KULAS INTERVIEW 5.03

Looking back at your time with James, what were your highlights and lowlights?

There were so many great experiences that it's hard to narrow them down.  I guess for me, traveling across America doing the Lollapalooza Tour was a pretty big deal.  It was the full on rock and roll lifestyle for 2 months that was so intoxicating.  Of course afterwards I think we all needed therapy, but at the time I remember thinking "what a great way to see and experience the best and worst of the rotting  corpse that is America".  I've always had a fascination with the U.S.  As a Canadian I can't help seeing the country as our big, bullying half-brother to the south who is continually trying to do us over.  Of course Americans themselves are fine, it's just their cultist, unwavering belief in themselves that makes them such an easy target for Canadians and a lot of the rest of the world.  So, yes, 2 months performing across every inch of America was a highlight.   I'd also have to include working with Brian Eno as one of the great highlights.  Whether you're a fan (as I am)  or not, you can't help but take away so much positivity from his ideas and his vision.  He has an endless reserve of creative energy that transforms in an instant anything mundane into a small work of genius. 

As far as lowlights?  I don't know, I guess being told that I wouldn't be needed in any future incarnation of JAMES.

What did it teach you about the music business and how has it influenced what you've done since?

That you have be able to take people's kindness and exuberance with a grain of salt.  I think that bands are surrounded by so many people whose job it is to tell you you're  fucking geniuses that you begin to believe it.  You believe in camaraderie and friendship until the day no one needs you any more and the boat starts to sink and  everyone who once greased your wheels turns their back to you and pretends they don't know who you are.  The music business is a breeding ground for charlatans, professional liars and greedy twats and that's what makes it so fascinating.  I used to worry about what people thought but now I couldn't give a shit.

Have you had much contact with any of the band since your departure?

Not as much as I would like.  A few phone calls here and there.

It's been a couple of years since Another Small Machine.  What has been behind the delay in recording and releasing another record?

Well, after you release a record you promote it so. I've been doing that since returning to Canada.  I've also been trying to put a distribution deal together with Universal which is still ongoing.  But ultimately I've been re-testing the waters here in Canada after 5 years away to find out where I stand in the scheme of things.  The music scene in North America is dramatically different then in Europe.  Everything on the radio is driven from the States and it's horribly homogenized and bitter, like Starbucks fucking coffee.  It's the same 5 songs packaged and performed by 100 bands.  Corporate Punk bands, cheesy Pop Idol nonsense (borrowed from the UK, home of the cheesy Pop Idol) and bad mid-West Rock and Roll.  Classic Rock music stations still abound over here so you can imagine how forward thinking people are about music.  In Europe it's always fresh, exciting, new.  There's a different energy and vision that comes from the dance scene in Europe that crosses over into alternative pop and makes everything feel cutting edge.  Here, it's all about Rock, Folk Rock, Classic Rock so, alas that's why I'm going to make a fucking ROCK record!

Which of the albums - Mosquito or Another Small Machine - are you most proud of?  And what are your favourite tracks off each and why?

You know, when I think about Mosquito after all these years the one thing I'm most proud of about that record was the way Saul, myself and Craig Arnatt (Studio Engineer) made it.  You've got to understand that back then I didn't have a big budget and the goal was to take 12 songs that were completed only up the point of being written on an acoustic guitar and turn them into a  fully arranged, continuous piece of work.  To top it off we only had 18 days to arrange, record and mix them! So, when I listen back I hear some wonderfully produced pieces of music.  Saul was brilliant in those sessions and showed a lot of vision.  I learned a lot from him.  As songs though I can't help but hearing naïve and ambiguous lyrics supported by a shaky vocal style, but your career is a work in progress you know?  I'd have to say "Taken" and "A Clever Mess" are my two favourites.  As for ASM, well, it was a labour of love because I just felt I needed to get those songs out and off my chest so I could move on to new things.  It felt good to be in a studio by myself and challenging myself but I wouldn't do it again. You need objective voices a lot of times to offer up ideas that you are too close to the songs to see. As far as songs go I'd have to say "The Only One" and "Gone Away Song" are my two favourites.

What was behind the decision to form the band Dead City Radio as opposed to recording under the Kulas name with a backing band?

The main reason is because of what I just mentioned about  being alone in a project.  You see, the way I work makes it easy for me to just get everything done myself.  I can sit in my studio and arrange and perform a song without ever having to see another human being.  The trouble is, you lose the vitality and energy that comes from having individual players in a room bashing the shit out of things.  The obvious thing that made JAMES such a brilliant band was that the sum of all the individuals created a totally unique sounding group.  I mean, you'd be hard pressed to find a more exciting live band and one that translated that energy into the recording process as passionately.  So it's with this in mind that I've been writing with new musicians in the wings.  Instead of having a band just learning parts that are set in stone, I'm now creating songs up to the point of having a general feel and vocal direction and then allowing the band to bring in their influence and sound to broaden the sonic scope.  I also hate the idea of being a "solo" artist.  I don't think me or my music translate well when pushed down the singer/songwriter path.

How would you describe the album American Cheerleader and when can we expect to hear it?  

The album "American Cheerleader" is a throw back to the best part of early Glam music before it went over the edge and tripped on it's massive platform heels.  It's big guitars, big drums, walls of vocals and it's all analog!  I'm so fucking done with recording albums into a fucking computer!  Want to hear something that sounds like shit?  Open up Pro-Tools or Logic and use every fucking plug in you can find and guess what?  You've made a record that every half wit and their brother has made in their bedrooms.  Boring.  I've been demoing in the digital domain because of it's cost effectiveness,  but will be tracking in a wonderful old studio here in Toronto.   Outside of electronica, bands are losing the battle of the recording arts in a big way these days.  I don't care what you say, the catch 22 of today's technology is that you trade off convenience and affordability for originality.  Computers are great tools.  And that's it.  Tools.

Look forward to a finished product as late as next fall.

Will it be through your own label or are you seeking major backing for it?

It will be licensed out to a Major Label and released on Interloper Music.

Will you be playing live outside the Toronto area - and in particular the US and the UK?

No plans at the moment although I have been in contact with promoters in the UK to see how viable a tour would be.

Are you enjoying the more intimate surroundings you've been playing shows in recently compared to the huge arenas you played in with James? 

I look at every gig as just that - a gig.   I've been happy just to have audiences here in Toronto come out to my shows and enjoy themselves.  Playing to 15,000 people is obviously a rush like no other but it's not the norm anymore. I just try to make each show I play here, whether with a band or solo,  the best show it can be. 

You've co-produced the new album from Katie Griffin.  Who is she and how did you get involved in that project?

Katie Griffin is a Canadian actress of some note.  She's starred in films with Glenn Close, Nicole Kidman, Stephen Baldwin - lot's of big names.  Last year she approached Rob Plowman, a composer with whom I had been writing some music for television, and asked if he would be interested in producing some of her songs.  As he was very busy he passed the project on to me and we decided that between the two of us we could help her put an album together.  We worked the original arrangements out in my studio and then moved to his studio, Fish Music,  to do the tracking.  All totaled it took about 4 months to demo, record, mix and master.

Do you see yourself in future as a producer or an artist or both?

Both, definitely.

If you could work with anyone in the music business in future, who would you most like to work with?

Phil Spector, but he's probably going to end up going to jail for life after recently shooting his girlfriend.  Nut.

And a final question, how would you like to remembered in the history of James?

As the loud Canadian with the ugly white guitar.