MuchMore.ca

I’ve been interviewing musicians for a long time; nine years in case you are wondering. Sometimes it feels like nine seconds, sometimes it feels like 90 years, depends on what day you catch me. This job is really just a form of people watching and a successful interview has as much to do with being well researched as does the circumstance in which the interview takes place. Interviewing musicians backstage while they are running between media outlets, their seats, and the bar, at the biggest celebration of Canadian music is not exactly Charlie Rose territory, but that type of in-depth conversation is not really expected at the Juno’s.

The idea is to be prepared to chat with anyone, at any moment, and just hope that if Neil Young or Robbie Robertson decide to stop by for a chat you are mentally ready and not flustered by the fact that you just spent 10 minutes reading about Melanie Fiona because she was supposed to stop by first. You have to understand that every media outlet in Canada is back there hoping to grab a sound-bite and scoop the next media outlet and all the artists want to do is celebrate with their friends and family because they just won a Juno. For our part, we were not interested in scooping anyone or adding to the mad rush of competition. We just wanted to try and find a moment out of the madness to have a conversation, as short as it might have to be, and paint our own picture of the night.

Is it ideal? No. Is it enjoyable? Meh. Is it exciting? Absolutely. There is something exciting about trying to force interesting conversations with artists for five minutes at a time, every 5-10 minutes. I’ve never experienced speed dating but I would suggest that our backstage Juno experience is exactly like speed dating and lucky for me…I’ve dated most of these people before.

What you are seeing here is the raw and unedited interviews we managed to score and even though Neil Young and Robbie Robertson did not stop by, I did see them walk by and I’m kinda glad that’s all it was because I want my first date with those dudes to be a little more romantic and special, like a first date should always be.

Highlights you ask? Me trying to cheer Sean and Bob from Great Big Sea up after losing their 12th straight Juno, Daniel Lanois’s hat and confession that there is no rhyme or reason to how he has navigated his almost perfect career, Classified making it through my three minute questions, Blue Rodeo making it through my three minutes questions and Keshia Chante’s mouth answering the question, but her eyes wondering “why in God’s name at the Juno’s is this guy asking me about Minnie Mouse?”

But my favorite moment of the night was interviewing “New Artist of the Year” winner Meaghan Smith because it was her first Juno experience and we were her first interview after she won her first Juno. It’s about as honest as it gets in this industry, she is over the moon with excitement and cannot believe that she just won a Juno and it’s written all over her face. She is giddy in the way I assume most people are after a first date with me.

Speed dating is fun,

=matt

Blue Rodeo 1

Blue Rodeo 2

Buck 65 1

Buck 65 2

Classified 1

Classified 2

Daniel Lanois 1

Daniel Lanois 2

Great Big Sea 1

Great Big Sea 2

Keshia Chante

Meaghan Smith