Jesus was a carpenter
Brendan Murphy
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Collett: Well hammered
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And so was Jason Collett, now well on the way to becoming an indie god in his own right
While Jason Collett may be preparing for his upcoming show at Main Hall this Saturday, and a tour with Feist that kicks off at month's end, he's also about to hang up his tool belt for a while. "I'm actually right in the middle of retiring from carpentry. I'm still working on my own house, but I just don't have the time any more." Collett, who has been doing renovations and custom home building for well over a decade, says that it's been invaluable to his music career. "This is the first time that music is paying for carpentry, instead of the other way around. It's been a great thing to have, though, because it's allowed me to not have to do what some musicians have been forced to, which is doing things musically that they're not into creatively and artistically."
Collett, who on top of being a skilled woodsmith is a family man, causes me to wonder if he enjoys hitting the road as much as some of his younger contemporaries.
"I really do like touring. It's very busy at home and a bit chaotic. Touring can be monotonous from some people, but I like that about it. It's good for writing. Also, if I'm going to be out on tour and away from my family, then I have to make it count - I can't just fuck around and go on some vanity tour."
Collett, whose recent solo record Idols of Exile has been garnering praise as intelligent, roots-based indie folk (more on shitty descriptors later), is also the man behind Radio Mondays, a singer-songwriter night in Toronto that featured people like Hayden,
Kathleen Edwards and his Broken Social Scene friends long before they all became household names. I ask if it's ongoing. "I still do it if I'm home. It takes some work, because I like to get the chemistry right. I think the best shows are the ones with the most mistakes, the most drunken revelry. Some of the best moments, as a musician, are those first few rehearsals when people are just figuring things out and things just click."
Collett's album, while clearly a solo project, was flushed out with the help of some of these similarly inclined friends.
"It happened fairly organically. A lot of them were on the road with me when I was on tour with Broken Social Scene. Emily [Haines from Metric] wrote that song [Hangover Days] with me while we were in the tour bus. It was sort of a revolving door, which was a nice way to work."
As we try to figure out what a New York Times review meant when it recommended his previous release, Motor Motel Love Songs, to "disillusioned Ryan Adams fans," Collett, as a favour to me, the lazy journalist, attempted to pigeonhole his music.
"I would say I'm interested in songwriting in the classic sense, mining traditional music - sort of like the way Jack White has been mining the old, weird Americana. I'm becoming more comfortable with what feels good, and trying to throw away the overthinking."
We finish off talking about how his label, Arts & Crafts, has become an absolute powerhouse in Canadian music.
"Yeah, the Arts & Crafts mafia. It's surprised me how huge they've become, though it doesn't take much to create a stir in this country. I think they just have taken some chances, which [major labels] rarely do." Collett says the majors, those lumbering giants whose fear of irrelevancy has become absolutely palpable, have recently been trying to co-opt some of that indie cool.
"Believe me, it's happening. Majors want to get Arts & Crafts to run the release of the first few hundred albums, so it looks like [the artists are] on Arts & Crafts. They can get press interest now in a way that the majors just can't."
Jason Collett
And Paso Mino at Main Hall (5390 St-Laurent), Jan. 14
I only know Jason Collett because he opened some shows for Metric on their last tour in the fall. So I think it's safe to say that that's what really got the Jason Collett ball moving. No one knew who he was before, and after this brief stint with his buddies in Metric, he's the talk of the town. And who says being an opening act doesn't get you anywhere, huh?
Montreal didn't get Jason as an opener, but I had heard about the other shows he played at, and the majority of people were ranting and raving. Lots of my friends in Toronto were suddenly going crazy for him. I just had to see for myself what the fuss was all about and immediately downloaded a few recommended tunes. The first couple, "All I've Ever Known" and "Blue Sky" were extremely slow and rather tedious to sit through. I honestly couldn't listen past the first minute or so. There's just something really average about his music. You know how some singers pour their heart into their music and you can just hear it in their voice? Well Jason just sounds really bland, dull, and unexcited for some reason. Unless part of his 'cool' factor is that he's laid back like that, and doesn't try too hard. To me, it equals unoriginal.
I'm all for giving any type of music or artist a chance, especially the independent artists because I know how difficult it is for them to get their stuff heard. But I also have standards, and none of them will be lowered, not even for the likes of Jason Collett. He's just not good enough for me. Something doesn't strike. I don't listen to a song of his and get a sudden rush of excitement. I don't listen to him and hear a distinct sound where I can say "oh, that's definitely Jason Collett." I listen to him and say "wait... is that John Mayer? Or Death Cab For Cutie?" Which reminds me, his song "Diggin' In The Carpet" sounds ridiculously like something Death Cab would do.
Bottom line, I don't get the fuss. At all. He's just not exciting. Average, slightly catchy indie rock at best.
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Vanessa Hasid
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{45 votes}
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| (((My Two Cents))) - Over excessive Hype |
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Now I am from Montreal and I like to support the local scene. However, sometimes I find that Canadian are praised too much when they do not truly deserve all that recognition. In my absolute estimation, Jason Collett is a perfect example of one of those.
Now, Jason Collett has a good voice. Jason Collett has an ok live show. But there is a keyword in both of those sentences; good. It isn't great and it isn't anything knew and right now I do not see anything with him that truly distinguished from artists like Jonas and Ron Sexsmith and other male songwriters. He still needs to discover himself as a musician and can become much stronger. To me right now, he is simply good, average, nothing extra special. He needs more work before he can be considered a great.
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Zachary Masoud
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{32 votes}
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| Jason Collett Breaks Out! |
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Well, I saw Jason Collett open for The Stars at Cabaret La Tulipe just before X-Mas and have to admit that, although it took me a few songs to warm up to him, by the end of his set I was totally won over. Backed by members of The Stills(!), this Broken Social Scene alumnus is as captivating a frontman as they come. Evoking shades of Dylan and Waits, Collett's rocking folk (folking rock?!?) alt-country musings are as toe-tapping in their uproarious rhythm as they are warm, nostalgic and engaging in their lyrical sincerity!
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Mark St Pierre
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{24 votes}
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| Music - Make the People... |
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I don't know, call me not Montrealee enough, or even ''un-Quebecer'', if you will; but all these names you hour people = dropping as though they = yesterday's news = people I have Never heard of. & if it weren't for reading these hour.ca articles, I don't believe I'd Ever even become familiar with these artists' names - & that's the Truth, Ruth!
I know, by the way, that you name is not Ruth...it just rhymes with Truth OK.
All right, and to be honest, I think that I've just gotta be a whole lot more brutally honest in this new year. It = not a resolution or anything, but I just thought that it = something missing in the world.
N-E-ways, all the best to Colette something or other.
Peace.
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Dawn Manhertz
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{21 votes}
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