The Early Years of Anela Navarro

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: PROVIDED BY ANELA NAVARRO
Even though the members of Anela & The Early Hours is at the early stages of their career, these Fanshawe Music Industry Arts (MIA) students are well on their way to success.

Anela Navarro, 19, may be new tothe local music scene, but that hasn't stop her and the musical masterminds behind Anela & The Early Hours from dominating Fanshawe's Music Industry Arts (MIA) program. In first year alone, she somehow managed to form a band, then write and record an entire album in MIA's studio facilities, all while keeping up with the intensive assignments of MIA. With this in mind, Anela &The Early Hours' debut album Yesteryear, an indie pop rock collection of upbeat, original songs, is truly a testament to the dedication and passion that Navarro has for music.

Despite its significance in her career, Navarro's interest in music began far from the walls of Fanshawe's studios, spending the first 10 years of her life in the Philippines. During this time, Navarro was introduced to music by her mother, who put Navarro into vocal lessons at an early age. Navarro's brother held a mutual passion for music and together they learned as much as possible about the art form. “He'd play guitar and I'd sing”, Navarro recalled, “we were just obsessedconstant listening to music”.

After moving to Canada, Navarro began to study the guitar at around the age of 13. In grade 10 she began writing and joined her first band, For Those Who Mind, which she remained a member of for the rest of her high school career.

Moving to London to attend Fanshawe, Navarro had to part ways with For Those Who Mind and attempted making music on her own. “I started writing for me and my guitar and I was like ‘man it's not that good',” Navarro said. “I've always been in a band and I always wanna belong in a band”. It was this desire that paved the way for Anela & The Early Hours to be born.

“Early Hours” was a name suggested by MIA student Sydney Martindale that actually references events, which brought the group together. After a local show, Navarro headed to the MIA Artist Development Centre, which is open 24/7, at around 3 a.m. to see what musicians were practicing. It was there that she met drummer Dylan Sabater and bassist Andrew Prince. “We jammed one of my songs and I realized you can't do everything on your own”, Navarro remembered. It wasn't long after this that she met lead guitarist Alex Hindriks in one of Fanshawe's recording studios, at around the same time of day, and invited him to be a part of her musical venture.

Despite being the main composer of Anela & The Early Hours' music, collaboration is an important part of what Nevarro does. “When we recorded Yesteryear, everyone had some kind of input”, Navarro said, referring to everyone involved in the project, such as audio engineer Ky McLachlin. Navarro looks at McLachlin as more than just an engineer, stating, “he's like the extra member of our bandI can't do [these] things by myself”. Navarro then recounts other individuals who have had an impact on Yesteryear. This includes Sydney Martindale, co-writer of “Space”, Harrison Boyd, mixing engineer for “Stuck With You” and Luke Zuwala, what some may call a proof reader for Navarro's lyrics.

One of the most memorable moments for Navarro was showing MIA program co-ordinator and Juno award winning engineer, Dan Brodbeck, the music they had worked on over the course of their first year. “I was so nervous, but when we got there he was so happy”, Navarro remembers, stating that Brodbeck was proud of his students for undertaking such an ambitious project. Brodbeck was so supportive of what

Anela & The Early Hours were doing that he mixed the track “Space” and mastered the entire album once it was complete. Anela & The Early Hours are still in the early days of their time as a band, being less than a year old. When asked what's next for them Navarro stated that she wants to do “whatever [they] did last year, just improve and do better. Now that [she] knows that it's possible”, she wants to create “new memories [and] new stories”.

More info on Anela & The Early Hours can be found at Facebook.com/AnelaAndTheEarlyHours. Their debut album, Yesteryear, can be heard on any major streaming platform such as Apple Music and Spotify