Faber Drive Shares Secrets

Faber Drive is back with the release of their second album, Can’t Keep a Secret. The Mission, BC-based band, now decked out with two new members (Jordan Pritchett and Andrew Stricko), brings forth a brand new sound on this latest project. Blending upbeat electro-synth sounds with the original Faber Drive style, Can’t Keep a Secret has a fresh new feel. Youthink got the chance to sit down with singer/guitarist Dave Faber as he shared some secrets about Faber Drive’s latest project.

YT: How are you feeling about the success of “Can’t Keep a Secret” so far?
DF: We’re feeling really good! The first single is almost double platinum! I’m really excited.

YT: This album channels the original Faber Drive smoothness with a new twist – especially with the electro-synth elements. What brought about the shift?
DF: We’ve always been fans of The Killers and The Cars, so we just wanted to try something different. The funny thing about it is that the first single, G-Get Up and Dance, was actually supposed to be for a side project... I don’t know if I should say this, but I guess I’ll say it... the side project was going to be called Plastic Jacket so it was going to be more of an electro-pop type thing, but we ended up showing our management and label the song and they freaked out about it and they were like, “You guys can’t do this as a side project, you guys gotta release it as Faber Drive.” And we weren’t too sure about that because it doesn’t really sound like Faber Drive, right? And they were like, “Well, let’s just go for it and see if people like it.” And good thing because it seems like a lot of people like it.

YT: Many of the songs seem very nostalgic and personal. How difficult was it to write “By Your Side”?
DF: It was tough, you know? I wrote the song about my dad and he died of stomach cancer, which spread to lung cancer a few years back and it was tough. I can relate to people who have people who are close to them who have passed away from cancer. It’s a very hard thing to go through... having somebody pass away at all, but cancer’s just not fun. It’s a sad song if you look at it in the way that I wrote it, but it’s a happy song if you look at it like that, the people who you love, they’ll never truly be gone, there’ll always be a piece of them with you no matter where you are or what you do. And it was quite tough to write about.

YT: Tracks like “I’ll Be There” and “Never Coming Down” have very optimistic lyrics. Was the album aimed in this positive direction?
DF: We generally write about our life experiences of stuff and we try to be relatable to friends and family, but we generally try to keep our lyrics fairly positive – I mean, all the songs seem to be pretty positive. G-Get Up and Dance is about just partying and having a great time, going out with friends. Never Coming Down is about driving all night, having lots of fun, how when you’re young, your car is your life, you know? It’s what you – especially when you first get your licence – you just love hanging out in your car and doing everything.

YT: The question everyone is dying to ask of the title... what’s the big secret you can’t keep?
DF: Basically, you know, we’ve got lots of secrets, but one of the secrets about the album was the first single, G-Get Up and Dance was actually recorded in my barn at my house.

Switchfoot: In the Eye of the Hurricane

With hugely successful hit singles like Dare You to Move and millions of records sold, alt-rock band Switchfoot has cemented its place within the music industry. I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Drew Shirley, one of the guitar players from the San Diego band, to discuss the band’s seventh studio album, Hello Hurricane. We talked about everything from Switchfoot’s legendary live shows to Narnia and even Dancing with the Stars...

YT: Switchfoot is known for its energetic live shows. Describe to me what it’s like for you being onstage with the band.
DS: It’s crazy... I mean it’s like a whirlwind. Anything could happen at a Switchfoot show! We never know when [lead singer] Jon’s just gonna jump into the crowd or pull up a fan to play guitar or drums on a song during the show, so we have to be really flexible to change on the fly.

One of the things that is powerful is just feeling the unity of the song as it’s happening to the people, because we are moved by these songs as well and I think that comes across to an audience. We want to be fully invested in every song that we’re playing live. These are things that we talk about backstage as a band before the show, like, “What are we gonna think about tonight while we’re playing? What’s the flow? What do we wanna portray?” Those type of things are going through our minds as we’re playing.

YT: You released your latest album Hello Hurricane in November 2009 and I’ve heard that you already have enough material recorded for your next album?
DS: Yeah, we actually recorded 80 songs for Hello Hurricane, so Vice Verses is the next album to come out of the songs that we didn’t release on Hello Hurricane.

YT: What about the rest of the 80 songs?
DS: We’d like to see them all go out at some point; we were thinking in about a year. But it depends on Hello Hurricane and how it plays out. Albums are kinda like kids; you’ve got a collection of them and they go out there, sometimes they get into trouble, sometimes they get a good job, and you never really know the path the album can take. So we’re really focused on Hello Hurricane right now.

YT: You got to record the song “This Is Home” for the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian soundtrack. How did you get that opportunity?
DS: Well, Jon met with some guys to write and they ended up being a couple of guys who were involved in the soundtrack, and they just said, “Hey, do you wanna submit a song?” And we said, “Sure!” so we did. Later they called us and said the director listened to it and everyone else listened to it and loved it – and they wanted to put it on the album!

YT: You recorded a music video for that song. How was recording that one different from the others?
DS: Well, it was a big-budget thing. I mean, any time you’re working for Disney, it’s a big budget. They’ve got seemingly unlimited resources at their disposal. We actually closed down a block of LA to record it, and we closed down a subway for three hours for us to film, which was kinda fun. And also, to see us woven in with the movie footage was almost a bit nostalgic ‘cause it’s a movie that we’ve all read as a book when we were kids. I’m just glad it wasn’t in some sort of summer chick flick (laughs).

YT: One last question... where do you see yourself in 10 years?
DS: Hopefully I’m gonna be doing what I’m doing now, just being better at it. And I love producing so I’d love to be producing some other bands. And I also love being on TV and doing different acting type things so I would love to be on Dancing with the Stars!

Default Keeps it Confident

Vancouver alt-rock band Default returns to the music scene with their much-anticipated album, Comes and Goes. After a four-year hiatus, the boys of Default have had their share of challenges, but they have proven that even when things go wrong, it’s important to stay positive. I recently caught up with the band at Roxy Burger in Vancouver to chat about their long-awaited fourth release.

Default had originally started working on Comes and Goes in 2006, and finished recording it in 2007. Shortly after, TVT, their record label at the time, went bankrupt. Now signed to EMI, the group hopes that the album will take it to an even higher level. “[We hope] it does well for us, sells some copies and pushes the band further,” comments drummer Danny Craig. “We are just really happy it’s come out; hopefully it does something good.”

Comes and Goes was produced by legendary producer Bob Marlette (Alice Cooper, Tracy Chapman, Black Sabbath), who Danny says had a “huge” impact on the album. “He wrote the record with us so he’s just as much a part of it as we are.”

So how does the band’s latest album differ from its previous three?

“A lot deeper production, more kind of strings and keyboards and all that kind of stuff we’ve never messed with before... we’ve just been kind of strictly guitars,” says Danny. “It’s got a little more depth in that way, I guess… it’s a little more mature.”

Having sold over a million records in its career, Default is a band that knows this kind of success doesn’t just happen by accident. “You have to be really confident,” advises Danny. “There’s no other way to make it in this career if you do not believe 100 per cent that it’s going to work out.”

Four years of ups and downs, four years of career-altering challenges, but ultimately four years of growth on both a personal and professional level, Default has proven they are a strong and successful band willing to battle challenges head on.

Tegan and Sara: Practicing Sainthood

Canadian indie rockers Tegan and Sara have steadily attracted a growing audience for over a decade now. The climb to their present success was not achieved overnight. It has been a slow unwavering ascension, and with the release of their sixth album, Sainthood, the twins are well on their way to ensuring an even more expansive fan base.

I caught up with Sara at her hotel room in Vancouver last month to talk about her new album. Although she stands at only 5'3", her captivating presence radiated throughout the entire room – she was eager and genuinely excited to be promoting her latest treasure.

Inspired by the Leonard Cohen track "Came So Far For Beauty," Sainthood is an album that addresses the themes of love and relationships, rather than religious topics the word “sainthood” seems to imply. Each track erupts with a sense of devotion and emotional longing. “I specifically really love the idea that to be saintly or to behave like a saint isn’t necessarily just for saints,” Sara explains. “It’s something maybe we all do in our own lives. You know, trying to be kind and honest and certainly in relationships, this idea of being monogamous or very devoted just to one individual. And I really loved the idea that you would have to practice at that, that it wouldn’t come naturally. Like the idea that human beings make mistakes and are not perfect.”

For Tegan and Sara, Sainthood also merged their different relationship perspectives together under one musical umbrella. “Tegan was pursuing someone and then was in a relationship,” says Sara. “We were just writing from all these different places. I was single and I was thinking a lot about my parent’s divorce when I was a little kid and thinking about the choices you make when you divorce or you have a kid and the commitments and sacrifices you make... those types of things. So I feel like Sainthood was really able to tie all of that together.”

Despite being in two very different relationship places, Tegan and Sara decided to join lyrical forces this time around – a rare occurrence for the twins. “I mean it’s been so many years I just thought it would be fun – sh**s and giggles!” Sara laughs. And although working with your sibling does present some challenges, Tegan and Sara are able to make it happen. “I think we generally work in harmony. Even when we fight, I feel like we want to end up at the same place,” she says. “We only ever verbally abuse each other behind closed doors.”

Sara assures fans that the future of the twins’ music career will certainly include a follow-up to Sainthood. “I’m definitely committed to one more album. I am starting to get like, ‘OK, this is our sixth record... we are definitely going to do one more, that’s like seven albums... I feel like we could take a break.’ I don’t think we’ll ever stop making music as Tegan and Sara or stop touring and that sort of thing, but we may start to take a different approach to albums and cycles. I’ll be in my mid-30s by the time this whole shindig wraps up. I’ll probably want to have a normal life for a while. So I think my short-term goal is to continue to work with Tegan and Sara and my long-term goal is probably to be a normal adult.”

Whether or not Sara Quin will ever fall under the category of “normal adult,” there is no doubt that the release of Sainthood will have a positive impact for Tegan and Sara and their music career.

Inward Eye: Breaking Down Doors Across North America

Sometimes, the best way out is through. Dave Erickson certainly found that to be true when his punk rock band, Inward Eye, was trying to get out there in the music industry.

“We started out as a bunch of naïve kids who didn’t know that much about the world,” the bassist admits. “I think we had some preconceived notions about what this industry was like and all those illusions have been shattered, for better or for worse. Sometimes the best way to get in there is to break down the door.”

Even the title of Inward Eye’s debut full-length album, Throwing Bricks Instead of Kisses, represents the band’s determined mindset to make their music heard. “It basically sums up our change in attitude through making our record,” explains Erickson, who signed with J Records in 2006 along with his brothers Kyle and Anders, Inward Eye’s guitarist and drummer, respectively.

According to Erickson, the recording process for the record was lengthy and often stressful. “We’ll never make a record like that ever again,” he laughs. “We would record for maybe two weeks, then head out on the road and kind of lose our heads. Over the course of two years, the record came together. Then it sat around for a bit, [because] the label didn’t know what to do with it. Our lives were totally on hold. It was agonizing.”

The album was finally released in September 2009, much to the relief and satisfaction of the band. Says Erickson, “[It] is definitely a studio quality record, [and] that was the intent. Some people might be a little bit surprised we went that route, but it is what it is and we’re happy with it.”

Despite their past struggles, Inward Eye is not looking back. “We’re just looking forward to promoting this record and getting it out to as many people that want to hear it,” Erickson states simply.

The band that so many people want to hear began when Erickson and his brothers were in high school in Winnipeg, Manitoba. “We were so incredibly unhip to what was going around musically,” recalls Erickson, “[which] made us develop our own sound and our own style. We just did our own thing.”

Unhip or not, the guys of Inward Eye have proven that they have both the drive and the talent to stay ahead in the industry, regardless of any challenges that might stand in their way.

Jana Mashonee Makes a Name for Herself in Music and Philanthropy

You may not know her name yet, but Jana Mashonee is a rising singer with an abundance of talent and a very unique background. With her fourth album out, New Moon Born, Jana is slowly breaking her way into the pop music mainstream. It doesn’t stop at singing though – Jana is also an active philanthropist who, being Native American, has not only started Jana’s Kids, a nonprofit organization that benefits Native youth, but also travels around North America giving motivational speeches to Native youth. Talking to Jana, an outgoing and lively spirit, you realize that she really does try and practice what her album preaches, which is to embrace change in your life and go with the flow. One of her passions in life is obviously music and as you listen to New Moon Born, you’ll hear for yourself that she is very good at what she does.

YT: Was there ever a particular moment in your life where you knew you wanted to be a singer?
J: It really didn’t come to me until I was 15 or 16, so I kind of call myself a late bloomer because, you know, people say, “Oh you know I’ve been singing my whole life since I was a child.” I took piano lessons when I was eight years old but I really didn’t think I had a voice until I was much older. I started doing high school choir and my teacher told me I had a nice voice, I was like, “Really?!” I was singing in my church choir too…and I really started to like it. I was always into music although I grew up wanting to be a doctor! I was into books and I graduated from college even though I got my first record deal when I was 18. I knew I had to get my education – that was very important to me. After that I’ve been into music ever since!

YT: Who were your musical influences while growing up?
J: Well my parents played music all the time at home. My dad is a singer and a drummer and my brother is also a drummer; he’s in my band, so there was always music in the house but not pushed in my face. My parents did want me to play piano and be into music, but I also danced since my mom put me in everything! You know, jazz, tap, ballet and piano and let’s see what you’re good at! But again I really didn’t discover it until much later in life and I had this thing where I wanted to try this out. But the influence in terms of music – I am a big Barbra Streisand fan, I think she’s an amazing singer and I love Stevie Wonder and of course I grew up with Mariah Carey, I love Mariah Carey! I listened intensely to her records! Of course Whitney Houston; I love big voices as far as female singers. I listen to gospel music too like Bebe and Cece Winans, they’re a big gospel group. And yeah I love Annie Lennox and Alicia Keys; she’s gorgeous, she’s talented, she’s amazing. I just love her [and] I love soul music – Kelly Price, Jill Scott –my influence now is very similar to R&B.

YT: In what ways has traditional Native American music impacted your love for music and your singing career?
J: Well I’m Native American, so I feel like my culture is very important and I want people to see my culture and it’s sprinkled in my music and my current album has instrumentation that’s kind of like traditional Native but it’s still pop music; it’s like R&B pop music. My last album was very traditional Native music with a little bit of new age because I wanted to have an album that is very much dedicated to my culture; so I wanted to have that traditional album because I thought it was important to do and I loved writing it. I feel like I want people to know me as a Native American singer, but really to me it’s about my music – I want people to know my music first and then say, “Oh she happens to be Native American, that’s cool too!” You know, it’s just like a little extra thing but I don’t want to push it in people’s faces because I think people like to discover on their own about other artists and I want people to know about the music – that to me is the ultimate goal. But it’s definitely important also that they know about my culture. I had a record company a couple of years ago that wanted to market me as a Latina artist! Like, “You could be the next Jennifer Lopez!” But that’s not who I am! So I had a struggle with that because people want to put me in a certain group because I could be Hispanic or other ethnicities, but to me it’s important that I’m true to myself. My attitude is: “Take it or leave it, this is who I am and hopefully you’ll like it!” It is ironic though because on my album now, New Moon Born, I have [a] Spanish track! So it’s like, “Wait a minute! What?” But I love the language. It’s cool to explore different cultures and different rhythms because to me, music is a universal language.

YT: What inspires you to write a song and what is your songwriting process like?
J: I usually write music first and then the lyrics although I’m developing in my writing. I mean, I wish I were a poet! But that to me is the struggle, to find the phrases. I know what I want to write about because I write about things that are my experiences and I look at other people’s experiences and I like to draw on that. Finding the perfect phrase on the other hand, that’s hard! Music comes easy, I’ll just play something on the piano and say, “Oh this would be great!” I get very into that and then sometimes I’ll hear the melody and think, “Well this kind of feels like a moody atmosphere,” so I would want to write about a concept that I already have in my head, for example, a lost love or something like that. I will put that together, then write from there. I also have a writing partner, Stephan Galfas, who has worked with Cher, Kool & the Gang, KC and the Sunshine Band; all these major bands. We write together and he has helped me go through rock and roll school! I feed off of him and we’ll usually just write together, but yeah, that’s a problem for me. I’m always trying to get better, you know, anything you do you feel like you want to get better at that craft and I feel like I have a long way to go and I know I can get better and better at it. At the time that I wrote New Moon Born that was what I was feeling. I just finished writing it last December so it’s just like that point in my life and my next album could be a completely different concept because I’m in a different place. Everyone’s growing in every stage of their lives.

YT: Congratulations on winning best pop album for New Moon Born at the Indian Summer Music Awards. What has been the response so far from the public and has the success of the album exceeded your expectations?
J: Well we just released it here in Canada on October 13th, so you can get it at HMV and it’s going to be in the States in February. I’ve had it on my website, iTunes and Amazon since March of this year and it’s been very good. My fans have been very supportive so we’ve just taken it to the next level and we just signed with Sony Records, which has been a huge help to get it out there. We’ve had some really good exposure and great feedback for it, so hopefully – I’m crossing my fingers!

YT: What is the significance of the title New Moon Born? Does it tie into an overall theme or message you wanted to portray through this album?
J: Yes, it’s a title that I felt exemplified that time in my life about change. I felt like my last album and the one before that [contained] a lot more traditional Native music and this album is completely different, so it’s changing to a different style and different direction. Also it’s my life, you know, changing as a person, growing and writing about who I was five years ago as opposed to who I am now. It’s a positive thing, so it’s more about renewal of myself. New Moon Born is also a lyric in one of my songs but it had a nice little twist to it and I like it a lot!

YT: How is your latest album different from your previous work?
J: We wrote about 25 to 30 songs, and then from there we have the 16 songs that are actually on there, so we did write about twice as many. My last record, which was very much about the story of this young girl and historical of the First Nations people from thousands of years ago, was a concert record. And when I was thinking of a story behind this record I couldn’t really think of anything; I was stuck! Then I decided to write what I feel and hopefully it would all gel together. But yeah, when you listen to the record it takes you on a journey and there are some ballads and some up-tempo, but it is really more like a relaxed feel. I had a couple of dance records several years ago which were kind of like Lady Gaga style and that’s how it started. So I was thinking with this album I can do these cool chill songs then. I’m already working on a remix album, which will be like up tempo dance stuff with some of the songs. A different style is great because I also have an audience, which is my dance audience and I still do club shows and stuff. I have two sides; it’s like an alter ego!

YT: Are there any songs on your new album that you feel a stronger personal connection to compared to the others?
J: Well some are definitely reflective of relationships that I’ve had, not just personal relationships with myself, some are more reflective and more heartfelt and deep – I know where they come from. But I do also have a couple of personal relationship songs, they’re all meaningful in some way. It’s like I always had someone in mind. Either it was myself or someone that I know or a situation that I might have encountered. I might not know the person but I encountered it in my life and I wrote about it because I thought it was interesting. So everything has a meaning – every single song. It isn’t as if I just said, “Okay I’m going to write my hit song today!” They all have something special about them.

YT: What are you hoping listeners will take away from New Moon Born?
J: New Moon Born is a lot about change, and accepting change because sometimes people are afraid of change, they like to get in their familiar comfort zone. It’s about getting out of the box and exploring different parts of you or of different people as well as not dwelling on past mistakes, accepting that we’re all human and we make mistakes and it’s OK! Sometimes there’s not always an answer; we just have to live life without the perfect answer. You know, people want to have something defined in their life and sometimes you just have to go with it and you have to accept it and move on. You can control things to a certain point, but to me I feel like life is a journey and you need to sometimes let yourself go. I know it’s hard for some people to do that and it’s something that I need to preach to myself everyday: “OK Jana, remember you wrote about this!” because sometimes it’s hard for me to let it go too, you just want to hold on to things and not change. I want people to feel that they can be more open with their lives and explore different parts of themselves. It’s definitely more introspective!

YT: Touring and performing seems like it could get stressful and tiring. What keeps you going and performing with such amazing energy?
J: I definitely feel that it’s good to centre myself before shows and have calm before the storm because like you said, when I’m performing, I just go crazy! Then when I’m not performing I’m just calm and I try to keep myself still and I don’t party too much! People might think it’s like a rock and roll lifestyle; drugs and rock and roll, but no it’s nothing like that – for me at least. I see it as a business, it’s my craft and I want to take care of my voice so I make sure I have all my teas and my honey and everything else because it’s who I am and what I want to do; I want to be good. I do like to have fun though and I definitely put that out on stage. But really I get a kick out of meeting new people like you and visiting new places because that’s exciting to me. The traveling is exhausting in terms of the plane and everything, especially now with H1N1, I have to wear a mask and I get a little freaked out about the traveling. Other than that, once I get to my destination I’m cool, but getting there is the hassle! I would love to get to the point in my career, hopefully soon, where I can travel on a bus and have my band because right now, we’re just flying everywhere so I’m hoping that could happen.

YT: How would you describe your live show?
J: Well I have a full band and I also mix in upbeat cover songs because I like to mix it up with some upbeat tempo stuff. I have these traditional Native dancers but they’re young guys and they do have full regalia. They mix traditional with hip-hop dancing so it’s kind of like what I want to represent in terms of culture – traditional and contemporary. They also do hoop dancing, which is a traditional native thing where they have about 30 hoops and they do crazy configurations with them, it’s really cool! So they mix in with my songs and come on stage and dance with me and it’s really fun – we have a fun time. Even though the album is relaxed, my stage show is very up-tempo and overall it’s really fun, I have a really good time.

YT: Raptor Ranch is your first movie. What made you want to get involved in film and how was the experience?
J: I’ve always been interested, I feel like being an artist these days you almost have to do everything in order to get people’s attention. I mean you have to be like a quadruple threat nowadays. You can’t just dance, you can’t just act, you have to do everything! At one level I felt like I needed to challenge myself and do something to compete with what’s going on and also I’m just interested in it – it’s something different for me. With music it’s collaborative in many ways but a lot of times, it’s just the singer and the studio and you’re writing your own songs. But with acting, you’re working with about 30 different people, like a whole ensemble, so it’s like a different part of myself. It’s also challenging me, having no control over what I’m doing; I’ve got a director telling me what to do whereas I’m used to saying my own words and now there’s somebody else telling me, “You have to say these words,” so I’m always like, “Well can I change that a little bit?” because I’m so used to controlling everything! It’s really nice to get into a different head completely and I loved making the movie. It’s about this horror but at the same time [the movie is] campy, like I fight dinosaurs in Texas, that’s all I gotta say! So yeah the movie is definitely comedic. We just finished. It’s been on and off because we did filming in Texas about a year ago and we did that for six months and then we stopped because of a whole funding issue and then we went to Russia…I had to go all the way to Russia to finish a movie that started in Texas. I was thinking, “I guess this is the movie business!” But it was really fun because I play this regular girl from Texas and I have a bow and arrow and everything – it felt so awesome!

YT: Your non-profit organization, Jana’s Kids, is meant to help Native American kids throughout America go to post-secondary institutions. Why did you feel this was an important area to focus on and do you hope to expand it further in the future?
J: For me, giving back is really important, as an artist giving back and having that responsibility is a really big thing. Also, education is so important, not just for Native youth, [but] for all youth it’s important. I focus on Native youth because on the reserves a lot of times they don’t know all the opportunities that are available to them, like scholarships or schools to go to. It’s important to educate them so they know how many opportunities they have. So I’ve just extended the scholarship to aboriginal youth as well in artistic, academic, and athletic scholarships. I gave my first one out in 2006, which is a great thing for me because I get to interact with the youth. I am older than them but I’m still young enough that they don’t feel like they’re being preached to because we don’t really just talk about education, we talk a lot about cultural identity and having pride in themselves, just positive motivation. It’s like an exchange, I feel great about it too – it’s a really cool thing for me to do. Also, I think that youth need to be heard. I mean they want someone to care, but they don’t want to feel preached to either so I try to do it in a way that I’m not telling them what to do or what not to do. It’s more about giving people options so that they aren’t going down the wrong path.

YT: What legacy would you like to leave in the Native American community and in the music industry?
J: Wow that’s a hard question! I would really just like to be known as someone who cares and someone who has a positive impact. Not like I have a huge influence on Native Americans, but I would love to at least spin the stereotype so there isn’t a negative image, and it’s not just about people in the past, it’s about the Native people of the future as well. So it’s my mission to get us into the mainstream, you know, there aren’t many of us! I know in Canada there is a lot more of a network of Native Americans, but it’s not really that big in the States. So it’s really just about letting people know that we’re here, and making an impact in a positive way.

Hedley: The Show Must Go ...

Named after the town in BC, Canadian pop/rock/punk band Hedley is back on the scene. The band, which consists of bassist Tom MacDonald, guitarist Dave Rosin, drummer Chris Crippin and lead vocalist Jacob Hoggard, has been on an incessant rise since their debut self-titled album in 2005. It has been over two years since Hedley’s sophomore release, Famous Last Words, and now this multi-platinum selling band has released their third studio album titled, The Show Must Go, with their hit single Cha-Ching receiving some serious radio play. I had the pleasure of sitting down with the always entertaining Jacob Hoggard to chat about music, reality TV and the band’s eternal quest for a Juno.

YT: Your music is generally labelled as pop/punk/rock, but I find evidence of reggae, as well as rap and metal influences, in your music. Where do your influences come from?
JH: Us four have an eclectic sense of taste. Dave listens to pop, electronic and alternative dance. I’m more urban, Motown, old gospel, hip hop and rap. Tom and Chris love metal, particularly bands such as Metallica, the Maiden and AC/DC. We have weird combinations that start to come out after the songs have been written. That’s when we begin putting everyone’s musical touch on the song. Sometimes it just doesn’t work because we can’t connect the styles together and the message that we want to communicate is lost. Most of the time it works though.

YT: You’ve gone platinum with your first two albums. Are you feeling any pressure with your third album?
JH: No, no, not at all (sarcastically). Yeah, OF COURSE! It is crazy and stressful. You put a lot of effort into it and... there is [a lot] of pressure to do well and many things riding on it. Nerve-racking is the word for it.

YT: Are the love songs on “The Show Must Go” based on personal experiences?
JH: Oh yeah! The songs on love are based on personal experiences. Love songs come from romantic interests. My girlfriend is very inspiring. The Sweater Song on our new album is based on a true experience. My favourite songs to write are the slow and sweet ones. I know it is cheesy, but I love writing them. It’s a good emotional outlet. There are not a lot of mediums for guys to express themselves in. I think it’s good to be able to go to the piano and shake it out. Most guys sing about politics and racism. There’s enough of that.

YT: Your first single “Cha-Ching” speaks about reality TV. How do you feel these types of shows affect teens’ perspective on
what reality is?
JH: The other day, I was watching crazy commercials on television about really expensive cars. I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, they’re still making people believe that you too can drive the Lexus 753T with floating technology and an automatic coffee-making machine.” You need fame and fortune to have this awesome stuff. The reason why we can get away with this song is because it takes a piss at reality TV... anyone can do it now. The fame part is just exciting for people.

I did the same thing [Hoggard competed on the first season of Canadian Idol]. Reality TV was exciting for me. Suddenly, it made me famous. I wanted to be a rock band playing at the World Cup. For a lot of people, there are lot of ways to do it. You could be fat or on drugs. Shows like Intervention, The Biggest Loser, they’re very exploitative. Everyone who goes on the show knows that. If you were a very big person and went on The Biggest Loser, you’d probably know that you’d be losing weight and making some money. Then you’d buy a plasma and go to Cuba.

YT: What legacy would you like Hedley to leave in the music industry?
JH: I’d like to win a Juno award one day. Instead of 30 nominations, it’d be nice to win one. It’s not going to feed me or keep me warm or tell me it loves me at night, but it’d be fun.

(Jokingly) I’d like to leave the legacy that we never went to jail for an extended period of time, nothing over five nights.

Sébastien Lefebvre Goes Solo… At Least for a Little While

Montrealer and self-described “shy guy” Sébastien Lefebvre is best known for his role as rhythm guitarist in pop-punk band Simple Plan – but October 20th saw the release of his first solo EP, the bilingual You Are Here. The record is a concise collection of songs that departs from several Simple Plan traditions, including the showcase of Lefebvre’s previously unheard folksy side.

After speaking with Lefebvre in a phone interview, it’s pretty clear that while You Are Here may not be what Simple Plan fans expect, the record will be well worth a listen.

YT: One thing I wanted to ask you was, I know you’ve been playing music since you were a kid – but why did you first start writing music? And why?
S: It’s sort of funny… my brother always played piano, and my dad had a guitar, my mom played piano as well, so music was always there. But then I saw, uh, I was watching Much Music probably, and I saw an Offspring concert, and a Green Day concert, and then I was just like, “Alright, I gotta start playing, I gotta join a band” or whatever, so a bunch of different crappy bands, obviously, and then I eventually found Simple Plan. Going to shows was something I always enjoyed and I always want to be onstage, so I’m assuming that’s why I play music.

YT: I know that you’ve approached this EP differently in a lot of ways, obviously, than you would with a Simple Plan album. One of those differences is this kind of folksy, relaxed style. What kind of musical influences shaped that sound?
S: I think just a lot of those bands, or a lot of those artists, that are like “a guy and a guitar” kind of thing, are a little bit timeless, you know? It’s like, a lot of those songs are always gonna be good, and you’re never gonna get tired of them. Artists like Jack Johnson or Johnny Cash or Damien Rice – those kinds of artists that just grab an acoustic guitar and start playing, and manage to get through all their emotions. That’s something I very much love listening to. So that’s what I was going for. And that is also a side of me – it’s not just the electric guitars and the jumping around… so it’s just a different side of me, and that’s where it came from.

YT: There is such a contrast between Simple Plan’s kind of punk rock and the stuff that I’ve heard off of You Are Here. Was the songwriting process different than it would be for Simple Plan music?
S: Well, it’s funny… I sit down and I just write a song. That’s what I love to do. So I just sit down and start writing, starting by even saying, “Oh, I heard something that sounded like this once” or, “maybe I’ll try something that’s different,” – and sometimes it sounds like a Simple Plan song and you just bring it to the band and you start working on it, and turn it into a rock song. And sometimes it doesn’t sound at all like that and it just, it can still be pretty cool. So those are the songs that ended up on this record, ya know? I write a song and I’m like “Oh, cool! But it’s not a rock song – it just would feel better on a guitar, like this.” So that’s how it ended up.

YT: I know that you’ve been working on these songs for quite a while. What encouraged you to finally record some of them?
S: I just had a lot of them (laughs). Like, “Wow, I could almost make an album, now!” It’s not just like, “Oh, I have these two songs that are pretty cool, ya know? I had a bunch of songs. And that’s pretty much how it happened. Like, the first one is like Comatose and I Fall for You, are songs that I’ve written, I think, like three years ago. The rest of them are a little bit more recent, but that’s when I started writing for the latest Simple Plan record – that’s when the rest of them came out.

YT: And another thing I was wondering about was, what was behind the decision to go with an EP instead of an album?
S: Yeah, I don’t know. I think, just trying something new. You know, with all the downloads and everything, like I guess the music industry really changed, ya know? And to have a full album, with one single, or maybe two singles on it, it feels like eight or nine of those songs are never gonna get heard even, ya know? So I felt like, I didn’t just want to put out three songs or whatever, so with an EP it’s sort of like half a record; it’s just enough to be getting the vibe of the artist, and I think it’s gonna allow me to put it out more often, as well – because writing 12 songs obviously takes longer than writing six songs. So I think as soon as I have enough songs again, I’m just gonna put something out. So I think that was the idea behind it – to be able to give something to the fans more often.

YT: I know that another way you’ve approached this differently is the choice of label. So are you still happy with the decision to go with the smaller label as opposed to the bigger label thing you did with Simple Plan?
S: Yeah, absolutely. And this label, like, is the label of our managing company for the band, so it’s like, it’s still in the family, we’re still going through Warner, so basically working with all the same people, but the people that are close to me on the project are the people who really understand what I was going for and agree with what I want to do, and like, everybody’s on the same page and it’s like a small family. And it just feels really, really good.

YT: What are the major differences you’ve found working with Coalition Entertainment Records versus the major-label thing you’ve done with Simple Plan?
S: Well, I think for this project, working with the big label, I don’t think it would have made sense… the big label, obviously, deals a little bit more in numbers, and they look a little bit more at money than a smaller label. And this project is not about playing on every radio station and making an intrinsic video, and going to tour the world with the record. This project is about my love for writing and recording music. So I don’t think a major label would have agreed with the way I would like to do things, you know? And, obviously, as soon as we get in the studio again and start touring with Simple Plan, then I won’t have much time to work on this stuff or promote it. So that’s something that a small label really understood and really agreed on.

YT: Another thing I think is interesting about You Are Here is that it’s written in both English and French. How important was it to you to produce bilingual music?
S: I think it was pretty important. I didn’t plan on it when I started working on this. But then I did try to write a song in French, and I thought it came out pretty good. So I figured, since there’s both, I’m gonna incorporate it in the title. And obviously I stole it from a Fire Emergency Safety map here in my building – ha ha!

YT: (laughs) That’s awesome!
S: Yeah, that’s a sentence that’s been in my head for a while, and it just – when I see it on a, well at the mall, for instance. I always say, well, “I’m not here, I’m here,” ya know? I’m not there on the map, I’m here, and I just started joking around with that, started realizing that there’s so many different meanings to just saying “you are here,” ya know? But I thought it fit well with my music and the personal experiences I talk about in the lyrics.

YT: Nice. And I was just wondering… is it ever a concern to you that English listeners won’t receive the French music as well or vice versa?
S: Well, yeah, I guess if they want to skip that song and go the next one, they can do it, ya know? If they want to try to learn French or sing with the chords, it’s cool. Obviously I’m from Quebec and I think that there are a lot of fans from here – and it’s gonna mean a lot more to them to have a song in French than it’s gonna piss off fans and the English people that won’t understand it, ya know?

YT: One of the things that really stood out to me about Simple Plan is that you guys usually try to stay close to your Canadian roots, to roots in Quebec. Is that a priority for you as a solo artist as well?
S: Of course, of course! I think that wasn’t a band decision; I think that’s just the people that we are, you know? We’re from here, we speak French and we speak English also… and I think that we’re always telling people how wonderful Montreal is, and how great the Canadian culture is, and how nice the people are here, and [how] beautiful the ladies [are] and everything. So like, whenever we travel the world, we never try to hide or pretend we’re from somewhere else. We actually make a point to talk about it even. And I think that’s just very important – and we are very close to our fans, everywhere in the world, but I think that with our Canadian fans and our Quebec fans, there’s just a little something, something more, I think. And that’s something we appreciate very much.

YT: Well, this must feel like such a personal record to you then.
S: Absolutely, and every single song, I can pinpoint the exact moments of how I felt when I wrote it, and what it’s about and all that.

YT: So then what kind of personal experiences do you draw from in your songwriting?
S: Sometimes it’s just talking to friends about things I’m going through and they’re going through. I usually base a song around one line or one feeling in particular and I just circle that around and turn it into a song. I think that it very therapeutic to write songs and it’s our way, for us shy guys, to get it all out in the open.

YT: Yeah, for sure. So what’s the next step for you, as a solo artist – maybe another EP not too long from now?
S: Yeah, I guess that is one of the steps ahead of me. First of all, I’m gonna start just talking about this one, try to get people aware that I’ve got something going on. Unfortunately for this project, but fortunately in general, I’m gonna start touring again with Simple Plan. So I do have some more songs written, so there will be another EP in the near future… it’s just sort of hard to plan exactly when right now.

YT: So how are you kind of planning to juggle your solo aspirations with your Simple Plan band duties. How will you prioritize?
S: See, it’s sort of easy – I don’t really plan to juggle them. When we’re on tour with Simple Plan, we’re extremely busy; I don’t even have time to think about anything else. So that’ll be that. And obviously I’m still gonna be active, as I always am, as we always are, with the band. So if I do have some random songs to put up, I’ll put ‘em up [on MySpace] once in a while, but when we’re on tour with Simple Plan, that’s what we do, and that’s what we love.

YT: What advice would you give to a high-school student who is aspiring to be a musician?
S: Play, play, play. And write, write, write. You know, the first songs you’re gonna write are always gonna suck, that’s normal. And picking up your guitar for the first time, for the first couple of years, you’re gonna suck, and that’s normal. You have to keep at it, keep improving, get some shows, get a band together, write some songs and just go out there. You know, that’s the only way to do it… You can’t expect to have it off the bat, you know? It’s impossible… So, like the first song that you ever write is not gonna be that great. And you’ll just have to write some more.

Metric’s Optimistic Outlook

For the members of a Toronto-based indie band with several Juno nominations under their belt, Emily Haines and James “Jimmy” Shaw of Metric seem surprisingly, well, real. I sat down with them on the last night of their Canadian tour to talk about their new album, mainstream success and musical inspiration.

YT: So, first of all, how’s your tour going so far?
J: It’s going really good.

E: This is the last night so it’s like a celebration tonight.

YT: Your album that just came out got a lot of really positive reviews. And I was just wondering, what was the significance of the album title Fantasies?
J: I kind of felt like when we were making the record, a lot of the content, a lot of what we were trying to get across was the idea that we were trying to imagine the world without a lot of the problems that it has now. We were trying to imagine this sort of utopian place, so we spent a lot of time dreaming up what the world might look like without a lot of the sh** that was going on that we were talking about in other records.

For me, that was a lot of the reason why the title resonated when we came up with it, and why we put a light bulb on the cover. There’s an idea of a future, you know? I know that for Emily, it was a little bit different. It was just very open to interpretation and that fantasies could be positive things, they could be negative things, they could be anything that happens.

E: Yeah, like dreams or imaginary worlds. And also the sound of the record is really dreamy, so it’d make sense, like what Jimmy was going for, like a very open-sounding record.

YT: I understand that quite a few of the recordings were actually written in the woods, and that was different from your usual studio environment. So why’d you choose to do something like that?
J: Well, we were actually on tour for so long when we were touring Live it Out and we were in England, and we knew that it was going to be the last tour.

E: Yeah, I think we were just doing this tour with Bloc Party and we came straight from England and went into a cabin in the woods.

J: We knew we were going to split apart for a little while and do some other things, and we were actually going to pay attention to our own lives for a little bit. So we decided to go there and plant the seed for a record before we took a break. So the whole time we were apart, we would sort of have this thing, this sort of seed be growing and the idea of what the record might be in our minds. And at that point, we needed to get the f*** away from anything that resembled a backstage.

E: A tour bus, or a backstage, or anything.

J: Or an airport, anything like that. So we went to this place. We actually know the guy who owns that studio pretty well and we had planned to go there for a long time; we just never really had the opportunity.

YT: So, like you said, you guys spent a while away from each other doing solo projects. How did that help you grow stronger as a band?
E: I think it’s the sense that, for a lot of musicians, they don’t get to live their life the way they want to. It’s kind of this weird combination of factors. It’s like your lifestyle represents that kind of freedom – everyone wants to be a rock star. But in reality, very often, people have very little control over the financial matters in their life, their own schedule, the places that they’re going to go and under what circumstances. That in turn means that you have very little control over your own life.

For us, we’ve always done things in such a way where people have told us we can’t do things the way we want to; and we always say, “Well it’s the four of us living our lives.” So I don’t know how someone could purport to be an expert on what’s going to be right for us. When everyone else would be like, “Oh, Emily’s making a solo record, the band must be breaking up” or “What’s going on?” It’s like internally, everybody knew what was going on and it was that I was making a record that I needed to make, and Jimmy was building a studio, and Josh and Joules did their thing, Bang Lime, which is this really pretty rock-and-roll thing.

In that time, we were setting up our label and doing all these other things so for us. It strengthens the band to do things outside because it reinforces the fact that we are masters of our own destiny. It’s hard, because people are always telling you what you should do and shouldn’t do. But if you take responsibility for your own life, then you get to reap the benefits of that. You’ll be on your own course and not get confused as so many musicians are – anybody, really, it’s easy to get confused. We certainly get confused all the time, even though we try to live by that, but we definitely did come back stronger because it shows us that we are in control of our lives and we have the freedom to do whatever we want to do.

YT: Just going back to the album, it went through a lot of fine-tuning. How did the final product differ from your original acoustic recordings?
J: The acoustic stuff was actually something that we recorded later. It wasn’t like we wrote the whole thing on acoustic instruments and then went and recorded it. The process was more like just to try something, and if it doesn’t work, then you fix it. And if it’s still not working, then you keep fixing it, and keep fixing it. And if you fixed it five times and it’s still not happening, then you scrap all the recordings and start again.

There were some recordings on this album that took four hours, and others that took six months. We had this phrase in the studio that was like “chasing invisible butterflies in the dark” and that’s kind of what it’s like making music in a studio. Sometimes you’re like, “This is going to be amazing. I have this huge, incredible idea,” and then you do it and you’re like, “That’s so lame. I so don’t need to listen to that and neither does anyone else in the world.” And other times you do something, and you put it down, and you’re like, “Wow, there’s something really simple and genuine and awesome about that” and you don’t really know when those moments come. You just have to show up every day and keep going and fix what’s not working.

YT: The band was originally formed in 1998, so what do you feel as or define as your big break?
E: Jimmy and I started working together, writing songs. We moved to New York and then moved to England around that time, so it wasn’t until 2002 that we met Josh and Joules and it became this incarnation. And I would say that we’ve never had a [big] break, actually, and that’s not something that we have a problem with because it’s not the way that we’ve approached what we’re doing. It’s on the tip of what I was saying before. It’s like you set out on a path and we’ve never gone down. There’ve been times when it feels like it’s not the steepest incline in the world in terms of our progress as a band, but like the gross national product, you can’t always measure it by formula. Sometimes the formula of what appears to be success externally is not at all the formula for real success.

For us, we’re not looking for those symbolic splashy things and we’ve had some really amazing people in our lives to guide us away from that. Those are the things that you can brag about and frame, and put on your wall, but what does that really mean for your music or your career or the people that care about you and what you’re trying to accomplish? We’ve had hilarious, amazing things like we’ve played with the Rolling Stones two nights at Madison Square Gardens, we’ve played and accepted awards in Venezuela for Best Band, which was kind of weird. We’ve done tours across Europe... we’ve been to Japan and Australia. We’ve been all over the place and have had all kinds of highs and lows, but I still don’t think that there’s any one thing that happened to us that would be like a break. I think it’s a cumulative effect of all the love and positive energy we’ve put into it.

YT: And how do you think the band’s sound developed through everything? By travelling to other places, did other cultures affect your music at all?
J: I think it was just the natural development of a musician’s years, you know. It’s like you start out when you’re younger, and hearing this idea, and you do the idea, and then you get used to the idea, and your mind wants to wander and try something else. We try not to be too guided by other bands, we don’t find that the most interesting thing, where music becomes imitating music. I think we’re more inclined to be inspired by movies, and books, and thoughts and concepts. And there’s the idea of space, not just outer space, but inner space; the idea of all sorts of things that inspire us to make songs that sound certain ways and talk about certain things. We’re going to try to cover a lot of musical ground while we’re here.

E: It’s also hard to really quantify the impact of the experiences you have of travelling and stuff, but certainly for me with writing, I feel like I absorb things by osmosis. I’m as surprised as anybody else to discover what the record ended up being about. You go in with a bit of a guideline, just a sense of it, but that’s the process of making music; actually discovering what you’ve been absorbing for the past little while. For example, the contrast between Live It Out, our previous album, which is really quite aggressive sounding like raw rock-and-roll, with lots of songs about politics and lots of songs about being alienated, with an energy that’s really upfront; you cut to 2009, and it is a completely different time on the planet, things have changed and there’s a different feeling in the world.

It’s interesting to us to feel that without really thinking about it too much, we just naturally evolved toward a sound that I think makes sense for 2009. I have no idea what it’ll be for our next record, but I don’t have any desire to become something and just stay the same.

YT: Your music has been featured on shows such as CSI, Gossip Girl and Grey’s Anatomy and all of these shows are quite mainstream. Do you get critics who say that this is almost a form of selling out? And what would your response be to something like that?
E: No one’s ever said that; that’s so not a concern. It’s just not.

J: I mean I understand that there’s a whole culture in music that wants to run away from anything that touches mainstream culture and wants to have nothing to do with it. They find their identity by doing that, but I don’t think this group of people are like that. There are bands that I like that have sold a hundred million records, and there are bands that I like that have sold a thousand records. So, I don’t really care.

E: I think for me, it also depends on what the idea of selling out is. I mean, we have complete creative control over every composition that we write and the way that it’s released, and everything to do with the making of our music. It’s our own studio from beginning to end. So once that it’s a final thing we’ve created, we are totally open-minded about the places that the music can go.

Alternately, there’re people who from the beginning of the process say we can’t do this and we should change that, and you’re going to do this and you’re going to do that. That’s kind of a different scenario and I don’t think I could work that way or live that way. But once we’ve created something that’s ours, and if I like the show, like Gold Guns Girls has been on Entourage as well, and that’s great.

J: For me, it’s like Grey’s Anatomy is not my favourite show. I don’t really watch it. I don’t really care. But a lot of people do, and they’re really passionate about it and love watching doctors fall in love with other doctors. And that’s great. I mean, why would I not want a show like that to have a cool soundtrack?

E: And like, having your song in a film or something. I don’t watch the show either but I heard that for Grey’s Anatomy, the opening sequence played about three minutes from the song Blindness from our most recent record, which is like track nine on the album or something. It’s a really heavy song that I can’t ever imagine being on the radio, although I said that about Help I’m Alive and it reached No. 1, but it’s still a very unusual song. I think that it’s so cool that there would be a mainstream television show that would broadcast something like that.

J: The fact, to us, is that we’re not Nickelback. And so, we have subversive ideas, and we have left-field musical ideals. If the mainstream wants to adapt part of that and play it for the world, I mean that’s great. I’m not going to stop it.

E: Because we don’t have to give up anything in exchange.

YT: I just have one last thing for you guys. Who would you rather be: The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?
E: The Jonas Brothers… that’s kind of the idea.

Enter the Universe of Lights

Juno-award winner Lights has just released her first full-length album, The Listening. Her unique mix of keyboards, beats and electric guitar blends beautifully with her melodic voice, perfectly complementing her upbeat style of synth/electropop. I recently caught up with Lights over the phone to discuss her music, her alternate universe and her love for comics.

YT: As a child you travelled a lot because of your parents’ involvement with the missionary. How did being exposed to different places and cultures influence your musical style and taste?

Lights: I wouldn’t say that I was so much inspired or influenced by the actual music of those cultures as much as I was by the experience of moving around and seeing the whole world.

I remember when I was living in the Philippines, I mean, there is a lot of poverty there and a lot of my friends had nothing so we had to sit around and make our own fun and our own choices. I’ve kind of applied those ideas and life concepts to my music, you know? I don’t need the most expensive gear or the craziest equipment to achieve the sounds that I needed – just a matter of knowing what I want and making it happen. Plus, I mean, moving around really set me up for the touring.

YT: Which artists/bands did you listen to when you were growing up and is there any particular artist that has inspired the direction of your music?

Lights: Growing up I was subject to a lot of my Dad’s taste like Supertramp, Electric Light Orchestra, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, The Police and so I was listening to a lot of really great songs basically, and powerful musicians, which I think influenced me in a lot of good ways.

But one of the major artists who has inspired me is Björk. Especially my music now, she approaches lyrics in a really clever and creative way which is inspiring and you can tell she’s kind of in charge of her own production and her own direction and that’s inspiring to see. She’s kind of her own genre, she does her own thing, she’s not limited and that’s something I kind of intend to do.

YT: You’ve had your music played in commercials and TV shows. What did winning the 2009 Juno Award for Best New Artist do for your career?

Lights: Well, it didn’t so much influence myself or my career as it just made me feel great. The fact that it was like a big nod of approval from the credible music minds of our country, I mean it was a really, really great moment.

It was kind of just a marker of success that said you’re doing the right thing and that was more what made it special to me. And I guess I joined the ranks of the other people who had previously won. I know Feist won at one point and Nelly Furtado, so it’s a very, very cool feeling. Instead of adding pressure to me, it kind of took pressure away in a sense. Because I mean I’ve done things the way I’ve wanted to do them my whole career. I’ve done things almost independently for a long time [with] a small close network of people who really do it because they love it and knowing that this can be appreciated and respected and we can stand tall alongside everything else great that comes out of Canada, that’s a pretty cool feeling… so I’m going to keep on doing that.

YT: How does it feel to have released your debut full-length album?

Lights: Well, it feels great. I mean up until this point it’s only been on my EP and having the new record out, well for starters, I feel more legit as an artist than ever. Plus it’s great to be able to do a show and have everyone know all the songs. For a while there, I was playing songs that weren’t actually released yet so nobody really knew them, so only half the songs people really knew. It’s cool being able to do a show with everyone singing along and everything and the reception seems to be great so far.

I’m getting a lot of positive comments and reviews and as much as I try to avoid reviews, because there’s always going to be the negative stuff, everything that I’ve seen has been really awesome and I feel 100 per cent so exited about it.

YT: After releasing your Lights EP in 2008, did you already have a good idea of the direction you wanted The Listening to take or did your new songs just naturally fit with the tracks you released on your EP?

Lights: The new songs naturally fit with what was going on in the EP because that’s the way I write. And I was progressing along as a lyricist and a songwriter and a producer along the way, getting a little bit better with each song. So you can see some changes in that but at the core of it it’s still me so I can’t change direction too much. But the EP was meant to be sort of… I consider it sort of like the appetizer to what was actually the full meal, that was the album so it’s bound to be in the same vain for sure.

YT: You’ve said that your sound is inspired from your alternate universe. How would you describe that universe?

Lights: It’s a beautiful world where there are no limits and you can create anything you want. I’ve invented everything in it and it’s kind of inspiring grounds because you can come up with a crazy idea or sound or an invention or a visual, and as long as you have the means and the know-how to draw it into life, you have created that much more of your universe... so it’s just kind of like a big metaphor for all things surrounding my music.

YT: Some of your songs on this album are about love. Are these songs about personal experiences?

Lights: There are actually only two that are really written about romantic situations and the rest are pretty much written about just me learning about myself. Take one like Saviour, which was written one of those nights when everybody gets, like when you feel really low, it was me just kind of calling out because I felt, really, really low. And like The Listening where I learned it was kind of like that moment where I felt tired of the way I always talk so fast and shoot my mouth off before I think about it and that’s kind of the result of that. Most of the songs are just a lesson learned about myself and that being said, I’ve learned so much about myself over the course of making that record.

YT: It’s neat you’ve created something so beautiful out of something so dark.

Lights: Seriously, thank you so much. It’s definitely an ambition at firs. It’s almost a therapeutic approach to songwriting and it’s unfortunate as a songwriter that you kind of get caught in that vicious cycle where you write the best when you’re at that low point so you know that they’re going to come and you kind of need them.

YT: What would you like listeners to take away from your album?

Lights: What I would like is a little bit of what I learned about myself to be noticed by some people and maybe to help them in their discoveries of themselves as well. Or just nice music to listen to… I mean, I try to make music that I would love to put on in my car and just listen to when I’m driving or something, that’s really easy on my ears and enjoyable, and kind of creative and kind of tweak your ear a bit because it’s going to be a bit of sounds that you haven’t heard before… with a nice beat at the bottom of it to kind of keep things flowing so it should be an easy listening experience and maybe you’ll take a little bit of positivity away from it.

YT: You’ve been featured on Ten Second Epic’s Every Day and on The Februarys’ EP. How did those collaborations come about?

Lights: They’re actually friends of mine and with The Februarys, when they would come out and tour in Ontario, they would stay at my place and at the night when they weren’t doing a show, we would sit around and just write songs or record something in my little studio. So the way those came about was very much in that way where it was very organic and we’re just sitting around and doing vocals and stuff together. It was really just so much fun with them. With Ten Second Epic, the same thing, they’re friends of mine and of course I said, “yes” [to working with them] because I think they’re fantastic and they’re wonderful guys.

YT: Would you ever consider doing something with Owl City?

Lights: I would love to! We’re going to go out on tour for a couple months next year so it would be really fitting. We just started talking and e-mailing. He’s awesome, kind of supporting each other for years just you know on his Myspace and stuff, but we just started talking so maybe there will be something coming out I hope so.

YT: How’s the tour going so far?

Lights: It’s fantastic! It’s actually blowing my mind, especially here on the west coast. Like we did LA and San Fran and both shows were sold out so it’s really exiting to come to these towns and headline for the first time and see that you really are making an impact and there are people singing along. It’s a really cool feeling.

YT: How would you describe a typical Lights concert?

Lights: Um, filled with music (laughs). There’s really no other way to put it. I mean, it’s a blast. I have so much fun and no matter what mood I’m in, whether tired or down or happy or crying before I go on stage, I’m always cheered up when I’m up there. It’s kind of a lose-yourself experience. Everyone’s singing along and one of the things I love about seeing people sing back is that it kind of unifies the whole room. Nobody’s an individual anymore. Everyone’s just one big happy room of people singing along and it’s really cool.

YT: Your music videos often have a space or fantasy feel to them. How do you conceptualize what you want the music video to look like in the end?

Lights: It usually just organically flows. I mean, with everything audio I invent, there’s always a visual component. I just need to close my eyes and imagine it. It all started with the Drive My Soul video, where I closed my eyes and all I could picture was me designing a rocket to get to this purple planet where there was an astronaut waiting, and it just seemed so fitting. I love the campy aspect where it looks all homemade, like the old Star Trek sets you know, basically just impressing all of my hobbies and the things that I do for entertainment aside from music onto my music videos and it’s really just basically a chance for me to have fun and live in this crazy alternate universe.

YT: What was your inspiration for “The Listening’s” album cover?

Lights: It’s based on sort of simplicity and the Watchmen graphic novel, a really great graphic novel in the ’80s and, you know, a huge movie was made of it. I mean, it’s a comic but it has a level of depth to it that means it’s not just for kids. And it’s also kind of based on Sailor Moon, but my interest for comics came a long time ago in my life, mainly because it was just a precursor to video games where you can lose yourself in another world where there’s no boundaries for creativity and that’s what draws me.

YT: Who is your favourite comic book hero and why?

Lights: Wonder Woman (laughs). Wonder Woman’s been a long time hero of mine and I collect her comics and paraphernalia and I have pictures of her all over my wall and I actually have a huge tattoo of her on my back. I think she kicks a** and she’s a total babe and she stands for all honourable things, and justice, and purity, and these are all things I strive to stand for too, so it’s just cool that a wonderful woman can kick such a**.

YT: What’s the next big thing your fans can look forward to from you?

Lights: I’m going to continue touring a lot. I’m already going to start working on a new song for another record. Plus the Audio Quest: A Captain LIGHTS Adventure comics have already started airing on MTV in America, and they’ll be on my website too at iamlights.com. And it’s basically, if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s really cool. I’ve been working with a group from Marvel Digital Comics and we’ve put together a comic character based on me! She looks just like me and I did all the voiceover for it and she kinda just scavenges the universe for crazy sounds. My music’s all in the background… so it’s kind of like a score instead of a song kind of and she fights people along the way and it’s really cool.

YT: Lastly, where would you like to see your career five years from now?

Lights: Well, actually, in five years from now, my goodness, I can’t even imagine what opportunities are going to come up. I mean just in the past year, things have happened that I could never have imagined to happen in a way that I would never have dreamed this to happen. So, I mean, I can’t even picture it but I know it’s going to be awesome!