Matt Polidoro feels like fate intervened when he started his new band earlier this year.
After the Port Moody guitarist broke ties with his former ensemble, Men of the West, Polidoro called on his drummer friend, Chris Sallis-Lyon, to join his outfit called Paper Trails.
Polidoro and Sallis-Lyon - a North Vancouver resident who studied jazz percussion at Vancouver Community College - had competed against each other in a battle-of-the-bands contest at the Roxy; they also had worked together on a Men of the West album.
Soon, the pair had Polidoro's best friend Lucas Drever to play guitar and, two months later, Teile Iantorno on vocals. The trio recruited her on the spot after she pulled over her vehicle and recorded a song on her cell phone. "When we heard her, it was like 'Holy cow,'" Polidoro said. "We knew she was the one."
Two months later, luck struck again when Sallis-Lyon's friend, Les Hill, a former jazz drummer and teacher, signed on as the bassist. "And since then, everything has flown by so fast," Polidoro said.
Paper Trails put on its first show - mostly in front of friends - at the Kozmik Zoo in June. But also in the crowd was Kate Dunn-Roy of Kapital Entertainment, who Polidoro said was so impressed that she immediately asked to manage the group.
The next month, Dunn-Roy organized the Paper Trails to appear at Granville Island's Backstage Lounge. "And we had double the crowd and that was on a Wednesday night," he said. "It's all because of Kate."
"PaperTrails is the type of band that comes along once in a blue moon and consists of the types of musicians that any manager would kill to work with," Dunn-Roy told The Tri-City News. "Their drive, focus and overall passion for music far succeeds that of most musicians attempting to make it in this business and, to add to the mix, I was gifted with a group that could also back up their big dreams with even bigger talent."
This month, Paper Trails started working with Port Moody music producer Jordan Oorebeek to cut two original songs for a five-track, self-titled EP; the other three songs will be recorded by students at Harbourside Institute of Technology, of which Sallis-Lyon is an alumnus.
Polidoro hopes the album will be out later next month; it will be followed by a cross-Canada tour next summer to promote the release.
"We feel very fortunate to have done so well in such a short time," Polidoro said. "It's like it was meant to be."
