Artist Interview: Vancouver's Dominique Fricot

I had a chance to sit down and discuss (via cyberspace) my pal Dominique Fricot's new recording experience, and a few of his favourite things.  Take a minute and read up on what he's all about here.  I suggest you get in on what's left of his ground level because he's soon to be in high demand all over the region and likely North America/the World very very soon.

MZ: In your new song "I miss the 80's" you reference a number of pop-icons and artists but what I noticed was a hint or reference about your sister(s).  Tell me what it is about your siblings and those relationships that inspired this song
DF: While the song talks about a lot of the pop icons of the 80's, I think what I was feeling when I wrote this song was my experience of being 4 or 5 years old and digesting culture through the filters of my two big sisters. All of the tapes I listened to, and opinions on pop culture at the time was very much molded by what they liked and what they were bringing home. As I say in the song "I'm too young to really know" the 80's. Which isn't really true because I was alive, but you made a good observation, my sisters had a big part in my perspective at the time.
MZ: Warne Livesey is a master producer.  What did he bring to the table that was different then other producers from your previous work?
DF: Warne or papa dubs, dubya or Dubstep has an incredible ear for arrangement. His father was a jazz musician so I think that lends a bit to his ear for more elaborate chords and harmonies than other producers I've worked with. What I love about working with Warne is he follows the old adage to "serve the song" as most producers do but he has the sensibility to not make each an every song a radio single. Songs off my record like "hermit in the park" and "you can't leave me" are from he and I's favourite songs and I think it's because we let them be what they were: one a dark creepy ballad that turns into almost a trip hop groover, and the other a short little acoustic lament with a tasteful string accompaniment.
I think Warne has great honest sensibilities while having the pedigree to make a pop hit and get world class sounds on tape (digital tape)
MZ: Was there specific sound themes that you wanted to achieve with Warne?  Were there unexpected or surprise moments on your new LP where you achieved something far better than your expectation?
DF: I wanted the string accompaniments to play a strong part in this record which I think we were fairly successful. For both of us the biggest surprise was where the song Saddest Thing went. We didn't really have anything more than a nice piano part and vocal and then we just started experimenting with electronic beats and putting delays on Rhodes.  Once Warne sequenced that trippy beat every time we'd track or listen back I couldn't help but bounce all around the studio doing my silly weirdo dance.
MZ: I enjoyed your Vancouver locale name dropping on your previous record.  Is the city of Vancouver in this new LP?
DF: Yes, Marty. There is. There's a track called Granville Bridge that was almost this name of the whole record, but I changed if last minute.
MZ: Do you have a favourite craft beer?  What is it and where do you like to drink it?
DF: Nah. Drinking beer for me is something I do with friends. Really the most important thing for me is the company. Therefore I'll say my favourite beer to drink is whatever my man Cory Curtis (bass player on Sweet little fantasy, and Hannah Georgas) is pouring out of his beer fridge, and the best place to be is either on his couch or his deck.
MZ: Here we go.  Who's your favourite Beatle?  Why?  and what's the song/era that connects with you the most?
DF: Knowing you, Marty,  I feel like this whole interview was to get to this question. John Lennon hands down. I like his humour and how he spoke out the most with controversial/hilarious things. What era? I'd go with mid to late. His productivity may have slowed down but I think that's when the production and writing became more interesting and he had long left behind boy girl love songs. It's weird though not my favourite songs, loser and nowhere man are probably the songs I most connect with. Is that bad?

That isn't bad Dom.  In fact, that's probably about right with me too!
--
Dominique's single "I miss the 80's" is available now on iTunes.  I suggest you go grab it.  And then check out all of his other music right away if you haven't already and curl up with a glass of red wine and fall in love with everything this homegrown Vancouver/British Columbian talent has to offer.

Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra

Brighton - Live Video

British Invasion

When I was in my early teens I discovered the Beatles.

I think it was this random documentary that was on TV one day about how they broke into America in 1964.  I had heard a lot of their music growing up (how could you not, their music is ingrained into society) but there was something about them that I had never quite connected with until I saw this brief doc.  I remember hearing their cover of "Rock and Roll Music" and thinking wow, that's what a band is supposed to sound like.  I rabidly devoured everything Beatles and have done so like millions upon millions ever since.

This continued. With.  All.  British. Music.

When I get into something, I need to feed the addiction.  For example.  Just like a billion others, I got really heavy into Harry Potter a number of years ago.  I am a nerd.  (If you have read some of my blog you may have realized this by now) I loved the series so much that I started reading other books in the same genre (children's sci-fi fantasy) because I wanted more.  more and more and more.

This applies to music. 

I love the Beatles so I got into John's solo work.  And George's.  And Ringo's.  And Wings.  And Paul's.  Then I got into the Stones.  And the Who.  etc etc etc.

Then I went modern.  Radiohead.  Kula Shaker.  Oasis.  Blur.  Pulp. Supergrass.  The Stone Roses. (that was the 90's for me).

A while ago I met a group of Londoners travelling through Vancouver on their way to Whistler.  I got to talking with one guy in the group, Finn, who then gave me a few bands that were undiscovered in Canada but up my ally.  I told him I was really into Bloc Party/Franz Ferdinand/Arctic Monkeys/Boy Kill Boy/the Futureheads and was looking for some bands that were similar and new.  He introduced me to a couple amazing bands called the Pigeon Detectives and the Wombats and from there I got into Scouting for Girls, the Hoosiers, Two Door Cinema Club, Hard-Fi and more.   Needless to say Finn and I are close friends and I'm planning on seeing London in the summer and sleeping on his couch and singing Oasis songs over a pint (or 8) and talking about music until wee hours in the morning and also trying to desperately explain hockey.

Fast Forward to now.

About a month ago a friend of mine (who is from the UK) sent me a text saying, "do I want to go to the Venue to see Biffy Clyro play a show".  I said yes not having any clue who they were.  He said I'd like them and that it would be fun.  Fair enough.  I emailed another friend from the UK to email me an MP3 of her favourite Biffy song.   Born on a Horse was in my inbox the next day.  Mind blown.  I bought the entire newest record, "Only Revolutions" on iTunes and have been really getting hardcore about this band.  The more I delve into this band the more I realized that this UK based group has been together for years and even has a connection to Vancouver having recorded a previous record at the Warehouse with local legends GGGarth & Mike Fraser.

What you've learned from this post:
I want to hear new undiscovered music from over the pond.

I hope you can take some of my advice and maybe check out some of these awesome bands.

Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra

War Stories

Last night I had a great conversation with my friend and local musician Gord about bad tours.  He had some really horrible war stories about drama within the inner workings of bands and crazy things that have happened on the road to him.  It was great to hash out some of my tour history too and I got to thinking about how amazing all the tours I have experienced were.  When Sweetheart is on the road, it seems like we become closer and we have more fun as the tour draws on.  Then we come home and go our seperate ways and start to miss each other again.  That's what being in a band is about.  I've heard that many bands want to kill each other by the end of a lengthy tour.  I usually want to stay out on the road forever and keep playing forever.  It's kinda exciting to think about the next few months for this reason.  Sweetheart is getting things rolling again, and people seem to be really enjoying all the new demos I put up.  I'm also planning on bringing this project to the stage in the short term.  I hope you can come down and see what I cook up.  It's going to be fun to play these songs I truly love again with the people I love to play with. 

See you there?

Listen to a new Sweetheart demo b-side here called "Blood":
www.myspace.com/iheartsweetheart

Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra