Music can help and heal and broken heart – this much is true. And it’s not just for the listening audience where the power of music can help folks through a rough time, or to process difficult feelings and experiences. For those who craft and create music, it can be just as profoundly cathartic.
Such is the case with the latest album from Canadian roots rockers Skydiggers, the band’s 19th release since forming in 1990. Let’s Get Friendship Right saw band stalwarts Josh Finlayson and Andy Maize pull together some older ideas with a brand new crop of material, inspired by a short retreat to the Banff Centre for Arts, and infused with the emotion coming not long after the passing of some important people in both their lives.
“For some of the songs, there were some bits and pieces that were carry overs, not so much from our previous record, Warmth of the Sun [2017] but from some writing sessions prior to that. It all sort of tied into a pretty common theme; both Andy and I had lost parents and some friends. We had a band member that passed away the previous year as well [Paul MacLeod] as well as a couple of good friends of the band,” said Finlayson, from his home in Toronto.
“Music is good medicine for everyone, but in this case, it was definitely a form of healing for sure, and it helped us with coping. We have been doing this for so long it’s kind of been the thing that always helps us out. To a certain extent we’ve always done that and used music that way in terms of writing. I sure know that between writing songs and playing shows, that the band has become a very steady companion, a good friend for us. And whether it’s stuff we’ve gone through personally or collectively, it’s been a very reliable reference point.
“In the fall of 2017 we were out touring, doing a western swing and we took a few days off and went up to the Banff Centre and sort of put together some songs that we had ideas for and wrote some new stuff, and really took our time. Because all these things had happened, we thought this would be an awesome thing, and opportunity to kind of stop for a bit and organize our thoughts and document some of this stuff that was happening and kind of get it all together, and then we decided to record it all.”
If you’re a Canadian band looking for an cozy, life-affirming and inspirational place to record an album that deals with the trials and tribulations of life, you can’t do much better than The Bathhouse, the studio owned by The Tragically Hip, and a popular destination for artists looking not only for the expertise of the facility’s staff, but also its warmth and congeniality.
Already long time friends with the band, when it came to be recording the Skydiggers‘ latest album, Let’s Get Friendship Right, there was no other place Finlayson and Maize would rather have gone.
“We worked with Nyles Spencer, who has been the Hip’s engineer for years, and I had done a lot of recording there over the years and Andy has too. It was a good place for us to land, because we didn’t know entirely how things were going to turn out. We invited one band member down, Aaron Comeau and then an old friend of ours from Ottawa, [drummer] Peter von Althen came down and drummed on some stuff. And by the end of the five days we had booked, we had the bulk of the record. Once we kind of got it started and once we kind of dug into it with Nyles, it all came pretty quickly. And I think that’s partially because we have been doing it for a long time, so once you find your way into it, it can evolve pretty quickly,” he said, adding that The Hip also inspired the album’s title.
“We had a few different titles. I remember a couple of summers ago we were up in Kingston and we played a show at the Isabel Bader Centre with Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair and Sarah Harmer and some other local Kingston musicians. And it was a fundraiser to help build a residential hospice. Paul’s wife Joanne sits on the board of that organization and we worked with her to help organize that show. And we did a second one last fall with Paul and out of those shows, we connected with Paul and we talked about doing some shows this past summer with Paul joining the Skydiggers to play some songs, which he did. We did a bunch of his solo songs, we did a bunch Skydiggers songs with him singing along, and we did a few Hip tunes. And one of them was It’s A Good Life if you Don’t Weaken, from the In Violet Light album, and in it was the lyric was the phrase, ‘let’s get friendship right.’ We just thought it was an apt title for us.”
The spirit of the late, great Hip frontman Gord Downie was also an unmistakable presence during the recording sessions.
“We made this album in the winter of 2018 and he had passed in October of 2017, so I would say he was kind of with us during it all in a sense. I can only speak for myself when I say that I felt pretty good being there making music and was confident that it would be something that he’d want all of his bandmates and friends to do in some way, shape or form. It’s just such a familiar and inviting place to go,” said Finlayson.
“I was very good friends with Gord Downie, and I was involved with most of his solo recordings in one way or another, and touring. We both lived in Toronto, and we were good friends and it was good to be able to connect with Paul on that level and just share. Like I was saying, music is always good medicine and that’s such a big thing with this recording. It’s a nice thing to be able to have.”
It is interesting to note that, as much as Finlayson and Maize have been the creative core of the band since it’s inception, Finlayson believes Let’s Do Friendship Right is the most collaborative collection of songs to date.
“At the end of the day, we’re sort of drawn to the songs that we think are the best songs, and the songs that we think best fit the recording that we’re doing and the musicians that we’re recording with. I also think you never want to do things the same way ever – at least I don’t. The creative process demands that you always keep evolving and changing it up, and that process then informs the way we write together as well,” he said.
“I’d say this record was, for the most part, very collaborative – more so than other records we’ve made in the past, where we would write separately more often and then come together and put the songs together. This record was different in that way. And we’d never really done anything like going out to the Banff Centre. We were there for three or four days and that was a pretty unique experience, except for maybe when we were a young touring band and you’d have a day off in the hotel room and hammer out some new songs.”
The song I’m Spared came about during a conversation Finlayson on Cape Breton Island with a great uncle, who passed way recently. It is a compelling and wistful tune about the power of memory.
“My great uncle was quite a character. I was visiting him probably a year before he passed away, and he was just telling me all these old stories and he told me how he’d known this woman and they’d run into each other a couple of times a year. And he’d tell her ‘I’ll see you in the summer,’ and in the summer he’d say, ‘I’ll see you at Christmas,’ and she’d reply, ‘if I’m spared.’ And it’s just one of those things, if you a songwriter, when you hear something like that, you just go ‘f*** that’s good material,” he said.
“I wrote that saying down right away and came home and wrote the song. And it’s sort of in keeping with the theme of reflecting on someone or something from the past.”
Arguably the most powerful song on the album is Ineligible, which looks at the reasons why people have been not allowed to vote in Canada over the years – a real insight into Canada’s not-so sterling past and how minority groups have been targeted and seen as ‘less than’ for generations.
“Andy and his wife were walking by this pop-up gallery close to their house in Toronto in the fall of 2015, and there was a poster in this gallery by these two artists, Anita Matusevics and Jason Halter who belong to a group called Wonder Inc. There was this piece called ‘Ineligible’ and it listed all these groups of people that were denied the vote in Canada since Confederation. I think it really resonated with Andy, it was a statement that made a real impression on him,” said Finlayson.
“He took a photo of the letters that were on display, and it’s obviously some sort of government document about who can vote and who can’t. He had this little piano riff that he came up with and sort of spoke the words from the letter over that and we just built the track from there and put all kinds of stuff on it – Nyles really went to town. It was timely just because of the [recent federal] election and we thought it’s so easy to forget how fortunate we are to at least be able to express our opinion. I know these are pretty challenging and cynical times in general, but at the end of the day, the fact that we have the ability to cast a vote is something a lot of people don’t have, and a lot of people didn’t have in this country for a long time.
“And these restrictions, as they are today, were based on fear and ignorance, and those are things that I believe ebb and flow. They can be ignited or used and leveraged in ways that are very unhealthy and not good for society. I am not so sure the song was meant to be a huge political statement per se. It was more the provocativeness of it to me. It’s more like, ‘look at this and read this and see how ridiculous it is now.’ But there’s also the realization that we’re never far away from a bad decision or a fear that makes people make bad choices.”
With such big issues as life and death and legacy being significant themes on Let’s Do Friendship Right, there is also the issue of the Skydiggers legacy as a band and as a well-respected fixture on the Canadian music scene – especially as the band passed it’s third decade last year.
“It’s a real honour to be able to do something like this, and for people to want to come and see us and that is an amazing thing. We have an incredible band; we’re at a point where the musicianship around us is so incredible, and so much fun. And we can do so many different types of gigs and different configurations and recordings – all these cool things,” said Finlayson.
“Given the losses we’ve had and the understanding of how fleeting life and everything else is, to still have this going strong, is not lost on us. And it’s something that we want to honour and be mindful of, that it’s taken care of and taking care of ourselves because it would be nice if we are able to continue it as long as people continue to want to see us.”
And fans will have one more chance to see Skyddiggers, on Saturday, Dec. 21, for the 30th Anniversary of a Legendary Skydiggers Christmas with special guests Communism Band – at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. Doors open at 7 p.m.
For tickets to this show, more information on the band and Let’s Get Friendship Right, visit https://skydiggers.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for nearly three decades. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
SHARE THIS POST:
