AS HEARD ON THE...
Remington Leith & Sebastian Danzig of
PALAYE ROYALE
For the full conversation, listen to the
June 3, 2020, episode
CM: Sebastian mentioned earlier
that there’s been multiple times
in the last five years that you
guys almost broke up. Was that
exacerbated by being three
brothers in a band, or is that connection
what kept it together?
JON CORBIN
For the full conversation, listen to the June 17,
2020, episode
CM: Recently, The Weeknd donated
$500,000 to Black Lives Matters and
other related initiatives. He also called
on the major labels to put up money
because, as he says, no other companies
have capitalized so much on the
work of Black artists. A few days later
Sony Music and Warner Music donated
$100-million each to internal and
external funds and initiatives, and
Universal Music created a $25-million
“change fund.” Does this give you
hope or worry that its wallpaper to get
through the headlines?
Jon Corbin: It’s probably a mix, because
those movements were really swift. It’s a
lot of money, which means that money
was there and those opportunities were
there and the spark was required for this
to happen… Its mere existence doesn’t
denote efficiency or that we’re going to
be satisfied with the result. I think those
are great things if used properly. It requires
accountability and usually that comes from
the media. That kind of long-term focus is
not seen in media for a lack of resources
or a lack of interest or our propensity for
distraction or a need for clicks or whatever
it is. It’s probably a combination of things.
So, there needs to be accountability there
and we need to see how those things end
up. I’m glad that they can move, but again,
it makes you sort of question what money
they have on-hand and where it’s going
that they could pull that kind of commitment
together really quickly.
Then I also think about either the
movements they’ve made towards removing
“urban” from categories and having
a better understanding of not boxing all
Black expression into one thing…
Remington Leith: I think it’s a little
bit of both, but I feel like our love
outweighs our hate for each other. I’d
bet anyone going through quarantine
right now with someone can
feel it, but if you’re with someone
long enough, you’re going to find
faults and have some problems
with each other, no matter what.
Sebastian could just be eating a
banana the wrong way and I want to rip his face off. When you’re with somebody so long,
you’re going to get under each other’s skin. But honestly, what we’re doing is so special and
when we have those moments on stage when we have those songs we wrote together and
we see a crowd of people in a foreign country singing the lyrics back to us, it’s like, “You eat a
banana any way you want.” [laughs]
WHITNEY ROSE
For the full conversation, listen to the
May 20, 2020, episode
CM: What’s your quarantine
experience been like? You find
the monotony of it has helped
or sapped creativity?
Whitney Rose: I had all these
grand plans. Obviously, I had the
record release coming up [for We
Still Go to Rodeos] and there’s all this
stuff to do to prepare for that. But I
told myself, “Oh, I could write a record.
I could write two records! This
is so perfect.” But then two days later I sit down with my guitar and it’s like, “Oh shit, nothing
is happening.” Since then I have written a little bit, but I don’t know what it is? I just haven’t
had the creative burst yet that I was hoping that I would have. That’s not to say that it won’t
come, because a few nights ago I went kind of crazy and started writing and from that night
I have four incomplete songs. So, I am being creative, but I don’t like to write when it doesn’t
feel right. I know that’s not a novel concept, but because I write alone, I don’t have to really
force it, ever.
CM: Any idea what spurred that creative burst a few nights ago?
Rose: Yeah, some really good weed [laughs].
PHOTO: MICHAEL MCKEOWN
Listen to new episodes of the Canadian Musician Podcast every Wednesday at www.canadianmusicianpodcast.com.
All episodes can be found on the website or through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
18 CANADIAN MUSICIAN