A Conversation with Sarah Harmer (continued)

PM: In the setup to this interview, I'll definitely explain a little bit, such as I know, about the Escarpment and the I Love the Escarpment Tour. But can you talk a little bit about what it was like doing that tour, both traversing the land as a band and playing the venues along the way?

SH: It was really exciting because we were making it up. We didn't have any big agents or--we didn't even hire a publicist or anything to do it.

PM: Crazy.

SH: I had the idea, and I hired my friend Brian to help me pull it together. And it was so fun to see something that was just a late night idea kind of manifest into this actual routing. And then we also hired another friend of Jay Euringer's ,who's a trail guide, and he came along. He would set up events for us. Like we rock climbed one place, and we kayaked. And it was neat to see it all. We had this idea, and that idea had come to life. And the Escarpment is beautiful. And it was neat to me because I grew up on it. But until you're really in the middle of it, you're not seeing it. From a car, for instance.

PM: Right.

SH: You miss it. And when you're on the ground, and when you're in these ancient ecosystems and forests with really mossy rocks, and big, deep crevices and caves and beautiful cedars, hundreds and hundreds of years old, that are clinging to the rock face, it's just so refreshing. Sometimes we'd do a show, and then we would stay up really late, and then we'd have this thing scheduled, we'd be on the trail at 9:30, and be like, "Oh, my God." But an hour of walking, and you'd feel great.

PM: All that oxygen, yeah.

SH: All of that oxygen. And we set up some press along the way so that a few people would drive up and meet us at certain points. And we only hiked in small sections. We had a couple days off in between, so we'd do longer hikes. But it wasn't like we had our instruments on our back and we were physically carrying our stuff.

PM: Right. You didn't have to carry the PA on your backs.

SH: [laughs] No, we had a diesel van. We actually had biodiesel, we had a company give us a big bucket of biodiesel that we filled up.

PM: All right.

SH: And a couple hybrid cars, because we really wanted see what was possible as far as low impact travel.

PM: Unbelievable that you guys did that. [Find out more about protecting the Niagara Escarpment at the P.E.R.L. site.]

So when I saw you play in Nashville and Austin recently, you sounded very happy to be playing the States. Are the Americans any different as people, or as audiences and in general?

SH: I would say more the same than different. But Nashville is especially good. Canada is reserved, that's a difference. People don't talk to each other as much. Like you're in a line, you're not saying, "Hey, how you doing," as you do in the States. There's less of a, "Oh, get out of my private space" kind of feeling.

PM: Right.

SH: In Canada, it's--maybe because of the cool climate, maybe because of the British, the Commonwealth kind of connection, I don't know. Americans definitely seem to be looser.

PM: Right. They'll jump out of their car and run down the street and introduce themselves, like I did.

[laughter]

SH: Exactly. And at shows, like it was so nice in Nashville, like I remember someone yelling, "You guys are great!"  Maybe that was you.

[laughter]

PM: Very possible. I do hoot and holler at shows.

SH: I love that. And people would cheer after a solo or something. I love that kind of give and take, because then the show can go anywhere. It's not like, "Oh, we're doing our thing and we're going to continue doing it." It's nice when people throw stuff in there to spin it in different directions, and fuel it. And I think maybe that happens more in the States. There's more liveliness.

PM: And yet, on the other hand, you get the strongest impression that you're so excited and supportive of Canadian acts, and I love that, too. Like the way you supported Joel Plaskett, who opened for you in Nashville, and just the way you talk about other Canadian musicians is really great.

SH: It's a wonderful community. And I've been in it for long enough now that I've met so many people. And there's so much camaraderie, there really is. It's a big country, but I mean, I've played every big city, and I've been able to spend some time in Halifax, and get to know Joel. And Toronto has just got a great music community. We're a pretty young country. I think there's been a cultural insecurity there for a long time.

PM: Really?

SH: Because we're next to a very large cultural entity. I felt it, anyway, growing up. You'd read about bands in Boston, or whatever, through magazines, and it was like you were reading about a movie. It was like another world. And then your own scene starts to grow up, and you realize, "This is as rich as anything." And so you have a pride for it.

PM: Right.

SH: And I'm not the underdog, because there's no real underdog feeling, but it's nice to root for your hometown, to have a sense of place. And you mentioned about Joel Plaskett--I was having a hard time finding someone who could do that, open that stretch of the tour, I think it was about a week and a half of mostly southern dates. And I'd asked a few different people, and it was like a hundred buck gig.

PM: Yeah, right.

SH: It's not easy to do. Some people wanted to do it, they just couldn't do it. And my manager was saying, "Why don't you just get local openers. Let's just get local openers. We got to get this done." And I was like, "Ooh, yeah, but I just want to bring somebody who doesn't get a chance to go down there." And so I was really happy when Joel was able to do it.

PM: And he had a great time, right?

SH: He had a great time.

PM: So maybe he lost a couple bucks. Who cares? He just played the States.

SH: I know. But I think he sold lots of records, so I think it was okay for him.

PM: Ah, so he did fine, good. Are there places, exotic or familiar, that you like to go to get away?

SH: Yeah. There's a nice deer trail across the road from my house.

[laughter]

SH: Oh, there's so much space. I live north of Kingston, and it's a city just kind of halfway between Toronto and Montreal. And there are lakes, tons of lakes north of the city. And there's just great wild land. That's my favorite place to go. And there's my parents' place, too, even though it's hemmed in a lot more by development. But there are still some great forests and places I like to go. I don't know, I don't really have the travel bug so much. I feel like I'm getting a lot of that on the road.

PM: Yeah, you're getting that anyway.

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