Rising Stars: Meet Bobbi Smith, Brittni Dominelli, and Kyla Rawlins of The Heels

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobbi Smith, Brittni Dominelli, and Kyla Rawlins. Them and their team share their story with us below:

The story of The Heels began about six years ago. Brittni, Kyla & Bobbi were all living in the waterfront neighborhood of North Vancouver known as Lower Lonsdale or as the locals call it LoLo. Kyla owns and operates a cafe in the area called Buddha-Full. Brittni was walking around one afternoon with resumes looking for a job. Something pulled her in a new direction and she bumped into a childhood friend who was with Kyla. Brittni mentioned she was out hunting for a new job and Kyla said she was looking for employees and hired her on the spot. 

As a solo singer with a rock band and jazz band at the time, Kyla hosted regular open mic events at Buddha-Full. Kyla tapped Brittni on the shoulder one afternoon in passing and said “we need to sing together.” Unbeknownst to Kyla at that time, Brittni was in a pop/rock duo with her sister Georgia Dominelli. 

Brittni, Kyla & Georgia sang together for the first time at one open mic events hosted at the cafe. They began meeting regularly after work with other women from the cafe and the community to sing and write music as a healing venture of shared passions and new friendships. 

The band The Heels eventually began originally with Kyla, Brittni and Brittni’s sister Georgia. The trio released one single and video together called “Tombstone” and played local community events until Georgia eventually opted out of the band for new opportunities of her own. 

Brittni & Kyla wanted to keep the band as a trio and knew Bobbi at this time as a frequent customer of the cafe and former country singer. Bobbi worked in the area and visited multiple times a week on lunch breaks. All three women were aware of each other’s music and past solo careers and because they had mutual friends in the community telling them they needed to sing together. Kyla took a trip to Hawaii while The Heels was a duo still looking to add another singer. She fell asleep wondering what would become of the band and seeking guidance. Kyla woke up in the middle of the night hearing the name “Bobbi.” She took it as a sign and messaged the two people she knew with that name one a bass player named Bobby and Bobbi Smith the frequent customer who would eventually become a member of The Heels. At the time Bobbi got Kylas message she was a couple days into a “live changing commitment” she had begun with a co-worker and friend. Bobbi’s recently divorced co-worker was given a “life-changing book” called The Year Of Yes. Her coworker skimmed the book and summed up that their lives could magically change for the better if they chose to say YES to everything! 

Bobbi was at work when she opened the message from Kyla and read it aloud to her coworker who immediately replied “YOU HAVE TO SAY YES!” 

Bobbi initially resisted knowing the huge commitment a band and a music career was and feeling like her life and schedule at the time would not have allowed for it, but her coworker persisted that given their promises they made for the “year of yes” she HAD to say YES to Kyla’s message which explained The Heels situation and their need of another singer. Bobbi replied YES and the rest as they say is history. Many bands’ backstory begins with a long-standing friendship and the forming of a band but The Heels became a band first and became friends along the way. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The Heels are an indie band who have built their team through the years of working in the Canadian music industry. A music career is a full-time job of much more than writing and performing music. And to make a music career supplement the full-time efforts with a full-time paycheque can be challenging but The Heels had deep belief in the band and felt from the beginning that it was worth the investment. Before building the team, they have now of managers, booking agents, producer, band members, graphic designer, publicist, digital streaming Promotor and radio Promotor the women did it all! It was a hands-on learning experience the three still take very seriously. Incorporating their music business, The Heels Music Inc in 2016 the trio have treated the band as a business not a hobby and put in many hours before and after work writing emails, booking shows, writing grants, rehearsing harmonies, writing music, recording music, and attending countless industry workshops and seminars to learn from top business professionals in the music industry to apply as many best practices and insight to their own company. The balance of life, the jobs we had to work to pay bills, Kyla’s business of cafes and launching a music career was an often overwhelming process but The Heels shared love for the music and the stage kept everyone pressing forward. Eventually the bands career was taking off, winning industry awards, releasing radio singles with success and tours across Canada and the day jobs Brittni and Bobbi worked were becoming less and less flexible with the band and the trips out of town that kept arising. It was a painstaking decision that eventually paid off but both Brittni & Bobbi “quit their day jobs” and jumped into their music business with both feet. It can be a challenge to believe in your own business when there are many limiting beliefs around a career in the arts. Many people will voice concerns that there is no money to be made in the arts. Many people also believe that a career cannot be successful when it’s something you enjoy. But The Heels have chosen to let go and demolish those limiting beliefs and continue to grow a business in the music industry that now employs so many more than just the three vocalists. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Country music three-part harmony trio of women writing and recording relatable music of emotions experience through heartbreak, self-discovery, emotional rebuilding, empowerment, and celebration of love and life. 

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
For those starting out the music industry can be overwhelming. Our greatest successes have always come when we have been looking to create what we love rather than what we have been told will be successful. Be yourself and believe in what you do seems like the most cliche bit of advice but it is absolutely important to your success. The music industry has the tendency to create a sound, a look, and a temptation to conform to what appears to be successful however in our experience we have stayed true to being exactly who we are and become memorable through our own uniqueness. The music industry is an investment and to share your music as an indie artist on a platform of major label artists it’s important to create your work as professionally as possible we have found this most successful by building a team of professionals who can all specialize in their own areas of the industry. We have been able to invest in career further than within our own means by supportive artistic grant initiatives within our country and province. Apply for as many grants to support your business as you can find and when the first few applications come back not supported or approved reach out and ask questions of how you can better your submission for approval. Attend all seminars available and be sure to sign up for local industry groups because contacts are key in this industry. A great price of advice we got back when we first started was to write 100 songs and then take the top ten and work on those and then narrow those down to the top three. We have written well over 100 songs and it’s given us the opportunity to meet and collaborate with so many talented writers and artists. The contacts and experience alone is worth all the effort and hopefully you get some great music too! 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: http://www.theheelsmusic.com/
• Instagram: @theheelsmusic
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/theheelsmusic
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/TheHeels

Image Credits:
Karolina Turek
Tom Hawkins
Georgia Dominelli