PHOTO : EDWARD POND
ED ROBERTSON PERFORMS INTO THE RCA 44
JIM CREEGGAN
for those close to you , and the strutting jazz-infused banger “ Paul Chambers ,” which is just delightfully smooth . Both Creeggans ’ s songs also include his brother and former Barenaked Lady Andy Creeggan , who recorded the wood drum on “ Here Together ” and played a host of backing instruments on “ Paul Chambers ,” including the piano as well as putting together the string and horn arrangements .
“’ Paul Chambers ’ was hilarious . I was totally willing to go with the barebones bed track , because that ’ s kind of what we were going for … But when we took a break , I realized that all of the energy and bigness of the song was more in my head than it was on the track itself . So , I reached out to my brother , Andy , and him and I created the string part together , and he added some Joe Beam guitar , which wasn ’ t even in there . He was kind of responding to Tyler ’ s drum set and that Latin kind of feel .” In terms of the song ’ s namesake and inspiration , the legendary jazz upright bassist Paul
36 CANADIAN MUSICIAN
PHOTO : EDWARD POND
KEVIN HEARN
PHOTO : EDWARD POND
Chambers , Creeggan remarks , “ It was basically just being inspired by what Paul does for his band ; you know , bringing all that support and compassion , and wondering ‘ How can I bring that into my life ?’”
For Creeggan , perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the process was getting to borrow and
use Geddy Lee ’ s personal Moog Taurus pedals . “ That was an out-of-body experience . On ‘ Big Back Yard ’ I was actually playing bass and the Taurus pedals at the same time , so it was this wild experience of almost being an organ player !” He also proudly shares that the final bass take used on “ Here Together ” was from the very first band take , which was performed while he was singing at the same time .
To add to the album ’ s pedigree on top of the already star-studded crew , cast , and history-laden gear , there were also some really great co-writers involved on the record , including Kevin Griffin ( who also had a hand in co-production on a handful of songs ), as well as Donovan Woods , Danny Michel , James Bryan Mc- Collum , Craig Wiseman , and Mike Evin .
TYLER STEWART
What ’ s made really apparent across the record is that this is a group of musicians who don ’ t care to have an ego , and are all dedicated to making the best record they can , regardless of who contributes what . “ You know , I like that our records have more than one voice ,” Hearn mentions . “ One of my favourite records of all time is the White Album by The Beatles ; I like the element of our record that has Jim ’ s songs and my songs and Ed ’ s songs , and we have Tyler singing on this one and it ’ s really cool .”
“ It ’ s funny , a lot of the songs have had kind of a new light shone on them because of the pandemic , but they were all written before it happened ,” says Creeggan . “ The record was started just before the pandemic , and we finished , sort of , in June [ 2020 ] when things kind of opened up . We were responding to the pandemic life , in a way , as we were recording it .”
I mentioned to Robertson , as well , that I felt as though this is a very timely record and , being so varied in its ethos , that it captures a lot of the common emotions felt across the population lately ; both positive and negative . There ’ s no denying that we ’ re all having a hell of a time . “ Yeah , and I think that ’ s why the title worked so well for me . Detour de Force . I felt so great about the record , but it wasn ’ t the record that we started to make ; like , the whole world had to detour last year , and our record was no exception , so it really encapsulated the process ,” Robertson says .
The record ’ s opening salvo of huge production numbers – “ Flip ,” “ Good Life ,” and “ New Disaster ,” penned by Robertson and Kevin Griffin – really do a great job of setting the tone for the LP , as those three songs almost feel like a summation of what the record sets out to do right from the beginning ; big , fun , thoughtful , and funny , while also creating a sense of longing and urgency . Then there are songs like “ Flat Earth ” and “ By Law ” that are just plain joyful to listen to for their effortless humour . These songs , as well , is where Ratz ’ s production shines . These are big , fat radio joints rolled with precision , while still retaining a lot of the in-the-room feel . In fact , Stewart mentioned that he recorded two different drum kits entirely for the tones on “ Good Life .”
PHOTO : EDWARD POND