Jared- there’s a music scene in town?
Kidding, actually there is a small music scene in our town that centers on an annual blues fest in June every year @thediscarded16/
Live Interview
Episode #382 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/11/02/episode-382-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW THE DISCARDED
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
The Discarded
J.P.- Vocals/guitar, Jared Dean- Bass, backing vocals, Caden Jax- Drums, backing vocals
Jared- there’s a music scene in town?
Kidding, actually there is a small music scene in our town that centers on an annual blues fest in June every year. The rest is fairly folksy, singer songwriter type thing. Nice people, some of them are teaching me how to play bass and are very inclusive in their support of all types of music. However for our type of music we have to venture to Toronto or elsewhere to play. The clubs in Orangeville are restaurants that want one or two people with an acoustic guitar and covers.
I don’t go out much in Orangeville except to the hockey or lacrosse arena-
ha!- how Canadian of me to say that! I work in Toronto’s west end and lived there for a number of years when I was younger, so if I go out that tends to be where I go to see bands and music.
Caden- we have only played out down in Toronto
where there are live music clubs that book our type of music. I’m too young to go to bars but we can play all ages shows and we have played three shows outside this summer. Some venues are classified as restaurants so we can play there. Concert halls we could play there opening for touring bands. A couple of weeks ago we all went to see the Buzzcocks and that was really cool to see a band like that. I was right up front watching the drummer and at the end of the show he gave me the set list. It would be fantastic to open shows like that.
Jared- Toronto- no offense to my hometown but I tend to be drawn there.
I’ll probably end up living there.
J.P.- It’s changing or has changed since the last time I was more heavily involved in it.
There is many more ways to get your music out there. The cost to produce it is cheaper however it has also become a bit devalued as people stream and believe that it should be free. Even though you can get your music out there easily it means it becomes tougher for you to say “hey, listen to me!” I liken the internet and on-line to a telephone. Just because you are able to publish your name in the phone book doesn’t mean people who like your music go through the book calling you-(well the telemarketers). I could go on but let just say I’ve always liked being a musician better than being a music business man- at least I’ve been better at making/playing music then hustling it. Otherwise I would be famous by now-ha! Really though that has always been the conundrum of art, it is not just making it but understanding how to expose it and earn a living from it. The reality is that you must embrace the music business aspect of it if one of your goals is exposing your music. Otherwise you would just write it and record it and then the circle would be complete for you. Real musicians don’t quit music; they just quit trying to make their music popular. They always keep playing and creating.
Caden- I don’t know I’m fourteen (just turned that a few weeks ago).
We talked about marketing, the cover, the formats we would manufacture, where and what we could do to promote it. My job is to be on time and professional in practices and shows. I’m up for anything to promote this, touring, playing out. We’ve even started writing cool new songs already for a second album that we are all involved in. The first priority for me is to be a good drummer and drive the band, to improve that way and be rock steady when we play.
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Jared- What popular sells but I’ve never been drawn to overly produce, pop music.
Just because something sells doesn’t mean that it’s “good” music. The internet makes it easier to find the music you like to listen to. So I can find all genres I like. This make the trends of the music business less and less relevant and niches can develop.
J.P.- None so far as we are at the point where we created and recorded the music
and that was a very pro experience. The con will be determining where we want to expose it, how we will expose it. Where we can play, who will buy our music and related band swag. The money that involves and the doors you will knock on but don’t open.
Caden: No cons really. It’s really fun.
Writing music, learning songs, coming together as a band. Recording all really big pros for me. I like that this is my family and I can be with them having a good time jamming out and making music.
Jared- I’m seventeen and haven’t come up against that yet
but that doesn’t stop me from having an opinion about it. From what I’ve experienced so far, a definite pro is meeting so many like-minded people. I haven’t found this in the small towns I have lived or the schools I’ve been to. Music has afforded this opportunity to connect with people similar to myself.
Cons: The lottery wheel of success- good musician,
music and bands don’t always rise to the top while trash is promoted as the hot new thing everyone should listen to. It saddens me at times when people my age go on about how great a song is and then have totally forgotten about it a year later as if it is a disposable product. I think taste in music can change but also good music trends to lasts forever as a good song/music.
J.P.-Struggles are life that realization is the triumph- enjoy life.
Reflect on the common struggles we all face and edify people about it. Write a song about it. Have people identify and feel enriched by it. Those are the triumphs if not then enjoy that journey of doing all that. If those ae your expectations then there will only be an upside to all this
Caden- currently no struggles only triumphs.
Well except when I’m playing video games online.
Jared- A struggles represents you still have room to improve
so the triumphs come from overcoming those struggles and improving oneself.
Always been a huge Beatle fan- so Paul McCartney.
Just to hang with, I think he has a fantastic perspective on who and what he is and he’s the biggest there ever was/is that is currently alive in this game.
Jared- Ignoring the language barrier
I would love to meet Japanese Rock/Psychedelic composer Yasushi Ishii. He is the person who ‘s music currently most fascinated with and I would simply love to learn the process of how his songs were created. He has created so many songs with great riffs and unique sounds that have gone unheard since they are from across the sea. He is the biggest influence on my style and the direction I want to take in music. I would highly recommend checking out his work when you get the chance
J.P. – I’ve started off as a drummer in punk and alternative bands,
then switched to guitar in a roots rock country sort of band, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, The Ramones
Caden- my dad is a musician, he got me a little kit when I was younger and picked it up later on.
There was always a kit set up in my house and I liked bashing the symbols-it was energetic and fun
Jared- My dad was a musician and got me a little guitar when I was younger.
I dabbled in it when I was younger writing lyrics but didn’t seriously consider it until a year ago when I regretted not having taken it more seriously when I first got a guitar. I wanted to learn how to play the songs I liked. I always liked music and listened to it. I suggested the bass and got one as a gift from my dad while I was going through a difficult transition in my life as something to bring me joy and concentrate on. In January we all moved into a new place together and I started to take lessons and seriously apply myself to the instrument.
Could that be you?
J.P.- This is really the first song that I brought fresh
to the band and we developed it together. Everybody developed their own part.
Jared- I was trying to apply what I was learning and wanted to incorporate
a more complicated bass line for me beyond root notes and octaves of root notes. This lead to the development of the little bass riff in the chorus which I was quite proud of at the time. Considering I was only 4 month into seriously playing the instrument and in a band.
J.P.- It’s about three minutes and fifty nine seconds.
Seriously though, it’s about thinking about moving on and finding that special someone. What one might be thinking in a perfect world and what qualities would be important. Also you’ve met someone and the nervousness, anticipation and wonder of if this really is the “one”.
Caden- I don’t know I’m not the singer.
Jared- I’m more concerned with bass lines than lyrics.
Though I too sympathies with finding that perfect someone for yourself.
J.P. It was written sitting on my bed one night playing my acoustic guitar.
I recorded the idea on my cell phone so I wouldn’t forget the idea. Then I forgot about it until a few months later. We’d recorded a rehearsal to listen to and I rediscovered it and thought – hey – that’s pretty good- I should finish that now that we’re doing this band together.
We recorded it in Toronto at Ian Blurton’s Pro Gold studio-
We’ve only been doing this band seriously since February of this year. We’d get together all the kids and me and fool around but the oldest two wanted to do a serious band or at least see if we could. Jared had taken up bass in January, Caden got his first real drum kit the year before in October. I brought our first core of four songs to them and we played a show at a friend’s birthday the next month. Then we did a couple more shows and expanded the songs we were doing, writing new ones and a few that fit this band that I’d written before and reworked with them. The reaction was good to what we were doing, the energy and chemistry of it all.
Then I thought, let’s capture this in the infancy this raw garage punk sound we’ve developed.
We practiced for a month and a half straight four, five times a week. And then without me singing because we knew we’d need to do this quick off the floor in the studio and we needed to know the songs without the vocal cues. We recorded nine songs in nine and a half hours. It’s basically live off the floor with me singing afterwards because I didn’t want the vocals to bleed on the beds. Had they known any better they’d realize what they did, (Caden, Jared), was pretty phenomenal for not only two people who have played for such a short time but for anyone, the energy and professionalism of the whole thing. I’m not just proud as a dad or for a first attempt at recording but the level of the recording and the quality of the playing. Ian Blurton is a rock legend in Toronto and Canadian alternative scene and plays in very heavy bands. We go way back together as friends and I knew he’d have the ear and sensibilities to deliver a great recording and mix on an “on the fly” budget and recording. We did this fast but don’t get me wrong we wanted to make a great record. I think Caden and Jared’s youth and nativity played to our advantage as they came into this very excited about the process and unaware of self-imposed limitations. I also knew we’d all be standing in the room together making this recording so as to guide them through the process and just enjoy ourselves like we we’re just in the basement rocking out the song- No red light fever. We’d do a couple of takes and then go listen and you just got more excited about , wow that’s me, this sounds great!
This particular song was probably one of our favorites going in,
both Jared and Caden were proud of their parts they had developed. We did the hardest, fastest and newest song, (Feel the glow), first so that it would be under our belt and not looming as the session went along. After we nailed that in a few takes we thought “cool the hard one out of the way the rest will be a breeze”. “Could that be you” was second and we got it down in two or three takes. We did beds for three songs and then I went in and did the vocals. We started recording at around 2:30 in the afternoon and I think we had finished everything by about 11pm Saturday, August 27th. If I hadn’t broken a string or we’d ordered food in instead of going out for dinner we would have finished sooner- ha!
Caden- I misheard a lyric and when I told JP what I heard he said no it’s this,
but said good lyric though I’ll use it in the third verse. I like my drum break in the middle because I get to use a lot of the kit I don’t use as much as other tunes. The drum break was new for me to be doing that type of a thing in a song.
Jared- I already mentioned how I wanted to write a more challenging bass line
for me and that is something I continue to do for all the songs. Refining and improving.
The recording my first album was definitely an exciting experience,
the atmosphere of being in a studio. Hearing my playing for the first time played back and knowing that it was captured and I’d be able to share it. Ian was a wonderful guy and very easy to work with. I heard the studio could be a tense place to be but it just seemed easy and relaxed there like we were just plying the songs together. That was in no small part because of Ian who set that stage and was such a pro. He was also easy to talk to and very inclusive and not dismissive of Caden or me which could have been the case because of our age and inexperience. He made us/me feel at ease so I was able to perform. I even sang back up for the first time on a song.
Caden- Recording- was a really cool experience and I loved doing it.
It was first time recording and it was a really great time. Ian was really nice to work with, joking around and not treated me like a little kid, it was a great environment. I wasn’t nervous it was just like playing the songs in the basement at home. The studio was right down at the waterfront in Toronto and there was a night club down the street so when we went outside there was tons of people and girls all dressed up going out clubbing and there we were in t-shirts recording this punk rock record in an old converted warehouse building in the basement. I really enjoyed it.
J.P.- To me there is a great linage between ‘60’s bubblegum rock,
Beach Boys and early punk rock bands like , The Ramones, The Buzzcocks etc. It has a visceral energy but there are the bones of a pop song underneath. The Beatles came out of Hamburg Germany all dressed in black leather, they were a cool little punk band if it had been 1976 and songs like Money, Bad Boy and Roll over Beethoven, that was straight from their Hamburg days. And then there are ’60 garage bands like The Sonics, the Standells and The Troggs on up to Iggy and the Stooges. You can even look at Green Day, Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, there is an edge to the music but there are strong pop hooks in all those bands and songs. The recording has gotten better and the guitars are more distorted but again the linage is all there. That’s what our band, our music is tapping into. It’s exciting and fast but more rock and roll fast then hardcore punk fast. This new album did what I was looking for it to do. It has captured this band’s sound at its infancy. It’s exciting and fresh and if you’re into this type of music you will probably really enjoy it. It’s great and special to me as it’s me sharing with Jared and Caden a part of my life that is probably the greatest influence that has shaped me, music. It’s also not just me as a mentor to them but as a peer. Making music together as a band is a beautiful shared experience. Anyone who’s been in a band will know this. The whole is much greater than the individual parts. The sound we make together is our own and is much greater than the individual parts, what we are doing here is greater than the family we are, that helps but it is a new level for us together and something that is there now in terms of how we relate to one another. It’s not about talking it’s the bond of making music together. .
Caden- The album is meant to be heard as a nice punk rock album capturing where we were at this time.
It was such a cool experience for me as I was just thirteen when we made this record and it turned out so great.
Jared- This album is a straight punk album and it captures where we are now.
We’ve already started to diversify as we learn our instruments. JP likes to rock and keep it heavy but we are challenging ourselves with more complex arrangements and songwriting. It definitely captures the raw energy of us in our infancy and the youthful excitement of a new band. I am the kind of person who will look back on this and wish I was more advanced technically as a plyer but it is also part of the charm and a snapshot of this moment of the band.
J.P. – We’ve encountered many nice musicians in the town we live.
However there is not really much music like the type we play or maybe there is and we haven’t met them yet. We live an hour north of Toronto, Canada which is where we have played and where you will see and hear much more of this type of music. Toronto has a fantastic and vibrant music scene and history. However we are from Orangeville a small ton of twenty thousand and I think it is important that we say that. Really, I read recently that a lot of bands are coming from these smaller communities outside of larger urban centers as no one can afford to live downtown anymore.
Caden- I live in Orangeville and go to grade nine –
I’m in my first year of high school. I don’t know of any music scene here- I play hockey and lacrosse and I don’t think most of my friends even know I play drums. So maybe they’ll be surprised when I show them this album and ask them to support us and buy one-ha!
Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thediscarded16/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/j-p-wasson/02-could-that-be-you