Courage My Love

**Courage My Love** was a Canadian alternative rock band from Kitchener, Ontario. The band was formed in 2009 by Mercedes Arn-Horn, Phoenix Arn-Horn and David Blake-Dickson. David left the band in 2012, and was replaced by Brandon Lockwood in 2013.

The band released 4 EPs and 2 albums, before disbanding in 2020. Mercedes and Phoenix went on to form Softcult.

Brandon served as an assistant director for the music videos for two Softcult songs (***Spit It Out*** and ***House Of Mirrors***).

## Formation

Prior to forming Courage My Love, Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn had been writing music together and playing in bands since they were 13 years old. After a while, they decided to form their own band. They invited David Blake-Dickson, who they knew through a mutual friend, to audition to be their new band's bassist.

The name "Courage My Love" was chosen after watching a re-run of the 1936 H.G. Wells movie *Things To Come* at a theater. They were looking for a positive, more hopeful name, as they felt at the time that many band names were needlessly negative.

## Career

### Early Career (2009-2011)

Courage My Love participated in a High School Battle of the Bands in Stratford, Ontario on January 24th, 2010. They came first place the contest, and all 3 of the band's members were given recording equipment as their prize. After the contest Chris Perry one of the contest's judges approached them to discuss their representation. From this Perry became the producer for the band and introduced them to their manager which lead to them signing a distribution deal with Warner Music Canada some time between September and October of the following year.

Homeskool Prom Records was created by Courage My Love to maintain the rights over the band's music. The label licenses the band's music to it's parent company Warner Music Canada.

The band entered a song called "I Sell Comics" into a contest held by the Tell 'Em Steve-Dave podcast. They also uploaded an accompanying YouTube video on July 9 2011. Following the competition, Courage My Love saw an influx of new followers from fans of the podcast.

### For Now (2011-2012)

Main article: For Now
For Now was released on the twins 18th birthday. The EP received a "great response" according to the band, and got radio coverage from MuchMusic.

In March of 2012 they would release a Japanese region edition of the EP featuring 5 new tracks, This edition also had a special iTunes edition containing yet another additional song. these releases marked the first instance of the bands continuing promotional efforts in Japan.

Later that same year in July an acoustic version of the original EP was released. Whilst the band would later release some acoustic singles, this was the first and last time the band would create a full acoustic version of one of their releases.

### Becoming EP (2013)

Main article: Becoming (EP)
After the success of For Now the band felt pressure to improve with their next EP. They would write roughly 40 songs in total to be refined for the release. During this writing process bassist David Blake-Dickson left the band to be with family and continue his education which proved difficult for the Arn-Horn twins. The album was promoted with a spoof reality TV show The (Un)Real Lives Of Courage My Love.

Like For Now, this EP also received a Japanese edition featuring 5 new tracks selected from the 40 songs written for the international EP. All but one of these songs would later be used in the Becoming album or on Spirit Animal.

### Spirit Animal (2014)

Main article: Spirit Animal
During their appearances at Warped Tour 2014 the band produced a 1000 CD limited edition run of a 4 track EP called Spirit Animal. It was created in support of the Keep A Breast Foundation with $2 of every $5 CD donated to the foundation. It featured songs new to the international audience which were created in the writing process of Becoming.

## Notes

1. ↑ Mercedes stated in the MusicOTFuture interview that Courage My Love was signed when she was 17 years old. This places the date of Courage My Love being signed by Warner Music Canada between October 31st 2010 and October 31st 2011. In the Fulle Circle interview published in September 2011, Mercedes stated that Courage My Love was not signed to a label yet.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 gekirock For Now Japanese Edition interview
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Fulle Circle Interview
3. ↑ Event page for the 2010 Battle Of The Bands
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Conversation with Waterloo Region Record
5. ↑ MusicOTFuture Interview
6. ↑ I Sell Comics Music Video
7. ↑ Highlight Magazine Interview
8. ↑ Keep A Breast Blog Post
9. ↑ amusicblogyea.com Gimme Your Answers Interview