We had the pleasure of speaking with Peter Morén and John Eriksson of Sweden's most popular pop export of the past decade, Peter, Bjorn and John. They are currently touring North American celebrating 10 years together as a band; we caught up with them in Toronto. The charming duo fielded a range of questions that exposed some of the secrets of their unique collection of sounds (they are masters of 'found sound') and explained the state of their band after a decade of creating music and art together.


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CI: Happy Birthday! Did you get any presents yet?
Peter: Yah, we got a couple of presents. We got a trip to Niagara Falls, that was a surprise. I thought we were going straight to Toronto, but our tour manager took us there. But when we got there to the hotel and got the view, I actually thought we were in Toronto until then. And there was an opening band in Japan and at the after party they did 3 covers of Peter, Bjorn and John. Almost unrecognizable at first, but they were good very good versions.


CI: Who in the band has the biggest instrument collection?
John: I think Bjorn…?

Peter: I don't know how much you have, but…?

John: No, Bjorn has… it's mostly keyboards. I think it's something like 20 keyboards. But I used to have a lot. I used to work in a percussion ensemble. You can hear it on our earlier records; thunder sheets and tubular bells and stuff like that. I had tympanis. But I quit that group because this is going too good. So now we don't have any percussion instruments. *Laughs*

Peter: But we do like using other things as percussion instruments. We just take bottles or throw trash on the floor.

John: Or our stomachs (pats his belly).

Peter: Yah, our stomachs.


CI: Do they mic well?
John: Yah!

Peter: Yes, so that's actually on a lot of the last 3 records. We have a lot of that.

John: Since I quit (the ensemble) we have to find garbage and just play it… it sounds almost better.

Peter: Umbrellas, we've been using. Scissors and balloons.


CI: On the album?
Peter: Yah. It is on the album, that's true.

John: And they are cheap and sounds better than real instruments anyhow. And you don't have to go to music stores anymore. You can't find any good stuff there. Peter's trying to build a guitar too.

Peter: Yah, that I actually did when I was 10 years old and it didn't work so well. So I actually buy guitars. I'm starting to get a little guitar collection, and that's nice, because they all sound a very different. And the best guitars from the records are crappy old guitars from the 60's. But you can't tour with them, you have to buy expensive guitars from the 70s.

John: It's like wooden furniture, even for drums... the best ones are from the 50's and 60's. The wood always sounds better.


CI: Any prized pieces?
Peter: I have a guitar from 54 that sounds really good. And 2 guitars from 65. They were really cheap, that's the beauty of it. They are not like expensive brands… well, the 54 is, that's a Gibson… but the other two are just weird, cheap ones.

John: I used to have a cymbal that was amazing, but a Spanish stage technician dropped it from stage and then it cracked. So I broke his fingers. He's okay though.


CI: How has life changed as artists since Writer's Block?
Peter: I buy nicer guitars. And eat nicer lunches. And I have an apartment now… and a computer!


CI: So, did that change anything at all on how you approached Living Thing?
Peter: Ah, the record label wanted a single. I think that was the difference. Apart from that it was all the same. Um, more expensive studios too.

John: Before we had the cheap microphone and now we have the 1,000,000$ microphone that we use to mic our bellies.

Peter: In New York.

John: And you can tell!

Peter: It sounds more expensive.


CI: No change in how you got together to write songs?
Peter: No.

John: It was actually easier this time. That was something different. We met in LA to rehearse, which we couldn't do 5 years ago. That was one of the happiest times in the band's carreer.

Peter: Until I got sick.

John: Yah, right. On the last day Peter got food poisoning.

Peter: That wasn't so fun.

John: But the first 3 days were fun. Totally easy.


CI: Was there any nervousness about releasing this album after having such a huge success?
Peter: No… not really. Especially since we released an album in between. An instrumental album called Seaside Rock. So for us, mentally, that was a follow up. But for the business it wasn't a follow up because it was just on vinyl and not a lot of people ever heard it. But it's a great album it's just it doesn't have vocals on it, so people don't play it that much on the radio. But, I think because we did that record we had already done a follow up in a way, so it took the pressure of it. Smart move.

John: Think about that, Madonna.


CI: You've been sampled and remixed and mixed taped, what is your favourite interpretation of your music from another artist?
John: The whole Re-Living Thing, the hip-hop versions of the songs. I think it's amazing. I am just smiling all the time when I listen to it because we didn't know anything about it before, so they just sent it to us. Mick Boogie was the curator of the project. I think it's amazing to hear what they do with your music. When it's in the hip-hop context it's more different. We usually get a lot of electro stuff, disco type of remixes. But this is something else, new lyrics and they just pick out their favourite bits from each song. I have some real favourite bits.


Mick Boogie / Peter Bjorn & John - Stay This Way (Remix)

CI: How is that selling?
Peter: It's free!

John: All the artists did it for free.

Peter: It should have cost a lot of money… stupid.

John: About half a million people have downloaded it.


CI: John has been in ensemble, so I'm guessing he is trained. Does the rest of the band have formal training?
Peter: I went to music high school, but didn't do that well. I can't really read music. But the best thing about that is you meet people there to play with. So, I met Bjorn there. And after that I haven't really been studying music. I study other stuff and played in bands. Getting life experience. I think that is very important in writing songs.


CI: Who are the kids in 'Nothing to Worry About'?
Peter: There's a guy I know who I've been playing 60's covers with, a drummer. He lives in the town where me and Bjorn and I went to highschool. He's a music teacher now and he has something called 'School of Rock', where he has ensembles of kids playing rock and pop songs.

John: And I went there to do a master class for them… like 'Peter, Bjorn and John - How does it work to be a rock star?' or something like that. And then I thought we would do Sea Side Rock live for Amnesty International. They were part of it, playing percussion in that concert. So it was a natural progression to use them again.


CI: What's it like working with kids? What was the age group?
Peter: I think those girls were 12. It was fun. They appreciate it.

John: And they are not so expensive either!

CI: Who came up with the concept for the 'It Don't Move Me' video? It's bizarre.
Peter: It was the director, Andreas Nilsson, who also did Nothing to worry about. We had, as a band, talked about the concept for this album was that all the videos were going to be people dancing and not including ourselves. We gave him those two things. He knew this 16 year old Micheal Jackson impersonator from Gothenburg, I don't' know who the old guy is. It's kind of a creepy video.

This guy's an amazing dancer and we did a show with him in Sweden. The creepy thing is, of course, that we made the video before what happened. Almost when it came out was the same time.


Watch the video here

John: And when he danced with us during that concert he was still very upset and sad about Michael and he told us afterward that he couldn't really focus on stage. But you couldn't tell. He was amazing.

CI: Will you have time to do anything in Toronto?
Peter: We went to the hockey hall of fame and did an interview there.


CI: Are you guys hockey fans?
Peter: Bjorn is. Me, not so much.

John: I'm in the middle. I support anyone! Free beer, maybe?


CI: Do you like the Maple Leafs?
John: Of course, Mats Sundin is one of our biggest stars.


CI: Is North American sports coverage big in Sweden?
John: Hockey, of course, is big because we have a lot of hockey players in Sweden playing the NHL. Hockey is very big there, so they follow what's happening here.


CI: How did you get hooked up with El Perro Del Mar?
John: We've been secretly in love… how do you call it? Fans, of each other for a long time. We really loved her stuff, and she likes our stuff. But we hadn't met.

Peter: The thing is she's from Gothenburg. The people who do music in Stockholm, you know everyone. But if someone is from Gothenburg you don't know them. But, the guys in her band we all know from before, because they live in Stockholm. So, when we heard about the idea, because she is releasing an album now (Love Is Not Pop), which I've been hyping in every interview lately. It was good timing.


CI: How has it been for the fans? Has it been a good match?
Both: It's a perfect match.

Peter: It's a perfect match; it's a bit softer but it's not like singer songwriter, it's more pop. We've had a lot of good support bands, but this is the best maybe.


CI: Individually, what is your favourite part of the recording process? (At this point they both grabbed their chins and said 'oh' while they gathered their thoughts)
Peter: That's hard…

John: I think the surprises, the improvisation, because we do that a lot. You will maybe have the basic material of a song. But then when you start to flip out, do whatever on top of that, let your mind go free… that's the most fun thing ever. Creating new sounds from scratch from whatever pieces of paper that you rip apart, you start building a sound library. I really like that. It's like building a cartoon movie.

Peter: To be honest, on Living Thing, we took our time above our heads a bit, if you talk about just budget. So next time we have to be a bit more tight. Which is good too. I think really that limitations are good too. If you have too much time you sometimes miss out on spontaneous good stuff.

John: But we needed to go to New York and LA. Okay it cost more money, but we needed an inspiration. We were used to being too comfortable in Stockholm, in Bjorn's studio. But you don't want to repeat yourself, so next time we might not go to New York. But every artist needs inspiration, painters go to different countries to get different input. You can get that from different cities and different studios.

Peter: I can tell you my least favourite part. The mixing. Because it's so important and so frustrating, in a way. You have material that you are really proud of and so much can happen in the mixing and it makes you anxious that you are doing the right decision, and then sometimes you don't do the right decision. And afterward you're like 'fuck'. So that's really stressful. It's creative too and good. But it's also tough. You know you've done all the tough stuff, and now you've got to finish.


CI: What tricks do you have up your sleeve for your next album?
Peter: We'll see what happens!? We are going to start rehearsing in January. We are going to have an outside producer this time, so we will see what he comes up with as well. But I think the idea from our side is that to make it a bit simpler, a bit more straight forward live guitar-bass-drums.

John: It's also a challenge with limitations. If anything can be a sound and now we are saying that we are just making guitar-bass-drums. That can be even more of a challenge to make those instruments sound fresh, because people have done that for so many years.
It's good, you need some concepts. But you might go away from it.

Peter: But it's great to have that headspace when you begin, and then at the end you can maybe add something.

John: It might be a symphony, with a full orchestra. You never know.

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Interview by Meaghan Bent and Kristin Kent

Have you ever seen that t-shirt? It says something like “I was listening to your favourite band 5 years ago”. You all have a friend (maybe more than one) who seethes with (un)justified anger when a band that they ‘discovered when the first album came out’ becomes popular on their 3^rd album. Generally popularity of a band means change to the music that was perfectly fine in the first place. I don’t have that shirt, but I do get a little testy when a beloved treasure starts to change shape.
That’s because most of the time they turn to shit.

Needless to say when one of my favourite Toronto bands, The Diableros, released an album with 3/5 members of the line-up replaced I was nervous that they might have lost that ‘I don’t know what’ that initially drew me to them. Most of that anxiety wore off when I had the chance to see them play together live and completely vanished upon hearing their new EP, Old Story, Fresh Road.

Adopting their new members from the ruins of The Postage Stamps, the new-line up already had the chemistry of a complete band. When added to singer-songwriter Pete Carmichael’s dark lyrics and emotional delivery, it is clear that with this EP, the ‘new’ Diableros are still familiar but also at the beginning of something bigger and better. The good news, for me at least, is that despite losing some of the sloppiness of the first album (You Can’t Break the Strings On Our Olympic Hearts), Old Story, Fresh Road has more of the original charm than their sophomore release… just expanded on technically. Better drumming, better bass, better mixing. Better.
I had the chance to speak with Pete about the changes of the band, the new album and get some insight on being a working man in a hard working band.
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How’s it going? Pretty good, I’m tired. I’ve done a lot of driving for The International Festival of Authors (IFOA).

Are you an avid reader? Not really. But I think I might change that. I met all these interesting authors and now I’m interested in their books. It sort of sparked my interest in reading again.

How do you like the new line-up? It’s ideal really. I’ve always admired the members of the new line up as musicians in the past.

What did the line-up change do for your songwriting? It’s different now in that all 3 of them make their own music. I used to basically write the songs and bring them to practice. I would have an idea for the beat or something and I would express that to the others. Now, I can just bring a small piece of a song and present it and the guys are all able to add to it. It feels more like a group than the last line up.

What were the conversations like that led to your selection of vinyl and digital over CD format? It’s something that I had asked my friends over the past few years. I like the bigger artwork; they last forever if you take care of them. Personally, I won’t buy a CD unless there is no other option. And, this is going to sound really geeky, but we took the masters and put them on vinyl where they are able to be heard at 96kHz compared to a CD which is only able to support 44.1kHz. It feels good to know that we have the highest possible sound quality, even if not many people would be able to hear the difference.



After 2 full length albums, why did you release a 5-song EP? After the line-up change we wanted to have something to release and to tour. We were working on more songs, but these all just seemed to fit together. On the last album we put out all the songs I was working on, but this time we wanted to set parameters.

What sort of parameters? That’s a tough question to put into words, which is I guess what makes music such an interesting thing. The parameters are mostly what feels good to play, but isn’t too much like playing just ‘whatever’. We wanted to write music within a certain feeling.

At a recent show, before playing Push it to Monday, you gave a shout out to everyone who takes Fridays off. What does that mean to you? The song is actually about someone not being able to get to work one day because of car troubles. But really, the idea that people work for the weekends, everyone knows that cliché… that song, but it’s true. There must be more that can be done with a little more time to yourself, whether that is reading or working on music… there are so many things that we could all do with a little more time to ourselves.

What is like having the job of a professional musician AND having a day job? I wouldn’t exactly say we are professional musicians. Like, yah, we all have day jobs that we have to keep. But, you know, I’m always amazed when I meet musicians who I would have expected to live off their music, and they have a day job! It’s like, ‘no way’! We are still financing the albums out of our own pocket.

How has having a record label changed the game? Well, it changed the game in that having a record label frees up a lot of time for me. Not having to do the paperwork and the administration things like putting your album online really gives us the time to focus on the music. It’s different having someone else who is able to get the music out to people who will hear it. We still do some of the paperwork, like, we got a grant for the last album. We worked on the grant proposal ourselves.

What has your favourite touring experience been? Last fall we traveled out East to the Halifax Pop Explosion. The show itself wasn’t all that good. Afterward we ended up playing a show at this half-pizza joint, half bar called Maxwell’s. No one in the audience had ever heard of us, most of the time when we play the audience has some idea about the music. But in this bar, no one knew who we were but during the set this couple got up and started dancing in the crowd. It felt really good to get that kind of response from people who had never heard the music before.

After that we went out and had a really good seafood dinner.

The whole night was great.
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So, if you like good old rock and roll with rich tones, tragic lyrics, beautiful guitars and high-quality audio recording I recommend you go get yourself the totally rad, totally see-through, new EP. If you don’t have a record player, check out the album online at http://thediableros.com/

Interview by Meaghan Bent | Photos from myspace

Toronto Musicians, Arts Supporters Protest Recent Cuts to Canada Council. City Council to vote on motion of endorsement.

Toronto-area musicians, artists, and arts supporters will take to the streets to raise awareness regarding recent cuts made by the federal government. Heritage Minister, James Moore recently announced that 1.3 million dollars from the Canada Music Fund’s annual budget would be redirected away from the Canada Council. This has resulted in the cancellation of the CCA’s Music Diversity Program, which, for the past 20 years, has provided integral support for recording and marketing to artists who are on the forefront of forging new, innovative and distinctly Canadian culture.

The protest, organized by arts advocacy group Cutting the Album, will assemble at 6pm outside the Front Street entrance of the CBC Broadcast Centre (250 Front St. West), and depart at 6:15 pm, walking a downtown route (see exact route below) to raise awareness. Stops along the way will include performances by local musicians, including Christine Duncan’s Element Choir, and special guest speakers from the local music community. Also in attendance will be Andrew Cash, on behalf of NDP culture critic Charlie Angus, who will be speaking regarding the current heritage committee hearing, which is taking place in Ottawa to look into why those most impacted by these cuts were not included in the consultation process. Organizers will be collecting written statements and deputations to send for inclusion in this hearing. Volunteers will also be on hand to collect signatures for a petition which has already received over 5800 signatures.

On Tuesday, October 27, Toronto City Councillor Adam Vaughan will bring a motion of endorsement to council, seconded by Mayor David Miller.

Cutting the Album is calling upon anyone with an interest in the arts, to join in calling upon Stephen Harper and his Conservative government to commit to meaningful dialogue with the Canadian artistic community, to engage in a fair, transparent, and inclusive consultation process, and to renew support for arts and culture in Canada.

Here's the route:

6pm meet at CBC
6:15 process on John to Roy Thompson Hall (speech here)
6:40 process along King to Peter, then Peter to Queen, stop at the Lush store on queen and give a speech
7:05 Queen to Yonge and up to Dundas for speeches there
7:25 Dundas to Bay and down to Queen to Nathan Phillips Square
7:40 Speech and Element Choir

Carolyn Mark is a Victoria based songwriter who is in it for the love of music. I had a chance to chat with her while she was trying to thread a needle in Toronto to make her show outfit for the night. She is touring with NQ Arbuckle to promote their new collabourative album Let’s Just Stay Here (Mint, 2009).

Dog lover, mint julep fan and all around funny gal; she was so easy (and pleasant) to talk to that I learned all of that before we even started the interview. We talked about song writing, being a touring musician, her understanding of Canadian economics via alcohol prices and a great deal about working with others.
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Meaghan Bent: (After reading an interview she gave herself on her website, I had to ask) What inspired your self-interview?
Carolyn Mark: Well, I wanted to see what I had to say!

M: You asked all the questions you wanted then?
C: Yah, well, no… I asked the questions I thought that I would get.

M: Yes, you covered everything. It’s really deflating as someone who is looking to interview you!
C: I thought it would be helpful! But you’re like, the third person to tell me that. ‘Well, you already asked that’… you can ask me again, I might feel differently. I didn’t mean to step on anyone’s toes.

M: At least now you won’t have to answer the same questions!
C: Oh no! Now I’ll have to think of new things!

M: You mentioned in your self-interview that you were sitting at your typewriter trying to come up with some philosophical thing on the nature of collaboration but couldn’t. Does putting you on the spot help? Any wisdom gained?
C: From having 4 practices and having to play the show last night, I have a new theory. The interesting part is that everyone’s ‘right’ is different. Much like when you get your first apartment and you make dinner with your friend you’re like ‘well, the RIGHT way to do it is’ and you realize it’s your Mom’s way and that everyone feels that way.

M: NQ Arbuckle is a band of really talented and long time musicians, I guess they’ve all cultivated their own ways.
C: Oh, they’re fabulous! Well they have, and they have the ‘regular’ way on their side. And so most people do it their way, fully convicted.

M: What’s your right way versus theirs?
C: Well, I just know how the song goes. And I guess I can waver on that, but then I have relearn it. But since it’s mine, I think that they should learn it. We’re still hashing that one out actually. It’s very interesting.

M: This collaboration idea is a big one for you?
C: Yah, it is!

M: How’s it going?
C: Well, they’re all so great. That really helps. I really like them, they are awesome musicians and people. They all have jobs and families, so the fact that they have any time at all is amazing.

M: Where did you record?
C: We recorded at John Dinsmore’s studio. It was great. We had Jay Elliott as engineer, he’s got really fast fingers and it always sounds good and John really knows his stuff. They are like a crack team of experts. It’s great.

M: I read one thing about John Dinsmore, and I won’t grill you about NQ Arbuckle, but I can’t believe this is a true thing. It says that before he was the bass player for NQ he was an esteemed bull fighter? This can’t be true!
C: Oh that’s just on facebook. That’s just hilarious, but he says everyone’s believing him. He’s quite tickled that everyone is believing his little joke.

M: I guess there really isn’t a lot of places to bull fight in Toronto?
C: Oh god. Speaking of which, have you seen those weird ads for bull and cock fighting? I guess it’s for the animal rights society but they do this weird reverse psychology. I saw one in Parkdale and was like… what the hell?! ‘Two dogs tackle a bear, no dissappointment’… but I guess it’s for the animal protection league or something.

M: Toronto does that…
C: That’s really giving people a lot of credit.

M: I don’t know if Victoria is like this, but over the past few years I’ve seen a bunch of ads that I’ve had to go and Google.
C: Yah, no… in Victoria they spell it right out, like, 3 times, because there are so many rules.

M: How do you write your songs? Any particular formula?
C: No real formula, but usually alone. I try to make the verses the same but they (NQ) say that I don’t.

M: Are you trained?
C: I took piano lessons, a lot when I was young. So, classically… and I mean, I’m quite rusty, but… yes.

M: And now you’re playing guitar, anything else?
C: Yah. I just started the mandolin. It’s fun in the car. Maybe not for everyone else.

M: Like, while you’re driving? A little mandolin between red lights?
C: Yah and well… I mean when someone else is driving. Like, if you’re on a van tour with your buddies it’s good to have a mandolin so you can sing along. I like that part.

M: What’s your favourite part of the writing process?
C: Oh… hmm, well…hmm… probably right in the middle when you don’t even notice that time is passing, when you’re consumed. The start is hard, and the end is hard… but in the middle when your tongue is hanging out of your mouth and you’re panted and you didn’t even notice when it got dark. Kind of like when you’re a kid. I like that part.

M: Do you really use a typewriter?
C: No. I use a pen and a computer.

M: What sort of technologies are part of your life?
C: A laptop with no disk drive. And, um… I record into the phone a lot. Like, when I’m home at night and I don’t want to forget something I’ll record into the phone. It’s sort of easy and awesome and it’ll be there in the morning. Actually, I’ve heard once about a girl who was a singer who didn’t play guitar so she’d sing into a tuner and write down what notes it said. And then play it with someone, and it usually worked. So, that’s a good tip!

M: Why are you holding your album mates head on the cover?
C: Um, Kelly Haig, the awesome artist, said that it was either going to be toy soldiers or heads. She really has a head thing.

M: So, that’s not a comment on collaboration?
C: I don’t think so. She told me that when she was young her father was a truck driver and one time he was the first at the scene of an accident, and when he was putting out the flares he found a body without its head. Since then she said she’s been looking for that missing head. So, she sort of has a head fetish.

I really like her art, it’s beautiful.

M: Where is she from?
C: Vancouver and she’s a hairdresser. Her shop is on Granville and it’s all decorated with taxidermy and her crazy art.

M: What are you looking forward to most on this collabourative micro-tour?
C: Playing the shows… I really like it. It’s nice to have a band, it feels really great.

M: So, most of the time it’s just you?
C: Or one or two others. I can’t really afford to have a band all the time. Like, this is my only job so if I go alone I can kind of get by but if I have people… well, they cost money, and well, you gotta pay them. I went to Newfoundland, it wasn’t a big money maker. The ferry is like, $200 each way.

M: Have you spent much time in Toronto?
C: Well, I’ve been here most of the year recording. My friends tell me I live here now, but I don’t’.

M: Any haunts you’ve been digging?
C: Well, my friend works at The Communist Daughter and I like Mitzi’s for breakfast. I also like the little bars in Toronto. You don’t find that in the rest of Canada. You could really spend a few weeks drinking here.

M: Can you recommend a good red wine?
C: The 7 dollar bottle of Fuzion is kind of helping out in these economic times? $7! And it won’t kill you! You know what’s interesting? From my travels I am beginning to get a real sense of what’s going on. In Alberta it’s $11 and that used to be the cheapest place for booze. But the boom is over there, so they are making things more expensive to make some money. It’s funny how things are changing. I’m totally figuring out the economic climate of Canada through the prices of booze.

M: What are your next plans?
C: Well, we are playing Halloween in Wakefield with will be awesome. I’m trying to convince the band to go as slutty lobsters but they aren’t going for it. Then I go home, and then they are coming out west and we are doing another tour. We are starting in Calgary then back to Vancouver. There are less people out there and farther drives, but I still think it’s important.

M: I was actually in Vancouver a few weeks ago speaking to a musician who was telling me that there are no venues out there anyone can really play at.
C: No, there isn’t a lot. There are like, 25x more places to play here.

M: Do you have any advice for musicians who are trying to get a start in the desolate landscape of Western Canada?
C: Ugh…. No. You just gotta love it, because it’s stupid.

—
Tues Oct 27-The Montreal House, Peterborough, ON
Wed Oct 28-The Casbah, Hamilton, ON
Thurs Oct 29-The Starlight, Waterloo, ON
Friday Oct 30- Casa Del Popolo, Montreal, QC
Saturday Oct 31- The Black Sheep Inn, Wakefield, QC

Carolyn Mark is a Victoria based songwriter who is in it for the love of music. I had a chance to chat with her while she was trying to thread a needle in Toronto to make her show outfit for the night. She is touring with NQ Arbuckle to promote their new collabourative album Let’s Just Stay Here (Mint, 2009).

Dog lover, mint julep fan and all around funny gal; she was so easy (and pleasant) to talk to that I learned all of that before we even started the interview. We talked about song writing, being a touring musician, her understanding of Canadian economics via alcohol prices, and a great deal about working with others.
—-

Meaghan Bent: (After reading an interview she gave herself on her website, I had to ask) What inspired your self-interview?
Carolyn Mark: Well, I wanted to see what I had to say!

M: You asked all the questions you wanted then?
C: Yah, well, no… I asked the questions I thought that I would get.

M: Yes, you covered everything. It’s really deflating as someone who is looking to interview you!
C: I thought it would be helpful! But you’re like, the third person to tell me that. ‘Well, you already asked that’… you can ask me again, I might feel differently. I didn’t mean to step on anyone’s toes.

M: At least now you won’t have to answer the same questions!
C: Oh no! Now I’ll have to think of new things!

M: You mentioned in your self-interview that you were sitting at your typewriter trying to come up with some philosophical thing on the nature of collaboration but couldn’t. Does putting you on the spot help? Any wisdom gained?
C: From having 4 practices and having to play the show last night, I have a new theory. The interesting part is that everyone’s ‘right’ is different. Much like when you get your first apartment and you make dinner with your friend you’re like ‘well, the RIGHT way to do it is’ and you realize it’s your Mom’s way and that everyone feels that way.

M: NQ Arbuckle is a band of really talented and long time musicians, I guess they’ve all cultivated their own ways.
C: Oh, they’re fabulous! Well they have, and they have the ‘regular’ way on their side. And so most people do it their way, fully convicted.

M: What’s your right way versus theirs?
C: Well, I just know how the song goes. And I guess I can waver on that, but then I have relearn it. But since it’s mine, I think that they should learn it. We’re still hashing that one out actually. It’s very interesting.

M: This collaboration idea is a big one for you!
C: Yah, it is!

M: How’s it going?
C: Well, they’re all so great. That really helps. I really like them, they are awesome musicians and people. They all have jobs and families, so the fact that they have any time at all is amazing.

M: Where did you record?
C: We recorded at John Dinsmore’s studio. It was great. We had Jay Elliott as engineer, he’s got really fast fingers and it always sounds good and John really knows his stuff. They are like a crack team of experts. It’s great.

M: I read one thing about John Dinsmore, and I won’t grill you about NQ Arbuckle, but I can’t believe this is a true thing. It says that before he was the bass player for NQ he was an esteemed bull fighter? This can’t be true!
C: Oh that’s just on facebook. That’s just hilarious, but he says everyone’s believing him. He’s quite tickled that everyone is believing his little joke.

M: I guess there really isn’t a lot of places to bull fight in Toronto?
C: Oh god. Speaking of which, have you seen those weird ads for bull and cock fighting? I guess it’s for the animal rights society but they do this weird reverse psychology. I saw one in Parkdale and was like… what the hell?! ‘Two dogs tackle a bear, no dissappointment’… but I guess it’s for the animal protection league or something.

M: Toronto does that…
C: That’s really giving people a lot of credit.

M: I don’t know if Victoria is like this, but over the past few years I’ve seen a bunch of ads that I’ve had to go and Google.
C: Yah, no… in Victoria they spell it right out, like, 3 times, because there are so many rules.

M: How do you write your songs? Any particular formula?
C: No real formula, but usually alone. I try to make the verses the same but they (NQ) say that I don’t.

M: Are you trained?
C: I took piano lessons, a lot when I was young. So, classically… and I mean, I’m quite rusty, but… yes.

M: And now you’re playing guitar, anything else?
C: Yah. I just started the mandolin. It’s fun in the car. Maybe not for everyone else.

M: Like, while you’re driving? A little mandolin between red lights?
C: Yah and well… I mean when someone else is driving. Like, if you’re on a van tour with your buddies it’s good to have a mandolin so you can sing along. I like that part.

M: What’s your favourite part of the writing process?
C: Oh… hmm, well…hmm… probably right in the middle when you don’t even notice that time is passing, when you’re consumed. The start is hard, and the end is hard… but in the middle when your tongue is hanging out of your mouth and you’re panted and you didn’t even notice when it got dark. Kind of like when you’re a kid. I like that part.

M: Do you really use a typewriter?
C: No. I use a pen and a computer.

M: What sort of technologies are part of your life?
C: A laptop with no disk drive. And, um… I record into the phone a lot. Like, when I’m home at night and I don’t want to forget something I’ll record into the phone. It’s sort of easy and awesome and it’ll be there in the morning. Actually, I’ve heard once about a girl who was a singer who didn’t play guitar so she’d sing into a tuner and write down what notes it said. And then play it with someone, and it usually worked. So, that’s a good tip!

M: Why are you holding your album mates head on the cover?
C: Um, Kelly Haig, the awesome artist, said that it was either going to be toy soldiers or heads. She really has a head thing.

M: So, that’s not a comment on collaboration?
C: I don’t think so. She told me that when she was young her father was a truck driver and one time he was the first at the scene of an accident, and when he was putting out the flares he found a body without its head. Since then she said she’s been looking for that missing head. So, she sort of has a head fetish.

I really like her art, it’s beautiful.

M: Where is she from?
C: Vancouver and she’s a hairdresser. Her shop is on Granville and it’s all decorated with taxidermy and her crazy art.

M: What are you looking forward to most on this collabourative micro-tour?
C: Playing the shows… I really like it. It’s nice to have a band, it feels really great.

M: So, most of the time it’s just you?
C: Or one or two others. I can’t really afford to have a band all the time. Like, this is my only job so if I go alone I can kind of get by but if I have people… well, they cost money, and well, you gotta pay them. I went to Newfoundland, it wasn’t a big money maker. The ferry is like, $200 each way.

M: Have you spent much time in Toronto?
C: Well, I’ve been here most of the year recording. My friends tell me I live here now, but I don’t’.

M: Any haunts you’ve been digging?
C: Well, my friend works at The Communist Daughter and I like Mitzi’s for breakfast. I also like the little bars in Toronto. You don’t find that in the rest of Canada. You could really spend a few weeks drinking here.

M: Can you recommend a good red wine?
C: The 7 dollar bottle of Fuzion is kind of helping out in these economic times? $7! And it won’t kill you! You know what’s interesting? From my travels I am beginning to get a real sense of what’s going on. In Alberta it’s $11 and that used to be the cheapest place for booze. But the boom is over there, so they are making things more expensive to make some money. It’s funny how things are changing. I’m totally figuring out the economic climate of Canada through the prices of booze.

M: What are your next plans?
C: Well, we are playing Halloween in Wakefield with will be awesome. I’m trying to convince the band to go as slutty lobsters but they aren’t going for it. Then I go home, and then they are coming out west and we are doing another tour. We are starting in Calgary then back to Vancouver. There are less people out there and farther drives, but I still think it’s important.

M: I was actually in Vancouver a few weeks ago speaking to a musician who was telling me that there are no venues out there anyone can really play at.
C: No, there isn’t a lot. There are like, 25x more places to play here.

M: Do you have any advice for musicians who are trying to get a start in the desolate landscape of Western Canada?
C: Ugh…. No. You just gotta love it, because it’s stupid.

—
Tues Oct 27-The Montreal House, Peterborough, ON
Wed Oct 28-The Casbah, Hamilton, ON
Thurs Oct 29-The Starlight, Waterloo, ON
Friday Oct 30- Casa Del Popolo, Montreal, QC
Saturday Oct 31- The Black Sheep Inn, Wakefield, QC