Feeling pretty good these days, I’m inspired and excited about Canadian music.

After spending years touring and promoting the Drive album, in 2017 my band and I took a well needed hiatus from playing live shows.

I needed a mental break from it all. Booking shows, social media, juggling different players schedules, playing that same old song on stage while trying to stay inspired to write new tunes was exhausting. In kind of a scary way, I wasn’t inspired at all. I didn’t want to write, and throughout that time I never did. Every time I picked up the guitar to write I felt frustrated with the results. In many ways I think I was a little bit frustrated with the state of the music industry, I felt as if there was less space for the guys and gals with guitars and a killer band and more for the solo artists with a cool Instagram account and laptop with backing tracks. That approach is in many ways more cost effective with a lower overhead, but it’s just not my style right now.

I decided to put my efforts in other directions after seeing a great number of Vancouver and Canadian venues that my band had performed at fight for their lives and inevitably close. I spent time building the other part of my career, including a construction business, and also rebuilt my family cabin on Gambier Island. I went travelling for four months with my fiancée throughout Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Vietnam. It was an amazing trip and great for the soul. If you ever have the chance to get away for an extended period of time from the everyday hustle, I highly recommend it. We are fortunate to live how we do.

It was on this trip that I slowly started to get inspired again. Throughout the trip I had set low expectations for myself. I wanted to be able to just go with the flow and experience a relaxed pace, and I feel it was a much needed reset for me. I began to write music that I actually felt good about.

I was super thrilled to find out upon returning home in March of 2018 that I had been awarded a $13,000 recording and marketing grant through the Creative BC organization to help fund my next album. I don’t know where my third release will take my band and me, but expect some new noise and definitely a different sound! I have begun the demo process with my bandmates and I’m excited for what’s to come, thank you Creative BC!

Love,

G