A Decade of Devours: a Jeff Cancade interview by guest blogger Ian JR McClelland

Allan's note: I met the author of the following, Ian JR McClelland, the first time I saw John Otway, at that wacky North Van open mic appearance of 2023. Ian is a true music lover and I've run into him at shows and concerts since. He knows Jeff of Devours and has a more varied palette than I do -- hell, he even went to see Madonna! -- so I thought he would be abundantly more qualified to tackle Devours and his singular, compelling, but very much out-of-my-wheelhouse music, which has elements of electronica, darkwave, techno, and other things I generally do not listen to (but can appreciate: I've seen Devours a couple of times and enjoyed him -- he is very compelling and charismatic). 

So here's Ian and Jeff (Devours) -- thanks, guys! -- apropos of the upcoming Rickshaw show. Also see here, for Devours' music! All further writing below is by Ian McClelland (IM), with answers to the questions by Devours (D) and a few tinkers here and there by me (mostly to punctuation and italics). Cheers - Allan out! 

A Decade of Devours: a Jeff Cancade interview by guest blogger Ian JR McClelland

10 years ago, Jeff Cancade created Devours as an instrumental project that blossomed into a serious vessel once his wistfully personal lyrics and vocals were added to his eclectic electronic soundscapes. Pulsing rhythms with heart and soul wash over the listener and you’re hooked and brought onto the Devours planet! 2016 brought out the first album Late Bloomer (self-released debut on cassette) and with his combined dedication to playing as many shows possible, it cemented the groundwork which lead to indie label interest with 2019’s Iconoclast on CD. Momentum was going well and big events were planned and then bang: COVID hit. Rather than let it get him down, Jeff used his angst and anxieties to stay prolific with delivering 2 brilliant releases: 2021’s Escape From Planet Devours and 2023’s Homecoming Queen both self-released on vinyl. During this same time he created his own label, “Surviving The Game.”

Celebrating a decade of Devours, I had the pleasure to interview Vancouver musical mastermind behind it all to discuss his career and the new exciting fifth self-release, Sports Car Era.

Ian M: Your fifth new album Sports Car Era will be out officially on March 14 but you have an album kick off show at the Rickshaw on March 8. Will you have vinyl copies of the new album Sports Car Era at the show?

Devours: Yeah, so I was hoping to get the show lined up with the actual album release date, but I couldn't get it, so I'm doing it a week earlier. Hopefully the records will be ready by then but I'll also have lots of other new merch. The record release show is the live premiere of the full album, and then a week later it'll be available digitally and on streaming. So people who come can hear it a week early!

IM: And you'll eventually be having three different variants of the vinyl?

D: Yes but not all at once. Just as they sell, kind of like what I did with the previous album Homecoming Queen.

IM: With every album you create, you always take your listener on a fresh new journey that's sort of unexpected but still feels like a Devours project.

D: Thanks! I want to make music that's artistic and interesting, but also somewhat commercial. I like making pop music and I don't want it to be too opaque. I am an album person. I grew up obsessed with albums. I think of albums similarly to how a fashion designer like Marc Jacobs comes up with an entire collection, like the "Spring 2025 Collection" or something. You don't necessarily just look at pieces individually, but look at the entire collection and how it works together, contrasts and compliments the other outfits within the collection. That's sort of how I write music. I'm album-minded and so I'll come up with a few upbeat songs and then I'll be like, oh, let's try a ballad to balance things. I'm more of an album person than a singles person.

IM: Turning 40 seems to be a big theme on Sports Car Era but I'm very impressed that you recognized that you might not have even reached your prime yet.

D: This entire album is just about turning 40. It's about grappling with public perception, because when you're a musician and you're 40 and you haven't made it huge, then you're typically seen as old and not marketable anymore. It's a youth-driven market, right? The industry didn't want me in my 30's, so I've been putting out albums by myself and trying to forge my own path without industry or label support. I'm trying to find self-empowerment in entering my forties and being like, you know what, maybe I was never actually meant for the music industry. Luckily, I think that there are still people who will support you if you're not within the industry machine. If you look at a band like Phish or even Insane Clown Posse for instance, they're not necessarily getting reviewed on Pitchfork but they're touring and have found a way to exist outside of the machine. Those are the kinds of bands who I'm looking at. They're kind of living outside of the mainstream and outside of the industry model. There is a way to exist outside of it and it's hard, but that's sort of where I'm at.

IM: That's interesting because with your last album Homecoming Queen, the song "37 Up (The Longing)" is where you specifically mention ageism and getting older. Was this a subliminal precursor to the new album?

D: Yeah, that's a really interesting question! "37 Up" is one of my favourite Devours songs. It's also one of the most depressing songs I've ever written in my life. So much of being an indie musician is fueled by the "fantasy." What would it feel like to get interviewed by a major publication? What would it feel like to tour and play big shows to people? It is like this fleeting ecstasy when it actually happens. It's like you're taking a shot of heroin or something and you want more of it and you can't get it. It can feel pretty destabilizing. Sometimes the happier people are the ones that are still striving for something but never quite get there. The song is basically saying 'be careful what you wish for'. Last summer, I got nominated for a Polaris, received some local recognition, and played a huge string of shows. That's the dream, right? It's the dream of every musician who's just trying to get anywhere in large cities in Canada where people don't usually care about them. And then when you actually get to that level and you realize that you can't even support yourself financially doing it, it's discouraging. You put so much of your heart and your soul and your bandwidth into doing it. When I think back to my 30's, I made major sacrifices relationship-wise, career-wise and I feel like my side career is sort of a mess right now because I always try to prioritize music and Devours. I don't regret anything, but the reality of being a DIY musician wears on me. The song suggests that it's almost a better head space to be in to be striving for something as opposed to actually getting it.

IM: How did you come up with the name Devours? Is there a meaning to it?

D: I chose Devours because I had a feeling it would look cool on a t-shirt! (laughs) It was more of an aesthetic choice but also as the music is dark and passionate the name reflects that a bit.

IM: How do the melodies and music pop up in your head?

 
D: Sometimes I sit down at my keyboard and jam. Sometimes I'm biking to the grocery store and a melody pops into my head. If the hook is good enough, then I'll remember it. I have a piano in my brain, so I sometimes just make full songs in my head when I'm out somewhere.

IM: What if a lyric comes to mind?

D: I keep track of funny one liners that pop up in my head in a Microsoft Word document on my computer. Sometimes I use them and sometimes I don't. I don't often sit down and say "let's write a song now", melodies and lyrics just pop into my head when I'm out and about.

IM: I've noticed that many of your songs often shift gears in regards to tempo changes and sometimes the songs take on a whole new structure or chapter which always keeps the listener engaged because it can be unpredictable and really interesting.

D: I love pop music so, so much. I love melodies and harmonies and hooks. I have a huge sweet tooth. I grew up on Britney Spears, Swedish pop producers, ABBA, etc. and I have pushed myself to learn from their work. I try to write the catchiest songs possible that also break apart the formula a little bit. Most people, even if they don't realize it, just want a song with three chords, like C to G to F repeat. I try to take the formula and toy with it a little bit. That's how I write music. It's still catchy, it's still musical, but it has three choruses and then no second verse or something like that. I see it kind of like a Rubik's cube. There are so many different combinations and permutations, but you still need to have the groundwork and how to write a pop hook. You need to understand the rules, but then know how to fuck with them.

IM: Your lyrics are very deep and relatable to many people even if they are sometimes self-loathing to a certain degree. How do you come up with your lyrics?

D: Yeah, thank you. I have always seen Devours as a 'lyrics first' project. I made a lot of music when I was a kid and I feel like it never really took off because I wasn't there lyrically yet and I hadn't experienced enough in my life. When I turned 30, I started Devours and made my first self released debut "Late Bloomer" and it was at a point in time where I had just been making instrumental music for a number of years...

IM: Like "21st & Main"?

D: Wow, good! That's a deep cut! But yeah, I had just reached a point where I was like, I'm out of the closet now and I've experienced a few relationships and I've experienced moving from big city to big city. And I think that sometimes for artists, it just takes a bit longer. Essentially, every album that I release is a bunch of journal entries, or time capsules of what's going on in my life at the time. Sports Car Era is about turning 40 and Late Bloomer was about making sense of my life at 30. My lyrics are sort of like a glimpse into my anxieties and depression, but also happiness and joy of being alive. Lyrics are important and sometimes you just have to live a bit, because if you haven't gone through anything hard in life, it's difficult to make an album that's deep and self reflective.

IM: In the 10th year of Devours you've also made a plethora of such visually well done and very artistic videos. How are they made? Does a director come to you and want to make a video?

D: (laughs) No, no! I have big ideas for videos but it's so hard without budgets because they are expensive to make. Even to just create a video in a room, if it's done properly, it can cost more than $10,000 to make. lf you don't have label budgets or grant funding it's really, really hard. That kind of limits certain things. I'm so grateful for the people who've worked with me. Over the years of being in Vancouver's arts scene, I've met a lot of people who are videographers or people in the arts. Some are also musicians and they have access to studio spaces and stuff. It's a matter of finding creative, resourceful people who are looking to collaborate and gain experience.

IM: I love the giant Devours head in the "Sports Car Era" video! Who made that?

 
D: His name is Patrick Macht. He is an amazing artist and director in Vancouver. He made the videos for "Gimp Mask" and "Sports Car Era". He also has his own fashion clothing line. He's one of Vancouver's most talented artists and he made my giant Devours head. He used a big yoga ball. He made a big paper mâché head that is crazy to wear! I can't hear in it. I can't see in it. It falls off my head constantly. I can't balance it! (laughs)

IM: I'm glad you didn't break it too badly when you were stomping your cowboy boot heel into it!

D: That was Patrick's idea. I was nervous. I was like "You put so much work into this! Let's not destroy it!" It took him a month painting and repainting and coating. It took a lot of work!

IM: Let's talk about the new album coming out. There are 10 new tracks in total but there are three songs that I've heard and seen so far on your Youtube site. The first single released, "Swordswallower (Zendaya's Fortress)" is an impressive 7 minute opus which has a very brooding second half. I'd love to know more behind the meaning of the song.

D: It's definitely the most ambitious song on the album and it's the longest song I've ever made. I was very adamant that I would put it out as a single, because it feels like a curveball after the soft synths from Homecoming Queen. At this point I'm playing the long game. Sometimes people just make one album and then call it a day, but this is album number five for Devours. You need to know how to deliver the goods but also keep people on their toes and not let them get bored. "Swordswallower" is about a really important friendship in my life falling apart during COVID, so it's a bit of a brutal one. The back half of the song lyrically makes references to death and so it's just about the death of a friendship. Musically, the back half is a bit inspired by metal, like black metal. It has a bit of a Nine Inch Nails vibe as well. The first half is a bit influenced by the band Suicide, so I think the new album Sports Car Era in general shows a bit more of my punk influences, whereas Homecoming Queen was a little bit more poppy.

IM: I really noticed that difference! It's almost like you took speed metal and electronic music and created a new genre "Speedtronica"!

D: (laughs) That's cool! Let's run with it! Yeah, I just tried to combine my influences in interesting ways. I grew up loving Hip Hop and so you can tell that there are those beats. I'm a drummer too and grew up drumming so there's always been a percussive focus on Devours. I really like 1980's balladry too so that's an influence as well. Toss emo in there as well. Devours has been really dramatic and emotional from the beginning. It's like my emotions being dialed up to 100.

IM: The second single from the album is the title track "Sports Car Era'. Now the video for that song shows that you're not shy in that video. It's very edgy, hot and hairy!

D: Yeah, I'm in a bodysuit!

IM: You're not shy in the video!.

D: Yeah, that's a good point. I think that this is me at my most aggressive. It's about taking pride in being 40 and rejecting the idea of being commercial. I'm just this bald hairy man who kids are going to think is lame or weird or something and that's awesome! It's such a weird thing when you're constantly performing for people and you want people to like you. You want to build popularity and get offers for shows and stuff. But also you have to realize that you're not going to be everyone's cup of tea. There's so much pressure to be hot or to look cool all the time on social media and in public. And so yeah, I think there was a bit of a punk stance even with the album cover being like, "Take me or leave me! This is me! This is what I look like in a women's bathing suit!" Also, the gay community is obsessed with masculinity and I don't care about that either. I'm just going to post a picture of myself in my true essence on the album cover. I'm proud of the video. The song is just about grappling with middle age and the complexities of being in an expensive city when you're an artist and struggling. (laughs) It's a slice of life!

IM: Well, you definitely wear it well!

D: Thanks! The aesthetic is very inspired by mid 2000's American Apparel, indie sleaze, electroclash, all that stuff. So that's kind of what I was going for aesthetically.

IM: "Sports Car Era" is also a pretty aggressive track to end the album with. I would have thought this would have been the first song out of the gate?

D: Yeah, it sounds like it should be and I think that I might use it as the first song in my live sets this year. I think it's a little bit of a reference to Iconoclast. Out of all of my albums, Sports Car Era is probably most similar to Iconoclast, and that album also ended with the title track. It was sort of the big defiant title track that summed up all the themes on the album, and "Sports Car Era" does the same. I'm really not into albums that just dump their boring songs at the end. I really try to ramp it up! This one has a few slower ones in the middle but then it just gets really wild near the end. I also really like putting singles near the end.

IM: This brings me to "Loudmouth," the third and newest single from the album. Now I wasn't really going to get into politics but is Devours into politics? I bring this up because of the American reference throughout the lyrics and the Statue of Liberty imagery in the video. How does Devours see the world right now?

D: I am trying to think positively. I do care about politics. It feels like everywhere in Western culture is becoming more conservative and right wing. It gets so easy to get lost in doom scrolling and in the news feeds and feel like the world is turning to shit. I've been trying to reflect on issues that are better now than they were 40 years ago, like mental health support, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights. It's so easy to be negative and get trapped in the online echo chamber and think "The world is terrible now! I'm going to just disappear!" The world's always going to be kind of fucked up, but there may be good progress being made in areas that we might not realize.

 
"Loudmouth" isn't political. It's just about falling in lust with this person in the States who is completely wrong for me but I just want to make it work anyways because I'm infatuated. It's about our incompatibility and also just the fantasy of having distance between us. I've always had fantasies of being in LA or somewhere in the States. I think that it's just a classic case where most Canadian musicians fantasize about being in the US because that's where dreams can actually come true and you can tour properly. But also there are so many hot men in Washington! Every time I go to the bar and there is some insanely hot person, I'm like "Oh, they're probably from Seattle" and then they are. Washington is stacked!

IM: Well, but you want to get "fucked in a tree house"! ("Loudmouth" contains the most hookiest chorus with profanity since Radiohead's "Creep"!)

D: Yeah, those are my deepest desires for sure!

IM: Was that anything to do with getting fucked within the Statue of Liberty?

D: (laughs) No but that would be fun! I am an exhibitionist for sure. I love sex in random weird places but it just never happened in a tree house. It's sort of a reference to feeling young. I'm a 'daddy chaser' and I go for older guys so that's sort of what it's referencing. Of wanting to feel young, like a kid, in an innocent place with a hot older guy.

IM: How excited are you to be headlining and playing at the Rickshaw on March 8th?

D: I am nervous. I think that I get a little bit of stage fright if I go for months without performing. I think that it helps me to be the best performer I can be to perform often because there's no nerves and you're just used to doing it. It's been a quiet few months of not performing very much and so, yeah, it's a lot of pressure to just hop up on a huge stage. I am incorporating live drums! This is a little bit of a spoiler I haven't told people yet. But Dave Prowse, the drummer from Japandroids and I have been jamming and we're going to do it together live!

IM: This is amazing!

D: Yeah, so that'll be really neat! I'm going to have a light rig there and the other opening bands are Maneater and Piss. They're both incredible! I'm just hoping that there is a lot of love and support in the room. And that I remember my lyrics!

IM: This is so interesting that you're adding another musician to your live show because one of my questions I was going to ask was if you could ever see Devours as a band when performing live? Has that ever been a fantasy to do an expansion of your project?

 
D: I think so. I've played with people before. When I lived in Montreal, I was in a band and it was really fun. It's way more fun to play with people on stage. I'm kind of a control freak, so when I started Devours, I just thought this is my last chance of feeling like I can connect to this youth audience in Vancouver and I just need to do it my own way and not spend 10 years trying to find the right people to play with. I just had to do it my way. So yeah, it's been an interesting journey being alone on stage. I have thought of having a live drummer with me for years. This has been on my mind for a long time. I wasn't sure if I would like the sound of acoustic drums on top of the electronic recordings but Dave is an awesome drummer and it's sounding really cool! Another huge reason why I want to play with people is the logistics of touring. That's something that's held me back for so long because I've never had industry or label support saying, "Jeff, we're going to put you on the road and we'll link you up with some people." It's just me doing everything and I don't want to drive to Calgary alone. And so that's where I've tried to tour with other solo musicians where we're co-headlining a tour or something, but touring sucks alone. And so you just have to sort of turn it into a road trip and do it with a friend or with a band member. That's the other bonus of trying to do this. I'm hoping moving forward with a drummer or an extra person will make everything more fun.

IM: Even though you're a gay man, your live audience is extremely diverse. You don't just get gay people coming to your shows, it's equally 50/50 women and men. I see a generous mix of straight and gay, maybe even mostly straight! You have the whole gamut in your adoring and supportive audiences!

D: Yeah, that's one of the things I'm most proud of.

IM: You should be very proud of that. Any idea why you attract such a diverse crowd?

D: I just think that I'm able to connect with different types of people. I've always respected bands like Garbage or something where you go to their shows and it's like 50/50 guys and girls. When I was growing up I always thought that I didn't want to be one of those musicians who only brings out angry dudes.

IM: Where else will you be playing?

D: I'll be playing a few shows on Vancouver Island at the end of March and I'll take all of the gear over and tour around with my Mom's car.

IM: "Mom's Car Era!"

D: (laughs) Vroom! Vroom! Baby!

Devours will be playing live Saturday, March 8 at the Rickshaw with special guest David Prowse on drums. The show will begin at 7:00pm with the very exciting opening bands Maneater and Piss! Tickets are only $20 + s/c and available online through Rickshaw's website, Eventbrite, and hard tickets at Red Cat Records!

Jon Spencer rocks the Rickshaw, plus Bad Beats, Aging Youth Gang and Lou Reed

All pics by me

The last time I saw Jon Spencer, before last night, was around 2005 at Richards on Richards, when the Blues Explosion were playing that one album (Damage) where, for one reason or another, they left his name off the cover (which seems really, really weird, since he is so obviously the draw). Believe it or not, I left early -- very early, for two reasons: The person I was there with wasn't enjoying himself -- he found Spencer was trying too hard, didn't seem "authentic" or something: Spencer was leaping and flailing and pushing it, but where was he really in this whirlwind of activity? My friend didn't buy it, was getting judgy, might have used words like "fake" or "forced" or something (I forget!), and, y'know, I wasn't that invested: I'd bought Plastic Fang when it came out in Japan, where I was living all the time, drawn by the delightful cover, but it was really the only album of his I knew (I was more of a Pussy Galore guy). And, I mean, I could see what my friend meant; Spencer's flurry of activity was, like, excessive almost to the extent of being offputting, like. holy shit man, take your Ritalin. 

Or something. 

So I shrugged and headed for the exit with my friend. Besides, I wanted to chat up Beth Ditto (I mentioned there were two reasons), who was sitting over by the merch table; the Gossip -- the opening band! -- had completely floored me, and Ditto was ENORMOUSLY SEXUALLY APPEALING TO ME, and despite the fact that she was ALMOST CERTAINLY QUEER, I had stupid horny hopes that, like, maybe I would figure out a way to, y'know, hit on her or something? (My apartment was just down the street!). This was back when the Gossip were still a blues-punk band, hadn't started really adding other elements to their music (Standing in the Way of Control, where their sonic palette expanded and they began their process of transformation into what they do now, had yet to be released). But I couldn't figure out a way to actually flirt with Ditto -- you could tell she wasn't into chatting, just gave me kinda businesslike answers to my questions about wanting to see them again and so forth. I probably told her I wanted to write about them, but what I shoulda done was, I shoulda bought an album. I shoulda got it signed. Then at least I'd have had something to show besides my limp dick. 

Dumbass!

But I always felt kind of bad about missing out on Jon Spencer. What the hell had that guy been doing, anyhow, flailing and leaping and gesticulating so excessively? Then somehow I had never managed to see him again after that night (until, like, last night). I remember one time about five years ago that I was at the Rickshaw, watching Rotting Christ, who were doing these sorts of ritualized hair-swinging gestures in tandem while playing, which also wasn't doing it for me, when I realized that Spencer was playing at the Fox: "Shit, I shoulda gone to see Jon Spencer!"

Question: what does it mean that the best photos I got last night were from when Spencer (who had to try hard to get this to happen; it wasn't instantaneous) directed the Rickshaw crew to turn the lights down? Why did he do that, exactly? 

Well, as you see, last night I finally got to make good on things and do the man justice. And, y'know what, while he flailed and leaped a little less than he did at Richards, holy cow he put on a dynamo performance. I was ill-prepared: I knew three songs he did, one well ("1 Hour Later" off Dial M. for Motherfucker), one only a bit ("Bellbottoms," off Orange) and the night's cover tune, "The Power of Independent Trucking" by Big Black. I guess I vaguely recognized the song about "the sweat of the Blues Explosion" (I don't know Orange well, even though I realize it's considered one of his all-time classics), so make that three originals and one cover that I knew. The rest of it -- Pussy Galore songs (I think "Alright" might have been in there?), Blues Explosion songs, HITmakers songs--was high energy, skronky blues rock that shifted on a dime between fast parts and slow parts, that seemed to serve more as a trampoline for Spencer to bounce off, but was real hard to dance to consistently, because it was so varied and unpredictable and so high-energy. I got to thrash around a bit for "1 Hour Later." I'm glad Dial M was represented at all! 

Speaking of energy: holy Christ the man has it. It was kinda how one might imagine some alternate universe version of Nick Cave, where, instead of his actual touchpoints of the Bible, Americana, Tom Jones and heroin, Cave got really into bourbon, speed, and Exile on Main Street. Spencer gesticulated and danced and testified like he had a rattlesnake hidden in his pants, dripping with sweat, dropping to his knees, mic at times disappearing in his mouth like he was Lux Interior in URGH! (but it was a smaller mic and stayed on the stand; like, Lux practically deep-throats that thang, but that wasn't Spencer's style, even if his lips could be seen fully around the mic at times). He had a crack backup band with him, too, of Kendall Wind (bass) and Macky Spider Bowman (drums), who seemed like they were less than half his age, but who, with no setlist or notable guidance, effortlessly followed him from one song to the next, tunes often bleeding into each other, overlapping, and sometimes digressing into jammy rhythm explorations when, for instance, Spencer left the stage for a minute and they had to keep things going. Which they did effortlessly! I dunno who these two are but Spencer should keep'em! 

Nick Mitchum -- ARGH!!, or however you want to know him -- was there, and said it was maybe the best Jon Spencer concert of the maybe-ten that he's seen. I tried to take a selfie with him and he started rockin' his head back and forth to the music so this is what the result was:

Anyhow, so, like, sorry, Mr. Spencer, that I blew you off in 2005 to hang out with my fussy buddy and fail to mack on a lesbian. Took me 20 years to right things, and unless some massive familial obligation intervenes or something, I'm gonna be at the next show you do in town! Also sorry that I ended up kinda unintentionally criticizing you -- I could see you take it that way -- when I asked you after the show why "Ghetto Mom" got left off Plastic Fang (I have the Japanese edition of that album, which includes that song, and since it's my favourite song on it, I was really shocked to discover it wasn't included on the North American version). By the by, Spencer's answer was just that, "It's hard to sequence an album," but, y'know, his face kinda fell between thanking me for telling him how much I love that song and then asking him why he left it off the record. I shoulda thought of a different question!!! ("So Kurt of TAD was telling me about 'Dick Johnson'..."). 

Nice full(ish) house! 

Weirdly, Spencer seemed like a normal guy, soft-spoken, even, unassuming, pleasant, approachable, when he came out after the show to sign a few things and say hi to people. Fascinating man, hell of a performer, living legend really except he didn't seem like any rockstar I've ever met -- polite and sociable and just really kind of a normal dude!

That man is NOT a normal dude -- normal people would have SLOWED DOWN after having been in the business for so long (as Nick observed at one point). Were stimulants involved in his performance? I somehow suspect he does not need them.  

One funny thing from last night about openers the Bad Beats: I was totally shocked to chat with a few people who had never seen them before. I figure if you go to concerts in Vancouver, you've seen the Bad Beats, but Nick had not, nor had Sandy Beach (Spores, Aging Youth Gang) who was standing next to me up front, which led to some conversation (Barry of both of those bands was right behind him, too!). Sandy actually played trumpet in the Imperial, with Cam, the Bad Beats vocalist, but last night was his first Bad Beats show (he bought all three of their CDs; he was impressed, as was Nick -- just the sort of amped-up garage stuff he loves). At one point during their set, as I wrote on Facebook, I spied someone texting a friend and read over his shoulder: "I have no idea who these guys are but I'm pretty..." and I watched in great suspense to see how he would finish the sentence: He was pretty impressed? Pretty blown away? Or would it be negative? He seemed to be typing really slow, so I was getting quite tense, peering over his shoulder, wondering what this Bad Beats noob would make of them, but what the guy ended up writing was that he was "pretty fucked up," which he spelled wrong, leaving off the -ed, and illustrating his point perfectly.  

I hope he dug the Bad Beats. If you are reading this and you haven't seen them, why the hell not? 

Sandy Beach!

And about Aging Youth Gang -- they're apparently playing the Princeton on Saturday, for the Lou Reed tribute. I am still pretty pissed off about reports of bad behaviour from Princeton staff and management that surfaced online -- the band they stiffed has apparently forgiven them, but I haven't gotten over the part where it seemed like one server was just presuming to tip himself generously by rather aggressive means (he'd done that to me, taking my $20 and not bringing me change, which got a whole lot more offputting when I discovered that other people had the same experience!). Plus I did not enjoy that Lou show last year: I did not appreciate that the most packed I'd ever seen the Princeton was for a fuckin' cover show, and found I could not really enjoy the performances, because it seemed like EVERYONE had come out to socialize, not listen to the music -- all you could hear was people talking! But Sandy tells me that Aging Youth Gang will be doing "Run Run Run," "Vicious," and "Venus in Furs" -- and the prospect of seeing Aging Youth Gang cover "Venus in Furs" is pretty darn compelling. So, uh, maybe, since I'm not out of town! (But I'm gonna start that night elsewhere).  

One weird thing: Sandy was telling me that the new guy in Aging Youth Gang was "Rich" and I asked him if it was Rich from Daddy Issues and he said yes, so I thought he meant Richard Katynski, but then he said that I had seen Rich's first show with AYG last year, which I couldn't remember at all (remember seeing them, but Richard Katynski, not so much). Reviewing a clip I shot, I think I have figured out the problem, involving Orchard Pinkish's real name: there are actually TWO Richards in Daddy Issues! 

I suddenly want to get Orchard and Rich Katysnki to pose on Richards Street, in front of the condo where Richards on Richards used to be, and entitle the photo "Richards on Richards, 2025." But maybe it's already been done? 

Some other gigs this weekend: John Werner, one of the under-appreciated greats of Vancouver punk, will be doing his much rootsier Sudden Darts project at the Princeton tonight. Rong and the Fomites are at Red Gate Saturday. And for you bluespeople, Robert Connely Farr is at the Heatley on Sunday (previously written about here). I thought for a second I was going to miss all that -- pressing family stuff -- except the family has a cold, apparently, which Erika doesn't want to catch, so plans have changed!

Jon Spencer! Goddamn, what a show, and what a heroic performance. The clip I shot does NOT do it justice (if you know what these songs are, tell me.) 

Seven Reasons to Revisit Conan the Barbarian (1982, with Arnold Schwarzenegger).

I had not seen Conan the Barbarian - the Schwarzenegger breakthrough and his first major film role, released two years before The Terminator, and directed by John "Red Dawn" Milius – since I was 16, where I believe I watched it on VHS, in the wrong aspect ratio, on an average, crappy 1980s television. I don't remember watching it more than once -- unlike, say, The Thing or The Evil Dead or any other VHS favourites of yore, which my buddies and I watched again and again. Would seeing it in the proper aspect ratio on a vastly improved TV elevate the experience? I was eager to find out, especially since Erika had never seen it. 

Turns out that Conan the Barbarian is not a very good film, but there are some things in it that gave me great pleasure, nonetheless, enjoying it sometimes in spite of and sometimes because of its flaws. For instance:  

1. James Earl Jones turns into a snake. I am a mild aficionado of snake-to-human (or human-to-snake) transformation films, also including Sssssss, Hisss, The Reptile, and Dreamscape -- where David Patrick "Warriors Come Out to Play" Kelly turns into a cobra-monster:

Somehow I had forgotten about the James Earl Jones scene, but understand, when I first saw Conan, I was probably still CATCHING snakes recreationally, not musing about their representation in cinema. Realizing that, as Thulsa Doom, he leads a snake cult (and that he is a sorcerer), at the moment his facial features started to morph, I sat up and excitedly declaimed: "Is James Earl Jones turning into a snake?!"

He was! 

It is not the only snake scene in the film. It is interesting how they combine really great photography of live action snakes, in a few places, with scenes involving mechanical snakes on a par with the mechanical tarantulas in The Beyond. You get excited when you see how well-photographed the big snake in the film is, the first time you see it, and think, this snake is going to be awesome! And then the film cuts to the “action” shots with the mechanical one, and "awesome" is no longer the word you have in mind. Put it this way, it is on par with Ken Russell's The Lair of the White Worm:

But this marks a significant point in the film's development: When the snake scene arrives, you realize that up til that point, you had actually been kinda-sorta suspending your disbelief, which you only realize you'd been doing when it becomes totally impossible to continue thus: Oh, shit, THIS is what I'm watching? ...but the movie actually becomes MORE FUN from this point on, where suspending disbelief is replaced with guffaws and raised eyebrows. The mechanical snake will be your guide, leading you to these richer, weirder waters... 

And weirder yet, the snakes in this film become explicitly phallic when Jones stroke a snake and it stiffens!  There is a very striking closeup of his hands around the shaft, pulling it straight, whereby it turns into an arrow, a weapon, which – help me unpack this in terms of phallic symbolism? -- he then shoots into Valeria, Arnold's love interest, killing her. (Has their been any queer criticism of this film? Are there any Freudian interpretations? Was Milius reading Freud? …this actually seems possible).

We'll return to queer content presently, but suffice to say, for now, that that's a lot of snakes for one movie. And I like snakes. 

2. There is an element of unintentional camp. Even IF it is NOT an intentional, campy, tongue-in-cheek film like we will see soon thereafter as Schwarzenegger becomes a BRAND, post-Terminator… Even if Milius quite possibly took some of this seriously, or at least expected his audiences to, or thought they would in ways that seem, oh, I dunno, quaint? Naïve? Charming? Maybe a bit, uh, hubristic? Even despite all that, Conan develops an aspect of “unintentional camp” (contra the intentional camp injected into Total Recall or so forth). You feel a bit bad laughing at it, because you realize you weren’t actually intended to, but you can't help yourself!  

In contrast, Conan actually makes me feel greater appreciation for Red Dawn, which is ten times the film, if also absurd; that film is probably a must-watch, if you haven't seen it lately, as way of putting dogwhistle histrionics about "communism" in their place. Someone should remake it and give Jordan Peterson a cameo.

Oh, wait, they already remade it? Nevermind.

3. There is a gay pickup scene. Speaking of queering Conan, there is, also stretching things in implausibly entertaining ways, a bit of brief homoerotic content which never would occur in later Brand Schwarzenegger product, and which gets described on Youtube as the weirdest scene in the film. It ends in casual violence against the gay man that speaks of how banally homophobic the times were, or at least John Milius, but FOR A BRIEF MOMENT, a priest of the snake cult hits on Arnold, and Arnold smiles at him and gives him a bit of a come on, smiling and saying something like, "why don't we talk over there where it is more private," which, I dunno about you, put ALL SORTS OF IMAGES in my head, like suddenly I had flashbacks to Derek Jarman's Sebastiane.  

Once they are alone, Schwarzenegger seduces the priest further by saying he's "shy" and playing hard to get; as the priest does indeed -- with no references to oysters or snails to be had -- move in for a kiss, just as the more homophobic members of the audience are starting to clench their asses shut and sweat (and/or salivate a little, because these things are never simple), Arnold decks him, dashing hopes for a bit of man-on-man action, and steals the priest's robes. Not the payoff I wanted -- sexual tension climaxing in violence in lieu of sex -- but for a second there... 

Question: Is there a Milius autobiography? Was he raised Catholic? Did he have any bad experiences with priests? Does this have any bearing on this scene? 

4. Arnold Schwarzenegger punches a camel. Again, this is not necessarily meant to be a "good" thing about the film, but it is somewhat, um, exceptional, and I confess, in a singular, WTF way, when this happens -- especially if you have not been prepared for it -- it is pretty entertaining: Conan and his friend are wandering around town stoned on some sort of Cimmerian hallucinogen ("the Black Lotus"), so camel-punching seems like a good idea at the time. Who among us has not been there? And if you watch carefully, it's a pretty obvious stage punch, with sound effects added afterwards, including a laugh that Schwarzenegger can be seen not giving. Though the camel does fall down afterwards, that COULD still be a well-trained animal -- it is not a clear case of animal cruelty. But do a quick Google of "animal cruelty Conan" and it takes much of the fun from the film: I am sorry to report, the film was made in Spain, land of the bullfight, where there were no animal cruelty laws to be had, so horses are tripped, a dog gets kicked, and more. And rather than drawing heat for the filmmakers, the camel punch apparently was regarded as an entertaining moment, because there is a follow-up to this scene in Conan The Destroyer where Conan sees the same camel again, says, "I'm sorry for what happened last time," and gets spit on, whereupon he gets angry and hits the camel anew. 

This may in fact be the first instance of "Brand Schwarzenegger's" development, where someone was watching with a pencil in the back row during a screening, taking note of what audiences liked, with the intent to repeat the formula next time. If you are curious, both scenes are compiled here, and also a "bonus" of a horse getting punched; Tracy "Plate of Shrimp" Walter is Conan's companion in the second film, and remembers the camel punch to Conan, even though he wasn't in the first movie.

5. Valeria wrestles cartoon demons. Later in the film, demons attack Arnold when he is being resurrected and have to be fought off by his companion, Valeria, who is played by Sandahl Bergman -- y'know, from Hell Comes to Frogtown? She is the one on the chain: 

That ridiculous little film would make a fine follow up to Conan, as would the Den cartoon from Heavy Metal... but in 1982, Bergman did not realize she would soon be relegated to quasi-ironic b-movie roles, and does a fine job in the action scenes of Conan, which she, like Arnie, plays straight; though it's interesting to note, in terms of looks, she's nowhere near as conventionally beautiful as a female actor would have to be to net such a role nowadays -- she's no ScarJo; but then, Arnold's not exactly a standard leading man, either. It's an interesting thing, suggesting that 1982 may not have been as backward as one thinks...

Still,  as game as she is, the resurrection scene has her fighting CARTOONS. The demons are animated; the figure in the centre is one such example (it doesn't look that much better on blu-ray!):

This is absurd enough that Erika and I actually hit rewind and did the scene a second time (you can see the whole scene here). Or maybe Erika was falling asleep at this point, and I was, like, "Wake up, you gotta see this!" 

There were a few moments like that ("wake up, he's stroking his snake and it's stiffening!"). 

6. The sets look just like sets! Speaking of bad effects, consistently in this film, the set designs look like nothing so much as set designs. Cecil B. DeMille would have pshawed  The film tries for sweeping Hollywood spectacle and instead ends up looking more like Circle of Iron (y'know, where David Carradine, in one of a few roles, plays a kung-fu fighting monkey?). Not a good thing, per se, but again, this is somewhat entertaining to observe!

7. Max! Finally: not only had I forgotten that James Earl Jones turns into a snake, I had forgotten ENTIRELY that Max von Sydow was in this film, in maybe the film's most delightful role: the thieves are brought before Max, as King Osric, expecting to be punished for having stolen some jewels, only to discover that the person they stole from was Max's enemy and he is delighted (and wants to hire them to do another job!).

I had just played Erika a go-to Bergman of mine the other week, with von Sydow in it – Shame – and was delighted that in fact, that film worked for her; I did not know how she would take Bergman, but she enjoyed the film immensely. (It’s a weirdly feminist film -- Shame, that is, not Conan. Did people see the Ukrainian anti-war film Klondike? It is in many respects a descendent of Shame). 

As extreme a contrast as it is to go within a short span from Max in Bergman to Max in Conan, he's delightful, playing the role as if he were a benevolent Viking patriarch, laughing and jocular. Perhaps because it's the opposite of what you're expecting, his scene is hilarious. While it is quite possible James Earl Jones may have felt contempt for the material – you cannot tell from his workmanlike performance how he truly feels about it, though he is very entertaining to watch -- it is vibrantly clear, especially if you know a bit about von Sydow, that he is HAVING THE TIME OF HIS LIFE playing Osric, possibly having even more fun than he did as Ming the Merciless. He has complained in interviews about being asked to play the same sort of role again and again; Osric is about is as far from the "von Sydow stereotype" as you can possibly get. You feel happy for him, and find his enjoyment infectious. 

There are other fun things you notice when watching Conan, mind you, from horrific hairstyles, especially on Jones, to some decent swordfight choreography, but the "unintentional camp" factor ratchets up if you turn on the subtitles and try to imagine Milius actually WRITING some of the lines in the film as dialogue: there are some real doozies, a level of pretension that one does not normally encounter in a film like this. You may notice other odd quirks of language that way, too, like when James Earl Jones calls Conan and his band of thieves "infidel defilers": doesn't that imply that they go around defiling infidels? I don't think that's what he meant!

SLIP~ons, Boss Martians, and Dead Bars: Live at LanaLou's

Last night at LanaLou's, in between hellos to James Farwell, Larry Lechner, and a few other people -- Philly Roach knows I love him so we just passed at the bar without the NEED for a hello -- I talked briefly with Brock Pytel of the SLIP~ons about the "new" Doughboys 7" -- a 1987 demo that he's on -- and with John Maiello, the singer for Dead Bars, about my favourite song of theirs, "Earplug Girl." If you come back to read this piece in a couple of days, I might have had time to transcribe those interviews (more to come!). 

Meantime, for those who missed the show, however, here are some photos and four links: "Nerve Damage" and "Mosquito" by the SLIP~ons, the second to fourth songs from Dead Bars in one clip, and two songs by Boss Martians. 

Great night -- I'm not a surf guy but the Boss Martians had great guitar tone and did a killer "Stepping Stone;" I was surprised how much Dead Bars romantic/ positive/ joyful pop side comes to the fore when they play live -- they're clearly a bunch of romantics. Good bands both, but -- sorry, youse two -- the SLIP~ons were the best! All photos by me. 

Wayne McCarthy, to the right, tipped me to the gig (and worked merch). Thanks, man!

Above: The SLIP~ons. Somehow, last night, my best photos were also my worst!

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Above: The Boss Martians

Dead Bars

NOTE FOR "ALL" FANS, by which I mean fans of the band All, the descendants of the Descendents: Chad Price will be coming to town soon with the Chad Price Peace Coalition and doing a gig that involves the SLIP~ons and some other cool people, which, y'know, maybe I'm not supposed to talk about yet, but... sorry, Brock, I've leaked it! More to come on that, too (but it will be a separate post).  

Robert Connely Farr: Delta Blues by Way of East Van (plus Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, Charley Patton, and more)

NEW MATERIAL HAS BEEN ADDED AT THE END OF THIS POST, post-concert!!!!

I don't go lookin' for the blues. If you asked me about "Vancouver bluesmen," a couple of years ago, I would have muttered "well, there's Jim Byrnes" and looked rather embarrassed: I didn't really know anyone else! Certainly not who is playing soul-scorched, mud-spattered, callus-fingered Mississippi Delta blues here... what can I say, I only ever went to the Yale a couple of times, when James Blood Ulmer was playing there... and I was going to see him because of his connection to Ornette, not because he was touring the blues at that point... it just really wasn't my scene...

Then one day, I was soliciting stories to welcome Steve Earle to Vancouver. I put out a call on social media, and got a pointer from Tony Lee -- sometimes drummer, sometimes exuberant co-frontperson for the Asian Persuasion All-Stars, and perpetual man of style and taste: I should talk to Robert Connely Farr. The resulting story (I think of it as "Stalking Steve at Starbucks") ended up a high point of the blogpiece (though Jeanette McConnell's report of bringing Earle to play a posties' picket line, a couple of strikes ago, was pretty special, too). 

By Rd Cane; with Robert Connely Farr on the right and Jimmy "Duck" Holmes in the centre

So that's how I found out about Robert Connely Farr, who has a pretty interesting backstory for a BC bluesman. To copy and paste from his upcoming Heatley show bio, he

is a songwriter from Bolton Mississippi (hometown of blues legends like Charley Patton, Sam Chatmon, Bo Carter & Walter Vinson). Since 2017, cherished elder Mississippi bluesman Jimmy “Duck” Holmes has been mentoring Farr in the Bentonia Style of the Delta Blues. He’s also learned directly from Mississippi Bluesmen RL Boyce & Terry Harmonica Bean. In 2019 Farr was nominated for New Artist of the Year & Songwriter of the Year by Canada’s prestigious Maple Blues Awards. His music has been received well critically with songs having been used on Netflix, Lifetime & SYFY on shows like Snowpiercer, Resident Alien & Reacher. Farr is a longtime resident of East Vancouver.

From the press release from his recent 2024 album, Live at Green Auto -- and don't you just love that there is an album with that title out there? -- we learn that in fact "2024 was a hard year" for Farr:

He spent the early part of the year in Mississippi tending to his father who was terminal with leukemia. After his father passed, Farr only played three shows that year, Live at Green Auto (Farr’s 12th full length album) was recorded on Dec 06 2024 in an obscure venue in the heart of East Vancouver Canada. With longtime bandmate / co-conspirator Jay Bundy Johnson (Blue Shadows/ Herald Nix /Mac Pontiac) on drums, the guitar / drum duo ripped through a blistering set of Delta & Country Blues – premiering new singles "Mississippi Mud" & "Hoot Owl Blues" alongside a slew of originals & a few covers from lesser-known Mississippi bluesmen.

I have, so far, only managed to see Farr once, the Keithmas-before-last, but he's a powerful player, making growly, soulful, slightly evil-sounding blues of a kind one is not expecting to come out of Vancouver -- not even East Vancouver! With a new album coming out soon -- JJ Hadley Sings the Blues, with a title that riffs on one of the aliases of Charley Patton -- and a show coming up on March 2, I sent Farr some email interview questions and started making plans to see him anew, this time doing his own material. 

(Sorry to hear about your father, man.) 

Robert Connely Farr by Allan MacInnis

AM: Tell readers about the Bentonia style? Can you point to a specific piece of playing (on any of your albums, or on someone else's) that typifies Bentonia?

RCF: The Bentonia Style centers around the playing of Henry Stuckey [who never recorded!] and a tuning that he brought back from his tours in the army. I believe it’s an Open C minor tuning (C/G/C/D*/G/C) Sometimes it’s played in an open D minor. the songs also tend to have minimal turnarounds with a droney nature, somewhat less structure than your Delta Blues & similar (I find) to Hill Country style (which is totally different tuning).

The style is amazing and me trying to explain it wouldn’t do it justice. Here’s a link to an article from Living Blues a few years back that really goes into the history - which I find incredibly interesting.

http://digital.livingblues.com/article/Henry+Stuckey/3345338/577398/article.html

AM: Will educate myself! So how did you connect with Jimmy "Duck" Holmes? Have you ever been to the Blue Front Cafe, or played here? (What's a specific piece of his music I can point people to that matters to you or influenced you?).

RCF: His juke joint the Blue Front Cafe is the only place I play when I’m home in Mississippi. Last time I was down, Jay and I got to headline the Bentonia Blues Festival sharing the stage with Jimmy & RL Boyce - it was one for the books!

Robert and and Terry "Harmonica" Bean by Tyler McLeod

AM: If you have a favourite Jimmy "Duck" Holmes story, I'd love to know it.

RCF: I knew about Jimmy’s juke joint the Blue Front Cafe when I was growing up. In fact I stopped by every year or so for a decade (high school & college) just to photograph it. A good friend of mine at one point told me that famous old bluesmen played there but I wasn’t into the blues then and didn’t pay him any mind. But I never went in.

One day in ‘17 I’d gone home to be with my dad (whose cancer had come back) . We spent a day together - father/ son kind of thing, rode up into the delta to Clarksdale, then to Indianola then back down through Yazoo City and then back home to Edwards through Bentonia.

When we went thru Bentonia I told my dad “you've got to see this old juke joint” and when we pulled up to the Blue Front Cafe the door was open. I walked in and Jimmy was there & we talked for a bit. I asked him to play a song. He politely obliged, playing us the most haunting rendition of "Devil Got My Woman." [Editor's note: You can actually hear Jimmy do it online].

RCF, continued: It was only the three of us in there. And that day, that moment brought my music home for me. I went back a few days later with my guitar and then later that year Jimmy came up to Vancouver and I ushered him over to the Vancouver Island Folk Fest. We got to be good friends on that trip and he’s very much a mentor and I’m indebted to what he’s taught me. I told him that one day that I felt like I owed him. He said “go give it away. Help someone learn about the Bentonia Style. Show people what I’m showing you.”

Jimmy is the embodiment of the Living Blues.

The only known photo of Charley Patton, 1929. Nice to have a good excuse to run it! 

AM: I see that the new album references JJ Hadley -- a Charley Patton in-joke, right? Is there a reason you're choosing his religious pseudonym for this project? (I don't know a lot of the songs you do but the ones I have heard don't seem to have a strong religious element). Will you be doing any Charley Patton covers at the Heatley?

RCF: There are definitely underlying religious elements in many of our songs/ albums. I also included a spiritual at the end of the Country Supper album. In "Blue Front Cafe" on the Dirty South Blues album I kill the preacher for touching me. "Hey Mr Devil" I ask the devil to intercede on my behalf. Some are way more subtle, many times I’m lamenting to the Lord ("Cypress Tree Blues," "Cadillac Problems")' we released a single, "Jesus (If Ya Want Me Come and Get Me)" that was used on the new season of Snowpiercer -- haha that was a fun one!

I didn’t know much about Patton before moving to Canada - or any of the other Bluesmen from Bolton (Bo Carter, Walter Vinson, Sam Chatmon). After I moved to Canada and it was another 10 yrs before I’d meet Jimmy - which is what brought it all home for me. Hence my dive into Patton. Who was this guy from my hometown? I find him incredibly complicated. I chuckled at his pseudonym he’s use when he was being Good Charley.

With regards that album JJ Hadley Sings the Blues - these are all songs that started pouring out after my dad died. Many of them written back home. But all of them seemed different from this Bentonia / Delta Blues wormhole we been down. But important to me nonetheless. Songs that showed a different side of me… hence the JJ Hadley reference.

We did cover "Screaming & Hollering the Blues" [Patton's version here] on our Shake It album. Not sure if we’re going to cover any Patton for the show - but now you’ve sparked my interest so don't be surprised if you hear some - which leads me to next question / answer …

Robert Connely Farr by Ian Woods: press image from the Live at Green Auto album

AM: I assume "High Water 3" is a reference to Charley Patton's "High Water Everywhere 1" and "2" -- are there musical or lyrical consistencies? By the way, was there a specific flood that Patton was writing about? What do you think of Bob Dylan's "High Water" song (it's title actually includes a parenthetical "for Charley Patton"). 

RCF: I don’t know if I’ve heard the Dylan song. Or if there are musical or lyrical consistencies with HW 1&2. What happened before me writing "High Water 3" was I’d been in this Patton wormhole and listening to HW 1&2. I’d also gone home to Mississippi and drove down to the Mississippi River ghost town of Rodney - only the river was flooding and you couldn’t get anywhere. That last verse in my song HW3 eludes to a verse in Patton's HW 2 about that water rising and having nowhere to go.

AM: I love Patton's growly, often incomprehensible voice almost as much as I love that there is only one photo of him, But I'm listening to "Ain't Dyin'" and I'm finding your voice is occasionally as hard to understand sometimes as Patton's! How good are you at decoding his lyrics?

RCF: I’m not good at decoding his lyrics. What I find inspiring is the emotion in the songs even though you don’t know exactly what he’s saying. I seen Jimmy do it and RL Boyce do it to… I’ve been trying to lean into that. My single "Go Cat Go" is like that - lyrics very hard to understand …

by Rd Cane

AM: May I print the lyrics to "Ain't Dyin'?" (Like, can you send me them?) What was the inspiration of that song? What does "I ain't dyin' any quicker than you" mean? What's a place you don't go no more...? For a song that seems to assert that you are going to live life on your own terms, it's pretty mournful!

RCF: 

Ain’t nobody gonna tell me what’s wrong with me
Yeah I got a few ideas of my own
Gonna smoke and drink and have some fun
Until my day is done

Yeah I got places to see
And I got places I don’t go no more

Sometimes I take too much
I just can’t get enough
It’s all I ever known

Sometimes I take too much
I just can’t get enough
It’s all I ever known

Take this country boy home

Yeah I ain’t dying any quicker than you
Life just goes where it wants to
Sometimes up sometimes down
Sometimes lost & sometimes found…

This is the 3rd iteration of a song. I’m quite smitten with it haha. The 2nd iteration was on the “Country Supper” album and the first was on an EP “I Ain’t Dyin” before that. It’s a dark song, initially inspired by my Aunt who was terminal with cancer. She was at the hospital one day to get her treatments and someone sitting next to her asked her “how long did they give you” (to live) she quickly and brightly snapped back “I ain’t dying!!!”. I love it, that was her spirit. But I reminded me of all the times in my life I was at a low point but I wasn’t done fighting yet.

This rendition I find to be the most mournful but I’d written it not long after seeing my father die last year. It was quite sobering - no matter how much he wanted to live or tried to - death still prevailed.

The “I ain’t dying any quicker than you” is a reference to the last back porch chat I had with my dad - obviously about to die - but he wasn’t thinking about that - he was thinking about fixing his tractor and installing a new gate at the farm. He was still living - right up until he died - he was livin'.

AM: Where was the cover photo taken?

RCF: Cover photo was taken about 10 miles north my family home in a town called Satartia - it’s at the southern edge where the delta hits the hills / trees.

AM: What are some songs you plan to play at the Heatley, for sure? (Stuff I can point readers to on your bandcamp?). Do any have particular stories that you want out there...? Are there any covers that you plan to play?

We’re definitely going to be playing our new Live at Green Auto & Pandora Sessions albums. We also have a bunch of obscure covers we do, Jimmy Duck, Lonzo Burkes, RL Burnside, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Leo Bud Welch… [Note: these are just random links to the people Farr is mentioning; I have no idea what songs by them he's going to do]

AM: Do you have any allies or compatriots in the Vancouver music scene? I don't know of anyone doing the blues quite like you do -- does that put pressure on you, or is it nice to have a niche to yourself...? (Or am I wrong about that?). .

That’s the one thing I love about Vancouver is I feel like I got a friend in any room I walk into. I’m also inspired by my contemporaries - even if we aren’t doing the same thing.

It does feel like we're in a kind of niche so to speak but I’m really just trying to be inspired by the music of my home and also be true to what’s coming out of me. I feel particularly inspired that I am the first songwriter to come from Bolton Mississippi since Patton, Chatmon, Carter and Vinson and I don’t take that lightly.

AM: Anything else I've missed, that you want to say about the album or the show?

RCF: Looking forward to playing this style of drum & guitar delta blues & country blues for y'all. It feels special to me, like home. I’m excited to share it.

Robert Connely Farr's webpage is here. Read more about Live at Green Auto here. 

PART TWO: Some post show photos and a video clip!!! 

It was a very enjoyable night -- Heatley nachos rock and the music was great, and Robert very personable. He wore a Skynyrd shirt and played Bentonia style blues, doing a few traditional songs like "Back Door Man." I was sad at the end when he and Jay were discussing the last song, Jay kind of vetoing "Everybody's Dyin'," that Robert didn't have a standard-tuned guitar on which to do "I Ain't Dyin'," but the request got an extra encore out of them, which did turn out to be "Everybody's Dyin," after all which, sorry Jay, was one of the high points of the night (death has been a bit more visible in my life over the last while... since 2009, I've lost both my parents, had cancer surgery three times -- or technically four, but once was just because the graft failed, the day after the third). And I've had a few friends and family die or have close calls, and met lots of other folks who have danced with cancer... "Everybody's Dyin'" was a great song for me... we all are... it's a fact... 

...but I was also pretty high (baked on home baking) and at one point found myself theorizing (as I listened, I found sometimes I had to take my brain out for a walk to keep it from nipping at my ankles) that the blues is to popular western music what proto-Indo-European is to Indo-European languages. I also believe I arrived at a sound theory about the need for men to mansplain, rooted in an unstated hierarchical drive for status... which I somehow got to by noting my own desire to identify all the blues artists that played between songs and mansplain them to Erika... after I was done mansplaining the blues, I mansplained mansplaining to her... in-between I enjoyed the music... "Mansplainin' the Blues" would be a fun song title...

Not sure I can replicate my other thoughts now, however. It is interesting that with the blues, there's a history, an urge to acknowledge history, whose shoulders you're standing on, that's kind of been lost in a lot of the derivations of the blues. There are some people in the general world of folk and roots music who do it well, who know their history and can and will connect the dots for you -- Peter Stampfel, for example -- but they're usually people who have been around a fair while, and even then, they're the exception. Bob Dylan doesn't explain, before a song, "This is an arrangement I, uh, borrowed from Dave van Ronk, which he had based on the playing of the Reverend Gary Davis, but I added a verse referencing an older English ballad called..." Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones don't tell you when they're about to cover Willie Dixon, sometimes even giving themselves writing credit for song structures that have been around a very long time... but bluespeople do tend to acknowledge the history of their music, and take pride in KNOWING the history of their music, which does enrich the listening... .

My rabbithole, last night, though, was mostly that because of the primacy of the blues as a source point, an origin for so many current genres of music, I actually find it slightly challenging to grapple onto: I have to strip away my knowledge of all that has come since, from it, layered over it, extrapolated from and recontextualized, in jazz, rock, funk, soul, Afrobeat, and even some punk (Nomeansno have some blues in them, say! Jon Spencer, too -- there was a guy at the Heatley who was similarly enthusiastic about the show in Vancouver: I heard one of Robert's friends mention Judah Bauer and perked up and joined that conversation quickly!). 

So, so much that we listen to comes from the blues that blues is kinda like the Holy Bible of western music... which makes me feel I should really know it better... but I haven't read the Bible either, you know? (I've read Blood Meridian, I've never read the Bible: surely even Cormac McCarthy would disapprove). But as fundamental as the Bible is, it takes me a lot of mental effort to sit down to it. Blues takes me a similar amount of effort. It requires me to shut things down a bit, shut them out a bit, to be able to really appreciate it... to set aside my craving for variety, my expectations for things to go "beyond the blues." Going back to the blues, to real blues, really does feel like going back to the roots, but it takes discipline to focus... Some of my favourite blues records, like Howlin' Wolf's "new album," go very much beyond the blues, while some other blues artists that people revere, that were fundamental to the form's development, I don't spend a whole lot of time with (I don't own or listen to much in the way of Leadbelly, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters... I only started really digging John Lee Hooker last year... I've always felt like I might be "doing the blues wrong," you know? Erika points out that we listen to music in many different ways -- that I'm "more ADHD" than her; she enjoys familiarity, clarity of understanding... her brain shuts up and gets out of the way easier than mine; she has an easier time just accepting and listening, while I'm trying to categorize, analyze, or at least name the artist). 

But last night was real and earthy and at times Farr's guitar tones were gorgeous, and eventually I figured out that I should just shut my eyes and shut my mind and LISTEN. Which I did. There was a lot of business in my head, but I listened right for a few songs -- I had to get out of my own way, and when I did, the music rang deep and true....

I chatted with Robert before, after, and between sets, as well, but there's not a lot I can replicate (see above: "I was high"). But one favourite story involved how he had been learning from Paul Pigat, when Paul Pigat first heard Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, doing a solo guitar thing: "It sounds like there are three guys playing," Pigat observed. "You need to go learn from him!"