Music and friends

Long time friends Sara Dorey and Stephen Brace will soon graduate from Lewisporte Collegiate High School and head off to new adventures.
In the meantime, this dynamic duo have been playing music, video taping their songs, and are two of the musicians for Dean Stairs' most recent Janeway CD project "One Person at a Time". Sara and Stephen perform under the group name Here By Tomorrow.
Sara and Stephen first started chumming around in Grade 5, and in high school they became the best of friends.
"We became close in Grade 10 because we were all awkward in high school and just stuck together," Sara said.
They have been able to ease that sense of awkwardness by having each other to rely on.
Over the course of their friendship they always played music together in our spare time, and last Christmas (2008) was the first time they performed together at the Grade 11 Christmas concert.
Sara says, "I was so nervous."
For fun, they started recording their songs on video and began posting them to YouTube on the Internet last summer. They have 15 songs now available for people to view. With YouTube, the viewers are allowed to post their responses. One of the highlights for Sara and Stephen was a response from Terra Naomi. They performed one of Terra Naomi's songs "Say it's Possible" and they were delighted when the original artist responded by saying "That's so beautiful, guys! Thank you!!!"
In terms of their YouTube songs, one of them include a Here By Tomorrow original, called "Light Up My Life" which they also performed for the Janeway CD. They also wrote a new piece specifically for the Janeway project with the mentorship of Terry Penney. That process was a great learning experience for them.
Terry Penney came into the studio (Little Known Artists Studios) and they just sat down and started playing and writing lyrics together. Sara and Stephen went off and worked on some lyrics together and when they had half a song they brought it to Terry who helped them with the music and to make it flow. They said Terry was easy to work with - really easy to talk to. The song that came out of that collaboration with Terry is called "Something More."
Here By Tomorrow performed 2 pieces for the Janeway CD and at the CD release concerts in Lewisporte, Grand Falls, Gander, and St. John's, presented on April 5, 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Given the strength of their performances and their natural talent, it is hard to imagine that these two young people could ever feel "awkward." Sara is a striking 6' 1" with a rich voice, combined with Stephen's fine guitar work gives this duo a remarkable stage presence.
Their close friendship is evident in their rapport and banter on stage and at home. They enjoy a lot of activities together.
"We jam a lot just for fun, and Stephen's an excellent photographer. Some times we just go out in the middle of nowhere and take pictures… and we watch a lot of movies," she said.
As high school days come to an end, these two have future plans on their mind. Sara will be attending Memorial University in St. John's, doing a Bachelor of Science degree in behavioral neuroscience. Her ultimate goal is to become a pathologist and work with crime scenes.
Stephen isn't quite sure of his plans yet. He says, "I'm trying to figure out what I like - it's between theatre arts and photography, either one of them would make me very happy." Last year was his first year involved in drama at the high school and he had the lead role and won the best actor award. He does a lot of photography and has his photo work up on the Internet Flickr site. Until he decides on his career direction, he says, "I'm going to go to St. John's and try and work there for a year or so."
Given their friendship they find it hard to imagine not being near each other.
"We've been best friends for the last three years and we hang out together almost every day," Sara said. "I don't know what we're going to do if we get separated."
If Stephen is able to work for a while in St. John's then Here By Tomorrow can continue a bit longer.
Although Sara didn't think of applying anywhere other than MUN for her program so that she can stay in Newfoundland, Stephen states, "Whatever I do, whether it's photography or theatre, I think I'll have to leave the province for a while, but I'd always want to come back because it is beautiful here."
The experience with the recording of the Janeway CD at Dean Stairs' studio has been significant for them.
"It's amazing," Sara said. "I never thought I'd be recording in an actual studio and you learn so much - Dean explains it all."
Even with the changes ahead for them with their future plans Sara said, "I hope we can continue playing together and record more stuff, hopefully we'll save up the money and record an EP with Dean."
The experience has been inspiring to them.
"We have a lot of ideas for songs, so now we want to finish them," Stephen said.
And in terms of their video work for YouTube, Stephen says he wants to improve them technically.
"We have an external mic for the camera and I didn't really know how to use it, but I'm going to learn," he said.
Sara's mother, Angela Dorey, sums up her feelings succinctly when talking about Sara's music and future goals and says, "I'm proud 'till I'm bursting."
These two friends no doubt have great things ahead in their future careers, and hopefully they will be able to continue their music too.