Have you heard of Dear Rouge? They’re a married Vancouver alt-rock duo that formed in 2012. It features Drew McTaggart and his wife Danielle. They were both in separate bands when they met. Drew was in a Vancouver band called Maclean, while Danielle was in a duo called Gaetz Ave, named after the street she grew up on in Red Deer. Her trend of naming her bands after where she came from continued with Dear Rouge. Rouge means red in French, so if you translate the band, it’s Red Dear.
When they started dating, they decided to leave their previous bands behind and create Dear Rouge. They wasted no time in releasing their first EP, Heads Up! Watch Out! in April 2012, and followed that up with Kids Wanna Know in October. About a month after its release, the duo entered a Now radio competition here in Vancouver and won over $100 000!
Dear Rouge released a single called “I Heard I Had” in 2013 and charted in many top 100 lists in Canada, peaking at #3 in alternative rock on Mediabase. Subsequent singles would sporadically be released as they prepped for their debut album in 2016, called Black to Gold. The other singles for this album were “Best Look Lately,” “Tongues,” and “Black to Gold.” It’s a great album that I’d highly recommend.
The album lead to them winning Breakthrough Group of the Year at the 2016 Juno Awards, and deservedly so. They performed the theme song for the TV show Private Eyes, which was a Hall & Oates cover. You guessed it, called Private Eyes too.
They toured after the release of Black to Gold while also writing their second album, PHASES. In my opinion, they really found their sound with this one. It pops more and features a lot more range than their first effort. The singles for it are “Boys & Blondes,” “Live Through the Night,” and “CHAINS.” This album gave them two awards at the 2018 Western Canada Music Awards for Pop Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.
Last year, their third album was released, called Spirit. Another excellent album for Dear Rouge. I don’t think it’s quite up to the level of their first two efforts, but still a good time.
Give them a listen, and if you want to see them live, now’s your chance. They have a few shows in BC this summer: June 3rd in Kamloops, July 7th in Whistler, and August 4th in Saint John. I’ll be in Kamloops this Summer, so I think I’ll be seeing them there.
Listen to Evolution 107.9 to hear Dear Rouge!