519 Magazine - March 2021

SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO’S ENTERTAINMENT NEWSPAPER

519

Issue 33 - Mar - Apr 2021 519magazine.com $1.75

Where the Stars Hang Out in Southwestern Ontario

REIMAGINING THE STARCHILD

INSIDE BLUESFEST WINDSOR with Rob Petroni

EPICA | iDKHOW | ANDREW HYATT | GREG GODOVITZ HAN SOTO (COBRA KAI) | KITE | BOURKE FLOYD | KATE AMUNDSEN BILL OBERST JR. + ANGELA DiMARCO from THE PARISH

half a continent away, she can’t explain it, but maria can sense the fear of those who are trapped... and the true cause of their terror.

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Issue 33

Mar - Apr 2021 $1.75 per copy

Dan Savoie Publisher / Editor dan@519magazine.com April Savoie General Manager & Sales april@519magazine.com Melissa Arditti Assistant Editor Kim Cushington Art Director Writers and Photographers Whitney South Dan Boshart Shawn Logan Brent Groh Michael K. Potter

ROB PETRONI (BLUESFEST WINDSOR)

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Indie Profile Co-ordinator James R. O’Rouke Cover Photo By Neil Zlozower 341 Parent Ave. Windsor, ON N9A 2B7 519magazine.com Office: 519-974-6611 Award of Excellence 2020/2019/2018 Canadian Web Awards ISSN 2561-9640 (Print) ISSN 2561-9659 (Online)

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HAN SOTO (COBRA KAI)

519 is published 12 times per year by 519 Magazine.

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The publishers assume no responsibility to return unsolicited editorial or graphic material. 519 Magazine operates out of 341 Parent Avenue, Windsor, Ontario N9A2B7. Telephone (519) 9746611 or email at info@519magazine.com. All rights reserved. ISSN 2561-9640 (Print) / ISSN 2561-9659 (Online). Physical copies distributed throughout Southwestern Ontario by CTM Media Group, Inc. and JBJ Trucking. Mailed delivery in Canada is available for $40.00 per year including HST. A $150 charge is required for mail delivery anywhere outside of Canada. Send cheque along with address information to 519 Magazine, 341 Parent Avenue, Windsor Ontario, N9A 2B7.

AVAILABLE AT ALL LIBRARIES ACROSS SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO, INCLUDING: London Libraries Beacock Branch Byron Branch Carson Branch Central Branch Cherryhill Branch Crouch Branch East London Branch Glanworth Branch Jalna Branch Lambeth Branch Landon Branch Masonville Branch Pond Mills Branch Sherwood Branch Stoney Creek Branch Westmount Branch Oxford Libraries Ingersoll Library Tilsonburg Library Elgin County Libraries Aylmer Old Town Hall Library Belmont Library John Kenneth Galbraith Reference Library Fred Bodsworth Public Library of Port Burwell Port Stanley Library Rodney Library Southwold Township Library, Shedden Springfield Library Straffordville Library West Lorne Library St. Thomas Public Library St. Thomas Public Library Middlesex County Libraries Ailsa Craig Branch Coldstream Branch Delaware Branch Dorchester Branch Glencoe Branch Ilderton Branch Komoka Branch Lucan Branch Melbourne Branch Mt. Brydges Branch Newbury Branch Parkhill Branch Strathroy Branch Thorndale Branch Wardsville Branch Cambridge Idea Exchange Queen’s Square Branch Preston Branch Hespeler Branch Clemens Mill Branch Design at Riverside Branch Waterloo Public Libraries John M. Harper Branch Waterloo Public Library – Main Library Stratford Public Library Stratford Public Library Woodstock Libraries Woodstock Public Library St. Catharines Public Libraries Central Library Dr. Huq Family Library Branch Merritt Branch Port Dalhousie Branch

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Theatres Stay Busy While Shut Down – So They’re Ready to Entertain You

By Michael K. Potter Since March 2020, when theatres and other live performance venues were forced to close to the public because of the COVID pandemic, there hasn’t been a lot of live entertainment in our region. Sure, Windsor Feminist Theatre held some small outdoor performances in the summer. And when venues were allowed to reopen for three months I the fall, Rob Tymec performed one-man shows at various locations, and Post Productions produced Fatboy and The Beauty Queen of Leenane to sold-out houses at a limited capacity. But that’s not much considering that on most weekends in the Before Times there was more to see on any given weekend than anyone could possibly see.

So it might seem like the many venues and twenty-plus theatre companies must be sitting around aimlessly twiddling their thumbs these days. But oh, gentle readers, that simply isn’t so. Like ducks on a pond, theatre companies may appear inactive only because you can’t see our webbed feet furiously paddling beneath the surface.

At Post Productions, for instance, we have a full season of five productions planned for 2021, beginning with Windsor-based playwright Matt St. Amand’s Negatunity, which will open (COVID willing) on April 9th at The Shadowbox Theatre. Then David Mamet’s Glengarry Glenn Ross in June, George F. Walker’s Criminal Genius in July, Sarah Kane’s Blasted in October, and John Gavey’s Dead Bear in late November. Plus, we have our annual Windsor-Essex Playwriting Contest, which will be judged from April until July, and several new ventures and collaborations we’re planning with others – including a live Windsor-based game show. And we’re hosting Windsor Feminist Theatre’s Dominatrix on Trial at The Shadowbox Theatre in April and May. So: even when we aren’t producing live entertainment, there’s a lot of work involved to make sure we can provide audiences with live entertainment as soon as we’re allowed to do so – and to make sure we can do it safely.

Each play produced by Post Productions requires anywhere from six months to two years of planning before we even start rehearsals with the cast. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work necessary to create an engaging experience and get the word out so people know what we’re offering them.

Scripts need to be analyzed and plans need to be developed by the director and producers of each show. What’s this story about, and how should we convey that? How should this story feel? What should it look and sound like?

Sets and props need to be designed and built and painted. Other props and set pieces need to be sourced, then either borrowed or bought.

Auditions need to be planned and scheduled.

Crew members need to be hired. Schedules for each production’s rehearsals and build times need t be created and coordinated so they don’t interfere with each other. Promotional campaigns need to be developed, advertising material created, press releases and articles written, posters and programs designed.

Potential sponsors and advertisers need to be contacted. There’s endless paperwork, email,

and discussion involved at each step. And that’s just s taste.

The COVID pandemic has created an opportunity to get a lot of this work done while we aren’t distracted by, well, staging performances and selling tickets. Many theatre companies are using this time as productively as they can with one goal in mind: making sure we’re prepared to deliver great experiences for audiences hungry for live entertainment.

At The Shadowbox Theatre, we’ve also been busy doing a deep clean and reorganization of the venue. When we were open last fall, all of the public areas in the theatre were thoroughly

and regularly cleaned and disinfected. But the backstage area, storage room, green room, box office – these were clean but kind of in disarray.

No, let’s be honest: they were chaotic.

As cast and crew members come and go across a season, order becomes disorder.

Garbage accumulates in odd places you don’t notice when you’re cleaning – no matter how many trash cans there are. Storage areas resemble the twisted piles of debris left behind by a tornado. It’s just the way it is, like cleaning up after a large party. If you had 25 of these parties every month.

So when the theatre reopens, it will be a

much more orderly space for casts and crews.

The audience won’t notice, though they might see the extra skip in our step as we enjoy being able to find the things we’re looking for.

All of us, from all the regional theatre companies, can’t wait to see you the audience again. Know that we’ve been hard at work getting shows ready for you. Know that we’re also working with local health authorities to ensure that when we re-open, we’re doing our best to protect your health and safety. And know, too, that this long and terrible pandemic has made us appreciate your support more than ever.

Guelph’s Sue Smith Teams Up with The Potion Kings for Upcoming Virtual Show Filmed from The River Run Centre Guelph’s very own Sue Smith brings her expressive songwriting and soulful voice to the River Run stage, along with The Potion Kings.

Celebrating the recent release of her sixth album, Tonight We Sail, expect an unforgettable performance on Friday, March 26th at 8:00 pm when Sue Smith with The Potion Kings are Live from the River Run. Smith’s evocative songwriting and sultry voice is uniquely paired with the musical prowess of The Potion Kings, with veteran musicians Jeff Bird, Kevin Breit, Randall Coryell and Howie Southwood exploring

the worlds of rock, jazz, blues, roots and more. Joining the musicians for a few special numbers from the new album with her distinctive dance arrangements is award winning choreographer and dancer, Karen Kaeja.

“I am thrilled for the opportunity to play LIVE music together with The Potion Kings, and to celebrate the release my brand new album, Tonight We Sail, on the most fabulous stage in Guelph” says Sue Smith.

“We’re looking forward to a rabble-rousing night of making music together, in person.

We’ll be offering up the tunes from the

new album in The Potion Kings’ one-of-akind way – to share with you live, in the moment.”

Access to watch Sue Smith with The Potion Kings Live from the River Run is free. To receive a link to the livestream the performance, visit riverrun.ca/in-thespotlight and sign up for the In the Spotlight e-newsletter.

The link will be emailed to subscribers on Friday, March 26th and a recording will be available for a limited time after the live event. No in-theatre audiences are permitted for this performance.

IN GREG GODOVITZ WE TRUST The GODDO and FLUDD star has recently released his second book

“Up Close and Uncomfortable”

BY DAN SAVOIE

Canadian rock icon Greg Godovitz is best known as the bassist and vocalist for the Toronto band Goddo, but he’s got a musical history that spans decades, including stints with Fludd and an early band called Sherman & Peabody with Buzz Shearman (Moxy) and Gil Moore (Triumph).

Greg has recently released his second book of stories and antidotes and took some time to tell 519 all about it.

Tell me about the new book.

My new book finished late in 2020. I wrote it in five or six different locations.

I’m not very adept at writing at home, so, I have a tendency to travel.

I started in Canmore, Alberta for a couple of months, then I went to the Dominican Republic, up north to Muskoka, and finished it down in Picton, Ontario. I always find it easier to write something when you’re in different locations.

I don’t know if you’re aware of my first book, “Travels With My Amp” that came out in 2011. I started to write part two of that book, which ended in 1984, when “GODDO” first called it a day, and I started writing. I wrote 150 pages, and I just thought it was more of the same and it was pretty boring. So, I scrapped it, and then started writing short stories that just flipped around in time, because there was nothing in the first book about my early days, which was pretty much as messed up as my adult life.

I started writing stories, about my early life, but then included rock and roll stuff - updates on Goddo, my radio show “Rock Talk”, which encompassed a lot of rock stars, that I interviewed for a couple years. Things like hanging out with Jeff Healey and Steve Lukather (Toto) introducing me to Ringo Starr.

But the thing is, the stories for the most part, were really funny. And I realized I was writing a humor book.

That’s why it took six years to finish it because being funny is one thing.

Writing funny is quite another - it’s difficult. You wake up, sober up, and you look at what you wrote the night before and go, this isn’t funny. So you have to start again.

I finally finished the book in Picton, Prince Edward County. Fortunately, we got it out in time for late November/ December. The book sold very very well and continues to do so.

Why handle a second book? You briefly mentioned that the first book didn’t cover the early stuff, but why a second one?

At this point I’ve written just under 800 pages. And it still doesn’t encompass the whole story. The first book started in 1964, when I started playing, it ended in 1984. So, it really only covered 20 years of my career. Some of the next 20 years was interesting, some of it was annoying and some of it was just boring, but there was enough stuff in there to keep it flowing, keep it interesting, and keep it funny.

Then I realized when I finished this book, I’ve written nothing about the eight years I spent in Calgary. I’d written nothing about the five years since I returned to Toronto. I realized that there was another book to cover.

Is there another book?

Well, it seems that I have this natural aptitude I’ve got for writing stuff that people find amusing to read. I can’t see stopping anytime soon.

I don’t know if you’re a musician, yourself, but the music business is finished. The pandemic has put so many people out of work and in the poorhouse. I’ve got all my guitars, all my equipment, I got my band sitting around waiting, and we can’t do anything. So, I thought, what’s my drummer doing?

He’s writing a book. What am I doing?

I’m writing another book.

If you got that ability, instead of just sitting around staring at the walls, or drinking yourself to death, you might as well do something, positive for yourself, even if it’s just for you.

I hope that everything turns out, and I live long enough to finish this next book. I’ve been thinking that it took so long to write the second book - six years because of the nature of what the book was about.

What I’m trying to do is condition myself to write a couple of pages every day, just that, and I could have the book ready for this year, or this Christmas coming up. So, that’s the game plan.

Then, I have written a trilogy, basically it’s a three-part series.

I’m calling the book, “The Idiots Trilogy, Part 4”. So, that’s the title of the new book. I have to write about books, a subject of a pandemic, because it’s what we’re all living through. I’ve managed to find humor in the stuff that I’m writing already about what we’re going through.

There are certain elements of our new reality that are pretty funny when you think about it. It’s not all going to be about that, of course.

I’ve already got stories coming in about the other things, like living in Calgary. I had a great eight years living out west. It was a whole new career for me, a whole new world. There was a lot to explore. There were a lot of incredible adventures that happened. It was women and new musical experiences.

There’s still stuff to write about.

Are the books therapeutic for you to write?

Oh, absolutely. Not only that, but when I was in Canmore about to start writing the second book, the first thing I did was take out a copy of the first book and read it. I was lying on the couch, reading it, and laughing out loud at my own writing. I can see why people like this because I’ve never reread it after I wrote it. So, I didn’t really have to, but then I wanted to make sure I didn’t repeat myself. Now I have an opportunity, I have a copy of the new book sitting on the table in the living

room. And I’ve been picking it up and reading a couple chapters.

Okay, this works, I mean that whatever the heck flowed out of my head is working on the printed page, I’ve enjoyed it. There are not too many mistakes and I think it’s pretty factual because I sort of remember everything.

I had the advantage with “Travel With My Amp”, because I had all my diaries, pictures, concert ticket stubs, and I could really keep it chronological.

But this book, I didn’t have any aids. It was basically just remembering things, from my childhood or remembering things about a recording session, a lot of it was pretty memorable stuff anyway, so it was a lot easier to write this one.

With research, you said, you’ve kept a lot of notes for the first one.

How detailed are your notes?

I kept accurate daily diaries for almost 40 years. Whenever we did a concert, one of my crew guys would get me the ticket stub from the actual ticket and the poster, and then the next day we got the reviews from the newspapers.

We also had fan letters.

My archives currently are at the University of Toronto, and they said that they’d never seen a more comprehensive archive from any artist. I had the first blurb from the Toronto Telegram, which doesn’t even exist anymore.

My first band playing at a place called the London Fog, we were like a British Invasion band, and I cut that out of the paper and kept it.

My mother kept a scrapbook of all my stuff, so the first book is really in chronological order.

The second book, not at all, it just jumps around in time and space.

I don’t know if you’re a Kurt Vonnegut fan or not, but he wrote a great book called “Slaughterhouse Five”. The hero of the book is a character named “Billy Pilgrim”, who becomes unstuck in time. So, one minute, he’s sitting at the dinner table, the next minute, he’s on the planet Tralfamadore in his geodesic dome, with his stripper name, Montana Wildhack. And I actually said this, “I’m the Billy pilgrim of this book”. I am unstuck in time. So, the next story could be about going to scout camp with a psychopath, when I was 11. And then it’ll jump to last year meeting Ringo Starr. That’s how the book went; it was just all over the place. And I liked it that way, it reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut.

He’s my favorite author.

You just mentioned a couple seconds ago, that your first band was a British cover band. What do you remember about that band? Was it a good learning experience for you to bring it to the next level?

I was 13 years old, for starters. Then, I met Brian Pilling, he was 14 or 15, and his brother Ed came back from England, he was 17. And we formed this band called “The Pretty Ones” . Now, the Pilling brothers would end by the time I was 15 - they left to go back to England.

And I couldn’t go because my parents said, “No, you’re not going to go and live in England at 15. You can’t do it.”

They went over there and ended up in a Cat Stevens band. I went into a blues band, then I went into a psychedelic band, Eddie Schwartz from “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” was our singer.

That ended up back into a bluesy sort of psychedelic band.

Then Ed and Brian came back, and we put Fludd together. Now, we didn’t have the experience, but they became great songwriters.

When you look at the eight top 10, Canadian hits that Fludd had, “Cousin Married”, “Brother & Me”, “I Held Out”, “Get Up, Get Out and Move On”, fantastic songs that we were doing. I recorded all of those, by the time I was 20. But the problem was that I was also writing songs and Fludd was Brian and Ed band. Even though I was a boyhood chum and everything, they wouldn’t do my songs. So I finally said “I have to get my own band together” and I left in 1975 and started Goddo.

At what point was Sherman and Peabody,? That’s a legendary Canadian music tale?

I met the guys when I was 15. I answered an ad in the newspaper saying, looking for a singing bass player. I called the guy up and he said, how old are you? And I told him I was 16. Because I thought that made me sound older. I was only 15 and then I went down with my little Beatles bass and my Beatles haircut.

These guys were, like, downtown guys. They were Jones and Gerard guys; they were a bit greasy.

They were playing the blues, but they were great musicians. One of the guys to this day, John Bjarnason, is not only my chiropractor, but one of the best blues harmonica players ever.

After that broke up, they became Whiskey Howl. Well first of all, we morphed into Sherman and Peabody, and then it was like a six-piece band

by Buzz Sherman that ended up being in Moxy. He was the lead singer of the band and hence the Sherman & Peabody cartoon reference - and it was killer band. We opened up for John Mayall, we opened up for Albert King, we were supposed to open up for Led Zeppelin, but we couldn’t find a guitar player that day. I went to the show, I was all pissed off because we should have been playing with Led Zeppelin. But it didn’t happen.

What exists from that era? Are there any Sherman and Peabody recordings?

No, we never recorded anything. I remember that my father came down to a club in Yorkville and recorded it on his cassette player, and my little sister recorded overtop of it - like making noises and stuff.

The day I left high school, I sang “Hey Jude” at the Christmas assembly, in front of 2,000 kids and I could sing

it pretty well. At the end of it, we had the school orchestra come in, just like the Beatles playing in those big horn lines, then all the kids were singing the “nananana, nannana” part. It was the only copy of that performance and my little sister recorded overtop of it.

In terms of old footage and archive stuff, your CityTV performance from 1979, appeared in DVD at one point.

That’s cool when stuff like that exists, since you guys are right at your prime there.

At that point, for sure. A lot of stuff happened at ‘78 and ‘79. We were being managed by the same people that handled ‘Long John Baldry” and “Angela Bowie” was in there somehow.

We were at the top of our game. “An Act Of Goddo” had just come out. Our third album was doing really well with overtures and everything. That was great. Unfortunately, that disc, which should be available at True North records, no longer exists. I’ve got a copy of it. You know, it’s all over YouTube and most people can just watch it that way.

We were the first band that did the set up your speakers beside your TV, it’s going to be on “CHUM-FM” and on “CityTV” simultaneously. It was indeed live.

I remember the leopard skin satin suit that I had made, it arrived 10 minutes before we went to air, I was standing there in corduroy pants and a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt, not even a T-shirt. I was losing my mind wondering where the hell is my suit. The girl came, brought it in. I was in it. I was screaming at her, she was like, pinning the hems on it before we walked on stage. It was just one of those great, horrible moments that you go through.

That probably made the performance even more intense and awesome, right?

Oh? Well, there was a certain bit of nervous energy hitting that stage. Plus, knowing the fact that we were playing live, if anything went wrong.

At the end, I do a song on the piano.

First of all, I can’t play the piano. That is the only song I ever wrote on a piano.

I wrote it out of an arena in Moncton, New Brunswick, when I was with Fludd. I went in for sound check and the piano was there, I sat down, and I wrote that song. I don’t know what the chord changes are. I just know how to do it.

We’re playing live on television and I actually had the guts to play a grand piano on a live broadcast. I didn’t make one mistake, the God’s were just sitting on my shoulders that day. But I knew it was going to be a great end, because we had that four-piece horn section that were basically doing streamlines behind it, so I knew visually it was going to be cool. And Thank God, I didn’t screw it up. But would I ever do that again? No. For the full interview and more photos, visit 519magazine.com

ANDREW HYATT e. c a p s er d n a W e th to s er n Takes liste

BY WHITNEY SOUTH

Ask anyone in the industry and they’ll tell you, the past year has been one hell of a ride.

And while many have deemed their livelihoods non-essential, creators and musicians across Canada and beyond have continued to inspire fans — by any means necessary.

For award-winning country artist Andrew Hyatt, music is more than just a job, it’s a passion. One he’s not willing to turn his back on, no matter the odds.

Now, the celebrated singer/songwriter is changing things up and stripping them down with a three-track EP, The Wanderspace Sessions, featuring acoustic versions of “Neverland”, “Didn’t Know Me”, and “I Needed That” — giving us a new take on some fan favourites.

Recently, we hopped on a Zoom call to chat with Andrew about the new release, how he’s able to stay creative at home, and a few new job titles he’s managed to add to the ole resume.

Let’s start by talking a bit about The Wanderspace Sessions. I guess the best question to kick things off with is: What made you want to re-release these three songs acoustically and put them back out there?

It’s kind of two parts; stripped down, acoustic stuff is where I come from — that’s where I started with music, so I always like to go back there. In addition to that, I really missed the guys, and I missed the band.

Obviously, given the situation of 2020, and so far in 2021, it was nice to be in the same room once we were allowed to be when we recorded those. We were all in masks and we were staying pretty spaced out, but it was just really nice to be back with the guys and also release something visual to go with the music that’s different than just a traditional or lyric video. It’s a little more real and a little more raw, which is always nice to put out.

“Neverland” was obviously your latest single, but how did you choose “I Needed That” and “Didn’t Know Me” as the other two?

They just felt good. They felt like the right combination of three songs, and we’ve been playing them for a long time.

All three had been previous singles, so it just made sense to do them. They also worked well in that environment and with being stripped down. We didn’t want to do anything that was too heavy, so we just felt like those were the right ones to slow down and make a little prettier.

As far as “Neverland” itself, what do you think is the fascination with the concept as a story — as a fairy tale?

It’s been so prominent in pop culture, how do you personally connect with the idea?

It sounds cheesy to say, but to me the idea of “Neverland” is something that seems unattainable, you know what I mean? Whether it’s in a fairy tale, or it’s a place that retains innocence and joy. It’s somewhere that we’re trying to get to when we’re chasing a dream

or chasing something we’re passionate about. You’re trying to hold on to something that’s pure, right? Something that you love so much. For me, this song connected because I sat well with the idea of reaching that seemingly unattainable goal.

In high school, when my guidance counselor asked what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I said, well, I’m going to be a musician. She’s like, that’s not realistic — that’s not a real job. I said, exactly I don’t want a real job, I want a job I love. I don’t want a day-to-day.

I want to do something I’m passionate about. I got fired from jobs for saying I was just there until I made enough money to make a record and then I’d be going to tour.

So, that’s what “Neverland” is to me; it’s that journey of taking everybody’s no’s and proving them wrong.

As an accomplished songwriter yourself, how do you take these songs that are maybe offered up to you and really find a connection? What do you look for when you’re picking a song to record?

There has to be a moment in my life that the song takes me to. If I don’t have that, then I won’t cut the song. It really has to be something I feel I’ve gone through that I can connect with emotionally.

There’s also a side of it where if it’s the kind of song you just can’t stop singing, you’re going to take that great song. I know what I do, and I know what I don’t do, what I can’t do as a songwriter or haven’t done, so I try and pull those

things from outside songs.

Every once in a while, those lines kind of blur — and that’s what “Neverland” felt like. It felt like a song that I would write on my own. So, it just felt very natural and it came from a place that was really honest.

Growing up in a smaller town and being told, you know, get a job in the mine and get a trade and do this and do that. It just felt really real.

And you did get a job in the mine.

Yeah, I did. I learned a lot of good things from there. I learned about hard work and shift work, and late nights. I liked those times, they were enjoyable.

Not as enjoyable as what I do now, but they were good times.

How have you been able to keep yourself creative over the last year?

Well, I think everybody’s had their moments, right? Their highs and lows this year. But what’s kept me creative is that I put a studio in my basement, and I’ve just been really working on the fundamentals of recording. It’s something that I’ve ignored for a really long time.

I’ve always focused on writing songs and then taking those almost finished ideas to a producer to piece it together. I almost missed our Zoom call today. I’ve got my guitar players downstairs playing. I’ve really been so focused on recording.

You’ve probably been asked this a million times, but dropping an EP in fall of 2020 — how was that whole process different than normal?

Ah, well, first off; I think it was probably delayed about six months. The

record has been done for a while and we were hoping we’d get to be able to tour it, you know, go out and play shows — champion this record, but that didn’t happen. So, that’s been different.

It’s a lot less busy, but I like the fact that it’s let the music speak for itself.

Everybody’s been stuck at home, so people are consuming music in a stressful time, which I think helps them connect with it — so we’ve seen a lot of growth, which I was worried wasn’t going to happen or it was just going to get swept under the rug.

I really feel like “Neverland” is connecting more than any other song that I’ve had. I don’t want to jinx it, but I feel like this is probably going to be the song that goes the farthest.

A lot of people really need music right now, right?

Yeah, it’s funny. I was talking with the guys and we were reading this article yesterday that said the arts is considered the No. 1 most non-essential job. We were joking being like, yeah well, if you removed all TV or movies or music during this time, I feel like that stat would flip very quickly and people would realize how essential the arts really is. We need it now, it’s what’s getting us through these times.

You’ve also been up to something a little different this year with Copper Demon. Can you talk a little bit about that?

I’ve always had an obsession with good T-shirts and cool T-shirts and merch.

Even my Andrew Hyatt merch, I always

felt weird and I never felt comfortable wearing it. But I was like man, I’m putting all this effort and money into these shirts that I can never wear.

So, I had this idea at the beginning of lockdown where I started getting these designs and collecting them and just sort of started releasing them one by one — trying to build a brand.

Eventually I’d like to move away from merch completely on the artist side and just merge those two things together.

Judging from your social media, you’ve been able to spend a lot more time with your fiancé and your dogs, how great has that been? It must be a big change.

Oh, it’s awesome. You know, I’m sure Lisa’s ready to kill me some days because I’m a bit of a tornado when it comes to living in the house. But I’m getting better at picking up after myself. I’m so used to living out of a suitcase, so it’s a little easier to just throw everything in and go.

But it’s been great.

Once things kick off again, it’s going to be a little weird to leave for two weeks and not see your significant other when you’re used to seeing them every day.

That’s going to be tough.

Do you have any messages you want to send your fans?

I miss you, and I cannot wait to see you guys. You know, there’s an energy that just feels like it’s missing and thank you for listening and thank you for streaming and purchasing T-shirts or music. It’s honestly what’s keeping most artists going right now, so thank you.

Kate

A

n e s d mun

The up-and-coming star talks about her new VOD release “Donna: Stronger Than Pretty” Story By Dan Boshart

We recently had the pleasure of talking with actress Kate Amundsen about her starring role in the just released film “Donna: Stronger Than Pretty”. It’s a story based on real events and very close to her heart.

You have a new movie coming out; do you want to tell us a little about it?

The movie is called “Donna: Stronger Than Pretty” and I play Donna which was a lot of fun for me. It is about a young woman and her life over the span of three decades as she attempts to follow her dreams but instead gets in a relationship that turns abusive. It’s all about her finding her voice and making it through that and it’s a movie with a message, that’s what’s really important to us.

The story is based on the director’s mother’s true story so it’s a very personal film for him.

This started out a few years ago as a short film, right?

Yes, that was a few years ago, so this has been years in the making. The great thing about it is it really gave us an opportunity to get to know each other and trust each other and get a good sense of the story we’re telling and how we want to tell it.

I read that you filmed some of the movie in her home.

For the duration of filming the cast and crew stayed in her house and I stayed in her actual bedroom which was wild, she was staying with a friend at the time.

This was the house that she did end up buying for herself so it was super intimate and it gave me a whole new way into her world. Even her dance studio which we filmed a scene in, all these places in Long Island which I had never been to before were so important for her and gave me this unique way to step into her life, even deeper than I had before.

You really fit the part I thought. You

have that late sixties, early seventies look about you.

Thank you. I love the seventies vibe, I love period pieces in general so it really was a dream for me to play those decades.

Your other profession is modelling.

Did you enjoy wearing the fashions of the day?

Oh yes, it was so much fun! It was pretty daunting just because her clothing is an arc for her character, same with her makeup and hair, so there was a lot to keep track of.

I even had to make a journal and work with our costume designer because there was so many characters to cover; she did such an amazing job.

The clothes really reflect where she was psychologically and there is such a shift in where she portrays herself throughout the film and Donna in real life was this very fashionable woman with the big hair, the loud outfits.

All those vintage photos are fun to look at, so it was definitely fun for me, I had a great time.

You became close with the real Donna. Did that help you in creating the character or did you do other research?

I would say both, I took what I could from her and I was able to read some of her journals from the time and that helped me get into her mind space more.

Obviously speaking with her, seeing how enigmatic she is, we unfortunately lost her this past year which is really sad but when she was still here, you could just see how glowing she was even after going through all this trauma for such a long time and still come out the other end with this positive attitude towards life.

She was so fun to be around, so I think I tried to get that from her despite the pain and despite the trauma, she still was so admirable and inspiring.

How invested are you in this

project? I see you have producer credits as well and Jaret Martino’s production company Love Wins is focused on projects with a purpose, such as this film with its message of female empowerment.

Obviously women’s issues are very dear to him because he still feels the trauma. It doesn’t just go away, this is a part of his daily life so I would say my role as a producer was very fluid.

I do what I can to promote the film, I do all these interviews and I love the message that we’re sending.

I think a message of hope is one of the best messages we can send to the world and to support women and men who unfortunately also go through abusive relationships.

I want to promote it as much as possible, I’m very proud of it.

What was your own family life like growing up? Obviously you’re much younger so you grew up in a different time.

I actually had a much different experience; my mom is an avid feminist.

I grew up with very progressive parents and I actually grew up Mormon which is kind of ironic because they were progressive Mormons.

I would ask my mom why she was so gung-ho about this and she would say, “Jesus was a radical.” And that’s why she was drawn to it. We have a long history of Mormonism on both sides of my family and definitely my mom was taught to be self-reliant.

Her dad was actually an abusive alcoholic so I am familiar with abuse in that way just because my mom experienced it.

I haven’t personally experienced it. Thank God. I can see the damage it’s done to my mom and she’s still recovering from it.

It takes years, it just does, so I think that’s why Jaret wanted to do that length of time, to cover those decades because

that’s the length of time it took.

When did you start acting? Was acting first or modelling?

I think I wanted to be in the arts in general. I was always very artistic, performing at home with my friends singing, dancing; Judy Garland was my hero growing up.

When we moved to L.A. when I was thirteen or fourteen, I was new to L.A., I was shy and I was gung-ho on being a model. Acting really intimidated me because it’s really scary, it’s totally exposing yourself, you have to be vulnerable in this job.

I did start out modelling first and it was actually my commercial agent who encouraged me to take acting classes.

The first commercial I got was my first experience being on set and that’s when I really got exposed to that magic of being on a set. I thought, yeah, I really want to do this, I want to take classes and challenge myself and it’s taught me a lot about myself and the world so I’m really grateful for it.

My dad, Michael Amundsen, who edited Donna, he’s a film maker as well, so I’ve been exposed to this all my life.

He’s the one growing up who introduced me to older films and Judy Garland so he’s been instrumental to my wanting to be in the arts.

How excited were you last November 3rd?

You have no idea, what a relief! Not to get too political, but I think that there is that toxic machismo that is alive and well and this film kind of tackles that and unfortunately men are in some ways victim to our culture as well.

They are just as much a part of this conversation as women are and often times men who abuse, that’s what they were exposed to growing up.

I think there’s a real conversation that needs to be had about men. We still have these old constructs of what it means to be a man and showing any sort of

sensitivity or emotion is bad, it’s just so small minded.

There are so many ways to be a human and men are very much a part of this conversation, so yes, I was very relieved.

Do you think we still have a long way to go with female empowerment and women’s rights?

I do, but I think we have to be hopeful.

A lot of steps have been made but it’s a long journey ahead and we just have to keep focused on it.

I think it’s really great we have Kamala Harris in there and if you look around the world and see even the response to COVID, some of the countries that have done the best have been led by women.

Why not give women a shot? We’ve been so cut out of society and how things are set up, let’s take a chance, women are great!

I’ve heard you have another project in the works that is personal to you; can you talk about it yet?

I can talk about it a little bit, it’s actually my mother’s story, I told you about growing up Mormon and her teaching at BYU and being a feminist so it has to do with that and with the Mormon Church having a grip on education in Utah during the nineties.

It’s a really important project to me so I’m taking my time with it, but I want to do it right, so I may approach other projects before that because that project is the big one. I have other projects that are either in post-production or on the festival circuit right now.

One that I’m really excited about is a thriller/horror/revenge story that’s not too dissimilar from Donna but told in a totally different way.

Our director is James Frost and he’s an amazing artist, so I’m very excited about that one. It’s close to being finished, we’re just doing ADR (sound editing) on that, it’s called “Almond Wood” so keep an eye out for it.

Kate Amundsen in one of the emotional scenes from the new VOD movie Donna: Stronger Than Pretty.

he t g n i t a Lo c !

E L B I S S IMPO After a few weeks of trying to nail down the guys from iDKHOW for an interview, it almost felt like I was being challenged by their very name itself: I Don’t Know How But They Found Me. Story By April Savoie Photo by Ican Maldonado

And find them I did - and we had an incredible conversation about music, Mormons and what’s it’s like writing and recording during the pandemic.

How’s everybody today?

Dallon Weekes: We’re good. We’re just getting together to do a little bit of business. Ryan’s in town from Nashville for little bit and we’re gonna rehearse and write and do all kinds of stuff that bands normally do.

I just caught you guys on Jimmy Kimmel the other night. That was such a great surprise. I believe that was your late night debut, was it not?

Dallon: Yeah, it was. I’ve had the chance to play a few late night shows before but never with this project. I was a little bit nervous to be up front and center with this thing. But luckily, I had my guy Ryan having a great time next to me the whole time. so it ended up being really fun.

Ryan: It was fantastic. That was the first time I ever got to do anything like that. I felt like all this hard work we did finally paid off.

Was there an actual audience?

Dallon: Well, we kept it COVID safe, for sure. Normally, for something like this you’d fly into his studio and especially with the Jimmy Kimmel show, it’s more like a party than anything else. But I feel bad that Ryan didn’t get to experience that. Instead, we kept COVID compliant and we filmed it beforehand in Salt Lake City.

We did three passes of the song and handed in the one that we felt was the best.

Is it different performing like that with no crowd to get that vibe off of?

Dallon: It definitely is for me, I kind of need it. Because without an audience, I feel like I get too locked inside my head and that’s why I was a little bit nervous while we were filming because that’s all I was thinking about.

Ryan: You’re focusing on all the little minor details.

Dallon: I think I was focusing on Holy crap, this is going to be on national television. If there were people around, I could focus on them instead, which is what I usually do when we perform. But yeah, it’s still fun to play regardless if anyone’s there.

Ryan: Yeah, I think it was cooler because this was like one of the first times we were able to have backing singers and an extra guitar/keyboard guy on stage. It took some of the pressure off of us. But other than that, I had a great time.

Dallon: I had a great time too, like you said, it was just a matter of getting out of your head and I think having a live audience really helps me to do that.

Why did you guys choose “Leave Me Alone” for that performance?

Dallon: Well, it’s the single that’s on the radio right now. It’s the only one that we had that’s on the radio and the song went to number one on all charts.

It seemed like the obvious choice. But if we have more opportunities to play on TV, I imagine we’ll play that one again. But sooner or later, we’ll be switching it up to two more songs from the record.

And you guys stripped “Leave Me

Alone” to a piano ballad. It’s your first re-imagined version of that song.

Dallon: We’ve had other versions that I’ve had to play by myself stripped down with a little guitar because of COVID. Most of the promotion for the song has just been via Zoom interviews and Instagram lines and since Ryan’s usually in Nashville, it’s usually just me with a guitar.

But as far as a re-imagined version, the piano one is the first re-imagining of that song and that was born out of doing all those live Instagram things and playing the stripped down version and having a lot of time on my hands too, because touring isn’t a thing. I sat down and just thought up a different version of it more out of boredom than anything else, I think, but it was really fun.

Is there something special about that song that keeps you returning to it?

Dallon: The message behind it was very personal and very cathartic for me to get out of my head. But the fact that the response that it’s had has been pretty special and people are reacting to it, and then it has had success on alternative radio. That makes me feel like there’s something special about it and I feel like we knew that when we were recording it too. But you never really know when you have a hit song on your hands and I don’t think it’s smart to try and manufacture one or try to chase one down and force it to happen. I think either lightning strikes or it doesn’t. We were lucky enough to have a little bit of lightning strike with that song and fortunate that it’s not just some frivolous message about partying or whatever, it’s a song that means something to me.

Will there be more re-imagined songs of other songs in the future?

Dallon: There’s one in particular that I know people will see the original demo for - “From The Gallows”, which is a left hand turn on the record. The best way that I’ve been able to describe it , is as Lawrence welcomes acid. But the original demos for it was a lot more like this old jazz group from the 1930s called The Ink Spots that I really love and they were sort of the inspiration behind the song. So the original demo for that is a lot more like barbershop quartet and jazz piano ballad sort of vibe. So I think we’re gonna release that one eventually, too.

I understand you’ve been in the studio quite a bit. Have you spent a lot of pandemic time in writing and recording?

Dallon: Yeah, Ryan and I have been passing ideas back and forth, not in the studio, per say, mostly just in our homes.

Ryan: Just been using logic files to communicate.

Dallon: Collecting ideas, sharing them via email and stuff and we’ve got more than enough.

Ryan: Just about trying to dissect and try to figure out what’s going to work

with more material later on. But, we just released this record.

Dallon: We’re trying to pick through our favorite ideas and decide what’s going to come next and it’s more than two dozen songs, beginnings of ideas and little pieces and parts. So we’re slowly starting to collect those things and see if we can form an album out of them.

Ryan: It’s cool that we’re not in a rush right now, ever since we did have this record come out. But it’d be nice to tour this year. I just don’t know if it’s gonna happen or not.

Dallon: So we’re trying to spend our time as productively as possible.

The new songs that you guys have been working on, do they have a different vibe because of the pandemic?

Dallon: It’s hard to say because it is so early on in the process. I think evolution in songwriting happens pretty naturally, but it’s not something that we’re necessarily focused on. It’s more like write a song and if you’re stoked on it, then we keep going on it, no matter what it sounds like. For example, now, we have some songs that sound like early Hall & Oats records or Weezer, 90s Pinkerton. There’s a lot of feedback and noise and dirty sounding stuff, so it’s kind of hard to say what the finished product will sound like.

Ryan: Yeah, I just know. We probably don’t want to do the same thing twice, ever.

Dallon: That’s for sure. I heavily doubt that we’re going to make the same record that we just made. Those changes and evolutions find their way in naturally. But it is on our radar to try and not do the same thing twice consciously.

It certainly is an odd time for entertainment right now in the world and you’ve mentioned that you’d like to be out touring hopefully this year.

But what has life been like without touring?

Dallon: Oh, man, psychologically kind of tough, because playing shows, at least for me, is a form of therapy.

Ryan: Yeah, same here.

Dallon: It’s a not only the sense of release that you that you get from being onstage and letting go of any sort of emotions that you might have or revisiting them in a healthy way and then saying goodbye to them after you’re offstage. But the sense of community that comes with playing shows is something that’s always really comforting to know that you’re not alone in the things that you’re writing about, the things that you’re singing about.

Ryan: I think this is probably the longest he and I both have been home collectively, so that takes a toll on the old mental health.

Dallon: The good side of it for me is that my family is here with me and this is the most time I’ve been able to be at home with them the last 10 years.

So that’s the silver lining in it all for

me. We try to find opportunities where we can get together and write and still pretend to be musicians. (laughter) iDKHOW is a fairly new band to the world. I’ve read that it was a project that you were working on for years before it was ever launched.

Dallon: I had some songs in my head that I wanted to get out and as we recorded them, Ryan and I were hanging out more and just decided to start playing them live for ourselves in secret, you know.

We had this phrase, this ridiculously long band name that I had wanted to use for something for years and years, whether it was a song lyric or something, but we decided to start playing shows in secret just so we could play and have fun.

We decided to use this band name as an Easter egg for people if they happen to come across us, but we didn’t want to exploit the fans or the bands that we were employed with at the time. It was more about finding ourselves again.

Ryan: Dallon and I were both in the throwbacks together, so we’ve always been in each other’s lives.

Dallon: Even when we were both employed by other bands, anytime I had a song idea, Ryan was always the guy that I would call to come lay down drums, and he would drop everything he was doing and come and kill it. So I don’t know, everything that we’ve done has really been organic and we’ve tried really hard to keep it that way and to keep it as honest as we could and that’s where I think playing secret shows came from at least for that first year.

Trying to just do it for ourselves and grow it as honestly as we could.

There’s a lot of fun going on with this band. Is that something you guys were aiming for when you started the project?

Dallon: Oh yeah, it’s the reason why we got into music in the first place. I think that’s true for just about anyone who picks up a guitar or pair of drumsticks or whatever it is. The reason that you start doing this is because it’s fun and if it stops being fun, then you need to change something. So that was another big reason why we started this band too. We needed to remember why we started doing it in the first place.

I know Ryan lives in Nashville now, but you guys started out in Salt Lake City. So you’re either members of the LDS church or you’re surrounded by members of the LDS Church.

Dallon: Yes, Ryan lives in Nashville now, but he’s a Utah boy.

Ryan: Yeah, I grew up here. That’s where I got my musical start.

Dallon: We’re going to talk him into moving back. But I am Mormon and I’m probably not the best example of what that means because I’m not the best member of the church. It is a very misunderstood religion and I try to do my best, but I fall short, like we all do, here and there. But it is something that’s still important to me.

How has Salt Lake City affected your band sound?

Dallon: Oh, man. Well, there’s this really great music scene that exists in Salt Lake City and Provo, in particular, that the vast majority of the country doesn’t know about and it’s helped us, I think, to cultivate our music with a certain set of morals - that is probably the wrong word.

Ryan: People care about music here.

People love going to live music and they love to make a community out here. Yeah, that’s what’s brought up a lot of musicians.

Dallon: The music scene here isn’t about partying or perpetuating some kind of lifestyle or trying to chase down being rich and famous - not the people that make music here.

Ryan: They genuine love the art.

Dallon: Yeah, they have to. It’s in them and the music scene here is very communal and it’s one where, even though there might be friendly competitions, among bands here, everyone wants everybody else to make it to be successful in the art that they’re making, and everyone lifts each other up and supports each other.

It’s a scene unlike anything else that I’ve seen anywhere.

Ryan: I think it’s probably one of the last places that celebrate this kind of culture, I guess you could say.

Dallon: But it is a state and it is a city that a lot of people tend to underestimate when it comes to the arts. But there’s a lot of really great art and music that comes out of our home state and interestingly enough, it’s easy to see if you look at the radio right now - there’s a good handful of bands that have come from here that are having moments on the radio right now. There’s a lot of really great talent that gets cultivated in the art and music scene that exists here.

The new EP, “Leave Me Alone” is out this month. So what’s on the EP? Dallon: I don’t remember (Laughter) I think it might just be what we talked about before, some unreleased demos and alternate versions of songs that didn’t make the album. But that jazz demo that I talked about, “From The Gallows”, might be on there.

There might be a cover of Beck’s “Deborah” on there, which is a song of his from his album Midnight Vultures that I fell in love with when I was 17/18 years old and it was a song that we covered for a good while the last time that touring was a thing. It’s been a favorite of mine for a while. So we recorded that on there too.

What’s ahead for you guys in 2021?

Dallon: That’s the question. Nobody really knows. I mean, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that there’s vaccines and at least a couple shows. Safe shows of course, we don’t want to play if it comes at the expense of anybody’s health. But hopefully, at least a show or two if we can get a couple of those in. I’d call it a win.

Indie Profile: St. Catharines Hip Hop Artist Bascrom Kite Tell us about your band, including your history, where you are from and how you started?

My name is Araya Felix, I am also called Kite. I am a CEO, artist, song writer, recording engineer, manager and A&R, among other things. I was born in Trinidad and Tobago and I now live in Canada. I began freestyling and rapping at the age of 14 for the fun of it.

However, it was not until I was about age 16 or 17, that I began to take the craft seriously with my brother Makiri Felix who is my main producer and is also an artist and joint CEO of our record label.

Makiri, along with my close friends at the time and I began building beats, freestyling and composing hooks on my mother’s IBM laptop with a demo version of fruity loops free styling.

My brother would build beats and together with the instrumentals we downloaded from Napster, we recorded on a demo version of cool edit pro. Not too long after we started dabbling and experimenting with these new forms of self-expressions and music, we decided to form our own independent record label.

There were not that many record labels in our country at the time so we worked hard and used some of our savings to gather the basics which were needed to record our music. We acquired the very basic in the beginning which comprised of a mini Mac/microphone/head phones /mic stand and the cables to connect the gear. Today we continue to make music and we have had several live performances in Canada.

How did you come up with the name Bascrom Kite?

The name of our company is Bascrom Entertainment. It is a one of a kind name to which we gave meaning. After we purchased the equipment we decided we needed a name, however all the names that we were coming up with were not ideal and we decided that we wanted a name which felt right and to which we could identify.

So we spent some time going back and forth with ideas until one morning my brother woke up and asked me and my friend what we thought about the name “Bascrom”.

The first question we asked his was “where did you get that name from” and “what does it mean”. He went on to explain that someone visited him in a dream and told him that anything he puts “Bascrom” on will advance and that “Bascrom” means to advance, and just like that it was settled.

We registered a company in the name of Bascrom Entertainment and we interpreted Bascrom to mean “to advance entertainment “, and the rest is history.

Do you have any recorded music available for fans?

We do have recorded music available for fans, to date we have released multiple songs and have completed several projects which are available on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, UnitedMasters

TuneCore and other available digital platforms. Our most recent project to date is Bascrom Vibes Volume 1 which we released through TuneCore on more than 16 digital platforms.

My personal, individual music and projects, as Kite the artist, were released via UnitedMasters. In addition, I am one of their Select Artists and probably one of the first Trinbagonian artists to sign up with them. My recorded music can be found on YouTube, iTunes or Spotify under the name Bascrom Kite or Bascrom.

How would you describe your music?

My music, for the most part, is organic, the singles or projects I have done all come from the heart and I express my genuine feelings and/ or experiences. However, from time to time I do write commercial songs and tracks geared towards trends for radio and clubs, but this is not very often. I like to make real music which someone could listen to and identify with it and say “I have experienced that and I know how it feels”.

We are all influenced by our environment and the incidents which shape our lives in one way or another, some of which may linger with us, through my music I share some of that experience.

What makes your music stand out from the others?

What makes my music stand out the most I would say is that I have a very unique style, voice and delivery.

When you hear my voice you may hear something Caribbean and also something North American, people often ask me “where I am from?”, “what is my background?” and “what type of accent is that?”.

It’s a little Canadian, a little Trinidadian, a little American with snippets of St Lucian, Jamaican and Vincentian. Most of my close friends who live here in Canada are from all over the Caribbean, I picked up the slang I liked from them over time or the ones they would use so regularly that it is now part of my vernacular.

What do you like to do outside of music that contributes to your music?

Apart from music, for the most part I am an entrepreneur and family guy. I am always happy to spend time with those I love and share company with close friends. In fact developing new ideas or coming up with new strategies to further my business and legacy is actually fun to me, I have no problem spending all day listening to documentaries about people’s life stories, cooking and educational stuff.

As far as recreation goes, I like cooking, recently is has become one of my new pastimes and working out at the gym, however since the COVID pandemic situation, I have not been able to attend the gym as I would like but I do prepare some sumptuous meals.

Name your two biggest musical influences and why?

It’s very hard for me to name the two

most influential people in music, however I must say for sure Tupac has to be there and secondly I would say Jay-Z. I liked Tupac because of his fearlessness, his confidence in himself that together with his style of rap, he gave us the regular gangster rap together with several conscious and political songs and also humanitarian songs. “Changes” and “Dear Mama” are two of my favourite songs, I will never get tired listening to them. I also admire Jay-Z because he and his team did it independently.

I remember listening to the blue print and studying Jay-Z music for guidance on how to become a CEO of an independent company and what to do and what not to do. I have always admired him and I have aspired to be someone like that in my region mainly because people in my region have no such figures to look up to on an international level.

Two of my favourite songs from Jay-Z related to the hip hop and rap genre “H to The Izzo”and “Anything”.

I definitely like and enjoy all his music and I continue to be inspired by his entrepreneur spirit.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs?

With respect to my song writing I can confidently say that I write all of my songs. There have been times I have sought contributions and advice from my mother Deborah Thomas-Felix and my brother Makiri Felix.

This does not mean that I do not value and I have not taken on board the opinions and ideas of other persons because I am always open to new ideas. Generally speaking, I do not have a particular genre or consistent topics which I address in my music.

I actually write and make music about things which affect me personally and I also use my music to address issues which affect all of us, whether regionally or globally.

What has been your biggest challenge as an artist? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

One of my biggest challenges is finding that creative space among the day to day bustle of life. In trying to overcome

these challenges, I have a studio at home which at times I go into, shut out the world and focus solely on my craft.

Another challenge is to have my music heard globally and not only confined to a Trinidad and Tobago and Canadian audience. I have marketed my music on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, UnitedMasters and TuneCore – so basically I have been promoting my music through these avenues/apps in an effort to be recognized globally.

What current projects are you working on at the moment?

The project which I am engaged in at the moment is a follow up to my last album; this project is entitled Bascrom Vibes Vol II. I am also working collaboratively on projects with various artists namely: Black Dreams of London Ontario, Canada; Young Yada of YBM of California, USA and Off-the-grid Entertainment of Trinidad and Tobago.

YouTube: Araya Felix Facebook: ceobascromkite Instagram: @ceobascromkite Spotify: Kite

MIND THE GAP

REIMAGINING THE STARCHILD KISS frontman Paul Stanley ditches the makeup and platform boots to reimagine the R&B sounds of Motown and Philly that he grew on, with for his new solo band Soul Station.

Story By Dan Savoie Main Photo by Brian Lowe

2020 is off to a big start for you. First, there was the Dubai concert. Now your first single is out from the new album and the new album judt got released this month. So, it sounds like 2021 is going to be a lot busier.

It seems so and that is what makes life exciting - finding new challenges and finding new mountains to climb. That’s really what I think life is about. So, in the midst of a pandemic, where, let’s face it, for most of us, has been an inconvenience, but for half a million people, if not more, it’s been devastating. So, with all that being the case, I tried to reaffirm how great life can be and that you need to live it.

And you have been Tweeting and Facebooking a lot of pictures of you outside being very active. So, you’re trying to live the best life?

Well, the world is still open. So, if you’re smart enough to take the precautions that are necessary, you can go about your business within reason. And for me, there’s just nothing better than having some time to myself outdoors. So, I’ve been doing that as frequently as possible.

On an album bursting with a giant Motown R&B and Soul vibe, you chose “Ooh Child” which is sung by a Chicago group as the first single. So why not something maybe Motown and why did you choose that one specifically?

I’d like to say it’s possibly because it’s such a timeless song. But really, at the moment, it’s a song that reflects optimism and hope. And when it first came out, and I heard The Five Stairsteps and Cubie - who was the actual group that did it and at that time - they had an additional member. But when I heard that song, it was poignant.

It sang about things getting better for people. And that one of these days, we’ll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun, and it was put so eloquently and yet simply. It’s a song that interestingly doesn’t come to everybody’s mind when they think of that era. And yet as soon as it starts, people go, “Oh, I love that song.”

Motown and the early R&B/Soul sound must be very important to you.

Where and how did that find you?

Well, when I think the music of the Motor City and Tamla Motown - although it came from an urban area, and miraculously from a lot of projects - you’ve got the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smokey and The Miracles. It was music that everybody could relate to. Certainly, with me, it resonated really clearly.

I remember hearing “Dancing in the Streets” and to me if you want to talk about a rock anthem, that’s an anthem everybody got. “Dancing in the Streets” was such a great image. The imagery of it was amazing.

And I was lucky enough when I was in my early teens to see Otis Redding live. I saw Solomon Burke, and that music has always been a part of my wheelhouse, that’s been a part of the foundation of what I do.

I think that no matter what kind of music you make, your music is always better for having been influenced, even in ways that may be subtle by other types of music. If it just becomes incestuous, if you’re just

replicating something that you heard and you’re doing the same thing, well, I think it tends to become mimicry.

You must have a Detroit Soul because Detroit is important to KISS and now you’ve chosen something that’s very based in Motown/Detroit.

Well, the phenomenon of Detroit, whether it’s rock history and it’s embracing of us - or the beginnings of Motown where you had Barry Gordy really grooming us it was a star system of grooming, not unlike Hollywood, but it was revolutionary.

You had a guy, Paul Reiser, who was in his mid-20s, orchestrating everything from “Papa was a Rolling Stone” to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and I mean crazy, crazy talent from this area. I think there’s something about Detroit and about bluecollar workers and I think there’s something about a commonality that Detroit has that I relate to.

Are there any KISS songs that you’ve written that were inspired by that Motown/Philly sound?

I think there’s some Motown or Philly Soul, but certainly Motown was an influence in certain songs. There’s a song on the album Unmasked, which may not be one of my favorite albums. But there’s a song called “What Makes the World Go Round” and that really is a Spinners song.

The only difference is we did it with guitars instead of piano voicing and veered away from really what that song was written as. (sings) “Shout It, Shout It, Shout It Out Loud” - that’s the Four Tops. That’s Levi singing lead and the Tops answering him. So, there are some pretty unmistakable things. (sings – I was Made for Loving You). So, it’s in there - it’s in the DNA. We can now add R&B/Soul to your vocal catalogue. Explain the differences between Soul Station compared to something like Phantom of the Opera and then KISS? Well interestingly, the one thing that connects the three at some point or another is falsetto, I Was Made For Loving You, the mid-section of that is falsetto. There are a few scenes in Phantom of the Opera, which are falsetto. A lot of the lead singers in the genre we’re talking about whether it’s The Delfonics, or The Stylistics, or Eddie Kendricks and the Temps - falsetto plays a big part in it.

It’s like a masculinity without relying upon chest pounding or machismo and I relate to that. I relate to the idea of strength having nothing to do with flexing muscles.

Is Soul Station harder to sing?

It takes some discipline. When I’m writing the songs, I hear it in my head, and I know what I’m going for. When your singing somebody else’s songs, it’s a different process.

And I remembered the same thing when I did Phantom. When “Music of the Night” starts, you better nail it, because everybody knows it and you’re walking in some pretty big shadows. So when we do songs that are iconic, I don’t think that impersonating is the answer because that’s surface.

I think what you have to bring to it is an understanding of the emotion, you have to understand where it’s coming from and the passion of it. Otherwise, you might as

well be Rich Little, you might as well be somebody mimicking and that wasn’t what this was about. And I think what comes across with Soul Station is this incredible reverence and love for what we do.

Everybody in the band has played with everybody from Smokey to Stevie to Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston and on and on. I think there’s such a joy in doing the Delfonics, doing Blue Magic, doing all these iconic songs and doing them the way they’re meant to be done.

In other words, not a Las Vegas version where it’s played twice as fast; we do them the way I remember them being recorded.

And again, it’s not about copying it note for note, as much as it’s about understanding the song. We all find our way into it and that’s what makes a great actor; that’s what makes a great song stylist - knowing the intention of what you’re doing.

How authentic did you go when making the album? Some of the magic in those original records were about capturing a live sound in that moment in glorious mono.

Yes, well, we were never going to confuse perfection with passion. And honestly, I’ve heard some versions of the songs done where, to me, it just missed the mark. It’s not about perfection, it’s not about showing off your chops as much as celebrating the music. To that end, this wasn’t done with a microscope. This was,

as I said, a celebration of the music. And the last thing that I wanted it to be was sterile.

Did this take longer to record than the KISS album?

Not at all! I think we cut nine or 10 basics in a day and a half. So that’s, again, what I’m talking about, it’s the feel, and having people who listen to the music and “get it”.

We just powered through the songs. Then we added the horns and the strings, but the band of six people at least, we were in there live. I was in there when I was actually sick, doing guide vocals, it didn’t matter. But everybody was there to preach, to really to get it right and to celebrate the music.

How did you select some of the band members, and were there a couple that were hard to get?

I don’t want to say I was lucky. I could say it’s either the planets lined up, or it’s God’s work, or it was meant to be, everybody fell into place and it was just crazy. Most of the people had never worked together. And yet, at this point, it’s so much that they call it a family.

People come over to my house. We are over here having fun and when we’re in the studio, we have just a great time. It’s such a melting pot of influences and ethnicities and it really came about organically.

There’s nobody who’s in it because we couldn’t get somebody else.

There were no auditions, it just fell together and it’s just weird how familiar

everybody feels to each other. If you watch the videos, it’s clear, the chemistry and the fun we’re having.

In some senses, you’re the musical director of KISS, so it must be strange handing over the reins to somebody else with this project.

Interestingly, Alex Alessandroni, who was musical director for Whitney Houston, P!nk, Christina Aguilera and Natalie Cole, is the musical director. He and I very much work together. I would almost say that he is the conduit. He’s the liaison because there are certain things that he can interpret for me. For example, the string arrangements and the horn arrangements on five of the tracks are all mine, I can’t chart them, so I have to sing them.

And the trumpet is going to do this, and piano is doing this. So, Alex and I work hand-in-hand. I couldn’t imagine surrendering it quite honestly, because I know this music so well.

This seems like a great new challenge for you. On the opposite end of that, are there still challenges left for KISS? The challenge for KISS is to remain at the standard that we set and to not disappoint anybody until it’s over. And that’s a challenge. If we were just in our T shirts and jeans and running shoes, we could do this into our 90s, but when you’re wearing eight-inch heels, and carrying 30 or 40 pounds of gear, and running around

the stage, you play beat the clock. You can win for a while, but the clock ultimately wins.

So that’s the challenge. And that’s why we all looked at each other and said, the clock is ticking and let’s go out there and give everybody the biggest and best show we’ve ever done, so that we take a victory lap, and that we validate people’s allegiance to us and why they championed us, sometimes in the face of odds.

The Dubai concert was as classic as you can get. Was that concert planned as part of the End of the Road tour originally, or did it just happen because of the pandemic?

It literally happened because of the pandemic. We were asked if we were interested in doing a show in Dubai. And as it evolved, we wanted to break some Guinness World Records, and it would be a worldwide telecast, and all the shows that people usually watch on New Year’s Eve are not going to be live and they were repeats, and it was a massive outdoor stage and it just kept going. We went “Yeah, It sounded like fun”, but in the midst of the pandemic, how are we going to keep everybody safe?

So we made all kinds of arrangements and the crew, which at the time was about 500 people and they were tested daily. We were tested, if not daily, every other day.

When we rehearsed in Los Angeles, we were in a closed studio. So all things being said, it was a really unique situation. And having not played in almost a year, it was daunting - it was a challenge. But we rehearsed; we were determined to make it as good as we could.

At some point the pandemic is going to be over and you will be able to continue the tour. But what if the pandemic goes on? Do you think there will still be an End of the Road last leg?

Well, I do believe the pandemic is going to wind down. I don’t think that’s going to happen tomorrow and I think it’s going to be quite a while before there are live shows of the magnitude and attendance of what we do and what we need to do.

Beyond us, you have to think a promoter has to get insurance. And people have to be safe in showing up and yes, there’s a vaccine, but the vaccine means nothing unless it’s in your arm. So there are a lot of variables right now and we absolutely will pick up where we left off.

I don’t see that being in the near future at all. And anybody who believes they’re going to be seeing massive shows or arena stadium shows anytime in the foreseeable future is kidding themselves. And so in the interim, I plan on doing Soul Station and Soul Station gigs, I think those are much more possible and controllable.

They’re also more intimate. My personal favorite KISS experiences have to be the intimate shows when you did your first Solo Tour or the Revenge club tour, as well. Those were my favorite shows because they were so intimate.

That’s one of the things I think fans are going to get out of this show.

I think so. Soul Station and KISS are in some ways polar opposites, but the thing that they share in common is that they’re contagious - and that’s not a good word to use right now - but a feel-good atmosphere. People just have a ball at both. At Soul Station shows, people are singing along and when a new song begins, it immediately sets off an emotional response.

So, there’s nothing like live music. And I don’t really think that there are enough people out there making the kind of music Soul Station makes, which is big band with kick ass music.

It’s not mushy, even on songs that we’re doing that might tend towards ballads. The horns and the strings will blow your head off.

There is a different demographic market for this than KISS. Were you aiming for a different market for this band and album?

I wasn’t aiming for anything except to selfishly be a part of a band making music that I missed hearing.

But I also believe that when I please myself, ultimately, I please some other people, because

we’re all similar and I think if you do something really well, it will find its audience.

I never thought about demographics or crossover and if somebody doesn’t want to allow themselves to listen to this because they love rock and roll, that makes no sense to me.

But I’m not here to make converts, because

converts involve convincing, I don’t want to convince anybody of anything.

If you don’t give it a chance, then it’s your loss, and if you give it a chance and you do like it, great.

It’s like food; you can’t not like something until you try it.

And if you don’t want to try it, C’est la vie!

Photo by Masanori Naruse

Photo by Keith Leroux

The Morphing Process of Bluesfest Windsor is Ready For the Next Level

By Dan Savoie Over the past few years, the team behind Bluesfest Windsor crafted an awardwinning music festival that would draw thousands to Riverfront Plaza in the Rose City every year, reaching new heights on an annual basis. And in 2020, things were going to get even hotter, with concerts planned by Snoop Dogg, The Saints and Sinners Tour of 90s rockers Tea Party, Moist, Headstones and Big Wreck, along with pop superstars TLC and Ace of Base.

But all that came crashing to a hault when COVID hit.

In an effort to keep the music going, Bluesfest Windsor’s team launched LiUNA! YUNITY, a series of virtual Front Porch Parties with international stars like Todd Kerns (Slash), Colin MacDonald (The Trews), Jeff Martin (Tea Party), Neil Osborne (54-50) and local celebs like Billy Raffoul, Kelly Authier and Alexa Carroccia, among others. The series ran from May until the end of 2020.

Closing off the horror show that was 2020, the Bluesfest crew teamed with several organizations and the government, to produce a special New Year’s television program hosted at the Capitol Theatre in Windsor and simulcast with performances from homegrown talent from around the province - on the TVO network, available online and across terrestrial television seemingly replacing the annual New Year’s program from Niagara Falls.

The New Year’s Show was not only a success with viewers from Windsor, but from all around the world. It presented the city in a way it had never been seen before, as the epicentre of cool.

But without festival dates in 2020 and 2021 and the huge success of the YUNITY series and New Year’s broadcast, we couldn’t help but wonder what the future holds in store for Windsor’s largest summer festival.

We checked in with Rob Petroni, President of LiUNA! Bluesfest Windsor for this in-depth discussion to see what lies ahead.

What’s the future for Bluesfest?

The future for Bluesfest is this, it’s a simple answer. It has nothing to do with the pandemic, although the pandemic certainly did fast forward our plans exponentially, I would say. Bluesfest Windsor is a nonprofit organization, it’s still set up, we still have our board and our executive director, we are marketing and throwing all of our events under what is now called YUNITY. So, our first one was New Year’s Eve, and we have a few plans for what we have next New Year’s Eve that we’re already planning, although it won’t be Ontario based, it’ll be much, much bigger than that. Hoping quite honestly, not just to be in Canada so that’s already in the plans.

We’ve been talking to agents and other promoters, trying to get something for frontline workers in September.

We’re being told September may not be the right time and maybe October. So, it all depends on vaccinations and all kinds of

things. We are planning right now to throw an event, end of September, beginning October in Windsor, and either at the Riverfront Plaza or at the various BIA’s, maybe four of them over four weekends.

We’re considering having them free in the BIA’s and/or a ticketed event at the Plaza.

But either way, we’ve morphed into a tourist destination, a tourist attraction trying to get more people to visit Essex County and grow the region that way.

You said it was kind of in the works anyway. Take me through the process of, how it went from Bluesfest not happening to becoming what it’s becoming?

So, I’ll tell you another thing since the global pandemic, I am shooting straight from the hip now. So, Bluesfest is an awesome festival. It’s been around for a very long time, 20 something years. We started, as Bluesfest International, then we started a new one called Bluesfest Windsor and its grown year over year.

Our last event cost $1.3 million, so it’s growing a lot more challenges, a lot more headaches, but it’s growing. It hasn’t outlived its usage, but we’re learning very quickly that when we throw a festival, in Essex County competing against Michigan, Detroit, it’s very hard to do unless you are targeting the entire population, not just a

certain genre.

So, it went from just Blues, to Blues & Rock, to Blues & Rock and Hip-Hop, with each day being a different day. Most destinations, people that buy a ticket to come to an event that is the same genre, or the same style, at least, so that they can come for the weekend as opposed to one night.

There are a lot of Rock fans that don’t want to see Hip-Hop. A lot of Hip-Hop fans could care less about Blues. So, we’re trying to make it, I wouldn’t say family, but more user friendly, something that everybody would like.

We have been researching events that you can see online everywhere and they’re successful - A Symphony Orchestra with a DJ and a choir, with singers, all one show like a Vegas style show. So, if you like the Symphony Orchestra, you’re going to love it.

If you like performers, you’re going to love it. If you like a DJ playing with a Symphony Orchestra or just a DJ, you’re going to love it. So, we’re really moving towards that. Now in that two and a half hour, three hour show with some lead up to it and some other performers, were hitting every genre at the same time, minutes apart from each other.

So, you’re going from a Blues song to a Rock song, to a Pop song, to a Hip-Hop song, to the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, to different singers, to Country, and you’re hitting everything.

You throw in some performers and now you have a Vegas type act, and that is literally what YUNITY was intended to be. We did it a little bit on New Year’s Eve, although we used Ontario-based performers.

I don’t know if you got a chance to watch it, but the numbers on social media were so astronomical that I can’t fathom them. We’re up for awards all over the province that we’re going to find out about here soon - the Provincial Government, Municipal Government, TWEPI and us, we’re all very pleased with the outcome.

The performances were incredible and it’s too bad we were all locked in our homes to watch it, but at least we had something to do on New Year’s Eve. We’re trying to come up with an idea like that, where everybody is entertained.

Whether you’re 75-years-old or 19-yearsold, you’re going to enjoy the show and experience rather than a concert with one band.

As this develops, what does this actually mean, in terms of somebody

going to the event in Windsor/Essex or coming to the event.

Same thing, we’re working with a lot of promoters and a lot of ticket agencies about what that looks like. There’s talk, of course, of a vaccination card, and we’re told for sure, this year everybody will have to wear a mask.

So, we met with a group yesterday to order 10,000 masks, that say YUNITY. But along the same lines, other events that we’ve seen are when you purchase the ticket, you’re told you have to be vaccinated to enter. In other events, not that we’re thinking about this, but in other events, you’re actually signing a waiver.

Things have changed so much.

Because people are so worried about being taken to court or sued. This is coming moslty out of the US, but we still don’t know how it’s going to shake out here. It’s still too early to tell. I’m hopeful that by late fall, we’re going to be able to hold an event of some sort, outdoors. Maybe not a crowd that you would want to attend in 2021, but if you started with 5-7,000 people and grew over the years, as we come out of this, then at least it’s a start.

There are a lot of people that reach out all the time that are missing this stuff. It’s good food for the soul to go to a concert, I

think of all of the concerts that I was going to go to in 2020 and said, I’ll go next time, but that’s not going to happen. This time, it’ll be “Oh, there’s somebody playing?

Let’s get the ticket today. All right, I’m not worrying about the rain. I’m not worried about it. Let’s get the ticket today.”

As YUNITY develops across North America, where does that position Windsor?

Windsor shone at the New Year’s Eve event. We were the host. It was born in Windsor. It marinated in Windsor during COVID over a number of conversations, Zooms, telephones, Facebook, a couple of beers, and a glass of wine or two. But the idea is to make Windsor the destination for an event like this. We’re looking at an event that would bring in people from not just Ontario, not just North America, but from different countries.

And that’s a European feel.

It’s exactly a European feel. Everything that we are researching is a European festival. Everything that we are looking at is a European festival.

And in some places, not outdoors, but indoors, they’re actually changing temperature. It’s going from hot to cold during the event, which adds a whole different level of entertainment, when you’re adding temperature to it.

So, we’re looking at something sophisticated, something that has to be rehearsed.

Not just somebody getting on stage and doing their thing because they have rehearsed it, and they have crafted it. But we’re looking at the Tea Party, for example, who did this in Australia with a Symphony Orchestra and sold out three nights in a row.

So, we’re looking at doing the same thing.

Take the band away, bring in a DJ that fills in the music to an orchestra and bring the singer in from the bands and then add a choir. I think you’ve hit almost everything that you need to hit make it two and a half to three hours long - 8 to 11 and you have

some lead up acts, before, maybe one after but that is the main show.

How about things that happen around the event?

2021 COVID, we can’t do anything but move forward. We have discussed and looked into and drawn out how we make the footprint of Riverside Plaza bigger.

One of the ideas is to shut down Riverside Drive. That’s one of the ideas - with screens. You have a different experience up there or a second stage that has a completely different feel, where not only is there a stage but you’re inside, it’s covered, you’re in a completely different venue, inside the same venue. That is exactly what we’re shooting for.

I think a lot of people wonder how that Riverfront area was planned out?

You’re talking about the new setup - the new format, the new layout of everything, how they’re putting in the trees? And that’s a great point.

No, the City of Windsor is not doing that alone. They have reached out to all of the festivals, everybody that rents the space and asked for their input, and listened to their input. There are some people that feel that it may not suit their needs for a whole bunch of reasons.

For us, where we’re going, it’s perfect.

It’s more of a European feel; it’s broken up into three different sections. One being the main bowl, the middle section, which is raised up a little bit as a shaded area with some trees, the third area is your mingling where you’re getting your drinks, where you’re buying your food, where you’re kind of getting away from things. In the middle area, you can put blankets down.

The ticketing/entrance is changed, now it’s on the east side with a full building, offices that house all your ticketing folks, all your money in a safe place to be, with turnstiles.

It’s more of an event center than a plaza.

I think the city did a fantastic job in the design of it. First was moving that wall to where it was always supposed to be - closer

to Riverside Drive. So, that’s added some space. I think for us, it works out very well. I’m looking forward to when it’s completed.

Again, I say it all the time, this is not BS: performers that come from all over North America, when they see that venue, they are amazed and had no idea that we have it. It is such an amazing backdrop. It’s a canvas that you can do anything with, to be quite honest.

Then you have Riverside Drive up top, the possibilities are endless there. Not to mention the parking lot on the east side. On the west side, we’re considering fencing the whole area off and putting, different Jazz performers and something a little bit different. As you’re walking through vendors, as you’re walking through a footprint that is much bigger - five/six times bigger.

Is Bluesfest turning into something new?

This is Bluesfest morphing. This is the evolution of Bluesfest and you’ve been watching it evolve. There was always, do we just do all Blues? Do we do all Rock?

Do we do Rock one year and then do Blues next year? Do we change it up that way?

We tried four different days, four different genres, and that worked, but honestly, for 2020 we really broke up the genres into weekends and put the genres that fit closely together.

That was the first time we actually we put artists where they fit as opposed to putting an artist and making a format based on their availability. This time, it won’t be that at all. It will be if you like this artist, they will be there. If you like the Symphony Orchestra, they will be there, if you like a choir, if you like a DJ, they’re all there at the same time. It’s not just one singer; it’s a number of them. It might be able to be 10 or 12 different singers from different bands, performing a couple of tunes with the backdrop: you’re hearing it in a different light completely.

It’s a big endeavor. It takes a lot of teamwork. It takes a lot of practice; you have to get it right and they can’t just show up and wing it. There’s a lot of rehearsal time. It’s a lot more expensive. But honestly, I think the music fans have gotten to this point.

We know that you can go to Detroit and buy a ticket to see an artist for $700, but here in Essex County, $700 is out of the question. But $35/40, you’re not going to get that $700 show - we squeeze a lot out of $35, $40, $50 that you’re not going to get it in other places. I think now if we put on a Vegas style, European style show, it will command a bigger ticket price that will actually pay for the costs of the event.

We won’t be scrambling every year, relying on sales of everything else to get us through. If not, for beer sales and all of our sponsors, Bluesfest or YUNITY can’t happen. At $1.3 million dollars to put the event on and ticket sales being about $200,000, you do the math - you’re in the hole, and you’re not selling $1.1 million worth of beer, wine, cocktails.

The $750,000 in sponsorship dollars that comes in every year helps get you through getting some bigger artists and putting on a better show. What we’re trying to do now is let the ticket prices pay for the show. So, that we don’t have to lean on the community, as much and make it a tourist destination for Essex.

With this event, morphing from Bluesfest to something else, is really exciting and new.

YUNITY! Everything we’re doing now is branded as YUNITY. We discussed quite possibly, just so that people know it’s the same team, the same volunteers, the same sponsors that it may be in the first year “Bluesfest Presents” and then taper it off, or we might just go straight to YUNITY. If we have the event in September, October, it’ll probably be a Bluesfest presents, powered by a big sponsor. If we just go straight to the New Year’s Eve

event, that one’s YUNITY - one we believe is going to be so big, that we’ll be able to drop the Bluesfest presents.

The New Year’s Eve event was watched by people worldwide. We had somebody that messaged us from Iran. It was all over the world, not just locally, and people saw it. It put Windsor on the map; it put a lot of tourist destinations across the province on the map.

The frontline workers did a fantastic job in doing that. Obviously, on that night when I was watching it, it was the first time that I saw it. We spent the entire time hoping that everything went well. When we watched it for the second time is when we got to enjoy it. We only saw a few things that were prerecorded.

Little teasers, that we saw like, the Roberta Battaglia piece with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, which was incredible. But it was more of a something for everybody type of show. We had Loud Luxury and Roberta Battaglia. Although there were some pieces where people didn’t like a DJ, but everything else they liked.

How much of the year was put into that event? Because to most people, it just kind of appeared out of nowhere.

I can tell you quickly, on March 13 of last year, I was flying home from Las Vegas, from the CONEXPO. While I was in the air, I had Wifi and I received an email on Friday, March 13, that when I landed, I had to quarantine for 14 days.

I got that from my employer. This was before, because I think we shut down on the 17th, so I was shut down while in the air before I landed, and we quarantined for two weeks. While I was quarantining, although I was working, I asked what do we do for Bluesfest. The discussion was, are we going to do it? Aren’t we going to do it?

Are we going to end it more quickly? Why don’t we do something that’s televised?

So, we quickly put something together, approached the City of Windsor and TWEPI which were always on board, the

Provincial Government. We wanted to do something on the long weekend in May, and it got bumped to the long weekend in July. Then the long weekend in August.

Just before the long weekend in September is when we hooked up with, I call them the producers, Jeffrey Latimer and Barry Avrich, who were considering doing the same thing. We were married together by the Ontario government.

At our first meeting, we said why don’t we do New Year’s Eve, and that’s how it happened. So, all of the planning went in, all of the budgets went in, all of the gazintas, money wise went in. How much it was going to cost?

I’m going to say the very end of November is when we got the green light, like the actual signatures to go ahead.

Up until that point, part of the rules with the funding is, you can’t reach out to any artists, you can’t reach out to any sponsor, you can’t let anybody know this, because if it doesn’t happen, we can’t put our necks out on the line, then have to pay people for no event.

Literally from December 1 until December 31, what you saw is as it happened.

A little known fact was that is was supposed to be at Caesars on the 27th floor in that beautiful room that they have on the balcony. What happened? We went to red and quite quickly we went to gray.

The film industry is exempt from these locakdowns. A number of us wanted to be at the Capitol Theatre to begin with, and that’s where we ended up. It’s really hard work from the mayor’s office to be able to pull this off and the Premier’s office to get us to the point where we brought in a COVID specialist. We limited the maximum amount of people in the Theatre to seven, I believe. We weren’t even there - we watched from home. We would have been over the number.

It started March 13, but the idea morphed and December was when we had the OK to

do it.

Then when we reached out to our community partners and raised a half a million dollars. The Provincial Government kicked in north of a million dollars and we put it on.

It seemed like “Hey, we have an idea, let’s do New Year’s Eve”. No. It was stressful.

The Capital Theatre never looked so good. There was a lot of Windsor pride that night.

Absolutely. It’s a beautiful Theatre.

When the producers saw the Capital Theatre, they immediately knew this was the place. It was even a one-day shy of their 100th anniversary.

I think one of the producers said “this is a message from God”. It was perfect. It looked incredible. I went the day before to see the setup, but it was hard to picture because I’ve never been part of a television production.

You could tell it just looked different the way they had it set up. When I watched on television, I’m like, wow, this is actually Windsor. When they came through the Princess Margaret gates after the first number and flew into the Theatre, it was pretty emotional. It was very cool to highlight Windsor.

I don’t want to say finally, because we do a lot, there’s a lot of people who do a lot of great things here. But for an event that’s broadcast, it’s province-wide, it’s countrywide, it’s worldwide. It was incredible.

I’m so happy that the Windsor Symphony Orchestra was part of it. They agreed immediately when we asked them and gave them the idea. I think it went well. Windsor shone that night, it really did.

The best part of it was the amount of pride.

We don’t like to brag, right? We just get things done. We go to work, we come home, we do what we do, we don’t like to brag and every now and then it’s okay to be a little bit boastful. It’s a beautiful

city. Listen, we have some gems here: the riverfront, the Theatre, you just go to a WIFF event and watch the transformation of the downtown. It’s incredible. And we did it in four weeks. If we had six months to do something, it would have been 10 times better. Now literally planning has begun and we have a lot of time to get this right.

It sounds, like its more work for you actually.

Believe it or not, the planning process is a lot more work to have something like this televised, it’s a lot more stressful, because it’s live. If something goes wrong, like the internet goes down right now, we can do this interview again, but not during a live event. It’s a little bit stressful that way.

But in comparison to actually throwing a festival and worrying about every aspect of it, especially people’s safety, the fact that there’s alcohol, I would say that a festival is much more stressful. Its two completely different animals.

I really like both, but when the event is going on, there’s nothing left for you to do as a planner. At the event there are just so many fires to put out and it’s just a different animal.

When we watched the New Year’s Show the second time, it was awesome. We got to see, and get to listen, as opposed to, is it going to get cut off? Are we going to lose our internet connection? Is a truck going to go down? Yeah, it was fun.

A lot of people don’t quite understand your job.

Balance. LiUNA is my career, Bluesfest/ YUNITY is a love for the community and to raise funds for charity and to boast about Windsor/Essex. At LiUNA, I have a fantastic team - the best ever, I would say, North American wide, our region is Ontario to the East Coast. It’s a fantastic team on autopilot. Everything is taken care of meticulously. Bluesfest/YUNITY is the same thing. It’s not me. It’s not my wife Carol. It’s not Jeff Burrows. There are 100 people, at least, that have a little piece that

do it very well.

One person takes care of limos, one person takes care of vendors. We have 100 people like this, one person takes care of riders, and one person takes care of getting them across the border. So, that is a great team. It’s a fun team. Everybody does it for the love of it because it’s a volunteer position. How do you get a better product than people that actually want to be there as opposed to have to be there because that’s their job? Volunteers are awesome.

You can’t fire them. Because they’re volunteers. It’s a group of people in both organizations that just come together.

And we pull people from LiUNA all over Ontario that come to volunteer as well, our members back it 1,000%. It’s something that makes us very proud. LiUNA has nothing to do with Bluesfest or YUNITY, other than up to now, it’s the main sponsor.

A lot of the volunteers come from LiUNA - not all of them, maybe 15% - so one has nothing to do with the other. If somebody came in and said, “Hey, we’re going to give you x amount of dollars, to be a sponsor” and upped it by 10 times, then it would be the whatever YUNITY fest brought to you by LiUNA. So, it’s completely different.

Carol, on the other hand, is like the Maestro that oversees all of that. And my little piece is, I pick the artists, while talking to other people, getting their opinions, doing those contracts, but then I’m done until I literally raise enough money through community partners. Then at the event, I probably have the easiest job, because I deal with all of the tents, make sure they have their food, make sure the water is there, make sure the ice is there, and then go around, welcome people to Windsor. I probably have, by far, the easiest position on the site. It’s not easy to balance, but it is a balancing act - you plan.

During and leading up to the event I sleep at the office, I shower here, I change here, but it takes plenty of time. So, a day

isn’t just eight hours for me. Monday to Friday, it’s 12, 16 hours.

You must be satisfied and happy to see how far Bluesfest has progressed?

It’s a great question. Nobody, that puts on the event is truly satisfied. And I’ll tell you why, because we’re always trying to make it bigger, better and more entertaining. For example, nobody knows that up until literally the last minute of the 2020 festival that was cancelled, that we had Snoop Dogg. I think Snoop Dogg would have been a game changer. It would have brought in a lot of tourists.

At the last minute, we lost Snoop Dogg.

We replaced Snoop with an artist that everybody said, oh my God, how did you get it? It wasn’t Snoop Dogg? How did you get so and so. That’s amazing that you have so and so. But all of us are like we had Snoop Dogg. I think the trick is to just never be satisfied.

We always wanted it to grow. There are some smart people in our group, not me, that say grow it slowly. Don’t go from here to here, grow it slowly. Jeff Burrows is probably the biggest proponent, then Carol (who’s the main force behind Bluesfest and also Rob’s adorable wife) is the second biggest proponent - you can’t go from zero to 100 in two years.

It has been growing slowly. And I guess when you look at it, the only way it can grow is slowly, because just bring in new partners year after year is a slow process.

If you keep those partners and make them happy, then they keep coming back.

They’re loyal. Yeah.

So, are we proud of it? Yes. Are we proud of it during the event?

Nah. When we watch clips and see things like the coverage from 519 Magazine and other media outlets, yeah, it’s a source of pride.

When we’re in the middle of a lockdown and the memories come up from last year, three years ago, like oh my God, that was actually pretty cool.

LiUNA! Bluesfest Windsor 2019

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Story by April Savoie

For the first decade of the millennium, Bourke Floyd was gaining momentum in Hollywood when out-ofthe-blue, the actor disappeared. Known for working on the television program “Dawson’s Creek” and in films like “Big Momma’s House 2”, Bourke was an actor directors could count on and his face was missed.

Flash forward 11 years and Bourke is back with his latest film, the crime/ thriller “Sour”, available on VOD. It’s the story of a down on his luck detective who moves into what appears to be a haunted house with his niece.

We checked in with Bourke to chat about the film and discover what had happened at the peak of his early career.

Tell me about your new movie “Sour”. What’s this one about?

“Sour” is really cool, it’s a thriller, really suspenseful, kind of a crime whodunit - actually, it’s less a whodunit and really concentrated almost. Again, horror films are such easy ones to peg right now because there’s so much to compare things to that are horror, but this one’s got a little different twist to it.

It’s more like “The Rental” with Dave Franco that came out earlier in 2020. It’s a thriller, and it’s uncomfortable and it’s interpersonal, it’s really close and in your face with only a couple of jump scares in there.

Most of it’s really about that slow grind of uncomfortable. It’s a really cool, cool feature. I’m happy to be a part of it.

Let’s talk a bit about Marcus,.

What parts of that character are most like you?

Marcus is an absolute loon. He is way out there. I think what I related to, what I used and applied to Marcus, that actually are me, are the parts where Marcus is in an awkward situation, what would be an awkward situation, what would be uncomfortable, and how he pivots, and tries to apply charm to smooth over something, even though he’s oblivious to the reality of the situation that he’s the awkward thing.

He’s the thing driving the awkwardness of the scene. Or that moment, that’s the exchange, right?

And yet he tries this charm approach.

And I guess what I used from my own personal life is that when things are awkward, we’re all human beings, we all have exchanges that are awkward or different. I’m quick with a joke to try to deflect from being awkward.

I tried to make Marcus’s deflection really organic, like ours are as human beings. I tried not to make that look like a shaped piece of him. I tried to make it feel that’s just how he is when it’s awkward, he does this. The trick to it was to make his personality and his quirks feel as natural as ours, like mine being a joke. There are tons of people that make jokes about awkward situations. That’s their natural deflection, and we are all accustomed to it. Marcus obviously has a flair for the extraordinary and evil and insane,

but I had to try to make it feel just natural, just like it is for us with the handshake. Are we going to handshake or we’re going to fist bump or we’re going to elbow?

Was it hard to get to that point to make that part of the character?

There would be circumstances where that would be really difficult.

There were certainly challenges to it, but the entire cast and the director Clay Moffatt.

For Natalie Maher, this was her first feature film, this was her debut, and she was so integral in making it easier.

She was doing that dance, that character dance with Marcus - her character was really playing in and out of what we were doing, and it wasn’t improv. But we didn’t over-rehearse either, because again, that’s where that awkwardness comes from.

We shot a lot of reversals, we would block it, figure out where we were going to go, figure out cameras and lights and all of that, but not actually run the scene until we were picture up and then we would film that first rehearsal. And I dare say, without knowing, because I wasn’t in the editing room.

I feel like there are probably several of our tapes that I remember being like, oh that’s right. That was the first one because there’s so much awkwardness.

It’s really cool.

Was it filmed during the start of the pandemic in 2020, or was it done before?

When I flew to London, with no one even asking me about my temperature, or anything, no screening, nothing. I had heard of COVID at that point, or maybe I’d only heard of it as Corona at that point. But that’s all there was at the airport. There was absolutely no masks, there was nothing at all. It was February or so and I flew back from London.

I remember flying back, just to get into the first-class Lounge at London Heathrow. They took my temperature.

And I only remember it was that lounge. That’s not “Ohhh, I was flying first class”, it was for work. I only say that, because I remember that it was the first time and I was like, Whoa.

We filmed in seven or eight, maybe 10 days total, and we were done. Then everything shut down. It was literally a window.

I count myself very fortunate that I wasn’t sick after my trip.

2020 is a bit of a return to acting for you. Why did you leave?

I had a son who was sick and I took a break. Everything was going really well, like gangbusters. It was exciting.

And I’ve been in some really big things and was in that current career trajectory that felt really good and I was appreciative of it. Not as much as I am now but I was appreciative of it and aware of it.

And then my son got sick and I just called my manager and my agent, had meetings with all of them and said “look, this will be here I’m sure

we’re gonna win this medical fight and everything will be fine, but I need to take six months, maybe even a year just off. I don’t even want to know about the job that I can’t go audition for, I don’t want that in my atmosphere.

I want this all to be about helping him get better and his illness continued and progressed and after we lost him.”

I didn’t understand in my conversations why you’d make a deal with the devil, I would have sold my soul, I offered parts of me literally anything, I’ll give anything, I’ll beg, and I remember at one point saying I’m on TV or something.

I just remember saying you can have all my money; you can have all of it with this team of doctors and saying take anything you want. And of course, that didn’t do it. And I just thought after that was all over, I was like, I don’t want any part of that.

That’s not real, it doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t do anything for when you need it, being on TV or having money or any of that, that doesn’t amount to anything.

I was angry and frustrated and just not a great person to be around. And that took time. And I realized with my wife and son Luca, it wasn’t a great way to honor Beckett. I wasn’t really honoring my son by being that kind of person. I became more of myself again, When our son Luca was born, I was used to being in only a little bubble.

I was still scared to go out of the bubble. Not that I was cool, but I was still introverted about it.

And then “Sour” landed on my friend Adam’s desk, at his production company overnight with pictures that he’s a partner in.

And he said, “Hey, man, why don’t you take a look at this thing? I really think you should try it.” And after talking to my wife and thinking about it, I was like, okay, I’ll come and do this one.

We made “Sour” and then COVID hit. Ikept thinking, I got to make one more movie, but I’ll never have another one. And somebody saw some part of “Sour”. Somehow somebody over at Little Books Little Films saw that and said, hey, we’ve got a big book and a big film here, this raunchy comedy, “Peach Cobbler”. Do you want to take a look at it?

I ended up top billing, that’s got Eric Roberts and Eric’s wife Eliza in it, an Oscar nominee. So, now I have this comedy under my belt. I’m like what’s happening? Am I a working actor again? Is this something that’s happening? And low and behold, once it came around, I landed “Swagger”, which will be on Apple TV from CBS Studios, and Imagine Entertainment, but for Apple TV. Once it came around, I was on the set of “Swagger”. I think we were filming for six weeks; I filmed my role for four or five weeks anyway. It’s always tricky with COVID because of all the protocols. But I think it was day four

that we’ve got all these young kids on that show - they’re great, immensely talented, but they’re 17, 18.

Was there any concern about returning after being away for so long?

Absolutely. I worried about being able to shake the dust off. I worried about it, I still do, don’t get me wrong, I think the day you are performing, and you just don’t have any nerves or don’t have any excitement, any sparks inside of you, probably hang it up for a little bit maybe or pump those brakes and rethink what you’re doing that day. But I definitely still had some self-doubt, even on “Swagger”. I was definitely having, a little “fake it, till you make it” for lack of a better term.

I Forrest Gumped my way through life, in almost all ways. So, I always count myself really fortunate. But yeah, there was some rust, to be honest with you.

How does the family feel about acting?

They’re incredibly supportive. My son, Luca Bear is really funny, though.

I think he just saw me at his friend’s house, I think it’s something on the Food Network, maybe Guy’s Grocery Games. I’ve done the Food Network a few times for charity.

He calls at some point and he goes, Dad, your on the TV, at my friend’s house. He is eight, so the realization that these are family videos of me hanging out with Guy Fieri, these are things that are on TV. Yeah Luca Bear it’s everywhere. It’s everywhere my son.

So, his little process of how he sees it is really cool.

But my wife has been amazing about it really, really incredibly supportive.

I think it helps that I came back and again, really, just by the grace of God, no chance that I would have expected the work to come. And to be clear, I’ve not booked, I’ve auditioned for tons of things over this time since I’ve come back that I haven’t booked. \ It’s the idea, the fact that I’ve been consistently working has been amazing, I’ve also been consistently not being booked for things.

So, anybody out there listening, it’s not like, Oh, these are the only audition, yeah everything I audition I book. But the fact that the work has been so consistent, and I think makes it easier for the family to go, hey, there you go. The income is real, and the opportunities are endless.

You’ve been involved with a few really big actors over the years Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis, for example. Of the biggest actors you’ve worked with, who is the most approachable?

It’s tricky, because the person I’m going to say was incredibly open and giving and fun, but wasn’t the most approachable because I would have never spoken to him had he not started speaking to me.

But once he spoke to me, and

I spoke back, we started having a conversation. I was like, Oh, you’re so cool, I can’t read this - and that was Sir Anthony Hopkins who insisted that I call him Tony. But he wasn’t the most approachable, right?

But that was my fault that had nothing to do with him as a human being or a fellow actor. I felt like I shouldn’t talk to him. I’m not gonna talk to that guy. No, no, no, no, no, guys like this don’t talk to guys like me. But he talked to me and I spoke back, and we ended up becoming work buddies on “Hearts in Atlantis”. And he was amazing, I was shocked.

His ability to do impersonations and impressions will blow you away. He’s hilarious, they’re spot on. I’ve seen him do an impression of me. And it’s surreal.

Tom Cruise was actually incredibly kind and giving as an actor, but he wears 50 hats on set. So, he’s constantly working on everything. He’s looking at where every atmosphere actor is, in addition to everything else. So, it’s not to say that he was abrupt with me or short with me or unapproachable.

But almost any time, somebody would have said something to him, other than Steven Spielberg, they would have been interrupted, because he is a diligent, constantly working on set.

Who of the big actors did you learn the most from?

Mark Joy who is an actor I did “Beast of Burden” with. Mark’s been in tons of things, he’s a native from Richmond, Virginia, where I’m from.

On “Beast of Burden”, it was just like Mark didn’t win an Oscar or doesn’t have 50, 100-million-dollar movies, but his work? Absolutely. Mark Joy is where I learned the most from and it was more from wanting, studying and really trying to watch and just see how he works in and out of a scene.

That made it really cool and how you don’t see him act. You never catch him act. It’s just so natural and organic.

I can’t imagine being on a scene with Martin Lawrence dressed up as Big Mamma and keep a straight face.

That’s for sure. It helps if he’s gonna kick you in the groin. It helps knowing that at the end of it, you’re gonna get kicked in the groin a bunch of times and you keep panicking. We filmed that in New Orleans. And it was so hot and humid.

He had a space, glycol tubes underneath that suit, another suit underneath it of this coolant refrigeration stuff pumping through it, and he and Zachary Levi were filming American Underdogs: The Kurt Warner Story”.

I will say, even in the prosthetics, Martin’s ability to make faces and to be expressive, even with the prosthetics, is legend. I mean, I’ll never forget it.

For the full interview and more photos, visit 519magazine.com

l a t e M c i n o h p m y S g n y i t t i f u a n r e C g f n o I t r d n A a e e c Th n e g i l l Story by e t n I h t i Dan Savoie w

Very few bands have the balls to use the word epic in their name, but for Dutch symphonic metal band EPICA, living up to that boombastic moniker is just an every day thing.

The band just released their eighth studio album, the concept-driven Omega, fueled by orchestrations, choirs and gigantic songs. In true EPICA style, the band has one version of the new album featuring four CDs, which includes orchestra-only, acoustic and instrumental versions of the album.

Mark Jansen, who formed the band after leaving After Forever in 2002, spoke to 519 about the new album, its concept and what Omega means to him.

Album number eight is here. Tell me about it and what you expected when you wrote and recorded it?

Yeah, the thing is, I never have too many expectations. We worked very hard on it and actually, we worked longer on it than ever before. We work and put all our passion in it and then we have to let it go without expectations because you never know what people will say. I hope, of course, that everybody is going to like it, and I already saw some reviews here and there, and people seem to enjoy it. So my confidence is growing, but once you are done, you never know how it’s going to be received and I also never know for sure what people are going to say. regardless, I’m really proud of this album.

Sometimes people connect more with the live show than they do with albums, so this has got to be tough because you’re relying solely on the album right now.

Yes, but I adapt myself quickly to a new situation. Live at this point is not possible, but I am still happy that we can release the album, especially now that the people are in need of new music. I get a lot of messages from fans saying that they cannot wait for the album. Some of them are experiencing difficult moments with this pandemic and they say we cannot wait for the music because it surely will uplift their state of being. So if music can help make people a little bit more happy, then I’m extremely happy to hear that.

This is a question that I can’t ask most bands because they don’t go to this extreme. Tell me about the concept of the new album.

Yeah, the concept is the Omega Point Theory, which is stating that we are fated to swirl towards one point of unification. By we, I mean humanity, but also the universe as a whole. And I thought it was a beautiful concept and I decided to make this the starting point of the lyrical concept - and also Simone was very much into that topic.

So 50/50 we wrote the lyrics and we even wrote one lyric together - it’s the song Freedom, and yet the topics of the lyrics are based on ancient wisdom teachings. So there’s some diagnostic

stuff on it. Also some from the Emerald Tablets, but in general, a lot of ancient wisdom teachings and I really cannot get enough of these old beautiful teachings.

There’s so much to learn and people knew so much already back then that we have forgotten, in a way, but now it’s coming back to the surface.

What process did you go through to find a concept and how much research do you do?

A lot of research, but the topics come automatically to me. So it not like I’m searching for an idea. It’s more like what I’m interested in, in general life.

So always, one book leads to another and one documentary leads to another one and all the things that fascinate me find their way somehow in the lyrics.

So, the topics are there first, and then I start finding ways to put them in the lyrics.

What does “omega” mean to you personally?

The concept of omega for me means that we as humanity are on the verge of making a huge leap forward and I think our consciousness is going to expand.

A lot of things are happening now in the world in a very short moment; a lot of changes, and I think in the next one or two years, the changes will accelerate.

It will be hard to process all these changes, but it will be the only way for us to make it possible to make that big step forward and people will start realizing that we are all connected instead of separate beings. So that’s what omega means to me.

So in true EPICA form, the new album is going to have one version of it with four CDs. Now that’s really epic. It’s got to be a lot of work to do that.

We did it because there was a lot of interesting stuff this time and also, for example, when we listen to the songs, just the orchestral versions, we thought that it was so beautiful that we wanted to do something with it on its own. For some of the other albums, we did a version where people who would like to do karaoke have a version without vocals, and the fans love it, especially the singers. They can record their own versions and so there’s that version and there is also a CD with the extra tracks, the acoustic tracks and that’s also a lot of fun to make acoustic versions of the album. There’s a lot of inspiration and we decided to release all these versions as one big package.

I really enjoyed the studio documentary series you did on recording this album, not a lot of bands go into that much detail or their creative process. Was it almost intimidating knowing that people were going to be watching that?

In the beginning, when we did that for the first time, I was feeling a bit like that but now I don’t think about it anymore. So it’s nice to have fans who want to see the process and can feel that connection with the album.

The video series became even bigger than we initially thought and there was so much material that we could make a lot of flocks out of that. But it’s not intimidating anymore.

Doing orchestrations and choirs involve a lot of work? As the band has progressed over the years, it has almost become bigger and bigger.

How big can you get with this?

I think it won’t get bigger than this because we made the right balance between all the instrumentation and also, in the mix, we put some emphasis sometimes on guitar, sometimes on the orchestra, instead of having everything all the time together and so this is the maximum of what it will get. Actually, on The Holographic Principle, it was the maximum already because we felt it was getting a bit too full. So, on Omega, we gave it some space to make it a bit more even.

I wanted to ask about a couple of the songs in the new album. Can you tell me where they came from, what they’re about and how you envisioned the tracks? We’ll start with “Rivers”.

That’s a track from Rob, the bass player. We are in a lucky position to have five songwriters in the band. So we can always pick the strongest songs from everybody. For Rivers, it came from a dream he had when he slept,.

When he woke up he had the initial ideas in his mind, lyrically, and also the music. It’s a very nice way to start a song because of dreaming about it.

Does that happen to you? Do you dream songs?

Yes, all the time. For some reason when I’m dreaming, I have the most beautiful melodies in my mind. But when I wake up, often I have forgotten them. But sometimes I remember some and then I record them on my phone right away, because sometimes I go back to sleep. So I am always singing my melodies in the morning, and then when I start working on music, I always listen to the ideas that are recorded and these are usually the starting points for my songs.

We’ve all heard that when Mozart created music, it was all in his head all finished. Have you had a moment like that where something was in your head completely finished?

Never. I think Mozart was a genius; he could hear the whole thing in his head. I cannot hear the whole thing in my head; I need to work it out on my computer. I have certain things in my head. To a certain extent I can make a song like that, but not all and not in such detail as Mozart did. That’s why he was such a genius and I’m not.

I think your fans will definitely say you guys are genius.

Yeah, and I become happy when fans are very positive about us, but I would never like to compare myself with a genius like Mozart.

We’ll move on to “Abyss Of Time”.

Yeah, that’s a very funny story. I

started working with a guy named Jerome on another project, United Metal Minds, that we have together and there was a song that we were working on and at a certain point, I said this song is not so much United Metal Minds, this song could really work as an EPICA song. I said, “I really would like to try the song for EPICA. Are you okay with that?” And he said it was fine and so I kept working on the mid part after that. Then I introduced the song to the band and everybody liked the song and we started working with the EPICA members and it became “Abyss Of Time”. But the initial idea was that I was working together with Jerome and he came with the initial ideas for the song actually.

“Freedom – The Wolves Within” This was the first song I think we wrote for the album and I had this idea already for the first riff of the song. I had this idea when we were on tour, and during sound check I was playing a bit of my guitar, and I was playing this riff of the song and so the first song of the album that we wrote was this one and it started four years ago during The Holographic Principle tour.

This is my favorite, “Kingdom of Heaven, Part 3”. This is a series of songs that have been used. You probably have to go back to the beginning to explain the new one.

If you go all the way back to the first “Kingdom of Heaven”, it was actually on Design Your Universe. But the first idea for that song was already 10 years before it was finished. So the history of “Kingdom of Heaven”, already goes back to 20 years, and it became one of the fan favorites. Then we made “Kingdom of Heaven – Part 2” and now with “Kingdom of Heaven – Part 3”, we thought there’s a lot of pressure to make a great “Kingdom of Heaven - Part 3”, because we have to end this part with a bang and so we were very focused on making this a great song and it really went back and forth between Isaac and I. We were throwing ideas at each other and this song became longer and longer and a certain point, we had 15 minutes of music. We cut some parts out and we only kept the strongest parts, then the band started working on it and some things were changed again. Eventually, Coen started doing his magic with the choirs. So it took a lot of time before it was finished. But then when it was finally finished, I was extremely proud and happy with this one. That’s also my favorite of the album, by the way.

You said that’s the end. So is this a trilogy and nothing more?

Yes, this is it.

One of the things I enjoy is the acoustic side of what we’re hearing.

That’s a very different side and it almost at time sounds like you’re almost a different band.

Yeah, it’s especially fun to make the arrangements. I made for example, the arrangements of “Abyss Of Time”.

Due to the lockdown when actually

recordings were for the acoustics I was locked in Italy. So I couldn’t be there when everybody was recording. That was a little bit of a sad moment for me.

But I could be there at least by Skype and we discussed the ideas.

But to actually record it, I was locked in my house. It’s a lot of fun to work on these tracks to make new arrangements for songs and to do it completely different than the original idea. We actually tred to do it as different as possible because the actual album is the typical EPICA sound, but on the acoustic versions, we want it to sound pretty different, almost like a different band.

The sound of the band has evolved over the years. Is there anything new that you added to this album that you’ve never used before?

I think “Abyss Of Time” has more power metal than we ever had before and we thought it’s the right time to try something like this, with a really power metal feel and try to make it as EPICA as possible within that power metal vibe. We always try to indeed do something new with our music and in order to keep ourselves fresh and to challenge ourselves.

You briefly mentioned just a few minutes ago about not being with the band to record the acoustic stuff.

Did COVID play a part of recording the entire album, or did it change the way you do things?

Luckily for the biggest part, everything went the normal way.

COVID started in February in the Netherlands, but then still things were possible. At a certain point, the lockdown started and then we were almost done with the recordings. It’s just Simone and me - we had to record our vocals and I recorded my vocals in my own home studio and Simone recorded her vocal parts in Germany.

Basically, everything went as a normal procedure, it’s just at the end it was Simone and me recording in different studios and, of course, the acoustic versions, I couldn’t be there as you know.

You guys have announced some tour dates at the end of 2021 and into 2022. Hopefully that happens. I bet you’re dying to get back out there.

Actually today we heard already that one of the festivals that we booked, Hellfest, is postponed to next year. But I was expecting something like this to happen because I don’t think this summer is going to be full of festivals yet.

It’s too early and not that nothing is possible, for sure things are possible, but we’re not going to have 100,000 people in one area. That’s simply not going to happen, unfortunately. So fingers crossed that sooner rather than later, things start being possible, but it’s very hard to tell when it actually will be.

For the full interview and more photos, visit 519magazine.com

Story by Dan Savoie

He might have the oddest name in Hollywood, but Cobra Kai actor Han Soto has been working his way across the movie scene for a few years. This past year his career catapulted with his appearance as Pham Minh Thao, the solider that kept John Kreese prisoner during the war in the third season of the Karate Kid Netflix series Cobra Kai. His character may have also had something to do with inadvertently coining the name “Cobra Kai”.

During our conversation, we talk to the actor about his role in the series, what he brought to the show and some exciting past experiencing on blockbuster movie sets.

I want to start with something very simple. Your name. I noticed you’re credited by a different name for your first couple productions. When did you adopt the name Han Soto and why?

I had to figure out what would be something that stuck. It was just one of those moments - my name is translated to John Smith in Vietnamese, so I had to find something that that was memorable and Sci-fi was kind of where it was at and I’m a Star Wars fan.

So Han Soto was the closest to Han Solo without being so, obvious. So, Soto it was. It had a Japanese feel to it because I started learning Japanese for some roles and it stuck. Actually, it started as a joke, quite frankly, and it just stuck and when I landed that role with Harrison Ford, that was it. It cemented my name.

That’s the most ironic thing ever.

I mean, here you are in the movie with Han Solo, and you’re actually playing Lieutenant Soto. So that’s even crazier. That’s my trivia for today.

Yeah, the production was awesome.

They gave me my name tag and they let me pick my name and I was like, man, why not put my name on that tag. So they were very gracious.

Most actors would kill for a part like that. So what was it like being on the set with a legend?

It started off amazing. I was sitting in the chair and he came over to introduce himself. That was my first interaction with him. On set with many of the cast members, he came over, he stuck his hand out and said, “I’m Harrison”. I said, “Listen, I know who you are” and put my hand out. I said, “I’m Han”, he goes, “Oh, I know” and then he walks away and he just turns around and goes, “Han Soto? Really?

Great”. He has his crafty thing. He’s eating his crackers and carrots. It was cool. It’s a fun moment. Like, wait, did he? Did he just like, vet me? Or did he just shun me from any compensation? It was awesome.

I would imagine you learned a few things from being on that set.

Because that’s probably the biggest thing you were ever on.

The longest, I was on set for four or five months. When you’re not filming, I like walking around and watching how

things are being done; how productive productions are going and what the producers are doing. I lived at video village just watching everything and it was one big masterclass for me and I got paid for it.

Lately, all the talk is, of course, Cobra Kai. How did you get involved in that?

Same thing, I got a call from my agent saying that the casting director at this point already cast me in multiple projects prior. So they said, hey, we got a roll for Cobra Kai and I just finished watching seasons one and two and I got kind of giddy because I tried to decompartmentalize my emotions when I get something in. So I spent a little bit of time doing that and then when I was ready, I just threw myself on tape and most of it was improv and riffing it in Vietnamese, as I speak four different dialects of Vietnamese. So I felt very comfortable in doing so. But yes, I sent the tape in and they moved me on to the next stage and the next thing I get the call saying that I booked the role.

I did a crazy happy dance that I didn’t even know I knew how to do. One may never see that ever, but that was in the privacy of my own home. (laughter) It’s lucky you’re sitting in a vehicle or I would tell you to do it.

Yeah, exactly. I did that on purpose…

(Laughter) The group involved in that, they seem like a pretty tight knit community. You were kind of just in the flashback scenes, but it was still a very vital part to the overall story.

Does it now feel like you’re part of that group? You’re definitely part of The Karate Kid folklore now.

They did a great job making everyone feel at home. I chose to not engage in a lot of banter when I was there, obviously, because I played a very evil character. So that was my choice. But I did have a chance to talk to John, Josh and Hayden. Those three alone are a super tight group and I don’t know if you knew this, but they grew up together in college, or they went to college together. So they’re really tight buddies.

Everyone had their own responsibility. Everything was coming together and all three of those guys had their hand on the steering wheel and in the car never really swerved. So it was nice being led by a group of guys like that and as far as the cast is concerned, most of the main cast, they created their bond with the prior seasons. But they did show up to set when this set was being shot, because it was one of the most elaborate sets that they built in all the seasons. So it was cool. They were very cool and just engaged in conversation. I tried to keep the chatter to a minimum just because I was in that headspace, and I wanted to stay in it.

The flashback scenes ended with the bombs and the fire, but your character might have escaped. So is there a potential for him to maybe return and confront John at some

point?

Anything’s possible. But I’ll tell you, ain’t no bomb gonna catch me.

(Laughing) No napalm is going to get me… (laughing) I’m just kidding.

It looks like there were real snakes on that set. If so, did you ever work with snakes before and did you have an experience with them?

I like snakes. I’m not scared. I’m scared of rats and the movie I did called Don’t Look Back, I had to play dead with six rats on me. So just imagine your biggest fear and you have to sit still through the whole thing for four different takes. Snakes were not so bad for me. I mean, they seem pretty tame.

They had a few boa constrictors there and they had lot of fake ones and then they added in the real ones in the pit, it was amazing. I’ve never seen it. Yeah, it is as deep as one would think.

The character is just so evil. I mean, it seems like such a stretch for such a nice, calm, cool, collected family man.

The way I study characters is by actually creating them. I come up with characters, certain guys have certain personalities, they have specific cigarettes and different types of food.

This particular character I’ve worked on for a year or so, it was on New Year’s in 2019 and he was a diamond militia leader, like in the diamond trade in Sierra Leone. So he was a Vietnamese guy who found his way to Africa and that’s what he did. That’s how he hustled his money. So basically, this guy is evil. The one I worked on had a machete and he ran crews in the mining towns, right? So I plucked him out of the Sierra Leone and threw him in Vietnam and put a gun and took the machete out of his hands. So I’ve already done the work, it’s just a matter of tying a couple pieces together to make this guy who they want me to be.

So you said you speak a couple of different dialects. What dialect did you choose for that and why?

This one is more of a Southern dialect, just because the North Vietnamese Army came into the South, there are a lot of guys in the South who, instead of being captured, they switch sides, right, and this is kind of like the backstory of how I chose to do Pham.

He’s a trader, so when he switched sides, he’s like, Oh, it’s kind of nice to be on the side where the power is - this is what it feels like not to run. So that’s why he does what he does, because he’s really just abusing this newfound power that he just got. I mixed a dialect in there with broken English. Just because there’s a hint of sinister in that they like to tease the American soldiers by trying to speak their language. It was like the ultimate finger, “F you”. But it was almost a playful tease even - it was evil.

The series centers around karate, of course, do you yourself know karate?

I practice Wing Chun in my basement and I started with two weeks of Taekwondo, didn’t like it, and I jumped

over to Kung Fu. I did about eight years of Kung Fu when I was about eight years old. I did it all the way till I was 16 and I stopped practicing and then I picked up Wing Chun later in life, it’s more to keep my body conditioned than anything.

Is there a part of you that wanted to maybe kick out some of that karate in the show?

100%. I wanted to grab one of the boa constrictors and show them my nun chuck skills. (laughter) “Karate Kid” is a very fun movie series, were you ever a fan of them?

Absolutely, I never even dreamed of being a part of this franchise. All the vision boarding and manifestation I do, it never hit me to put this on my vision board and so with that being said, it just kind of came to me.

When I was younger, “Karate Kid” was my roadmap to not being bullied because I was getting bullied in middle school every day for two years - sixth and seventh grade. So I just didn’t know how to deal with that and depression was a thing for me. The movie really showed a false sense of reality, but you can crane kick your bullies and everything’s done right now. That wasn’t the case in real life though. I wasn’t in a position to crane kick anybody, but it did give me hope.

That’s what movies do. It helps. It just helps the spirits.

You’ve been in a couple epic movies. So I want to just ask what you remember about them. First is “Logan”.

I remember being in a green room with Sir Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman and it was just us three. We’re sitting there without scripts and I looked around, and I went, holy shit. This is amazing. I had great conversation with Hugh and Sir Patrick.

What’s it like being on a green screen set compared to what you did with “Karate Kid” or with “Cobra Kai”?

“Ender’s Game” was more green screen, blue screen, if you will, and anytime you get to be in the environment and not have to pretend, it’s more fun to me. Of course, depending what the green screen is, if you’re in a crazy situation, that could be more fun too.

But I don’t know. I’ve never really had the pleasure of always being on a set.

“Fantastic Four”, another comic book movie.

Yeah, that was fun. That was my first Marvel movie, actually and I mean, Miles was amazing. Watching your colleagues act, when you’re not in the scene with them is a masterclass. So, anytime I get the spitballs I’m using scientific formulas and dosages. I love that fast, rapid fire speaking. That was fun.

“Olympus Has Fallen”.

I was the only good Asian character in that movie (laughter) and I play a doctor. Surprise!! Anton, joked with me, he’s like, you are the only good Asian character in this movie. Everyone

else is a bad character. So I thought that was funny.

The last one, “Looper”.

I got on there as a stunt person. I broke the bar that I was throwing my guy on and I think that bar cost $15,000.

You can see it, I picked them up really high from his chest and we did an arc and it was just bam and I heard a crack sound and then my next thought was, Oh shit, this is not good.

You touched on this, when we were talking about “Olympus Has Fallen”, but we often hear about minority actors and equality in the film industry. That’s one experience.

Have you had other experiences where you felt like, “I’m the token Asian guy”?

Oh, yeah. When I first started, I was only getting, “die American pig die” rolls, the militia in the Vietnam War, speak broken English, do martial arts, you own a dry cleaner, you own a corner store. So it got to a point, I think the a-ha moment for me was it was on “Heist”. The one I did with Robert De Niro. That character was a high roller and it was written as broken English, and I said to the director, “right after rehearsal, do you mind if I just prepare something, I’ll throw it out on the wall and it sticks it sticks” and he looked at me, he’s like, “man, I trust you just do what you think is good for Mr. Tao” and I said, “alright, done” and I did it. I did my English. It’s the cadence of the way I was speaking, it was powerful. I mean, I had to be because I was across De Niro, right? So we did one take, and he came over, and he just grabbed my head. He’s like, yes, that’s it, dude.

It made me realize, okay, these rules are written in a way that the writers sometimes don’t understand the culture.

But you do have control over it. I think it just takes asking but don’t change the script. I mean, don’t try to speak fluent English in a land where there is no English, but there is a time when you can go, “Hey, let me try something” and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Don’t ever be scared of asking.

What is your favorite moment that you’ve ever had on screen?

Wow. I have so many. There’s a memorable moment, very noteworthy moment where I was in Focus with Will Smith and what he’d been doing for a week, with his cast mates is once they get the scene in the bag, he’ll come back on the last take and then during the scene, he’ll take their lines and reiterate it back to them and you can see a lot of people were like, what’s going on?

Why is he saying my Line?

So anyway, when he did that to me, I knew we already got into camp because I heard the directors say, all right, that’s the one and I figured something was happening and he did it to me and I reenacted his scene in I Am Legend, when he found that dummy when it moved.

For the full interview and more photos, visit 519magazine.com

Bill Oberst Jr. as Father Felix in The Parish

A PEEK INSIDE Angela DiMarco and horror hero Bill Oberst Jr. (3 From Hell) star in The Parish, premiering on DVD and Digital March 16, 2021.

With Bill Oberst Jr. and Angela DiMarco Story by Dan Savoie

Photos from The Parish

It’s the story of a widow haunted by the gruesome death of her husband, who ends up uprooting her daughter by moving to a peaceful rural town to help cope.

That’s where the real nightmares begin. They stumble on a long-buried scandal and team with the town’s priest after encountering a creepy young boy, a hostile janitor and a blood thirsty nun who will stop at nothing to protect the deadly secrets of “The Parish”.

Bill and Angela checked in via Zoom to chat about the movie, the myths and mystique of religion, and the craft of making incredible horror films like “The Parish”.

Tell me about the new movie, “The Parish”.

Angela DiMarco: “The Parish” came to be from my dear friend, Todd Downing, who’s an amazing writer. And many years ago, he had me over to his house with a bunch of artists. We just read the script.

And I said, “Todd, I’m going to make this movie with you someday”. Flash forward years later, my husband and partner in crime and all things, David S. Hogan, who wanted to come on to direct and I would dive into the role of Liz, we approach Todd and said, we want to produce this film. So, we did, we got this amazing gentleman right here, Bill Oberst, Jr., which really just brought the whole experience to another level.

David’s wanted to work with him for many years.

“The Parish”, is a slow burn exorcism film, but it also has a story line about grief, about how do we, as an individual, deal with the grief of a loved one of your partners. And how do you deal with the grief of that loved one, when you’re also a parent.

Liz, my character, is now a single mother with a teenage daughter, her husband has been taken from her, killed in action, he’s a soldier.

Todd wanted to touch on the trauma of losing a loved one to a war, so, there’s a lot of great elements in there. And for me, as the executive producer, I always wanted to produce things that have A) strong female roles, and B) horror is my jam.

Angela: I’ve loved horror, supernatural thrillers ever since I was a little kid: Freddy Krueger, Stephen King, oh my gosh, I was a very twisted eight-year-old, but I gotta have a story. And that’s what “The Parish” has.

What did you bring to Liz? And where did the character develop?

Angela: I love that Dan. Well, again, even bringing Bill on, we decided we want to produce this. We did some tweaking of the script and Todd was wonderful to work with on those changes.

We made Liz a little stronger - in the original script, she was definitely more of a victim throughout, and what I knew immediately when I read this script, was that it needed some of that. I was born and raised by a really powerful badass woman - my mother, who was a single mom at the time for the first eight years of my life, and she was raising me and my sister on her own just after the loss of my father, so it reminded me so much of my mom.

I said, “Hey, we got to make her a little bit stronger, a little more edgy”.

We also made Sanae Loutsis, who plays my daughter Audrey in the film, a bit older. Originally, she was written as an eight-year-old.

And then father Felix, as soon as we knew we were going to approach Bill, we made that role even bigger and more of a prominent figure for Liz and Father Felix to come together.

When we did those rewrites, we approached Bill, but for me, it was really pulling from my mom, a lot of it was pulling from her experiences and how to stay strong, even if you’re diving in a bottle. She wrote a song actually called “Diving in a Bottle” - she had an allwoman band. I mean, that’s what was going on back then.

And Liz, if you’ve seen the film, deals with her grief with a lot of wine, but also running away. And that, running away never helps. So, she faces her fears. And I talked to my mom a lot about Liz. Bill, tell me about Father Felix, and what you brought to this film?

Bill Oberst Jr.: I performed in churches for decades and I’ve done a lot of ministers of all denominations. It’s a tough gig because they’re asked to provide what cannot be provided, which is certainty and answers. They don’t have any certainty.

They don’t have any answers. They have articles of faith. And really what they have is ways for you to accept the inevitable pain of life. But that doesn’t fill church coffers and put butts in seats, so it gets turned into this happy time message.

I wanted to play a man of the cloth for a long time and I wanted Father Felix, which I really appreciated to have the opportunity to play, to have that mix of weariness and hope that I’ve seen in a lot of ministers because they’re not sure.

They’re not sure of this stuff; they have their own doubts, but you can doubt and at the same time have strong hope together.

That’s the mix. It’s not the yes, I know there’s a devil and I’m going to defeat the devil, it’s more, I have known something very dark and I think it comes from an outside place, and I name it evil.

And through my theology, I name it Satan. And so, I say in the words of the old, old, layman’s exorcism ritual, “Vade Retro Satana”, Go back Satan, step back, get behind me”.

That’s really all that the Father Felix is saying, because he knows that Satan, whatever you wish to name it, this force,

Angela DiMarco as Liz in The Parish

will be back. It always comes back.

It’s just for the moment, Vade Retro Satana, get behind me, and telling Liz that she can put this devil of grief in her own life behind her for now.

I love this layman’s ruff peasants pray about Vade Retro Satana, Crux Sacra Sit. No, get behind me, you drink the poison what you offer is evil. And so, I asked a priest who has been involved in such things, if the Vade Retro Satana, was authorized to be used in an official exorcism. And it is! It was added in 1999, the first time the exorcism ritual has been updated since 1614. And so, in the update, I guess there’ll be another one in like 2700 or something, they added the Vade Retro Satana.

So, that’s what I have, Father Felix shouting in the culminating scene in the church.

Angela: And Dan, I gotta say, hire this man. So many people already know, but Bill is an icon. And it’s true.

But also, as a human, just an amazing human being and amazing person to work with. And like I said, we were staying at the location, at our key location, the house that in the film, Liz and Audrey move into, and it was multiple levels, Bill had his own space. And Dave and I had our own space, but we would wrap and come home, and Bill would come up to me, Angela, you want to look at the scenes for tomorrow, I’ll be in my trailer.

There was no diva, there was no pay to play which I’ve worked with many name actors and celebrity actors. That’s it, you don’t see them outside of the scope of set.

And the other thing that Bill brought, that I gotta give credit for is when we have that humongous climax scene at the church.

No spoilers, but I think everyone can put together, we had some exorcism action. Bill’s the one who said “Hey, you guys, I have this. I carry this with me.

What do you think about throwing this in the mix?” We asked Todd and he was like, Oh my God, yes.

Gin Hammond, who plays Sister Beatrice, was asked what she thought about memorizing some Latin and working with Bill and us reworking this entire scene with this amazing piece that Bill was offering us, and Bill and Gin, went aside and knocked it out of the park.

It changed the whole scene for the better and it was a long night. This was one of those night shoots that went late, it was rough and everyone was tired, but everyone was so excited about what we were seeing. And what we did after in post production to heighten it even more. It just was like oh my God, we have to put Bill in every film we ever do.

Bill: Well, I don’t know about that.

But what David and Angela wanted to make, Dan, was a movie that was about loss. And that’s really close to my heart because I think it’s the essential fact of life is that there’s loss and there’s grief. We don’t deal with it.

Our culture doesn’t encourage us to deal with it. We pretty it up. We pretend it doesn’t happen. And then when it does happen to someone else what do we do?

We tell them, you’ll be fine. They’re in a better place. Are you over it now? It’s okay now, right? Hey, let’s go get our nails done, or whatever the panacea is.

You cannot go through the fires of grief unless you walk through them and be burned. And I knew we were telling an important story that somebody is going to happen across this movie and go, Oh, “The Parish”, what’s that? They will have lost someone in their life recently and the story needs to speak to them authentically.

So, I wanted it to be right.

With a religious tone and being a horror film. Is it harder to act out?

Angela: Yeah, it was something, again, a shout out going back to the writer Todd Downing.

First of all, what a lot of people don’t know and with his permission I’ve talked to him to share, this film came from the loss of his own wife.

He was writing from those horrors and his own battle with faith, how it’s so easily to lose faith. Like, how could God allow this? He is a father now with two children and his wife is ripped from him. He has vets in his family.

My mom’s partners a vet. So, when we started reworking the script, we talked about that. It’s not just us pulling the night terrors that I’m having of chasing the film, where obviously, you’re right, I have many moments of waking up from these nightmares of me needing to really be experiencing them and tap that emotion. And even though I’ve been in this industry for many, many years, I’m also an educator. I’m not just turning on a switch, I’m really feeling it. But it was so easy for me after hearing the stories, not only from my mom, but also from his friends or from my own friends who are vets, what they’ve seen what they’ve faced, and then imagine that you weren’t there with your loved one.

How would you mourn, how they died, you would make it probably pretty horrific? And we show that in the film.

As for what I had to go through with Sister Beatrice and the things that happened, and to be able to tap that emotion, what Todd allowed me and what David, not only as my partner but our director, allowed me was the space to get where I needed to be.

Our cinematographer, DP Dominic, who’s a dear friend of ours, also gave me the space. And what was great was that David made sure we had time. We do wish we had Bill one more day, because there were times in that church, which had a lot of emotion, that we only had that location three days, I would have loved to have had four or five, looking back, you learn so much.

I think that David mapped out giving all the actors the space, they needed to get where they needed to get. And he was never just like, come on time is money, let’s go, let’s go.

I think a lot of it was a mixture of all of us, lifting each other up and allowing that.

I personally am not the kind of actor who pulls from sense memory and that I’m not gonna pull from terrible things from my life. I don’t think that’s healthy. I don’t

think it’s safe.

However, like Bill said, I’ve experienced those things. So, it’s very easy for me to know what that felt like in my body. And what it is to actually feel that honest, truthful, horrific, heartbreaking, pulled you from under your feet kind of experience and emotion.

So, yeah, there was a couple days I needed time, there was a couple Angela needs a moment to cry in the corner. Get herself together.

Sanae again, who plays my daughter when we had one of the most horrific nightmares that I wake up and I just start sobbing and my daughter runs in if you remember that scene, after we stopped rolling on that I just kept crying. And Sanae, God bless her, was just holding me and she’s like, “they said cut, Angela, they said cut”. and I was like, “honey, it’s okay, I just need a moment”. But she was there.

I think all of us just gave each other the space to feed off of one another.

A film like “The Parish” uses, a lot of crosses, various shapes, and sizes.

Where did these crosses come from? Is there a warehouse in Hollywood that I don’t know about?

Angela: That’s a great question. We had some great people working on props and set - Reagan and Tim. But also, Todd, every time he writes something, he’s just such A) creative but B) such an optimist that he’s like, I’m gonna start collecting stuff. I’m gonna start pulling and buying or using in his own house.

Throughout the film we have some things that yes, our set designer and our props master purchased, but a lot of them, on purpose, were my own, were Todd’s.

There were things that we would run by Bill like, hey, would you rather use this this or this? That we would introduce pieces, we wanted to make sure that Bill was happy with what he was using and what felt right especially with the big church scene, but anything throughout.

Same with Sanae we let her connect with which cross she wanted to wear.

We had a lot and some of them are just also little Where’s Waldo, just little plants throughout. And also, there was a lot of cross images in the vision David had that he asked Dominic to find. So, if you look in the church, there’s this great moment when you see me and Bill first base off that great moment with the light coming when we first meet, the light coming behind us.

And if you look, there’s two crosses coming from the windows out of both of us. And they’re joining. So, it was all intentional.

I’m sure there’s a whole warehouse somewhere of crosses, I’m sure. We did not have access to that. We’re small little mom and pop shop, and so, we were pulling from what we had here in Seattle.

Now you’ve got a wicked cross collection.

Angela: Oh, yeah, whole Tupperware bins full. Yes. For the full interview and more photos, visit 519magazine.com