#cinqque5tion Interview with Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe McLeod
#cinqque5tion Interview with Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe McLeod
1. Some of your musical influences include Cat Stevens, Paul McCartney, and Leonard Cohen. Tell us a favourite song from each artist and why?
Great Question
My favourite song by Cat Stevens is actually the very first song I was ever shown by him called “Wild World”. I have listened to his entire discography and I still come back to that song with a certain fondness. I was so blown away by the simplicity of the music and the depth of the lyrics. Cat was one of the first songwriters that I felt like I could relate to on a songwriting level versus just being a fan. I felt like I studied his writing more than some of the other influences I have. I love that he can make the listener feel something so strongly through his own personal stories. I love songs & writers that can have that duality!
Paul McCartney: First of all, I could list so many amazing songs by this legend (also Left-Handed). But one song that has always felt like my personal Macca soundtrack is the song “Bluebird” off the ‘Band On The Run’ album. This song uses beautiful harmony that emulates the sound of birds singing, while using a simple metaphor for the lyrics. This song is everything I love about songwriting, being able to use words and melody to paint a picture anyone can find meaning in.
Leonard Cohen: As I started to study songwriting more intently, I also began looking into the writers who inspired my favourite writers. Often enough, many of the people I was a fan of admired a guy named Leonard Cohen. At this point I had no idea who he was and decided to dig into his music, and was I ever in for a treat. I very quickly fall down the rabbit hole when it comes to music and discovering new artists and with Leonard you might as well have called me Alice. My favourite song at the moment is called “Avalanche” off his 3rd record. This song and his use of words cut through my heart like a hot knife through butter. Leonard reminds me that music is a way of expression, and although I am trying to make a career in this industry and typically that requires conforming to commercial ideals, I need to be authentic, even when it’s not pretty.
2. What was it like moving from Keswick, Ontario to Kingston to Toronto to pursue a music career?
It was interesting, that's for sure! Before I moved to Kingston I actually spent a year living in the UK and I feel like that year was a defining moment in my decision to pursue music as a career. Once I moved from the UK to Kingston for school, I decided that I’d continue to get a degree and try to build a music career; I thought since The Tragically Hip were from Kingston, it must be a good spot. I was right! There was a thriving music community and this is really where I ‘cut my teeth’. I met many great friends, collaborators and learned many of the ins and outs of the industry. Eventually I felt like I hit a glass ceiling in Kingston and that I could no longer grow without cultivating an audience in more places so I decided to head towards Toronto!
3. Do you have any songwriting tips? Where do you get your inspiration?
I think my biggest songwriting tip is to tell your story in spoken word as if you are telling a friend, and record a voice memo of it. Listen back to the words that you use and the tone of your voice, these can serve as guiding lyrics and emotions that you can build on. I get inspiration from the things in my life, the emotions I feel daily and the principles on which I try to base decisions. I try to tell stories from my perspective and I try to see a story from the perspective of others around me. I get inspiration from looking at the world differently and trying to see how I relate to that view.
4. What can you tell us about your debut album?
This album is by far the best thing I have ever been a part of creating. It has functioned as the mechanism in my life that kept me on the rails during one of the hardest parts of my life. I wrote it during the months following my father's passing, the first year of covid and blossoming of a relationship. Without this album I really don’t know where I’d be right now. Making it felt like life or death, make or break, flight or fall. I tried really hard to curate a collection of songs that flow from track 1-10 and take the listener on an experience with me.
5. What was it like working with Canadian indie-rock group The Elwins on your debut album, Cloud Berries In Alaska?
I love all The Elwins, I have known them since I was in early high school! Feurd & Matt Sweeney co-produced my first single “Walk Me Home'' and since then we knew we all had a good work flow. During the first year of covid, I built a decent little home studio and Feurd came over to help me set up some gear and give me some production tips. During that hang I showed him the songs I was thinking about for the record and we started ‘talking shop’. I quickly realized that doing this album with Feurd was the right decision and fast forward to the album being complete; it was the best decision. He is a rockstar. Love my Elwins boys.
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