Holly McNarland's interpretation of the Phil Collins' classic "In The Air" is the only cover on her new live EP, Live Stuff, due in stores Feb. 9.
The Vancouver siren began performing the song live long before she signed a deal with Universal America and actually abandoned it for a full year before coming back to it during the latter part of her Stuff tour.
McNarland, 25, was in grade 2 when she first heard the song. "That was one of the first songs that I really liked as a kid" she recalls. "So I said (to my band), 'Hey let's do this.' We'd change it too. If I change my band members at all, the song changes, so it's evolved into this really long song."
The originally haunting track, long rumored to be about a childhood incident of Collins who witnessed a friend let another friend drown, is just as eerie in McNarland's hands.
"I heard (Phil) say it was a lie," McNarland says of the rumor. "He was on A&E, doing a request show and somebody requested the song and he set the record straight. He's kind of on the fromage side, but what a talented guy. That song is so good."
Although McNarland is also known to cover Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes", she didn't want to include two covers on her live EP, let alone from the ex Genesis members.
Instead, Live Stuff, includes tracks from her 1995's independently recorded EP, Sour Pie, and 1997's Universal debut, Stuff. "All the ones that did good," as McNarland puts it: "Elmo", "Numb", "Water", "The Box" (all from Stuff), "Stormy" and "I Won't Stay" (from Sour Pie).
The tracks were recorded live at Rockabilly's in Las Vegas, on June 6, 1998, when she opened for a bikini bull-riding contest, and at a headlining gig at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre, on July 15, 1998. "In The Air" is a studio recording.
McNarland's last date of her year-plus tour was Lilith Fair in Florida July 26. Now, McNarland is on maternity leave, expecting her first child with husband Jay Mirus, host and videographer of MuchMusic's MuchWest.
"I heard his heartbeat today," says McNarland who did the ultrasound last month to learn the sex of her baby.
She's enjoying pregnancy and isn't feeling all the usual symptoms of cravings and swelling limbs. "This is a really odd pregnancy because I'm not really experiencing a lot of the things they talk about in all the books," she says, except for one inevitable thing. "I'm learning a lot about getting big. I'm going though clothing dilemmas right now. It's really hard to fit into clothes."
McNarland, who is in her third trimester, is scheduled to perform solo at the 5th annual Rock For Choice benefit at Vancouver East Cultural Centre on Feb. 26 (proceeds go to Everywomens Health Centre and Elizabeth Bagshaw Clinic), but she is mostly using her time off to prepare for motherhood and write the next album.
"I want to try and do it before he's born," says McNarland. "We'll probably go on the road. It all depends on how I'm feeling and if the baby's really healthy or if he's sick, then we can't take him on the road, but I plan on taking him on the road after a certain amount of time and have someone with me helping."
