A Conversation with Nicky Mehta  (continued)

PM: The other thing that Roddy Campbell said that was incredibly interesting--he's always interesting--he referred to your earlier EP as more disparate, and said something like "Can this be the same group?"

NM: Yeah.

PM: Which leads me to inquire whether there was a great deal of woodshedding after the first EP where you were looking for a sound, ostensibly, that you obviously found in 40 Days. Was there woodshedding that went on in one place or another to get to where you got?

NM: Well, it never felt that conscious. When we did the EP, we were only about six months old. Actually, no, we weren't even that. We did our first show January and we threw together an EP for Folk Alliance in February.

PM: Ah, it was a Folk Alliance thing, right.

NM: Yeah. So it was pretty soon after the first show that we recorded a live five-song EP. And everything was live, everything was one take. And we did that for the purpose of taking it down to Folk Alliance. Then when we got back, we went into the studio. That first version of it was recorded in a friend's living room--he owns a studio, but just happened to have his gear at home. When we got back, we thought, "Okay, well, we need to add a song, and then we'll clean up some of this stuff, and we'll release it as an EP." I don't know how well you know the EP--

PM: Not at all, actually.

NM: Okay. Well, so you don't have a copy of that.

PM: No. I'm hot to get one, though.

NM: All right. But there's a version of "Deeper Well."

PM: Oh, really? A guy I know from Nashville wrote that, Dave Olney. He's an incredible songwriter.

NM: Yeah, he's amazing. So the version that's on the EP, I sang lead on that. And that was the first take of the live thing we did in the living room. So we just redid the guitars, redid one of the backup vocals. We took this five-song EP and we just added to it, and then added a new song. But it was still pretty raw. And we weren't even thinking about our sound at the time. We were just playing together, and we've always done sort of what comes naturally. It's never been a calculated thing at all.

PM: So it was a natural evolution, really, between one album and the next, right? There wasn't any master plan, just a little more time to incubate.

NM: Yeah. A little bit more time, more time of being on the road and more of a chance to let the songs gel.

PM: What's your take and the group's take on gigging outside Canada, the UK vs. the States and all that? Are you anxious to get to the States? Let's start there.

NM: Yes, we are, for sure. We've toured Canada almost exclusively, aside from conferences in the States. We've toured Canada for two and a half years now. Canada is a large country, so you can tour it for a fairly long time. But it's also tough to tour, because it is so big. And it's expensive. Whereas somewhere like the States, there are just more people.

PM: Yeah, you drive two hours, and you're at the next gig.

NM: Absolutely. And we have a lot of people contacting us from the States. We know there are people who want us to come down. It just makes sense, you guys are next door. If it weren't for the visa stuff, it would be the easiest thing in the world.

PM: How did the Red House Records deal come together?

NM: I'm trying to remember when they first saw us. Our manager was shopping the record to other labels outside Canada, where we record for his label. And Red House was really enthusiastic right from the very start. They remind me a bit of our manager and our label in that they're not a huge operation, but they've been there a long time, and they're respected, and they have great artists on their label.

PM: And they've got it together.

NM: They've got it together. But most importantly, for us, they have integrity. They're good people, and they believe in the music. There's no one that's there to make a million dollars, otherwise they wouldn't be in the roots industry. It's just people who are there because they believe in what they're doing. They're there to make a living, there's no doubt about that, but they're not in it to make a million dollars.

PM: Yeah, the only guy who makes them a lot of money is the guy they started the label around, Greg Brown. [see our interview with Greg]

NM: Right, exactly. It's still fairly new, our relationship with them, but Bob Feldman and Linda Fahey are just really great people. And they're very excited about our music, and that's exciting to us. It's gratifying to be working with people who really believe in what you do.

PM: And I think they're going to help make you really big in the States, and I'm very excited about that.

NM: I hope so.

PM: So is your Canadian booking agency--I'm sure they're really hot--going to hand over the U.S. responsibilities at some point to somebody who books the States here, or...?

NM: I'm not sure how that's going to play out. I mean, for now they're doing it, and that is part of our agreement. But I'm not sure what will play out over the long term. It's hard to say at this point. We'll see how they do, because this American tour that we're going to be doing is really our first. And because we're moving into some areas that we've never been in before, we sort of have to expect that we're going to be playing less prestigious gigs, obviously, than what we're used to in Canada. We've built up a following here.

PM: Right.

NM: But we'll know pretty quickly how that's all working out, and we'll just take it as it comes.

PM: Since so many people skip this town, I hope that you guys do play Nashville.

NM: Oh, well, yeah. I mean, we've been there, so we'd love to come back.

PM: Many people skip it because it's like L.A. or New York, it's kind of a tough town. People are jaded, and it's hard to get people to come out. But you've been here, and I think people would come out. It's just finding the right venue.

NM: Exactly. Also Ruth's got a really good friend down in Nashville. Actually, we're good friends with Colin Linden as well.

PM: Yeah, I know him from town. He's a great guy, a major talent.

NM: He's awesome. So if we had a chance to go down there, even more than just for the reason of coming through to play, I think we'll make every effort we can to come through.

PM: That's great. continue 

print (pdf)     listen to clips      puremusic home