THE UNINVITED GUESTS : ( L-R ) AARYS , DOPEFA $ E , BILLY WILD , RO JOAQUIN , ALEX KOTYK , YOUR HUNNI & GABRIEL PICK
and things that sort of led to DJs .” Inspired by Gould ’ s prophetic writing , Wild approached the Gould estate for permission to work with more of the pianist ’ s recordings , though he didn ’ t even have a clear idea of what he wanted to do . The estate was happy to green light any idea that may get more young people into Gould . “ Problem is ,” Wild recalls them warning , “ it ’ s going be really tough getting you the licensing for the samples .” That ’ s because Gould ’ s recordings are owned by Sony Masterworks , the major label ’ s classical division .
By 2015 , Wild felt there was no chance he would get the licenses for those recordings . But still inspired , Wild and a couple of his colleagues created the Uninvited Guests mixtape , which mixes Gould ’ s music with vocals from J . Cole , Miley Cyrus , Justin Timberlake ,
Wu-Tang Clan , and other rap and pop stars .
The mixtape established the proof-of-concept and got good reviews , but the licences still seemed unattainable . Around that time , though , the Glenn Gould Estate sold the late artist ’ s publishing and master royalties , name , and likeness to American intendent publisher Primary Wave .
“ I went down to New York , spoke with them , and showed them all the stuff I ’ ve been working on . Their CEO was like , ‘ Okay , cool . Why haven ’ t you put it out ?’ I ’ m like , ‘ Well , I don ’ t own any of this . I ’ d be asking to get sued ,’” Wild recalls .
As Wild retells it , Primary Waves CEO Lawrence Mestel then asked , “ So basically , we have to get you the licence for the samples and you can make a record ?”, to which Wild replied somewhat skeptically , “ If it ’ s that easy , then yeah , please .”
Well , it took three years but Primary Wave stuck with it and eventually Sony Masterworks relented . “ To their credit , I understand why a classical music label would have reservations about this . I don ’ t think they would have allowed this if they didn ’ t realize how much research and stuff I put into it ,” Wild concedes .
Throughout the years of waiting , Wild and his production partner , Gabriel Pick , as well as Alex Kotyk and Andrew Testa from Division 88 , had been working on the music despite not knowing if it would ever get released . When the licence was granted to complete the project , they had two songs nearly completed and about 140 minutes of instrumental music . “ The only reason why I didn ’ t make more songs was because I didn ’ t want to bring artists in , make a song , get everybody really excited , and then be like , ‘ Well , this might not ever come out ,’” Wild says .
Frustratingly , just as Sony Masterworks approved the project , COVID-19 threw everyone ’ s plans into disarray . Wild was told to wait and see as the label didn ’ t know when it would have an opening on its release calendar .
“ I just went about my life thinking , ‘ Well , alright , I waited this long , so what ’ s another year or two to finally put out this record ?” he says . Then just a few weeks later he got an unexpected call asking how fast he could finish the album because the label didn ’ t have much coming out in October . From endless waiting and uncertainty , Wild and his team suddenly had only two or three weeks to make it reality .
“ Luckily we have a label here with several capable artists and everybody was on board . They all put their hands up and said , ‘ Let ’ s do this ,’” Wild says . “ In two weeks , we pretty much did all the top line , created one new song from scratch , and handed the record in . I mean , we went right up to the last minute .”
44 CANADIAN MUSICIAN