For this episode of the Winnipeg Music Project, Tim and Marianne from the new group Red Rose came down to the station to share their new music and talk about the build up and delayed beginnings! These two are so kind and wonderful to talk to with hearts of gold! Their music is pretty darn neat too, listen to it here!
Set List:
Red Rose "Pipeline Road" Live
Red Rose "Frozen River" Live
Red Rose "Nothing So Sweet" Demo
Support Local Music-Makers Red Rose!
For this episode of the Winnipeg Music Project, Kathryn Kerr (stage name Tansy, formerly known as Astre) came onto the show to talk about her alternative ambient music. She shared her experience as a solo artist and performer and talked about her tricks to achieve songwriting success. We also shared a never before heard song at the end of the episode and learned her inspirations and story for writing it.
Set List:
Tansy "Marie" from Wood Songs
Tansy "Bomb Shelter Secrets" from Wood Songs
Tansy "Swim" from Swim/Sleep
Support Local Alternative Music-Maker Tansy!
The twenty-third episode of the Winnipeg Music Project with Daniel from Bartley Knives where he and I just hungout in his basement apartment and chatted about his new project. The interview on the blog is the extended version with two more songs and more awesome questions!
Set List:
Bartley Knives "Mocking Birds" from For the Birds
Bartley Knives "Two Ships" from For the Birds
Bartley Knives "Windfall"
Bartley Knives "Robin" from For the Birds
ALSO, if you want to hear more from Daniel talking about Bartley Knives, here is another interview he did with my friends at Witch Police Radio!
Support Winnipeg Musician Bartley Knives
The fifteenth episode of the Winnipeg Music Project where Russell Chan from Rooftop Static came to promote their awesome alternative groove tunes.
Set List:
RoofTop Static "Runaway"
RoofTop Static "Too Late"
Support Winnipeg Band Roof Top Static!
Listen to it again! Interview with Ian Gilhuly and Ryan Sorensen from the Tin Can Bandits.
The fourth episode of the Winnipeg Music Project with Ian Gilhuly and Ryan Sorensen from the Tin Can Bandits~! We talk about their band and the upcoming album they are so excited to release for the world to hear.
Set List:
Tin Can Bandits "The Way" From Baboon Buddies
Tin Can Bandits "Doesn't Matter" From Rushing River
Support Winnipeg Band the Tin Can Bandits!
Genres: Everything (Grungy, Folky, Funky, Rock stuff)
Eli’s Instruments: Voice, Guitar
Evan’s Instruments: Bass, Voice
I met with Eli and Evan in their jam session this summer and we had an awesome chat about None The Wiser and their experience performing and song-writing. I can honestly say I learned a lot from these guys and am super thankful for them letting me interview them! Read it now~!
Ashley: So you play everything, how do you decide what to play at a show?
Eli: For shows we have been keeping it to out up-tempo dance-y songs. It depends on the venue. I was even reading in this David Burn book that people write songs for venues. They have a venue in mind as a musician and you write a song that’s geared toward that. It’s a different given or take with the audience. It’s more intimate when you are playing those quieter show but when you see people dancing and having fun, that’s what really does it for me. I guess that’s how we decide on what we play at shows, it’ where we are playing.
Evan: We often also don’t know ahead of time. We’ll have a general idea of what we’re doing and depending on what the crowd likes and we’ll change what we are playing. We play the crowd.
Ashley: So you have brass instruments in the band, how do you incorporate that when you’re playing rock music?
Eli: It’s just another layer or texture that you can add. Like I said, we don’t like to pigeonhole ourselves. We like to put together a good song with a catchy hook on the horns; they can do things [others can’t]. They can do melodies and add so many different things. It’s just nice to have them there.
Evan: I think it’s a great throwback to some of the funkier Motown that we are all kind of into. We are a band that for all intensive purposes rock band but a big brass section behind it adds this entire new layer of music.
Ashley: Where does the band name come from?
Eli: I’ll give my brother Zach credit for that one [back in 1999 or 2000], we just hadn’t come up with anything new since. It’s been so long that I haven’t really thought about changing it. I tried once, I did a solo op and just ended up being another None the Wiser [project].
Evan: I think too few bands are honest about how arbitrary their name is. Some bands have really cool or awesome history about their name but I think most bands are just “we need a band name and this sounds cool.”
Ashley: So how often are you guys practicing together?
Eli: We practice at least once a week. We do Wednesdays at the jam space, leading up to bigger shows we will squeeze in a couple more. We also break it down into sectionals so I’ll go jam with the horn players so they can work out their harmonies to not waster everyone else’s time. Sometimes we’ll have practices where we just work out vocal harmonies, break it down into sections.
Ashley: What do you listen to for inspiration for music?
Eli: Oh lots of fun stuff! I like everything from the Spice girls to the Beatles.
Evan: We actually do a couple covers of Spice girls at shows.
Eli: I want to say the Beatles, Dave Matthews band, Sublime, KT Tunstall. I’ve been really into Max Martens’ writing lately, he wrote all pop songs on the 2000s. I’m into pretty much everything. I’m wearing a Fela Kuti shirt right now. I love afro beats stuff. That really helps bringing in the horns actually.
Evan: I think one of the nice things about sitting down and jam is that we come from different backgrounds with some overlap. I come from a really big metal background. I listen to metal bands and played in a lot of Winnipeg death metal bands and stuff that is very different from what we play; it also a slightly different perspective. It brings things that only once person would necessarily think of. Josh plays a lot of country, Jordan is really into weird art rock kind of stuff.
Eli: Cary is really into blues and funk and soul, so it’s a really cool mash up . Really the inspirations are infinite.
Ashley: How do you think death metal helped none the wiser?
Evan: I think if anything, I might occasionally play things a bit more aggressively than maybe other people might have thought of. I think we have a few songs where things have dropped a bit lower and a bit heavier.
Eli: I love a good solo with a gritty bass that probably comes from some metal stuff.
Evan: Cool things happen when you put a different perspective on something that’s relatively normal.
Ashley: So what is the overall songwriting process?
Eli: Up to now, we are starting to write more because we are jamming more often, but usually it always starts with a guitar and the sounds come before the words. We fill in the words to the sounds. To be perfectly honest, I don’t really know where it comes from, it’s kind of that I just lucked out and something cool popped into my head. I think that’s really common with all songwriters. They don’t really know where it comes from; every now and then they tap into the cloud of songs and just get lucky every now and then. For the most part, up until now that we are starting to write stuff together, I would come up with a song and more often than not we would have a solid first verse and chorus and whoever didn’t come up with that would help finish the words and the story and the idea and concept.
Evan: I feel with this these fairly frequent lineup changes, like any good musician would listen to the songs and learn the notes and once they start jamming without really thinking about it, they starting playing things a little differently with different inflections. The arrangements are just different.
Ashley: How do you go deciding your set list for a show?
Eli: Again it’s really venue dependent. If we’re playing at a restaurant we usually start quieter and gradually get louder and more energetic. If it’s a theatre thing even like the Pyramid where everyone is paying attention, you really want to hit them hard with your two favorite songs then pull back and draw people back in by building it back up. I feel that’s what set lists are usually like, two really high energy songs off the bat, and then a chill song to draw people in, not lull them but bring them down so it has more effect when you bring the high energy songs back.
Evan: You aren’t going to throw in the songs you’ve only jammed a couple times and don’t sound the greatest.
Ashley: With None the Wiser, what accomplishments are you most proud of?
Eli: For me the albums are some good accomplishments because they are just a lot of our songs out there in the world for people to hear. Some of our festival shows like Shine On, the first year we played we did a John Lennon song and everyone sang alone; just the little things.
Evan: The whole reason we’re doing this is for us to have fun and express that fun and have the other people who are watching have fun. Everyone’s excited; everyone’s having a moment together. That’s more important.
Eli: That’s kind of the goal. Just to do that with as many people as possible.
Ashley: What advice would you give to beginners who might be nervous about starting their bands?
Evan: Don’t be nervous. Just go out and play. You’re probably going to suck the first few times you play so just go out and suck and you’ll get better. Even if you suck you’re going to have fun.
Eli: You’re only going to get better the more you play.
Evan: Don’t be scared and don’t care about what other people thing about you. If you really believe that the music you are playing is good or you like it or you have fun and people can see that you are having fun and you believe it, then there is going to be a crowd for it. Maybe you aren’t playing the right places, don’t get discouraged if you have a bad show, or people hate you, or no one shows up or anything of those things. I wouldn’t worry about it because you can just play another show and maybe next time people are super into it. Play for free, play for fun; eventually you’ll start making money and that’s not what it’s about anyways. IT’s about having fun; ideally you want to be making money so you can work less and play more.
Ashley: So if people have gathered this courage but they are missing a band member?
Evan: Go to jam nights?
Ashley: Where do you find jam nights?
Eli: Wee Jonny’s and the cavern had one fore awhile.
Evan: Go to open mics
Eli: It’s also easy to just post ads online. I have friends who have found two hardcore band members that took their band to the next level by posting an ad online. They were in their 30s and they got this kid who was 18 who was ready to go.
Evan: I lived in Ottawa for a few years and I wanted to make sure I played music so I found any music forums online and posted “ I play bass and I want to play anything you want me to play.” And I found something in less that a month. It helps if you’ve had past experience that you can cite to people but even without that it’s not going to take that long. People are always looks for people to play with.
Eli: Another thing is just asking you best friend. Maybe they don’t play the bass or the drums together, but if you start together you’ll get better together. You don’t need to be the best musicians; you just need to be good as a group. If you’re already friends to begin with you’re going to be tight as a group.
Ashley: What is your favorite song to perform live?
Eli: My favorite song right now is probably Magic All the Time or Back Behind the Blue. Back Behind the Blue is kind song sexy song, pretty psychedelic and Cary does kickass guitar solos. It’s a like a jam. The live performance is many minutes longer than the recorded one. It’s really energetic and fun and it’s new.
Evan: Probably Beale Street Beer it’s just a very straightforward easygoing vibe that’s easy to play. It’s not hard to play at all and it just feels good.
Support Winnipeg Band None The Wiser!
Genres: Alterative Country
Instruments: Voice and Guitar
Kieran West is living the dream everyday by having the opportunity to play with his music with his favorite band. He talks about his strong connection with his band members and his go with the flow songwriting skills. He confides how lucky he is and how where is, it what he’s always dreamed of. Not playing for 80,000 people or playing for the queen. Playing to 150 people who are having fun and everybody it happy; that’s the dream for him.
Ashley: How long have you been playing?
Kieran: I’ve been playing music my whole life. I’ve been seriously playing for six or seven years. The buffalo band has been together for three and a half years.
Ashley: Why did you guys decide to start playing together?
Kieran: Well, I was working on writing a lot of songs and was just going to perform them by myself because I had had experience playing in bands that weren’t that great and kind of wanted to just do my own thing. But I started to really miss playing rock shows and having fun where people dance and single along. That doesn’t really happen when you’re playing mellow acoustic shows. Right at that time I met this band “Little House”, a girl that I was dating at that time introduced to me their music and I totally fell in love with their music and they became my favorite band in the entire world. I wanted really badly to just be in that band because I admired them all so much. It was a four-piece band and they all wrote songs together and I loved that. They really reminded me of the Beatles. We would hang out and I would show them all my songs and they all really liked the songs and stuff. They wanted to help me out so we started talking about doing a couple shows together called “Kieran West and Little House” or something else. It just turned into this whole thing and we decided that we wanted to be our own band. The line-up has changed, it’s not just little house, but that’s where it started. I wanted to play rock shows and they came in there.
Ashley: What is a practice or jam session like with the rest of the band?
Kieran: We are very informal. As Roger Miller once said, he’s a country singer, “We play a highly informal set. The higher we get, the more informal we are.” That kind of perfectly describes our practices. We practice in our basement, drinking and having fun really. There is such a cohesive bond between the guys and the band because they had been playing for four years before we started so they have been playing together for seven years so there is such tightness. The songs aren’t really that complicated so we just get together and have fun; that’s what we do when we play shows anyways to it just makes sense to practice how you play.
Ashley: So you primarily write the songs so how do you bring those to the band?
Kieran: I write the songs, the verses and the choruses and whatever else; but it comes back to the way that we started. Just hanging out and me showing them these songs that are completed but, like I said I’m just a huge fan of them as a band, and I just tell them to do what they want. It’s never the way I that I hear it in my head when I write it but it’s always better. They always have so many ideas. They are all so musically inclined and these musical brains and they’ll come up with these ideas that make the song more interesting or exciting. They’re always working to improve the song.
Ashley: So what is your songwriting process like, then?
Kieran: Well it’s always kind of different but most often I’ll come up with a line in my head like maybe it’s start with some words, or something I want to say. From that, I’ll put a melody to those words and those will become my chorus. I usually start with the chorus and the hook of the song. We have the song “Big black bug”:
“Big black bug living inside my brain, and the thoughts inside are horribly arranged.” That’s all one complete thought that will happen in my thought and I’ll have that chorus and then start from the stop down and write the verses. I’ll use rhyming dictionaries a lot too. Yeah, usually start with the chorus then work the verses around it.
Ashley: So you’re music is more lyrically driven?
Kieran: Yeah, the whole reason I play music is because it’s so emotional for me and my songs are all about stuff that I have experienced or things that I feel. It is lyrically driven but it’s also with the band; they make it so musical that it’s a nice mix of both.
Ashley: Who inspires your music? Who do you listen to that inspires your songwriting?
Kieran: That’s a big question for me. As a band we have many obvious country influences like “The Band” “Steve Earle” “Hayes Carll” “Hank Williams III” , bands like that that are not necessarily Nashville country bands or classic country bands; country music in their own style. As a songwriter and as a human being I have so many other influences that are all very apparent in my songwriting. Like when I’m at home I don’t listen country music, I listen to hardcore punk like “Minor Threat” “Bad Brains” “Comeback kid” I was just to this morning. Stuff like that. Or Nirvana. It’s such a wide range of stuff; I love rap, I love learning from rap because there are things that rappers use lyrically like devices that rappers use that are just totally brilliant and don’t really exist anywhere else in music and there are things that I’ve learned and used. It’s really all over the place for me.
Ashley: So what is the most stressful part about being in a band?
Kieran: For me I would say: keeping everyone happy. That’s not to say we’re divas or anything; but as a leader I find it really important that everyone feels heard and feels respected and honored and all that. There are five of us which is tough to make sure everyone feels heard because there are five different personalities and five different musical personalities that are coming together and sometimes they don’t always match. That’s really important, if we’re not having fun then there is no point.
Ashley: With you’re band what accomplishments are you most proud of?
Kieran: We’ve been really lucky. We’ve gotten a lot of really great opportunities. It’s tough to just pick out one. I would say if I had to pick one, it would be to be asked to do the Minstrels program for the Winnipeg Folk Festival. That was a huge honor. We were asked to do it by the festival, I got a call while I was at work and asked if I wanted to play with my band; that it something that I dreamed about. It was really cool. It’s just really nice to be recognized and to even be on the track to play a stage one day soon. That was really huge. I’ve been going to the folk festival since I Was 16 and the first second I saw that stage and heard music coming from it I was like “That’s what I want to do, that’s where I want to play.” It was amazing to hang out back stage, ten feet away from Dan Mangan. It was cool.
Ashley: What advice would you give to musicians who are nervous about starting out?
Kieran: I would say, two major things:
Play with your friends, don’t try to start a band with stranger, because you’re not going to have as much fun and the whole point of music is to have fun.
And, make friends with bar owners and managers. It’s really good to have people like that on your side. It’s not just a phony thing, most of the people who run bars in the city are really down to earth, awesome people who are really really interesting in fostering young talent. Put yourself out there, next time you’re at the bar try to figure out who the manager is and introduce yourself. It never hurts to put your name out there. You want to get good shows, it’s not a secret if the bar owner likes you personally they are going to pay you better than if they don’t like you. That’s just the way it is. Music is like any other business; it’s all about who you know. We’re met some really amazing people through bar owners just hanging out.
Ashley: Before a performance what do you do to deal with nerves?
Kieran: That’s a funny question for me because performing and pre-performance are the only times I don’t have trouble with anxiety. Anxiety is a huge problem in my life and performing is the one time that I am never anxious. I feel great. I feel on top of the world. I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing and it just feels right.
Ashley: What is your favorite song to perform live?
Kieran: This song Coming to Terms; It was one of the first songs that we ever learned, and we still play it. It’s a song I wrote about a conversation I had with Ben Figler, who was the singer of Little House who is now the singer for Somebody Language. It was just a conversation we had and I wrote the song Coming to Terms about that conversation. It’s a very simple song with two chords the whole way through, basically. At the end we have this end where we going into this jam section where everybody lets loose and it’s the same chords this song called “At least that’s what you said” by Wilco which also ends in a jam session so we ripped a lot of stuff from that but it’s cool because Wilco is one of our favorite songs in the world so it’s like we’re playing a Wilco song; but it’s also the same chords as “Don’t let me down” by the Beatles so a couple bars into the jam session, I go into the chorus of that song and sing it. But I can’t really hit the notes so I’m just screaming it. It works and it’s a lot of fun. We just totally rip at it; it’s awesome.
Ashley: How do you balance music with other obligation like work?
Kieran: It’s not easy. When you’re really serious about music and working full-time and recording yourself, you don’t find yourself with a lot of free time. Especially when you manage yourself. We do our own artwork for posters for promotions and talking with college radio sessions and publications. There is a lot of time that you put into it and that can get really stressful. People need free time. That’s just kind of a fact; people need time to relax. When I’m working, [we aren’t working as hard] with the music thing. When I’m working on music, I really feel like I’m working towards something and I love the work that I do in the schools. So, it’s really just a matter of focusing on the fact that I might be tired, I might be exhausted but I’m doing what I’ve always dreamed about doing. So that makes it okay. Luckily working in a school, I have good hours and I have summers off so I can focus on doing festivals and promotions and all that over the summer. I have my evenings and weekends off, which is very good. Other guys in the band, our bassist Corey works at the Handsome Daughter and they are quite accommodating for him with getting nights off. One way or another we make it work. It’s just so important to all of us that we just have to make it work.
Ashley: So when you finally get that time to songwriting, how to do get into the zone or find that inspiration?
Kieran: I only write when there is inspiration. Inspiration comes from everything. All my songs are about my own experiences. We have a song called “Kill myself today” and I was just walking and feeling depressed and thought about jumping in front of a car, no seriously of course. But that melody started to come into my head. It was this bouncy, blue grassy thing. I was like “I could kill myself OR I could write a song a turn this pain into something happy.” It takes away the power from that feeling and we play it at shows are people are dancing around and singing along and all of that. Its just things like that. I like to write about my family a lot. I have a really serious interest in family history and stuff like that. I like to write about stories from my family. I love hockey, I’ll write about hockey. It just comes from everything. I was thinking Red Green the other day, and was thinking about his catch phrase “Keep your stick on the ice.” So I wrote a song called “Keep your stick of the ice.” You get ideas from listening to music, that’s where I get a lot of my ideas.
Ashley: What’s the best advice you’ve heard since you started working in the music business?
Kieran: That’s another tough one because we really have been very fortunate to meet really successful people who have given us a lot of really helpful advice. I would say the best advice I’ve ever gotten from a musician from Bobby Desjarlais from Attica Riots. He has been a mentor of mine every since I was fifteen years old. He was working as an EA at Kelvin high school when I was there and he saw my band perform and he found me the next day at lunch and took me to this little office where he had been writing songs on his breaks, I guess. In that room, I Would go everyday, I was in the process of dropping out of school at this time so slowly and slowly I stopped going to class and just be in that little room with Bobby and his students and I would be hiding out from my classes but I’d be learning the things I Really wanted to be learning. The most important I learned from him while I was there was: When you’re writing a song, no matter what you’re writing about, even if it’s a meaningless pop song, always know what you’re writing about. Always have a point and always writes about something real. Even if it comes out as gibberish, just always have a point and always know why you’re writing the song and what it means to you. That’s something I’ve always carried with me.
Support Winnipeg Musician Kieran West and His Buffalo Band!
Canada Day 2015 in front of Music Trader on Osborne. Photo Credit: Kelly Hughes
Beth's Instruments: Bass and Lead Vocals
Trevor's Instruments: Guitar and Lead Vocals
Grant's Instruments: Synthesizer, Piano, Guitar and Vocals
Roger's Instruments: Drums and Vocals
Genres: Alternative Pop Rock
I first heard the name Autumn Still when I attended a Music Works workshop through Manitoba Music. Beth and Roger were both attending and the band name stuck in the back of my mind. A few months later when I started the #WinnipegMusicProject and started contacting Winnipeg Bands, I still remembered the name Autumn Still. I was delighted when I got a response from Trevor and we set up a time to meet after a band's jam session. Trevor, Grant, Roger and Beth are such incredible people. Not only are they confident (and rightly so) in their sound and instruments, but they are genuinely the nicest people. They gave me so much wonderful advice that I can't wait to apply to my own musical career. I tried really hard to include the humour in this interview obvious and remain honest with portraying everyone's personalities. These people are so closely knit and a perfect match, I really wanted to express the relationship they all share together.
I'm excited to announce Autumn Still will be releasing their highly anticipated full-length album later this year in early November! They are going to be having their release part at The Good Will Social Club so follow them on social media accounts (links at the end of the interview) to stay tuned to when the exact date with be announced! Afterwards they will have plans for a Ontario and Quebec Tour! Check these guys out!
Ashley: How long have you been playing your instruments?
Trevor: For me, forever I guess. I have been playing guitar since I was 10 or 11, so a long time.
Beth: I had actually just picked up the bass 4 or 5 years ago. Maybe even less actually, when this project started to become an idea. Actually, probably more like 2 to 3 years ago; before that I played guitar. The bass really connected with me, it feels like comfort food. It’s nice to have this instrument close to your belly with these nice low vibrations [laughs]. It’s the first instrument that felt natural to me.
Grant: I’ve been always been fooling around. I’ve been playing piano since I was 6 but very badly, and I started to playing guitar at 14 but very badly. I played synthesizer for a couple years but only since I started [playing in] bands have I taken it seriously.
Roger: I’ve always been able to kind of played drums for a long time but I never actually played played drums until a year and a half ago. Beth and Trevor were trying to find a drummer and I just said “Hey, I can kind of play drums for the EP” so music can get pushed out there and I just stuck. My style of new drumming fits really well, I think. I haven’t been playing drums for very long but music I have been playing for a long time.
Ashley: How long have you guys been playing together?
Beth: Well Trevor and I had been tossing ideas back and forth 2 and a half years ago and then eventually we were like “we should start a band.” It was a slow progression and things slowly fell into place. We had been playing live shows since last august and that’s when we started putting ourselves out there.
Trevor: Yeah, I think it was a definite marking point. Our first show was a three piece, Beth, Roger and [myself], at the Fringe festival last year (2014). That was about a year ago now…
Beth: Aw it’s our one-year anniversary!
Ashley: So where does the band name come from?
Beth: That came from an intensive brainstorming session between Trevor and I. We were struggling and thought a band name would just magically come up. We did this stream of consciousness, throwing out different things and ideas that pertained to our music. Autumn and Still just came together that way, I guess. It has several different meaning but for both of us. Autumn is our favorite season; it’s when we feel most creatively alive and we can sit down and write.
Ashley: So how often are you practicing together and being a band?
Beth: Well we get together twice a week typically to jam but now a days we are getting into recording our album (now scheduled to release this November 2015! =D) so things are getting really intensive. I guess we have to see each other so much now [laughs].
Grant: [Rolls eyes] make a note that I rolled my eyes at that!
Trevor: We are essentially recording our first full-length album over the course of the summer. We’re going to be stepping it up.
Ashley: So what is a practice or jam session like? Like what is happening?
Beth: Well usually it depends on the practice. We try to be sort of strategic with selecting two or three things that we want to hone in on per practice and that’s what we do. [Before a show] we play through the set and clean things up a bit and things like that. It’s structured yet loose.
Trevor: It depends what stage a song is in. In our last practice we devoted a lot on our last song.
Beth: Yeah, and that’s all we will do for that night.
Ashley: Do you bring a finished song in? Or do you figure it out together on the spot?
June 18, 2015 @ The West End Cultural Centre with The Wooden Sky. Photo Credit: KJ Photography
Beth: Typically Trevor and I toss ideas back and forth first. We have done more things where we co-write. Trevor will have this guitar riff with a melody idea and I put some lyrics on it or something like [that]. I might have a song and Trevor creates some beautiful guitar overtop. It’s really different from song to song. Once we feel like an idea has come to then we bring it into the band and ask, “What do you want to do with this?” We try to let everyone put their own personal spin on things. It’s not like we are saying, “This is what we want exactly like this” we don’t prewrite the parts for people or something like that.
Ashley: So then are you saying your music is more lyrically or melodically driven?
Trevor: I can’t say that as a band we have discussed this a whole lot, but I feel my personal point of view is that the lyrics and the melody are just intertwined and you can’t really avoid that connection. I think that when it comes to songwriting we spend a lot of time on lyrics and we worry about lyrics a lot and try to make sure it sounds just right. I guess in that sense you could say you we have a strong lyrical focus but we spend a lot of time on melodies and vocal arrangement as well. As far as a concert answer, I don’t know.
Beth: Yeah I don’t know [either], I agree that lyrics often drive melody or melody drives lyrics. It’s hard to say which one comes before the other. When I write a song often, for me anyways, it is a set of lyrics. I write whatever dribbles out of my head and I’ll hear a melody in that or I’ll see something that can become a song. You could do a little tweaking to help it fit a melody.
Trevor: It’s cool that everyone involved, because of our own experiences, that we have a really good sense of melody and how the arrangement can support that. It’s definitely that the whole vocal thing is a primary consideration.
Grant: Beth and Trevor write the Autumn Still songs but all four of us are songwriters.
Ashley: Have you two ever brought something to work with?
Grant: We have not yet but sometimes a song from another project will make it’s way into the band. We were thinking about that for the album.
Beth: I don’t think we are thinking about that anymore though.
[Group Laughter]
Grant: Well okay. It was thought of.
Roger: I think my writing would be very different then what you guys are doing, what we are doing with Autumn Still. Not by a lot but a little bit. To be honest, I really like that I’m playing drums and I don’t have to worry too much. I think that it’s the instrument that I’m focusing on and every time they bring a song I can go “Okay what can sound good with this song and with how can I play it” and it’s neat like that.
Beth: Yeah, and we never set it out to make it a dictator ship or something-
Roger: and it doesn’t feel like [that]
Beth: it has always been [Trevor and I’s] project and vision. Some people have had experiences where they are in this situation when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, the vision gets lost or gets crazy.
Grant: I think we are very fortunate to have a really good sense of what our roles are in the band and our hands are all full with what our roles are.
Roger: Exactly.
Ashley: So what is the most stressful part about being in a band?
[Group Laughter]
Trevor: You’re asking a band that just got back from tour not too long ago!
Roger: Honestly, the most stressful part is the business side of things, the logistics parts of things. Right now we are setting up to record and we need to figure out the funding-
Beth: the bureaucratic process.
Roger: Yeah. Rehearsing, that’s amazing. Playing shows is awesome. Going on tour is awesome because a lot of that [business] stuff just fades away into the background. You just go and play and it’s awesome. I don’t even do that much of it, I know these guys do it a lot more. I do more on the recording side of things but I find it stressful. It’s the part when I was fifteen I didn’t know about. I just loved playing music.
Trevor: It’s kind of funny. From my point of view this band is the band I’ve dreamed of being in for a long time. I’ve been in other projects in the past and you know the most stressful aspect is sometimes just getting into the same room together. We don’t have that problem. I agree the most stressful aspect isn’t the creative end, or the interpersonal end, it’s just hoping that this music that we are so proud of gets out there enough and people are hearing it. There are things you have to do to make that happen and it’s a lot of work.
Grant: As an introvert, it’s always a struggle to put yourself out there. Being on stage is one thing, but any other interpersonal stuff is a big drain. Finding that balance between doing what I need to and doing what I need to restore my selfhood is my biggest struggle.
June 18, 2015 @ The West End Cultural Centre with The Wooden Sky. Photo Credit: KJ Photography
Beth: I’m with you on that. I find that performing is not something that comes naturally to me. Depending on the day, I’d rather just curl up in a hole and hide under the covers. I feel like I’m growing as a performing and proud of that. I enjoy finding the enjoyment in it! With all the fear that leads up to it, it’s nice to get that “okay this is why people do this” [feeling]. It’s not totally frightening.
Grant: Once the worse thing that can possibly happen to you happens when you are on stage, you feel liberated.
Beth: I don’t know, I still haven’t been pantsed.
Grant: Well, all you had to do was ask, Bethany.
[Group Laughter]
Ashley: Who inspires your music? Who do you listen to that really listens your songwriting process?
Grant: Leonard Conan, right?
[Group Laughter]
Beth: Well I’m a big Leonard fan but I think this is always a tough question because we have so many diverse influences that are sort of all over the map. It’s always tough to say. We don’t really have this muse that we filter or emulate or something like that. I’m sure influences sneak into it, I’m always curious to hear what other people hear in our music or what they would compare it to.
Ashley: So far with Autumn Still, what accomplishments are you most proud of?
Beth: For me, [I always have wanted to tour] with a musical project of mine, so getting the first tour done felt like a great accomplishment to me.
Grant: [Touring has] been a dream of mine since I was 18.
Trevor: For me, it’s been awhile since this point, but putting out or first EP because there was this big process behind that when we worked [on it] for so long. We worked for quite awhile on those three songs, we got to a point that you’re [almost] terrified to put it out there [because] it’s so important and special to you. At that point, we finished recording it that summer and then started performing. It was great when it came out too; we got a lot of positives responses. You only thought about making it as good as possible and people were responding to it and that was really great.
Beth: It all feels likes baby steps leading up to this album. It’s going to feel so good I just can’t even conceive it right because there is so much to do. Roger is a very talented recording technician so he works for us a lot of the time.
Trevor: He recorded our Ep.
Beth: Yeah and he’ll be a huge part in recording our album along with Jay Reilly who will be mixing it and stuff like that. That will feel really good to have that in our hands.
Ashley: About going on tour, who made that decision? Who planned it?
Roger: I think the decision was already made when we were doing the EP. Because honestly way earlier on there was talk of touring, it was really really early.
Trevor: We knew for sure that it was going to happen. I guess you could say I planned most of it and booked the shows. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t too difficult, because we had the amazing luck and got such a good response from the EP. Especially Ottawa and Toronto and Windsor. We had people actually playing the EP and giving us a lot of promo.
Ashley: And how did you start with that? Did you approach venues first? What was the process?
Trevor: I reached out to venues and to local bands in those cities [at the same time]. We had our general idea planned early on and it was just filling in the blanks. Essentially we are a band that was fairly new that put out our new EP fairly recently so we didn’t have that cache we can just walk into the city and get a great show. It was a bit of a mismatch; we got help from some bands and venues locally too. We actually got a lot of support from people on that tour.
Beth: Grant went on Reddit.com and found people in different cities to put up posters.
Ashley: What advice would you give to beginners who are starting to record an EP who want to get their music out there?
Trevor: I would say personally that anybody that is trying to start out should just focus on the music first and foremost. It’s the most important thing and then worry about the whole business side that we talked about being so stressful. Make sure you are actually making music you actually love.
Grant: Another part is the recording of it, which is a super important element that allowed us to propel ourselves without a lot of resources besides with that we had. If we couldn’t have recorded it ourselves we would pretty much have been dead in the water.
June 18, 2015 @ The West End Cultural Centre with The Wooden Sky. Photo Credit: KJ Photography
Roger: Well there are other ways, right? If people don’t have somebody that can record them, basically you start playing shows before you start recording.
Beth: Set little tiny goals for yourself. If you’re starting from scratch and you have your songs together, take the time to find the right people to work with. Once you have that together, which can take some juggling and thought, then actually lay out a little timeline. This is when we want to play our first show. Be kind to people and humble. Be willing to stretch yourself a little bit, and be curious and talk to different musicians in the city. You’ll find your way if you reach out to that community. I mean there are also assholes and you [just need to talk to someone else].
Ashley: What do you do to deal with nerves before a performance?
Beth: We have little band rituals that help like deep breathing sessions in the bathroom. We also do a little vocal warm up too which always feel good because it shakes out the weird tension and it sounds okay. It’s kind of like a band bonding experience.
Grant: It must look super hokey because we stand in a circle and our eyes are probably shut and, if anyone is like me, we are swaying gently back and forth. But it’s a good way to remind yourself that we all have something in common which is the ability to make beautiful music together. That’s what the vocal warm-up means to me.
Roger: I keep myself busy.
Grant: By hurting yourself?
[Group Laughter]
Ashley: What does that mean?
Roger: I’ve have the worst luck this past month. On tour I almost broke my toe. I got back and I split thumb open, four stitches.
Beth: It was right before a big show.
Roger: I had to drum with this thumb and the worse flu I had had in years. [Also] on my birthday I sprained my ankle. It’s just ridiculous. But actually before a show I literally keep myself busy and I normally don’t get nervous. Or I’ll nap.
Ashley: What is your favorite song to perform live?
Beth: I feel like if there was any song that I wasn’t excited to play, it wouldn’t be in our set.
Roger: Yeah, I like playing all of them.
Grant: I joined the band after these guys had recorded the debut EP and there is a song on the EP called Bartholomew and if I’m totally honest that’s the main reason I joined the band. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve heard and there are these beautiful harmonies at the end of it and I feel really privileged to be able to sing those parts. We just recorded a video for it a couple months ago and it’s the single off the EP. (CHECK OUT BARTHOLOMEW HERE)
Ashley: What was the inspiration for Bartholomew?
Beth: I guess it’s about my own struggles with communication and social anxiety and all of those things. At the time I wrote it, I was also going through a creative rut. The lyrics are a little stream of consciousness and dealing with my frustrations always having to speak within these binaries and blah blah blah and I felt like I couldn’t communicate the way I wanted to and wanting to connect with people in a meaningful way and how it’s always combative. It’s about vulnerability, being exposed and feeling vulnerable.
Grant: You mean it’s not about Bart Simpson?!
[Group Laughter]
Ashley: How are you balancing your music and the band with other obligation with working and paying bills?
Grant: Sleep less!
Beth: I really wanted to make music a center part of my life so I pursued a career that would help me do that. I’m a massage therapist and my schedule at work is pretty flexible. I tried to set up my life that it would be accommodating to making music and that I’m not working a soul killing 9-5 kind of deal. That was not working, I felt the least creative when I was doing stuff like that.
June 18, 2015 @ The West End Cultural Centre with The Wooden Sky. Photo Credit: KJ Photography
Roger: I’m kind of like Bethany in a way; I fix musical instruments so my hours are somewhat flexible as long as I put the hours in. You know, it’s a big struggle. You just do it. It comes down doing it and lots and lots of scheduling. Sticking to the schedule and actually having a plan ahead of time and making sacrifices.
Ashley: What is the best advice you have heard since you started working in the music business, something that has just stuck with you?
Trevor: For me, it’s the advice that I earlier regurgitated that you have to play what you love. I think its super important. That’s where it starts and ends.
Roger: I don’t remember who, but I just remember someone at some point was like “Don’t be a dick.” Go to shows and don’t be an ass. I think that with the four of us, it’s kind of nice being in a band that you walk in and you know that none of your band members are going to be an asshole to everyone around you. It sucks [when that happens] and that’s one of the biggest things. People won’t want to deal with you, it doesn’t matter if your music is great, but if you are an asshole they aren’t going to invite you back.
Grant: I heard it from James Mercy, if you are afraid of something that you have done or something you’re going to do; it’s something that you should follow or at least pay special attention to it. That fear means you’ve touched into something that is sensitive and that works in a couple ways. You’re either going to step outside your boundaries a bit which is going to lead you to a new wealth of experience or it’s something to share with others which is going to lead you to find some commonalities with the rest of the world. It’s liberating to smash through that boundary and to follow that sort of trepidation and turn it into a positive.
Beth: If you feel there isn’t a place for you then carve your own path, whatever way possible. Things don’t always have to look a certain way for you to have space in the world. By being your own awkward self, just keep being your own awkward self and deal with the crap that comes with it, you’ll have to anyway. If you want to be a performer, you just have to do it in a [louder] way. If you’re doing something you love to do, you’ll be doing it anyway so embrace the awkwardness.
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If you want to hear the advice from Autumn Still on how to record your music or get funding, like this post! There was just so much to fit into this interview that I couldn't fit it all in; but if you want to hear some really great information about making the decision or record and apply for funding, show this post some love!
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Genre(s): Indie Alternative Pop
Instrument(s): Bass Guitar, Guitar, Keyboard, Voice
Sandy from Indicator Indicator, originally from the band Quinzy, talks about the struggles of leaving one band and feeling the need to keep making music. He talks about the stresses of starting out and touring and talks about his decision to join the label Pipe and Hat. His was really interesting to listen to and I really enjoyed the way he understood each experience meant to him and what he took away from it all.
With me still not really used to meeting and interviewing band members, I was really nervous about meeting Sandy. I had heard great things about Indicator Indicator from a couple of my co-workers but hadn’t met them before the interview. I had volunteered at Sc Mira’s Album release on June 11 (which was an amazing show by the way) and got to see Indicator Indicator perform as one of the opening bands. They all had an excellent stage presence that really pumped the audience in a great way and the music was vivacious. You could really tell the crowd adored them.
Ashley: What started Indicator Indicator?
Sandy: Well, Quinzy was just starting to wind down a little bit. We spent a long time with Quinzy, doing the four-piece pop rock band thing, a little more mainstream. We spent a lot of years trucking away, swinging for the fences with labels, things like that, and it started to weigh us down a little bit. But we’re best friends - we didn’t want to stop, and so we just put it away for a little bit.
But I’ve got the sickness worse than anyone else, I think, so I just couldn’t stop. I write, and songs just kept coming. My first love, since I was 15 or 16, has been home recording. So I kind of wanted to get back to where I started, which was these home recording projects. Not even thinking about how you would play them live, or what the point of it was. Just to make music for the sake of making music. That’s what the first Indicator Indicator EP was. [It was] me playing at home on my computer, recording all of the instruments myself. A little labor of love.
Then it was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award and things were going really well with it, and I wanted to take things further. But I wanted to do something different from a 4-piece rock band because I had just done that, and was a little bored with it.
So, I recruited a friend of mine, Matthew Harder, and we did it as a duet, striving to make as much noise as possible. We couldn’t quite play these rich pop tunes with just the two of us so we did a lot of digital vocal harmonies and looping and a bit of electronic sequencing. And things like that that were totally out of our comfort zone because we were just musicians, not necessarily technology-oriented people.
In fact, Matt is a folk player - blue grass, primarily - so we really pushed ourselves outside of our comfort zone. We spent a couple years doing the two piece thing, and did a little touring - it was really cool and fun. Then as the next recording started to happen, it was getting bigger with more live drums and real bass guitar, and I was starting to inch back to making it a band. I took this long circular route back to a 4-piece band! But this time we’re using a lot less traditional electric guitar, more synth, more fake instruments and other stuff like that. Just blending organic with inorganic.
What I love about pop is that it’s like a mockingbird. These birds are known to grab all the other bird songs they hear and blend them into their own collage. It doesn’t care about genres, it will just take what it wants out of everything. So, if you like a hi-hat tone from this hip-hop song, grab it. If you like heavy synth, use that. It doesn’t have a lot of parameters, and I like that.
Ashley: Where does the name come from?
Sandy: It was a song title for about 10 years. I like song titles; I have notebooks full of them. For some reason its kind of where I start a lot of the time. So I had this song title that I really liked - I had read about a bird called the greater African honeyguide, the genus is “indicator” and the species is “indicator”. It somehow knows where honeycombs are trapped in trees, but can’t get to them, so it co-evolved with nearby tribes of humans, and would lead them to where the trees were and where the combs were trapped. The humans would crack them open and they would all get to share the honey.
I though it was the coolest nature story, plus I loved it as a name, but I could never find a song that was really good enough for [it]. Then when I was starting this new project I was like “oh good, I’ve got the perfect name waiting in the wing.”
Ashley: What is a practice session like with the whole band?
Sandy: I get to play with a lot of guys who have a lot of band experience, so we don’t have much patience for watching each other practice anymore. There are high expectations that everyone knows what they are doing, and so more we’re just tweaking and selecting who is playing what part, and making more “production” decisions than actually “can you play this guitar line”.
I tend to think with production in mind as I write, and maybe 1 in 10 songs I could just play on an acoustic guitar and have it make sense. I guess I could write more of those types of songs, but that’s not really where I lean. I like parts; I like having a bass line that’s distinctive to the song. When there are all these moving parts in a song and there are only four of you to play them, it’s more about who is doing what at what time, and making sure we’re representing the song correctly. If someone were coming in [and listening to this] cold, would they be able to understand it?
So it’s more about a “producer” mindset than “instrumentalist”. I don’t want just a guitar player, or just a drummer. I want people who can do whatever. And so we’re just four producers trying to make something cool.
Ashley: So when you are writing music, do you think of every part? How do you bring that to the band?
Sandy: Usually I record it all and then say, “here’s what we’re playing.” Although this is the first recording that the other guys are really deeply involved. We’re getting ready to release a mini-LP, (it’s a little bigger than an EP, so I’m calling it a mini-LP), and one of the songs is called No Anthem, which is the first single, and I had it fully produced [to sound] kind of cool. But when I brought it to the band it just wasn’t working. So it got deconstructed and became something totally different and now it’s very much a band arrangement.
But for the most part they come fully fleshed, though. I did that a lot with Quinzy too. As soon as I get into a song, I can’t really let it rest until it’s finished in my head.
Ashley: I can’t produce music.
Sandy: You should try, it’s easy.
Ashley: I have tried, it’s too hard for me.
Sandy: The world we live in, every low-entry Macbook has Garage Band; which is an amazing recording tool and let’s you multi-track as much as you want. You can dick around, and no one needs to hear it. You just chisel away at it. Sometimes you can be recording something, a full song even and the only thing you like about it is this little guitar part, so then take that and build around it.
I think it’s a great tool and it’s obviously revolutionized music. People are making laptop rock. People are making full music all on their own and they don’t know how to play a single instrument. It’s lusher and more innovative than any 4-piece folk rock band you’ll ever here, again because they’ve got no parameters.
Ashley: I guess I can give it a shot. So who inspires your music?
Sandy: Bands that mess around a lot in the studio. And people who can write songs. But that’s almost beside the point. Too me, it’s how can they make it interesting, different, cool. Subvert what may be a great melody. I find that stuff inspiring, and I’m often scared that I’m maybe not pushing myself enough to do that.
But also, modern pop. I love modern pop. With Tegan and Sara, when they just jumped straight into top 40 synth-pop recently… I thought that was a really cool move. And I know they took a lot of slack for it; but I think their songs are just so beautiful and air-tight, so unnatural-sounding, but so moving. It cannot be recreated. It’s an art onto itself. It’s unnatural. It’s an impressionistic painting or something. All kinds of pop nowadays, the amount of creativity involved is just staggering, the amount of love these engineers and producers are putting into it. Put headphones on and it’s a magical world, it’s great. And pop never gets credit for it. It’s seen as disposable, and maybe it is. The songs don’t actually “mean” anything, but they are staggeringly beautiful. Like that new Selena Gomez song; I mean, who likes Selena Gomez? But that song is so good when it comes on the radio.
We can’t do that modern pop thing, quite. I don’t have the skills, but maybe I would if I could.
Ashley: You mentioned a little earlier that you start with songwriting titles, but what exactly is your songwriting process?
Sandy: Sometimes titles. More often than not I’m sitting at the piano. It’s almost always at a piano. Once in awhile I’ll try to come from a more production-based place. I’ll get a really nice feel or beat or something like that and just improvise over it. I usually have email drafts of lyrics all over the place and when one melody comes out I’ll sort through the lyrics and see if anything goes with that; in terms of feel, or if it actually fits with the melody.
So it’s pretty rare that I just sit at the piano and pop something out all at once. Maybe a verse melody comes along, then I think about other chorus melodies I have laying around, and see if they fit. Look around at the lyrics I have, or see if there is a title I want to start with, and it slowly comes together.
But it can happen suddenly once in awhile. Our new record starts with a waltz called Instant to Instant, and that feels like the last time I just sat down at piano and was like, “Oh, here’s a song. Oh, and the lyrics came too, how nice!”. I walked away that afternoon feeling all good about myself. But it’s usually a more painful process than that.
I try to be really ruthless with songs. My personal belief is that everyone can write melodies. Everyone can. When we’re whistling in the street, when we’re singing in the shower. People are creative. Every single person. I think the craft of it, or the hard part, is in he editing. Knowing what’s good and what is not, and being able to cobble it into something that both makes sense on first listen, and yet is not quite what people would expect.
Ashley: With Indicator Indicator, what accomplishments are you most proud of?
Sandy: Little moments. Like back when it was just Matthew and I doing a two-piece, when we were in Toronto for a little festival - it was our first time on the road, and we were still working out a lot of kinks. (Actually we never really got through all the kinks, we kind of just moved on). But it was particularly tricky in that first little go, to the point where two thirds of the shows were miserable. This piece of gear broke, I didn’t do this right, this looped sucked.
We had one of those shows, and it was a showcase where we were supposed to be judged, and it was a terrible show. I was like “Oh my god, I’m too old to have terrible shows like this.” We went home, had a beer and kind of licked our wounds because we actually had another show that night. We did eight or nine shows in six days, I think. So we had to pack everything up again and go do another show and THAT one we crushed. The idea that we just got right back up and put the first one in the rear view mirror, and then got a win. It’s those tiny moments that I love and will never get tired of. Because it should always be hard, it should always be SO hard so when you get those little victories it feels so good.
It’s a double edged sword, I’m always kind of proud of the product, but I’m never satisfied with it, I’m never really happy with it. I like the records that I’ve made, I like the recordings, I like the recordings Quinzy made. But I don’t listen to them, I would never listen to them, I would only hear the things I would want to change now. Similarly, I look back at shows and see the banter that I didn’t like, or the missed notes. So, the details are almost always painful, but there is a more general pride simply in that I get to be in a band. It’s the coolest thing in the world and I still love it.
I love it as a concept, but every actual moment of it seems frustrating and hard and soul-sucking [laughs]. But it’s who I am and I have to do it.
Ashley: What is you favorite song to perform?
Sandy: I think it’s the song called Back into the fire. It’s the last song on the first EP, and in retrospect it touches on the time that Quinzy was going for major label deals, and we got kind of close, but all around us we could just see that this model we were chasing was dying. That it doesn’t work anymore. It’s all going to be totally different soon so when it ended, it felt like I was escaping a burning building. But then I realized “Nope, I’m going back in. Here we go.”
It’s a simple song that just felt kind of pure coming out, and the feel of it works with the lyrical vibe. And I feel it every time we play it, almost every single time. It’s a slow, boring ballad and maybe we shouldn’t be doing it all the time, but I love it and it’s important to me. It’s one of those rare victories that I don’t always feel in songs.
Ashley: How do you deal with nerves before performing?
Sandy: [Points to beer] For the record, I just pointed to my beer. [laughs] No, I generally don’t get too nervous. What’s funny is that I’ll usually have nerves the day before. Or even the day of, but as soon as I’m setting up, that’s where the experience comes in. “Oh I’ve done this before, I’ve done this a million times. I know this.” This process of getting ready, strapping on your guitar, checking on your gear, tapping on your mic, it just puts you in this zone like, “I know how to do this”.
I used to have worse nerves, and you just have to barge through it. There is no easy way around it. Really, you should always have some nerves. If it’s just dead to you, that’s not a good thing. You have to feel some kind of apprehension that it’s not going to work, that you’re always on the knife’s edge, and you have to accept it for what it is. Yet, you need to realize that the stakes are not that high. I mean, you cannot play the worst rock and rock show ever played. You can’t. And what’s so important to you won’t be that important to the audience. That’s sort of sad and sort of cynical, but it’s the truth. All you can do it make them feel that this is as important as it is to you. The worse case scenario is not that they’re going to hate it, it’s that they’re not going to care. If you can kind of realize that without letting it take away your steam, you can put it in a proper context. I mean, this isn’t Doctors without Borders. It’s standing there trying to entertain people, and it’s been done a million times before you and will be done a million times after you. So just do you’re best.
That’s no answer for you at all, I’m sorry.
Or, I guess the answer is doing it again and again and again because you have to. That’s the only way.
Ashley: What is the most stressful thing about touring?
“...it should always be hard, it should always be SO hard so when you get those little victories it feels so good.”
Sandy: Money. It’s expensive, and being away from home is hard. I have a two-year-old son and it’s not easy to be away and realize he’s growing up without you, and that life just goes on. I know a few musicians for who [touring is] their primary source of income, but it’s very rare. For the most part, even the most creatively successful musicians have another job somewhere. They have to. Which means you need to leave that behind when you tour, and if you have a family you need to leave them behind too. There’s just so much selfishness that it can feel pretty bad. So, when you come to a place and play for no one, you wonder “why am I leaving everyone for this?” Yet, if you want to be in a band you have to do it. It’s a sacrifice, but really it’s a selfish sacrifice. And if you think too much about it, that’s what makes it hard. So, you just need to not think so hard about it at the time, and be very careful in the touring that you choose to do, and make sure each trip is the right move. That it’s appropriate, and it’s worth the investments. You have to do it for a very good reason.
Ashley: How did you get signed to your label?
Sandy: When Indicator Indicator started, I knew I wanted to release as much as I could on my own. I’ve always liked the do-it-yourself approach. I’m a very hands-on kind of guy. I even ran our own promotion campaign for the first record because I wanted to see what it was like. And I just like learning and seeing all the different sides of the industry.
Anyway, I was really happy doing it all myself and seeing how far I could get, but cracks were starting to show and I was hitting some walls. I wasn’t doing a very good job over here, or the music was suffering over there. And there were just these walls you hit – some things you just can’t do on your own. It’s not a matter of will, it’s that you just can’t do it. I came to the realization that I should probably team up with someone to relieve some stress and get opportunities that I can’t get on my own.
So I reached out to Pipe & Hat just because I wanted someone local that I could talk with in person everyday if I wanted to, and I felt like they’re hungry. Like, they have these large ambitions so in a way I can unload that feeling a little bit. Let them feel the fire and hunger so I can focus a bit more on perfecting my own little world.
These guys seemed to fit the bill, so I reached out to them and we right away got along beautifully and formed a fast friendship. I’ve been really impressed with what they’ve done so far and the level of professionalism that they’ve brought. They’re challenging us to raise our game, and that pressure feels damn good.
Support Winnipeg Band Indicator Indicator!
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Genre(s): Alternative, Folk, Indie, Pop
Instruments: Drums, Piano, Alto Sax, Guitar
I had never met Ty before this interview so I was really nervous meeting him. I realized right away that he is actually really cool and super easy to talk to! It didn't really feel like I was interviewing him, it was more like we were having a nice and friendly conversation. We actually lost a chunk of the recording, so I missed some really cool stories Ty shared with me; but I still learned so much from him. Check it out!
Ashley: How often and how long do you practice as a band?
Ty: Practicing in a band is much different from practicing on your own. If we have a show coming up and we feel really comfortable with the set, we will just play through start to finish. If we notice there is something off, that’s a little funny. We stop and work at that part. We’ll try to break it down if it’s a rhythmic thing, make sure out harmonies are correct, that we can hear each other, or see some parts are overbearing. If we find a particular line that we keeping flubbing up, we will work on it. If we do have something coming up, the main thing is we practice out set and transitions to make sure there is no dead weight. We practice for the stage.
A: Who inspires you musically?
T: Everybody. Mostly. My dad was a big influence because he was always playing when I was little. He was in a funk/R&B/blues band so I grew up on a lot of Motown, Marvin Gaye and Wilson Pickett. They played a lot of 80s and 90s so a lot of funk and rhythm sensibilities that I picked up early on translated well into soloing and grooves. Later on when I was learning piano, I got into classical and rock piano like Elton John. Also lots of classical rock, alt. pop, blues for soloing, and jazz because I was in jazz band in middle school.
A: What kind of music did you learn for each instrument you played?
T: In terms of piano, when I was taking lessons at my neighbors, it would have been a lot of pop stuff from all over the place while using early technique books and stuff like that. The first time I focused on classical music was my grade 5 Royal Conservatory of Music exam for the high school credit. I also wanted to make sure I had something in my back pocket for teaching, and grade 5 seemed like a good benchmark. I ‘ve always had classical training but started jazz band in school. I also did a little jazz on the guitar for a little bit on the drums. In band class I was playing tenor and alto sax also upright.
A: What got the band Sc Mira together?
T: Well it started with the singer Sadie and I. I was a producer for a couple of her first acoustic folk songs and then we started writing together. A year and a half ago we were started as a duo, but decided we wanted it to be a full band.
A: So then, what accomplishments are you most proud of?
T: Teaching little kids. I teach at a unique place, where at the end of the year instead of a concert or recital; we put all the kids into small bands. We then have five weeks of them rehearsing together on the same song. When you have these 6 year old on stage completely on their own, playing a rock or blues song, I guess it’s not my own accomplishment, but when I see them on the stage the feeling is so neat.
A: What do you like most about being a musician?
T: The biggest reason I like being a musician is because I’m good at it. I mean that sounds arrogant but I feel that’s fair to say. For a lot of things that people do, if you’re good at something you generally follow that path. I’m good at it and I like it. It’s an artistic challenge. It’s logical challenge with pattern forming; mathematics, science and art components. It makes people happy and you get to share that with them. You go on stage and let go, play characters if you want. Open up and tell stories. As lame as it sounds, you reach for the stars. You get to travel or tour and play with other people. I love how you get to connect with others that are not a necessarily normal [way to communication with others], like talking. It’s kind of like an extra level of interacting with people. No one really knows why he or she makes music. I think I’m just making excuses as to why I make music [laughs].
A: What advice would you give to beginners who are just starting out?
T: Suck it up, [laughs] in the nicest way possible! For me, I still get extremely nervous. Not as much in the last year or so, but I would be terrified about doing any kind of performing with other people. I still get nervous. I don’t know how I got through it all those years or what kept me going; but there is always going to be some kind of nerves with showing something so personal to other people. It takes guts to get out there. It’s not something everyone deals with on a daily basis. It’s not like your forced to go and play songs with everyone from the day you are born - like talking and walking. It’s still interesting that we don’t really understand why we connect to others with music so much.
To come out and say “ Hey I play music” and sharing such an intimate part of your like can be daunting. So to get over it, just close your eyes and jump off the cliff. Baptism by fire is the absolute best option for me. Some of the biggest things I’ve have to overcome, like when I played at the MTS Centre, that was the absolutely terrifying. If I had sat back and thought about it like “oh no I can’t do this, I’m going to mess up” I would have started doubting myself and throwing all of these things in the air that hadn’t been there before. I just closed my eyes, closed my ears, shut up and went out and did it. When I finished, the adrenaline and the feeling of accomplishment were amazing and there are very few things that match that feeling. On the flip side and you do go and make a mistake or embarrass yourself, which I have don’t countless of times, it will freak you out for a bit but it gives you really good incentive to never to that again.
Trust your gut. Trust your talent. Don’t listen to the voices in your head, just listen to the feelings; because that’s what music is. It’s feeling not thinking.
A: How do you balance music with your other obligations?
T: I’ve managed to turn music into my obligation. For example, being able to teach music as a job. I also do composing and songwriting or I produce and mix for bands, TV shows and movies; so that fits in really well. It’s difficult. But, the more I focus, the more it’s easier to become apart of my work and school life. It’s definitely a juggling act. You’ll find yourself saying “I really want to work on this right now but I have an exam tomorrow” and it’s unfortunate. I could be 100% invested in music but it would make life very difficult at the moment.
A: What is your common and successful songwriting process?
T: I would say there are three main ways I personally go about it:
1. Someone needs a song. You sit down and say. “Okay I need to come up with something.“ It’s not very inspirational; but the music will be good! The music sensibility will still be there, but you’re being told to write something. The producer will tell me “I need this, I need that” and I work on something and send it to them. They’ll tell me what they like and what they don’t and I’ll keeping working on it until it’s completed. That’s the least creative way. It’s still fun, it’s just a different kind of challenge. You’re trying to work to someone else’s schedule.
2. The second way to compose is in a group, where I might start with some kind of melody or structure and sit down at the rest of the group saying “here I have this, I don’t know where it’s going. “ I’ll play something, they’ll play something; they’ll sing something, I’ll sing something.” We’ll sit together and work on a tune or two. It might take a day or a week; but the entire band works together. It’s really interesting because you get everyone’s different ideas. It’s like sculpting a weird sculpture with everyone brining his or her own chisel. It’s a very interesting process. A good team-building project.
3. The last way to compose is the most personal way. It’s 100% just myself. I’ll hear a tidbit of a song and immediately have cogs turning in my head and out of nowhere I’ll coming up with a melody. Sometimes it can be quick, other times it will take forever. Many items it just clicks: BOOM, there it is. You’ll get an idea and sit down with it. Just keeping at it and building on it. Lots of times that will be without any instruments in front of me. When I have something I like, I’ll run to an instrument to try it out. I’ll even try to record it to make sure I don’t forget it. I usually don’t but it’s a good safety net. The third option is the way I write most of my own personal stuff.
A: Anything you are currently working on that you would like to share? Upcoming performances?
T: Nothing until the EP or Album release. We are releasing it at the West End Cultural Centre in June. Once we finish that show, we are going on the road for three weeks. We have a big tour across Canada and the United States planned.
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