Daniel Wesley

0:03So you started out on ukulele I hear oh Wow Yeah, long time ago. I also started on a bathtub too. I sang in the bathtub a lot nice and that's where it all started I was about three you still play uk no I I think people would dig it at your shows the last ukulele I had I was spoke 12 years old and I was playing Baseball with it with my brother with a pair of socks and I nailed it on my parents bed Post and broken in half so I haven't had one for years my little sister got a sister's 10 and she She plays and I picked it up and I can tune it for and stuff like that But yeah, I should you know there's a lot of things I should do I bought a banjo Started playing that stop playing that. I should practice more maybe not just see it working in your shows. I think people would dig it

0:49Yeah, no, it'd be cool. You know any better does that he plays Yeah, and it's great sounds really good and he's good at it. So maybe I should I don't know. I'm not the best ukulele player. It used to be pretty good, but not I don't think I I don't know Maybe would add something you probably want to it. Yeah, so how come you're not producing this record? How come you didn't do the new one for the first time like life you got involved? You know you got to do new things and challenge yourself and my first time working with the label and they were they were keen into New workman producer and my manager at the time it's New Dave really well. He used to manage Matt good the band and There's a few names of people I visited and I hung out with Dave Gann and we really seem to collect we both

1:35We're born in White Rock BC Just kind of had a lot of things in common, you know and so we did the record. There's a lot of fun and It was definitely different at first like not just going in and doing my my thing the whole time, you know You got to give a little control. Yeah, you got to give up control and You're not just trying your own ideas anymore you're trying other people's ideas and seeing that works, you know and and It took a while I I admit it wasn't easy at first like took like two or three weeks getting into it being like getting my guard down and like Not just being like no I don't like that, you know trying it seeing what it sounds like so this and the and the big thing with this record rather than just not Or having a producer not just producing myself was the time

2:20I mean the three records previous to it that I've had all were recorded within five days like Front to fit front to back this this album, you know It took six or seven months But we were literally in the studio for about three months of that time It was just because we were flying and playing shows and stuff like that and doing two or a day They played them 54-40 so so he had he had gigs too, but so there's a lot more time So it enabled me to you know like I said try to do things and and work on hone some sounds and stuff like that and that the album is definitely the cleanest record I've ever made like And it's Really sharp. I mean the sounds or the best sounds I've ever had you know in looking back now on on on that album When I've done in the past I kind of the next album

3:05I think I'll put more of a mixture of them, you know because I really like the soundest new one, but I also kind of like the The Dury and Ronis of my previous records Which this rep this new one isn't super raw. It's really you know It's to the point and it's got a lot of good sounds on it So I don't know it was a great learning experience for me You know working with someone and like you said kind of giving up a little bit of control which I Don't know. I don't know how I did it Yeah, it's a different situation. Would you work with Dave again again? Yeah, no, I'd love to work with Dave again The next record we might be working a little bit But probably I'm already actually starting to record the next record and working with Dave Ogilvy right now from Vancouver He did Xavier Rides done nine snails ministry like he's more into that

3:52He's been in a lot of the heavier rock stuff Xavier's not but that's that's a very Xavier's not he's done a lot of done a lot of stuff. You should look him up. He's great So we're actually co-producing this batch of songs We did about ten songs and we're finishing them off right now So they'll be in the record out in the spring already. Yeah, I just want to you know just do another one It's fun, you know like by the time you get to recording these songs You already have a whole bunch of you by the time that records out You already have a whole bunch of new songs and I mean this thing came out October 2009 You know here I am 2010 and I'm itching to like there's so many songs that I just want to get out there to leave people so we're doing a new album again and Dave I'm not sure if he's gonna be part of it or not But definitely in the future we'll be working together, you know do you write all the time you the kind of guy that just cannot stop writing?

4:37No, but it comes in batches. It's like I guess it's kind of like a hot street, you know I don't know it's I don't really know when it comes it just also minutes there You know like I won't pick up a guitar for three weeks and I won't have a song at all and then I'll pick up and In two days I'll have like five and they're all like really good songs You know usually when I write a song like if I work on a song It's usually a song that ends up on an album I don't really work on things that don't end up on the album if it's an ID and nothing really comes with it Whatever, you know, just leave it alone, you know if it comes up again, then you know it's something that you want to Work with you know, but for me, it's I don't know like Like four albums over four years and one of my fifth album I just feel like I always just try and write, you know Like I don't come up with a sound or anything like that. I feel like all the albums are starting to get you know

5:25Collectively different sounds on them and I don't like You know, I'm not one to like go into writing sessions or anything like that and be like what's write a song or like Sit down and be like I need to write a song today, you know what I mean? Like it just kind of happens, you know and and I for me it's worked out But on this next album the next album I'm working on I'm gonna try and you know Maybe try writing with some people because I've ever done that you know and maybe try Sitting down today and be like let me let me see if I can write a song right now You know because I kind of got in that point where I've written a lot of music a certain way I'm trying to you know see what I can do to challenge myself and try and you know never know what it'll come Maybe it'll be shit. Maybe it'll be good. I don't know. Is it the same guys you play with all the time? I'm with last record I play with Darren Paris and Tim Pross like on drums and they've been with me ever since so I guess that's January of

6:152009 I've been with these guys before that was with a few other people different people personnel changes here and there and It's like anything starting out, you know, you it takes a while to get your feet and and it was a lot of fun with those other people I play with and and And I have some good memories, you know, but these guys I don't know why it just seemed it was such a natural fit And it feels so good. So yeah, there's still with me. They're doing all this new stuff They'll be on the next tour and and yeah There's no reason for me to be looking for any other guys, you know, are they with you today? Yeah, no, they're here with me today. They're at the hotel But I mean they're like Vancouver They're like sought after like every two words like people are trying to get them out like I went to uh There's a radio station in Vancouver called the peak. Oh, yeah, and there was a contest they had and

7:05There's three bands that you know one so they have a big show at the Commodore ballroom Which is our you know nice nice fan even Vancouver? Too many and Darren are playing for two of the three bands You know like people just want them to play so I definitely know I've got something great And I don't want to let go what are the other two bands? It was Kiprios. Yeah, and and no said the well was at the band and then Vince Picaro Well since you're here and we play a bunch of your songs in the station I thought maybe we could get some sound clips from you of a few of the tunes. Let's start with it'll be you It'll be you Yeah, that was a song just straightforward love song I mean I had the guitar riff for a while and I couldn't come up with anything vocally or I wasn't even thinking about lyrics and everything but lyrics until I have a melody

7:51And I literally could not come up with anything that thing was kicking around for months that dude I don't know. It's just like I loved it. It sounded so cool, but I had no idea I couldn't it was probably the hardest song that ever had to write and it's a very simple song and Ended up being the first time I ever played with Tim Proznick the drummer Me and my old bass player Mark We were trying to find a new drummer because we went through a lot of bands drummer cycle where you just can't find a drummer That seems to not even personality just like player wise you can't find one guy that makes makes you you know And would you hand with Timmy and then where I was just started playing this That line and I started the vocal melody came out and it was so awesome You know, maybe it was Timmy's playing that spoke to me I don't know but it's basically just a really you know good. It's a love song, you know

8:39Written about my wife and and it's just about love and and And she's been there with me for 10 years so we broke up for a couple years and this thing started off and then and now I'm married and and I don't know. It's just about That person that's you know, it's gonna be there no matter what, you know the lyrics kind of the you know the lyrics are Pretty wide open for that. So it's just yeah Time for leaving time for leaving that was the hardest song for me on the record because Like I said I'd been playing with Tim and Darren for this record but before that I'd been playing with My old bass player Mark and a bunch of other guys and I had a manager Frank Wiper like I said he managed Matt Good and he managed Xavier Rudd and all his bands and and

9:28And I was parting ways with all these people and it was all Someone was business. So it was personal So it was just like growing apart and and I just was like a really reflective kind of time from it was hard like I remember going to its record and I was still with my manager at the time But I knew it was like it was at its end and I just started playing with these other guys And it was good, but it was different and it was like the first time where I'd always been like a solo artist But I'd always kind of had my guys with me you know and then I kind of went through all these different guys because of different things and I kind of first time I kind of felt alone and Time for leaving was kind of written about that whole Period where it was like a new chapter was like a transition period for me where I'd done three albums

10:13And I was going into a new like I went into a record contract with a label brand new label I knew nothing about and working with a producer and and all these things all these new things and these all these old things behind me and basically the songs about Sometimes in life you got to pick up and go and you got to change change things and change can be hard change to be good change can be bad, but For me, I just knew it was the path that I had to go down And I felt good about it, but there's always some sort of There's always some sort of caution, you know, you feel you know, like Should I be really doing this or or why is this happening and and that's what time for leaving us about is both those memories and those friends and those people that you've worked with or You know how to experience is with and you're moving on and it's it's hard. It's upsetting and it's like not easy, but

11:07in the end You know, there's that lingering lingering of like goodness at the end, you know, like that If you didn't get if you're not gonna go through this and you're not gonna know what's on the other side So that's kind of what's about Whoa, whoa, that was uh really written and I was I was uh pretty out of it to be honest We were driving around. I was driving around my friend's car. He was driving and we were indulging in in many things and uh And I was just drinking a beer and and he was Some track was he's like a hip-hop guy and some track was playing in the background and I just started Singing whoa And I don't even know why or how but it just kind of happened and then I got home and uh

11:52And I kind of came up like these three chords. It was really simple and I just kind of you're just kind of like poured out of me after that you know, like I wasn't thinking about anything and uh Sometimes I kind of wish I hadn't put um I smoke a little gong in it because it's not a pod song. It's not about that at all Oh, you can't look back girl gonna catch wave and smoke a little gong in In the end when I started writing the lyrics because this to me the lyrics are one part and the music's another part That's how I write I always write with the music first and then lyrics are like the last thing So then a lot of it for oh for that whole time period that whole album sing and dance everything I was writing the words in the studio. I didn't even know what I was doing for half of it But oh specifically I wrote it after and it even took me a little while for me to figure out what it was about

12:39but what it had to actually do about was sexual abuse and and uh It's about a girl like Trying to escape, you know Being abused by her father and I don't know why I just kind of had this dark imagery in my head And that's kind of what it came about. It's not about personal experience or anything I don't know it just kind of felt like I needed to hit on a subject, you know Sometimes like I kind of like the idea of like the the really happy songs sometimes having dark Meeting to them and people don't even pick up when I have time And that's what I mean half the time people just think it's a song about Smoking pot. Do you still sing those lyrics live then or you take them out? Yeah, no I do like again It's not to my detriment because because I've also gained fans because of that, you know like it's fine It's a song. It's just one song, right?

13:24But I also have other people coming up to me and and and they actually know They can hear it the songs about and they know what it's about and uh And you know if had people come up to me like look like I've been abused as a Child and stuff and like thanks for really the song it helped me get through and then if other people get up and just be like Hey, here's a joint, you know, let's get stoned, you know, so I kind of like the fact that it has dual meaning Um, I don't know maybe it broadens its audience, but it's just a song We do something called five questions one word answers Roto studio studio lennon or macartney lennon most important thing in a song lyrics melody or rhythm melody Song you've written your most proud of hmm time for leaving I guess and one word daniel wesley fresh