In 2017 Alissa and I got married and our plan was to live in Seattle, since she is a therapist and I’ve been traveling in the US for a number of years and the fact that Victoria is on an island, which presents travel challenges if you ever want to leave.
Moving and getting married are two of the most concrete and tactile examples of what this record is about and really are the faces of the record. I could never say however, that this record is only about moving or getting married and I think that’s why I love the title. It seems so fitting to me. THRESHOLDS seems to encapsulate everything and includes these life changes. I think there could be some great records made specifically about moving and another great one written with marriage at the forefront. The song ‘Could We End Up Like This’ (out Wed. Feb 13th) wrestles with fear and optimism in marriage, and ‘Slowly’ feels like a lonely Holden Caufield just moved to Seattle.
I almost called the record ‘Small Step,’ taken from a line in Challenger which nods to the famous lines during Neil Armstrong’s moon walk. I really liked this title because something small represents something BIG. And this record is intricate and thought out and at times is quiet and can be listened to in the morning. But Walla thought that you ‘write your own headline’ with the album title and then said, ‘small step just seems to errr… how can I say it… small?’ It was too small, and this record is not small and maybe the step was a BIG one? THRESHOLDS was always on the table but sort of emerged while the final mixes were coming in, and I went with it.
We had an easter egg hunt at our wedding, got married on Easter Sunday, April 2017 and I begun recording THRESHOLDS in May 2017 in Victoria, BC.
The record was recorded in Victoria mostly due to grant considerations (Thanks Creative BC!) and the fact Colin Stewart was going to work on the record also. Colin is a gem and I love him and I hope he reads this. He has been a great mentor, encourager and producer for myself and many others and we are all better for him being in the world.
I entered recording with huge optimism and excitement and we had a whole month booked off at The Hive in North Saanich and I hoped and had full intention to track the record in that time. Jason Cook played drums, Sjoerd Meyer played some guitar and Shaun Huberts, Brian Chan, Mike Davis, Chris Walla, Colin Stewart, Alexandria Maillot and Sam Weber were all involved in some capacity.
I didn’t smoke any cigarettes. I thought it would make me sing bad. I ate apples and peanut butter as much as I could.
Mike Davis smoked a few cigarettes though, and we’d get them from the corner store across from ‘The Roost’ bakery up by the Victoria Airport.
Colin Stewart made smoothies and then decided to go to France.
Chris Walla, well I’ll get into it in my next blog. He ate really healthy at the beginning. Arugula and stuff. Then organic Annie’s burritos. Then regular burritos. Then pizza, and lastly poutine. Chris Walla love poutine.
Alissa came to visit only 1 time and she cooked a real nice curry, and it might have been the weirdest first month of marriage. Sort of like curry is really good but weird. She is amazing though because of her go-with-the-flow attitude and her positive and steadfast demeanor.
The end.