By: Lidia Vila

Your song “Aegis Documentary film music”, is this your tribute to Sigur Ros?
Funny you should say that: I happen to love them, but I didn’t have them in mind while recording it!

My brother asked me to write some music for a promotional web documentary. I just came up with this cool piano riff and slowly and gradually built upon it - like it was a lego blocks monster or something. I was experimenting with cello at the time, so I went with that: I did a lot of overdubs. I’m so proud of the end result - despite the movie being abandoned for financial reasons. Once in a while I love listening to ambient music, and enjoy exploring that. I see myself as an artist, following musical intuitions wherever they lead me.

Your song “Girlfriends” is very similar to the style of Barenaked Ladies, are you afraid of the obvious comparisons and people telling you to find your own voice? I don’t mind the comparisons at all: it helps me when I try to describe my own music to others and it even helps find an audience. I don’t let it box me in.

I think that the more you get to know a new artist the more the comparisons fade away, and you come to see that there are really only certain similarities. Everyone is so much more unique than you think they are at first.

At 17 you had already toured Canada with a band, what was that like and how would you feel about doing a nation wide tour today?

In the late ’80s cover bands ruled. We worked hard and played a lot of triple A venues. We covered all the Top 40 music that we actually liked, and snuck in our own originals. In general people didn’t want to hear indie bands back then - they wanted to hear major label music.

I loved touring - seeing new places and people. Back then I wasn’t married, and didn’t have kids, so if I did it now, I’d figure out how to take them along maybe in a camper for the summer holidays. Or keep the tours short; they’d love it too.

What does “11:59″ mean to you? What’s the significance?
It seems I’m a late bloomer, so the album and song is autobiographical; here I am again in life, with all kinds of creativity and energy bursting forth after a dormant period. The concept for me was that of a cuckoo clock, or a grandfather clock, just when it’s about to ring on the hour. It also means that the hour is over, and it’s time to start fresh again - to wind up and do it all over.

Aside from guitar, you also play: bass, drums, pedal steel, banjo, cello, and harmonica. Are you a perfectionist and want to play the parts yourself, or do you have a hard time finding the right mix of people to play with?
Both to a degree, but really it is born out of necessity. I’ve always dreamed of being in a super band, like U2, but I’ve had mixed experiences partnering with bands and other songwriters. I’ve basically had to record on my own, and I’m a prolific songwriter so I have strong inclinations towards many musical instruments. I don’t like to limit myself. I’ve got a willing bass player for my next recording and I’m thrilled to hand that over to him.

Where do you see yourself within the music industry in the next five years?
As a semi professional, hopefully.  I’m looking for a band to play drums in right now, believe it or not. Maybe I’ll find the right band after all. Or at the least I’ll be active as a producer for local up and coming talent, or do more session work as a multi-instrumentalist. No matter what, I’ll keep writing and recording my own music, because that’s what all of this is about; there’s no other reason to play any instruments as far as I’m concerned. It’s all born out of a desire to let my soul express itself as freely and in as grand a way as possible, and that’s music for me.

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