Graham Hnatiuk of Hearing Trees returned to the Winnipeg Music Project to talk glasses, album releases and more musical things.
Original Picture (as mentioned in interview)
Set List:
Hearing Trees "I've Got Magic" from Quiet Dreams
Hearing Trees "Telling Peter" from Quiet Dreams
Hearing Trees "Lights Out" from Quiet Dreams
Hearing Trees "City of Lost Love" from Quiet Dreams
Support local music-makers from Hearing Trees!
Set List:
Selci "Gone with Thuh Wind"
Selci "In Heaven"
Selci "Apple$"
Support local music-maker Selci!
Set List:
Ashley Bieniarz "Dirty Animal" DEMO
Snarky Remarkables "Vampire" from Besides and Vulgarities
Cole Shway "All the Bad I've Done" from What's Next?
TWIN "Looking For Love" from We Rise and Dance, We Sleep and Dream
Lakes & Pines "Yukon Princess" from Peace Comes At Last
Support Local Music Support Broose!
This episode of the Winnipeg Music Project is with the lovely and talented Blues/Rock/Funk/Pop singer-songwriter Stacey James. We talked about her love of music from a very early age and how she blossomed into a multi-genre force to be reckoned with.
Excited for her album release "11:11", Stacey shared her songwriting process and what the music on this album represents to her and her plans to move forward!
Stacey is a super sweet and talented lady and this interview is a definite tune in!
Set List:
Stacey James "Something You Regret" from 11:11
Stacey James "Wanna Sing" from 11:11
Stacey James "Walk to My Beat" from 11:11
Support local music-maker Stacey James!
The fortieth episode of the Winnipeg Music Project is with David Oschefski, a master classical saxophone student currently studying at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Music. We had a really fun conversation about the music program and courses that are offered in the faculty as well as the life of a saxophone student. A unique interview, I highly recommend checking it out.
Set List:
Astor Piazzolla "Tango-Etude pour Saxophone No3"
Ludwig van Beethoven "Trio in B-flat major, Op.11"
The thirty-seventh episode of the Winnipeg Music Project is with the very talented The Mariachi Ghost! The Mariachi Ghost fuses traditional Mexican song, progressive rock, and a flair for the dramatic, to ignite the world of their namesake's tenuous existence. They're also super friendly and funny music-makers that all work together when making their music.
Listen to the interview here!
Set List"
The Mariachi Ghost "Cascabel" from The Mariachi Ghost
The Mariachi Ghost "Cempazuchitl" from The Mariachi Ghost
The Mariachi Ghost "Susanna" from The Mariachi Ghost
Support Local Music-Makers The Mariachi Ghost!
The nineteenth episode of the Winnipeg Music Project with Blair Atkinson and Logan Mckillop from Sebastian Owl to talk about their upcoming album release 'Captain Tomorrow & The Dream Orphans' on April 30 at the West End Cultural Centre.
More Information on the:
Set List:
Sebastian Owl "South Side Of The Sun" from Captain Tomorrow & The Dream Orphans
Sebastian Owl "Only For Tonight" from Captain Tomorrow & The Dream Orphans
Sebastian Owl "Dear Wendy" from Captain Tomorrow & The Dream Orphans
Support Local Band Sebastian Owl!
The eighteenth Episode of the Winnipeg Music Project with returning indie rock band Summer Dwellers to talk about their upcoming "New Light" album release at the Goodwill April 7, 2016 at 8:00pm. Tickets are 10$
This episode is also the radio premiere of their two new songs "We Got What They Want" and "Grow and Change". Two songs releasing on the "New Light" album.
Set List:
Summer Dwellers "We Got What They Want" New Light
Summer Dwellers "Best In Me" New Light
Summer Dwellers "Grow and Change"
Support the Summer Dwellers!
The Ninth Episode of the Winnipeg Music Project is actually two shorter interviews with two of the five Uniter Fiver finalists Zack and Shane from Fox Lake and then Jeremy from Deep Dark Cave.
Set List:
Fox Lake "Darkslide" from 441 Ep
Fox Lake "The Grove" from 441 Ep
Set List:
Deep Dark Cave "All I think about"
Deep Dark Cave "Higher"
Support Winnipeg Band Fox Lake!
Support Winnipeg Band Deep Dark Cave!
Photo Credit: Janine Kropla
Genres: Folk, Roots inspired
Instruments: Guitar, Banjo, Harmonica Voice
Carly and I met in the Riding Mountain National Park earlier this summer and enjoyed the wonderful weather. She was incredibly sweet and kind and I was so excited to interview her. Carly’s beautifully crafted lyrics are excellently complimented with sweet melodies. I personally love her new album Ingrained, which you should definitely check out if you want to have a wonderful true folk experience.
Ashley: How long have you been playing?
Carly: I have been playing for about 10 or 11 years now and I have been writing my songs for a few years less than that. I started writing my own songs when I was 16 or 17; it’s hard to remember [an exact date]. I have been playing in various bands for years but this is my first plunge into the solo stuff.
Ashley: Why did you decide to start making and performing music solo?
Carly: It was kind of the situations where I just had to (laughs). I was playing in a band, a trio, for a couple years and we were quite serious; but it didn’t end up working out, we all went out separate ways. I had to keep playing music so I had a whole bank of songs that I wanted to get out into the world and I figured ‘I have to do this, so why not?’ It’s been really liberating in a way, it’s been a good push to explore that side of music.
Ashley: How often are you practicing your instruments?
Carly: It depends; I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a player at this point. I’m always aiming to get better at my instruments, I try to pick it up once a day and at least practice scales. It doesn’t always work out because other things get in the way but that’s one thing I’d really like to get better at: becoming a [better] player on the guitar, I feel more comfortable on the banjo. Sometimes the time isn’t there, especially when you’re songwriting as well. [Songwriting’s] my main focus, a lot of my time goes into that.
Photo Credit: Joey Senft
Ashley: What inspires your music?
Carly: A lot of my surroundings inspire my music. Whether it’s my natural surroundings or the people around me, things I’ve observed or stories I’ve heard from other people. I find the most common theme is the nature world; it seeps into most of my songwriting. I live in the woods now and my whole life I’ve grown up admiring nature and being inspired by it so it’s kind of natural that that would happen.
Ashley: Is there anyone you listen to?
Carly: I think probably my main musical influences have been kind of along the Gillian Welch strain of really lyrically driven songwriters. Also I really love specifically Hunter Hunter by Amelia Curran, I haven’t really listen to any of her newer stuff but that album really drew me in. Just in Winnipeg alone, there are so many artists that inspire me and continue to. It’s just amazing. I really love Scott Nolan’s work. Richard Inman is kind of an emerging artist that is really good; he’s worth checking out. The Crooked Brothers, obviously, they co-produced [my] album. I really love the sounds they get on their albums and their ability to draw them out of certain spaces and instruments.
Ashley: What is your songwriting process?
Carly: It actually varies quite a bit. Sometimes I’ll sit with a batch of poems and start with words first and kind of play with the music [and melody] afterwards. Often I just sit down with my guitar and nothing in mind and work out a melody and chord structure first then words come later. Depending on the song, some just come out and they are done and it takes 5 minutes, while some need a lot of tweaking so it can take months to finish a song.
Ashley: What accomplishments are you most proud of?
Photo Credit: Janine Kropla
Carly: I’m really proud of this album. I’m really really grateful for the opportunity to play these songs and sing them and get them into people’s homes and hearts. It’s been a real challenge at times for me to take the reins as the leader of this project. I’m so used to having a collaborative situation where I’m in a band and a lot of other people are involved so I’m just really proud of myself how much I’ve grown creatively through the process. [I’m] proud all of the work that’s gone into it and how well it’s been doing and how well it’s been received. It’s really exciting. It’s kind of crazy.
Ashley: What is the most stressful part about going on tour?
Carly: The admin side of all of it is quite time consuming and stressful at times. The booking, the tours, the PR, I’ve been doing it all independently at this point and it’s just a lot of work. It’s a lot of time on the computer and staring at the screen and on the phone. It’s all together not enjoyable but it’s all part of it and it’s put you in contact with the venue owners and you get to know people a little better that way. It all worked out really well considering I don’t have tons of experience with it.
Ashley: What advice would you give to beginners who are nervous about starting out?
Carly: Just do it! Just do it. It’s daunting and there is a lot about it that can turn you off but you just have to go for it if that’s really what you want to do. There are a lot of things, like the costs and the time, that can be really scary at first but there are a lot of different ways to put music out into the world these days and if you are limited in finances you can find a way to just record a single or a record it digitally and put it out that way. There are lots of options. If you’re passionate about it, I think you should just go for it.
It takes a certain amount of drive to want to do it because it’s scary. For me, someone who has always had a full-time job and financial security, I can understand how it can be a little nerve wracking to just dive into this thing that is so uncertain and so variable. You can always go back to a job if you find that’s what you want to do in the end. It’s one of those things that if you have the opportunity you should take it.
Ashley: What do you do when dealing with nerves before a performance?
Photo Credit: Megan Steen
Carly: Often I don’t get too nervous anymore before shows but I actually experienced a really intense bout of nerves before my album launch party at the West End Cultural Centre [earlier this year]. That was one of the last times I had been that nervous. I don’t really have a method myself of dealing with it, I kind of just pace around and get really anxious before the show but once I’m on stage I feel completely comfortable and at home. I had a couple friends backstage with me who were just kind of hanging out and talking and distracting me, which helped a little bit. I just work through it and get on stage and it gets all better. A friend of mine used to puke every time before a performance because he was so nervous but he doesn’t do that anymore.
Ashley: What is your favorite song to perform live?
Carly: It changes depending on whether I’m playing by myself or with my partner Jesse or with a full band. It depends on the venue too. If I have the full band and the strings are set up, I really love performing Yours & Mine, that’s one on the album. Again with the full band I love performing Down This Road. It was the first single off the album. If I’m just by myself or with another person I love doing Not a Songbird with banjo. I really love how that one turned out on the album.
Ashley: How do you balance music with your other obligations (work, etc.)?
Carly: I have a lot on the go. It’s always been a balancing act, juggling [everything]. I’ve always had a job because I’m passionate about a lot of things and I work for a land conservation organization and I have for about 6 years. I am fortunate because juggling that is quite easy because they let me go on tour. We have worked out a way where I work when I’m at home and then I can go when I need to on tours. Not a lot of people are that lucky so it’s not too bad. I really like being able to balance home life with tour life. I like being at home. I’ve got a gorgeous new place so it works out well; it gives me time to write and kind of compress and reflect. I don’t know, I’ve never really struggled with time management; I’m a relatively organized person so it’s not too difficult for me.
Ashley: What’s the best advice you’ve heard since you started working in the music business?
Carly: I’ve had a lot of different advice from good friends, from people who have been doing it a long time who might be a little jaded and people who are really implanted in the industry that have a lot of advice regarding the business end of it. I think the best advice I have been given, like I told you earlier, is just keep doing it. If it’s your passion and if it’s what you want to do no matter how hard it is and no matter how frustrating the music industry can be, especially as an independent artist, just keep doing it. Just keep writing. That’s one thing a couple people have told me; just keep writing. Even if you don’t have music in your life professionally, you’ll probably have it in your life in some regards. I think that is the best advice you can give someone.
Support Winnipeg Musician Carly Dow!
Genres: Indie Folk
Instruments: Banjo, Mandolin, Steel Guitar, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar and Organ
Daniel is a really really cool dude. He had a really refreshing look on making music that I really enjoyed listening to the first and second time (when I was transcribing the interview). Please enjoy!
Ashley: What start Red Moon Road?
Daniel: The initiative was a two-way partnership between my friend Daniel and I. We are both Daniels and we were both drummers. At the very beginning he was drumming in a country band and I was playing drums in a metal band with my brothers. We had both come off tour when he invited me to go to the lake with him. His friend had a cabin at the time and we went out for a sail. We tipped the sailboat in the middle of beginning of November, so it was pretty late in the season, and it was a bit of a crisis but we managed to get through it all. All four of us figured if we could survive an ordeal like that, we could probably spend time in a band together and it hasn’t let us down since.
Ashley: Where does the name come from?
Daniel: The name has very humble origins. When we first decided to start recording, before we played any shows, Daniel and I and the singer at the time were recording in a friend’s house in one the suburbs of Winnipeg off Lagimodiere. If you search you Red moon Road on Google the first thing that comes up is the street, Road Moon Road, and then it’s us. That’s actually where we got the name, nothing more glorious than that. We needed a name, we walked out of the studio, looked up there was a sign: a road sign.
Ashley: What is a practice session like with the whole band?
Daniel: Like a rehearsal?
Ashley: Yeah
Daniel: There are two different types of rehearsals. We are all professional musicians and we have an understanding of what an efficient rehearsal means. When we are rehearsing for a show or specific event that’s coming up, we have repertoire that we’re been working on for the last four years so a lot of those songs don’t need that much polish.
Often we will bring in a new song or two or five for a particular show we when we rehearse, we’ll get together and decide which songs [to play], figure out what keys are good to sing and play in and then we’ll go home and practice them on our own and the next time we come together. It’s expected that everything have their parts figured out. In the first three times [when we play them] through, generally we have to figured out what kind of tempo and feel that we want. That way it gives us the time and chance to make little mistakes on our own and without frustrating others. And when it comes together it still has that electric energy.
The other kind of rehearsal is when we are writing songs. When we are putting together the material that we haven’t really finished yet, often we’ll play through a portion of the song or idea or something and when we get to the end of it, we’ll see where your ear takes you or your fingers take you. There is a lot of speculation, lots of trying things over, lots of repetition. Lots of encouragement, we’re a very encouraging group.
Ashley: Do you ever start one song and finish it in one session? Or do you find you’ll usually have to come back to it later?
Daniel: Sometimes, if it all comes out in one shot, then that’s always ideal because you spend a lot less time on it and it feels a little more inspired. But more often than not it’s good to know when you’re beating a dead horse and when to walk away from something when it’s just frustrating you and you’re not being very productive. It’s a combination of both.
Ashley: So who inspires the music? Like, who do you all listen to that you feel really influences the sound?
Daniel: I can only speak for myself, really. But we do share a lot common interests. We all came to folk music a little later in life; Sheena grew up singing gospel and loves R&B music. She loathes admitting it but she’s a big Mariah Carey fan, she loves all the ballad songstresses. She takes a lot of cues from them. But also some real blues singers. Daniel is a really big fan of the Beatles so a lot of his writing is informed from that new wave of British pop from the 60s and 70s. I’d say my bass influences, in terms of folk music, are the folk greats like James Taylor and Neil Young, the gamut. Also Joanie Mitchell, of course. I also listen to a lot of metal whenever I’m driving or at home, I’ll usually listen to it.
Ashley: [Metal], that’s like the same as folk.
Daniel: Well yeah, I’d have to say that blue grass is just metal on acoustic instruments. It’s the same speed and virtuosity. A lot of the parts that I write are melodic and try to include as much melodic diversity as possible. I’d say that’s a pretty big influence in my writing.
Ashley: What accomplishments are you most proud of, with the band or individually?
Daniel: Well, I’d say the band is one of my greatest accomplishments. We’ve come a long way in the past four years. We’ve toured a lot recently. I think [another big] accomplishment is the fact that we’re still such a solid team and are evolving as people and as a business people as well as artists and all [we are all moving] in the same direction. I think maintaining a friendship throughout that and in between all the business has it’s challenging but is extremely rewarding. We just came back from a 2-month European tour and that’s sort of the most stand-out thing in my mind in terms of accomplishments. Yeah, playing a few sold out shows in the UK, getting a chance to see Paris and touring through Switzerland was also amazing.
That would be [one of] the biggest accomplishment, for now. It’s only the first of many tours out there, I think.
Ashley: What’s your favorite song to perform live?
Daniel: Does it have to be one of our own or can it be any song?
Ashley: It can be anything!
Daniel: Sheena is a trained jazz vocalist. We haven’t really been doing it on the stage, but we’ve done it at jams and after hours. She does this amazing version of At Last jazz standard that she just rips to pieces. It’s so amazing. That woman has so much soul it’s great. I just get to color in between the lines, I guess. That song. I feel we do a really good version of that.
Ashley: Are you guys going to share that with the world at some point?
Daniel: We should definitely record it.
Ashley: I would love to hear that.
Daniel: There will come a time. Maybe it will be a radio spot, it might not be something we put out ourselves. It’s gotta happen though, I’ll let you know.
Ashley: Yes please, I would love to hear that! Do you have advice for beginners who want to start making their music and sharing it?
Daniel: Um, I think the best piece of advice I can give is: just do it. You can spend so much time in speculation and wondering what you should or should not do. But there is no substitute for experience in both performance and in creation. If you’re someone who is inspired and already creating music, then great you’re already doing it. But if you feel like you need to share it, it’s just a matter of making connections, good connections, and going out and seeing shows. Make connections with people on stage and finding out how to get on that same stage. More than anything this business is about who know and how you know them. It’s important to be congenial and polite but also a fun human being. But just getting out there and doing it is the most important thing.
Also, don’t be afraid of criticism. Especially, be wary of compliments. Don’t always accept them for what they are because often when you’re first starting people are excited to hear you play and they’re going to say that they loved the experience. It’s going to be great but just don’t let it get to your head. No matter how good you are, you can always get better. The real advice you should be looking for is people who aren’t afraid to criticize it for what it is. That way you can take or leave it but at least you know it’s coming from a place of a true experience. That’s the most helpful thing that you can get. Compliments are nice now and again but seek criticism and then you will grow. Also, always play with people that are better than you.
Ashley: What do you do to help deal with nerves before a performance?
Daniel: Um, I don’t get really get nervous.
Ashley: Well, how about when you first started when you were first figuring out your sound? I’m sure you were nervous.
Daniel: I don’t know, I might have skipped that somehow. When I was young I did a lot of improv theatre so I was used to the stage from a very young age. I was also eased into it in a very supportive community. I’ve always felt really comfortable up there. That’s not to say that if an extremely good act is following us I won’t feel nervous. I’ll want to put on the best possible show. I just try to take a moment before I step on stage. Just take a deep breath and appreciate the moment for what it is. The people that are out there, the fact that they decided to see you perform and that you’re going to entertain all of them, they’re attention is in you’re hands for the next how many minutes and it’s up to you to be prepared ahead of time and be ready. You can craft the experience for them. I guess I don’t see it as something scary and more of an opportunity to make something exciting not just the audience but for you as well. There is a connection between the audience and the performer where that spark happens. Don’t be afraid of it. You’re going to knock them out.
Ashley: You mentioned how you just came back from this huge tour, what was the most stressful part about touring?
Daniel: Figuring out where accommodations are going to be that same night. Trying to have an itinerary that makes sense. Make sure you have enough time to get from your lodging, or your hotel or wherever you are sleeping, to the stage and a way to get from the stage to the hotel. But then, the most stressful thing is making sure that you’re instruments are all ready to go. There are so many variable when you aren’t in a controlled environment. There is only so much you can do to prepare ahead of time. Be as anal as you can be, cross every ‘T’ and dot every ‘I’.
Don’t be married to any one particular way that things should be because often things are going to change and you’ll just have to roll with it. The thing that stresses me out though is broken instruments; irreplaceable pieces of your tool kit. Accidents can happen and I was just so worried. If something like that breaks when you are over seas and there is no way to replace it, it costs so much money and it stresses me out. There is no remedy for that.
Ashley: Just a few tears and you move on.
Daniel: Yeah, or just being careful and preventing it from happening in the first place. Ugh, even thinking out about it makes me squirmy.
Support Winnipeg band Red Moon Road!
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Genre(s): Folk pop, alternative folk, pop
Instrument(s): Guitar, drums, piano, and violin
Micah Visser is a solo artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. With a few scrappy EPs under his belt and a full length cassette released in April, he is both restless and meticulous; determined to perfect his brand of sleepy alt folk. Heavily inspired by legendary folk singers and infused with modern pop and indie rock influences, he keeps lyrics at the forefront of his music while ensuring melody is never buried. (--manitoba music)
Ashley: Do you use violin in your music?
Micah: In my last album when I first started recording, I almost completely based it off violin. I haven’t really been playing [violin] as much lately because I’ve gotten so busy with [songwriting] and guitar. I’ve been moving away from the violin a bit because I don’t rely as heavily on it now that I’m better at other instruments. It’s definitely something I’m still open to incorporate in the future; I just need to find good places to do it [in the music].
Ashley: Awesome, that’s so cool. I don’t know very many people who are really good at violin.
Micah: Yeah, that’s because it’s like so hard to get good at it.
Ashley: I’m told the first seven years are the hardest and eventually everything falls into place.
Micah: Yeah it’s exactly that. My mom said when I was learning the violin at the age of seven, everyone always told her it would take so long before it sounded good. I honestly don’t know why I kept doing it for as long as I did. It might be because I didn’t realize it sounded bad, but I’m not sure.
Ashley: What made you decide to do music?
Micah: It was always something I was really passionate with. Again with the violin, but before that I’ve always loved music. It just sort of happened because I always ended up picking up anything [musical] around me and that sort of accumulated eventually into what I’m doing today which is writing my own songs, playing most of the instruments, bringing them to a band and playing them live. I guess there was never really a moment I decided to do it. It always just seemed like a natural progression of what I was interested [in] at the time. You could say when I decided to not go back to school in the fall and do [music] full time, that could be the moment I decided to do music, but it’s always [felt like] a natural progression.
Ashley: Who inspires you musically? Who do you listen to that really influences you music?
Micah: When I was writing the last album, I was very inspired by Elliot Smith and Sharon Ban Etten and more traditional folk singers; but, lately it’s been that 80s new wave music. So I don’t know, it’s always kind of evolving. I really like all kinds of music. There are lots of pop music influences in my music as well, like catchy verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure. I don’t know, really everything influences me.
Ashley: What accomplishments are you most proud of?
Micah: I think the last album I did Okay Night, all the albums I put out before then had just been stuff I kind of had been messing around with in my bedroom, playing and then eventually releasing by throwing it out on the internet. [I didn’t have] much thought about how it all fit together. But Okay Night, was the first album where I actually decided to sit down and record the songs once, then rewrite lyrics so they all fit together thematically, and finally rerecord them all. Some of them I rerecorded them multiple times. It was a huge amount of work. I probably spent ten times the amount [of work I had] spent on my last two albums combined. It was just a massive amount of work and it’s a pretty small album; it’s only nine tracks and a half an hour long. It’s probably the thing I’m most proud of because it took so much work and now when I listen to it all the way through I can appreciate it as a good self contained piece of work that I can set aside now and move on from.
Ashley: What were some struggles of creating a releasing your EPs and now cassette?
Micah: [When the music starts] getting inside your head. Since I’m the one that’s writing all the instrumentation and playing all the parts, at least for my previous albums. I don’t think I’m going to do that again for my next album; but for my previous albums I was so, I don’t even know how to explain it; I just get locked into a mode where I really needed to finish these songs and I’d be thinking about them all the time and I couldn’t stop thinking about them. It’s almost like it swallows you because you are so exhausted. And that can be a real struggle of getting outside of that box and making something good. Often the best ideas I have are the ones I kind of just get [out of no where and] then put them on paper and stick to them. Overthinking it can really kill good ideas.
Ashley: Why did you make the decision to record your most recent music on a cassette rather than a CD?
Micah: I did CDs for the last album, and it was nice. But I realized the only people who were actually buying them were people who wanted to support me anyway and just give me money to keep making music. I figured if people are doing that, and no body really uses CDS anymore - if someone is going to listen to it they are going to listen to it on the iPod or their computer. I released it on cassette to give people that tangible representation of the album if they wanted it. Also if they wanted to support me they can buy a cassette and have a novelty item. The EP is free online anyway so if people really want my music, they can get it there.
Ashley: How do you deal with nerves before a performance?
Micah: It just gets better, generally. It’s just going to happen and you get up on stage and it goes away eventually. The more shows I play, the less nervous I get, but I guess I don’t really have a real way of dealing with them at this point. During the day before the show, I’ll take it easy. I’ll make sure I’ll have lots of time to get into a relaxed mode before the show. I like making sure everything is set up, like making sure my strings are new on my guitar, that all my pedals are all in the right place. Stuff like that. Playing with the band helps too because they are a bunch of people that help me out with the nerves. I don’t really have any tricks, it’s just something that you get used to and you cope with and eventually they start not being there.
Ashley: How do you balance music with any other obligations you might have (work, school, etc.)
Micah: It’s nice because right now I have a steady job during the daytime so my nights are always free. I have a consistent schedule which really helps me scheduling things because I know how everything is going to fit together and I can do that as far in advance as possible. It’s mostly just a matter of making things work. Sometimes I’m out playing a show until 2 am and then I need to be at work for 8 o’clock. Which sucks sometimes but it’s just a matter of prioritizing and making sure you have the time to do both.
Ashley: What is your songwriting process like?
Micah: Generally, I let the songs write themselves and then go back and make sure it’s the way I want it to be.
Ashley: What does that mean?
Micah: Everything I’ve released up until this point was basically written by me in my bedroom with my guitar. I would just play and make sounds while playing chords that evoke a certain emotion to me. I would try to make the sounds of the words I’m saying, fit the sounds I’m making with my guitar. The more I do that, the more it sounds like real words and then I can start attach words to those sounds. Then I’ll go back to make sure the lyrics make sense with a specific theme that I’d like to write about.
So, I start with guitar and melody and then I just kind of let everything build around each other, as much as I can. After that I’ll start hearing the rest of the instrumentation in my head. I’ll have drums and guitar parts, then I’ll write the rest of the guitar parts and whatever else I need like bass, keyboard.
Ashley: What advice do you have for beginners?
Micah: I’d say just work really hard. Just do stuff as much as you possibly can, all the time and always think about how you can be improving. I think I might have been a bad beginner in some ways because I didn’t share things with people for a very, very, very long time. I was super shy about everything. I probably wouldn’t recommend that for people because if you are shaping yourself into something that is good, it’s good to have criticism. That’s something that’s helped me improve a lot too. I am a lot more open to criticism than originally because I’m more confident in the work I’m making. A lot of the time people think that it’s easier than it actually is when ultimately it’s just putting in the time and writing and writing and writing and writing until something is finally good. Well then, you aren’t a beginner anymore.
Ashley: You were saying how for live performances you have to hire a band. How do you do that? What is the process for that?
Micah: I’ve gotten really lucky with my band because they were just a bunch of people I knew. They were friends that I met in different places and it all kind of just came together at the right time. I knew I wanted to play with a band for way longer than before when I first started releasing music. I wanted to play with a band, but I also knew I wanted to sound good so I needed people who would be able to [play my music] well. Around the time I was recording Okay Night, I knew the songs absolutely 100% needed a band if they were to be represented well live. So I started asking around to a few people who I knew were good musicians and we had a few good practices. Then I agreed to a show that I said I would do with the band before we had even practiced once so we just practiced like crazy before and it turned out really well. Since then I’ve had to replaced a couple people because they left for vacation or for the summer, but I’ve just gotten really lucky with people who were excited about the project and who were also extremely talented musicians who really helped the music come out better then if I was by myself.
Ashley: And when you are showing the band the music, do you only show you’re your part and let them improvise their own parts or are your very specific with what they need to do?
Micah: I have very specific instructions because I am writing all the parts and because when I was bringing everyone in on this all the songs for Okay Night were pretty much written. Basically it was “Here is exactly how to play the part, you can improvise if you want to, but the songs basically need to sound like this.” I don’t really like doing that because I feel like I’m stifling other people’s creativity but –
Ashley: -but it is your music
Micah: Exactly, and that’s what it boils down to and that’s why I again got really lucky with the people I’m playing with. They are really creative and they offer great ideas and really great input and we have really great practices - all brainstorming new ideas on how to make the songs better - but ultimately they are people that are okay with the fact that I originally wrote the music and I get the final say. So yeah, my band is good.
Ashley: We kind of talked about it before but what is the most stressful part of being a professional solo musician?
Micah: You’re doing every aspect of a band alone, essentially. I’ve talked to people who are in bands and they have this really awesome [system] where they all designate whose doing what. They have somebody who takes the place of a manager, and they all designate all their specific roles. When you’re by yourself you are doing everything and your accountable for the same responsibilities that each band member would be responsible for. If you aren’t well rehearsed and something fucks up, it’s completely on you. It’s your name on the posters at the end of the day. That’s probably the most stressful part, you have a lot of responsibilities and you have to deal with it if something goes wrong. It’s your fault even if it isn’t directly you fault. You need to be crazy proactive about everything, organized and on top of everything all the time or things can go terribly wrong.
Ashley: What are your future plans, where would you like to see your project going?
Micah: Actually I was filling out grant applications the other day; which was really good for me because it was the first time I had written out my plan on paper. Basically at this point [my plan is to] just go to tour, and keep writing the new music we are making now. It is quite a bit different [than our most recent sound], it’s a lot more pop sounding, I use more synthesizers and I have more fun with it now. It works better for live performances and I’m really excited to see where that goes. As soon as I have songs that I feel good with, we are going to go into the studio and record them. I’m organizing a tour but it’s still in the early stages of planning and I need to figure out how I’m going to pull it off. So far, everything with my music has been falling that natural progression of opportunities coming up and I’ll take them and then I look for [more] opportunities and I find them and take them.
Support Winnipeg musician Micah Visser!
Instruments: Voice and piano
Genres: Soul, Urban and Pop
Flo and I met back in December 2014 when we were both performing at a Holiday Party. It was one of the first times I ever performed solo and was really nervous. Flo did an excellent job calming me down and encouraging me. (Her performance was also absolutely stunning, by the way.) I knew she would be a great choice to ask to interview because she would have great advice and feedback about the music industry. Her bright and energetic personality was amazing to watch and listen to as she passionately talked about her musical experiences. You can tell this girl absolutely adores music.
Ashley: What made you decide to do music?
Flo: For me, it was the one thing that felt right. I felt this fullness, this connection. It not only felt right, it felt good. Everything else I tried and looked into, when I was looking into different careers and fields, nothing felt like really and truly me. [Music] felt like a great fit for me because it was effortless. I loved it.
A: How long have you been professionally singing?
F: This sounds hilarious but I always joke around when I “came out of the closet” with music; because I was definitely more of a closet singer. Growing up, myself and my sisters and my cousins all loved to sing. I always believed because of the way I grew up that the arts like dance, drawing, writing stories anything artistic was a hobby. It’s not something viable.
Now that I look back on it, I was naturally always artistically driven. My sisters and I sang since when were like who knows. I have a memory of the three of us being buckled up in the back of my dad’s car and the radio would be on and we would be singing and I remember him turning around and being like “How?! Who taught you guys that?” We just sang, we just imitated what we heard on the radio and we still sing all the time.
I used to love dancing. I watched those shows like ‘So you think you can dance?’, I love it. Singing, dancing and I still have my old sketchbook. I love writing stories. All the stuff came so naturally to me. Nonetheless, it was something I tried to repress or throw in the closet or under the bed and not open it up. I thought if I would sing it would be in a choir or in the shower or in the car. But it wasn’t until 2003 or 2004 where I got to the point where I said “enough!” Be you. Be real. You cannot live the life other people want you to lead because at the end of the day if you’re miserable it’s you that you have to account for. So in 2003 or 2004 I promised myself that I was going to take steps and cross paths with people, figuring out what I can do to actually take it seriously and pursue it. Since then it’s been a journey.
A: Whom do you listen to? Who inspires you musically?
F: Okay, if I have to narrow it down my favorite are the American R&B songstresses or soul divas. Everybody from Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Brandy, Monica and who am I missing? There are so many. John Legend, I was just setting off all these females but also Stevie wonder. My favorite are definitely the rhythm and blues and soul. That’s my language. That’s what makes my heart beat. There are many more, but those are the main ones.
A: What accomplishments are you most proud of?
F: If I’m going to be real and sum it all up. I’m happy that I decided to take that leap and pursue music. It was a scary thing for me. But it’s changed my life and I’m happy I did it.
At one point I’ve wrote a list of venues that I’ve dreamt of performing on. Stages that I dreamed of gracing, and would you believe it, about a year ago I looked at that list again, and I got goose bumps. I’ve done it! Things like that, it’s just crazy. I don’t want to sound like I’m tooting my own horn or bragging. I view myself as a regular girl-next-door, a regular person. But some crazy things have happened to me on this journey that wouldn’t have happened if I had not pursued this. I love Lauryn Hill, and getting the opportunity to open for her at the concert hall or getting the opportunity to perform at the Burton Cummings theatre. There was a benefit concert at the MTS Centre and singing on that stage was insane.
If I told Flo from the past that these things will happen I would have laughed at Flo from the future and said “Come on, let’s be real.”
Those things have given me the faith and the boldness to be like “okay if these things can happen, the sky’s the limit. All things are possible.” Sometimes when I have those down days or down moments. I think to myself, “don’t forget what has happened before. Hold on to your faith, keep on looking forward because the best is yet to come.”
Don’t get into those pity party moments because we all go through those up and downs when we have our vision in mind and we know [it’s] going to be our Mount Everest or our large goal. Sometimes when we look that big goal and it’s so much greater than you, so larger than life and you wonder how you’re going to get there. Baby steps. Which is why when I look at myself and where I’m at, I think “Oh my gosh, this is going to take forever” I need to remind myself that it’s step by step and bit by bit. From where I started to where I am now, things have happened and more is to come.
A: How do you deal with nerves before a performance?
F: Well, I actually heard something that I will never forget that I tell other performers too. I think I as watching an interview on E talk or something. They were saying the greatest performers like Cher, Adele, Madonna get nervous before shows.
Adele, actually, when she had just released her album 21 she was saying how she got so nervous that before a few shows she would projectile vomit. She had a story where she was in Germany on her balcony and she was so nervous that she ended up puking on a fan. From her perspective she’s thinking, “What if I’m not good enough? What if I disappoint all these people who have come to see me?” I was shocked, I couldn’t believe Adele felt the same way.
What really got me was that other than these legends still feeling nervous; I think it was either Cher or Madonna, one of them said that it’s good to feel nervous, like an Olympic athlete before their big feat because that nervousness gets converted into adrenaline. A lot of times, when you have the best killer performance, it’s that adrenaline surging through your veins and arteries.
On top of that, what I got from the show that I’ll never forget, when you stop getting nervous get worried. It means you don’t care anymore, right? And sometimes maybe for smaller performances, where my heart might not be in it, I do okay. From my perspective and from what I know I can do, if I lack lustre and feel that’s it’s a mediocre performance I know I can do better. I find the performances where I’m nervous, and I HATE that nervous feeling, I HATE that feeling where, forget butterflies, BATS are in your stomach and you feel like you are going to puke and you are overthinking. I find those performances that I care so much that I want to do well. That nervousness, as soon as you hit the stage becomes adrenaline and you just kill it.
I don’t like those pre-jitters. But from what I hear everyone; actors, comedians, dancers, professional athletes, they all go through it. It probably won’t go away but that’s okay because it’s normal.
A: How do you balance music with any other obligations you might have?
F: I think it’s a constant juggle. I think there are few people who have mastered the art of balance. They need to teach the rest of us. Some months or some days I’m better than others. It’s definitely a struggle. I’ve heard so many stories and I know there are artists where their careers are so successful but their family lives are just brutal; that really get’s my heart because I want to learn from their mistakes. There are some people who have won Grammies, American music awards, Junos and are constantly touring but they’ve had two or three divorces. Or they will feel like crap because they look in their sons or daughters eyes and they are never there for their soccer games or tucking them in at night. Or even their friends who only get to see them on TV but never in person.
Garth Brooks took a hiatus from his career because he wanted to raise his daughters and wanted to be a dad. He ‘s not just a recording artist; he’s a dad too. I really respect that because I feel that’s important. At the end of the day when you are celebrating your accomplishments with your music, you don’t want to be celebrating them alone.
Success in life isn’t about having a successful career but having a successful family and friends. One thing that I have been hearing lately that really resounds in my spirit is that family and relationships are the most important thing in life. Again, I’ve heard so many stories of successful people who are rich but they are so miserable and so lonely. At the end of the day let’s say, not to be morbid but at your funeral you don’t want one or five people there, not that it’s a popularity contest but you want to know that you’ve impacted and touched the lives of many people through relationships.
For me, I want to try my best to balance. Sometimes, if that means that certain aspects of my music career are going to be sacrificed, at the end of the day I want to sleep well at night knowing that I didn’t mess up when the time comes [something like] marriage or kids because I was so 100% focused on my music career. So to be honest, it’s something I want to master. Balance is so healthy and important. But it’s something that I’m continuing to learn more of and try to be very conscious about.
A: What is your songwriting process?
F: I learned that there are so many different types of artists but I find that artists fall into different pools. There are some people who are constantly multi-tasking. When they are on touring a specific album, they are writing their next album. They are finding bits and pieces of time while they are performing to record.
Some artists do things specifically in seasons. That’s me, I’m one of those people. I’m all or nothing. I have a season where I just focus on songwriting and after that, it’s the season of taking the songs and start recording them. After that I focus on marketing and pushing that album, then touring and so on and so forth.
For me, I have learned that I’m a melodically driven person by far. Melodies come to me like out of the blue. I can be in the shower, where it predominantly happens which is the most annoying thing in the world because you’re sopping wet.
I’ve tested it where I’ll finish my shower before getting out and recording the idea as soon and I’ve either forgotten it or it’s changed. I can be driving or at the mall and ideas will just come to me. Thank goodness for our cell phones with voice memos.
It’s great for me to collaborate. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses, it’s great to collaborate with people who are lyrically driven. I’ve met people; it’s funny how things connect naturally, who are opposite of me where lyrics come naturally to them but not melodies. I find that it works best to work people [who are like that.]
Not to say that lyrics don’t come to be, because they do, but I find melodies come to me so much easier. I used to start with chords, melodies and then a couple words will come to my minds or a concept or idea then plug it in and then morph the chords around the melody.
Yeah, melodies are out of my wazoo. It’s at the point where I’ve got tons of melodic ideas and I need to start putting some words to some of them.
As the Beatles did with Paul McCartney and John Lennon, I think it was Let It Be. They started by just saying “Green Eggs and Ham” and they had the melody. Also John Legend said he does [that for] the songs he writes. For All Of Me, maybe the first thing in his mind was the word ‘roses’. He would just sing with the chords he had “roses and roses” until sentences or more concepts came to him.
I’ve found that helps sometimes, I’ll be at the piano and I’ll have a chord progression, then all of a sudden some words will come and I’ll put other words together with other stupid words. Something eventually comes out. For me always start with the melody or chord progression.
A: What advice do you have for beginner singers?
F: Follow your heart. Never sell out and be true to who you are. I love what Sam Smith said at the Grammys. He was trying to form himself to what he felt what the world’s view of the male pop artist. He was trying to lose weight, sing a certain way and he got to a certain point where he was like “screw this.” He was exhausted because he would sing a certain way, create a certain image and would go knocking on the doors of labels and people and everyone was ignoring him and not paying attention. He got to the point where he was so tired of it and just started being himself. If people like it great and if not, they don’t. He was who he was and the rest is history.
Be true to who you are. Soak in as much as you can. Learn from those who want to teach you or go to workshops. Forget just music. Some of the most brilliant minds. have all said that the foolish one is a person who feels that they know it all, but we are all still learning. Learning is so important.
Keep the vision in sight, never stop keeping it clear. Don’t let other people pop it or break it down. Be careful who you share it will because some people who want to tear it down. It’s ridiculous but some people do. Work hard and keep really good people around you. Keep your eyes on the prize and your nose to the grindstone. That’s one of my favorite sayings. Surround yourself with people who are good and people who are stronger in certain areas than you. That’s how you grow. You become more like the people you surround yourself in. There is just so much to say, but that’s the closest I can get to summarizing it all.
A: So you sing and perform, how do you approach people to join your band for performances?
F: The same way as making Facebook or twitter contacts. Initially, when I started off with putting the band together I was a little nervous because what if they didn’t want to join. When I see a musician that inspires me or who is freaking amazing, I’m like “What the heck do I have to lose?” I’ll go up to them and give them my email or maybe if they are into social media I’ll Facebook or tweet them. Telling them “I would love to work with you, let me know if you are interested. Give me a call.”
Of course, it happens where people are busy with a ton of other bands. Or some people, and I’ve told them “Much respect, thank you for your honesty” they will be like “Look Flo, we aren’t really into the R&B soul thing, I’m definitely more country or folk or rock musician.”
I’d rather someone tell me they aren’t feeling it because I’ve worked with musicians who are so good for certain genres or styles of music but it doesn’t blend well with the genres I’m doing. Or someone is playing with me but there heart is not in it. You can totally tell the difference between someone who is passionate and who loves what they are doing with you and someone who doesn’t. I love working with musicians who have their heart in it and will be like “heck yeah, let’s do this.” Just test it out and just don’t take it personally if it doesn’t work out.
A: What is the most stressful part of being a professional musician?
F: I’d have to say unlike people we know who have the 9-5 or 8-4 job; it’s instability. As people say, it is one in a million who get to that real spot of success. But then again, success is what we define as success. [For] Some people success is being able book coffee shops across the country or continent. [For] Some people success is being able to book venues the like the West End Cultural Centre. Other people, success is selling out arenas or stadium or concert galls and getting nominated for Junos or Grammys.
I guess there are some dry spells. There are periods where it’s quieter with gigs and you have bills and stuff. I’d have to say for me, the instability and for somebody who is a little Type A who likes to have things planned out. The spontaneity can be cool but other times it can be like “crap” how do you plan your life when there are surprises that pop out.
For myself and my goals, as I mentioned, my definition of success is big and out there and so keeping my eyes on the prize is sometimes hard. Meaning I do know what I want but perseverance and persistence and staying on this road [can be challenging] because I know some people who are so talented but got tired and exhausted and sick of [it]. Continuing to have faith in what I believe and to make it and get to the end of the road is the end goal.
The instability with the little surprises that come along and holding onto that dream and knowing it may seem invisible to a lot of other people but understanding it will come. Those two things are the most stressful.
Support Winnipeg musician Flo!
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Genre(s): Neo-Soul influenced by Jazz, Hip-Hop, Folk and experimental
Gaby's Instrument(s): Lead Guitar, Percussion
Selci's Instrument(s): Singer, electronics, guitar
I first met Gaby at the Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba. We were both in the same chorus so I felt good about contacting her to interview her and Sapphire Empire. I had seen Selci on campus but hadn't had the opportunity to formally introduce myself. Gaby, Selci and I got together at the Hollow Reed and over some delicious tea and snacks, that I can’t remember the names of, we talked about Sapphire Empire. These girls must be on the same wavelength. They were so much fun to interview because they were constantly finishing each other’s sentences.
I love how this interview focused a lot on how to make a big band work. I've never experienced performing in a band and I had never asked any other the other artists I interviewed who were in bands what it was like.
Ashley: What started Sapphire Empire? Where did it come from?
Gaby: Well we met and started jamming together and it worked magically somehow.
Selci: Yeah, we met somehow. Apparently she used to see me on the bus but I didn’t see her.
Gaby: We also both go to the same faculty.
Selci: We met at a show and it was like “Oh I think I know you from choir”. Then we were like “let’s jam” and then we jammed and it was like ♪♫La la la, this is awesome! ♪♫ and still now every time we jam it’s like ♪♫La la la, this is awesome♪♫.
Gaby: We’re just good musical partners now somehow randomly comrades.
Ashley: So how did the whole band get together?
Gaby: Well we write the music primarily and then we have a lot of different members. We went through a few bass players and drummers. We ended up getting together with some people from the faculty of music. So our drummer Ben kidd, our keyboard player Anatol Rennie, our trumpet players Decarlo Jackson and Emily Kidd. They all go to the faculty of music. Our bass player is this little wunderkin, he’s this little 20 year-old who we met and he’s so good and wonderful. He doesn’t go to school with but we just love him so much.
Selci: He’s been in the band the longest and we love him dearly. His name is Lucas Redekop. We’ve had the group with all of us for about a year and a bit. It’s been a great band and it’s been super jamming, really great. And everyone is super down, so it’s nice! [laughs]
Ashley: How did you approach them? Did you know them first?
Gaby: We picked them out little by little we were like “Hey you know drums, you’re in the faculty, and I kind of know you; let’s jam.” And just like that.
Selci: and when we started jamming everyone realized how good it was. Everyone is a unit now. It’s really nice.
Ashley: What happens during these jam sessions?
Selci: I think if we just want to write music, sometimes we’ll just open jam and jam it out. That’s not an entire rehearsal though. Sometimes we will jam for a bit to get the juices flowing and then practice the songs that need work. Sometimes we will end up re-writing sections or change people’s parts.
Gaby: Basically it’s three things:
Ashley: Is someone just playing and then someone else just joins in?
Gaby: Yeah they could yell out “this is in A minor and I’m going from First to Fifth to First” or Lucas will play a bass line and others will be like “ooh, what can I do with that.”
Selci: Even when we write the songs, we write the shell of the song but we aren’t writing every bass line or the drum charts. We bring it to the band and everyone adds their own artistic flavor and help complete it.
Ashley: Where does the name Sapphire Empire come from?
Selci: We were just brainstorming names for a show-
Gaby: No what happened was, we got a phone call for the very first show we were going to play and the woman who was printing the posters called and left a message saying “Hey, I’ll be printing the posters in an hour. Can you call me back with your band name?”
Selci: We were like “Uhhh”. This is when we had just been jamming for a few weeks and we were like “I don’t know.” We wanted something epic. I think somehow we were looking into names of different stones, we were searching books and sapphire came up which resonates a lot with me because it was my birth stone and I’ve been into it my whole life.
Gaby: and I thought it was funny that it was related to Sapphos which is the Greek island where they send all the lesbians and I thought it would be funny if people thought we were lesbians.
Selci: And empire rhymes with [sapphire]. It resonated with both of us and some people after even approached us saying, “oh that’s kind of like Sapphos” and we were like “oh cool, that’s good.” We’re pretty girl power.
Ashley: What other bands or musicians inspires your music?
Selci: Erykah Badu and Amy Winehouse have really inspired my singing. Me personally, I’ve been listening to a lot of freak folk like Regina Spektor, Coco Rosie. Oh! Also MadLib.
Gaby: Nina Simone
Selci: Yeah for sure, she’s classic.
Gaby: She’s badass. She’s cool.
Selci: We probably listened to the same folk music when we were younger and then now we’ve transitioned into a lot more soul.
Gaby: Totally. I’d say I’m actually still into some kind of Jazz. If I had to name the top people that are really influential to me are Nina Simone, Charles Mingus, Q-Tip and Neil Young.
Ashley: What is your songwriting process?
Selci: Different often. We are the most productive when Gabi and I get together on our own time and bring in little riffs that we’ve thought of or stuff that we’ve written on our own time. We then get together, mishmash parts, add stuff and then bring it to the band. Sometimes we’ll do songwriting with the band but since there are six of us and it ends up being like “this is not going anywhere.”
Gaby: For me, the whole song just happens and I’ll write it out. Like the song High Fructose Corn Syrup I just wrote in one go. I didn’t write the words for it or anything so I brought it to Selci and she finished it.
Selci: Then we brought it to the band and refined the whole thing.
Gaby: So either the whole tunes comes out and then I give it to them to complete it or if I have little pieces of stuff I’ll come and meet Selci and we’ll sew them together.
Selci: Sometimes she’ll have a riff and I’ll have a riff and when we don’t know what to do with them, suddenly we’ll realize they work and we’ll smush them together and it will be this Frankenstein song.
Gaby: but they don’t sound like Frankenstein songs.
Selci: No, they don’t! It works!
Gaby: Yeah, it’s weird.
Ashley: I’ve never written a song with someone else so I don’t know how to bounce ideas off someone.
Selci: It can be tricky breaking that barrier. Starting out as “Do you think this is okay?” and eventually being like “I don’t care if you like this or not, I’m just going to play it.” Sometimes we really like what the other person wrote.
Gaby: You just need to be comfortable. I write some really weird stuff and I’ll feel it’s too personal or it’s too much about really personal things that I’m sensitive about.
Selci: But’s that’s what people want to hear. The truth. The honesty.
Gaby: You should do it; it’s an interesting experience.
Ashley: With the band, what accomplishments are you most proud of?
Selci: Our EP release!
Gaby: That’s true, that was great!
Selci: We released an EP in the spring and I think it’s a really early sound. We recorded the first 5 tunes that Gaby and I first wrote together and recorded them over the year. We did it pretty casually because we had been in school full time and it was hard. We got together, released it and we had a really really nice EP release. We’re not necessarily promoting the crap out of it but we now have something to show and to listen to and to reflect on. Now we are going to move forward and we are currently working on a new sound and a new album.
Gaby: I think we’re proud of the EP and I’m just really happy with everyone in the band and how we all get along and respect each other. We can go on tour and not kill each other.
Selci: That’s probably the biggest thing. Having such a unit.
Gaby: The people are committed and amazing people. They’re responsible and we all get along.
Selci: They’re all super conscious individuals.
Ashley: What is your favorite song to perform with the Band?
Selci: I don’t think I have one.
Gaby: I like playing the song called Bebop; because it’s about how much I hate school.
Selci: I was going to say that is my least favorite one because it’s really hard. It challenges me but I have to say these words so fast and I have to make it sound good somehow.
Gaby: That’s fine; we don’t have to have the same one. I didn’t think we would.
Ashley: Do you have any advice for people who want to start a big band?
Selci: Just keep asking people to play with you and then don’t get discouraged when people don’t keep playing with you or you don’t want to keep playing with someone. Keep on going.
Gaby: Yeah, don’t get discouraged. We went through so many people.
Selci: People have their own agenda and it’s hard to find people who mesh with you. Ask as many people as you can. And keep asking after that.
Gaby: If you see a band and you think their guitar player is really great, as them to jam! It can feel really discouraging and I think some people are reading this interview are thinking “they just got lucky and find the perfect band?” But man, we went through tons of people and it was really frustrating.
Selci: We had a drummer for a long time that Gabi didn’t jive with that I was really attached to him and we didn’t know what to do. We almost broke up at one point but then felt we had to just keep going.
Gaby: It seems like the biggest deal, but it’s not.
Selci: People will see us in our band and ask how we have such a great band.
Gaby: Well, we went through so many people. Don’t worry, we went through it too.
Selci: It’s all what you manifest too. If you’re like “ooh no one wants to play with me! The world’s going to end!” Well, no one is going to want to play with you. But it you’re like “okay! I’ve got to keep trying because this is what I want to do!” Manifest that energy and people are going to want to play with you because you’re not being a bum hole. I know it can be hard to find people to jam with but you just have to keep on looking.
Ashley: Where would you recommend to look?
Selci: At shows!
Gaby: Go to shows! Check out the music scene!
Selci: Check out some bands. There are so many awesome people playing. The scene in Winnipeg is thriving. There’s really good venues. If you don’t know where shows are happening, just go to the handsome daughter on any random night. Go to the Goodwill on any random night. Go to the Park theatre any random night. If you don’t like the bands, check another night! They have all genres.
Gaby: Just ask. I’m pretty sure if anyone asked anyone in the band to jam, we would say yes. I mean if someone asked me to jam I’d probably say yeah.
Selci: People ask me to jam all the time and sometimes I have to say “sorry I don’t have time right now “ or sometimes I do. You’ll definitely have to put yourself out there. If you’re not willing to do that it’s going to be pretty damn hard to find someone to jam with.
Ashley: What kind of stressful situations or challenges have you’ve had with being in a band?
Selci: Well now that we are a solidified band and we aren’t dealing with a lot of turnover of people. So I guess just making sure everyone is happy.
Gaby: and everyone’s needs are being met.
Selci: and everyone is feeling okay and comfortable. Gaby and I have moved through a lot as a result of being in a band together. We went into this band barely knew each other and then ended up seeing each other constantly. We come from really different backgrounds.
Like Gaby is a first generation Mexican chick and she has crazy pride. She has experienced many things in her life that I’ll never experience with regards to oppression and race. With me, I’m the epitome of the type of person that she, like, want to be when she was a kid because that was what seen as the ideal or something. So she has a lot of really intense issues that I encompass. A lot of my beliefs for a long time were non-intentionally ignorant but a little ignorant because of my upbringing. I’m not aware of what it’s like to be a racial minority. I’m not aware of what it’s like to be a first generation immigrant. So there’s tons of stigma that I had and that she had from the opposite side of the spectrum that we’ve had to move through together. And now we’re both way better people and we ‘ve learned so much from each other. I even think that’s on a large scale but even with relationships with other members of the band and we had to navigate how they work as a person. We want to make sure everyone is comfortable because when you are sharing such a bond with someone like making music you have to be on the same page as him or her. You can’t make music with someone when you don’t feel like you are one the same conscious level as him or her. It doesn’t feel satisfying or something substantial.
Gaby: Yeah, I think at this point we are just trying to navigate relationships. Because being in a band for us is like being in a big family. We have the music thing happening, we’re pretty organized, and we have goals that we want to accomplish in terms of careers and financial success or whatever. But we are focusing on being feasibly a working long-term functioning band. So we have all these plans, which is the easy part because the hardest part is the relationships.
Selci: Just making sure everyone is good.
Support Winnipeg band Sapphire Empire!
If you like this post, please hit the like and share button below! Please reach out to me via Twitter or my contact page! I would love to hear anything you have to say! Really, anything. I'm lonely. Also I now have a new Facebook page that will let you know when each post is posted! I would really appreciate if you could like it! Thank you!
Name: Lucas Roger
Instruments: Acoustic and Electric guitar, voice, a little bit of everything
Favorite genres/Music to play: Rock and roll, singer-songwriter, story-lead music, folk roots
Name: Madeleine Roger
Instruments: Guitar, piano, Mandolin, voice
Favorite Genres/Music to play: Rhythm instrumentation, singer-songwriter, folk roots
Roger Roger is a sibling folk/roots duo from Winnipeg, Canada. Twins Lucas and Madeleine Roger are both singer-songwriters who have joined forces, each playing guitar and shamelessly harmonizing all over each others' songs. The offspring of producer/engineer/musician Lloyd Peterson, the twins have a knack for songwriting that must have something to do with growing up in a recording studio.
Before we started the interview, I had the great opportunity to hang out with Madeleine and Lucas over some tea as they shared stories of growing up together and how they got their adorable but temperamental cat "Turtle". I was able to hear the story of the unexpected birth of this charming duo and how their fun and enjoyable music came to be. This adorable and quirky pair are definitely some of the coolest performers in town.
Ashley: You [Lucas] like rock and roll and you [Madeleine] like folk music?
Madeleine: Oh I love rock too! In terms of playing, I’d love to be able to do something like thrash around, but that’s just not where I am right now. We grew up listening to a lot of rock music.
Lucas: The Who, Tom Petty (that’s a big one), the Hold Steady. It sounds nothing like our music, but we like it a lot. Deep purple, country-rock, Jayhawks, Canadian rock like Matt Mays and Joel Plaskett.
Madeleine: People who kind of walk the line between folk and rock. Ron Sexsmith is one of my favorites. I’m typically drawn to is singer-songwriter style music or people who are singing about stories. I ‘m really drawn to the lyrics and melodies.
Lucas: Even if it’s not a unique story; but the performer sings a normal topic in a really interesting, unique way. It’s always fun to hear a songwriter write like that. I think that’s what Ron Sexsmith does so well. He has really cool and interesting stories, like “Strawberry Blonde” and “Pretty Little Cemetery”; and then he has songs like “Clown in broad daylight” which is a song about a clown in broad daylight. You wouldn’t normally think of things like that but he just does it so well. That’s what I like in songwriters.
Madeleine: I think a lot of the art that I like, in many genres and aspects, has some kind of connection to human truth and there are many ways to access that kind of inspiration. I like it when someone puts their finger on something and an audience can listen to it or view it and think “I know exactly what that feels like” or things can just be amazing to listen to. If it’s something that sounds so incredible and imaginative that it’s a new way of hearing something.
Ashley: So you told me earlier you have been playing instruments since you were little, why did you decide to play together?
Lucas: At the time, we were both writing songs on the acoustic guitar. I had been playing in a rock-and-roll band that dissolved in a very healthy way. I took some time to enjoy writing songs on the acoustic guitar and singing them in the kitchen, waiting for the pasta to boil, and Madeleine would walk by and she would add a harmony line to the chorus. Then Madeline went away to the cottage by herself and wrote a bunch or really great songs and started playing them when she was waiting for her pasta to boil and I would hear her.
Madeleine: I would say it was almost accidental. When Lucas was in his rock back, I would hear them rehearsing in the basement and would be sitting at the top of the stairs singing along the entire time. They didn’t know and I probably actually didn’t want them to know that I was making up harmonizing tunes and blasting from my little haven in the kitchen. Then at some point, like Lucas said, I went out of town and started to write more. I had written a couple songs and I knew that I liked songwriting; but I didn’t really like the songs yet. So I thought maybe if I go somewhere and just focus on it for a while so I could figure out how to do it.
Lucas: Did some woodshedding.
Madeleine: Exactly. So when I came back, I remember being a little sneakier that Lucas said. I remember quietly playing the songs I had written in my bedroom. When I thought no one was home I would come down and play them in the living room. Lucas would come in and say “Hey whose song is that?” I would bashfully say, “Oh, it’s my song” and he would ask me to teach him.
Lucas: In the winter, Madeleine works out at this ski hill and pretty much everyone who works there are musicians. They all like to get together and hang out.
Madeleine: The family that owns the resort is so wonderful and generous. They really have gathered this incredible community of artists around this resort and around that area. It brought together a lot of like-minded people.
Lucas: We had a chance to play some tunes out there. It was a lot of fun and then we started thinking we should see if we could play for the Young Performer’s Program at Folk Fest. I think that was the first things we tried to do together as a duo. We were going to need some demos, so we went on the computer and recorded some basic songs. It got to the point were we needed a name. It wasn’t a one day decision.
Madeleine: We maybe wouldn’t have realized it could work if we weren’t living together. We wanted to sing songs with other people and we were both here, so it just kind of made sense.
Ashley: So, how often do you guys practice your instruments, alone and together?
Lucas: Uh.. [laughs] Easy answer: not enough. I don’t spend a lot of time practicing to get better at the guitar. I probably should, I work all day on guitars and then go home and work on some guitars some more in my shop.
Madeleine: I think the nature of the work you do though has you noodling away on the guitar all day.
Lucas: Yeah, I guess so.
Madeleine: There you go, so you practice.
Lucas: Yeah, you could say I practice 12 hours a day [laughs].
Madeleine: I also don’t spend much time sitting downtown to practice the instrument specifically. I try to play each instrument everyday, but most times, what seems to happen is when I sit down to try to learn a new song; I just deviate into songwriting. I can’t find myself actually focused on just the instruments for too long because I start to hear tidbits or lyrics and melodies in my head and I end up wanting to catch that. So I stop practicing and start songwriting. I’m starting to see songwriting as a practice in itself. I can happily spend four hours of an evening, just working on a song. And with the practice of songwriting, sometimes it resolves in nothing and sometimes it resolves in bad verses.
Lucas: That’s such a good thing though!
Madeleine: It’s so great! There’s a song you didn’t have to write.
Lucas: I find it so helpful to get past a song. Not to discard it completely or saying that’s awful.
Madeleine: Just to be able to have the exercise. I’ve written a chorus and I don’t think a verse will come up and that’s okay. I can walk away from this and maybe something will come to me two months later. That’s been happening to me a lot lately. I have this book that collects all the lint and static and madness from my mind. I go through it periodically and see what’s in there from months ago. I might see something I’ll want to work on more. It’s amazing what can happen. I finished a song the other week that had been a couple chords and a couple lines that resurfaced from a year ago.
Ashley: I’m glad I’m not the only one who has a crazy little book of music.
Madeleine: I would go absolutely mental if they were on just little scraps of paper or worse that I’d try to have my mind remember them. My phone is filled with little pieces too and I will often put them on paper. I always feel I have to catch that stuff. If I don’t it’s gone; which is okay too.
Ashley: What accomplishments are you most proud of?
Lucas: Getting along?
Madeleine: Not killing each other. It’s amazing how we live together, we shared a womb, share an Instagram account, a bank account a house and a refrigerator and we don’t hate each other.
Lucas: Or we are really good at pretending! I think our greatest accomplishment is that we are setting a goal for something. Madeleine has been doing a lot of work in terms of preparing for the future and what we are working on. It was so much fun to play together in the Young Performer’s Program because we had been going to see performances there our whole lives and it was important for me to be on the other side of the microphone.
Madeleine: Even the other week, we had opened for Carly Dow’s CD release and played with the Crooked Brothers at the West End Cultural Centre. We had been going there since we were born. Our parents used to pack us up in snowsuits and blankets to haul us there two or three nights a week because our dad was often working or playing there. We would always be going there to see shows. We spent so much of our childhood falling asleep in that building. It was so exciting to play on the same stage where we watched so many of our favorite performers play. A whole bunch of our family and other Canadians musicians I’ve watched on that stage. It was pretty special to play that show with performers and artists that we really respect and love as human beings. It was so amazing.
Ashley: What advice do you have for beginners who are starting out who are nervous about getting out there?
Madeleine: The biggest thing I believe in is to go for it. There is nothing to gain from not trying. You have to just jump in.
Lucas: I would say the same thing. I wish I could tell myself that. I don’t open myself up much to playing with other people. I’m very reserved with how I play and write. I like to do it on my own. But, whenever I play with someone else I learn so much. Just have fun with it.
Madeline: Be nice to people!
Lucas: Write bad songs!
Madeleine: and get over it. Writing a song is an incredible thing. You took something that had nothing there and you turned it into something. That’s amazing! I also really believe it’s important to find other people who are your comrades; we can all help each other. People want to be touring, doing shows in town, recording, they want to be experience new instruments. They are all around us, we just need to find them and drink tea with them!
Ashley: How do you balance work and paying bills with your music.
Lucas: I don’t balance very well.
Ashley: How so?
Lucas: I put work at the top of the list and put everything else at an equal last place priority list. Lately I work eight hours a day and fix guitars then I come home and I work in the shop in our garage until 11:30pm. I’ll give myself time to eat and I can pay the bills; but I just shut everything off.
Madeleine: He’s also been doing fantastic things. Like he’s making me a new acoustic guitar. The guitar he plays is the first one he’s ever built. So we will both have instruments that’s he’s made. They will sound really great because they will have similar qualities.
Lucas: I’m working on making them complement each other well. I think it’s cool that madeleine and I just like making things. She draws, sews, makes kayak paddles, and whatever else she’s making.
Madeleine: And the moccasins I’m wearing!
Lucas: Yeah, it’s apart of who we are, so why not play on guitars I have made.
Madeleine: In terms of balancing, we are both trying to do a lot at once, sometimes it can be hard to focus, or figure out what we want to focus on. I’ve been having an easier time with it because I’m not working full-time. I’ve been able to put a lot of my efforts on navigating learning more about the music industry. I’m learning how to make grant applications, and what’s the best order or operations for releasing an album. That’s what I was talking about before with knowing other people in the industry. Those people are so helpful. Every time I have a question, I feel like I have a couple people I can call up and ask about pieces of advice. Like booking a show or whatever the case may be.
Lucas: Madeleine is able to just tell me when something needs to be done. I’ll be doing something in the shop and she’ll come up to me and tell me that on Thursday we are going to the studio. If there isn’t a second party making that call, I won’t even be able to do it.
Madeleine: I’m making a lot of my work the administrative side of the music making process. I’ve actually found I quite enjoy it because it’s a lot of logistics and a puzzle needed to be put together. I’ve never really been okay planning two years in the future, Lucas can attest to this, I’m more of a traveler and a wanderer. I usually don’t stick around too often. It’s nice to have found something that I feel really solid and safe in planning two years in advance. This strange feeling of peace comes up when doing all this paperwork for planning, recording, releasing and marketing an album. I need to figure out audiences and what kind of playing we want to be doing for the next couple of years.
Ashley: What is your writing process?
Lucas: I hide away where no one can hear me and I don’t come out until it’s done. That’s probably a very basic answer. I often come up with the entire structure of the song on the guitar and then piece in words. I’ve only ever done the opposite once. I wrote the words down and then the music. It actually went really well so I maybe I should do that more often but; most of the time I hum along to a few chord progressions until something comes up. I don’t co-write. Again, I’m very reserved. I don’t really do that.
Madeline: I love this question because it perfectly highlights the difference between Lucas and I. Lucas will write a song all at once or the same way every time, and always alone. Where as for more, it’s a choose your own adventure. I honestly have no set steadfast way of writing. Sometimes I write the lyrics first; sometimes I’ll write a melody and plug in the words later. Or I’ll be thinking about a topic a lot and I’ll decide to write a song about that story. One time I decided that I wanted to write a two-chord song and I sat down for a day. It really depends, I don think there are two songs that I’ve written that have been approached the same way. Maybe the first couple songs I wrote, but they were really directionless. I think I decided that I want to write a song and sat down at a guitar and plugged some meaningless words; but I quickly moved away from that to a completely scattered but intentional writing process. A couple times, I’ve had dreams where I’ll hear a song so I keep a journal beside my bed. There have been a couple times where I’ve gotten tidbits of songs from dreams and that’s really cool. When that happens it feels like magic.
Ashley: What made you decide to make this upcoming album?
Madeleine: It’s time.
Lucas: It just came from looking forward to what we want; what we want to do. Like when we were talking earlier about the accomplishment of thinking of the future.
Madeleine: We have so many songs collectively. We have probably 50 finished songs between the two of us. That doesn’t include the bits and pieces that could turn into songs and those that are still brewing. When we play live we only play originals and we can play several sets of exclusively original songs. After most shows we have people coming up to us asking if we have an album for sale and we have to keep telling them no. We really want to start going on tour and see that it would be best to go with an album.
Lucas: Also venues want to see what kind of product you have. In terms of needing some kind of representation of what we are, we could have thrown up a couple microphones and done a demo but what we agreed upon was to make an album as best as it can possibly be. We realized this is the first one, and it we will be all over the place with ideas of what we want to do with it with how it should sound; but we want it to be done properly, in terms of how its produced and engineered and who else plays on it. We wanted all those aspects to be done professionally, not DIY.
Madeleine: Even thought so much of what we do in the rest of our lives is DIY, we decided to take the opposite approach.
Lucas: we wanted to start with something we are proud of rather than worry that we don’t have representation online. We hear it all the time, people can’t find our music online.
Madeleine: We made the conscious decision to not put music online until we have something we feel is really good quality, so the first time people hear our music, it’s something we are proud of and a true representation of our work.
Lucas: And until then, you can see us play live!
Madeleine: Something else is, I want to make this first album so we can hurrying up and start making the second one. We have only been working on demos right now and it’s the most fun we have ever had. It’s so awesome.
Lucas: Recording is so great. We decided to, with our album, that we are going to have other people play with us. When we perform, we usually just have the two of us: two guitars and two voices.
Madeleine: Believing that the art of recording is different than the art of performing live or song writing is a whole other entity. You have so many options available to you in a recording studio. It’s more opportunity to play with the songs you have created. Our songs have been growing and developing through the recording process, we have been changing things.
Lucas: When you hear it so many times, and you hear something you don’t like that you’re forced to fix it. It’s good to sit back and hear what you do. Although I’m very critical of myself when I record.
Madeleine: But who isn’t though?
Lucas: I just find doing vocal recordings to be so stressful because someone’s voice sounds slightly different then it does in their head. Or you’ll sing a take and you’ll think it sounds great but when you listen to it you’ll hear it wasn’t actually very good and you have so many things you need to fix and where to breathe and what to stress.
Madeleine: We love that human quality of recordings though. We decided that we don’t want to make an immaculate album.
Lucas: That was another mutual decision.
Madeleine: We want to make an album that’s us: the real people. With all the flaws and all the moderate mis-chords that may occur.
Lucas: Maybe not so much mis-chords, but making a decision on vocal harmonies. Some people want them to be bang on that it sounds great and match each other perfectly. There is a song we did the other night that with the feel of the song, even though the vocals didn’t line up it sounds kind of cool. It sounded like we were singing together than rounding off every corner and make it really comfortable.
Madeleine: A lot of our favorite recordings, the older stuff, when the recording style was more analogue, you weren’t able to take as many takes as the digital world is able to offer. Those albums are filled with all kinds of things that now you wouldn’t often find.
Those moments, where you hear something unintentional can turn into your favorite part of the song. That’s the part you remember and you can picture the human in the room recording that part.
Ashley: Do you guys have any upcoming performances?
Lucas: We are playing at the Real Love Summer Festival, this summer in Gimli. It’s a good time.
Madeleine: We’ll be hosting some morning singer-songwriter workshops.
Lucas: some good friends of ours put on the festival and they do a really good job of making that happen; it’s a really cool thing. It’s good to be around people like that too, they said they were going to do something, and they did it. We are also performing at Folk Fest. We are doing the Young Performers again.
Support Winnipeg Musicians Madeleine and Lucas Roger!
If you like this post, please hit the like and share button below! Please reach out to me via Twitter or my contact page! I would love to hear anything you have to say! Really, anything. I'm lonely. Also I now have a new Facebook page that will let you know when each post is posted! I would really appreciate if you could like it! Thank you!
