Last year, Katie Biever was at a musical crossroads, still known as lead singer Katie B. of Canadian industrial rock band Jakalope but not feeling like she was being true to herself.

After hearing a song from days gone by, she knew a change had to be made.

"I was at a wedding or something and I heard a Patsy Cline song come on," she says from her Vancouver home. "I listened to her all the time when I was a kid and I literally forgot about her. I thought, 'God that's what influences me.' Mostly it just came down to following my heart. I really just felt myself wanting to do something different."

After leaving Jakalope, Biever changed her stage name to Katie Rox and went the independent route, releasing her new EP, High Standards earlier this year. She performs Saturday at the Revival club.

While making the change wasn't easy, Rox gave herself some time to regroup, recharge and refocus.

"I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do or how I wanted to do it or anything," she says. "So really what I was going to do was to take this time off and become a music fan again instead of a music maker. But I just found myself writing right away and playing and singing."

By going the do-it-yourself route, Rox says she's finding it as rewarding as Jakalope but in a different way.

"Jakalope was a lot of fun and it was everything I wanted to do," she says. "Like the MuchMusic Video Award nominations, when I was nominated I was beyond excited. That was something I had always wanted to do in my life so that was really cool. But the rewards now are coming in the fact that everything I'm doing is 100 per cent me."

That includes the new EP featuring the songs Fly and Sound Advice, the latter Rox describes as having a Jackson 5 "doo wop" feel. She also says some of the material was written prior to joining Jakalope.

"It was just a collection of songs that I was proud of, that I was happy that I wrote so I thought why not put them together," she says. "It was a lot of work because I recorded it myself, I used (recording software) Garage Band and my closet. I could've recorded it in a couple of weeks in a studio but I had a personal goal of doing it myself so that was hard. I'm not a recording engineer, I'm not a producer and so I decided to put on all hats."

Despite currently being a proverbial Jill-of-all-trades, Rox says the biggest challenge was simply making the decision to forge ahead.

"I guess the hardest part is getting from the idea to realizing it," she says. "It's that middle point between. The hardest part was finally saying, 'Okay I'm going to do this,' and making that first step. Once you're in deep then it all comes naturally to you about what you need to do. But that moment of I could watch television or I could decide to go on tour, that's the hardest part."

Rox will spend most of the summer touring the Maritimes and Ontario but says she'll start thinking about the next album after "playing everywhere two or three times."

One thing she hasn't done is look for interest from labels.

"I really wanted to take my time and learn more about myself before taking that step," she says. "I think if I just would've started out saying 'Who wants to sign me?' I would've been a lost soul."

Previously of BC’s Jakalope, Katie Rox is now all on her own and has gone solo. From a rock and roll chick to a solo artist, this lady has found her passion and is now dedicating her life to her own thing. Rox is touring all over eastern Canada, all around the Greater Toronto area then she’s taking it even more east to Quebec, and New Brunswick. This being Rox’s first time going solo and doing her own thing, she is ecstatic and ready to give it her all. With an attempt at the rock and roll lifestyle in Jakalope, Rox decided that her life was not a life of a rocker girl, but her own Albertan country girl folk style. Rox has a passion for giving her art her all. She puts her heart and soul into her music and just has fun.

When performing live, Rox has a blast, she is definitely an entertainer. Rox likes to be intimate with the audience; she gets to know what they want to hear and forms her show off the energy that the fans feed her. An adorable joker, Rox simply likes to have fun with what she does.

Prior to the show, I had dinner with Katie and we chatted up a storm. "I hated music at first" Rox mentioned, "but the first time I had to do the recital stuff I just wouldn’t perform and then somehow I got over it then I started musical theatre and was getting recognized and won awards then it just went up from there." Rox took off and dove right into the music scene, "I went to college in Red Deer Alberta for Music and that helped me figure out what I wanted to do and what I really liked. I was one of those people who was not afraid of the top 40 which is rare because I’m an artist, but if you like Mariah Carey then you Like Mariah Carey. I definitely didn’t want to do or be anything that was alienating." After a intense time at college and journey of self discovery Rox moved to the vast and beautiful Vancouver where her music career took off, "I got a job in a Recording studio there for awhile, and I really loved the singer/songwriter appeal of music" Rox mentioned, then opportunity knocked. "I joined up with Jakalope after listening to a few tracks and my impression was ‘wow I’ve never heard anything like that before.’ That experience was fun, setting down the guitar and being a rocker chick. I got to do a lot of things that I was never able to do like music videos and just living the dream. It was really fun." After a blast being the rocker girl front of Jakalope and touring all over, Rox decided to leave the band in Spring of 2007 and go back to where her heart and soul lie, "I didn’t want to keep doing something that my heart was not really in."

After some time off to work on her own, Rox missed playing to an audience "I love having an audience to sing to" Rox mentioned with enthusiasm. With a need for something to take with her on the road, Rox put together her first album, High Standards "I recorded the entire album using garage band at home and that experience was really fun too." A beautiful acoustic album with touching lyrics and moving guitar licks, the idea of High Standards for Rox is reaching a limit and putting out a big production record all on her own.

Her music is what she describes as Katie music. "I think it’s just me. Everyone sorta says that about their music, and it’s kinda cliché, but that’s what your music is right?! When I have asked people and they have put it in categories, but it doesn’t really have a definite spot that you can put it in." Rox was adorable and lost for a definite description, "Its singer/songwriter, but anyone can write songs and be a singer songwriter. It’s folky, light hearted, I don’t really take myself too seriously, and I try to have fun in the songs I write. It’s tongue and cheek, happy, but there are some very good depressing songs that make you want to be depressed so you can relate."

This lovely artist has never really done anything else other than music, she tried waitressing for a few months but it wasn’t her thing and she has always had a passion for music. "When you want to do something, you just do it," mentioned Rox, "really the only thing that is ever really stopping you is you."

When it comes to being on the road, most love to meet new people, including Rox, "what I love most about touring and the reason I wanted to do it this way is because I like the interaction, when you get to chat and find out who people are." Rox truly loves not just the music, but being intimate with the audience, "I have made this career and this new chapter in my life personal," Rox said, "I tend to keep it personal, write back to people, sign autographs. It’s very different, a very hectic schedule. I made my own schedule. I get to know the people personally, I get to know peoples names, because I send things out from my apartment. It feels cool to meet the people because without them you wouldn’t have a career. You want to know who is supporting you."

GUELPH -- In her photo she's brunette but Lesley Pike has gone blonde lately, which, along with her flaxen-haired friend Katie Rox, was enough to name their joint tour the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes tour.

Well gentlemen, and ladies, too, these two singer-songwriters are breezing through Guelph this week, playing at Manhattan's Jazz Bistro tomorrow evening.

Pike's star has been steadily rising from her Wiarton, Ont. upbringing, to studying classical piano at Wilfrid Laurier University, to switching gears upon graduation in favour of a soft, pop sound. Her CD "Blink" was released in April and features many Guelph and area musicians including drummer Davide Direnzo and guitarist Kevin Breit.

"It's pop with substance," she said after struggling to come up with the words that define her sound. "It's not fluffy pop . . .ugh . . . I should be better at this."

Rox may be better known as Katie B., the name she went by while singing lead for the Juno-winning, industrial pop band Jakalope. Her experience with the band was good, she said, and she played in some big venues.

"But I wanted to head in a different direction with my music," she said. "When you want to move on, you just have to."

So now it's just Rox and her six-string and her songs, with a slightly country twang and some hurtin' flair. She's touring to promote her latest CD, "High Standards."

"I'm an Alberta girl," she said, laughing. "I can't get rid of her. This style feels more natural."

While they don't perform together, Pike and Rox have been good friends for years and share a similar stage presence and rapport with the audience.

"Our stuff is different enough so there will be a contrast," Pike said. "But we're both kind of funny on stage and have a similar approach. It's a good show."

They don't perform together, yet.

"Right now we're two separate acts. But I'm sure as the tour goes on we'll pair up on some songs. I'm curious to hear how we sound together, too," Pike said.

When Katie Rox peeked her head musically out of the closet in the latter half of 2007, it was a surprise to her just how many people were waiting outside the door. It was the response that led her to recording her aptly titled solo - largely acoustic - debut, High Standards.

Within this musical wonderland of hers, Rox took the better part of two months to put together her first musical statement since her departure from the industrial rock act Jakalope. After receiving the break of a lifetime through world-renowned producer Dave "Rave" Ogilvie in 2003, Rox (then under the name Katie B.) went from a receptionist at Bryan Adams’ Vancouver recording spot - The Warehouse Studio - to the front woman of a full-fledged touring and recording outfit.

In 2004, Jakalope’s first release In Dreams would spawn the radio hits "Pretty Mind" and "Feel It", thus paving the way for a follow-up in the form of 2006’s Born 4. However, while Rox was writing, learning, and singing lots within the Jakalope set-up, her heart was leading her elsewhere. So, by the spring of 2007 Rox said goodbye to Ogilvie and the gang and decided to go out on her own.

"I just knew it was time. I’m not really one to sit around and wait; if I want to do something, I do it. Switching a band is just like switching a job. I just felt myself wanting to do that. I felt my heart wanting to put out a record like this so I did. It was time to move on for me," says Rox about why she left Jakalope. "You really have to believe that you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, so in that sense it’s not that hard because you have to think that whatever you do, you can be successful at it. So, leaving Jakalope I don’t think [of] as leaving success; it’s changing the direction of my success.

"I thought maybe I should take a little break from [music]," she continues. "Music is music, but it is business too. So I thought, ‘I’m just going to go to concerts again.’ I couldn’t remember the last time I had gone to a concert. In the process, my guitar looked kind of lonely, so I just started writing songs again."

This would be a time in Rox’s life that would be of the utmost importance. She took the summer of 2007 to re-discover herself, as well as what she wanted from music. There were internal debates about whether or not she’d prefer to just be a performer, or whether or not she’d prefer just being a songwriter. In the end, she chose to take on both. While Rox admits that those decisions - along with having to take on all the working responsibilities that come from being an indie artist - weren’t always the easiest, she eventually realized that she was stronger than she thought, and that moving forward was something she had to do.

What came out of this giant push-and-pull is High Expectations, which features a mish-mash of songs from the pre- and post-Jakalope eras. Tracks of personal inspiration, love, loss, and strength are ever-present here, and represent an artist that isn’t looking to make a temporary impression.

"I wanted something that I would be proud of. I really thought, ‘10 years from now, am I going to be embarrassed about this, or happy with it’ I did recordings when I was 16 or 17 and I listen to them and I’m like, ‘what was I thinking I’m such an idiot,’" explains Rox. "But again, you’re just learning and growing and you can’t fault yourself. I wanted to make an album that hopefully years from now I’ll still be proud of it, whether my direction stays exactly that way or changes again.

"There was a bit of pressure, but I didn’t realize that people would be quite so interested in it. I hoped people would be, but I didn’t really think that it would be under a critical eye, so thank God I didn’t think about that or I probably wouldn’t have been done [the album] yet. I was having fun recording some songs and I wanted to release them to people so that people would know what I was up to and what I wanted to do as a reintroduction."

It's hard to start over, especially when you've put so much hard work into a project and been rewarded with opportunities most musicians can only dream about.

As lead singer of Canadian industrial band Jakalope, Katie Rox achieved nominations for numerous music awards, toured widely, worked with famous and infamous musicians and producers and even performed the theme song for seasons four and five of Degrassi: The Next Generation.

But despite her success with Jakalope, early in 2007 Rox knew it was time to move on.

"I felt my heart pulling me in a different direction," she explains.

That direction was a little quieter, a little closer to her roots as a girl from Airdrie, Alta. who grew up listening to Patsy Cline with her family and Alanis Morissette with her friends. Rox laughs about it, saying, "It's a complete 180 from the band." And although her acoustic sound, inspired by other singer-songwriters like John Mayer and Corinne Bailey Rae, is a long way from her previous work, Rox has been pleasantly surprised by the support fans of her former group have shown her.

"Because the music's so different, I would understand if it just wasn't their thing anymore," she says.

"If an artist that I liked suddenly did death metal, I probably wouldn't listen to it, but if they're doing what they really want, you can't really fault them for it. I'll get notes from people who say, 'Hey, your new music's not really my thing, but if this is what you love to do, I support you.' That's really cool, I was really surprised."

Midway through her first tour as a solo artist, Rox is hitting up towns both large and small, including often-overlooked stops such as Leduc, Cold Lake and Strathmore. She's playing Edmonton's Pawn Shop on Whyte Avenue tonight with The Matinee.

"I wanted to play anywhere who will have us. We played Moose Jaw two days ago and they said, 'Man, we never get music here,' and I was like, 'There we go, that's the point.' To play places that people don't always wanna go or don't think to go," says Rox, who is loving the intimacy of these smaller shows. "I like the big audiences too, but for this kind of tour, to play in a big, big hall, the point would get lost, you know?

"It's just so up close and personal. The audience, we kind of do the show together, that's how it feels.

"You get a sense of what they want to do, and you can hear what they're saying when they talk to you. That was what I wanted to do, get to know the people who are supporting you and let them get to know you. It's fun when it's on a personal level."

Rox should know; her current methods are about as personal as it gets. High Standards, Rox's debut seven-song EP, was self-recorded in her closet over a pressureless two-month period using only GarageBand and a microphone, then self-released and self-distributed through Amazon, iTunes, and her own website, www.ktrox.com. Doing everything on her own has been immensely rewarding.

"Someone in Saskatoon said, 'Hey, my name's Chad,' and I was like, I remember sending a CD to him because I do it all myself. That's been fun too, you really know the people who are supporting you and without them..." Rox pauses. "You could sing by yourself all you want, but you need an audience."

From the sounds of it, Rox has found her calling. You can hear it in her voice, cheerful and upbeat even in the morning, weeks into a van tour.

"This is completely different than what I was doing with Jakalope, but it feels good, it feels like it's what I should be doing," she says.

With the January release of her solo debut, Katie Rox (aka Katie Biever or Katie B, formerly of Jakalope) has cocked some ears. The sweet vocals are still there, of course, but gone is the wall of sound.

The surprise, though, is not that she fits so easily into the comfortable shoes of a singer-songwriter, it’s that the small-town Alberta girl ended up with Vancouver’s Jakalope at all.

"All my friends felt that way, when they first saw the videos and stuff [for Jakalope], they were, like, ‘This is what you’re doing?’ Like they were really shocked by it. And people that would meet me during Jakalope things, they would be, ‘Oh, you’re not what I expected.’ And I guess I wasn’t," she laughs. "But it was fun. I always tell people when they ask me, you don’t know what you like and what you don’t like until you do it. You don’t know if you like riding motorcycles unless you went for a ride on a motorcycle. And so I wasn’t sure if I’d be into rock and for those few years I had a really fun time doing it. It was really cool to have a bit of an alter-ego and try different things, but ultimately I just found my heart pulling me in the direction that I’m in."

Leaving the industrial rock collective early last year, Rox focused on finding her feet as a solo artist. Inspired by independent musicians, Rox has set about building her name on her own terms and from the ground up. From learning the ins and outs of GarageBand to laying down the tracks for High Standards to setting up her own press, Rox has made a conscious decision to work the whole machine herself.

"I sort of put it that I am putting myself through the school of rock," she explains. "I want to appreciate what everybody does. And I don’t think that I didn’t appreciate it before, but I’ll really know for next time, what everybody does. And people work hard in the music industry and it’s no wonder people have managers and agents and publicists ... you know?

"It’s a lot of work and I’m exhausted," she adds. "I don’t think that I’ll do it this way forever. It was just something I really wanted to do before I built a team around me: really get my feet under me and know what I like and what I don’t like so that when I am working with people, they know and I know what we want to do."

So far, things are looking good. The Wanted Tour, which Rox is doing with the Matinée, was partly a response to the fans who wanted to see her play the solo album live.

"I just took a survey with all of the people asking me: ‘OK, where do you want me to play? Where do you live?’" she explains. "And they’re the best people to ask, right? The people who want to see you. And so I talked to some friends about putting a tour together."

Without the pressures of being in a big band, the musicians have been able to play small towns and big, making drives shorter and the venues a little more intimate. Rox was even able to play a few Alberta dates while camping out of her parents’ Airdrie home and borrowing her mom’s car, which is fitting for a tour of an album that Rox defines as a return to her roots.

Performing in Red Deer this month will be something of a homecoming for a talented singer named Katie, who has a long history of last names.

The last time she sang at The Vat was eight years ago. She was a Red Deer College music student then named Katie Biever who performed with a cover band.

This time, she’ll sing her own folk/roots songs at The Vat on Monday, June 30, as a solo artist named Katie Rox.

Katie plans to bring her guitar, her friends - the rock band The Matinees - and a ton of professional experience.

Much of this was accrued while the petite blonde performed as Katie B., the lead singer of Vancouver’s break-out band Jakalope.

She recently ended her four-year tenure with the industrial pop band that was formed in 2003 after Katie met producer Dave "Rave" Ogilvie (who worked with David Bowie, Skinny Puppy, 9-Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson).

With Jakalope, Katie was signed to a record label, had several popular singles, air-play on MuchMusic, a hand-full of awards nominations and tours to Japan.

It was a fun ride, said Katie. But at some point, she realized she was growing in another musical direction from Jakalope - a more acoustic direction.

The 26-year-old who grew up on an Airdrie-area farm with "horses, cows, a cat, ducks," decided to be true to herself - she left the band in the spring of 2007 and went solo.

Becoming an indie artist has been illuminating, to say the least, said a chuckling Katie, who had to book her own tour through Saskatchewan, B.C. and Alberta.

But she’s enjoyed the casual flexibility of recording her first solo album of roots music in her acoustically excellent closet. ("My mother told me, ‘well if your don’t like how it sounds you can always buy yourself some more clothes,’" she recalled with a giggle.)

Katie’s album High Standards was released through iTunes, and fans can also order hard copies from her website, ktrox.com.

Sales are going good, said the singer - "although, when you’re licking all the stamps and envelopes yourself and putting it in the mail, it seems like a lot."

Her music, more folk than country, has a down-to-earth vibe.

"You can’t tie me down is a common thread running through my songs," said Katie, who credits her mom as well as the late RDC instructor Keith Mann for "always instilling in me a sense that I could do whatever I wanted to."

The performer revealed her Katie Rox stage moniker is really a nickname she earned in college. Going to RDC "was a really good time," Katie recalled.

"I loved it. It was such a small program that a lot of my best friends are still people I met while in college."

She’s excited that some former classmates will be at The Vat to cheer her on, as well as relatives from Airdrie and her boyfriend’s relatives from Innisfail.

"I’m really looking forward to it, although it will also be kind of weird because it’s been so many years since I’ve been there."

She's adorable, she's sweet, she's talented and she Rox. Katie Rox, a native Albertan (she's from Airdre) turned west-coast songstress, is touring and making a stop at the Ottoman Lounge this June.

In her young career she has already split from her former group, Jakalope, recorded and produced her latest album in her closet and is now hitting the road - with only an acoustic guitar in hand. "What I really wanted to do was an intimate tour," she said. "It's a bit scary putting yourself out there like that, but it very rewarding and liberating."

Katie is touring with fellow Vancouver musicians, The Matinee who have stripped down to an acoustic set for The Wanted Tour.

As for the recording in the closet - the News will let Katie explain.

"I recorded and released the album High Standards on my own," she said. "It was actually recorded in my closet using Garage Band.

"Every night I just went in my closet and worked on it."

But sometimes she wasn't alone, in fact, she was joined by a few friends on instruments and vocals on the CD. "Yeah, a bunch of my friends spent time in the closet with me," she giggled. "Yeah, it's a walk in."

If it was intimacy she was looking to capture (well she was recording in a closet), she got it, with an album full of honest, simple melodies filled out with her charming vocals.

A long way from her work in the industrial rock sensation Jakalope, High Standards offers a glimpse into this songstress soul, something she wanted to showcase as a newfound solo artist.

"The process of recording was something I wanted to do for me," she said. "I kind of wanted to show that I could do it myself...I didn't want to rely on studio trickery and the best of the best to make me sound good."

For a gal that's worked with the likes of Dave Ogilvie (Jakalope) at Bryan Adam's The Warehouse Studio, branching out in a different direction was key.

Thankfully the critics and her peers approved.

"I am very fortunate, I had no idea what was going to happen because it was such a departure from the band (Jakalope)," she said. "I think when somebody does something, no matter what their job, when you do something genuine and from the heart, I think people notice that.

"I'm really lucky, I thought I would lose a lot of fans, but they've stuck with me and supported me."

Katie is excited to be making a stop in our city, as she fond memories from her childhood at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede.

"We raised black angus cattle, I was in 4 H and all that stuff...we used to go there every year," she said. "I remember going to see a night show with Brooks and Dunn, and I was seriously like 10, and I waved at the guy and he waved back and threw me a guitar pick.

"I am blushing right now telling you this story...that's what I remember from Medicine Hat."

The Alberta stops on The Wanted Tour were important to her as she realizes how much she's proud to be an Alberta girl.

"It's so much a part of who I am and I wanted to go around Alberta and play for what's inspired me," she said. "We go from Cold Lake to Lethbridge and everywhere in between."

Big impressions can be made with few words, or in the case of Katie Rox, a seven-track disc recorded in her walk-in closet.

Rox, former lead singer of industrial rock band Jakalope, is forging a new path in music, one which brings this gifted singer closer to her rural roots in Airdrie where she raised black Angus cattle for 4-H and was known by her birthname - Biever.

Vancouver-based Rox is a gem, a songwriter with a sweet angelic voice and a knack for writing melodic hooks.

Rox sets "High Standards" on this self-penned album recorded with the help of a few friends including Jeremy Fisher, a respected artist in his own right.

Only in her early 20s, Biever, er Rox, has a maturity that belies her years. She can be melancholy and introspective or light and girlie without missing a beat.

Her style almost defies description. The song ‘Sound Advice’ has a 60s beach vibe, heightened by the Motownesque background vocals. The irresistible opening track ‘Fly’ is the kind of melodic, feel-good tune that will be etched permanently in a listener’s memory. It’s a song that could never get be played too much.

Lyrically and vocally, Rox is an artist who could stand alone with guitar on stage and silence an entire audience with a single note from her throat.

She hasn¹t yet sought out a label and Rox won’t have to with this effort, the biggest companies in the business should be soon knocking on her door. This girl is going places - and not just home to Airdrie and the black Angus.

Watch out, Canada; a world-class star is emerging from the Alberta heartland.

Vancouver based singer Katie Rox (a nickname from college) didn’t always have musical dreams.

"I hated it," the 26 year old admits, referring to the time when she was eight and she burst into tears during her first musical recital. Luckily she changed her mind about 45 minutes later and from that moment on her passion for music and singing grew. At the end of the year her music teacher even awarded her with a Trooper Award for sticking with it.

"I still have it," she laughs.

A former member of the band Jackalope (they created the theme song for Degrassi: The Next Generation) Katie had many opportunities to travel the world, and win awards, including a few Much Music Video Awards. She was also featured in Jeremy Fisher’s "Cigarettes" music video. Eventually she felt it was the right thing to do to leave the group and forge her own path in music.

Her sound is earthy and relaxed folk/ pop, upbeat and all her own. "When I ask my friends how they would describe my sound they just say ‘its Katie music’".

She is looking forward to the upcoming tour.

"This one is very personal and intimate," she says. She will be touring with the Acoustic trio The Matinee, also Vancouver based, and they will be hitting all the small towns from Cold Lake to Lethbridge, Leduc to Grand Prairie and everywhere in between.

They will be performing at Club 41 on Sunday, June 22 at 7:00 pm and doors open at 6:00pm. For more information on the show please contact Cpl Bruce King at 840-8000 extension 8895. To check out Katie before she arrives in Cold Lake you can go to her website at www.ktrox.com. You can also check out www.thematineemusic.com.

Ex-Jakalope singer Katie Rox does a complete 180 on new project

Half a decade ago, Katie Biever was writing melodies and singing and touring with Jakalope, a Vancouver band that found reasonable success in Canada. All good things come to an end, though, and in 2007, Biever left the band, Jakalope found a new front woman, and the songwriter disappeared to her bedroom to write, record and rediscover herself. The result, a solo debut entitled High Standards, is as different from Jakalope’s sound as one can get. Biever has traded her industrial anthems for an acoustic guitar, folk-pop melodies and simplistic, stripped-down vocal work. In addition, Biever has rechristened herself Katie Rox to match the revamped musical direction.

"The album itself centres a lot around being independent," says Biever. "That wasn’t a conscious decision, but it’s there, as not all of those songs were written after my departure from [Jakalope]. To me, the theme here is simplicity, something stripped down and sincere. It felt like I was putting myself, and my heart, on a platter." Recorded at home last fall, High Standards is a simple, folksy affair free from the intricate production techniques, overdubbing and meticulous tracking prominent in Jakalope’s recorded work. Instead, Biever lets silence play as much of a role as sound. It creates a whimsical, relaxed listen, one more akin to Nova Scotia’s Ruth Minnikin than anything involving Jakalope mastermind and industrial legend Dave Ogilvie.

"It was a truly intimate experience," explains Rox, "as it was recorded in my closet, using GarageBand, from mid-September to December 2007. It was a personal goal of mine to record it on my own. I wanted to push myself creatively. I put the pressure on myself to deliver something solid. I didn’t have anyone to rely on to fill in the blanks. It was rewarding, but I faced a lot of challenges. It’s not easy doing it on your own, especially when you are used to the technologies of a recording studio. There were times when I seriously considered calling in some favours, but I made the deal with myself to do it this way for this album, so I stuck with that."

Biever is releasing the album independently (note the theme here), and touring solo in support of it, a choice that will only help her songs. Mixing in too much instrumentation would muddy the waters, as it Biever’s enchanting vocals that provide the musical clarity.

"I didn’t mess too much with the original versions of the songs that I wrote, nor did I think too much about it," she explains. "It is not a calculated record, not in any sense, but it’s an emotional record. Essentially, this is a collection of songs that I feel good about sharing - a way of reintroducing myself.

"It is true that what I am doing now is a complete 180 from what I was doing in Jakalope," she continues. "I wrote the lyrics and melodies on the Jakalope material, but that music was darker and more complex in rhythms [and] electronics. I worked as a songwriter to keep that essence and to complement the instrumentation while always adding my own flavour. What I am doing now, it's lighter and more simplistic, and everything - the performance, lyrics and attitude towards these songs - reflects that as well.”

With a fresh outlook and a guitar in hand, Rox will cross Canada alongside Vancouver roots rockers The Matinee out West and Leslie Pike out East, and she could not be more excited. "I feel I opened a window," she says, "and life is out there for the taking."

Airdrie Echo - Former Jakalope lead vocalist and Airdrie native Katie Biever – known in the music world as Katie Rox – will be kicking off her solo tour June 6 in Vancouver, then heading back home for an extensive roll through Alberta.

Rox left Jakalope in the summer of 2007, wanting to head off on her own and pursue a solo career.

"I wanted to go a separate direction" said Rox, a class of 1999 George McDougall High School graduate. "It was something I needed to do."

Rox spent four years with Jakalope as lead singer and songwriter.

"It was always a revolving door of artists," she said. "It was really fun."

A couple months after leaving her post with the industrial rock group, Rox turned out her first solo album, a self-produced effort entitled High Standards, in January of this year.

"I felt the need to go and do something on my own," she said. "I really wanted to put all of myself into it."

The album is entirely acoustic, primarily guitar, and has a very country-folk-pop sound.

"I found that my heart lay within acoustic," Rox said. "I can’t shake that country girl."

Not only did she produce her newest album by herself, she is her own manager and publicist, as well.

"I had never been so busy in my life," Rox said about producing her album and putting together the tour. "Half of anything is getting up and doing it."

Rox enlisted a Vancouver indie-folk band, the Matinee, to accompany her on the Western Candian tour. She described the band’s sound as "a cure for a hangover, not quite country, just good time music."

The Alberta leg of the journey, which is called the Wanted Tour, is set to kick off in Lethbridge June 13. Then it’s three more Alberta dates, followed by a brief visit to Saskatchewan. Seven shows back in Alberta will cap off the 26-year-old’s tour of the province, but there is still one date that Rox is missing from the schedule -- home.

While the tour’s schedule is packed with Alberta shows, everywhere from Edmonton to Calgary, High River to Leduc, Rox was unable to schedule a venue in her hometown.

"I find it funny that I’m playing everywhere but my hometown," she said. "Airdrie has been very supportive; it just didn’t work out this time."

Rox will make a very brief public appearance in Airdrie, playing a few songs for Canada Day at Music Centre Canada, before having to head off to Strathmore for that town’s July 1 festivities.

The brief stop in Airdrie is important to the local woman, as she will get a chance to visit family and friends, but she said that what she is really looking forward to is "playing for the people who have supported me since day one." She was able to perform in Airdrie last Boxing Day, putting together a concert with another local musician, Steve Jevne, at One Eyed Jack’s.

For more information about Katie Rox, or for specific dates, venues and times for the Wanted Tour, visit: www.ktrox.com

Katie Rox knew early on she wanted to perform. Growing up in Airdrie, she first performed live at the age of eight, and hasn’t stopped since.

Moving to Vancouver seven years ago, she said she needed to get involved in the music industry, and knew the west coast was the place to be.

Working at Bryan Adams’ Warehouse Studio, she was constantly surrounded by artists and musicians.

"Always the best musicians and bands were at the Warehouse Studio," she said.

Starting as the receptionist and leaving as the assistant manager, she got the lead vocal gig for Canadian band Jakalope.

"They were an industrial rock-pop band who asked me to be their lead singer."

In October 2004, Jakalope released their first album, "It Dreams" and in June 2006, they released their second album "Born 4".

Rox said while with Jakalope, they were nominated for various Canadian music awards, including four Much Music Video Awards, a West Coast Music Award, Edge 102 FM Casby Award, and a few Canadian Music Week Indie Awards.

"We had international success -- Japan, Spain."

In 2007, she decided to leave the band.

"I was heading a different direction, musically," she said.

Getting back to her ‘Alberta sound’, she said she loved the time she spent with Jakalope, but wanted to get back to more folksy music, with a guitar in her hand.

And she decided to do it entirely alone.

"I recorded a seven song album, in my closet. I wrote the music and the lyrics."

Although she said she could have used her contacts and record in the studio where she formally worked, it was important for her to do it on her own.

Some of her songs on her folk/pop/country album "High Standard" were written years ago before she joined Jakalope, some during her time with the band.

She finds the underlying theme in her music boils down to one thing: independence.

"My mom always encouraged me to be independent."

Her tour stops in Leduc on June 24 at the Leduc Golf and Country Club, along with the band, The Matinee. She will be

performing during the clubs Lobsterfest dinner.

For more information about Katie Rox or to order her album, you can go to her website www.ktrox.com.

You might remember Katie Rox as Katie B, the former lead singer of industrial band Jakalope. Rox is now a folk-oriented solo artist who will tour Canada with Toronto singer/songwriter Lesley Pike.

The two are performing on a bill dubbed the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Tour. They're playing to support of Rox's High Standards debut solo album, which came out in January, and Pike's sophomore solo release, Blink.

"I loved the big stages, the crunching guitars, all of that... but there's just something about getting out there, just me and a guitar, up close and personal with the audience... that's where the heart of it really is for me right now," says Rox (real name Katie Biever).

Rox joined Jakalope after meeting producer Dave "Rave" Ogilvie (Skinny Puppy, David Bowie) while working at Vancouver's The Warehouse Studio. She left the band last year to begin her solo career. Jackalope are still active despite her departure.