WEBVTT - Patrick Watson 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:15.956 Pushkin. 0:00:20.436 --> 0:00:23.356 Patrick Watson first came to international attention in two thousand 0:00:23.356 --> 0:00:26.076 and seven when his album Close to Paradise won the 0:00:26.076 --> 0:00:31.116 Polaris Music Prize that's Canada's most prestigious award for Canadian artists. 0:00:31.836 --> 0:00:34.076 Over the course of his career, the Montreal based singer 0:00:34.116 --> 0:00:37.116 and composer a built a devoted following through his orchestral 0:00:37.156 --> 0:00:41.396 pop arrangements, his remarkable tenor voice, and live performances that 0:00:41.436 --> 0:00:45.516 blend intimacy with a theatric sensibility. Watson's music has found 0:00:45.516 --> 0:00:48.196 his second life far beyond his core fan base. His 0:00:48.316 --> 0:00:52.076 song Jette Lacere des Mont became a viral phenomenon years 0:00:52.116 --> 0:00:55.236 after its release, accumulating hundreds of millions of streams after 0:00:55.276 --> 0:00:59.396 being discovered by a new generation on social media. His 0:00:59.516 --> 0:01:02.036 songs have also found their way to television shows like 0:01:02.196 --> 0:01:04.876 The Walking Dead and Grey's Anatomy, bringing his sound to 0:01:04.916 --> 0:01:09.076 audiences worldwide. On today's episode, Bruce Seldom talks to Patrick 0:01:09.196 --> 0:01:12.876 Watson about making his playful and adventurous new record uh Oh, 0:01:12.956 --> 0:01:15.516 an album he recorded after recovering from a vocal cord 0:01:15.556 --> 0:01:18.796 hemorrhage on tour. Because of his injury, Patrick chose to 0:01:18.796 --> 0:01:21.116 feature a ton of guest artists on his new album 0:01:21.476 --> 0:01:27.436 in the style of hip hop features This is broken record, 0:01:27.876 --> 0:01:36.796 real musicians, real conversations. Here's Bruce Headlam speaking to Patrick 0:01:36.836 --> 0:01:39.436 Watson to begin with the performance of a song called 0:01:39.476 --> 0:01:42.796 House on Fire featuring Ariel Engel also known as La 0:01:42.836 --> 0:01:43.796 Force sitting in. 0:02:05.516 --> 0:02:07.716 I'll be ro and yoube right. 0:02:08.156 --> 0:02:08.796 I don't know. 0:02:09.316 --> 0:02:10.236 That's all right. 0:02:15.876 --> 0:02:19.356 I keep trying to see your side, even though I 0:02:19.836 --> 0:02:21.196 just I don't know. 0:02:21.116 --> 0:02:30.316 How we are words, we are stones, swirls down silver weed, 0:02:30.556 --> 0:02:33.356 areful wain did all go? 0:02:34.236 --> 0:02:35.356 How'd your eyes got? 0:02:35.596 --> 0:02:38.876 So you can wrap your truth and riveted bows? But 0:02:38.996 --> 0:02:42.476 I just don't know how to be alone? And I'm 0:02:42.476 --> 0:02:45.676 a man made out of homes. But tell me something 0:02:45.796 --> 0:02:59.876 loud already I'll be wrong, You'll be wrong. I don't 0:02:59.956 --> 0:03:03.316 mind it's wrong. I just want to make and man. 0:03:08.156 --> 0:03:09.276 Just can fly his. 0:03:09.436 --> 0:03:14.036 King cross while said our house so far, our. 0:03:13.836 --> 0:03:16.956 House is a very fine out speak got housh we 0:03:17.236 --> 0:03:21.236 gole you take your hands and cuppy wars screams so 0:03:21.356 --> 0:03:22.796 loud that the neighbors. 0:03:22.436 --> 0:03:23.236 Can be. 0:03:26.196 --> 0:03:40.676 But I don't want you this. I was yours, your man. 0:03:41.036 --> 0:03:44.716 There was so much on the line you're not keep 0:03:44.916 --> 0:03:46.396 chance your sad. 0:03:48.276 --> 0:03:48.316 Es. 0:03:52.996 --> 0:03:55.956 Here's some Milosnamaker. 0:04:00.036 --> 0:04:02.556 Drank the rain and bent to the sun. 0:04:04.036 --> 0:04:12.236 When we will now we're counting down, when. 0:04:12.156 --> 0:04:20.476 We can take the pictures off the walls, the budgets 0:04:20.596 --> 0:04:26.556 in the hall, when we walk down the doors. 0:04:29.596 --> 0:04:37.636 I don't love you anymore? Can't you hear those voices called. 0:04:40.076 --> 0:04:41.196 Can't you hear. 0:04:41.036 --> 0:04:47.956 Those voices called? Can't you hear those voices called? 0:04:51.236 --> 0:04:51.556 Fall? 0:04:51.876 --> 0:04:52.996 Love to break this. 0:04:53.276 --> 0:05:05.156 Fall, love to brig this, fall. 0:05:06.876 --> 0:05:15.356 For love to break this. I'll be wrong, You'll be 0:05:15.556 --> 0:05:17.156 right out of my This. 0:05:17.436 --> 0:05:25.836 Is all the most one, and I can't see through 0:05:25.876 --> 0:05:29.836 all the tears. I can't see through all the years. 0:05:30.076 --> 0:05:32.276 I can carry the weight of our lives. 0:05:32.916 --> 0:05:35.476 I can carry all lost lives. 0:05:38.276 --> 0:05:41.316 I can't see through all the tears. I can't see 0:05:41.396 --> 0:05:42.956 through all the years. 0:05:45.876 --> 0:05:49.916 I'll be wrong, you be right out of mine. It's 0:05:49.956 --> 0:05:54.036 all right. I just want a man, right. 0:06:06.236 --> 0:06:09.836 Welcome, Patrick Watson, you're here. Talk about you or your 0:06:09.916 --> 0:06:10.516 ninth album. 0:06:10.756 --> 0:06:11.436 I'm not counting. 0:06:11.796 --> 0:06:12.636 You're not counting like. 0:06:12.636 --> 0:06:14.956 It's bad luck. I'm not sure if it's eight or 0:06:14.996 --> 0:06:17.516 nine because they probably didn't count the book one. But 0:06:17.556 --> 0:06:19.116 I don't know. I'm gonna go with I don't want 0:06:19.116 --> 0:06:19.316 to know. 0:06:19.556 --> 0:06:22.556 Okay, we don't know what album this is, but we 0:06:22.636 --> 0:06:26.756 do know what it's called, and it's called uh oh. 0:06:27.556 --> 0:06:31.076 And of course you're here with Ariel Engel, who people 0:06:31.076 --> 0:06:35.116 would know from Broken Social Scene from her own and 0:06:35.156 --> 0:06:39.676 you're still performing as Force, Force and Patrick. A lot 0:06:39.676 --> 0:06:42.796 of people would know your music in the States, particularly 0:06:42.836 --> 0:06:43.796 probably from movies. 0:06:43.876 --> 0:06:45.316 To Build a Home was the first one that s 0:06:45.636 --> 0:06:48.476 can really make ways. I mean it was like from 0:06:48.476 --> 0:06:51.996 anything from Gray's Anatomy to like The Walking to music 0:06:51.996 --> 0:06:54.796 and The Walking Dead. This is us when he dies, 0:06:55.356 --> 0:06:56.676 it's to build a Home with. 0:06:56.756 --> 0:06:59.756 The toaster follow really okay, Yeah, it was a song 0:06:59.836 --> 0:07:01.236 like someone dies in a series. 0:07:02.276 --> 0:07:03.876 Yeah, and then it ruins a serious for me because 0:07:03.876 --> 0:07:05.956 I can't take it seriously. It ruined The Walking Dead 0:07:05.996 --> 0:07:06.196 for me. 0:07:06.276 --> 0:07:09.076 I couldn't yehause hearing your own song, I couldn't. 0:07:08.756 --> 0:07:11.716 Take seriously after that guy was so into that show. 0:07:12.076 --> 0:07:15.396 And then and then, funny enough, recently, when TikTok and 0:07:15.436 --> 0:07:18.636 Instagram happened, the similar thing happened because a lot of 0:07:18.636 --> 0:07:21.076 my music plays twelve images. And then a French song 0:07:21.116 --> 0:07:23.116 out of the middle nowhere became another kind of song 0:07:23.156 --> 0:07:25.636 that started playing everywhere. So I have a strange career, 0:07:25.716 --> 0:07:25.916 you know. 0:07:26.156 --> 0:07:31.116 Yeah, Well in that song is you have the I 0:07:31.156 --> 0:07:35.996 think the most played French language song on Spotify. 0:07:36.076 --> 0:07:36.676 You have like a. 0:07:36.596 --> 0:07:40.036 Billion first one across a billion streams, which is incredible 0:07:40.476 --> 0:07:42.756 because you're you were born in California, right, I. 0:07:42.716 --> 0:07:44.276 Was born in California. I moved to CA back when 0:07:44.316 --> 0:07:46.636 I was two, so I have very little memory. My 0:07:46.716 --> 0:07:48.196 dad was a test pilot in the desert. 0:07:48.476 --> 0:07:51.396 You're dad was a test pilot. Yeah, you're a rock 0:07:51.436 --> 0:07:53.676 star and you're the second coolest person in your family. 0:07:53.956 --> 0:07:55.996 He literally you know what makes it even worse, He 0:07:56.076 --> 0:07:58.436 won the Top Gun Award and he used to have 0:07:58.516 --> 0:08:00.916 it in my bedroom and it was like this, like 0:08:01.276 --> 0:08:03.076 this kind of a shell of a missile. And then 0:08:03.116 --> 0:08:05.116 we didn't really realize. And then when the movie Top 0:08:05.156 --> 0:08:07.756 Gun came out with Tom Cruise, where because it's all 0:08:07.796 --> 0:08:10.716 about that award, right, realized in our bedroom he had 0:08:10.756 --> 0:08:15.756 actually won that award. And then my other brother is 0:08:15.756 --> 0:08:18.716 cooler than me too, My brother Jamie. He's also a 0:08:18.716 --> 0:08:21.876 pilot and he has the most hours of any other 0:08:21.916 --> 0:08:24.356 C one thirty three pilot in like from like I 0:08:24.396 --> 0:08:28.276 think ninety two to ninety eighty, did Rwanda Sirievo Iraq 0:08:28.516 --> 0:08:31.156 wore he would be that last plane in and out 0:08:31.316 --> 0:08:35.956 or those low level flying He's a very decorated pilot 0:08:36.156 --> 0:08:40.036 and uh and has been through circumstances that I could 0:08:40.076 --> 0:08:44.156 my depth cannot match his depth of experiences. So I 0:08:44.196 --> 0:08:45.836 and then my other brother's kind of coolly just based. 0:08:46.036 --> 0:08:47.516 I think I think of the last of my family 0:08:47.556 --> 0:08:48.516 of the cool cool. 0:08:48.596 --> 0:08:50.916 But yeah, okay, profession. 0:08:52.196 --> 0:08:54.676 I know, I know. This was like a professional figure 0:08:54.676 --> 0:08:58.756 skater for crinel out on the Canadian team. My other sister, Heidi, 0:08:58.956 --> 0:09:00.596 is the one who built all the metro stations, the 0:09:00.596 --> 0:09:03.036 head engineer in Los Angeles and does all the water 0:09:03.076 --> 0:09:06.556 cheating plants and like leads construction sites and she's this 0:09:06.676 --> 0:09:09.476 really lovely lady who just kills it. So I've really 0:09:09.556 --> 0:09:10.676 literally the least cool. 0:09:11.436 --> 0:09:15.196 Wow. Well, let's let's go over some of your underachievements there, 0:09:18.116 --> 0:09:21.156 and let's start with the new album Great, which is 0:09:21.196 --> 0:09:22.996 a very interesting genesis and I'd like you to talk 0:09:23.036 --> 0:09:23.476 about that. 0:09:24.076 --> 0:09:27.796 When I titled uh oh, the original inspiration was at 0:09:27.796 --> 0:09:30.636 one point I had like totally broken my voice and 0:09:31.556 --> 0:09:33.836 we were playing a show in Atlanta, and we were 0:09:33.836 --> 0:09:35.676 playing the song here Comes the River, and I just 0:09:35.796 --> 0:09:39.356 oversang it, especially because when you sing in the South, 0:09:39.476 --> 0:09:42.356 you feel this kind of like this debt to the place. 0:09:42.476 --> 0:09:44.636 So much music that was origining from there, so when 0:09:44.636 --> 0:09:47.116 you play there, you feel this debt that you have 0:09:47.156 --> 0:09:48.796 to pay. And I remember doing that show. It was 0:09:48.796 --> 0:09:51.036 a very small audience, and I was trying to pay 0:09:51.076 --> 0:09:53.476 that debt because there was so much inspiration from the South, 0:09:53.796 --> 0:09:56.796 and I oversang and blew my chords out. We woke 0:09:56.876 --> 0:09:59.716 up in Philadelphia the e and t's like, you've paralyzed 0:09:59.716 --> 0:10:00.476 your vocal chords. 0:10:00.716 --> 0:10:02.516 Now, did you know it when you were singing? 0:10:02.676 --> 0:10:04.996 Yes, I didn't know how much trouble I was in 0:10:05.316 --> 0:10:08.956 because it slowly started to get worse after the show. 0:10:09.116 --> 0:10:10.516 Then when I woke up there was no more sound, 0:10:10.596 --> 0:10:13.036 and there was no more sound for three months. That 0:10:13.116 --> 0:10:16.356 came out of the chords and the other part of 0:10:16.356 --> 0:10:18.316 the genus of the record when we talk about the title, 0:10:18.316 --> 0:10:20.716 because we're working towards the uh oh, is that like 0:10:20.836 --> 0:10:22.876 for the last seven years, you wake up, every time 0:10:22.916 --> 0:10:25.276 you open the newspaper, you're always like, oh oh. It's 0:10:25.316 --> 0:10:27.836 just like we're in this constant uh oh, And I 0:10:27.876 --> 0:10:30.396 thought that that would be a fun way to approach 0:10:30.436 --> 0:10:33.276 a record in these times, just being like, oh, oh, 0:10:33.356 --> 0:10:34.316 what you gonna do about it? 0:10:35.476 --> 0:10:39.196 I'm interested you when you blow out your your vocal chords. 0:10:40.156 --> 0:10:43.436 I imagine given the business you are in, people have 0:10:43.476 --> 0:10:45.996 lots of recommendations like go to this guy he did 0:10:46.716 --> 0:10:50.156 Mariah Carey, or this guy does Celine Dion or something. 0:10:50.356 --> 0:10:53.516 Did you like seek out who you could finds. 0:10:53.116 --> 0:10:55.196 A hemorrhage, you know, like it was on a node. 0:10:55.196 --> 0:10:57.716 It was an operation. Some blood vessels broke out, so 0:10:58.156 --> 0:10:59.996 there was this complete perilous of the chords. So it's 0:10:59.996 --> 0:11:02.556 not an operation you do to fix it. The doctors 0:11:02.556 --> 0:11:06.276 didn't really know if I'd sing again. And then me 0:11:06.396 --> 0:11:08.876 being a little bit of a science chunky, I'd been 0:11:08.916 --> 0:11:11.756 done so much research. We're just like reading science journals 0:11:11.756 --> 0:11:14.396 that I knew that when athletes had really big problem 0:11:14.436 --> 0:11:17.636 they would going to hyperbaric auction chambers. We just put 0:11:17.716 --> 0:11:21.276 you on a pressure because when a diver gets like 0:11:21.556 --> 0:11:24.396 blood poisoning, they found that all the other wounds would 0:11:24.396 --> 0:11:26.116 start to heal quicker when they put them into the 0:11:26.196 --> 0:11:29.436 hyperbaric chambers. So to be honest, like no one told 0:11:29.436 --> 0:11:32.476 me to do that. I'm super clausophobic. It's a little 0:11:32.476 --> 0:11:34.916 glass jar. I was not feeling it, but I tried 0:11:34.956 --> 0:11:37.396 it and I could start making a noise. 0:11:37.396 --> 0:11:40.996 The next day, when you started this album, was your 0:11:41.076 --> 0:11:41.556 voice back? 0:11:42.836 --> 0:11:45.436 It slowly came back. When I did Celencio, it was 0:11:45.476 --> 0:11:49.796 still not really great, and I didn't know if I 0:11:49.836 --> 0:11:51.676 wanted to sing or not. And then I was with 0:11:51.796 --> 0:11:54.516 Nova and we were sitting in this like really beautiful 0:11:54.516 --> 0:11:57.436 apartment above Mamouth in Paris we had rented, and we 0:11:57.516 --> 0:11:59.396 had like two mics and a laptop, like a real 0:11:59.436 --> 0:12:03.156 simple audio setup, and we just talked about she had 0:12:03.196 --> 0:12:06.796 recently not loss of voice, but became very unhealthy. She 0:12:06.836 --> 0:12:09.676 couldn't breathe for like three months because of touring. And 0:12:10.596 --> 0:12:13.476 she's a very sweet and favorite talented person. And then 0:12:14.076 --> 0:12:16.396 while we talked, we had all these conversations and then 0:12:16.716 --> 0:12:19.276 I just started singing again, kind of naturally in a conversation, 0:12:19.436 --> 0:12:22.876 not in an attempt, and it was quite lovely because 0:12:22.916 --> 0:12:25.196 the singing on that song, I'm not really singing in 0:12:25.196 --> 0:12:27.316 that song, you know, it's much more talkie than I 0:12:27.356 --> 0:12:29.836 normally would have done, which was I think a really 0:12:29.916 --> 0:12:34.876 nice accident saying we started that intro in Spanish because 0:12:35.516 --> 0:12:38.356 I loved that language musically. It's one of the most 0:12:38.596 --> 0:12:41.876 beautiful musical languages you can, you know, the world has, 0:12:41.916 --> 0:12:44.916 you know, And so I'd ask Nova originally to sing 0:12:45.036 --> 0:12:46.556 in Spanish because she can do it in such a 0:12:46.596 --> 0:12:49.876 lovely way. So the idea bind the collaborations were what 0:12:49.956 --> 0:12:52.436 can I not do? I didn't want to add to 0:12:52.516 --> 0:12:54.276 what I already do. I would look for people that 0:12:54.396 --> 0:12:58.316 could be a different perspective, more in the tradition. I 0:12:58.316 --> 0:13:01.156 would think of a hip hop feature, meaning that you 0:13:01.196 --> 0:13:03.036 would have like two verses, and the two verses talk 0:13:03.076 --> 0:13:06.076 about two different stories even and it doesn't really matter. 0:13:06.676 --> 0:13:08.756 And I really admired that freedom they had in that 0:13:08.756 --> 0:13:11.796 strung sure. What I really wanted at the collaborations was 0:13:11.996 --> 0:13:14.156 people speaking over me and maybe not agreeing with me, 0:13:14.276 --> 0:13:17.236 not necessarily singing harmony with me. Laf False I had 0:13:17.276 --> 0:13:20.156 invited because it was the most personal song on the record, 0:13:20.196 --> 0:13:21.636 and I've sing with her years and I don't I 0:13:21.636 --> 0:13:23.156 couldn't really sing with anybody else. 0:13:23.836 --> 0:13:26.716 Some of the songs seem like something close to a 0:13:26.716 --> 0:13:30.316 classic duet. Some of them seem like arguments. It's interesting 0:13:30.356 --> 0:13:33.396 every interaction with the other singer is a little bit. 0:13:33.756 --> 0:13:34.596 Unique to them. 0:13:34.716 --> 0:13:35.196 Unique. 0:13:36.276 --> 0:13:38.876 They're all like people that I would want to sing 0:13:38.956 --> 0:13:41.316 like first and all. And then some people ask me, like, 0:13:41.316 --> 0:13:42.876 why is it no woman? I'm like, listen, I just 0:13:42.916 --> 0:13:44.796 picked the best singers I could find, Like, that's not 0:13:44.836 --> 0:13:47.196 a gender thing. It's like also, it was really a 0:13:47.276 --> 0:13:51.676 question of like perspectives, like Martha Wainwright. Example of Martha 0:13:51.756 --> 0:13:54.236 is that she's fire like I do not have that 0:13:54.276 --> 0:13:57.676 fire that she has behind her voice, and I wanted 0:13:57.676 --> 0:13:59.996 to experience what it was like to sing with someone 0:14:00.076 --> 0:14:02.356 and write with someone with that kind of like bold 0:14:02.436 --> 0:14:05.756 fire that I don't have access to. It's her magic power. 0:14:06.276 --> 0:14:08.396 So a lot of these decisions were based on that. 0:14:08.556 --> 0:14:10.796 I'm like, what is like to sing with Martha? 0:14:11.116 --> 0:14:11.596 You like? 0:14:11.636 --> 0:14:15.676 It was very selfish. So land this French singer the 0:14:15.716 --> 0:14:17.916 way she like lands her words. It's very hard to 0:14:17.956 --> 0:14:20.156 sing in French, very hard language to sing in. 0:14:20.356 --> 0:14:20.996 And why is that? 0:14:21.516 --> 0:14:24.396 Because it every bloody word ends with a vowel and 0:14:24.436 --> 0:14:26.436 it takes like fifty words to say the same thing 0:14:26.476 --> 0:14:29.276 it says three words in English, So you really need 0:14:29.316 --> 0:14:31.276 to be a wordsmith to succeed at it. And you 0:14:31.356 --> 0:14:34.436 really have a finesse of any your words is extremely 0:14:34.556 --> 0:14:38.476 challenging for people outside the language to like it. There's 0:14:38.516 --> 0:14:41.236 a few examples, like Gainsbourg, but games Book has this 0:14:41.396 --> 0:14:44.036 lovely He's almost like a Leno cone kind of delivery, 0:14:44.116 --> 0:14:46.556 like really dry and wordy, and it's funny the way 0:14:46.556 --> 0:14:49.196 he finishes his words. And the thing about French too 0:14:49.276 --> 0:14:51.316 is if it's too like if I say I love 0:14:51.356 --> 0:14:54.316 you in French, like as a really kind of on 0:14:54.396 --> 0:14:57.076 my sleeves kind of way meaning it, it doesn't work. 0:14:57.756 --> 0:14:59.236 You need to say it in a way that's a 0:14:59.236 --> 0:15:02.836 bit witty and it needs to be a little bit ironic, 0:15:02.916 --> 0:15:04.516 with a little bit of like a little bit tongue 0:15:04.516 --> 0:15:07.076 in cheek for it to have the same impact. So 0:15:07.076 --> 0:15:09.636 we're English, I could say like clouds fire love and 0:15:09.676 --> 0:15:13.076 people make some sort of connection, or French you need 0:15:13.116 --> 0:15:15.276 to be witty as Bob Dylan to get away with 0:15:15.316 --> 0:15:16.876 it or else it just doesn't work. 0:15:17.516 --> 0:15:19.156 It doesn't land for a French audience, it. 0:15:19.156 --> 0:15:21.436 Doesn't land for anybody like. It's not a language that 0:15:21.516 --> 0:15:24.356 works that way. It's a very intellectual language. It's it's 0:15:24.356 --> 0:15:27.636 a language that was developed in literature. English was a 0:15:27.716 --> 0:15:31.196 language developed in trade, you know, it developed in a 0:15:31.196 --> 0:15:35.316 way that you could communicate very easily in multiple scenarios. 0:15:35.716 --> 0:15:38.556 And when you have like Spanish or Italian, these are 0:15:38.836 --> 0:15:41.436 developed in poetry and songs, so that's why they roll 0:15:41.476 --> 0:15:42.596 off the tongue like magical. 0:15:44.156 --> 0:15:46.476 We'll be back with more from Patrick Watson. 0:15:50.796 --> 0:15:53.396 When I listen to your music, it reminds me of 0:15:53.436 --> 0:15:56.596 a lot of other Montreal artists, Leonard Cohens and one 0:15:56.636 --> 0:15:59.876 of them in the Garagols. Yeah, you want to go 0:16:00.716 --> 0:16:04.156 way back, but there are so many influences that you 0:16:04.236 --> 0:16:08.196 don't typically find in I'll call it pop music. 0:16:08.836 --> 0:16:08.956 Ye. 0:16:09.156 --> 0:16:12.716 People struggle to label your music. I try not to 0:16:12.956 --> 0:16:14.716 work in labels. But I look it up it's like 0:16:14.836 --> 0:16:18.036 it was a dreamy pop is it folk experimentation? And 0:16:18.076 --> 0:16:20.636 to me, I was like, well, no, that's Montreal just 0:16:20.676 --> 0:16:25.436 has a natural kind of it has all these different influences. 0:16:25.516 --> 0:16:26.476 Now did you find that? 0:16:26.716 --> 0:16:29.636 Yeah? I mean, here's the lucky thing about Quebec or Montreal, 0:16:30.196 --> 0:16:33.076 and what's particular about it is that it's an island 0:16:33.116 --> 0:16:36.276 in North America in a sense where the French, to 0:16:36.356 --> 0:16:40.356 save their language, built these insanely high tall walls around it. 0:16:40.396 --> 0:16:43.316 Culturally speaking, so like you know, when I was a kid, 0:16:43.316 --> 0:16:45.436 there was no real labels. There was Constellation in the 0:16:45.476 --> 0:16:49.996 Godspeed guys, but that's very experimental and Godspeed it's another 0:16:49.996 --> 0:16:52.036 great example of what you're talking about too. The first 0:16:52.036 --> 0:16:54.036 time I saw violins with guitar pedals is going to 0:16:54.076 --> 0:16:57.796 be Godspeed. They had orchestral, super cinematic rock. It changed 0:16:57.796 --> 0:16:59.756 my life when I saw them. But there was a 0:16:59.756 --> 0:17:02.116 really strong rule in our city that you don't sound 0:17:02.156 --> 0:17:05.436 like somebody else, and don't you can't be like a style. 0:17:05.516 --> 0:17:07.236 I remember going to Toronto and the bands would have 0:17:07.276 --> 0:17:09.516 like a like a portfolio and a press photo or 0:17:09.636 --> 0:17:12.156 like this kind of idea, and we're like, we didn't 0:17:12.196 --> 0:17:13.836 have any of that because there was no business there, 0:17:14.396 --> 0:17:16.756 and I think with our music was completely isolated from 0:17:16.756 --> 0:17:20.236 that until we would reach a certain point, the breaking point, 0:17:20.276 --> 0:17:22.116 and then tour around the world and then we would 0:17:22.556 --> 0:17:24.916 kind of see that for the first time. But it's 0:17:24.956 --> 0:17:28.356 really important for a Montreal band to be very unique, 0:17:28.396 --> 0:17:31.196 and if you're selling something, it's not a good look 0:17:31.236 --> 0:17:34.716 in Montreal. It's not there's a certain ethics that that's 0:17:34.796 --> 0:17:37.796 unset in Montreal, you know, And I think I would 0:17:37.836 --> 0:17:41.116 say the modern bands that came from Montreal would definitely 0:17:41.156 --> 0:17:44.436 be coming from God Speedy, Black Emperor, and they were 0:17:44.476 --> 0:17:48.476 like very ethically strong about their choices about music, business 0:17:48.476 --> 0:17:51.276 and politics, and so I think you'd be very reticent 0:17:51.356 --> 0:17:52.756 to be like, oh, now I'm going to make like 0:17:52.756 --> 0:17:54.636 a pop song and try to make it on the radio. 0:17:54.716 --> 0:17:56.316 It would be it would not it would be a 0:17:56.316 --> 0:17:58.436 bit frowned upon it in Montreal when I was younger, 0:17:58.476 --> 0:18:00.036 you know, it's not you know, I mean, it was 0:18:00.076 --> 0:18:01.396 not what we were darre doing, you know. 0:18:01.876 --> 0:18:05.196 So you think it's it's more a political attitude. 0:18:04.756 --> 0:18:06.916 Then I think it's a bit attitude. 0:18:07.036 --> 0:18:10.516 To me. It's it's about ears almost years. 0:18:10.516 --> 0:18:13.796 But it's also the French are like extremely inspired by 0:18:13.916 --> 0:18:15.596 very like if I'm like and then like, let's say 0:18:15.636 --> 0:18:18.156 I drive twelve hours of the North, like in the 0:18:18.156 --> 0:18:20.716 middle of nowhere, they're going to listen to like super 0:18:20.716 --> 0:18:23.436 experimental music in a small mining town, Like there's a 0:18:23.476 --> 0:18:27.116 festival called FM where like we did. We did a 0:18:27.156 --> 0:18:29.796 show with Mark Robo. We're like nine hours north than 0:18:29.836 --> 0:18:32.436 a miners town. They loved it. You know, it's not 0:18:32.516 --> 0:18:34.036 everywhere you go where you go to a small town 0:18:34.036 --> 0:18:35.716 where they want to listen to Marcrobo and make crazy 0:18:35.756 --> 0:18:38.956 noise on his guitar or like, it's pretty particular. Most 0:18:38.996 --> 0:18:43.116 of the French Quebec musicians are extremely gifted and talented, 0:18:43.116 --> 0:18:44.716 a bit like when you go to Nashville, you know, 0:18:44.796 --> 0:18:47.436 everybody can play for reels. Yeah, well, I gotta be 0:18:47.476 --> 0:18:49.476 honest with you. When you go to like Quebec and 0:18:49.516 --> 0:18:51.516 the small town like people play for real a bit 0:18:51.596 --> 0:18:54.236 like in that same way, you know. And I think 0:18:54.276 --> 0:18:57.316 that Montreal is this collision of Europe and North America. 0:18:58.076 --> 0:19:00.196 The wall, the cultural walls that the French put up 0:19:00.236 --> 0:19:03.716 to save their language do play a part. And why 0:19:03.796 --> 0:19:06.516 I think Leonard corn All these people are interested. I mean, 0:19:06.516 --> 0:19:09.036 look at Lena Cohn. There is no other Anglophone singer 0:19:09.156 --> 0:19:13.156 that sings about sex the way Leonard Cohen does. It's 0:19:13.156 --> 0:19:15.036 a very French thing to do that, you know what 0:19:15.076 --> 0:19:17.596 I mean. So and then the Quebecers are like, well, 0:19:17.676 --> 0:19:19.596 Leonard Cohen speaks English, he's not French. And I'm like, 0:19:19.596 --> 0:19:23.316 but guys, there's no English singer that is that pornographic 0:19:23.356 --> 0:19:26.316 in their languages other than Leonard because he's living. 0:19:26.196 --> 0:19:27.516 In Montreal, you know. 0:19:27.996 --> 0:19:31.036 So these all these interesting arguments and collisions and it's 0:19:31.076 --> 0:19:33.636 a lovely place. But I do think it's it's an 0:19:33.636 --> 0:19:37.036 attitude of like there was no business there. We would 0:19:37.036 --> 0:19:40.116 just do shows and do improvised, improvised music together and 0:19:40.156 --> 0:19:42.156 there was a real spirit of like you should sound 0:19:42.196 --> 0:19:44.796 like what you sound like and no one else and 0:19:44.836 --> 0:19:47.756 then lots of orchestral instruments mixed into the field. And yeah, 0:19:47.796 --> 0:19:49.756 it was it was a very lucky place to spend 0:19:49.756 --> 0:19:50.516 time make music. 0:19:50.636 --> 0:19:50.836 Well. 0:19:50.836 --> 0:19:55.796 Montreal's also got a really strong classical music, yes, scene 0:19:56.556 --> 0:20:02.276 Montreal Symphonies, big, big recording orchestra, and it's also got 0:20:02.316 --> 0:20:05.116 French Canadian folk music, which isn't like a lot of 0:20:05.156 --> 0:20:07.916 other folks. It's very rhythmic French Canadian folk music. 0:20:07.996 --> 0:20:11.436 Well, when you're going back to the tulute, get down 0:20:11.676 --> 0:20:13.396 the original stuff. To be honest, if you put a 0:20:13.476 --> 0:20:14.756 hip hop eat on it, you'd be a little bit 0:20:14.796 --> 0:20:18.636 surprised that the original they've kind of forgotten that. Like, 0:20:18.876 --> 0:20:21.196 there was this revolution in Quebec that people don't really understand, 0:20:21.196 --> 0:20:23.396 where we kicked the church out because the church was 0:20:23.436 --> 0:20:25.076 making all the French people have like twelve kids, and 0:20:25.076 --> 0:20:26.756 they were getting conservative and there was a they called 0:20:26.756 --> 0:20:28.796 the quiet Revolution and then you have is. 0:20:28.676 --> 0:20:31.156 Like which, by the way, it's the most Canadian title ever. 0:20:32.956 --> 0:20:35.116 We revolted. We just didn't want anybody to know about it. 0:20:35.116 --> 0:20:37.596 They're pretty our core. I mean, French don't don't screw around, 0:20:37.636 --> 0:20:39.276 like when they when when they're when they don't like 0:20:39.316 --> 0:20:41.196 something them, they like, you know, when we win a Stanley. 0:20:41.276 --> 0:20:43.276 When Canadians do well, we burn the city down. I 0:20:43.316 --> 0:20:45.876 mean the French Canadians know how to party. They're very 0:20:45.876 --> 0:20:48.356 fiery and a lot of heart and soul in that 0:20:48.476 --> 0:20:51.556 language and that culture. So there's this whole tradition that 0:20:51.556 --> 0:20:54.636 they've kept and they've poured all they have into this 0:20:54.756 --> 0:20:57.516 small scene that just belongs to them. With all these 0:20:57.556 --> 0:21:01.116 grant money and people talk about public funding, but they 0:21:01.156 --> 0:21:05.476 were an island of French beside America for crying out loud, 0:21:05.516 --> 0:21:07.436 and they had to keep their language. So they built 0:21:07.436 --> 0:21:10.556 these walls and they find out their music in a 0:21:10.596 --> 0:21:12.276 way that I don't think any other place on Earth 0:21:12.276 --> 0:21:15.116