what ?’ I woke up the next day and I was just like , ‘ Okay , I guess I have to make an album because I will never have this much attention on my creativity .’”
Working with his friend and engineer / producer Mike Schlosser – and pulling in other artists like Adam Bowman , Kendal Thompson , and Alex Price — made it an album unlike any of his others , but which he also felt lives in his bones . The sound of Saga King is the intersection of afrobeat , rock and roll , Soca , dancehall , and hip-hop – all genres that Downing has studied and grown up with and feels live within him .
“ There ’ s a literary term called ‘ intertextuality ,’ which is sort of a place where different texts influence each other . That ’ s what I ’ m interested in as a writer and as an artist and as a person . I ’ ve often been in between , you know ? I ’ m a Black guy who ’ s grown up in a mostly white culture . I ’ m a Trinidadian who ’ s grown up in Canada . I ’ m an artist who ’ s been in the corporate world . I ’ m an author who plays music . In the music space , I ’ m trying to read Chauce . Like , I ’ m in a rock band , [ Jen Militia ,] and my bandmates are like , “ Yo , what the fuck ? We ’ re trying to drink Budweiser or Pabst Blue Ribbon and we ’ re not too concerned with that ,’” he laughs .
The confidence to be fully and unapologetically himself as an artist – or “ radically you ” as he has sometimes put it – and to go in whichever stylistic direction is fulfilling at the time came , in part , from a surprising source — Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher . Back around 2009 , through mutual friend – the late Hamilton-based guitarist and producer Dan Achen – Downing met Gaz Whelan , the drummer for treasured Manchester band the Happy Mondays . Whelan and a couple other British ex-pats living in Ontario were looking for a singer for their group , the Hippy Mafia . Specifically , they wanted a Black singer who could credibly blend hip-hop , soul , and rock and roll . It was a perfect gig for Downing , which Whelan knew as soon as Achen played some of Downing ’ s music for him .
“ Twelve tall cans of Guinness later and I ’ m in the band ,” Downing recalls . Not too long later , the Hippy Mafia were playing major venues across the U . K . and Europe , opening for Gallagher ’ s post-Oasis band , Beady Eye .
“ I learned so much from those guys , but one of the key things is that the people should be able to look at your band and know what you ’ re about ,” Downing says ,
and that lesson is evident in all his personas and projects since then . “ Then it was just on ! We were touring and I was in Manchester kicking it with Johnny Marr and meeting Mani from The Stone Roses . Then , of course , meeting Liam and the Beady Eye guys , like Andy [ Bell ] and Gem [ Archer ] and the boys and I was just like [ whispers to himself ], ‘ This is fucked up .’”
But it was Liam Gallagher standing side stage watching the Hippy Mafia play every night that changed something for Downing . “ Every time I came off , he ’ s the first person there going [ puts on thick British accent ], ‘ You ’ re a fuckin ’ top frontman , mate . Fuckin ’ top frontman ! It ’ s the fuckin ’ aces , mate !’” Downing chuckles , though still so appreciative of the encouragement . In England and Europe , he sensed that the more he let loose , the more he was appreciated . Whereas in Canada , he felt his personas and blend of styles made him weird . “ When I came back , I immediately packed my bags and moved to Toronto . I think that gave me the confidence to come and do my own thing … I ’ m like , ‘ Well , who am I going to I listen to , a bunch of nerds or Liam fucking Gallagher ?’”
Looking back now , there ’ s another memory from early in his career that Downing now calls “ the quintessential story for me ,” and which offers a great lesson for every aspiring musician out there . Downing and his band were playing a bar in the small town of Golden , BC . It was the first stop of the tour and in the bar , as he describes it , were roughly six bikers and the wait staff .
“ I ’ m like , ‘ Oh my god , we just drove 3,000 kilometers for this ?’ It makes you go , ‘ What am I doing with my life ?’ The first song and second song , I wasn ’ t feeling it , because obviously , I ’ m kind of depressed about this . We ’ re about to start the third song and I said , ‘ Yo , give me a minute .’ I mean , there ’ s no one there anyway . So , I just had a moment to myself and I just said , ‘ Look dude , you came here to do a thing . If you don ’ t do that thing , it doesn ’ t matter how many people are here , you will walk off the stage and you will not feel good . If you do that thing , it doesn ’ t matter how many people are here , you will walk off the stage and you will feel great because you ’ ll know you did what you came to do .’ So , I just made myself happy and by the end of the third set , the bar was packed . All those five or six bikers called their buddies and it ’ s a small town and so everybody came down . They said , ‘ This band ’ s really givin ’ it ’” he recalls for Canadian Musician . “ The lesson was , again – I guess that ’ s the theme of what I ’ ve been saying today – is that when you have the courage to be yourself and be authentically you , that ’ s the point where anyone else becomes interested . I think that ’ s why my relevance has been increased is because I ’ ve gotten more and more and more me . It ’ s an interesting thing that the moment where you have the courage to ignore the audience , that ’ s when they start paying attention to you .”
And now the world is paying attention to Antonio Michael Downing , or make that John Orpheus .
Michael Raine is the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Musician .
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