AS HEARD ON THE ...
JASON BLAINE
For the full conversation , listen to the Sept . 14 , 2022 episode
CM : I took notice when I saw your new LP , Diamonds in the Desert , was nominated in the Alternative Country Album of the Year category at this year ’ s Canadian Country Music Awards , mainly because I always associated you with a more mainstream , radio-focused style of country music . And when I listened , it really is a more soulful , alt-country vibe than your previous singles and albums . So , what did the team around you say when you set out to make an album without mainstream aspirations ?
Jason Blaine : I actually had one industry executive tell me it was
like the kiss of death for a career . Like it ’ s some signal that I ’ m out and doing this now . I took that with a grain of salt and thought , maybe it ’ s true and maybe it ’ s not , but it ’ s not a good enough reason to not do it .
One of the guys I like in country music is Dierks Bentley , I ’ ve always liked his records , and at one point he did a bluegrass record and I am sure that people got in his head and told him , “ This is the kiss of death ; why would you do that ?” Well , like John Mayer said in an interview at one time , you owe it to yourself as an artist to empty the tank . And really , only you know what ’ s in the tank . It ’ s like , I was carrying around this record , I ’ m imagining it in my head for years , and I am jamming it with the guys at soundchecks and stuff , and they ’ d say to me , “ Dude , why don ’ t you make a record of this stuff some time ?” Well , it ’ s time and money and , to do it right , you got to put yourself out there and commit .
A good buddy of mine , Clayton Bellamy of The Congregation and The Road Hammers , we wrote “ Pretend You ’ re Mine ” together , one of my favourite songs on this album , and it fell out so fast . We wrote it over Zoom . He really encouraged me to make this record and he said , “ Do it all the way . Don ’ t stop half way and go , ‘ Well maybe we can shine it up and add some loops and make it mainstream .’” I agreed with him …
Jay Tooke , who produced , was the perfect guy to do this with . He lives in this world a lot and records all kinds of indie records that are like this . They ’ re certainly not mainstream , but they ’ re so cool … Like , I ’ d play a solo or something and do something imperfectly or think I could get one thing better , but Jay would go , “ No man , that ’ s the spirit of this album . It ’ s rock and roll and every note doesn ’ t have to be this perfect thing . When you hear it in the context of the mix , the feeling is there and it ’ s right .” That was a whole new experience because I was very used to making slick , shiny records .
Hip-Hop Producer & Engineer
DAVID STRICKLAND
For the full conversation , listen to the Nov . 2 , 2022 episode
CM : You ’ ve often given credit to Rumble from classic hiphop duo Rumble & Strong for giving you your first sampler and turning you onto song production . But how did you start getting your first big breaks that led to working with Saukrates , Jully Black , Choclair , Kardinal Offishall , etc .? Was it just work ethic or also some chance meetings ?
David Strickland : I ’ d say a bit of both . I had a learning curve — I had to learn about music , learn the theory , learn the equipment . I wasn ’ t always good at the beginning . But then [ producer Noel “ Gadget ” Campbell ] threw me in with guys like Saukrates when Saukrates was only 16 or 17 and he ’ d just signed with Warner . I got thrown into the fire and I either sank or swam . That has happened a number of times in my life in music , but it took me a while . I had to work at it really hard , because I really wanted to make records . That ’ s really it , I just really wanted to make records somehow , whether I was a producer or engineer or whatever ; I wanted to be in the business and didn ’ t know how it was going to work out . I didn ’ t know if I was ever going to do anything sometimes , but then things started rolling .
As you know , we didn ’ t really get the shine in Canada before
Drake , but we did a lot of work before that . So , there were a lot of ups and downs and I really had to work hard at it . I really dedicated a lot of my life to the industry and sacrificed a lot of stuff . I put in the work , and that ’ s the theme here for me . Sometimes people will get at me for certain things and I am like , “ Nah , you guys don ’ t get it ; I get the shine because I did so much work .” All the work , all the records , and all the history we made , that ’ s the story here . I ’ ve always been in the background just doing my thing . I don ’ t need the shine or people ’ s approval for anything . I ’ ll just keep doing what I ’ m doing , but it is nice to see that people appreciate it .
Listen to new episodes of the Canadian Musician Podcast every Wednesday at
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20 CANADIAN MUSICIAN