Singer-songwriter, former Eric's Trip bassist and proud mama Julie Doiron was fully-prepared to expect a call from Shaunna Bednarek'”but fell asleep after putting youngest daughter to bed! One overly-apologetic voicemail and phone call later, the two came to a mutually-convenient time to chat before she hit the road with longtime friend (and surrogate uncle to her children, Ben, Charlotte and Rosie), Mike Feuerstack, in support of the latest Snailhouse record.

YOU RECENTLY MOVED BACK TO NEW BRUNSWICK AFTER BEING IN MONTREAL. WHAT PROMPTED THIS MOVE?We had lived in Montreal for six years and we really loved it there. In our last year that we were there, we were given our notice. We'd have to find our fourth apartment in six years. All the rents had gone up extremely high and there wasn't much vacancy in Montreal at this point... [Husband John Claytor] and I had been talking about maybe moving back, to maybe try and buy a house that we would set up out here and maybe go back and live [in Montreal] later on and keep this house [in Sackville] to have a place to go back to in the summer. I was also missing my family'” they all live out here. The other thing that was really important was that I really wanted the grandparents to know our children a lot better. There was a good bond between the first two children and the grandparents. After I had our third child, that's when I realized it was going to be different for her. My mom had only seen her three times in her first two years and the visits weren't that long. My mother had missed out on the whole baby phase. That's when I realized that we had to come back. There's a really good bond now between all the grandparents and the grandchildren, and I think that's really important.

SINCE REUNIONS ARE KINDA THE 'œTHING TO DO'? LATELY, IS THERE ANY TALK OF AN ERIC'S TRIP REUNION?
We did a reunion tour in 2001. We had just finished it the day before [September 11th] happened. It went really well, it was really great. We all had a lot of fun being together again, and I think we played very well. We talk sometimes of doing more stuff. Rick [White] and I are talking about making recordings together, specifically, so you never know.

DO YOU FIND THAT, SOMETIMES, YOU STILL HAVE PEOPLE COME CHECK OUT YOUR SHOWS BASED SOLELY ON THE ERIC'S TRIP CONNECTION?
Not anymore'¦ Maybe once in awhile, someone would have really been into Eric's Trip and had never bothered to come out before. They come now, and they really like it and are kind of surprised because it's very different. Generally, I have a really good, strong base of fans who really love what I do. A lot of people who like what I do hadn't even heard Eric's Trip before!

I SAW YOU PLAY AT THE RIVOLI A WHILE BACK AND THE CROWD WAS PIN-DROP QUIET. CAN YOU ALWAYS HOLD THE AUDIENCE'S ATTENTION LIKE THAT?
I'm pretty lucky. It's like that 95% of the time. Occasionally, there will be a few talkers in a large group of people who are really quiet, and either the talkers really stand out and people kind of chastise them, or they stop or they go into another room'¦ Everybody has had experiences where it's not really quiet. You learn how to get through that and it makes you a stronger performer, hopefully, if you can survive those times.

DO YOU HAVE ANY MUSIC OR NON-MUSIC PROJECTS COMING UP?
I'm gonna be recording a new record in August. Aside from that, I'm going to be doing shows and tours. I'm going to France at the end of June to do some shows. My husband has a lot of stuff on the go right now. His opening is September 8th in Toronto at the Ingram Gallery on 49 Avenue Rd. I'm hoping to be there. His paintings are fantastic'” of course, his paintings are all the artwork for [most recent album] Goodnight Nobody and a bunch of my other records'” and they're worth seeing in person.

AND DOES THE COOLEST MOM IN INDIE ROCK HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR MOM-TO-BE BRITNEY SPEARS?
She seems pretty pumped to have that baby, so I think she'll be fine'¦ The only thing I would advise any mom-to-be is to try to have fun and really enjoy the baby. You have to find a balance and have a lot of fun with the whole experience and get ready for the birth in a really positive way. You do have to make time for yourself, but I don't think you have to harp on the fact that you don't have much time to yourself. I'm sure Britney Spears is gonna be fine. I think she should just have fun being a mom and love that little baby and make time to give it walks.

By Shaunna Bednarek