In this conversation, I caught up with Toronto-based musician Benjamin VanBuskirk from Blackout Orchestra. VanBuskirk has just released 'Siren Song', the lead single from his anticipated debut album titled "I Will Want You When We Are Ghosts" set to be released on the 5th March. VanBuskirk shares the inspiration and recording process behind the song and discusses measuring success in the music industry.
Tell us a bit about yourself!
We’re - well, sort of a solo project, but sometimes an acoustic duo, and once it’s safe to gather again, we’ll sometimes be a full band from Toronto. We started in lockdown as basically an excuse to make some demos and put out a song a week – but as we were doing that I got pretty intent on telling a longer story so we shifted to making an album, against all the current industry wisdom.
What three words would you use to describe your music?
I think I’ll go with emotional, personal, and celebratory – even when it’s on the sad side.
Do you have a particular artist or musician who you consider having inspired your musical style?
I could go on for hours on this one – there's so much music I love that makes its way into what I write in bits and pieces. But if I had to choose a closest parallel (though not a comparison because who could live up to that) it would be The Cure. They can write the most serious, harrowing dirges and the silliest, most fun pop songs. If you put a lot of their songs side by side, they sound nothing alike at all, but somehow are still unmistakably “The Cure”, because it’s all filtered through Robert Smith’s voice, his presentation and interests – so it’s still shockingly cohesive.
When did you decide to pursue a career in music, was it a conscious decision or have you always had an interest in music?
When I first got into music as an angsty little pre-teen, it was just so moving – the lyrics were like poetry but it was set to these guitars and drums that punctuated the lyrics and made them even more poignant – I just knew I had to do that too. I’d always been kind of the weird, quiet artsy kid – and here was a way that I could do that and it might actually be considered a positive trait!
You have just released your new single ‘Siren Song’, could you tell us a bit about how you came to write this song?
That one hit me out of nowhere. I was playing with a drum loop, and in my head there was a piano, so I was adding piano and the guitar part started coming to me. By the end I was actively trying to relax and NOT think about it, and then lyrics started popping into my head. It just kind of came out as one big flash of lightning. If only they could all be that easy – usually working on songs is like pulling teeth. It was this weird little storyline, and I read it back and was like “um, that’s pretty creepy and unsettling...” - this idea of someone falling in love with someone in a coma. Eventually I looked back and realized - “oh! This is about being in a relationship when you’re not ready to admit it’s over!”. I usually don’t consciously know what I’m working through until it’s all out.
Did you face any challenges when recording this song?
The writing was easy. The recording was the hard part. I’m a total novice when it comes to the engineering side of things – I was just using my cell phone and a couple of mics. So working on this and the other songs on the record, I really had a crash course in how to record – reading articles about EQ and mic placement and all that. It was really fun though. Laborious, but fun.
What are you currently working on?
Right now I’m in release mode – the album (“I Will Want You When We Are Ghosts”) comes out March 5th so I’m just making sure I have everything together and lined up to get it out into the world. Then I’ll sneak back into my bedroom and start working on the next one – there are a few ideas simmering and with the lockdown situation in Toronto right now, there’s not a whole lot else to do!
Has the current lockdown affected your creative process?
I don’t want to make light of it, as it’s an extremely serious and scary time – but in terms of this project, it probably wouldn’t have come together – or at least not as quickly – if it weren’t for the pandemic. I got excited about doing live streams just as something to do, so I wanted to write some new songs for them. Then I wanted to be able to demo the songs for future use, so I started looking into recording, and it was a domino effect. So on a personal level, even though it’s a lonely and scary time for everyone, I’m thankful for this time in a weird way as well.
Has the pandemic changed the ways in which you engage with your listeners?
Absolutely. In previous bands, I always thought of social media as so secondary - “Ugh, we have to post something on Instagram” - I just wanted to get out and play shows. In this situation, social media is almost all there is, so I use it a lot – and I had to re-think my whole perspective on it. There’s such a great community out there, and I’ve started listening to so many new artists that I would never have known about if I hadn’t started paying attention to Instagram especially – like, it’s kind of magical, really. I’m slowly becoming less of a luddite because of it.
What would you like to see change regarding the current music industry?
It’s kind of a cliché at this point, but like a lot of people, I’d really like to see artists compensated fairly. The new paradigm of streaming – I mean, I use it, I love it – the world of music at your fingertips, you can listen to such a breadth of music past and current and discover new artists and it’s awesome. But even “bigger” artists are struggling to make ends meet, especially while live music is in limbo right now. And smaller artists like us are told “don’t release albums – release singles, release new music constantly" – the algorithms are set up to reward that. That quote from Daniel Ek (Spotify CEO) a few months ago - “you can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough”.
I have lots of Ikea furniture and it’s great and useful, but there should still be a market out there for a hand-crafted mahogany desk – that's a silly analogy, but it’s true. I want something to dig into and if you’re scrambling to put something out to get by, how are you going to craft something lasting?
How would you say success is measured in the music industry?
I think that’s a very personal standard. I would say a lasting career of quality music is what I think of as the gold standard. But also evolving and changing as an artist because no one remains static. But success could also be being the #1 artist who’s on top of the charts. Or you could consider the old adage about the Velvet Underground – almost no one bought their records but everyone who did started a band. Realistically, I don’t think I’ll ever get to the point where I need to worry too much what industry success is – so my own idea of success, for us, is that hopefully people hear us and hopefully the songs mean something to them.
What have been the main challenges you have faced as an independent musician?
The biggest challenges are the things you don’t think about when you decide you’re going to make music or be in a band. That’s always the dream part, the part you love. The hard parts are having to be your own booker, manager, accountant, PR rep – there's a reason there are professionals who do ONE of those things as a job, it’s hard! And as an independent artist, you have to try and be all those things at least semi-competently. I think that’s why so many indie bands that I love are never heard – because they’re amazing artists, but they think that should be enough. And ideally, it should be – but in reality, it’s not. You have to do it all. I’m still pretty terrible at most of it, but I’m learning and finding ways to make those aspects as creative and exciting for myself as possible too.
Do you have any goals you want to achieve in 2021?
Assuming shows are going to be on hold for a while still, once this album comes out I think I’ll take a little bit of time to relax. But right after that I want to start seriously writing again. I’m really proud of this record, and I learned a lot in the process of making it – so now that I have that baseline, I’m pretty excited to expand on it and see if I can top it. I think musicians are always trying to make something that comes as close as possible to the sound they’re hearing in their head, and that’s pretty much impossible – but trying is really exciting.
Finally, what is the best advice you have ever received?
“Go get some sleep!” - pretty much for any situation.
Check out Blackout Orchestra's brand new single 'Siren Song' in the link down below!
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