Calgary blues-rocker Matt Blais has played the Canmore Hotel a few times, but says his Aug. 14 show is “overdue, absolutely.”
Blais has been busy over the last year, touring behind his 2013 album The Heartbeat, shooting music videos in Toronto and L.A., and somehow finding the time to pen a song for the My Song for Change talent contest.
“I think that’s the best part of music, getting to play music live and getting to see the world while you do it with your friends and making new friends in different cities. That’s kind of why I got into music in the first place, so for me to not tour, I get really bored and I get that itch to travel,” Blais said.
“Different places are inspiring too. You get out of your comfort zone and you get new ideas. For an example, in the video in Toronto we didn’t plan that or anything. The guy we were staying with is an old friend of mine and he got some new camera equipment and he said, ‘I wouldn’t mind trying it out for something,’ and I said, ‘let’s make a video.’
“We planned it that night and shot it the next day. Touring and all that kind of stuff, you have to live by the seat of your pants and a lot of the time it works out really well for us.”
Blais has made a name for himself by being able to dabble in different genres and interweave musical styles in his songwriting. “It was never an intentional thing, it was always just that I wanted to do what was best for the song – so I would write a song and as we would work on it, it might lend itself to a bit of a funk vibe, or some blues or straight up rock,” Blais said.
“I listen to everything and I think most musicians would probably say the same. You can learn something from every genre, and I just really tried to not be afraid to have a really eclectic album. I think one of the strengths of the album is that if you’re in the mood for a softer folk song, well there’s gonna be one on the album, or if you want a harder rock song, there’s going to be one on the album, especially on The Heartbeat.
“I think there’s a difference between wanting to be a pop star or a rock star as there is to being a songwriter or an artist. If you want to be a pop star, well then, you probably can’t dabble in death metal, but if you’re more about experimentation, then you’re allowing yourself that room to be different.”
The singer/songwriter can also play a mean harmonica when a tune calls for it, and it was actually the first instrument he was ever given. “As a kid I just played with it like a toy. I didn’t really play it like an instrument at the time, so it just sat in a drawer collecting dust for years until I got my first guitar. Then you’d hear guys like Bob Dylan playing it together (with guitar).
“I figured out a way to do that, so one of the very first songs I ever wrote was me playing the acoustic guitar and I just rested the harmonica on top of it, kind of hunched over to play both at the same time because I didn’t have a harness like Dylan.”
Even though you wouldn’t know it, Blais says songwriting can still be a struggle, but the push for quality or quantity keeps him on a path he’s happy with.
“Obviously some days I enjoy it, but some days it’s a struggle and you have that pounding your head against the wall kind of feeling. You hear some songwriters could write 200 songs a year and then have to break it down for an album.
“I don’t really work that way. I kind of toil over them and with a certain song, if I’m not loving it right away, I’ll give it its chance but then I’ll ditch it. I don’t write a ton of songs, but I like to think I write good songs.
“I got into music to avoid deadlines, but who knows? I would rather release an album a little bit later and have it be better than release it for somebody’s random schedule – that’s not why I do it … the cool thing about this business is you always have to do something.”
