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By: Adam Grant Click to Listen To: 
When it comes to the stories that usually wrap themselves around a band that’s just getting started, one of the more known plotlines revolved around those situations is the years upon years it took to get said project off the ground. In the case of Drowning Girl, this part of the plot is missing in action.
Initially centered around Hill Kourkoutis, Drowning Girl ultimately came to be following a show during the 2006 Canadian Music Week when Kourkoutis was still a solo act, but became quite enthralled by the group of musicians that took the stage with her at that festival. At that time, she was already in the midst of tracking songs for an upcoming album before eventually building a strong musical partnership with fellow guitarist/vocalist David Paoli. Once he entered the fold, a new musical perspective that included a love for Brit Rock and a “tasteful” style of songwriting was experienced by Kourkoutis, and the band then known as Hill was up and running. 
“It’s constantly evolving – the more we write, the more styles we explore and I think that’s been the case for both of us from the beginning of us starting music, we’ve gone down many alley ways and experimented with different genres, but it’s always been rock,” explains Kourkoutis when discussing how she and Paoli compliment each other artistically. “I guess between the two of us, we bring in our own influences and create the sound that is Drowning Girl. “What has been great is that when I got together with David, we were completely on the same page about things,” she continues. “We draw influence from a lot of the same things and artists, so it was actually very easy (to collaborate). It felt great because it wasn’t a big adjustment – it wasn’t that big of a stretch since I’d been used to being in bands before and going through that collaborative process.” By September of 2006 Hill had completed their debut independent release Bang! and began to tour throughout North America – pretty quick progress consider that the group had only been together for a handful of months. But as much as the band began to build a name for themselves within the independent music community, a change in identity needed to be made. With the name of the group centered around Kourkoutis, it was decided at the beginning of February 2007 that it would be best for everyone involved to re-name themselves Drowning Girl, so that this project wasn’t looked at as a one person operation. After all, with Kourkoutis and Paoli now being the equal core of the band, this decision makes sense.
With a new name in the books, Drowning Girl are looking to move ahead as Kourkoutis and Paoli are continually in the process of penning new material that will continue to shed light on their straight-up rock n’ roll appreciation, while embracing more mid-tempo melodic sounds, in hopes of having a new album out within the next year or so, so that they can truly take on the music industry head-on.
“I never really had the intention of wanting to become a rock star, so I guess I didn’t get a huge shock when I actually started pursuing (music) – but it is different. You kind of have this idea of playing songs and I think when you’re young, you don’t really take into account the business side of things which are definitely more complex,” feels Kourkoutis. “Although it wasn’t a stretch when I started really getting involved into the business aspect of it – it was great and it definitely made me realize how much goes into actually pursuing this.” For more information on Drowning Girl, please visit www.myspace.com/drowninggirlmusic
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