You are firmly attached to Montreal, it seems a very nurturing place, can you describe your relationship to it a little?
I decided to move here when I was trying to strike out as an adult. Canada is a small country population-wise, and there are few metropolitan areas that are conducive to being a musician here, Montreal is one of them, and is great in terms of cost of living, and finding great spaces for music studios. So many artists have moved here over the last fifteen years, and it has created an expansive music community here, there are lots of established places to play and perform. I find it inspiring being around prolific people, I don’t know if I would fare so well if I had nobody to compare my productivity to [laughs]. People working well on projects around you gives you a little boost. It is a beautiful city as well. The original plan for the city was pretty intelligent, not very car-centric, so for a person living on a small income that doesn’t enable home ownership or car ownership, you can still live here and have pretty much everything, and be happy. Maybe Berlin would be a comparison in Europe, where people from all over the place move there because it is affordable and creates an interesting community.
That sense of a healthy rivalry brings to mind what Brian Wilson said about how he produced some of his best work because of his rivalry with The Beatles.
You need it. I think it is changing because of the internet, but you need it so desperately. It can help create great music.
Is there anybody that you really love, making music locally in Montreal, that perhaps we could get to know about?
I don’t know if I want to take such a risk to recommend something! [Laughs] I wouldn’t want to wholeheartedly endorse anybody [Laughs]
Perhaps more of a fair question is to ask you what you are reading, or something that is inspiring you at the moment?
Ah! Well I am currently in the middle of some Dave Hickey essays. He writes from the perspective of an art dealer and lover, and writes about aspects of the art industry in America, and commodification of things, not necessarily from a negative opinion. He writes about the nature of the open market and competition, relative to music-making and making art – people trying to keep up with each other and pushing the platform forward. He also talks about the artistry of NBA players [laughs]. There is a book of his called Air Guitar, which is one of my favourites, I like it a lot. It is not overly academic, but it is nice.
