Interview: Hey Rosetta!
Our own Jordan Ghetler was there to have a little chat with lead guitarist, pianist and singer Tim Baker from Newfoundland orchestral indie-rock band Hey Rosetta! We were offered a look into the life of an award winning band from Newfoundland, along with an in depth look at the Newfoundland music scene among other things. Take a look at our exclusive interview with Hey Rosetta!
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Meet You At The Show: So we understand you guys just played in Ottawa. How far into the tour are you?
Tim Baker: Well that was our first show in Canada, of the Canadian half of the tour. We just did seven shows in Europe. We did five shows in London and two shows in Paris.
MYATS: Oh so how was playing in Europe?
TB: It was good! The crowds were really warm. You know, they were smaller obviously. We didn’t play rooms like this but it was great. More than anything it was just trying to play for the right people.
MYATS: Did you find they were as opened to this kind of music as North American crowds?
TB: I don’t know, I think a lot of people there were hearing it for the first time. You know, you can’t expect too much from someone who’s never heard the music before. The best you can get is like people kind of nodding and smiling and clapping a lot right? Which is what there was and it was nice. I don’t know if it was any different than say Australia. We were down there last year for the first time. It was similar I think.
MYATS: Australia! That’s a long way…
TB: Yeah it was real cool! We did January there so it was their summer. So we left the fucking snowdrifts in Newfoundland and went to the beach! It was so sweet. Christmas on the beach. Anyway, yeah Ottawa was great! It’s really nice to be back. Last night it was a full house and everyone was crazy and screaming. It’s nice to mix it up really. In a lot of ways it’s nice to go somewhere like England or France where no one really knows you. It kind of makes the music almost new to you because all these people have never heard it and you really want to make it good for them. You really want to sell it to them kind of. I know that kind of sounds gross but you know.
MYATS: Yeah to make a good impression right?
TB: Yeah! You want them to be surprised almost. Like they just stumble into this bar and they just saw this band who are nobody. That’s a sweet thing. I think it’s almost nicer to be that band that nobody knows and to have people be pleasantly surprised than to be the band that’s like a buzz band and people come and they are disappointed.
MYATS: So would this be your first time playing in Montreal?
TB: No we’ve played Montreal…maybe ten times over the years. Maybe that’s too many. We started touring in 2006 I guess and we’ve hit Montreal on pretty much every tour we’ve been on since. I’d say it’s close to ten. Last time we were here we played the Osheaga festival.
MYATS: How was that?
TB: It was great. It’s a cool festival. I actually lived in Montreal for three years. I went to Concordia University. I did the creative writing program there.
MYATS: So then you must be really familiar with the city.
TB: Well I spent most of my time studying like a geek. Because I also did a major in Sociology and I really enjoyed it. So I did a lot of studying and I didn’t go out much. I also lived down in the Concordia Ghetto like Atwater and DeMaissoneuve and now every time we come here we stay up in the Plateau. I miss it, it’s a beautiful town.
MYATS: So what’s the music scene like in Newfoundland?
TB: It’s pretty fuckin’ sweet to be honest. It’s a good scene. It’s hard to compare it to something like Montreal’s scene, Toronto’s scene or big city scenes, because it’s not as…serious. I mean, it’s serious and people are committed to their music and there’s great bands and stuff, but it’s so isolated. There are aren’t that many success stories there. Very few people get in a band and say “ok this is what I’m gonna do” or like “we’re gonna make it!” you know? Because it’s just sort of foolish to even think that. It’s not like being from here where you can just swing down to New York or swing to Ontario with all these people and all these markets everywhere. You’re a twenty four hour drive from like…Halifax. And I think in a lot of ways that’s one of the greatest strengths of the scene, is that everyone’s in it because they have music that they want to share and it’s not really about their hairstyle or how hip they are and it’s more about the music.
So it’s a good scene. It’s not really replete with like really original new music but there’s a lot of variety and it’s close knit and full of good people. Probably my favourite band in the world to watch live is from St. Johns, Newfoundland. They’re called The Pathological Lovers. Jody (Richardson) is the lead singer and he’s like forty five or something and they are fucking amazing! So much energy, fuckin’ amazing songs. It’s just so good. And there’s a lot of really good bands that nobody knows about. Because it’s really hard to travel. It’s really expensive and it’s really far.
MYATS: So your latest album, Into Your Lungs, was nominated for a Polaris Music Prize. How was that? Do you place a lot of importance on awards such as this?
TB: That one was cool. Really surprising. Really fuckin’ surprising more than anything. But obviously we were delighted. It’s a real cool prize and just a great institution. I mean the bands that get nominated for it…to be put in with those people is very cool. Such forward looking, new music. So we were just really surprised and delighted. The whole thing was really cool. The ceremonies were super cool.
MYATS: Yeah, it must be exciting to get that sort of recognition for what you do.
TB: Yeah we’ve had a few awardy things. We had like, ECMA (East Coast Music Association Awards) and Newfoundland and Labrador Music Association awards and the XM satellite radio award we got last year and this Polaris thing. And they’re all nice like “hey pat on the back nice work” you know, but the real value of them is the sort of second life that the record gets in terms of the press that it’ll get again. Yeah it’s been pretty sweet.
MYATS: Of all the places you guys have played in the world, do you have a favourite city and a favourite venue to play in?
TB: I don’t know, there’s a lot of really fuckin’ sweet places and really sweet people in this country. We’re better known here than in other countries so that’s probably one of the reasons. But it’s a great country to tour around. Vancouver is insane. Whenever we go there it’s just always sold out and always great. Saskatoon is a bit of a sleeper hit, like you don’t expect it to be as wicked as it is (laughs). Saskatoon is like such an awesome town. You know, Toronto, Montreal…Ottawa is great. We have great shows in Ottawa. Halifax, St. Johns of course. Frederickton has always been really good. We’ve played Frederickton like dozens of times probably.
In terms of venues, the best venue we’ve ever played by far is probably Massey Hall. We didn’t do our own show there. We opened for Hawksley Workman and that was just unreal. That venue is fucking unreal (laughing). The history of it and just the gear and even the monitors sound so good that it doesn’t even sound like you. You kind of get confused, it’s like you’re listening to the CD or something of another band that’s playing your songs.
MYATS: So do you have any favourite songs to play live?
TB: I don’t know. I mean, I like the newer songs. We’re playing a bunch of new songs now. Some aren’t even ready to be played but we’re playing them anyway though (laughs). But I think there are a few songs that are always really nice. “There’s an Arc” is always kind of a fun song to do. I really like the song “Lions For Scotty” off our first record. We play that one a lot. We’ve never changed it, it’s always been exactly the same but it’s a little more raw than the rest. I don’t know it depends on the night. The song “Holy Shit” I like too, because there’s a lot of room to do new things in it. So there’s room for that kind of momentary magic that you can get. Some of the songs are a little more structured and you kind of just do it the same way all the time. I like the songs where there’s like a guitar solo and you can mess around a lot more. Just cause you can find things that sort of delight you in the moment and make it new.
MYATS: Are you guys currently working on any new material?
TB: Yeah, like I said we’re playing some new songs (tonight). There’s lots of songs, and putting them together and making them record worthy is what we’re working on now. It will definitely be recorded this coming winter and will be out in the summer…I hope. I mean I think that’s plenty of fucking time really. Two years between releases…it’s gross. It’s crazy to choose ten songs to sum up everything that’s happened in two years. It’s bizarre, but it’s kind of the way it works.
MYATS: So it sounds like you’ve got a lot of new things going on.
TB: Well there is and there isn’t. We’ve done a lot of touring over the last two years and it’s really really difficult to write on the road. You’re never alone. You never have any time to listen to your thoughts. You’re just bouncing around from place to place and you’re always with people even when you leave show and go to the hotel room with five other people. Very rarely can you actually listen to whatever it is that comes to you.
MYATS: Lastly, between writing and recording new albums and playing live, which is more exciting for you?
TB: Well I like them both, it’s a good balance. They’re both like kind of shitty in different ways, and kind of exciting in different ways. It’s a pretty balanced thing for me. There’s nothing quite as exhausting as recording for twelve hours a day, it’s brutal. Except maybe driving for ten hours and then playing a show and then getting up and doing it again. That’s also pretty exhausting. So they’re both good, just in different ways. More than being in the studio I like writing. You’re by yourself, it’s quiet and there’s no pressure and you’re not on the fucking studio clock. No one’s listening, you can write the cheesiest shit possible and then just scratch it all out and nobody knows. It gets difficult when everyone else comes in and you have to make it into a song that’s going to be on a record that people are going to hear that you’re going to play live. And there’s totally different kind of rewards. Like being on stage in Ottawa and having everyone screaming and it was so exciting to be there! That’s fucking huge. It’s like it’s your birthday and you’re like six and you’ve got a cake and everyone’s there and everyone’s looking at you and they’re so happy that you’re there and you’re blowing out the candles. It’s great right? Very different than being by yourself, creating or being in the band room where everyone’s banging their head against the wall and then we come to something and it really shines and works. They’re all very different things, but all good! All favourites! (laughs)
MYATS: Well thanks and have a great show.
TB: Alright thanks!
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We would like to extend a thank you to Tim Baker from Hey Rosetta! for taking the time to answer some questions for us. Stay tuned for a review of last night’s show at the Cabaret which will be posted shortly.
