrument of the Year
Nice Horse has also been repeatedly recognized at the Western Canadian Music Awards, the Country Music Alberta Awards, and the CCMAs.
They will perform in Moose Jaw on Sept. 10 at Homestand ’22. They were also part of the first lineup at Homestand ’21. They love the city and say they can’t wait to come back.
Tickets are available at RiverStreetPromotions.com.
How did the band form?
“Brandi and Katie, our two lead singers, have known each other the longest,” Wodelet told MooseJawToday.com over the phone. “They were both working as solo artists. They were doing a lot of touring just on their own, and Brandi saw Katie one day on breakfast television and thought, ‘she looks nice.’”
Sidoryk went to Rox’s show afterward and introduced herself as a fellow artist. She asked Rox if they could be friends. The answer, obviously, was yes. That was around 15 years ago.
Sidoryk and Wodelet met shortly after that. Both classically trained, Wodelet was working as an orchestral musician at the time. Sidoryk was solo, but she had an idea for an eccentric, woodwind-inspired band.
“So, she and I threw together for several years in this electropop band where I played bassoon and she played French horn,” Wodelet laughed. “It was kind of a bizarre project, but really fun. I met Katie that way too because they were close friends at the time.”
The final member, McLeod, was recruited into the band when intentions became serious.
“Originally, when we started the band, it was just for fun. We didn’t have any great aspirations for it. Everyone was doing their own thing. Katie had decided to step away from music. Brandi was doing more songwriting. But the three of us, with another friend of ours, just thought, you know, let’s do some songwriting together. And we wrote some country songs.”
Background: Sidoryk and Rox grew up on cattle farms — they grew up on country music, in other words. Yet neither had ever done anything in that genre before.
“Brandi spent a couple of years as an opera singer,” Wodelet explained. “And her cattle farmer dad was like, ‘Could you not just play a country song?’”
Things escalated quickly after a gig at the Calgary Stampede.
“It became apparent that we needed a really incredible, like, just a ripping guitar player to make this project go where it needed to,” Wodelet said. “Some mutual friends introduced us to Tara and that was probably about four or five years ago now.”
Wodelet said McLeod is probably the most incredible guitar player she’s ever met. McLeod has been a member of the Canadian heavy metal band Kittie since 2005, but she’s played in almost every genre. No surprise that she turned out to be great at country, too.
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Where does the name come from?
“OK, so remember the cattle farmer dad? He’s kind of responsible for it,” Wodelet said. “Brandi and I were touring Australia with our previous bands this one time, and he happened to be living and working there too at that time.”
They had just gotten off the flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane. One of the longest flights in the world, it averages 14.5 hours in the air.
“That flight is a killer,” Wodelet laughed. “And all he wanted to do was watch his favourite movie with us, which was The Man From Snowy River. … It features a very nice horse. I’m drifting off on the couch, and he keeps shaking me awake every time this horse comes onscreen, going ‘Look at that horse! That is such a nice horse!’”
Sidoryk and Wodelet were telling Rox the story around the time the band formed, and it just seemed right.
What is Be Nice Nation?
The band have not stopped at making music. They created Be Nice Nation as a lifestyle brand, community, and media empire.
Find out more at mybenicenation.com.
“We were looking for an outlet where we could more to promote and uplift the values we hold,” said Wodelet. “That includes huge support for the LGBTQ2S+ community. We also put real importance on maintaining mental health.”
They recently held a fundraiser for Rainbow Railroad, an organization that helps LGBTQI+ individuals experiencing state-sponsored violence to escape their countries, come to North America, and be supported.
They also have a podcast called The Road Case where Nice Horse talks about their adventures on tour.
“We get involved in every aspect,” Wodelet said, noting that their agent sometimes finds that frustrating. “That side has been a way for us to pay attention to things beyond the music that are very important to us.”
