Video by Mitch Fillion
http://sports.bandcamp.com

Who are you and what do you do:
Olenka Krakus. My band is called Olenka and the Autumn Lovers. We play music… play being the operative word. We play, which is a real privilege as an adult. I guess I work too. I run the band, so I spend a lot of my time at the computer being a diligent bureaucrat.

Current obsessions:
Arugula. Fripp. Helvetica.

A song or a record that will always put you in a good mood, without fail:
Speaking in Tongues – Talking Heads

Tell us about an album or artist you think is really under-appreciated, and why they are deserving of more praise:
$100. Because they are relentlessly and unabashedly honest about human experience. They don’t shy away from serious subject matter, and they address topics like human frailty and responsibility with a wisdom that I feel is rare in contemporary songwriting.

Most played track on your iTunes:
Probably something by Gillian Welch.

Most cherished musical object:
It’s a tie between two classical guitars that I own: one which I appropriated from my father and learned to play guitar on, the other which was handmade for me by someone very dear to me.

Proudest moment:
Leaving my PhD to pursue music.

Most vulnerable moment:
Heartbreak.

If you could score a film for anyone, who would it be and why:
Lynch. Already wrote him some songs. All he has to do now is write me a movie.

Your favourite use of a song in a film:
Vangelis’s Memories of Green in Bladerunner.

Are you most influenced by your surroundings or your inner monologue:
They’re inextricable.

Fiction or nonfiction? Poetry or prose?
Fiction. Novels, primarily. Most recently Dostoevsky, Graham Greene, John Irving, Steinbeck. Though I detoured briefly to some poetry: Plath, Ginsberg, Whitman.

Favourite venue to play in and why:
A really nice theatre with professional sound, like the Aeolian in London ON, where we get to indulge in the atmosphere of the space. But some of my favourite venues haven’t been traditional spaces at all: art galleries, living rooms, back alleys, places where the audience is provoked by music in an unanticipated and intimate way.

Dream venue to play in and why:
The Ryman in Nashville. I’ve technically played there already; I talked my way onto the stage & played a Gram Parsons song there once upon a time during a reckless summer road trip. But it would be nice to bring the band there.

Top album released this year:
Hmmm… this year? 2012 just started… ask me in December.

First band t-shirt you ever purchased from a merch table:
Nirvana. The one with the seahorse on it. I still wear it occasionally.

Band you’d leave your bandmates for:
I’m not a quitter.

Album you want to expose your kin to whilst in the womb:
Gould – Bach – 2 & 3 part Inventions

If for some reason you lost the ability to make and play music, what would fill that gap:
Some form of writing. I guess I’d finally sit down to write the great post-post-modern novel.

What was your last dream about:
Don’t recall exactly. There was a raccoon, and (knowing my dreams) probably something epic like time travel or space travel or global apocalypse involved.

Small Talk by Brooke Manning and Jordaan Mason
Photos by Patrick Schmidt

Video by Mitch Fillion
Artwork by Heather Goodchild
http://www.heathergoodchild.com
http://www.dougpaisley.com

Article by Andrew Sisk with illustration by Kristian Bauthus

I am sitting beside Mike O’Neill on stage at a songwriter’s circle in Fredericton, New Brunswick and he is singing. Some of the most awkward times to be on stage are when you have nothing to do while sitting in front of a crowd like an unlikely royal family member and I am staring down at the floor while listening. I hear the voice I have listened to for decades singing a new melody while accompanying himself with a guitar that I distinctly notice isn’t as nice as it should be. Mike O’Neill has been performing and creating music for more than 20 years and as I look down at his foot, I notice it is shaking uncontrollably.   His life has been steeped with music yet he has nerves today.

He sings songs about relationships that never actually happened, yet, sound so real. He tells jokes about caustic television directors. He is comical and has the crowd on his side. When he finishes, it is my turn. My mind is still singing his song. His song is still in everyone’s mind.

__________________________________________

A 10 Year old boy is laying in his bed listening to the radio. He is on the hockey team but isn’t very good. He has bad ears and is smaller than his athletic brothers. He goes to church on Sundays and feels guilty when they don’t. He tinkers with the souvenir ukulele that his parents brought back from a trip to Hawaii. He has opened his radio and attached it’s tiny wires to several larger speakers that he salvaged from old TVs in order to make the sound more complex. With each added speaker connected to his headboard he imagines a new layer to the broadcasted radio waves that come out. Today is December 10th, 1980 and John Lennon is dead. He was shot and killed a couple nights ago which means the radio stations are playing the Beatles music all day and all night. On this day, the boy is captured by something the world had experienced two decades before, Beatlemania.

John Lennon’s voice is screaming “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon Baby now” as Twist and Shout shoots from the boy’s crudely fused speakers. He is staring into infinity. He is convulsing with a rare, innocent, nervous kind of laughter. The music is coursing through his little body as his mind wrinkles and shudders at the sense of sound for the first time.  This boy has not yet learned to be embarrassed by the elation of being carried away like this, for now, the electricity is running through him as the framework of songs and melodies are cementing in his brain.

Two weeks later, his older brother brings home two Beatles records, Twist and Shout and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the boy steeps himself in the Twist and Shout record for the immediacy and instant appeal of the pop songs. He studies their catalogue, he learns all the lyrics, although his voice hasn’t changed he can imitate  Lennon’s vocal style. The boy follows his crush on her paper route so he can sing Beatles songs to her, sentimental ones that capture the wafting innocence that halos them as they walk.

The boy is Mike O’Neill. Someday, years from now, he will start a band, tour the world, and have his songs played on radio across the globe.

__________________________________________

The sea water spanning the coast of Greece seems more blue due to the contrast of blocky white buildings stepping up the hill behind the film shoot. He is daydreaming when he is supposed to be monitoring sound levels. The lights are blinking in front of his eyes but his mind is elsewhere. Remembering: thirteen years old and fashioning a drum kit from old pails and fertilizer bags on his family farm, twenty- five and meeting the real “Guitar George” from the song Sultans of Swing,  thirty-five and carefully assembling an LA2A compressor, and on and on. He is physically on the island of Karpathos but he is splintered in time and space. His attention is divided but that is when his thoughts open up. He is a location sound engineer on a movie set and he is writing an album in his mind.

The filming is done for the day so he takes a little travel guitar to the beach, a melody has been in his head all day, he has the words, “This is the sound of being there, this is the sound of pushing up the chairs.” He knows it is good and has the patience to let the song come to him. Neko Case and Dave Grohl are notable fans of his music, he doesn’t have to hurry.  The song waits for now, just like all sorts of projects he has been working on: radio plays, screenplays, theme songs, film scores, and sketches. He writes all of these, but for now, he is a location sound engineer composing a pop song in the sand by the Mediterranean.

__________________________________________

A fight is almost breaking out at The Toucan in Kingston, Ontario. It is December, 1991 and the Rheostatics will soon release their critically acclaimed third album, Whale Music. The venue is a narrow long room and the show has been oversold.  The owner steps up to the microphone and tells the crowd “ Sorry folks, we’re overcapacity, show’s cancelled.”  Dave Clark, the drummer of the Canadian art-rock quartet, immediately grabs the mic and declares “Oh no it’s not brother! You can’t do that to these people. We came here to play.” The place goes wild, some people leave, others demand the show go on and after a lengthy wait, The Rheostatics finally take the stage.

The anticipation, a packed room, heart rates, and a road tested Rheos flared and soared that night. Somewhere in the crowd Mike O’Neill, now a young student of Queen’s university, stands and sees majesty in Martin Tielli’s guitar playing as it is woven with Clark’s drums. They are on fire tonight and they have sparked a desire inside the young student’s mind to begin something he had never considered.

Within a couple years, Mike O’Neill would become the front man and songwriter for his own 2 piece band, The inbreds. Over the next few years they would be touring, making music videos, as well as the object of a bidding war between two labels.

__________________________________________

When the car brakes, the car turns off. The gas gauge doesn’t work, nor does the heater, and there is a crack along the entirety of the windshield. The two bandmates were promised a ride in the van from the west coast, over the Rockies, and across the prairies on a tour together with The Rheostatics. The Rheos manager has fumbled the arrangement and with no room in the van for The Inbreds, they are sitting in a dilapidated 1979 Mustang that needs to carry their bodies over the rugged western 4,440 km. The Rheostatics van is nowhere to be seen as the duo weave up through empty long weekend roads in the $200 death trap. It is the wintertime of the band’s career and they both know it, this trip is an unsaid farewell tour. They have been friends since High School. White knuckles are holding the steering wheel and there is worry in their stomachs as they reach Roger’s Pass alone. So many potential endings all at once.

The inbreds were formed out of friendship and chemistry. It all happened in one night as the drummer, Dave Ulrich, and Mike O’Neill created over a half dozen songs in a single sitting. Ulrich, who was inspired by other independent canadian bands, worked the business side and asked O’Neill to write the songs. After their first EP was played on CBC’s Brave New Waves they were jumpstarted with opportunities to tour, record, and be heard.

Their albums were composed of riffy distorted bass lines, steady drumming, and hyper melodic layered vocals, often adding whatever the songs needed for accompaniment to fill out the arrangement. By 1998, the band had run it’s course and after four studio albums and years of touring with the biggest acts in Canada they were finished. With fans all over the globe they ended at their peak.

__________________________________________

I am following a jumbled storyline, through anecdotes and analogies, I lose sense of time while losing track of time. I have been having a conversation for nearly 3 hours in a bar with Mike O’Neill.  “My obsession with old gear has something to do with understanding why music connects with me. It could be that there is something about the gear they used. When a recording cuts through to me, I see that as part of the strongest connection of communication.” He is gracious and wise in conversation. He speaks in parables. Sorting through his experiences and finding truth, an earned truth that makes the tangental stories valuable and engaging. He knows about the transformers in mixing boards, the pre-war picking style of american blues guitar, the Beatles demo of A Day in the Life, and a wealth of historical, practical and technical details.

To me, O’Neill is a character who is a part of the Canadian musical geography I grew up with. His voice and songwriting are part of the primordial mess of influences for anyone of my generation. After two decades of making recordings I can’t help but wonder why he has continued when so many have drifted off.“The thing about music is that there is something in it for everybody. Music is for people who want to dabble in business, people who want to get up and perform live for other people, it’s for people that want to write words, it’s for people who want to pay tribute to bands they love, and it’s for people who just need to do it because if they don’t it will make them crazy. It’s an outlet. I need to write music, and if I don’t I will be hard to get along with by the people around me.”

Seeing the circuitry and wires as part of his medium, O’Neill has spent as much time on collecting and building gear as writing the songs, both sides of his brain lighting up when he records himself. “No one’s just a musician, my expression of music is tied up in the engineering side of it. If I was working on a piece of music and I nail it, i feel like retiring for the rest of the day because it brings me so much happiness. I feel high from it. It’ s the closest I get to letting myself celebrate something. “

The new album Wild Lines is not a stylistic departure but a continuation of a steady artistic voice. Pop-rock songs with stratum of harmonies and timeless lyrics roll through the upbeat album. “There are recordings out there that transcend time, that are perfect recordings, I think that’s what I’m after, the perfect 2 minute song. I also just want to write stuff that is relevant for forever and is real. I’m weird that way, I want to rock out and be raw but when i’m writing in the quiet of a studio setting then I tend to make things very poppy and melodic. I definitely have a sugary pop side that sometimes I am in denial of but always seems to rear it’s head with these collections of songs I write.”

Mike O’Neill’s third solo release, Wild Lines, is a gathering of musical wisdom and sonic contemplation. It is an arrival and a statement of honesty, it’s been a long time coming in more ways than one.

Preorder Wild Lines on Zunior

Listen to the first single ‘This Is Who I Am’

Who are you and what do you do:

Current obsessions:
Travis: I just got on the ol’ Twitter so I’m learning how to do that haha and of course T H O M A S
Feurd: R. Kelly

A song or a record that will always put you in a good mood, without fail:
Travis: Hey Hey My My Yo Yo by Junior Senior
Feurd: My Prefab Sprout Mix! Especially the song ‘WIld Horses’

Tell us about an album or artist you think is really under-appreciated, and why they are deserving of more praise:
Travis: There are many of them for me but ahead of them all is John Southworth. No one else is quite like him. You will have to listen to him to really understand the magic in his music. Then you may have a difficult time (like I am now) describing the wonder that is John Southworth.
Feurd: I would say Drew Smith who plays under the name ‘Doctor Ew’. In my opinion he is one of the best Songwriters I have ever heard! He writes amazing songs and is very humble. I want everyone to hear his music!

Most played track on your iTunes:
Travis: What Story Do You Want To Hear? by DR.DOG
Feurd: The Sacro-Iliac by 10cc

Most cherished musical object:
Travis: My classical guitar
Feurd: Definitely my electric guitar! Always reliable and my favourite thing to use!

Proudest moment:
Travis: Our song Propinquity
Feurd: Just had a chance to back up some amazing people at a Canadian Music Tribute including playing “The Lines You Amend” with Jay Ferguson! Also a crazy piece of music I wrote in high school in a few hours that I still love.

Most vulnerable moment:
Travis: Our song Propinquity
Feurd: Showing somebody a new song! Always gets my butterflies going.

If you could score a film for anyone, who would it be and why:
Travis: I’d score a film for anyone who’d ask! It would be a bonus if the film seemed neat haha
Feurd: I would love to score an Akira Kurosawa film. He always gets really interesting people to do his scores and his films are amazing and crazy. He isn’t alive anymore but he would be my pick.

Your favourite use of a song in a film:
Travis: Oh gosh…when the Cat Stevens song If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out is used in Harold & Maude. Great stuff.
Feurd: I love the song ‘Me and My Arrow’ by Harry Nilsson in the film The Point! It’s this cool animated film from 1971 that goes along with Nilssons album. The song is about a boy and his dog!

Are you most influenced by your surroundings or your inner monologue:
Travis: I would hope both. Surroundings often dictate my Inner Monologue which is something I’m trying to control better.
Feurd: I think my inner monologue more so. Always trying to see the positive in all situations!

Fiction or nonfiction? Poetry or prose?
Travis: Nonfiction and Prose
Feurd: There’s an occasion for all!

Favourite venue to play in and why:
Travis: The Rivoli because there are a good amount of spots to sit. I very much enjoy sitting.
Feurd: We got a chance to play at a whole bunch of summer camps this past summer and some of them made amazing venues! They had these amazing wooden halls where the hundreds of kids would eat, and then we would clear it out and turn it into a rock show!

Dream venue to play in and why:
Travis: Massey Hall without a doubt! It sounds incredible and it looks great. Plenty of (fantastic) seats for all too!
Feurd: Would love to play Massey as well. Amazing sound and a beautiful place!

Top album released last year:
Travis: Talahomi Way by The High Llamas
Feurd: SPORTS by SPORTS: The Band

First band t-shirt you ever purchased from a merch table:
Travis: Red Hot Chili Peppers…? Almost positive that’s what it was.
Feurd: I have no idea!

Band you’d leave your bandmates for:
Travis: I wouldn’t  leave.
Feurd: Never! I just want them to let me play drums sometime. I LOVE IT!

Album you want to expose your kin to whilst in the womb:
Travis: Human Cry by John Southworth
Feurd: FRANK ZAPPA! Same records as the last one!

If for some reason you lost the ability to make and play music, what would fill that gap:
Travis: That’s a tough one. I suppose being a cook. I like cooking a lot so that’d be fun/fulfilling like music is for me.
Feurd: If I still had my limbs I would probably bike a lot and do carpentry/make weird stuff.

What was your last dream about:
Travis: I love this question and have always wanted to answer it! Sadly I do not remember anything from last nights except that it snowed a bunch. wah wah waaahhhh
Feurd: I have a really hard time remembering my dreams. You should really hear one of Travis’ dreams when he remembers them in detail. It is unreal! He will tell us extremely intricate stories about his dreams a lot of the time. I used to have a reoccurring dream where I was in Lord Of The Rings type story, I would be walking on a tiny ridge going up a mountain with a weird crew of fantastical characters in a thunderstorm. I was only about 6 at the time!

Small Talk by Brooke Manning

Video by Mitch Fillion
http://www.bahamasmusic.net/

More of this artist:

Small Talk: AFIE JURVANEN

Who are you and what do you do: I’m a joker, I’m a smoker, I’m a midnight toker. I play my music in the sun.. . Why do you do what you do: My friends were all musicians when I was young. If they had of been jocks, things might have turned out differently. . Current obsessions: 80′s Dylan. It’s… Continue reading →

Video by Mitch Fillion
http://www.therucksackwillies.com

Video by Mitch Fillion
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Part 2: Mike O’Neill & Andrew Sisk

Video by Mitch Fillion
Shot at the Wilmot Church, Fredericton NB
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