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Eddie Warren is in a different place in his career than a lot of other musicians I interview, he's already done the top 40 thing, and he's more interested in the background of what's going on now. Running between Alberta and Texas to say the man is busy isn't even close, he took a breather for an email interview with me in July 2006.
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How do you divide your time between living in Alberta and Texas?
Eddie: A lot of airplane rides back and forth. I was on tour for 4 years solid, partially through Canada and mostly through the States. Somehow I accidentally ended up in Austin, the music capitol when my car broke down there. I ended up being stuck there for a year. Great place to be stuck. I ended up playing gigs seven nights a week, and opening for some great names, Such as Monte Montgomery, Terri Hendrix, Eric Tesmer, Warren Hood and Seth Walker. I decide to take a break from touring and go back to Canada to reconnect with my family and work to pay off my producer. Between working in Calgary and recording and performing in Austin, I've seen a lot of miles from a small window 30,000 feet up.
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Do you think this has helped you any with your music, having two very different 'local' areas?
Eddie: Well Calgary is where I started my career, and decided after 4 years of performing here to take off get out there so to speak. I ended up in Austin. Coming back to Calgary has been great as I've seen the music scene grow since I left four years ago, but the cool part is reconnecting with old friends and audiences here who all seem to see a huge growth in my music and performance. I feel like Austin and the road has given me so much. Being back where I started is great, but I feel like Austin has become home. Unfortunately, it is a tough city to survive in with soly a music career. Having to pay off the producer for the new CD and being Canadian, and not legal to work in the States, I had to return.
What was the recording process like for this new disc?
Eddie: Well this time around was a huge improvement from all of my other studio experiences. All my other recordings and CDs have been self produced, Recorded from studio time that I had won from singer songwriter competitions and Battle of the Bands contests. The recording time was pressured, and ended up being chalk full of mistakes, that we didn't have time to fix. The typical recording disasters. All though most people say that only I can notice the mistakes, but I do. I'd been through Producers before that just didn't work out and thus the recordings never got released. I learned a valuable lesson with what to look for in a producer. Musical interests and tastes should be similar to yours. I found a producer named Mike Leone in Austin. He was recording a couple of friends of mine who suggested I check out his work. I was blown away at his capabilities. Normally he would work with the artist song by song, but as I was living in Calgary and flying down to record we recorded all the guitar parts and all the vocals, and were communicating via Internet on ideas and he is making sure the rest is taken care of. So far what we have done already is by far the best recording ive had yet. This CD is going to be the one that I finally won't hold back from sending out to Record or Management companies due to embarrassment. It's a radio ready album.
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Eddie on his 4 year touring adventure
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'For the next three years, I basically spent 3 months in a city, played the crap out of it, booked my own gigs, played open mikes, gained contacts and sold CDs and played shows, I would head to the next city and do it all over, and every time I rolled into a new place with 2 dollars in my pocket, things just always worked out...'
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How did the coming together of this release differ from the last time you put out a CD?
Eddie: Well the last CD that I have been selling on the road has been just a CD of mixed recordings that I had done over the years as opposed to this one, which is the complete package. This one is a mix of a wide range of musical styles. The first song is very Jazzy R&B, then it goes to a funk driven guitar mixed with Drum and Bass /Jungle. Then it goes to an acoustic ten finger tapping technique, very Michael Hedges inspired style with vocals, to a Melodic acoustic rock style. And some more groove oriented jazz. I don’t mind the diversity.
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What are your plans now that the album is out?
Eddie: Well, it wont be out till Sept or Oct, and I'm planning a CD Release party here in Calgary, also am in the works of planning a tour in Scotland and England, and then ill be back in Austin to do another CD release party down there.
What have been some of the highlights over the last two years of touring?
Eddie: Wow, hard question, there's so many. Some of the opening shows for bigger name acts were definitely a highlight and accomplishments. In Canada I opened up for The Trews, they are one of Canada's biggest bands right now. I opened up for Sister hazel and the pat McGee band in Birmingham, Monte Montgomery in Austin. Aside from that, just seeing the States, being from Canada, it's a whole other world down there. There's so much to see. I spent a lot of time in the Deep South, which was amazing. One minuite I'd be playing in Savanah with the Nevvile Brothers bass player, the next in Tennassee playing with some Good ole blue grass players sippin on moonshine. The people I met, the great friends I made and crazy experiences. It was an adventure of a lifetime. I wrote every single thing down in a journal over the last four years of touring, and have tons of material for a book, it's going to be called, Diary of a Journal.
How was the tour set up?
Eddie: Ah, here we go, lol, well I originally had an agent who was a friend of mine with a booking agency. He booked indie bands all over Canada. We spent a lot of time planning and mapping out where I wanted to go. He booked some great tours for me up the East coast of Canada, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick (the People there are the biggest drinkers I've ever met.) He started booking me into the States, he promised me 20 shows before I left Canada, and by the time I left he had 5 shows booked. I was skeptical to leave not knowing what was going to happen. He said that for some reason, he couldn't figure out why, but there was some big difference in booking the States as opposed to Canada, and he couldn't figure it out. So I played my shows in New York and Boston, and Philadelphia, and there were no more shows, he had quit on me. So as I didn't want to go back to Canada and I was sleeping in my car in the middle of winter, and in the north, it's kind of cold out. So I had a few bucks and drove as far south as I could go on the little amount of gas I had, and spent Christmas that year sleeping in my car in a hotel parking lot in Wilmington, North Carolina. I was cold broke, hungry and nowhere to stay, and had no shows to play. So I hit up an open mike, the lady who owned the bar asked me to play there as much as I wanted for tips and a bit of cash and she put me up in her condo. We became great friends, and she taught me a lesson. While I was waiting for my agent to get his act together and get me some shows, she said, you have to stop relying on others and do it for your self. So after 3 months in NC I decided to hop in my car and just go, didn't know where I was going, but I left, hit up towns and dropped off demos, had very little money, but things just worked out. I found out very quickly that, you don't have to worry about anything. For the next three years, I basically spent 3 months in a city, played the crap out of it, booked my own gigs, played open mikes, gained contacts and sold CDs and played shows, I would head to the next city and do it all over, and every time I rolled into a new place with 2 dollars in my pocket, things just always worked out, I'd hit up an open mike, somebody after finding out I was sleeping in my car, would offer me a place to stay, I'd go on and play shows, then after 3 months, I'd say, I wonder what the next adventure is. It was incredible.
Eddie: Are you looking for label support? What qualities are you looking for in a label?
Eddie: I haven't ever really tried to approach labels yet; I haven't felt that my recordings were good enough as a representation of me. I did get signed at SXSW when I got to Austin, but the record company went bankrupt soon after. With this new CD, I'll be sending it out for sure. I think I want to approach indie labels. Ben Harper's label and Anni Defranco's label comes to mind first. Two musicians I have huge respect for in how they built their careers.
How important do you think it is to be hands on about all the aspects of your music/packaging/promo?
Eddie: Very important. I think, as an artist we put ourselves out there in our music; we represent ourselves in what is recorded, so why not be the ones in control of the promo and everything else. It's always good to have a hand but ultimately no one can represent you like you. As well, I heard it all, I've heard all the cheesy used car salesman types fill my head with what they can do for me, it all seems to go in one ear and out the other. Every one wants to represent you in some way, as a manager, agent, promoter, or label. There are a lot of sharks out there; there are a lot of people full of a lot of talk. Fortunately you can see their bright colored suites a mile away.
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The Playlist
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Eddie's Playlist
1. Teitur - I Was Just Thinking
2. Ben Harper - Amen Omen
3. Colin James - Speakeasy [one of my biggest influences from Canada]
4. Willy Porter - Anything
5. Michael Hedges - And Aerial Boundaries
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