In a world of iTunes and digitalized music, touring has become an essential aspect of being a career musician.
Gavin Gardiner – frontman for Toronto's The Wooden Sky – spoke with {vurb} as he and the band made their way through the dessert between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, where they were scheduled to play.
The Wooden Sky are nearing the end of their nearly four month tour which has taken them across Canada, the US and into Europe.
“It's definitely the most touring any of us have ever done, or would ever want to do, I think,” said Gardiner.
The reality of the current music industry is apparent to Gardiner and many bands who know the only viable source of income is touring.
Aside from the obvious challenges of touring – long days on the road, late nights and early mornings – Gardiner said being on the road can be a “creative black hole.”
“It's hard enough to figure out where and when you're going to eat let alone find time to create new music,” he said. “We've done so much touring now, between this record and the last one, so we've sort of learned how to do it and make sure we're finding time to be creative.”
While on the American leg of their tour, The Wooden Sky experienced first had some of the major events that made international headlines.
Before making their way to New York, the band was glued to the TV while the winds of Hurricane Sandy battered the east coast of Canada.
“It was a bit of morbid curiousity but it was also the fact that we had to be there in a few days,” said Gardiner. “Literally the power had come back on at the venue we were playing three days beforehand.”
The Wooden Sky experienced waves of a different kind in Philadelphia on November 6.
A good crowd had gathered at Kung Fu Necktie (the Philly venue) but the band could tell the crowd was distracted.
The presidential election had understandably side tracked the show a bit.
“We were actually on stage when it was announced that Obama had won the cheers just went through the audience, it was really electric,” said Gardiner. “It was a pretty memorable moment for us.”
The Wooden Sky have been touring on the wake of the release of their second album as a band Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun.
The album was created and recorded the new embodiment of Montreal's Hotel2Tango, which as been in a new location since 2007.
For the second time, the band worked with Howard Bilerman who produced and engineered The Arcade Fire's first album Funeral.
“He kind of called himself a musical midwife,” said Gardiner about Bilerman. “He said 'it's not my baby, it's yours, I'm just helping you deliver it.'”
In combination with Bilerman's subtle approach and the 'positive vibe' of the Hotel2Tango, The Wooden Sky took the 18 song Gardiner went into the studio with and the 13 track album Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun.
The Wooden Sky will be at The Royal on November 21.