Goderich-based rocker releasing full-length album

A local musician is staying true to her roots after she signed her first record deal, CTV London's Scott Miller has more.

Harley Olivia is a powerhouse singer and performer, based in Huron County, who is trying to take her musical career to the next level after 10 years as a flight attendant.

“The more I was flying and the more that sort of took over my life, the sadder I started getting, because I realized music is where I was meant to be,” says Olivia.

Olivia has been fronting bands since she was 16, but after trading in the skies for the stage, she decided to venture out on her own, with the help of Juno Award winning producer, Siegfried Meier, who runs Beach Road Studios, just north of Goderich.

“Being here really allows us to be very productive, which I think is really important because, when you’re in a big city like Toronto, like Los Angeles, like New York, there’s a lot of distractions. I think most people will tell you when there are that many distractions, it takes a lot longer to get things done. We both pride ourselves in knowing that we’re very productive, and we’re constantly working really hard in this career that we’ve both chosen,” says Meier.

After releasing some of her own music, and playing festivals and gigs across Ontario, Olivia just signed her first record deal, and is getting set to release her first full length album, set to be released in September.

“This album, I really wrote it about, you know, shame and liberating yourself from shame. Every song is kind of a theme, like something that I’m sort of liberating myself from,” she says.

Keeping true to their Huron County home, Olivia’s album was written, recorded, and largely produced at Beach Road Studios, just north of Goderich. Her first music video for the album was shot entirely in her new hometown.

“We have sort of a dystopian style for this record release. So, it was a little bit of a challenge making Goderich seem dystopian. It is technically the prettiest town in Canada, but I think we found the only slice of graffiti in the town, and we got that in our music video,” she says.

The ultimate goal is simple for Olivia, to make it big, and turn her passion for performing and touring with Meier, into her entirely full-time profession, while keeping their roots tethered, to Huron County.

“The music is inspired by our life, and our life is here in Goderich,” says Olivia.

“We absolutely love it. It’s gorgeous. We love it. Winter and summer all year long,” says Meier.