A WALK IN THE PARK WITH WILLA COWARD
The ground at Huron Natural Area was slippery with a coating of late-March snow when I met musician and concert photographer Willa Coward for a walk. Despite wearing footwear better suited for dry conditions, we ventured onto the trails to experience the beauty of the area and talk about the local arts scene.
Coward has been playing drums for most of her life, and is a member of the bands Body Nest, One More Lane and A Horse Named Friday. She has training and experience on the saxophone as well, but despite engaging in vocal exercises, Coward does not consider herself a singer.
“I know how to scream pretty well,” she said. “I can go really loud.”
Her talent for large vocal production led Coward to join a screamo band, a punk style which she describes as cathartic, emotional and hardcore. Not content to stick with one style, Coward also plays chamber folk, power violence, psych rock and shoegaze post rock.
“[I]t really is…all types of music that I’m drawn to,” Coward said. “There’s nothing that really deters me.”
With such a diverse range of styles in her repertoire, Coward lets the music dictate what she brings to her performance, focusing on the needs of the piece to guide her contribution.
“I basically come at it with whatever feels right, whatever is adding to the song,” she said.
Originally from Caledon, Coward came to Waterloo to pursue music studies at Laurier and was in her second year when the pandemic hit. Burn-out and the challenges of lockdown meant that she chose to leave the program halfway through.
“It had been the longest time since I played for the sake of playing, or just for the love of it,” Coward said. “[S]chool and I just didn’t really work well together.”
Coward turned her attention to practice and performance but also invested in building the local music community. As we walked along the boardwalk surrounding the pond before heading up another slippery trail, Coward talked about the importance of bringing people together to experience shows, and the emotions that can accompany music.
“I just wanted there to be more music, more things for people to go to, because…they’re pretty necessary,” Coward said. “COVID hit, and everything just became so scattered and dispersed. There wasn’t really that core…to tie people together.”
The community in the region felt welcoming to Coward, which is why she wanted to invest in building local shows. She described people showing up for the love of the scene, and relationships growing from those connections.
“I feel like…we have a very good community based here, especially in terms of music,” she said.
Community and music connect through photography, another artistic outlet that Coward pursues. She brought her camera when she went to music venues, and began shooting the shows that she was attending, learning through trial and error.
“I didn’t know what I was doing at all. I was winging it!” Coward said. “It was just something I hold really close to heart. It’s nice to have that documentation…to say that it happened, and it was important to a lot of people.”
Coward shoots music shows on a film camera, preferring that medium to digital. Film facilitates other connections; people will approach her at shows to talk about her technique and process. Coward told me about finding a local store to develop film.
“[It’s] run by the sweetest older couple who I would trust with my life,” she said.
We left the trail area and returned to the covered shelter by the natural playground with a view of the art murals to finish our conversation. For Coward, coming to Huron Natural Area meant a return to a site of fond memories. Two years ago, she spent part of her birthday on a hike here at a time of year when the landscape was green and lush.
“I remember being so taken aback by it…I could have walked for hours,” she said.
For Coward, green spaces are where she can focus on herself and be solitary while appreciating nature. Being outside allows her to connect to the sensory experience and helps her when dealing with difficult situations.
“It’s very calming,” she said. “It puts you back into your body.”
We finish our interview by discussing movies. Coward enjoys films that show a quiet reflection of daily life, as well as off-beat cult comedy classics, a further example of the variety of art that she surrounds herself with.
With a handful of new movie recommendations each, we ended our discussion and parted ways, and Willa Coward returned to her life and work in the community of local artists
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...