About C14
This is the story about a group of Canadian recording artists that produced electronic and pop music from 2001-2006.
CALGARY – 2009
Although the bands’name suggests that they crawled out of the science club, they were in fact, architects of a much different kind. The half life of Carbon 14, an isotope is about 5730 years. Fortunately for Calgary’s C14 they are nowhere near that old.
There is no twist to the sound of this trio, but at the same time their genre was a moving target of variety, where they started out in 2000 as a pure electronic group specializing in vocal trance and dance music. By 2004 they had turned down the arpeggiators and low-pass filters of synths and plugged in to some acoustic guitars while keeping the lush sound they started with. The group has never performed live, rather opting to use their skills to write and produce music in the studio environment.
Ray MacDonald, Formerly of “Mozart’s Rage”a new age pop-electron-ica band throughout the 90’s, was introduced to Co-founder Ryan Hall at the tail end of Ryan’s first electronica project “Clairaudience”. Carla is the younger sibling to Ryan, and came as part of the package that allowed the inception of C14.
The band took shape in Calgary in January 2000. Their European Dance sound didn’t quite fit the mold of North American music, which is known for producing Rock Pop and Urban superstars. In fact Ray and Ryan have never even set foot on European soil. So where would these influences come from?
From his musical genesis producing club anthems, Ray thrived on producing Trance & Pop music. While with his previous project, Mozart’s Rage, he helped land the group a gold record in Canada for their efforts on the “Club Cutz”series compilation album. MacDonald’s electronic expertise is what enables the ear to make sense out of One’s and Zeros. His objective spirit also makes him proficient at arranging and mixing.
Ryan’s lengthy classical piano training gave him the edge as a lead musician of C14. He wrote and produced his own full indie album in 1998 with his sister, developing a passion in electronic and hard rock music.
Somewhat of a musical kindred spirit, Carla bleeds an ability to add life to any instrumental track. Like her older brother, she is not only a classically trained pianist but she also has extensive training in Opera and Classical vocals.
Their first official single in 2001, “TrancePlanet” an 8 minute trance instrumental, enjoyed 6 months of commercial success on a Calgary Top 40 radio station and on the dance floor of nightclubs. The song was later included on the “Trance Emotion” compilation double-cd release in Japan.
From the years 2001- 2004, they would produce more pure dance songs with a host of very talented producers, friends and songwriters from other parts of Canada, USA and Europe.
C-14 has obtained placements on numerous Compilation albums, Television, independent movies and video games- notably:
TV Movie- Lesser Evil
TV Series- The L-Word
Video Game Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2 by Konami- “Instrumental song- ‘Synergy”
Video Game Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 by Konami- “Waiting for you”
The year 2004 led them down a different path evolving with more of a pop rock sound, looking to appeal to a wider audience (or any audience at all). With songs like “Empty Inside”, “Betrayed”, and “Forever”, the sound represents them changing as adults, living through a whole new range of life experiences.
C14 Today
The band has not written any new material since 2006. Carla, Ray and Ryan are all married, own homes in Calgary and carry on with successful careers outside of music. The band has resurrected this website in hopes of exposing their music to a new audience through new media and social networking.
Although they have no immediate plans to write new material, never say never.
C14 are members of SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada). All music is protected and copywritten by C14 and some contain affiliated publishing rights. If there is a track that you would like to license, please contact us.