Big Sky's the limit for One More Girl

As little girls, Carly and Britt McKillip sang Lisa Brokop songs into their hairbrushes in front of the mirror, and used their living room as a stage to belt out their renditions.

Lately though, the Maple Ridge sisters have traded the bathroom mirror and living room couches for sold-out stadiums.

“I think Britt and I always wanted it to, and hoped it would, work out, but I don’t think anyone really expected it to work out,” says Carly. “I feel like we’re getting away with something here. This is so cool.”

Carly, 20, and Britt, 18, are One More Girl, a country singing duo that has, in the last six months, released two singles – I Can Love Anyone and Misery Loves Company – the first of which reached No. 18 on the BDS Canadian country music charts, and completed a cross-country tour.

“We’ve worked really hard to get to where we are,” says Britt. “It’s very nice to see it paying off.

I know it doesn’t have to pay off, but it’s nice to see it is.”

Considering the amount of success the sisters have seen in their careers already, they are graciously humble when talking about it.

“We know we are so fortunate to be in the position we are in,” says Carly, who plays piano and guitar in One More Girl.

“But we still feel like sometimes we are undeserving,” adds Britt, who plays guitar.

The sisters grew up in a home where country music was an integral part of their lives – their dad is a producer and touring musician, and is Lisa Brokop’s band leader, and their mom is a songwriter.

“We always joke about how when we were younger, we didn’t know that it wasn’t normal for what our family did. We thought that was the norm,” says Britt. “We thought everyone’s dad got up on stage and performed.”

The last 11 months have been filled with a number of firsts for the McKillips.

The girls signed their first record deal with EMI Canada in June 2008, they released their first single, they recorded their first music video, they played their first show as One More Girl at the Canadian Country Music Awards and they recently finished their first tour, opening for Johnny Reid in 20 cities across Canada.

“I feel like this is a year of firsts for Britt and I,” says Carly. “And I think the whole year will be one big highlight.

“I know that this is going to be an extra special time in our lives because it’s the first time all this stuff is happening for us.”

The girls will also release Big Sky, their first album, later this summer.

The 13-track album, besides the vocal, music and song-writing skills of the sisters, features songs written by the likes of Gretchen Wilson, Lisa Brokop, Victoria Banks and Matraca Berg.
“It was our baby and we had to make it perfect,” says Britt.

“The most important thing when you’re making an album is to make sure you have the material,” says Carly, commending the talent that contributed to their CD. “You have to have great songs or you’re not going to have a great album.”

If the McKillip’s track record of success in their other career is any indication though, Big Sky, which was produced by their dad, will help lead them into a propitious lifestyle as working musicians.

The sisters have been involved in the Vancouver television and film industry since they were children; Britt is best known for her role as Reggie Lass on the Showtime series Dead Like Me, while Carly starred as Alice McLeod, the title role on CTV’s Alice, I Think.

“I don’t remember life before craft services,” says Britt.

“We started so young. We were raised in and around music, and we were raised on set. It never felt weird to us at all,” says Carly, citing their grounded upbringing for having a lot to do with that.

They say the support from their parents, Tom and Lynda McKillip, is an integral part of their success, and is something they don’t plan on abandoning anytime soon.

“Five years from now, we’ll be on a tour bus somewhere with our dogs and our cats and our parents,” says Carly.

“Yeah, we really want to include them in everything we do,” Britt says.

Despite their young ages, the sisters have a mature appreciation for what they’ve accomplished, and they both have a mutual respect for the contributions the other makes to their own life.

“We always say that we couldn’t do this without each other, ever,” says Britt. “I couldn’t do anything like this without her. She’s my other half. She really does complete me. She’s so talented, so committed, and she’s kind of like the leader of us.”

“Britt’s like my best friend,” says Carly. “I think the two of us need each other in order to survive in this business, because I’m very business-minded and Britt’s very creative ... She’s always been sort of a musical genius.

“She’s got more chops than most adults I know that play professionally.”

Looking back to examine their lives, the girls say they are lucky to be where they are now.
“I always said that I wanted to be signed to a record label before I graduated from high school, and I honestly didn’t think it would happen,” says Britt.

“Me neither,” her sister says jokingly. “No offence.”

“We love to perform, we love to entertain and we’ve always wanted to do that,” Carly adds. “We’re lucky now that we’re doing this as a career and not just a hobby anymore.”