Canadian Musician September / October 2019

The Making of # PREMIERE MIDNIGHT SHINE ’s “Leather Skin” Video As part of our #CMPremiere series, Canadian Musician was part of the rollout for Midnight Shine’s stunning video for the song “Leather Skin.” For this, we chatted with Midnight Shine frontman and songwriter Adrian Sutherland about the making of the video. “I’ve always wanted to share my culture and share my expe- riences through art, and this was a great opportunity to do that,” says Sutherland. He recalls that, while the video was shot in 2018, its inspira- tion goes all the way back to 2000. That’s when Sutherland first saw Coldplay’s now-iconic video for their breakout song, “Yellow,” and was compelled to someday make his own on the desolate but dazzling shorelines of his community in the Canadian north. For the shoot, Sutherland, his wife Judy, a three-person video crew, and a boat filled to the brim with production gear took off from the isolated Cree community of Attawapiskat, ON, and headed north to the frigid open waters of the James Bay, finally reaching their intended destination: two tiny landmasses known as the Twin Islands. Not only was this particular beach challenging to get to; it was even more difficult to be at. Once the video crew landed onshore, they had just two hours to get their footage and get off the beach – lest they be stranded until the next tide rolled around 24 hours later. The boat also had to be pried away from the beach continuously, with the ever-receding tide and fierce nautical winds constantly threatening to run them aground for good. All of this because it’s exactly where Sutherland wanted to make a music video. “And being up there, they were able to capture the musician Adrian Sutherland at home in Attawapiskat, but there’s also the other side of me, of course, which is the traditional hunter.” In the end, “Leather Skin” just might be the most remote music video ever shot in Canada – maybe even the “coolest” one, too, after a heavy dose of unexpected weather ended up tying the footage together in the most serendipitous way… AS HEARD ON... DENVER HAYLEE For the full interview, listen to the July 17, 2019 episode CM: A lot of eyes are on Canadian rap and R&B artists these days because of the success of artists like Drake, The Weeknd, Alessia Cara, etc., but they largely had to go to the U.S. to make it big. Is their success creating opportunities for urban music artists in the Toronto scene? Haylee: There definitely seems to be a huge magnifying glass on Toronto. Usually when you tell someone you’re from Toronto and they’re from abroad, it gets them one step closer to really taking in your art. But, I think Canada needs to do a better job of developing the infrastructure for the sharing of music within Canada. What I mean is, you can turn on BET or MTV at a certain time of night and they might have artists who aren’t necessarily on the charts but have a little bit of a buzz and they’re cir- culating their music and videos for the general public. We don’t have that now like we used to have with MuchMusic and Rap City and Electric Circus and such. We don’t have that anymore and I think the fact we don’t have that anymore … sends a silent message that it’s just not important. I think that also makes artists feel like there isn’t a lot of room for all of us to make it, and that it is going to be even more rare for us to make it. In itself, that develops a culture of a lack of collaboration and lack of support. BRUCE COCKBURN For the full interview, listen to the July 31, 2019 episode CM: Your long-time manager, Bernie Finkelstein, told me that you’re at the point that you can do what you want, but you got there by doing what you want. So, what’s been the governing philosophy or mentality in how you’ve navigated your career? Cockburn: I’ve never thought in terms of a “career.” I’m uncomfortable with the word. I don’t use it because I’ve never approached what I do that way. Yeah, I want to be good at what I do and work at improving it and so on, but I’ve never had this image in my mind of, “OK, two years from now I’ll be in this place, and five years from now I’ll be in this place.” I’m not a planner; I just take the next step when I’m invited to do it by life. When I dropped out of music school, I had no idea what I was going to do… All I knew is my life was going to be tied up with the guitar in some way and if I ended up playing for pennies in the subway, then so be it.” 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 Play Music, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. 18 CANADIAN MUSICIAN

Canadian Musician September / October 2019 | Page 18