Tag: interview

Categories
Music

The Flatliners find their pulse on their latest record

Loud, aggressive and energetic—these are the three pillars of punk rock and Toronto’s The Flatliners have mastered these. Placing a particular importance on their live shows, this hard-hitting four-piece has toured extensively over the past decade. With the recent release of the band’s fourth studio album, Dead Language, these vets prove that there certainly is no rest for the wicked.

While many bands routinely see changes in their line-up, The Flatliners have remained undivided since their formation, a feature that has allowed them to become a tightly knit musical unit. Chris Cresswell, vocalist and guitarist for the group, recently spoke to The Concordian and discussed the band’s journey from the suburbs to center stage.

The Flatliners’ story is that of a group of tight knit, lifelong friends coming together to play the music that they love. These four musicians, so close that they share multiple tattoos including a beer can and Autobahn sign, rose through the ranks and ultimately came to share the stage with the very bands that inspired them in the first place. The band officially formed in 2002, but as Cresswell pointed out, the seeds of the group were sown years earlier. Cresswell’s mother introduced him to Scott Brigham, the band’s future lead guitarist, at a young age.

“This is Scott, he’s your new friend,” Cresswell recollected.

The duo met Jon Darbey, the group’s bassist, while in second grade and later percussionist Paul Ramirez. Cresswell grew up listening to a variety of music including Weezer, The Foo Fighters and Oasis, but he attributes his punk education to his older brother.

“He got me into grunge. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and punk like NOFX and No Use For a Name. One of the first bands I got into was Rancid,” the frontman recalled, “I got my mom to drive me into town to get [Rancid’s 1995 platinum album]… And Out Come The Wolves. I got it on cassette, I still have it somewhere.”

Darbey, previously a guitarist, was forced to play bass because as Cresswell stated “we already had two of them.”  With the release of the band’s second album, The Great Awake in 2007, The Flatliners joined their heroes Rancid, No Use For a Name and NOFX as label mates, at Fat Wreck Chords.

“ We’re proud to have been able to tour with some of the bands that we have,” he said.

Their most recent album’s name is a nod to both the fact that the band “released [their] first album in 2003 on CD and the format was already pretty dead,” as well as a connection to the lyrical themes of the album.

“A lot of songs on the album are about screwing up and starting over,” Cresswell stated.“Its like Latin, it’s a dead language but a lot of other languages use it as a base. They used the parts of it that worked and they made the parts that didn’t work, better.”

This long awaited album, the follow-up to the group’s highest charting album to date, 2010’s Cavalcade, was recorded in two large sessions.

“We recorded all the instruments for the album at the same time live in studio, with no click track, and did the vocals last,” said Cresswell. “We felt that we tour and play together enough to do that, we’re more of a live band than a studio band anyways.”

The band also recently contributed to The Songs of Tony Sly: A Tribute. This compilation album was released Oct.29 in dedication to the former frontman of No Use For a Name, Tony Sly, who passed away unexpectedly in August of 2012.

The album has songs by a variety of punk stars such as NOFX, Bad Religion and Rise Against, among others, covering the songs of Tony Sly with profits going to the Tony Sly Memorial fund.

“We’ve been at Fat Wreck Chords for a long time so when Fat Mike (owner of Fat Wreck Chords and NOFX frontman) asked us to play we wanted to do it” said Cresswell.  “We narrowed it down to “Fireball” because it was the one song we all agreed to.”

Cresswell added that while it was a terrible event, he was glad to have been a part of the album and was happy that the funds were going to a good cause.

The Flatliners will be playing at Cabaret Underworld on Dec.21.

Categories
Arts Student Life

Through the lens of a post-war photojournalist

Marc Ellison showing his way around the camera.

Marc Ellison is an award-winning photojournalist based in Vancouver. He sat down with The Concordian to discuss his experiences as a photojournalist in foreign territory with highlights from his time in Uganda.

Marc Ellison showing his way around the camera. Photo provided by Marc Ellison.

How did you first get involved in journalism?

It was a very roundabout path. For 10 years I was actually a computer programmer. I quickly realized that being in a cubicle wasn’t really what I wanted to do. I love to travel. I love photography. I love writing. It was only after spending some time in Rwanda in 2007, living with Rwandans and talking to Rwandans about the genocide, that I realized storytelling is what I wanted to do. After that experience in Rwanda I basically came back to Canada and put in my applications for journalism school. 

What are some of the factors that made you decide to work in developing countries rather than in Canada?

We’re in a time where foreign bureaus across the world are closing and I don’t think enough journalists do go abroad. I also think there are many countries that are underreported and often misreported as well. You know we talk about Uganda with child soldiers where if you were to believe Kony 2012 you would think the war is still going on. People would have you believe people are concerned about capturing Joseph Kony but really the women I interviewed out there are more interested in putting bread on the table. They don’t care about Joseph Kony. Those are things I think are important to cover. I think Africa as a continent doesn’t get the same amount of airtime as the Middle East. I was in South Sudan last year and there was a huge refugee crisis that unravelled at the same time as Syria and yet it barely hit the airwaves here in Canada.

 When you were working with former women child soldiers in Uganda, you let them take their own photographs. What are some of the benefits of participatory photography?

 For a start you can frame a photo to depict what you want to show. For example South African photojournalist Kevin Carter took a photograph of a child with a vulture flying overhead. What you don’t see in that photo is that the child is very close to an UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) tent. So it’s very easy as a photojournalist to show what you want to show. With giving the women cameras you’re not only allowing them to tell their own stories but there’s no trickery there. They are showing you what they want you to see. You’re getting this fly-on-the-wall, unadulterated view of what their lives are like. It doesn’t dress it up. It shows you what their lives are really like.

How do you ensure the dignity of people you are photographing?

In the Uganda project I don’t really want to try and sensationalize the issue and I don’t want to take advantage of the women. It’s interesting that the one photo that is arguably sensationalist is the one with the woman showing the scars on her chest. I always have to point out to people that that photo wasn’t actually my idea. The woman was talking about being stabbed in the chest with a bayonet. She said to the translator, “I want people to see this to understand that as a result of this injury I can’t work.” That really is the exception to the photos I’ve taken. I really don’t want to take advantage of these women, but I want to portray them how they would like to be seen. You can see on my website there’s a lot of very tasteful portraits of them either working with their family or in the market or things like that. I do my best. If somebody takes a photo of you, you want it to not necessarily be flattering but truthful.

Where do you think the market lies for less sensational photography?

Sadly there is the saying in journalism: if it bleeds it leads. It’s basically the same with photography. For the most part the more sensational types of photography are going to be what sells. It’s unfortunate but it’s just the way of the world.

To learn more about Marc’s work visit marcellison.com

To see more of his work in Uganda visit  dwogpaco.com.

All photographs by Marc Ellison.

[nggallery id=22]

Categories
Arts

Building connections, one country at a time

After years spent living abroad in Ethiopia and England, Salima Punjani now resides in Montreal as a Concordia student, working on a graduate diploma in journalism. The Concordian sat down with the 26-year-old to talk about her local and international endeavours.

How’s life in Montreal?

I love Montreal. [It’s] the one city in Canada I can see myself living in. Although with this whole charter of values thing, I really don’t know…The thing is, I tried to stop being angry and think about solutions of how to create a better sense of understanding. I worked at the ministry of education here for a couple of years for the Odyssey program. I was the promotion agent, which means I had to travel all around Quebec. Odyssey is the official languages program where French and English Canadians go to other [Canadian] cities to play informal language activities with young people in elementary or secondary school or CEGEP. It’s a good work experience but also a really good intercultural learning experience as well.

 

How did your love for photography develop?

I have always been creatively inclined, but never really supported in that creativity [until] I started with Oxfam in Canada and in Ethiopia. My boss was like, you’ve been talking about development communications for so long, why don’t you come in the field, take some photos and if they, [the head office], like them, they’ll use them. I felt really scared. But they [said], oh my god, some of these photos are amazing; you should really try and focus on that. It’s difficult to do [photography] full time, because I have more of an artistic eye than a technical eye. So for instance, at a conference, if I am bored, I’m really bad. Like, my photos are not good [laughs].

 

What were you doing in Ethiopia?

I did an internship at Oxfam Canada in Ethiopia. The internship was six months. But then I started working with artists, and I ended up staying for two years. I think it’s really important to report on arts and cultural types of events and movements actually coming out of Addis [Ababa]. People think of Africa and go, ‘oh yeah, people are just poor and starving’. Honestly, there is every NGO, based there [in Addis Ababa]. As a result, there is a market for art. There is an arts school, there’s a photography centre [and] there are a whole bunch of Ethiopian artists that are getting recognized at an international level. I think it’s great, because it helps build more connections between people. These are artists that have universal values of creativity and openness.

 

Your career keeps taking you towards humanitarian pursuits. Is this a deliberate choice?

Yeah. Journalism has always been something I knew I wanted to do. It [later] kind of developed to wanting to work in conflict zones to show more human elements to what’s going on, rather than just sensational recording. Local artists [in Ethiopia] really appreciated that a foreigner was not [solely] aiming for touristy photos. They were happy that someone wanted to show what daily life was like.

 

What kind of projects have you been involved in locally?

Last year I was working for this peer-to-peer learning organization called E-180. At their launch event, I exhibited gigantic photographs of people that were basically acting out their dreams as a reflection of their potential. I was inspired [at the time] by Jo Spence, an English photographer who used photography as a form of therapy while she was going through breast cancer and she would photograph her process of healing. I decided to photograph people acting out their dreams. So Greg, [who] wanted to be a pilot, was running out of cash because it’s really expensive [to get a license]. I photographed him in a plane, so when he looks at it, it’s a reflection of what he’s capable of doing. Another person I photographed was a filmmaker. She had a flyer for a film she hadn’t made yet, so we had it put up, and I photographed her looking at the film she hadn’t made yet. [And hence] it was “Portraits of Potential” series.

 

What’s your photography philosophy?

I really believe that participatory photography is important: training people to take their own photos so that they’re on their own terms, not depending on foreigners to come in and [tell] their own stories for them. I would say my philosophy is to make sure I show the dignity in people and not feed into stereotypical or sensational reporting because it will pay the bills. Lately also, I’ve been hearing a lot of about AnthropoGraphia – a blending of anthropology and photography. It often includes really spending time to actually get to know where you are and to show people in a dignified way. Matthieu Rytz, [Montreal-based photographer] coined the term; he is the one organizing the World Press Photo [exhibition] going on right now.

 

Speaking of, what did you think of the World Press Photo Exhibit?

It’s really raw. [In particular], the photo of the lady that got burned because she wanted a divorce from her husband – [“Victims of Forced Love”, Ebrahim Noroozi]. There is a struggle and there needs to be more voices shown from these women that are fighting for their life. You know, I worked with an organization in Ethiopia where there were rotating savings and credit groups that Oxfam helped to establish. The women would come together once a week, and participate in a traditional savings scheme, where people would put in, say 10 dollars a week, and every week someone wins the group’s money. The next week someone else wins. Then you can invest in something a bit bigger, maybe start their own business.

A really inspiring story [however], is that these women started [a] separate savings for women that were affected by violence. And so, as a group, they would confront the [abusive] husband and be like: ‘if you beat her one more time, we’re taking you to court.’ That would have never happened if they weren’t working together. And I wonder if I was to share those stories with other women struggling for their rights, it can be something inspiring, you know? As a journalist, it’s kind of what I think. It’s cross cultural sharing, and photography is a powerful medium to do that [with].

 

Categories
News

Shepard takes pride in Concordia’s diversity

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan
Graphic by Jennifer Kwan

During this year’s first briefing with President Alan Shepard, there were a myriad of topics to discuss. The main focus was Dr. Shepard’s experience after completing his first full year at Concordia’s helm but he also discussed his aspirations and how he plans to proceed in the upcoming year.

Admitting to 18-hour days at the office, Shepard is nothing short of committed. When asked about his first year with Concordia University, he explained that he learned a lot about time management and how to make adjustments to meet the schools needs. Concordia’s welcoming community of staff and students blew Shepard away, stating how proud he is of Concordia’s “rich, diverse and fantastic community.”

When asked about the upcoming year, Shepard explained his plans for the creation of both writing and math centres, designed to not only help students struggling with those subjects but also offer options to any student seeking improvement. Additionally, Shepard mentioned the amelioration of student financial aid and says that speeding up the admissions process is absolutely necessary, explaining the school needs “academic renewal in an era of online education.”

Dr. Shepard was also thrilled to tell students that Concordia is thriving – in comparison to many universities across the country who are unfortunately being forced to cut staff and programs due to budget cuts at massive levels, Concordia is in the process of strategically hiring new faculty members to work in multidisciplinary programs. Dr. Shepard says “it’s the way of the future. Programs that students want are now cross cutting, they don’t just do or focus on one thing.” Shepard said they are currently working on 9 or 10 new multidisciplinary programs to be advertised next July.

When asked about the repairs in the Hall building, Shepard says they are going to be on-going renovations to the lobby and that, for now, there is no definite deadline. There are also major advancements being done in the H-110 auditorium. The large space holds up to 650 students and is scheduled to be completely renovated by Jan. 2014. The president assured us that Quebec allocates a certain amount of funds for upkeep and renovations and that it does not interfere with the budget for programs and classes. The Hall building’s facelift is being done to improve the space and ambience for all students. Additional hopes for the building are to create an attractive destination in the heart of Montreal, providing the school with more opportunities, particularly during the times of the year where Montreal hosts many world-renowned festivals.

Finally, Shepard was keen on confirming the rumors of a logo change. Suggestions to remove the open-book graphic have been brought forth but no replacement image has been chosen. Shepard says he likes the idea of only using the school’s name and feels there is no graphic needed. Plans are to have the logo appear simple and minimalist with no overwhelming changes.

Categories
Music

Examining Montreal’s electronic scene

Photo by Keith Race
Photo by Keith Race

The Concordian sat down with 20-year-old journalism student Joel Abrahams who has, since his first year at Concordia, been regularly involved at the university’s radio station, CJLO, DJing around campus, as well creating his own music and producing albums.

The Concordian: So how did you get started at CJLO?

Abrahams: I started in [the] winter of my first year, in 2011. When I first started out, I was playing more mainstream electronic music and now I have moved into music that is, still electronic, but more closer to what I like to listen to.

C: What’s the atmosphere like there?

It’s a lot of fun. It’s cool ‘cause, for a university radio station, it’s well known and reputable. CJLO is highly regarded, yet it’s also very relaxed. You can more or less play whatever you want, in terms of music.

C: You were the DJ for the CSU’s Orientation BBQ event last year and you have the gig again this week. How did this come about?

The first time, they just put out a message [calling for DJ’s] and I responded to it. They came over and listened to my mix. And that’s it. This time, a person that I was in residence with is involved with them and put my name in, and I got it, since they knew me from last year.

 C: How did you get started in DJing and making music in the first place?

I think people probably underestimate how difficult it is to make electronic music. I have been working on it for three years. It was a good full year before I made an actual song. Not a song you’d wanna listen to but a song nonetheless with all of the parts, sounding proper. I was definitely not enjoying that. But after a year and a half or two, it became really fun. Like, I woke up at 8 a.m. and worked on this song right up until you came here.

 C: Whoa. I arrived at 5 p.m..

I know.

C: What kind of music do you make?

You know house music, right? House is 128 bpms. What I make is like 160 bpms. So it’s like a drum pattern but at a lot faster rhythm. It’s not as fast as drum bass but a little slower. It’s called footwork or juke. It started a long time ago, 20 or 30 years back, and it predates a lot of the electronic music that started to become a lot more popular. Yet it hasn’t hit the point at which people caught on to producing it to the level that it becomes sold and commercialized. What I think happened with dubstep and house music is that people were just so entrenched and focused in the one or two genres and all other ideas just completely got flushed out. For footwork and juke, it was local in its native city, Chicago, up until the ‘90s and then it spread out to other random pockets in the world. It became really popular in Japan and in parts of Eastern Europe and then, especially in the last few years, it started growing again exponentially.

C: What’s the scene for footwork and for juke in Montreal?

If you wanna focus in on that specific niche genre, Montreal is missing out, I guess. But in terms of electronic music, in Montreal or elsewhere, this is not an issue. The music I listen to, and the people listen to, tends to get passed around much more than other genres because it’s such a niche. So the scene right now is made up of people that are into the same kind of music and closely connected with the music they make, sharing it and giving me feedback on music I’ve produced. And I have become more open about giving others feedback on theirs. I think there are avenues that haven’t been tapped as well as they could have. I mean, there is one other person here [Montreal] who I was really inspired by to start focusing on this kind of music. His name is Hesk. But I think he moved to Toronto now. Nobody here really produces it and plays it live anymore.

 C: That’s disheartening. Have you tried reaching out to other students on campus to collaborate?

I haven’t’ found that many people [at Concordia]. I haven’t seen anybody that makes this kind of music. Not even Trap, [which is] hip hop beats made into electronic music, which is closely related to my music but much more popular. I’m sure I am wrong, though. But hopefully [if there is] someone reading this and wants to work together, [they] can reach me.

 C: For the curious, what kind of equipment are you using?

I use a digital DJ controller, right now. It’s a Numark NS6. I also use a Native Instruments Maschine. My keyboard that controls most of this stuff is the Akai Pro MPK49. And this Korg FX Pad is for effects and stuff.

C: And when you are not making your own music, where do you like to go in the city to hear music?

There are not that many places that I would like, really. If there is one place I would go to, it’s the Belmont.

C: So you are essentially saying that the best place for you to hear music, is your own home.

Yeah. I’ve got a pretty good set-up here [laughs].

Be sure to catch Joel Abrahams every Friday at 3 p.m., hosting the Death Metal Disco Show, starting next week on CJLO. You can also watch him DJing live at the CSU BBQ, Sept. 4 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Loyola Campus.

 https://soundcloud.com/emaciatebeats/trill-murray-tilt-emaciate

https://soundcloud.com/emaciatebeats/nicky-lucy

https://soundcloud.com/emaciatebeats/z-trap-shit-v16-emaciate-beats

Categories
Arts

Language is everything

Noah Richler's What We Talk About When We Talk About War was nominated for a 2012 Governor General’s literary award. Photo by Madelayne Hajek.
Noah Richler’s What We Talk About When We Talk About War was nominated for a 2012 Governor General’s literary award. Photo by Madelayne Hajek.

For Canadian writer and journalist Noah Richler, maintaining a critical view of your country and its politics is paramount.

Born in Montreal, Richler studied classics and archeology at McGill and then moved on to study politics and economics at Balliol College at Oxford University in England. Subsequently, he worked for BBC Radio and then returned to Canada in 1998 to work at the National Post as the paper’s books editor. Richler’s first book, This Is My Country, What’s Yours, won the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction in 2007.

Although Richler has lived a great part of his life in England, he still feels very attached to his home country of Canada. “Going back and forth between Canada and Britain affected my outlook a lot,” he said, “because I feel very Canadian.”

Richler is no stranger to the Canadian literary world. His father, Mordecai Richler, Concordia’s most famous dropout, is one of Montreal and Canada’s most celebrated writers. Unlike his father, Richler sticks to non-fiction when it comes to his writing. “I think of myself as an essayist,” he said.

Like every other writer, Richler dedicates a lot of himself to his work. “I try to work at least five days a week,” he said. “I try to write everyday to remind myself that that’s what I do.”

When asked about his writing process Richler said, “when you find a book, or a book finds you, it determines its own rhythm. You work like mad and everything you see in the world around you has to do with the idea that you’ve chosen.”

Mainly preoccupied with Canadian identity Richler’s newest book, What We Talk About When We Talk About War, which was nominated for this year’s Governor General’s literary award for non-fiction, takes a critical look at the country Canada has become after multiple international wars.

Richler says he was inspired to write the book when he saw an interview between CBC’s Shelagh Rogers and Master Cpl. Paul Franklin, a soldier who was wounded in the Afghan war. In the interview, Franklin’s wife said that if Canada had pulled out of the war, her husband would have lost his legs for nothing. “That’s true,” said Richler, “but it’s also not an argument for staying.”

Richler addresses many issues in his new book, like the way politicians and the military use language to convince Canadians that we are a warrior nation.

“I was very upset at the language that was being used,” he said. When asked about the impact he would like his book to have on his readers, Richler said, “My book will be successful if it brings people’s attentions to the way we use language to permit different things.”

Richler often speaks in high schools because he understands the importance of reading. “I like speaking at schools,” he said, “it’s a very good discipline for me.” Richler recounts what it was like as a child to pick up a book, not like it and feel guilty about it. “You don’t like a book, don’t worry about it,” he said, “It’s not your fault. Just don’t stop reading because of it.”

Writing a book on war is a sombre topic and Richler hopes that his book will incite readers to take a more serious outlook on war. “When we go to war,” he said, “we should do it with gravity and lament. It’s a serious thing. We should really regret having to do it.”

With the recent success of What We Talk About When We Talk About War, which was published last April, one would expect Richler to sit back and enjoy the attention. However, writers are restless souls and he is already planning a new book.

What We Talk About When We Talk About War retails for $24.95 and is available from Chapters Indigo and Amazon.ca.

Categories
Music

Jonas Bonnetta talks Evening Hymns and inner light

Evening Hymns. Press photo

The Concordian spoke with Jonas Bonnetta, the folk singer-songwriter at the heart of Evening Hymns, ahead of his show at Le Cagibi on Saturday.

Evening Hymns. Press photo

The Concordian: What does Evening Hymns mean?

Jonas: When I chose that band name it was meant to create a quiet place.

 

C: When did you start working with Sylvie Smith on Evening Hymns?

J: I knew her from her old band, Habitat. We met three or four years ago when I was recording the song “Western Roads” as a solo artist, and I asked her to sing on it because I knew she had a nice country voice. It sounded really good, and we realized we should write more music together.

 

C: Your father recently passed, what kind of relationship did you have with him?

J: It was great, he was an awesome dad, couldn’t ask for anything more. After I graduated high school he bought a trucking company and I worked with him there for 6 years. We were business partners. And then he bought a sawmill, and I worked there for years. I didn’t go away to university. I drove to work with him every day. I took care of him. We were really close.

 

C: What does your latest album, Spectral Dusk, mean to you?

J: First of all, it was for me, my mum, my two brothers and sister. We are all really pleased with it. It’s a snapshot of my dad. That’s really all that I was concerned with. But every show we play, someone comes up to me saying that they really connected to it because they’d lost somebody. It’s 50 minutes of something peaceful and gentle to think about; to cherish the people you’re close to that are still alive and think about the people you’ve lost. I don’t think of it as dark, it’s more light. It’s a 50 minute reflection, more so on life than death.

 

C: Evening Hymns has toured more in Europe than at home, in Canada. Why? 

J: We released a record in France. This really great magazine there, Magic Magazine, reviewed our first album and a label heard it, liked it and asked us to re-release it there. We then toured in France, all through Europe. There’s a bit of a ‘thing’ for Canadian music over there. I think we got in at the right time there. The right people heard us, we got lucky. The more you tour physically, the more your audience grows. But now we’re focusing on Canada. This is only our second full tour across Canada.

 

C: What hole, if any, does music fill for you in life?

J: It’s my main creative outlet. I don’t necessarily want it to be my 100 per cent job. It would be nice if I could make enough money for me to take long chunks of time off to write and record, but I like working. I like having jobs to do. I probably will for the rest of my life, even if music does start paying a little bit more. I think working is important. I love working with wood. If I find work for a couple months doing that in between tours, it’s not a bad thing. It’s good; it helps me grow as a person aside from music.

 

C: What is it you like about working with wood?

J: I think it’s nice having something tangible to work with. I grew up in the woods and I have a nice connection to the woods. The smell of it and the way it works is amazing. It always makes me feel comfortable.

 

C: Why has Evening Hymns remained, at its core, a duo?

J: It just makes sense logistically to keep it stripped down. Can’t afford to bring a full seven piece band across Canada. We are touring as a four piece band when we come to Montreal. I don’t really have an interest in recreating the record live, as a full band, we already recorded it that way. I want to continue to change it and keep it interesting for us. If I have to perform for two thirds of the year, the last thing I want to do is play the same thing every night. Its nice for us to try and reinvent the songs. Its fun and challenging.

 

Trial track: “Arrows”

Evening Hymns play Le Cagibi on Saturday, Nov. 24.

Categories
Music

Clement Jacques on language, passion and life

Jacques Clement album.

The video for Clement Jacques’ “Femme invisible ” was shot on the road from Montreal to Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, his hometown.

Jacques Clement album.

“Maybe I should go back and drive up to the north/Far from all that I’ve been trying to flee […] Came here to find some truth not easy to believe […] I’m afraid it is too late.” He wrote these lyrics after the move from his native home to Montreal a couple of years ago, uncertain about this shift.

“I wondered at that moment if it would have been better to have stayed in Saguenay and get a normal job,” said Jacques. “I didn’t know if I had made the right choice.”

Apparently he did.

After releasing his first album in English, Consumed and Guilty, the folk singer-songwriter launched Le Maréographe in 2011, his first French record. With this second album, Jacques dipped into the francophone scene and gained radio airplay. He was also part of the D’une île à l’autre artist series, which was launched in promotion of the French language and emerging francophone artists. His decision to shift from English to French was not a conscious one, nor was it something he took the time to think out rationally. It came naturally.

“In French, I sing more intellectually,” said Jacques. “I sing with my heart and guts. It’s not that I don’t do that in English, it’s different.”

Music may be his primary passion, but he also works at a bike shop to make ends meet, and for the diversity.

“I don’t think I’m meant for a steady job. I love to try my hand at different things,” said Jacques. “It clears my head. I have the impression of self-accomplishment, of thriving.”

Music gives him the opportunity to communicate differently than in words. Music ‘speaks’ for him, and allows him to reach out and touch people. Jacques’ main goal is to continue composing music and to be as proud of it as possible, independently of the amount of people it attracts.

“An album is meant to stay for life. Even when you’re dead, it is something that will stay on earth,” said Jacques. “It was recorded in a certain way, you can’t backtrack. Your goal is to be proud of it so you’ll never regret it.”

Categories
News

A Q&A session with Concordia President, Alan Shepard

Photo courtesy of Concordia University.
Photo courtesy of Concordia University.

Concordian: What do you think of the recent external review of Concordia’s governance?

Shepard: The PricewaterhouseCoopers external review was the next and, I think, last chapter in this part of the university’s history. They seem like reasonable recommendations to me. The goal here is to bring more transparency to the governance process.

The external review is tied to something called the Shapiro Report, when the Board of Governors invited Bernard Shapiro and two colleagues in several years ago. That was an important move for Concordia. It took a lot of courage to invite someone else in and do an audit of governance. There were more than 40 recommendations made, virtually all of which have been adopted by Concordia.

Concordian: How is the university preparing for the loss of money from the tuition fee increase? What measures have been taken?

Shepard: No measures have been taken yet. The loss of the increase, in the short term, is only about 0.8 per cent of the total operating budget. We don’t know whether the government will be restoring that money to us in a different way. My pledge is that if we have to, we will make changes to the budget which will not affect teaching and learning. I don’t think that would be fair to do.

Concordian: Has the Parti Québécois contacted the university at all with regards to the repeal?

Shepard: We are, of course, in regular contact with the government, but no instructions about that have been sent yet.

Concordian: According to a recent news report done by The Link, some international students at Concordia are being treated poorly. What has been done to address this?

Shepard: There is an inquiry under way, being done by VP services Roger Côté. It shouldn’t be a long process of months and months. We don’t want to jump to conclusions, whether this is an isolated or widespread issue. I’ve asked [Côté] to report back to me in a few weeks.

Concordian: Do you have an overarching goal for the year?

Shepard: What I would like to restore to Concordia is its internal trust in itself. It’s a strong place. It’s a place where many things are going well. We are going to work with the community to unleash the potential of Concordia. There’s no reason why Concordia can’t be known as one of the best universities in Canada.

Concordian: What firm plans do you have in mind to make this happen?

Shepard: I’m really interested in helping Concordia figure out how we’re going to be a university for the next generation. I think our research side has really developed over the years. What hasn’t kept pace is how the teaching and learning technology has advanced.

This interview has been edited for length.

Categories
News

Léo Bureau-Blouin on his choice to enter Quebec politics

MONTREAL (CUP) – At 20-years-and-seven-months-old, Léo Bureau-Blouin is the youngest candidate running in this campaign to become a member of Quebec’s National Assembly.

Bureau-Blouin became a well-known face in Quebec over the course of his term as president of one of the province’s largest student organizations, the Fédération étudianté collégiale du Québec. After completing two presidential terms on June 1, he joined the ranks of sovereigntist provincial party, the Parti Québécois.

The FECQ is one of four student unions officially representing students throughout the now seven-month long general strike against the Liberal government’s scheduled increase of tuition fees. During his two-year run as president, Bureau-Blouin represented the interests of CÉGEP students in negotiations with government officials.

Bureau-Blouin says he was approached by the PQ in late June and decided to take the party up on their proposition to assist and support him in running as a PQ candidate in the riding Laval-des-Rapides, just north off the Island of Montreal.

He was reached by phone mere days before the election. The interview was conducted primarily in French.

CUP: There’s a stereotype that executives from the student federations often use their roles as student representatives as a launch pad for their political careers. How do you respond to this considering that you are a former FECQ executive who has now joined a major political party?

Bureau-Blouin: First of all, if all I had wanted from the start were to create a place in politics for myself, I would have achieved something completely different because it’s a lot of work and a lot of energy. That is to say it is extremely difficult [for others] to interpret someone’s intent for creating a career — [it could be] because they are passionate. We need to encourage youth to be involved in politics. People who talk of these stereotypes present it as if politics are a bad thing but in many ways [political processes] are very positive.

Concerning the number of youth in politics, 10 per cent of the electorate is youth but zero per cent are present in the National Assembly. So it’s time to take part and, as for me, I wish that more young people would run in the next elections because if we want to youth to get involved in politics, it takes young candidates.

CUP: So you have not attended university — do you feel you would make a statement of sorts if you were to become a member of the National Assembly without a university degree?

BB: Regardless, I wish to finish my studies — it’s absolutely necessary to obtain my degree however already in the National Assembly there are several elected members who do not have degrees. It’s not a novelty because in this society, it’s only 20 per cent of the population who obtained university degrees — so it’s normal in governments to have representatives without degrees. But, me, I see myself getting a degree in the long-term, just not right away.

CUP: As the former president of FECQ, you were a representative for CÉGEP students. Do you feel students support you now as an electoral candidate?

BB: Yes, but students, like society, are not one unit — there are people who feel differently, there are all kinds of people who are students — but, I think, yes. I think that the majority of students are happy with what I’m doing. The objective is to demonstrate that we can continue to build in different ways.

CUP: The PQ stance on tuition in the media has been to increase fees on par with inflation — do you think students will be content with this?

BB: What we said was that we will abolish the increase of tuition fees, we will abolish the Charest government’s special law [Law 12], and we spoke of holding financial and business consultations with universities. One of the propositions that were put on the table was to have tuition fees increase at the same rate as the cost of living.

For me, I defend the students’ cause, that is to say that tuition fees should not increase. But I am pragmatic and the objective is to engage with aim to finding a consensus in this discussion and I think what the students really want is not to have a drastic [tuition] increase like what we saw with the Liberals.

CUP: You and PQ leader Pauline Marois called for students to halt any strike actions because, according to your statements at the time, the student conflict plays into the Liberal Party’s strategy. Why did you feel this way and, considering the actions that occurred earlier this week at the Université de Montréal, do you feel the same now?

BB: First of all, the call we made was to end the strike for the duration of the election campaign because the Charest government profited from the student conflict to mask its track record for the last nine years. And the call worked as CÉGEP students decided to go back to class together with universities, with the exception of two faculties at the Université du Québec à Montréal and several modules at U de M — so we’re talking less than 2,000 students.

So why did we do it? Because the Charest government’s strategy is so simple: talk about the student conflict and avoid talking about corruption and collusion, avoid bad reports and shale gas, and the least successful events during their governance. And I think it’s important to not let those issues drop.

CUP: And finally concerning statements by Marois that some characterize as racist and xenophobic —notably the institution of French test for candidates running for public office — what is your view on these statements?

BB: There is already a test for immigrants to Quebec so there’s nothing revolutionary there. It’s already there; it’s just not a standardized test. We are just asking people to have command of French because for Canadian immigrants, you must have a good knowledge of French or English. In Great Britain, you cannot work in the country if you do not have a good knowledge of English — that’s how it works in most countries all over the world. How can you integrate someone into society if you cannot communicate with that person?

CUP: Do you see an irony between the two positions you are seen to represent; being against tuition hikes but for a French test that targets certain communities?

BB: I think it’s two separate things; tuition fee hikes because we think education should be affordable for everyone but, on the other side — [and] it’s two separate things — we think that we need to have a common language to be able to talk together. In Ontario and the rest of Canada, people speak English and understand themselves in one language. If the government can’t say something to the people, we have a big problem.

Right now, there’s a problem that is that more and more people don’t speak French at home in Quebec and for us it’s a huge concern.

For the moment there is already a French test to become a citizen of Quebec, but there is no real verification, there’s no real standardized test. What we want is to make sure people have a real understanding of French when they arrive here in Quebec.

I think it’s a matter of giving the immigrants all the chances they need to be integrated into the society and to emancipate themselves, because I think many people are arriving here in Quebec and they are really frustrated because they have difficulty integrating themselves. But maybe if we were giving people more tools to learn French and if we were saying to them at first, you need to speak French to come here, I think it would be easier for them to become part of the society.

Categories
Arts

The way we used to Cut and Paste

Pancakes, collage, 2011.
Pancakes, collage, 2011.

Amanda Durepos graduated from Concordia this June from the Art History and Studio Art program. The Concordian sat down with Durepos to discuss her new art exhibit and the inspiration behind her fascinating work.

Q. (A.S) What did you take away from your time at Concordia?

A. (A.D) I learned to allow myself to be vulnerable and to worry less about a finished piece and more about paying attention to the process and experimentation. I initially felt pressure to have a coherent and established style but soon realized that I was (and still am) undergoing a lot of self-discovery.

Q. (A.S) When or where did the inspiration for this project begin?

A. (A.D) I’ve always had a bit of an interest in technology, and a few months ago I began reading a lot about Google and how the company has completely changed the way we distribute and receive information. I also was surprised by the results that came up when I Googled my own name and spent a long time disabling and cancelling accounts on various websites; accounts which were long dormant and no longer representative of who I am today.

Q. (A.S)  In your statement you say that your practice often deals with “the paradoxes introduced in our lives through technology”, can you specify what some of these paradoxes are?

Oh, my ears and whiskers! Collage, 2012.

A. (A.D) It seems to me that recent history has been marked by a widespread adoption of technology in everyday life. Our increasingly symbiotic relationship with technology yields a paradoxical influence both on the way experience interpersonal relationships and the ways in which we access and process information.

For example, I am thrilled that the internet enables me to connect to my faraway family members. Although I have only met my newborn niece twice, my frequent video chatting with her has brought me closer into her life than would otherwise be possible. Conversely, some days I get home from work and can spend hours browsing forums, Reddit or countless other black holes of content and in the process completely neglect my boyfriend. In this sense, technology has the potential to bring us closer together from a distance, but can simultaneously alienate us from our immediate surroundings.

The Fallow Deer, framed print, 2012.

In my collage Dürer’s Rhinoceros, I am referencing a woodcut from the 16th century by Albrecht Dürer. Despite never having seen a rhinoceros himself, Dürer worked from a written description of someone else to create the woodcut. The interesting thing about the woodcut is that although it vaguely looks like a rhinoceros, there are a many incorrect or invented anatomical features. Nonetheless, the woodcut was very popular in Europe, was used in encyclopaedias, copied frequently and considered for centuries by Westerners as being a true representation of a rhinoceros. Today, we access information from a multiplicity of sources on the web and tend to think of the internet as providing democratic and more accurate and immediately accessible access to information. What we sometimes don’t address is the fact that the way this wealth of information is sorted is not always ideal. When one Google searches a subject to learn about it, the result that rises to the top is not necessarily the most accurate but the most popular, which reminded me a lot of Durer’s woodcut. Could it be that even in an age where we have access to many different standpoints, we could still be exposed to inaccurate information?

Q. (A.S) Could you tell me about how the ‘profile’ or, way we represent ourselves online is represented in the exhibit?

A. (A.D) My boyfriend and I met on a picture rating website when we were 15 years old. Because the history of the forum is stored chronologically, I discovered that I could time travel backwards in the forums and read interactions between us before we had met. It was fascinating for me to see the formal way in which we addressed one another, and how this differs drastically from who we are today and the ways that we interact. In this way, I have found that my self from 7 years ago has left quite a trace online. What is notable (and embarrassing) about it is the fact that I can go back and see quite tangibly who I was at that time. Before the internet, our memories of our old selves or old friends are pieced together perhaps through photos or home videos. When we were 15, we all said things we would be embarrassed about today, but I have the misfortune of having that dialogue in a public cyberspace. And as I have discovered, erasing a blog can be more difficult than the ridding of a diary book!

To have an online profile is to define something static about a self that is always in flux. Although we can update our profiles to match the changes that take place in our lives, some aspects remain, concretized in cyberspace. Anyone who has ever Googled themselves can see that there are sometimes things that you wish were not there.

Alter Egos (series), prints, 2012.

As an artist, I sometimes feel pressure to establish an online presence, and to plan for exhibits to showcase what I am working on. However, just as I am constantly growing and changing, so is my work. Collage is very playful and when I work with it, I am without intent. It is a very stream-of-consciousness process, very much like living life or breathing. It becomes complicated when I have to frame it or define it.

Q. (A.S) I found the Alter egos series to be particularly striking because it was done with computer technology and all your other pieces were done by hand, a literal cut and paste. Why is this? What made you choose to do this series differently?

A. (A.D) A struggle I face in wanting to work with original vintage material is that it is difficult to come across very large source material. The initial collages for the Alter Egos series were 4 x 6” and were done manually. It is interesting to me, that upon enlarging them and thereby converting them to a digital equivalent, they are likely to last longer. That is to say, my collages are created with source material which is already mouldy and yellowed, and are likely to have a much shorter life, like a fleeting memory. These prints have been digitalized and are therefore immortal!

Q. (A.S) I noticed that the pieces were displayed with little polish, some of the pieces coming off from their backgrounds, curling etc. Was this intentional, if so why?

A. (A.D) Creating a collage is very spontaneous for me and I can work very swiftly. I do not like to revisit collages I make and do not “touch them up”. Additionally, I like the character of curled and yellow paper and want people to be able to see the pieces as more than just flat images, but rather as objects on paper, wherein the paper is an important aspect. I have fun when I create my collages and I do not want them to be seen as precious images.

Q. (A.S) Can you talk about Slowness Japanese bound-book?

Slowness, Japanese-bound book, 2012.

A. (A.D) The book was created as an assignment for a drawing class at Concordia. I was thinking about the way the internet affects the way we absorb and process information. Before the internet, one would have no choice but to go to the library, take out an encyclopaedia and read it in a linear fashion, and then condense the information later. Linear, and slow appreciation of text seems to be falling out of fashion.

For my piece Slowness, I cut up Milan Kundera’s novel Slowness, using words from the novel itself to piece together the Wikipedia article. I was taking this idea to an extreme and envisioning a hypothetical time in which even pleasure reading (which is necessarily slow and linear by definition) is fractured, a victim of instant gratification. I chose this book in particular because Kundera suggests in it that speed is linked to forgetting and only slow, uninterrupted appreciation can submit something to memory.

This interview has been edited for length.

Amanda Durepos’ exhibit Cut and Paste is on display at Papeterie Nota Bene 3416 Du Parc until June 1, with a vernissage taking place May 31 from 5-8pm.

Categories
Music

The Concordian sits down with Andrew W.K., the self-proclaimed king of partying

Last Friday, musician, motivational speaker and self-proclaimed king of partying Andrew W.K. visited Concordia for an unconventional lecture that flew between topics like the detailed intricacies of an amazing sandwich, the festival of the Juggalos and depressing literature. The talk, presented by the Fine Arts Students Alliance, saw the man in white explain why he wanted to smash his bus driver into a brick wall, it saw him momentarily break into a solo hardcore dance, and one audience member wiping his own blood onto the speaker’s shirt. We doubt such antics have ever occurred in the walls of H-110 before. W.K. was also in town to perform a DJ set later that night as FASA’s contribution to the Art Matters Festival. But before either of those escapades took place, the Concordian sat down for a quick, but surprisingly insightful interview with him: 

Concordian: You’ve been interviewed by everyone from Narduar, to Fox News, to a young kid, so what’s your take on doing interviews?

Andrew W.K.: I like it and I’ve liked it always. I remember the first interview I did as Andrew WK and I couldn’t believe this person really just wants to talk to me. And even if they don’t, they’re being paid to talk to me. They have their questions, they’ve looked up things about me, I mean it’s a huge ego boost. So of course in that way I like it. But after that you wonder what can you do with this. Now that you have this chance to talk with someone what can you say. I’ve tried to keep it not only entertaining for the readers and for the writers but also for myself as well,, to find new answers. It’s like psychoanalysm or something, it really is. I’ve learned more about myself from doing interviews than any amount of psychotherapy ever could have done. And I guess it’s because you’re trying to come up with reasons for like ‘why did you write this song?’ Well I’ve never thought about it. It’s interesting, it’s very self-indulgent but I think it’s fun, it’s healthy. A long as you’re aware while you’re doing it that it’s completely absurd that anyone would want to talk to me to this degree, then everything’s okay. If you get too swept away with interviews you can enjoy them too much or grow to hate them like many people do. But to me it’s just a pleasure that you want to talk to me at all.

So you’ve been keeping busy, between your music, motivational speaking, your television show Destroy Build Destroy, the club that you own, you’re working on a breast cancer awareness campaign right now, etc. So how do you balance all of those things and which is your favourite?

My favourite is entertainment, show business, performing, or however you want to define this realm. As much as I am doing different things, they all fit under the same umbrella very, very clearly. I mean it’s easy for me, I’m not doing mathematics on one hand, social studies on the other hand; it’s pretty much partying and entertainment, all the good stuff. I grew up as someone who was into drawing, and painting, and music, and theatre and it just became very obvious that the entertainment industry would allow me to do all of those things. They are all justified, they all fit […] Anything I could ever think to do, not only has a place here, but is valuable here. So that’s what I love about it, I feel like I was born to work in this field.

So I noticed you tweeted this week that every day you write a to-do list, and the one you posted was : 1)party 2) party 3) party hard 4) call mom and dad 5) party harder. So where does work fit in?

Work is an interesting word. I used to kind of think you weren’t supposed to want to do work, and work isn’t a good thing and the whole goal of life was to work so hard that you wouldn’t have to work or something. But work, of course, is what life is all about. You’re working at all times at least just to survive. The only time you don’t work is when you’re going to sleep, but for me even that sometimes takes some work. But for me, if you enjoy the work that is like the greatest thing because putting energy and effort into something that you love and then seeing results from that, that may be one of the meanings of life. To have something to do and to do it well. To me that is partying hard. […] Work is different than a job. I don’t really ever want to have a job. I’ve had jobs and they sucked because that’s the type of work that is not fun. But work doesn’t have to be a job, it’s something I’ve just been realizing now. I work harder now than I actually did when I had regular jobs. But it’s a work that is so full of joy that I would never call it a job. A job is not good vibes.

What about the Arts Matters event drew you in?

Well for one I’m a big fan of Canada, so that was the easy part about it. And two, a fan of Montreal, I’ve spent quite a bit of time here. I also worked with some of the organizers for this event at a Canadian festival called Sled Island that I enjoyed very much. But at the same time this is my first university lecture anywhere in Canada, so I was very pleased. I mean I just can’t believe that I get invited to do this stuff so part of it is just embracing it before they change their mind and uninvited me.

What can one expect from an Andrew WK lecture?

That I will show up. That’s about the only thing that you can expect […] I have arrived, I’m here. And expectations beyond that? We’re just going to party hard.

What do you hope students get tout of all this?

That it puts them either further in touch or back in touch  or amplifies with whatever excitement or will they already have to party, enjoy themselves and to do what makes them happy. I’m just here to facilitate more of that feeling, to be a spokesperson for joy.

As someone who uses the word party extensively in songs, what’s your best party story?

Well it’s going to be a party story that we write tonight, I imagine, at this event. I leave it open. The greatest party is always ahead of me, the time of your life that you’ll remember forever is always in front of you and ideally every day is the best day you’ve ever had.

Let’s play the word association game:

Canada: St. Hubert

Destroy: Build

Fox News: Screaming face

Party: hard

Charlie Sheen: Winning, I guess. Bi-winning.

This week FASA will also be posting a full podcast of Andrew W.K.’s lecture on their website, fineartsstudentalliance.ca.

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