The Weakerthans
The Weakerthan's John Samson discusses songwriting, iTunes sessions and how playlists are like baseball teams.
It does not suck to be The Weakerthans. Critically acclaimed and award winning – this four piece group from Canada has established themselves as a folk rock infused band with punk rock running through their musical veins. Former Propagandhi front-man John Samson hung up his punk rock boots to form the more melodic Weakerthans in 1997 – and here Samson is a mere twelve years later sitting down with HEAVEmedia for an interview.
HEAVEmedia: I'll start off by saying I was pretty disappointed that you had to cancel your Lollapalooza set last year because you were sick.
John Samson: What? Sick? Who told you that?
HEAVEmedia: People standing around. I was too angry to ask follow up questions. I just walked away. It was hot that day, you know.
John Samson: I’m sure it was, but our bus broke down and we couldn’t get there! We were just as disappointed. We woke up that morning all ready to go and our bus wouldn’t start. We would have never canceled for sickness. I would have done it if I were on an IV, even. I was really sad about that.
HEAVEmedia: Your lyrics have always seemed pretty personal. How much of them do you relate to your life, or are you just really good at painting made up pictures?
John Samson: Well first off, thanks. I’d say first off for the most part my songs are all thought of as fiction. I don’t about think about them being about my life personally, but I do spend a lot of time on them. I hope that comes through sometimes.
HEAVEmedia: Do you ever get nervous in the writing process? Like you have to deliver something that the fans want – or that since you’ve won awards you almost feel like you have to “keep up” with what you’ve done?
John Samson: Sure, sometimes. I think worrying is just part of my writing process. It’s kind of like one of those other meanings of worry where you just work on something for a long time. I like to worry about the lyrics for a really long time – but I try not to think what other people’s expectations are for me. If I did I probably wouldn’t ever write anything significant. I just try to take them on their own – I almost judge all of them against themselves to figure out what they should be. I try and aim to make them the best that they can be.
HEAVEmedia: What do you think the best song you’ve written is?
John Samson: My best song? Oh jeez, I don’t know. That’s a good question. It changes all the time, I think. I always like the one I just wrote. It should probably be that way or else I’d drive myself crazy.
HEAVEmedia: Who do you think are great songwriters?
John Samson: There are a lot of them. I’m very fond of John Prine – he is a great American singer/songwriter. There are probably more great songwriters now than there have ever been. The contemporary songwriters are just so remarkable. The Mountain Goats are up there.
HEAVEmedia: Your iTunes session releases on June 30th featuring five songs in total. Some were from Reunion Tour while the rest were from Fallow. Why no love for Left and Leaving or Reconstruction Site?
John Samson: I don’t know. That’s a good question. We just sort of went into that session with no real idea. It wasn’t a decision all that much. We just decided to play those five songs. We probably could have thought about it a little more now that I think about it.
HEAVEmedia: How did that whole process even work? Did Apple come to you?
John Samson: Yeah, we were in Toronto at the time and Apple asked if we would come up and do it. We showed up at a studio and they had an engineer there and everything. We sat there for an afternoon and just recorded stuff.
HEAVEmedia: Are you happy with how it turned out?
John Samson: You know I haven’t heard it! I had a really good time that day, though.
HEAVEmedia: Let’s be honest, that’s all that matters.
John Samson: Oh yeah, I had a lot of fun reworking things.
HEAVEmedia: Well I guess we will find out pretty quickly if it’s good or not.
John Samson: Yeah, I hope I don’t get any angry letters.
HEAVEmedia: You guys are going on tour with both July and September. Are there goals, either individually or as a band, that you set with each tour?
John Samson: Actually, not really. I wouldn’t say so. I say we just want to put on a good show and meet people. Reconnect with people we know. We haven’t been the West Coast for a while, so I’m looking forward to seeing my friends in those cities and playing for some folks again.
HEAVEmedia: How do you go about constructing your setlist?
John Samson: I think about it a lot heading into a few days before a tour. I start thinking about it and setting it up and then we start emailing about it. We try to pull out some songs that have been resting for a while and rotate them in. It’s sort of like baseball management. Have to decide who plays that night. Your standard players are all set, but you have to move some around.
HEAVEmedia: Oh yeah, throw in a bench player occasionally.
John Samson: Yeah, in case someone goes on a cold streak.
HEAVEmedia: What is your pre-tour ritual? One thing you have to do before you hit the road.
John Samson: What do I do before I hit the road? Hmm. Honestly, I try not to think about a tour until right before we leave, otherwise I’ll just sit there and worry about all we have to do.
HEAVEmedia: Well, sorry for bringing it up.
John Samson: I forgive you. I guess my pre-tour ritual is to block it out until the day before and I have to start packing. I think it works best that way.
HEAVEmedia: It’s not really procrastinating. It’s allowing you to get other things done.
John Samson: Exactly. If I think about it then I won’t do anything at all.
HEAVEmedia: The Chicago leg of the tour has you playing the Bottom Lounge. What is your favorite show you’ve played in Chicago?
John Samson: We opened for Guided By Voices at the Metro. nbsp; It was fantastic. I don’t know how our show was. Our show was probably all right, but we got to see them play afterwards and the Metro is such a beautiful venue. It was kind of a lovely day.
HEAVEmedia: Plans after the tour?
John Samson: It’s pretty wide open; there are a lot of things I’m planning.
HEAVEmedia: New album, possibly?
John Samson: Well, eventually. My writing process is pretty slow – it’s almost like a trickle. Nothing concrete yet, though. I don’t enough written for a record yet. I’ll get there.
HEAVEmedia: The Weakerthans have been critically acclaimed and have won several awards – but what is your proudest moment for the band?
John Samson: I get really proud when someone comes up to us and tells us that we inspired them to write something or were part of that artistic process. That is more than you can ask for, to assist in someone else’s art. A lot of people have done that for me, and I hope we do that occasionally.
Posted by Wes Soltis on Jun 30, 2009 @ 9:00 am
