COWBOY JUNKIES
AS HEARD ON ...
JESS MOSKA- LUKE
NIELSEN MUSIC CANADA
Alan Anton of
COWBOY JUNKIES
AS HEARD ON ...
Listen to the full interview on the July 20 , 2016 episode CM : What are the band dynamics when writing and crafting songs in the studio ?
Anton : Mike [ Timmins ] comes to it and will have the lyrics and most of the chord structures figured out and then we really have to settle in and get the band groove going and see what it needs . We always apply what we call the “ Elton John rule ,” which is if you can ’ t figure out how a song should sound in the first 15 minutes , then put it aside and come back to it much later and try again .
We discovered that in an interview with Bernie Taupin , his writer , and he said that he lived in California and would hand write these lyrics and mail it to Elton and Elton would receive it wherever he is in the world and sit down at the piano and look at the lyrics and if a melody didn ’ t pop into his head to match the lyrics within 15 minutes , he would just put it aside , which is kind of how we ’ ve always worked . We always have this kind of urgency to figure it out right away , and when we do that , it always sounds great and when it takes longer , it doesn ’ t sound as good for some reason .
JESS MOSKA- LUKE
Listen to the full interview on the July 13 , 2016 episode
CM : I know you write a lot in Nashville but is it a regular occurrence that you write at home or on the road ?
Moskaluke : No , I never write at home . Ever . I ’ m not home very often , so I always say this : how the heck am I supposed to make myself relatable to anyone because my fans , who aren ’ t country music artists , if all I ’ m doing is working on country music ? I can ’ t make myself relatable by working on the road . I can ’ t write a song about sleeping on a bus because nobody knows what that ’ s like . If I ’ m at home writing , I can ’ t make myself relatable , in my opinion , for myself and my fans and my life . What I can do is be at home and try to spend as much time as I can being a part of the general public , spending time with my family , and going out the way that everyone else does and just living real life . So no , I never write at home . I might think of song ideas and jot them down at home or if something pops into my mind , sure , I ’ ll write it down , but for me , the focus that being in Nashville creates – I ’ m usually there for about a week every couple of months – it is go , go , go ; nonstop work for those seven to 10 days . So on top of all that , I really value my time off because there ’ s not a lot of it . I think everyone needs a bit of down time .
Paul Shaver of
NIELSEN MUSIC CANADA
Listen to the full interview on the July 13 , 2016 episode
CM : Nielsen Canada ’ s 2016 Music 360 Canada report indicated that more people are now paying for music streaming and a growing number say they ’ re likely to start paying for a subscription . With the value gap between free , ad-supported streaming and paid-subscription streaming , do think the ad-supported model will eventually disappear ?
Shaver : I guess the ad-supported model can survive . I think everyone would love to see it morph into a paid-only , limited free trial like the Netflix model … But going back to that straight , ad-support model , there ’ s always going to be listeners willing to exchange their time to listen to ads or watching videos for music . It ’ s just going to be there rather than paying a subscription model . Back in the days when everything was being taken for free , it feels like a victimless crime at times , but there is evidence in our landscape music study where when we asked how they would respond if free streaming services were no longer available , nearly one in four said they would find alternative means to acquire music for free online and only about 11 per cent said they would pay for the least expensive online music streaming service . So I think without [ ad-supported streaming ], for a period of time , we ’ re just going to push people away to find it elsewhere .
PHOTO : BARRY RODEN
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18 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN