AS HEARD ON ...
APA CANADA ’ S RALPH JAMES
GORD BAMFORD
RIA MAE
AS HEARD ON ...
APA CANADA ’ S RALPH JAMES
For the full interview , listen to the Nov . 29 , 2017 episode
CM : How do you assess the health of the emerging and mid-level live music industry , given that a lot has been made out of venues closing over the last year or two in Toronto ?
RJ : Toronto is unbelievable . There must be 50 live venues with bands tonight . There have been a few that closed and maybe they weren ’ t well run . It ’ s like the Darwinian theory of natural selection . Some of them didn ’ t cut it . The competition is fierce , but the mathematics are very simple : how many people come to see you and at what price ? If 500 people
will come and pay $ 10 to see you , that ’ s a $ 5,000 gross . It ’ s real simple math . The bands that are really great live , even without conventional airplay or whatever , can build a career and sustain themselves , but it ’ s not pretty . If you don ’ t love it and don ’ t want to compete with everybody else , just keep it as a hobby . I mean , it is tough and the market here is terrific . Last week there were two nights of Guns ‘ n ’ Roses , two nights of Katy Perry , Janet Jackson , and two nights of Arcade Fire [ at the Air Canada Centre ] because the Leafs and Raptors were on the road . That ’ s who you ’ re competing with . But well-run clubs are busy too .
GORD BAMFORD
For the full interview , listen to the Nov . 1 , 2017 episode
RIA MAE
For the full interview , listen to the Nov . 8 , 2017 episode
CM : Your self-titled 2016 album , which was your major label debut , put you in front of larger audiences with the success of the single “ Clothes Off .” Did that change your approach to songwriting on the new EP , My Love ?
Ria Mae : Funny you mention that because when I was writing the last album , I had a weird feeling it was going to be played for bigger audiences and I kind of wrote that way . So in that way there wasn ’ t a difference . I definitely do this thing where I don ’ t think of an audience necessarily in those first moments where I ’ m writing , but as soon as I have that moment of , ‘ Oh my god , this is catchy , there ’ s something here ,’ then I immediately think of , can I imagine singing it on stage in front of a group of people ? I sort of had that same process from the last album to this album , but I think the big difference is , for me creatively , I like to not know what I ’ m doing . With the last album , I didn ’ t know how to work with a hip-hop producer and I didn ’ t know how to communicate my ideas to him . I loved that and felt like I was in creative heaven with it . This time , instead of doing that , I wrote everything on piano , which I don ’ t play at all – you can pick anyone on the street and they play better than me – and I was just putting my finger down on chords and writing that way because I wanted to not know what I was doing and not say , ‘ Oh , I ’ m playing an A minor so that means I should do an F after it .’ Like , I just wanted to not know .
CM : You ’ ve moved back to Alberta after living in Nashville for a few years . Was it a creative or business decision to move there originally ?
Gord Bamford : A bit of both . I think you ’ re always trying to break into different markets and obviously I ’ ve enjoyed great success in Canada and now Australia and a bit into Europe . You just want to give it a swing , right ? To go down and try to get things happening . But it ’ s really , I don ’ t know , I ’ m a little jaded towards the market down there to be honest with you . It ’ s a little cutthroat and very political . You know , if you ’ re not an American , it ’ s tough to break into and it ’ s a little sad or kind of a shame to have experienced that part of it , for sure , because we have such a great industry here in Canada and so many great artists that deserve to be on the radio down there and unfortunately it ’ s just not happening .
18 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN
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