Ken Wallis Chats With Chuckee Zehr and Cheryl Lescom of The She Wolves Of London

The She Wolves of London is a five-piece band featuring talented veterans of the music industry. The all-woman band has been performing for numerous years, and they are a crowd favourite wherever they play.  They’ve released a live album that showcases their energy and professionalism. Separately they embody what music should be in their individual careers. Collectively they wow audiences with their fiery performances and perfectly blended vocals.

Ken Wallis interviewed Chuckee Zehr and Cheryl Lescom for the radio show BluesSource Canada.  The following are excerpts from that interview, edited and amended for brevity and clarity.

Ken Wallis

The She Wolves of London has released their debut album, and it's called Live in London and joining us are two members of the band Chuckee Zehr and Cheryl Lescom.  Great seeing you two again.

Chuckee Zehr

Thanks – nice seeing you again.

Cheryl Lescom 

Nice to be seen.

Ken Wallis

So, a little background information.  How did the band name come about?

Chuckee Zehr

I think we all came up with it and added to it and threw a couple of names around.  I think our manager Dave Harland came up with the London part.  It just kinda fell together.

Cheryl Lescom 

We came by it organically

Ken Wallis

When was the album recorded?

Cheryl Lescom

It was recorded on Halloween in London Ontario, live off the floor. No gimmicks, no fuss, no muss. This is all as honest and as real as you can get with this album.

Ken Wallis

And I have seen you perform many a time and the album certainly captures the vitality of the band. Who was in the band? Can you give us a list of who performs?

Chuckee Zehr

Cheryl Lascom, Sarah Smith, Dale Anne Brendon, Alison Dale and myself.

Ken Wallis

The band has been performing for several years now.  What prompted the desire to release an album now?

Cheryl Lescom

Well, I think it was time.  Like you say, we've been performing for a while and every time we perform, people are always asking us, do you have anything that we can take home?   Well, they can't take us home personally, but they can take home our music, so it was just time.

Ken Wallis

The song Lighthouse is a very special song. Tell us all about that one.

Chuckee Zehr

Well, actually that song Cheryl and her son John wrote the lyrics. And Cheryl brought it to me and I just kind of put some music to it. It's a three-way song.

Ken Wallis

I've seen the band perform many times and there’s one I just love. Put A Woman In Charge. Tell our audience all about that song.

Cheryl Lescom

Somebody sent us that song and as soon as we heard it, we decided that this is definitely a song that needs to be done by The She Wolves Of London. That's for sure.

Chuckee Zehr

So that's the only cover on the on the album. The rest are all original songs.

Ken Wallis

And who wrote that song?

Chuckee Zehr

Keb ‘Mo

Ken Wallis

How did you go about selecting the tunes that are on the album?  I’m assuming you played a few more songs and you had to whittle them down.

Chuckee Zehr

We did. We recorded the whole show and then we wanted to have mostly originals on the album. We thought we picked out the best ones that represent us.   We didn't put on any of the covers. Some of the covers were really good, but we just thought, let's just keep it original, except Put A Woman In Charge, of course.

Ken Wallis

And how do you go about writing your songs?  Is it a collaborative effort with the entire band, or do you take turns?  How does it work?

Cheryl Lescom

Sarah’s got songs, I've got songs, Chuckee’s got songs and the only song that we've kind of written together was Lighthouse.  The other songs we kind of all brought to the table and we made the interpretations that She Wolves Of London style to them all. They're nothing like the songs that we originally do. Sarah does all the songs in different shows.  I do songs in different shows with the Tucson Choir Boys.  And I do different versions of Chuckee’s stuff that I do with her.  They have their own sound, and so each one of those songs now takes on a different kind of meaning in a different sort of sound because of who's performing them.

Ken Wallis

And I would assume that whoever wrote the song is the vocalist for that song. Or how do you go about deciding who is the vocalist?

Cheryl Lescom

You just said it right there, yeah.

Chuckee Zehr

Usually whoever writes the song is usually the lead singer. That's just kind of how It works out.

Cheryl Lescom

Yeah, that's the feel. The emotion comes from the person that writes it and that person should also sing it live because it's part of the whole DNA of the song.

Ken Wallis

And I would assume that you've got a busy summer coming up tour wise. What's going on?

Chuckee Zehr

We’e got a few festivals and a lot of things coming up.   Sarah lives on the other side of the country and she performs a lot for her own with her other band.  We also have another girl that sits in on guitar. Her name is Elana Harte, and she's really good.

Chuckee Zehr

Yeah, she's great. She fills in when Sarah can't be there. And Cheryl and I do a lot of performing as a duet.

Cheryl Lescom

And I've got a new CD coming out with the Tucson Choir Boys. We've got a few dates with that we're gonna be promoting the new CD in festival situations.  We can't complain. We've got our fingers in a lot of different pies. Together, we can keep doing the things that we love to do, which is performing.

Ken Wallis

And what major festivals? I know I'm pretty sure you're going to the Lighthouse Festival, correct?

Chuckee Zehr

Cheryl's going there with Tucson Choir boys.

Cheryl Lescom

There's not been the big introductions yet for the festivals, so we're not 100% sure exactly what festivals.  I've got Wasaga beach and Kincardine and The Southside Shuffle, but we haven't got dates firmed up, but I know that they're coming. We're probably gonna get a few more dates as the summer progresses, because it's kinda a little slow at this time of year.

Ken Wallis

And where can fans get your new album.

Cheryl Lescom

Come and see us. So, we're not licensed for digital downloads yet, but they can go to our Facebook page or our website, SheWolvesOfLondon.com or come to our shows.

Cheryl Lescom

Just send a direct message and we'll get that CD to you.

Chuckee Zehr

Yeah, absolutely.

Ken Wallis

I certainly encourage our listeners to buy the album. That's so important for musicians today. It's a really good album and it really showcases the live experience that I've seen you perform.

Cheryl Lescom

I think so.  And that's the thing. I mean, there's so many bands out there that use tracks, and they've got equipment that puts them back on key when they're off key and they've got all sorts of gimmicks.  This is straight raw performances and there's no fuss, no muss.

This is 100% authentic music and I'm really proud of it.  I’m really proud of the CD and I'm working with all these lovely ladies too, because we all get along so well. We've got a mutual respect amongst all of us and we're lucky to have Dave Harland as our manager. It's been a real pleasure, and it continues to be a pleasure.  It's getting better all the time.

Ken Wallis

And I am so looking forward to seeing you multiple times this summer and I thank you so much for your time. It’s been great chatting with both of you.