by Nick Van Doeselaar
Royal Canoe has been getting a lot of attention, both at home and internationally, over the past few years. After releasing a couple teaser EPs, their long awaited full length is ready for the world. Stylus was able to sneak in an email interview with Royal Canoe’s Matt Schellenberg during a very busy time of touring and preparation for their upcoming album release gigs August 22nd at Park Theatre and August 23 at Union Sound Hall.
Stylus: Tell me about the Beck experience! Congratulations on the shout-out from him! how did that make you feel?
Matt Schellenberg: Of all the many influences in the band I think that Beck is perhaps the one that would show up in the middle of all of our Venn diagrams. His music is sort of a common ground for all of us and when we set out to do the Song Reader project a shout out from Beck himself was definitely our goal, but not one that we ever thought would actually come about. So when it happened we all did that thing where you try and pretend it’s not the coolest thing ever, but it totally was and we all we were just sort of glowing for a while that afternoon. We had daydreams of it growing into him taking us on tour to back him up on the release but that one was just reaching a little too far. Ha.
Stylus: Since last time we talked, did Today We’re Believers change at all? Did you tweak anything or have any other ideas later on?
MS: After listening to our track listing a bunch of times we realized there was a lull in the back half that needed a little push. So we went back into the studio after a tour and wrote the track “Birthday” to fill that role, which no one has really heard yet. It will be our second single coming out in September.
Stylus: How do you feel the album will hold up?
MS: It’s one of those things you can never predict. You have this concept of this thing you’ve spent the last three years creating and then other people can see it in a totally different light or context. That’s part of the beauty of making art though. There is this Wilco lyric that I have always thought described that feeling so well and “And if the whole world’s singing your songs, And all of your paintings have been hung, Just remember what was yours is everyone’s from now on.” So you can’t really worry about it. Just make something you think is the best thing you have to offer and hope others will get something out of it as well.
Stylus: How was getting signed?
MS: It’s a funny thing that question, because in the music industry there are all sorts of divisions of labour: management, booking agencies, publisher, publicists, music lawyers, etc, but the one that most people seem to really understand as the validating moment is being “signed” to a label. So it was really interesting as we have had a number of these other things in place for a while the sort of public validation that comes along with being “signed.” But in short, it was great! We had people congratulating us and sort of rallying around us locally. Also it’s crazy to know that every day a staff of people around the world wake up and their job is helping our music get out there. We’re really happy with the three labels we’ve signed to and they’ve all been extremely supportive.
Stylus: How was your last tour all together? Different than the past tours?
MS: The last tour we did was sort of ridiculous. We flew to LA to play two pool parties. One at the Canadian Consulate and the other at Danny Masterson’s house for a reopening of his Bronson Island sessions. It was different from the past tours in that we just got to fly out and play LA, New York and Montréal and Toronto around the release of our vinyl and it felt sort of surreal being in all those places in such a short time. We are really appreciative of the opportunities we got in those cities and as a bunch of prairie kids really excited to have felt so embraced in those major cities.
Stylus: How did it feel to work with the famous Flula Borg?
MS: Flula Borg is the funniest human being who exists.
Stylus: What was your favorite show you played/ best crowd during the tour?
MS: I think my personal favourite was Montréal. It was one of those word of mouth type of shows that just ended up completely packed. There is also a huge Winnipeg contingent in Montréal and it’s always good to see those friends and make new ones.
Stylus: The last time I asked you guys what the future held for the coming year, and all that stuff pretty much happened and more! What are your new goals and plans for the next years to come?
MS: It’s funny you ask because we have this black moleskin book where once a year we write down fairly specific predictions for the coming year and hope they will come true. Uncannily, last year’s page was sort of ridiculously accurate. So now we joke that anything you write down in there will come true. For instance, originally we were really disappointed that we’d have to move our full CD release to September as we wanted it out in June, then we checked the book… it said the record comes out in September! That was written on January 19th so… ha. Anyway we have our goals and they’re all set out on the next page. I think broadly our goal at this point will just be touring the hell out of our record to get in into as many ears as possible and take all the opportunities that come our way during that time.
Stylus: How do you like your Winnipeg gigs?
MS: I remember the Festival du Voyageur gig and that was pretty. Winnipeg has been so supportive to us I sometimes get teary near the end of some of our local sets. It just feels so great to be championed by a city that we love so much, and that has inspired most of our songs. Specifically the Festival du Voyageur gig was a very special one for me because my father had actually passed away earlier that day after a long struggle with cancer. He was a musician as well and I knew he would have wanted me to keep the gig. So I did and it was obviously very emotional but an amazing feeling of support seeing the line go 200 feet or so out the door for the show.
Stylus: Are you proud to be from Winnipeg?
MS: I could not be more proud to be from Winnipeg. It’s a bunch of people holed up in their basements during godforsaken cold-as-hell winter making art for art’s sake, throwing little gallery parties or spending their summer biking around in giant ad-hoc bike gangs. That said, at the same time I will say that Winnipeg can also be a total shit-hole full of big box stores, urban sprawl, a fractured and mostly forgotten downtown, at times it can be just downright ugly. So it’s got its issues thats for sure, but I like to believe that they are the sort of issues that help build character in the people that choose to stay here, and I am proud to have chosen
Stylus: What was the difference venue and audience wise between touring Europe and the States and which did you like the most?!
MS: I love the USA. I love the audacity and the spectacle of their giant cities. I also loved Europe, the history and desire to integrate the old with the new. I think as far as venues go musicians are valued a lot more in Europe hospitality-wise than in the states. Often in the States it’s more like “Here’s your drink ticket, the DJs on at 12 so make sure you’re done.” Whereas in Europe, there tends to be hotels booked and catering and so on. Just a different culture around live music there, but I like both quite a bit. I love the hustling you have to do in the States to get noticed, but also love the idea of the less jaded audiences in central Europe just join to check out the band cause they think it might be good. Both are beautiful in their own way.
Royal Canoe are officially celebrating the release of Today We’re Believers with two shows, an All Ages event at the Park Theatre Thursday, August 22nd, and an 18+ party at Union Sound Hall on August 23rd.