The January's Answer story:

Paul, Jodie and Al had been learning to play guitar and sing for a few years. On one slow day in May Paul had a thought. Not a particularly deep, brilliant thought, but a thought nonetheless.

“Why do we only play cover songs by other artists? Why don't we write our own songs?”

Jodie and Al laughed.

“Oh, come on, “ Paul said, “How hard can it be? It's just chords, lyrics and melody.”

Jodie and Al laughed harder.

Being the stubborn one, Paul said “Even better, why don't we make our own CD!”

Jodie and Al laughed even harder still.

Being the not-so-bright one, Paul then said “Even better yet, let's make our own CD before the end of the summer!”

Jodie and Al's laughter turned to concern. Maybe in an effort to stop the escalating madness, Al and Jodie agreed to humour Paul and his silly proposal. “OK, sure. Let's try writing a song or two.”

On that day January's Answer was born and two years later the first CD was completed.

“At first we tried creating music with only the three of us but it was clear we needed to add either drums or bass. We tried but failed to find a suitable drummer. Later, a Craigslist ad brought us Karen who is absolutely God-sent. We could not have been luckier” says Paul.

How hard can it be? “It was the freakin’ damn hardest thing imaginable! Al should have slapped me, told me to shut up and play another round of Brown Eyed Girl. We really had no idea what we were in for. We had to learn how to write music, write lyrics, play, sing, buy gear, learn how to use gear, find a bass player, learn how to play with a bass player, record, produce, setup mics, cables, room acoustics, etc. It took a wee bit longer than expected.”

The resulting self-titled album evolved into a relaxed happy theme. “There's enough stress and ugliness in the world today so we just naturally gravitated toward something that was relaxing and uplifting. With Reach Out being the only exception, all the songs are generally happy sounding.”

Will January's Answer bring fame and fortune to its members? “Let's just say we're not planning on quitting our day jobs. We've already received rewards for our efforts. We have a better appreciation and respect for other artists. We have learned so much more about music, more than we could have if we kept playing only cover songs. And we met so many interesting people. And besides, what could be better than getting together on Friday nights, drinking beer and making music? It's part of us now and that is more than we could have ever asked for (insert big “awwwww” here).”