Kreative Kontrol

Ep. #103: Culture Reject

Post author By vish
Post date May 27, 2014

Culture Reject is the moniker of Michael O’Connell, a talented singer, songwriter, and musician who calls Toronto home. After years in the Guelph band Black Cabbage, O’Connell eventually went solo and has released two full-length albums as Culture Reject, including last year’s Forces. He and his band are playing the Hillside Festival in Guelph this July 25-27 and a while ago, he invited me to his home for breakfast where we talked about Guelph, Black Cabbage, and the Neutron Stars, sitting down when you pee, rice and peas and coconut milk and spices and hard-boiled eggs and peaches, tropical music, how to reggae it up, Cuba, white guys with guitars, how Black Cabbage happened and compromising, Nick Craine, touring Canada by bus with an ambitious Aaron Riches, tinkering with Culture Reject’s first record, how the new record Forces was made at 6 Nassau St., Tristan O’Malley’s transient, permanently on-loan synthesizer that is never coming home, the mystery lodge, how Forces reflects Toronto, people need to talk to people, misusing “the theme,” communication and modern parenting, the written word is the written word, maybe texting is good for us, maybe phones are bad for us, White Whale Records, the importance of playing great shows, sketch.ca, the song “Quicksand,” and no mas.

Related links: culturereject.bandcamp.com vishkhanna.com

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Tags 6 Nassau St., Aaron Riches, Black Cabbage, Cuba, Culture Reject, Guelph, Hillside Festival, Michael O’Connell, Nick Craine, sketch.ca, the Neutron Stars, the written word, Toronto, Tristan O’Malley, White Whale Records

News Podcast

Ep. #102: Alison Wearing

Post author By vish
Post date May 22, 2014

Alison Wearing is an author, musician, and theatrical actress based in Stratford Ontario whose first book was the internationally acclaimed travel memoir Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey. Her latest book is another compelling memoir called Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter – Growing Up with a Gay Dad, which she has adapted into an award-winning one-woman show. The Eden Mills Writers’ Festival and the Bookshelf present Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter – Growing Up with a Gay Dad at the Ebar on Friday May 23 and here, Alison and I discuss what it’s like living in the Shakespearean-flavoured, welcoming town of Stratford, which came first, Confessions the book or Confessions the play, how this story resonates with people whose families aren’t “normal,” how families aren’t ideal or perfect but their challenges are healthy, Canada’s coming out, the remarkable elements at Alison’s disposal to tell this story about her father and her family, the box of treasure, making it with a Roman Catholic priest, terror and joy, what her family has made of Alison’s one-woman show and book, her brothers’ low profile in the book, the devastating and arresting section about Alison’s mother in this book, how we’re often ready to write our stories before we’ve written one word, academics are unreadable, her parents’ musical interest and its influence on her writing, the Liberal Party of Canada and bonding with Pierre Elliott Trudeau about China, empowering others with Confessions, we all find ourselves, selfishness and truth, my parents and my sister, Alison’s unforgiving aunt, connecting with others to accept their anger, truth and pride, how the book compares to the show, the book’s impact on one’s croissant consumption, Alison’s next book project about children and Mexico and when she’ll actually have time to finish it, the long shelf life that books have, and that was all.

Related links: alisonwearing.com vishkhanna.com

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Tags Alison Wearing, coming out, Confessions of a Fairy's Daughter - Growing Up with a Gay Dad, croissants, Eden Mills Writers' Festival, family, Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Stratford Ontario, The Ebar, the Liberal Party of Canada, writing

News Podcast

Ep. #101: Steven Lambke

Post author By vish
Post date May 20, 2014

Steven Lambke is a very talented songwriter, singer, and guitar player who often performs under the name Baby Eagle. A founding member of Constantines, Lambke was raised in Cambridge, Ontario and currently lives in Toronto where he manages the You’ve Changed Records label, which has released music by the likes of Baby Eagle, Attack in Black, Daniel Romano, Daniel, Fred & Julie, Shotgun Jimmie, Marine Dreams, the Weather Station, Apollo Ghosts, and will be handling the reissue of Constantines’ Shine a Light in Canada this June 10. You’ve Changed celebrates its fifth anniversary with special roster-oriented shows at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern on May 22 and Ottawa’s St. Alban’s Church on May 23. At Steve’s place with Shary Boyle in Toronto, he and I discussed things like what Shary is preparing for dinner, the fact that Steve is in Toronto not in Sackville, Venice to Detroit, border crossing when you’re a musician not crossing to play music, “pfft…co-operative,” is Fugazi some kind of heavy metal, hobbies and retirement, teachers and race car drivers, parental tolerance of super loud novice musicians, learning about Superchunk and Merge Records, Encore Records in Kitchener is the best, whether labels matter and how they curate experiences, Steve’s old job at Soundscapes, the influence of Three Gut Records, SappyFest, and Attack in Black on You’ve Changed, how ideas are executed by the people running the label, the mystery of YCR 004 and CST 100, Dan Romano steps back a bit, Colin Medley made a You’ve Changed Anniversary zine, Steve should write a book or two, oh wait, Steve is publishing a book of lyrics and poetry, how writing songs in Constantines compares to writing as Baby Eagle, song batches, Christine Fellows and John K. Samson are encouraging people, balancing things, quality control and propelling important cultural work, “a field left fallow by a pine stand will grow pine,” more You’ve Changed records are coming out many of which will likely be made by Marine Dreams, the Shine a Light reissue, why the Constantines’ ending and starting up again might’ve been Bry Webb’s call, why Constantines will not be touring, the surprise guest at the Toronto You’ve Changed show at the Horseshoe on May 22 is no longer a surprise to you because you just found out that it’s Daniel Romano and his band, the Marine Dreams song “Constant Love” and then we stopped without really talking about our younger selves learning to play music together and forming bands like Captain Co-Pilot. Next time.

Related links: youvechangedrecords.com baby-eagle.com vishkhanna.com

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