From frozen lakes to the ZepOcean
Muirsical Conversation with James Evans
Guitarist, songwriter and producer James Evans may have the most interesting background of any musician I know or am aware of.
His album releases are no less interesting - 'ZepOcean' (2010) is an excellent guitar-led instrumental rock album and the other two CD's issued thus far from the Canadian guitarist both feature intriguing sound-scapes and textures.
FabricationsHQ caught up with James to chat about how he got from his home town of Windsor to the musical waters of the ZepOcean, and all points in-between.
Ross Muir: We’ve been talking about catching up to chat about the life and musical times of James Evans for a couple of months, so nice to finally do just that. But first, James - how’s life?
James Evans: Lately it’s been a roller coaster. Something in the air, immediate change is upon us in all regards. It’s been pushing me into unchartered waters so it brings on the waves of life. Overall, in being where I’m at today, really fantastic.
RM: I’d like to talk a little about 'ZepOcean,' your guitar-driven instrumental album released in September of 2010. 'ZepOcean' has started to make some waves - no pun intended - amongst fans of the rock instrumental genre as well as music critics and reviewers. When we first talked, you asked if I would be interested in checking it out and were surprised when I told you I owned a copy and that it was slipping in under the radar on this side of the pond…
JE: Actually yeah, kind of caught me by surprise. I had been slow out of the gate in getting promo done for this CD and getting airplay. I’m a full-time dad, have been for nine years now, to a teenage daughter. It's sometimes a bit taxing to fall into all these roles with a passion for music and guitar. I sometimes lose myself, finding my soul come from within my playing. So yeah, I never would have thought a buzz was making it over the pond, for sure.
RM: 'ZepOcean' is one of three albums you have released, the other two being extended EP’s or mini-albums and we’ll touch on those later. 'ZepOcean' is a full-length album of ten tracks and is a great little release featuring your rock chops. What instantly attracted me to it wasn’t so much the solid soloing featured throughout, but the songs themselves. Many such albums tend to be about the fret-burning ability, but 'ZepOcean' is as much about the structures and form of the songs.
JE: Shredding has its place. It’s not something you want to hear all the time. Mostly you want these types of licks from structured songs and placed accordingly, but as I write my tracks out I feel there needs to be more than just fret-burning. The listener needs to grab on to more of its surroundings, its foundation, and catch what the whole piece is doing and not just one solo guitar. Of course you need to hear some really cool riffs and that’s what I want to get across - placement, texture and the tonal sound which I make happen. If I had the budget I would have gone even further into developing more of a bigger production and scope of diverse guitar sections. Who wouldn’t!
RM: Many people will feel the title relates to Led Zeppelin, or a nod to that band and Jimmy Page, but would I be right in thinking it has more to do with the concept of energies, or soul energies, travelling the universal ocean?
JE: Yes, and actually the title track, ‘ZepOcean,’ was unnamed even at the time of pre-production. The CD was even nameless. The original demo I think was called ‘Shades of Blue.’ A solo acoustic piece and, at the time, I definitely was tuned into Jimmy with a vibe and tone I was getting from my old detuned $100 acoustic guitar. The acoustic track was later recorded with my Larrivee 03R, mic’d at the 12th fret. When pre-production was winding up for that track, Mark Fortuna, one of the engineers that worked on the majority of pre-production with me on six of the tracks, asked, “what is the name of this track?”
Hmmm, I thought, yeah, better come up with something fast because the files were going to be moved around from the pre-production studio into my pro-tools studio so I could do some pre-mix edits, and so on. I came up with the idea partly thinking of a Zeppelin, not the band but the flying device, a vessel of light. Just the picture of it hit me, and then placing a statement that Robert Plant made when asked in an interview ”what does the song ‘Ocean’ represent.” Of course he replied “Our fans, the audience.”
Putting all that together ‘ZepOcean’ was born. The definition was spun off from the first video for the CD, ‘944,’ based on the treatment I wrote during the final CD design phase. Ha, that’s another dimension. But yes, being inspired by Jimmy Page himself gave me the images and a kind of different space to write in.
Jimmy is very versatile, an amazing artist.
RM: As regards the tunes themselves there are a number of highlights, none more so perhaps than the opener, ‘After Burner.’ That song has made quite an impact internationally…
JE: 'After Burner' is one of my favourites. I could actually listen to it several times and not get bored of it. That's probably because I'm always critiquing my own music when I listen to it and find more movements within its context. Being said, some impact, yeah. It just won as a semi-finalist for the International Songwriters Competition for 2010. A very prestigous competition involving something like 110 countries and over 15,000 artists. I just entered to build awareness and not thinking that it would be noted. Another surprise!
After Burner - from ZepOcean (2010)
Muirsical Conversation with James Evans
Guitarist, songwriter and producer James Evans may have the most interesting background of any musician I know or am aware of.
His album releases are no less interesting - 'ZepOcean' (2010) is an excellent guitar-led instrumental rock album and the other two CD's issued thus far from the Canadian guitarist both feature intriguing sound-scapes and textures.
FabricationsHQ caught up with James to chat about how he got from his home town of Windsor to the musical waters of the ZepOcean, and all points in-between.
Ross Muir: We’ve been talking about catching up to chat about the life and musical times of James Evans for a couple of months, so nice to finally do just that. But first, James - how’s life?
James Evans: Lately it’s been a roller coaster. Something in the air, immediate change is upon us in all regards. It’s been pushing me into unchartered waters so it brings on the waves of life. Overall, in being where I’m at today, really fantastic.
RM: I’d like to talk a little about 'ZepOcean,' your guitar-driven instrumental album released in September of 2010. 'ZepOcean' has started to make some waves - no pun intended - amongst fans of the rock instrumental genre as well as music critics and reviewers. When we first talked, you asked if I would be interested in checking it out and were surprised when I told you I owned a copy and that it was slipping in under the radar on this side of the pond…
JE: Actually yeah, kind of caught me by surprise. I had been slow out of the gate in getting promo done for this CD and getting airplay. I’m a full-time dad, have been for nine years now, to a teenage daughter. It's sometimes a bit taxing to fall into all these roles with a passion for music and guitar. I sometimes lose myself, finding my soul come from within my playing. So yeah, I never would have thought a buzz was making it over the pond, for sure.
RM: 'ZepOcean' is one of three albums you have released, the other two being extended EP’s or mini-albums and we’ll touch on those later. 'ZepOcean' is a full-length album of ten tracks and is a great little release featuring your rock chops. What instantly attracted me to it wasn’t so much the solid soloing featured throughout, but the songs themselves. Many such albums tend to be about the fret-burning ability, but 'ZepOcean' is as much about the structures and form of the songs.
JE: Shredding has its place. It’s not something you want to hear all the time. Mostly you want these types of licks from structured songs and placed accordingly, but as I write my tracks out I feel there needs to be more than just fret-burning. The listener needs to grab on to more of its surroundings, its foundation, and catch what the whole piece is doing and not just one solo guitar. Of course you need to hear some really cool riffs and that’s what I want to get across - placement, texture and the tonal sound which I make happen. If I had the budget I would have gone even further into developing more of a bigger production and scope of diverse guitar sections. Who wouldn’t!
RM: Many people will feel the title relates to Led Zeppelin, or a nod to that band and Jimmy Page, but would I be right in thinking it has more to do with the concept of energies, or soul energies, travelling the universal ocean?
JE: Yes, and actually the title track, ‘ZepOcean,’ was unnamed even at the time of pre-production. The CD was even nameless. The original demo I think was called ‘Shades of Blue.’ A solo acoustic piece and, at the time, I definitely was tuned into Jimmy with a vibe and tone I was getting from my old detuned $100 acoustic guitar. The acoustic track was later recorded with my Larrivee 03R, mic’d at the 12th fret. When pre-production was winding up for that track, Mark Fortuna, one of the engineers that worked on the majority of pre-production with me on six of the tracks, asked, “what is the name of this track?”
Hmmm, I thought, yeah, better come up with something fast because the files were going to be moved around from the pre-production studio into my pro-tools studio so I could do some pre-mix edits, and so on. I came up with the idea partly thinking of a Zeppelin, not the band but the flying device, a vessel of light. Just the picture of it hit me, and then placing a statement that Robert Plant made when asked in an interview ”what does the song ‘Ocean’ represent.” Of course he replied “Our fans, the audience.”
Putting all that together ‘ZepOcean’ was born. The definition was spun off from the first video for the CD, ‘944,’ based on the treatment I wrote during the final CD design phase. Ha, that’s another dimension. But yes, being inspired by Jimmy Page himself gave me the images and a kind of different space to write in.
Jimmy is very versatile, an amazing artist.
RM: As regards the tunes themselves there are a number of highlights, none more so perhaps than the opener, ‘After Burner.’ That song has made quite an impact internationally…
JE: 'After Burner' is one of my favourites. I could actually listen to it several times and not get bored of it. That's probably because I'm always critiquing my own music when I listen to it and find more movements within its context. Being said, some impact, yeah. It just won as a semi-finalist for the International Songwriters Competition for 2010. A very prestigous competition involving something like 110 countries and over 15,000 artists. I just entered to build awareness and not thinking that it would be noted. Another surprise!
After Burner - from ZepOcean (2010)
RM: A month
after the appearance of 'ZepOcean' you released the mini-album 'Transform.' It’s highly
unusual for an artist to have releases this close together, but 'Transform' showcases a very different side to the guitar tonalities of James
Evans. The tracks for 'Transform' were recorded live, with no overdubs or edits?
JE: Yeah, those were performances I had done live for guests at my house over the summer of 2010, building promo for 'ZepOcean.' There are definite mistakes (laughs) and timing issues, which I thought should just be there. Why not, it’s character. The only edits were selecting the tracks I wanted to master. The only real edits would have been the endings on a few tracks where I would cut.
No over dubs, I played only one guitar straight through the whole track. A Baritone solo and then one track of sitar solo. I mastered the CD at my home studio.
It was really just as a memento to be handed to my friends who had been around through the making of 'ZepOcean.'
RM: 'Transform' is also entirely improvised. Was there a pressure to perform when the Record buttons were hit, or did you find those musical energies just started to flow?
JE: It’s the way it is with me all the time, turn the switch and it just flows. I get into the groove and just find a place to find serenity and that cloud of intensity.
I feel the room, the energy of beings, the thoughts and emotions of which are flying onto my energy space and keep feeding with its intensity and power.
It just creeps through my bones and out my heart into the guitar. I like playing the sitar, it is so cool, it gives me a new vibe to breathe and live on. It’s deep in colour and style, aged to bring out an old, souled flavour. Someone that uses the style of sitar on twelve-string is Jeff Martin, formerly of The Tea Party - although I just heard they are regrouping. I love the different tunings; it just gives the guitar more dimension and soul.
RM: I hadn't heard that about The Tea Party reforming, distinct sounding band with the eastern influences they incorporated into their music. That's interesting in how you describe turning the switch and it just flows. The improvisational sound-scapes you create with the guitar draw parallels, for me, to Pat Metheny. And that’s no bad thing…
JE: I try and take my style to its own transformation with improvisation. Pat is an amazing player, truly talented. Hey, and yes, thanks for that great compliment.
I want listeners to hear me and hear something more out of the box and away from the cookie cutter record deals. Something of free spirited music.
RM: Amen to that, James.
Bring Me Home - from Transform (2010)
JE: Yeah, those were performances I had done live for guests at my house over the summer of 2010, building promo for 'ZepOcean.' There are definite mistakes (laughs) and timing issues, which I thought should just be there. Why not, it’s character. The only edits were selecting the tracks I wanted to master. The only real edits would have been the endings on a few tracks where I would cut.
No over dubs, I played only one guitar straight through the whole track. A Baritone solo and then one track of sitar solo. I mastered the CD at my home studio.
It was really just as a memento to be handed to my friends who had been around through the making of 'ZepOcean.'
RM: 'Transform' is also entirely improvised. Was there a pressure to perform when the Record buttons were hit, or did you find those musical energies just started to flow?
JE: It’s the way it is with me all the time, turn the switch and it just flows. I get into the groove and just find a place to find serenity and that cloud of intensity.
I feel the room, the energy of beings, the thoughts and emotions of which are flying onto my energy space and keep feeding with its intensity and power.
It just creeps through my bones and out my heart into the guitar. I like playing the sitar, it is so cool, it gives me a new vibe to breathe and live on. It’s deep in colour and style, aged to bring out an old, souled flavour. Someone that uses the style of sitar on twelve-string is Jeff Martin, formerly of The Tea Party - although I just heard they are regrouping. I love the different tunings; it just gives the guitar more dimension and soul.
RM: I hadn't heard that about The Tea Party reforming, distinct sounding band with the eastern influences they incorporated into their music. That's interesting in how you describe turning the switch and it just flows. The improvisational sound-scapes you create with the guitar draw parallels, for me, to Pat Metheny. And that’s no bad thing…
JE: I try and take my style to its own transformation with improvisation. Pat is an amazing player, truly talented. Hey, and yes, thanks for that great compliment.
I want listeners to hear me and hear something more out of the box and away from the cookie cutter record deals. Something of free spirited music.
RM: Amen to that, James.
Bring Me Home - from Transform (2010)
RM: The
three albums you have released are all very different beasts, but are all facets
of James Evans’ musical expressions. I would think such musical diversity
comes from your background and all the musical influences picked up on and
played since you were a teenager and throughout your career as a performer.
So I’d like to go right back to where it all started…
JE: …and it all started with that tone. The string vibrating over the fret board, being sustained over the bridge and sending these coloured frequencies into my ears, giving me a picture to the movements of those sounds to phrases.
RM: And you were introduced to that tone, and those sounds, at the age of 5, I believe. A few years later you had completed, what was it, Grade 5 Standard Guitar in around two and a half months?
JE: I achieved Grade 5 of the Standard Guitar Method around the age of 9. The private instruction was done by Gordie Taylor, a great Jazz player. I was in grade 4 or 5 at school and did this in about two months, along with some extra work Gordie gave me - big band stuff, etc.
RM: That's pretty impressive, and all clearly indicating there was a true talent, and relationship, developing with the instrument, even in those early years.
JE: Before school lessons I would play along with WRIF 101 from Detroit.
What ever came on I was playing along side, whom ever. I remember Jimi Hendrix came on and my mom said "I really like his playing" so I paid attention to detail and tried to make sense of his tone and approach. I was at a schoolmate’s house and he took out his guitar and put a book in front of him and he started to play 'Tom Dooley.' I thought wow, that’s cool, getting that vibe from notes. He gave me Gordie's info and I was off collecting pop bottles and hopping on a bus for a half hour, once a week, for a month or two.
RM: In your teens you moved to Pinehouse, Saskatchewan where there was a native Cree Indian community and you picked up on country, fiddle and jig music. That must have been both a fascinating and interesting time.
JE: At first it was quite a culture shock. I remember the Beaver pontoon plane landing at the main dock of the town and here I am climbing off the plane with high platforms, bellbottoms and strapping a guitar in one hand and flicking my long hair over to one side to see about sixty Cree Indian kids all staring at me and shouting “moony ass.” I thought they were swearing at me! (laughs).
It means “white man.” I soon became part of the scenery and picked up on the local music scene. The town hall would hold contests for best act and I would join in with anyone who showed up. I just started playing along with fiddle and other singers and guitarists filling in my spot. I was 14. Some of the favourite guitar pickin’ tunes were from Chet Atkins, I just followed and picked up what I could.
RM: And you were also recording and building guitars at that age?
JE: I decided I needed more than just my Silvertone guitar so I started making an electric guitar in Woodworking shop. Then it became a project for me after school. I had all sorts of parts so I just put everything on that thing - I never heard of Eddie Van Halen until I was 15. I remember the double top Mahogany, which I stained dark with a Satin finish. I had this idea of tracking my rhythm chops so I could practice my solos. I soon found that I was recording two rhythms and two melody parts, haha, it kinda became mush after two bounces.
I then decided to build this wall of sound out of the school’s turntables. They had a line in and line out so I would daisy chain about six of these bad boys in the gymnasium and voila - instant stadium sound! (laughs).
I was having a blast and so were the locals, as the outside of the school would be crowded with an audience of about fifty or so kids wanting to watch the show.
RM: Around this same time you moved back to Windsor, where you were born, played with local bands and were introduced to rock music.
JE: It started with a three-piece band playing for high schools. I then mostly got engaged with other players and strayed in and out of practice halls and sessions, picking up the rock vibe and scene. Not any of that in Northern Saskatchewan where I had just come from. That’s when I picked up my first and only Fender Twin… great experience.
RM: By 17 you were back at Pinehouse and became a licensed truck driver.
You have stated before that you feel you are “a loner” and enjoy isolation - truck driving in the beauty of that isolated area must therefore have been as enjoyable to you as the music in your life.
JE: I was actually back in Pinehouse when I was 16. When my father and stepmother moved back to Ontario I stayed. I had just turned 17. Just before I started the truck driver training course I was a fisheries scale-house operator.
I would wait for the fishermen to bring in their catch from the nets and weigh, crate pack and ice them in the icehouse for delivery to be flown into the fisheries at LaRonge. I then worked for a construction company building the bridge that suspends over the Snake Rapids on the Churchill River system in the middle of winter. Later in the winter I cut trees and trimmed for logging.
Then I started my truck training, which I enjoyed so much. Just being out in the openness and isolation with a large piece of equipment and taking in all the surroundings was amazing. I really felt that this would expand my experience and greatly build my character - being alone and just taking in so much of the northern beauty.
RM: The truck driving included trips across frozen lakes and hauling uranium I believe? Looking back now do you see that as an enjoyable part of your life adventure or do you think, “I must have been crazy” (laughs).
JE: Yes, I hauled uranium from the Cluff Lake mine and delivered the yellow cake to the transfer station in Saskatoon. I mainly hauled fuel from Edmonton to the Cluff Lake mine though, and that was an adventure. The northern roads can become very tricky and at times unpredictable with adverse weather conditions. Some of the rivers were at the bottom of huge cliffs and in the winter you need to keep your ear keen to the CB radio to hear if anyone is coming towards you with a load of yellow cake or something. The bridges at the bottom of the hills were single lane and the roads were covered in ice. I was glad to have taken that course as it taught me how to avoid certain mistakes others had made who ended up over the edge of the cliffs in flames. I was always pretty confident in my driving skills at 18, and felt in control of the transport all the time.
When I was a bit nervous was when I was promoted to the most dangerous task - hauling corrosive materials out of Uranium City. This meant I had to cross Lake Athabasca in the middle of winter. I never really thought anything of it, it was just another job. I enjoyed driving my Kenworth through the forest just after Cluff Lake to get to the shores of Lake Athabasca, always wanted to do that. It was just trees bulldozed out of the way and you were driving through the wilderness for miles.
A bit crazy? Well, let’s just say I drove with my window cranked down when crossing the lake at minus 50 degrees (laughs).
RM: Fascinating stuff, James. My wife is a big fan of the ‘Ice Road Truckers’ programme that currently airs here in the UK and you have just painted a picture as vivid as any of the images from that TV series.
Music was never far away though - the next few years saw you move around a little, including back to Windsor, where you were now playing rock, metal and began classical training. Mixing so many styles must have been a great musical education.
JE: Yeah, the whole time I was driving truck in the north - before moving back to Windsor - I was playing in The Roy Corrigan Band, a country-rock group I put together with some teenagers. We toured the north playing at arenas and town halls. We were a big hit. I later joined a rock group called Danger Street, while still driving transport. Then when I moved back to Windsor and was driving transport into the States I was playing during the week and weekends with metal and R&B bands and recording. This was back in the ‘80s and, haha, the recording turned out to be at the same studio The Tea Party started recording at! Same time I did.
A friend, Barry Rumble - we played together in a band called City Beat - owned the studio and I helped him get motivated to start using 6-track cassette, haha, then later upgraded to the 1/2inch 8-track TEAC, which I still own today.
I found the more diverse and challenging the guitar parts were, the more I had to work, and the more I could bring out who I was. And in my own style.
So I’d like to go right back to where it all started…
JE: …and it all started with that tone. The string vibrating over the fret board, being sustained over the bridge and sending these coloured frequencies into my ears, giving me a picture to the movements of those sounds to phrases.
RM: And you were introduced to that tone, and those sounds, at the age of 5, I believe. A few years later you had completed, what was it, Grade 5 Standard Guitar in around two and a half months?
JE: I achieved Grade 5 of the Standard Guitar Method around the age of 9. The private instruction was done by Gordie Taylor, a great Jazz player. I was in grade 4 or 5 at school and did this in about two months, along with some extra work Gordie gave me - big band stuff, etc.
RM: That's pretty impressive, and all clearly indicating there was a true talent, and relationship, developing with the instrument, even in those early years.
JE: Before school lessons I would play along with WRIF 101 from Detroit.
What ever came on I was playing along side, whom ever. I remember Jimi Hendrix came on and my mom said "I really like his playing" so I paid attention to detail and tried to make sense of his tone and approach. I was at a schoolmate’s house and he took out his guitar and put a book in front of him and he started to play 'Tom Dooley.' I thought wow, that’s cool, getting that vibe from notes. He gave me Gordie's info and I was off collecting pop bottles and hopping on a bus for a half hour, once a week, for a month or two.
RM: In your teens you moved to Pinehouse, Saskatchewan where there was a native Cree Indian community and you picked up on country, fiddle and jig music. That must have been both a fascinating and interesting time.
JE: At first it was quite a culture shock. I remember the Beaver pontoon plane landing at the main dock of the town and here I am climbing off the plane with high platforms, bellbottoms and strapping a guitar in one hand and flicking my long hair over to one side to see about sixty Cree Indian kids all staring at me and shouting “moony ass.” I thought they were swearing at me! (laughs).
It means “white man.” I soon became part of the scenery and picked up on the local music scene. The town hall would hold contests for best act and I would join in with anyone who showed up. I just started playing along with fiddle and other singers and guitarists filling in my spot. I was 14. Some of the favourite guitar pickin’ tunes were from Chet Atkins, I just followed and picked up what I could.
RM: And you were also recording and building guitars at that age?
JE: I decided I needed more than just my Silvertone guitar so I started making an electric guitar in Woodworking shop. Then it became a project for me after school. I had all sorts of parts so I just put everything on that thing - I never heard of Eddie Van Halen until I was 15. I remember the double top Mahogany, which I stained dark with a Satin finish. I had this idea of tracking my rhythm chops so I could practice my solos. I soon found that I was recording two rhythms and two melody parts, haha, it kinda became mush after two bounces.
I then decided to build this wall of sound out of the school’s turntables. They had a line in and line out so I would daisy chain about six of these bad boys in the gymnasium and voila - instant stadium sound! (laughs).
I was having a blast and so were the locals, as the outside of the school would be crowded with an audience of about fifty or so kids wanting to watch the show.
RM: Around this same time you moved back to Windsor, where you were born, played with local bands and were introduced to rock music.
JE: It started with a three-piece band playing for high schools. I then mostly got engaged with other players and strayed in and out of practice halls and sessions, picking up the rock vibe and scene. Not any of that in Northern Saskatchewan where I had just come from. That’s when I picked up my first and only Fender Twin… great experience.
RM: By 17 you were back at Pinehouse and became a licensed truck driver.
You have stated before that you feel you are “a loner” and enjoy isolation - truck driving in the beauty of that isolated area must therefore have been as enjoyable to you as the music in your life.
JE: I was actually back in Pinehouse when I was 16. When my father and stepmother moved back to Ontario I stayed. I had just turned 17. Just before I started the truck driver training course I was a fisheries scale-house operator.
I would wait for the fishermen to bring in their catch from the nets and weigh, crate pack and ice them in the icehouse for delivery to be flown into the fisheries at LaRonge. I then worked for a construction company building the bridge that suspends over the Snake Rapids on the Churchill River system in the middle of winter. Later in the winter I cut trees and trimmed for logging.
Then I started my truck training, which I enjoyed so much. Just being out in the openness and isolation with a large piece of equipment and taking in all the surroundings was amazing. I really felt that this would expand my experience and greatly build my character - being alone and just taking in so much of the northern beauty.
RM: The truck driving included trips across frozen lakes and hauling uranium I believe? Looking back now do you see that as an enjoyable part of your life adventure or do you think, “I must have been crazy” (laughs).
JE: Yes, I hauled uranium from the Cluff Lake mine and delivered the yellow cake to the transfer station in Saskatoon. I mainly hauled fuel from Edmonton to the Cluff Lake mine though, and that was an adventure. The northern roads can become very tricky and at times unpredictable with adverse weather conditions. Some of the rivers were at the bottom of huge cliffs and in the winter you need to keep your ear keen to the CB radio to hear if anyone is coming towards you with a load of yellow cake or something. The bridges at the bottom of the hills were single lane and the roads were covered in ice. I was glad to have taken that course as it taught me how to avoid certain mistakes others had made who ended up over the edge of the cliffs in flames. I was always pretty confident in my driving skills at 18, and felt in control of the transport all the time.
When I was a bit nervous was when I was promoted to the most dangerous task - hauling corrosive materials out of Uranium City. This meant I had to cross Lake Athabasca in the middle of winter. I never really thought anything of it, it was just another job. I enjoyed driving my Kenworth through the forest just after Cluff Lake to get to the shores of Lake Athabasca, always wanted to do that. It was just trees bulldozed out of the way and you were driving through the wilderness for miles.
A bit crazy? Well, let’s just say I drove with my window cranked down when crossing the lake at minus 50 degrees (laughs).
RM: Fascinating stuff, James. My wife is a big fan of the ‘Ice Road Truckers’ programme that currently airs here in the UK and you have just painted a picture as vivid as any of the images from that TV series.
Music was never far away though - the next few years saw you move around a little, including back to Windsor, where you were now playing rock, metal and began classical training. Mixing so many styles must have been a great musical education.
JE: Yeah, the whole time I was driving truck in the north - before moving back to Windsor - I was playing in The Roy Corrigan Band, a country-rock group I put together with some teenagers. We toured the north playing at arenas and town halls. We were a big hit. I later joined a rock group called Danger Street, while still driving transport. Then when I moved back to Windsor and was driving transport into the States I was playing during the week and weekends with metal and R&B bands and recording. This was back in the ‘80s and, haha, the recording turned out to be at the same studio The Tea Party started recording at! Same time I did.
A friend, Barry Rumble - we played together in a band called City Beat - owned the studio and I helped him get motivated to start using 6-track cassette, haha, then later upgraded to the 1/2inch 8-track TEAC, which I still own today.
I found the more diverse and challenging the guitar parts were, the more I had to work, and the more I could bring out who I was. And in my own style.
"I want listeners to hear me and hear something more out of the box and
away from the cookie cutter record deals. Something of free spirited music"
RM: By the mid-'80s you had experienced many genres of music. For example City Beat, the band you just mentioned, were Motown R&B. You were also becoming proficient in other aspects of music, starting to arrange and engineer.
JE: City Beat was fun. The guys were great and we all seemed to have this good synergy. I came up with most of the productions and set arrangements. I mixed and engineered and started to create medleys for the band, which became a hit at our gigs. Yes, as mentioned Barry and I tracked as much as we could and had lots of fun. We tried all kinds of different situations and used all kinds of instruments. Barry was a collector, the more the better… he had all kinds of gear and that was one of the reasons I liked tracking with him, experiment and experiment.
I only arranged and helped with tracking of my own material at Barry’s Fine Line Productions, which he owned and ran. I was an integral part of his start-up and a good customer. Later, I started my own studio where I worked with a drummer and had a monster console from Headwater. I believe it was a Hill. I bought it from Barry who at the time was working at Headwater. They did all the major productions in Detroit - Kiss, AC/DC etc. So I had this enormous console and outboard gear in my penthouse room on Riverside Drive in Windsor while, again, at the same time, driving transport in the States and recording when I could.
RM: And this leads to you producing, mixing and mastering - for both yourself and other bands. Do you get the same enjoyment producing and engineering as you do recording and performing?
JE: It’s all intense and I love it all the same. At every aspect of the creation it never ends, that complete synergy and this welcoming to new ideas - it keeps the music alive.
RM: Early in the ‘90s you got involved in computers, to such a degree that you became a computer technologist, built computers and formed the template for what became YSC systems. You sold YSC systems in 2001, but were there ever any thought that YSC might be your future or was the call of recording and performing too strong?
JE: It was a battle. While at the office I had a studio where I could take breaks after the gang was gone and just let it loose. I had one of the guys from Cedar Tree Recording studios stop in and help me bias and align the heads of my TEAC 8 track. I just kept recording and coming up with ideas. That’s how I put my album 'Tradewinds' together, from all those late nights, breaks and also during the weekend recordings. I knew that the technology was something that just came naturally to me and that it would morph into another phase to give rise to more great compositions and recordings.
RM: Around the time you stepped out of YSC Systems you released the CD you just mentioned, the mini-album 'Tradewinds,' which took around two years to complete. And YSC workstations were used in studio as part of the recording technology?
JE: Yes. While tracking and putting together ideas for a CD I was also working with Motorola on a secret mission. I was trying to develop a machine that could run multiple operating systems but also be compatible and be offered to a direct consumer base. The project was shelved and I do believe Apple picked up where things were left off. During that process I was introduced into digital recording on the PC side. I started off with the Notator by Atari, back in 1990, and that’s what captured my digital interests.
Yeah, the YSC music workstations were a work in progress as it was the first of its kind to be a full-blown 16bit digital recording PC, back in the late ‘90s. I worked with Triple DAT, Lloyd Walker and the rep for Cream Software to work out the kinks. This is partly why it took so long to complete the CD and I was also head deep in R&D, and manufacturing servers for Software Manufacturers in Waterloo. Lloyd Walker owns and operates Random Access Productions and was also the engineer/ co-producer on the 'Tradewinds' project.
RM: On 'Tradewinds' you featured saxophone, world percussion and even some dialogue. You also play both guitar and Chinese zither. All those parts give the album it’s own identity - almost cinematic in texture - painting pictures or soundtracks. Intentional, I would surmise?
JE: Yes, that was the whole idea. Mix in a big blend of world elements and textures. I really liked experimenting with the guitar, with tones and different techniques of attack, on that CD.
Gung Ho - from Tradewinds (2001)
away from the cookie cutter record deals. Something of free spirited music"
RM: By the mid-'80s you had experienced many genres of music. For example City Beat, the band you just mentioned, were Motown R&B. You were also becoming proficient in other aspects of music, starting to arrange and engineer.
JE: City Beat was fun. The guys were great and we all seemed to have this good synergy. I came up with most of the productions and set arrangements. I mixed and engineered and started to create medleys for the band, which became a hit at our gigs. Yes, as mentioned Barry and I tracked as much as we could and had lots of fun. We tried all kinds of different situations and used all kinds of instruments. Barry was a collector, the more the better… he had all kinds of gear and that was one of the reasons I liked tracking with him, experiment and experiment.
I only arranged and helped with tracking of my own material at Barry’s Fine Line Productions, which he owned and ran. I was an integral part of his start-up and a good customer. Later, I started my own studio where I worked with a drummer and had a monster console from Headwater. I believe it was a Hill. I bought it from Barry who at the time was working at Headwater. They did all the major productions in Detroit - Kiss, AC/DC etc. So I had this enormous console and outboard gear in my penthouse room on Riverside Drive in Windsor while, again, at the same time, driving transport in the States and recording when I could.
RM: And this leads to you producing, mixing and mastering - for both yourself and other bands. Do you get the same enjoyment producing and engineering as you do recording and performing?
JE: It’s all intense and I love it all the same. At every aspect of the creation it never ends, that complete synergy and this welcoming to new ideas - it keeps the music alive.
RM: Early in the ‘90s you got involved in computers, to such a degree that you became a computer technologist, built computers and formed the template for what became YSC systems. You sold YSC systems in 2001, but were there ever any thought that YSC might be your future or was the call of recording and performing too strong?
JE: It was a battle. While at the office I had a studio where I could take breaks after the gang was gone and just let it loose. I had one of the guys from Cedar Tree Recording studios stop in and help me bias and align the heads of my TEAC 8 track. I just kept recording and coming up with ideas. That’s how I put my album 'Tradewinds' together, from all those late nights, breaks and also during the weekend recordings. I knew that the technology was something that just came naturally to me and that it would morph into another phase to give rise to more great compositions and recordings.
RM: Around the time you stepped out of YSC Systems you released the CD you just mentioned, the mini-album 'Tradewinds,' which took around two years to complete. And YSC workstations were used in studio as part of the recording technology?
JE: Yes. While tracking and putting together ideas for a CD I was also working with Motorola on a secret mission. I was trying to develop a machine that could run multiple operating systems but also be compatible and be offered to a direct consumer base. The project was shelved and I do believe Apple picked up where things were left off. During that process I was introduced into digital recording on the PC side. I started off with the Notator by Atari, back in 1990, and that’s what captured my digital interests.
Yeah, the YSC music workstations were a work in progress as it was the first of its kind to be a full-blown 16bit digital recording PC, back in the late ‘90s. I worked with Triple DAT, Lloyd Walker and the rep for Cream Software to work out the kinks. This is partly why it took so long to complete the CD and I was also head deep in R&D, and manufacturing servers for Software Manufacturers in Waterloo. Lloyd Walker owns and operates Random Access Productions and was also the engineer/ co-producer on the 'Tradewinds' project.
RM: On 'Tradewinds' you featured saxophone, world percussion and even some dialogue. You also play both guitar and Chinese zither. All those parts give the album it’s own identity - almost cinematic in texture - painting pictures or soundtracks. Intentional, I would surmise?
JE: Yes, that was the whole idea. Mix in a big blend of world elements and textures. I really liked experimenting with the guitar, with tones and different techniques of attack, on that CD.
Gung Ho - from Tradewinds (2001)
RM:
Composer, guitarist, engineer, mixer, producer, performer, creator of a
successful computer company, frozen waste truck driver (laughs)… where to next
on the James Evans musical adventure?
JE: Haha, I’m going fishing soon! (laughs). Maybe some golf, Mexico again.
But on the music note, I’m currently working on new promo for press and for the next up-and-coming CD. The music will definitely be rooted to rock and, you never know, possibly some vocals.
RM: James, it’s been an intriguing and fascinating musical journey and I’m very pleased to have been along for the conversational ride.
Here’s to the next adventure, and thanks for stopping in at FabricationsHQ.
JE: Cheers, my friend. Hope to catch up with you soon with that Scotch in hand!
It’s been a pleasure and I hope we get to do it again real soon!
ZepOcean - from ZepOcean (2010)
JE: Haha, I’m going fishing soon! (laughs). Maybe some golf, Mexico again.
But on the music note, I’m currently working on new promo for press and for the next up-and-coming CD. The music will definitely be rooted to rock and, you never know, possibly some vocals.
RM: James, it’s been an intriguing and fascinating musical journey and I’m very pleased to have been along for the conversational ride.
Here’s to the next adventure, and thanks for stopping in at FabricationsHQ.
JE: Cheers, my friend. Hope to catch up with you soon with that Scotch in hand!
It’s been a pleasure and I hope we get to do it again real soon!
ZepOcean - from ZepOcean (2010)
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with James Evans
April 2011
Featured audio tracks are presented to accompany the above Conversation article and by kind permission of James Evans. No infringement of copyright is intended.
James Evans website: http://www.jimevans.ca/Official_Music_Website.html
ZepOcean, Transform and Tradewinds are available through iTunes, CD Baby and other selected music sites.
Muirsical Conversation with James Evans
April 2011
Featured audio tracks are presented to accompany the above Conversation article and by kind permission of James Evans. No infringement of copyright is intended.
James Evans website: http://www.jimevans.ca/Official_Music_Website.html
ZepOcean, Transform and Tradewinds are available through iTunes, CD Baby and other selected music sites.