Canon Blue

Daniel James is a man out of place. The solo artist known as Canon Blue navigates his musical way with his laptop as a sonic compass, charting his electro-pop course ahead. Oddly enough, James makes his home in Nashville, which is hardly the burgeoning indie scene. Canon Blue’s label? That would be Rumraket, the Copenhagen-based home of Efterklang, Grizzly Bear and Amiina. How exactly James ended up on that label is a story unto itself.

So the city, the label and the act all seem out of place when one considers his surroundings, but the music of Canon Blue is steadily assured. It seems in our growing global marketplace, being in Nashville really isn’t a big deal, as James’s latest EP, Halcyon, definitely proves. The music is both epic and intimate and Canon Blue is cementing their place in the music scene.

Daniel James recently took some time out to talk about why he wants to give all his music away, what the hell he’s doing in Nashville and why he avoids music press and reviews as much as he can.

SSv: You’ve been in Nashville for a while – is that a good place for your music?

CB: I like living here, but maybe that’s just because of my friends. It’s not an ideal place for me creatively, because it’s predominantly a singer/songwriter, country kind of place. It’s hard to find bands to do shows with. I just find that the Midwest doesn’t go over the best compared to New York and California.

SSv: How did you end up at Rumraket?

CB: Basically I did my record and then I just started emailing people. Somehow, I don’t even remember, but I got in touch with Casper [Clausen], who’s the lead singer for Efterklang. I just sent him the record when I finished it and he passed it on to this guy, Rasmus [Stolberg], who’s also in Efterklang, but he kind of runs the label. They started it when they started to put out their own music in Denmark. Then after they got their deal with Leaf, a label in England, that took them international. But they decided to keep their label and they put out the first Grizzly Bear record and they’ve done other stuff – some Danish acts and Amiina, Sigur Ros’s band. So Rasmus and Casper liked it and they just decided to put it out. It was a random chain of events really. [Laughs]

SSv: So were you sending out a ton of CDs, sort of a throwing a bunch at the wall and seeing what sticks?

CB: To a degree, yeah. I’ve always been a fan of just trying. But definitely it was within limits. They were sent to people who I respect or who I thought would get it. I wasn’t just sending it to anyone with an email address. And the whole thing with Cristian Vogel – I never thought in a million years he’d write me back. So I feel for every 100 or 200 emails, one actually works but that one can be really worth it and in this case it was. So that’s how I approach it, I guess.

SSv: Does that take a lot of determination or endurance on your part?

CB: Yeah, I spend a lot of time waiting in my life. [Laughs] I think I have a higher tolerance or patience for that stuff. I handmade all the CDs I sent out, so that took a while. I tend to take on these vicious projects and I’ll just find myself in my room for two weeks trying to get all this stuff together. [Laughs] That’s just how I work I guess.

SSv: You said it’s worth it for that one email, but there’s also the side of having 99 never come back. That has to take a level of resolve.

CB: Definitely. It’s really easy to get on an emotional roller coaster where your mood is determined by good news. You find yourself wrapped up and controlled by what is going on. And it’s very unhealthy and I’m trying to figure a different way to approach it. It’s easy to fall into that trap thinking ‘Oh man, it’s been a week or two weeks and nothing’s going on. What am I doing?’ All these doubts start coming in. But then you get that one email and it’s suddenly all cool. In an instant, you’re fine again. It is very taxing on the emotions.

SSv: Does that affect your writing, being on the emotional roller coaster?

CB: Yes. It definitely does. Again, it’s something I’m trying to find a way to mature at, but it’s really easy to lose heart and spent two weeks doing nothing but wandering around your room or just twiddling your thumbs. I tend to work in really creative spurts and I’ll get a lot done in a short amount of time and then I’ll be dry for a month or two. It’s usually tied to how I’m feeling or emotions.

SSv: What is the role of discipline, then, as an artist?

CB: Obviously I would love to get to the place where I’m writing every day. But at the same time, it’s hard … It’s not hard. I hate using words like difficult and hard when it comes to art because it sounds so pathetic. [Laughs] I can’t just sit down at a guitar or piano and just write a song. I tend to build as I go. It’s based on getting sounds until I find something interesting. A lot of people can write a song every day on the guitar, but for me it takes two weeks to even get something remotely resembling a song. So it’s a labor of love in that respect. So it’s disheartening to know it will be a two week process when I want to write a song. If anything, that’s what keeps me writing every day because it’s not as immediate.

SSv: Let’s head back a bit. You were playing guitar in New Orleans. How do you move from a guitarist in a band to laptop-driven music in Nashville?

CB: I think it comes down to the fact that I don’t see myself as a guitarist. For that season, it was just the role that I filled. I tend to dabble in things and I’m not a master of any instrument. I don’t consider myself a guitar player or piano player or any of that sort of stuff. So it’s easy for me to float in and fill the gaps. And even that band was more experimental, so it wasn’t that big of a leap. And the main reason I got into programming and laptop style is because I can’t play drums, so that was born out of necessity more than anything. [Laughs]

SSv: [Laughs] So what made you leave New Orleans?

CB: I really did not enjoy living there. I was there for 8 months. The band was falling apart, but maybe it was also some subconscious thing about Katrina. It was two weeks before it hit, so it wasn’t even on the Weather Channel or anything yet. But I was done. There are hurricanes there all the time, so normally you just leave town for the weekend but you leave your stuff there. I totally would have left my car and gear, so I don’t even know what it was, but I just got out of there.

SSv: The moniker Canon Blue – where does that come from?

CB: There’s this band that put out one album. I had a really religious upbringing and it’s funny how I ended up here, but my parents had these strict religious rules on what I could listen to. Obviously, I was really drawn to certain types of music, but I was limited on what I could find and what could meet me where I’m at. But there was this one record called Sci-Fi Canon Blues (Annie) and I stole it from that mainly because it was a record that was, at the time, my Radiohead before I was old enough to buy Radiohead and sneak it in. This record and Starflyer 59 were my records growing up. That was all I was allowed to listen to at 13 or 14 years old. They were my outlets and escapes. They are just brilliant records. Even today, I still listen to that Annie record. There’s no way around it, it’s just a solid record any way you slice it. So it was a representative thing of freedom and escape.

SSv: You mentioned that you only sent the record to people that you respected, so what was it about Vogel or Efterklang that made you send it to them?

CB: When I hear something that challenges me or makes me want to get better.

SSv: Musically?

CB: Yeah, yeah. But even lyrically or philosophically in interviews. I heard “Remyxomatosis,” the Radiohead remix he did, and it did my head in. I’d never heard anything like that before. There’s one part where he does this weird timing thing with Thom Yorke’s voice and I’d never heard anything like it before. It was one of those musical moments where your jaw drops. I was just like, ‘This is unbelievable.’ With Efterklang, it’s so beautiful and moving. I really connect with a lot of Scandinavian and British acts. I’m really drawn to mood or just opening up a new musical avenue. That’s what gets me excited and that’s what I respect.

SSv: So is that what you shoot for?

CB: Yeah in my own pathetic way. [Laughs] I just try to push myself and not settle for the easy route or predictable route. But it’s impossible to original in the philosophical sense. So if anything I guess I’m just trying to not be unoriginal, if that makes sense. That’s definitely a factor when I’m writing.

SSv: That’s got to be a hard place to reach?

CB: Yeah, when do you stop. It’s easy to get into that mindset to compare yourself to other people, which is a dangerous place to go. You’re not listening to yourself or where you might be led musically because you’re basing it off of another person or another piece of art. You’re suddenly bound to that piece now and it’s not a true expression of yourself because you’re not reacting. I don’t even have full thoughts on it, but I don’t like that idea of connecting that intentionally to another piece of work to affect my decisions. I try to remove all that as much as possible.

SSv: How do you tangibly silence the comparison game?

CB: It’s really a constant battle in your head. [Laughs] It’s purposefully not reading reviews. I’ve really tried to cut out a lot of music press in general. I find it’s really disheartening. I will listen to something and then wonder why I’m not doing that. So it’s having to be intentional with what information you let into yourself or how you let it affect you. It’s definitely a battle of the wills, for sure.

SSv: You gave away Colonies at first and now you’re giving away the new EP, Halcyon. Is that a matter of getting the word out?

CB: Not necessarily. Where I grew up there’s a lot of emphasis on history and I think I tend to view things with a more historical narrative in the sense that, specifically to this, the idea of the music industry is only 80 years old. The fact that most people cannot fathom music existing without a dynamic between the creator and listener of a music label putting out a CD and paying money for it … Going back even further to the idea of just how huge a role music played in ancient cultures, in African or Native American or Biblical cultures, David would play the harp to calm King Saul’s demons. Music is so much larger than this capitalistic relationship.

So the long-winded version that it is, I really connect with music being a gift to people who want it. I just like the idea of giving it away for free. I feel like if people really connect with something, they will support it eventually. Obviously, it’s a game to see how long I will last. I would love to make free records and then just have a donation thing. That’s the true model because it’s not forcing it down people’s throats. You’ll only have true fans then. You’ll find the people that get it and they will appreciate it. It’s a mutual respect thing where you’re respecting your audience and they, in turn, will respect you. I think it’s a much healthier and more authentic dynamic to have. I think, if anything, I want to keep it alive in hopes that one day I will be able to survive and give away records for free. That’s a long term goal, so who knows if I will be able to make it.

SSv: That sounds great. It’s either something that would explode and totally work or else it would fall flat because it’s too counter-cultural and unrealistic.

CB: And it’s tough because you need money to do every aspect of it. I can make music in my bedroom and it sounds okay but it sounds better if I can pay an engineer and a studio. But at the same time, technology is always improving and the means of communication and distribution is always getting cheaper. It does open up new avenues of getting music out. Who knows in the next ten years what we’ll come up with?

Related posts:

1. Blue Eyed Blacks
2. David Condos
3. Paper Route

Tagged as: Nashville

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.