5 Questions with Rags #71 - Frase

Like a lot of people, I fell in love with Frase the moment I heard him start singing. His voice is illegally-smooth and soulful – captivating. And he writes groovy, chill songs full of heart, full of feeling. I always smile seeing his name on a festival lineup, knowing no matter what is going on, I'm going to get an hour of Frase calming my soul. This past summer, I caught his incredible set at Bass Coast and realized that as he's played more and become a favourite of these big west coast bass crowds, that same bass has found its way into his live sets. But where a lot of artists who experiment in heavy bass can have their identities swallowed up, Frase has found a way to blend the pensive grooves of his music with the higher energy that heavy bass injects into everything.

“I think it was osmosis. The bass kind of just worked its way in. I recognized that when you're putting on a show at nighttime in a club, people wanna dance. They want to feel the bass. I find a lot of really heavy bass music doesn't have a lot of soul in it – I'm not saying everything, but there is a compromise right? The more bass, the less soul there is usually. It's been kind of a challenge to me to make something that will work in that club environment but is still something that I'd want to listen to, something that people could put on a chill,” says Frase, talking to me on a break from touring, at home in Ymir, BC. “As a solo artist, I needed the tracks to make the show hyper. There wasn't much myself or Emily could do to make our performance more exaggerated, it was the music that had to step up and be more hype. Her being my partner and a dancer has also had a big influence on me wanting to make more dance music. I'll be working on a beat for hours and it's pretty chill, I'll play it for her and she'll be like, 'Meh.' But if I make a house song or something that's more danceable and only spent 20 minutes on, she'll say, 'Yeah, that's amazing.'”

As his profile and his sound have both expanded, Frase's audiences have become increasingly diverse, playing a variety of venues and festivals around the west coast and Canada. This past summer included a life-changing stop at Koksilah, here on Vancouver Island in the Cowichan Valley. “Koksilah was one of my highlights, just in terms of my ethics and my values. I definitely want to give them a shout out. It's a mix of music and a lot of workshops about reconciliation and Indigenous rights. It's a more workshop-based festival than a party festival. There's so many conflicts in the world right now and it's really nice to have a festival like that that's really about progression, bringing these issues to the forefront and talking about them and working them out instead of blaming other people for what's happening. 'Koksilah' means 'thank you' in Cowichan language. The location of the festival was a former residential school and a few of the elders mentioned they can't go inside. There's a lot of trauma but that's what this whole festival is about – reconciliation and reclaiming these spaces and helping people work through this trauma and create allies to focus on the problems we're facing now – deforestation and pipeline drilling. The Indigenous are really on the pulse of that. Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Mob Bounce played, the lineup was definitely leaning towards Indigenous artists and artists of colour and as a white man I was really honoured to be invited and ask to perform in those kind of spaces. It was really powerful. I got the logo they used for the festival tattooed on my arms.”

The world is a groovier place with Frase creating music in it – in more ways than one. After a few years of grooving to his music and catching his shows, we're honoured to finally welcome this righteous bean as a guest on the 5 Questions.

If you're in Victoria this Friday (Nov. 9), make sure to go catch Frase at Capital Ballroom with the homies Illvis Freshly, Bousada and Sidewaysounds. Seriously. Do it.

1.Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

It was Fine Young Cannibals. I was 6. I remember I got a walkman – it was on tape – and I remember walking around to it non stop. I listen to that album now and it's still pretty sweet! The production and the vocals and the dance-y soulfulness it has...it's super cheesy, don't get me wrong, but I understand why my influences have gone the way they have. When I was a little kid all I listened to was dance music. Dance Mix '94 and '95, all of those, pretty mainstream poppy kind of dance music.

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5 Questions with Rags #58 - Stevie Wise (The New Groovement, The Big Feelings)

If you are around the Canadian west coast pay any attention to the music scene around you, you've seen or heard the New Groovement around. The funk/jazz/soul/hip-hop is established a go-to for good time, big-sound live music 'round these parts. As a person who sees these sorts of things, I had seen TNG many times and then I showed up to White Eagle Hall here in Victoria one night and there was a new lady singing! The fuck was going on? Any fears I had of this new person screwing up the chemistry of this band I dig were quickly assuaged when I heard this new voice and saw her quietly commanding stage presence. I also came to learn the person behind this powerhouse voice was Steph Wisla. Since then that stage presence has gone from quietly commanding to powerfully radiant.

Joining an already established band was easier than one might have expected and Wisla just dropped right into the role. “I didn't have to do any of the grunt work from the beginning. They already had an award-winning album and stuff. It was great. I had been such a fan of the band too so it wasn't a completely new band to me. It was like, 'I'm finally living my dream of being in an awesome band.' It was a natural progression,” says Wisla of her easy transition into her role. The partnership seems to have been almost immediately beneficial as both Wisla and TNG seem to have a hard groove in 2017, both as powerful as ever. I sat down with the magnetic Wisla for a chat about the paranormal, people sharing names and that corrupter of youth – Hillary Duff.

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1. What was the first album you bought with your own money?

I was kind of spoiled. I don't know when I really bought something with my own money. <laugh> My first go-to is Avril Lavigne Let Go. That shit was ace.

Was or is?

Is. Always is. The next one, Hillary Duff, Metamorphosis, I think it was called. My parents went through it and listened to it before we were allowed to listen to it so they could censor it. And I clearly remember we weren't allowed to listen to 7 or 11, because they talked about partying. Which, now, 'Sorry mom, do here what I sing about on stage now?! Hillary Duff ain't got nothing on me!”

How did they even enforce that?

I don't know. We were all just scarred shitless to do anything wrong. We all had very guilty consciences. I have an older sister and a younger brother. We were all kind of like, “I don't wanna do anything wrong because I'll feel bad about it forever.” I remember they used a sharpie to scratch out the titles of 7 and 11 so we couldn't even know the names of them.

2. When's the last time you did something for the first time?

Atmosphere Gathering. And I wanna leave the rest blank. Sorry, mom.

What a great festival.

It was insane. I only went up for a day and a half and I don't regret it.

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5 Questions with Rags #51 - Craig Northey of The Odds

The Odds have been a staple of Canadian for music for as long as I can remember. (At the time of this writing, I'm nearly 33, so take my memory for what you will.) If you grew up with any kind Canadian radio in the last 20 years you know the Odds, I promise. (This one, or This one, or perhaps This one, or maybe This one.) And if you don't know the Odds, you need to open your ears more because they are fucking awesome. They write witty, silly, intelligent, sometimes bizarre and always absurdly catchy rock tunes. As my life has slowly been draining itself of the more straight-ahead rock parts of my listening diet, the Odds have remained on rotation because they just make good, quality music. In anticipation of the band's return to my beloved Victoria on May 18, I caught up with vocalist and guitar player Craig Northey from Toronto as he prepared to tour, as a dummer (!), with Canadian supergroup The Transcanada Highwaymen to talk about funky ghosts, Bret 'The Hitman' Hart and Davey Jones' weight.

1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

I remember the first album that I got that was mine, and that was the Beatles' Hey Jude. The first album I bought with my own money could have been The Monkees' one with “99 Pounds” on it, but I can't remember the name. (Upon research, the album Craig is referring to is Changes.) “She was 99 pounds, some kinda dynamite,” which would be an eating disorder now. Davey Jones was a really little guy, so maybe that makes sense. Maybe he was 101 pounds.

2. If you could spend the day with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?

Oh my, that's a hard one. I think it would be driving around Toronto with Steven Page. Oh wait, I'm doing that! My life is fucking awesome! We're going to get tacos, and that's part of the day.

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5 Questions with Rags #50 - Mike Love

It could be argued that with the rise of dancehall, reggae music has strayed a long way from its roots. Inarguably, a lot of the new reggae that has managed to make it into the popular consciousness has seemingly lost its way, preoccupied with nights on the dancefloor and the amounts of weed one is going to smoke. But this is reggae and there will always be people making compassionate, intelligent reggae music. At the forefront of the new Roots movement is Hawaiian reggae troubadour Mike Love. His music – released entirely independently through his label, Love Not War Records – is rooted in those traditional reggae/Rasta ideals, while doing entirely new things with sound via his looping-station, powerful voice and ever-changing live configuration. His is the reggae of Love, Peace, Justice and an unyielding admiration for the Earth that we all call home. His YouTube videos have garnered him a worldwide audience of peace-seekers looking for something a bit deeper from their music. Rags Music was lucky enough to catch up with the good homie for a chat before he makes his way up to our home on the Canadian west coast for the first time. If you get a chance to see this guy live, make sure you jump on it. Your ears and your soul will thank me.

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1. When's the last time you did something for the first time?

I think every day I try to do something new. It's one of the most important parts of life. Seeing new places, doing new things, experimenting with new things. Even when we're playing music we're always trying to do new stuff. There are some songs that we've played thousands of times and keeping them fresh, being able to keep playing them and be excited to play them, means trying new things all the time. That's life too. If you just do the same thing day in and day out, you become stagnant. Trying and learning new things is so important. I think that's what's what the system tries to get us doing, is having these routines and doing the same things every day.

2. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

There was a couple. I think it was ...And Justice For All by Metallica and Bad by Michael Jackson. That was the first thing I got on tape. I had a cool older sister was into a lot of different stuff and I just sort of followed her.

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5 Questions with Rags #42 - Gibbz

Like a lot of people I discovered Gibbz from his work with Gramatik. The first time I saw him live I couldn't get over the unprecedented swagger the guy had on stage. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? But more than that, the overwhelming thought of the night was, “This brother can sing the shit out of some songs.” Luckily, since then Gibbz has been on a tear, releasing a constant stream of sexy, fun tremendously dancey synth-pop. Near the end of 2016 he released the stellar Oh My God EP and if you haven't got that into your earholes, you definitely should. I was lucky enough to get ahold of him at home in New York as he prepares for his first-ever residency, at the famous Knitting Factory, before heading off on his first full headline tour – just him and drummer, driving in a van, working the road. If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing the supremely talented singer/producer/gangster of love, do yourself a favour and get out to one of his shows.

1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

Yeah. I went to a store that was called The Wiz, way back when that was a store. It was kind of like Best Buy. “Nobody beats the Wiz,' was their catchphrase. I went in with my own money. I bought three records. I bought Busta Rhymes – “Dangerous” single on cassette, Usher - My Way on cassette and I got my first compact disc ever, which was Britney Spears – Hit Me Baby, One More Time.

Of the three, which holds up the best for you?

Well, Dangerous is such a badass song. But I got the Britney Spears because it came with a poster. You could pull out the booklet and it folded out into a poster and I was like, “Sweet!” I wanted Britney Spears on my wall. I didn't really give a fuck about the music, so I bought it just to put a poster of a chick up on my wall. I remember my parents were like, “No, that's not gonna happen.”

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