Jason Collett
http://www.myspace.com/jasoncollett
JASON COLLETT
Rat A Tat Tat
In his own words
Most of this record took shape in a studio in Toronto’s east end. Ill Eagle or Rhonda or whatever other of the evolving list of names Carlin Nicholson uses to call the dilapidated garage that has become ground zero for the burgeoning scene of which he and Mike O’Brien have found themselves at the center. It’s a comfy hole in the wall with an assortment of vintage instruments and recording gear, not all of it working, most of it held together with shoe laces, gaffer tape and indefatigable optimism amidst a clutter of garage sale ephemera and man-den kitsch. All this charming disrepair is an integral part of the alchemy that breaths life into the recordings made here. Slick is simply not a part of the vernacular of the east end.
Mike and Carlin have been in my backing band for some time now. Carlin (originally as front of house tech) came into the fold as a band member soon after he and Mike formed a studio partnership that would go on to become Zeus. This is only the beginning of how incestuous things get. The studio’s a kind of clubhouse for a scene of friends who congregate when not on tour. They enlisted the talents of a young guy they’d been telling me about who had been coming around to the studio to record with friends The Golden Dogs. After showing them a few tunes of his own, young Neil Quin quickly became the third part of the Zeus project. They became a band when they added my long time drummer Rob Drake and even started using my bass player Jeremy Little as their front of house tech. Neil became a part of my band when Zeus was the opening act for my last Canadian tour. He just stayed on stage with the others; it was only natural. This is a way of working very much akin to how I learned to work in Broken Social Scene. To embrace the overlapping of talents rather than feel threatened by them. Rat A Tat Tat was made by plugging into the current of energy running through this scene that’s evolved around a shabby little garage in the east end.
I had hoped to make this record over the winter. Being holed up in a studio is my favorite winter activity. But as is often the case, things don’t work out as you plan. The Golden Dogs record was taking longer than expected…naturally. A friend, Afie Jurvanen, who once played in my band but now plays with Feist, had just finished a solo record under the name Bahamas. He did this an hour north of town at Feist’s ranch along with her manager Robbie Lackritz engineering and mixing. Robbie, as it turns out, is a fantastic engineer and mixer and a real lynchpin in this entire scene. He’s gone on to mix the Golden Dogs record and the Zeus record as well as Rat A Tat Tat. So while I’m waiting for the traffic to die down at the Zeus studio I book us a couple days with Robbie up at the ranch and Afie comes along to sit in and keep us from wrecking the furniture. The intention was to just get the ball rolling and try and get beds for three or four songs, but we drove back to town forty-eight hours later bleary and bedraggled with a dozen new tunes tracked. We heartily indulged in the drink and the smoke and the all night sessions chasing down the mythic four a.m. magic captured on so many of our favorite records. A worthwhile indulgence bearing much fruit. Praise the gods, I love this line of work.
We didn’t get into the Zeus studio until July, there was one more detour first. A few blocks away from my place in the west end is a fine studio called Rooster, whose resident producer and engineer is long time Ron Sexsmith drummer Don Kerr. We all grew up being big fans of Don’s work, he’s a formidable drummer and an all round sweetheart of a guy. Don had called me up to ask a few questions about building a deck and rooftop garden at his place. Although I consider myself retired as a carpenter it seems I can’t help getting involved in the odd project when I’m around. While making my last record I built rooftop decks for both Howie Beck and Hayden, trading off for studio time. So Don and I struck a similar deal and we spent three days at Rooster with Don engineering and playing drums. We walked away with seven songs from that session and Don’s been growing everything from pumpkins to strawberries up on the roof since.
We finally settled into the Zeus studio for the rest of the summer. We tracked a bunch more tunes and fleshed out some of the others bringing in Bryden and Jay Baird from Feist’s band as well as Evan Cranley from Stars to form a horn section. Jason Tait from The Weakerthans came in to play vibes, saw and an assortment of oddball instruments and toys he collects. Bob Wiseman laid down some accordion, piano and Casio bits and Kevin Drew sang his heart out on “Long May You Love” back-ups. It was the Zeus boys that really got behind the wheel to make this record though. There’s a remarkable fluidity to how they all work, switching up instruments from song to song, three part harmonies always on one mic and an uncanny chemistry and instinct that manifests joy and beauty in the work they do. I love making records and I’ve loved making this record more than any other. There was no pre-production and I intentionally didn’t play new material for the band until moments before we’d start recording. I kept writing even while recording and several times stopped sessions to capture the spontaneity of a song written on the spot. We even had the good fortune of capturing a one take of “Rave On Sad Songs” over at Don’s after having a quick chat of who would play what instrument. Sometimes you get lucky. Making Rat A Tat Tat with so many fine people involved, I feel blessed.
- Jason Collett, November 2009
JASON COLLETT
Rat A Tat Tat
In his own words
Most of this record took shape in a studio in Toronto’s east end. Ill Eagle or Rhonda or whatever other of the evolving list of names Carlin Nicholson uses to call the dilapidated garage that has become ground zero for the burgeoning scene of which he and Mike O’Brien have found themselves at the center. It’s a comfy hole in the wall with an assortment of vintage instruments and recording gear, not all of it working, most of it held together with shoe laces, gaffer tape and indefatigable optimism amidst a clutter of garage sale ephemera and man-den kitsch. All this charming disrepair is an integral part of the alchemy that breaths life into the recordings made here. Slick is simply not a part of the vernacular of the east end.
Mike and Carlin have been in my backing band for some time now. Carlin (originally as front of house tech) came into the fold as a band member soon after he and Mike formed a studio partnership that would go on to become Zeus. This is only the beginning of how incestuous things get. The studio’s a kind of clubhouse for a scene of friends who congregate when not on tour. They enlisted the talents of a young guy they’d been telling me about who had been coming around to the studio to record with friends The Golden Dogs. After showing them a few tunes of his own, young Neil Quin quickly became the third part of the Zeus project. They became a band when they added my long time drummer Rob Drake and even started using my bass player Jeremy Little as their front of house tech. Neil became a part of my band when Zeus was the opening act for my last Canadian tour. He just stayed on stage with the others; it was only natural. This is a way of working very much akin to how I learned to work in Broken Social Scene. To embrace the overlapping of talents rather than feel threatened by them. Rat A Tat Tat was made by plugging into the current of energy running through this scene that’s evolved around a shabby little garage in the east end.
I had hoped to make this record over the winter. Being holed up in a studio is my favorite winter activity. But as is often the case, things don’t work out as you plan. The Golden Dogs record was taking longer than expected…naturally. A friend, Afie Jurvanen, who once played in my band but now plays with Feist, had just finished a solo record under the name Bahamas. He did this an hour north of town at Feist’s ranch along with her manager Robbie Lackritz engineering and mixing. Robbie, as it turns out, is a fantastic engineer and mixer and a real lynchpin in this entire scene. He’s gone on to mix the Golden Dogs record and the Zeus record as well as Rat A Tat Tat. So while I’m waiting for the traffic to die down at the Zeus studio I book us a couple days with Robbie up at the ranch and Afie comes along to sit in and keep us from wrecking the furniture. The intention was to just get the ball rolling and try and get beds for three or four songs, but we drove back to town forty-eight hours later bleary and bedraggled with a dozen new tunes tracked. We heartily indulged in the drink and the smoke and the all night sessions chasing down the mythic four a.m. magic captured on so many of our favorite records. A worthwhile indulgence bearing much fruit. Praise the gods, I love this line of work.
We didn’t get into the Zeus studio until July, there was one more detour first. A few blocks away from my place in the west end is a fine studio called Rooster, whose resident producer and engineer is long time Ron Sexsmith drummer Don Kerr. We all grew up being big fans of Don’s work, he’s a formidable drummer and an all round sweetheart of a guy. Don had called me up to ask a few questions about building a deck and rooftop garden at his place. Although I consider myself retired as a carpenter it seems I can’t help getting involved in the odd project when I’m around. While making my last record I built rooftop decks for both Howie Beck and Hayden, trading off for studio time. So Don and I struck a similar deal and we spent three days at Rooster with Don engineering and playing drums. We walked away with seven songs from that session and Don’s been growing everything from pumpkins to strawberries up on the roof since.
We finally settled into the Zeus studio for the rest of the summer. We tracked a bunch more tunes and fleshed out some of the others bringing in Bryden and Jay Baird from Feist’s band as well as Evan Cranley from Stars to form a horn section. Jason Tait from The Weakerthans came in to play vibes, saw and an assortment of oddball instruments and toys he collects. Bob Wiseman laid down some accordion, piano and Casio bits and Kevin Drew sang his heart out on “Long May You Love” back-ups. It was the Zeus boys that really got behind the wheel to make this record though. There’s a remarkable fluidity to how they all work, switching up instruments from song to song, three part harmonies always on one mic and an uncanny chemistry and instinct that manifests joy and beauty in the work they do. I love making records and I’ve loved making this record more than any other. There was no pre-production and I intentionally didn’t play new material for the band until moments before we’d start recording. I kept writing even while recording and several times stopped sessions to capture the spontaneity of a song written on the spot. We even had the good fortune of capturing a one take of “Rave On Sad Songs” over at Don’s after having a quick chat of who would play what instrument. Sometimes you get lucky. Making Rat A Tat Tat with so many fine people involved, I feel blessed.
- Jason Collett, November 2009
