Beautiful House

The Sophomore Album.

Beautiful House

My sophomore album is called beautiful house, the follow up to 2004s Dear Love.

I believe the idea was hatched between me and magic teeth records Owner Gareth Gaudin to have Danny Michel produce the album. For some reason, we thought it wise to do the bed tracks in Victoria at lucky mouse with Tolan McNeil, I think I wanted my band to play on the album but couldn’t afford to take them to Ontario to record with Danny. So we tracked some beds at lucky mouse. I don’t remember that at all really, lol. I’m sure it was fun, as recording with Tolan always is.

I seem to recall sending Danny loads of cds with the recorded files on them. I then flew out to Toronto to do some solo shows, visit an ex girlfriend and make a record.

I took the GO bus from my gig in Hamilton to the Kitchener/Waterloo Bus station and waited for Danny to come get me.  I don’t remember what he was driving but it was exciting to see him and head out to the country to Puslinch lake to see where he lived and how he worked. His house was literally on the lake, the back porch  was over the water from what I recall. The studio overlooked the lake, Im pretty sure I hung out down in the studio the whole time, on a steady diet of rum and cokes and laughs. Danny is a great producer and worked very hard to get a vibe going.  I recall re recording a few of the tunes to get what Danny was hearing in his head which suited me just fine, he is a great drummer and stellar guitar player and a wonderful person. It really was a dream come true working with him.

Photo:Danny Michel Working on Beautiful House at the Puslinch Lake Studio.

Before the release of Beautiful House I was offered a record deal with Vancouver’s Boompa Records. A deal that surely changed the course of my career and life. The label was run by Robert Calder, Scott

Walker, Erin Nicholson and Shannon Martin. The label had put a ton of hard work and money into the record and we toured all over the US, Canada and The UK, the album was doing well and everyone was happy (iso)I stayed with boompa for 3 albums, Beautiful House led to my 3rd album Depression River, which we’ll discuss next.

For now, here’s a run down from what I can recall about the session and the songs.

Danny Michel- Guitars, Vocals, Drums, Bass, Piano, Programming

Tolan Mcneil-Guitar, Pedal Steel

Daniel Weisenburger- Guitars

Leigh Grisewood-Bass

Luke Renshaw-Drums

Dwayne Strohm-Banjo

1. Just in Case- This song was absolutely nuts for me, featured on 2 episodes of the biggest show in the world (Greys anatomy) it bought me my first vintage guitar and my first real tour van. I’d really like to play it again but every time I circle around to it it never feels right, I don’t know why. Probably a shedding of skin. I’m not the person I was when I wrote it. Danny really nailed the arrangement on this. Tolan really wrote the hook on this one and I am embarrassed to say wasn’t properly compensated for it. I just didn’t have any concept of that kind of thing back then,  Sorry T-Mac. I owe you.

2. Sweet Amphetamine- Seems like I was interested in things I shouldn’t have been at the time. Women, pills and booze. The shovel the dirt on me line seems to allude to the fact that I knew It wasn’t gonna last. Fun at the time but seems a world away now. Love the production on this one, great solo section, thin Lizzy sequel, Not sure that was Tolan or Danny’s doing. Love Danny yelling out the lyrics at me during the bridge.

3. Stupid Love song- our attempt to be Ron Sexsmith. Depression and real life. Needed a break from the love songs I guess. My city of Victoria B.C. had become a pit of despair and sadness to me at the time. We were losing friends to suicide and drugs. A beautiful solo on this one by Danny.

4. Let her down-love this production by Danny, feels like a bit of a hangover form Dear Love. I was standing up for a female friend on this one, a letter to her parents that let her suffer abuse alone. I quite like this song as Im listening back here. It’s pure. Tolan smokes it on this solo and Lukes drumming is stellar.

5. Count Me Out-Great intro, epic guitars. I loved playing this live. Maybe I’ll I try it again. ITs kind of got an Oasis vibe going on the intro. I think this song was for me as much as anyone. its probably about me just being off my head, looking for some sort of faith in something. Cool bridge theres a lot more classic rock on this album than I thought, probably Tolan’s influence.

6. Beautiful House-I had decide to pursue music full-time during the writing of this album which was a dark pursuit at first. Not a lot of money was rolling in but the songs were coming fast and furious. I had decided to escape reality a bit and went to the movie theatre. My two options were the Alamo or eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. I thought Jim Carey would cheer me up. Boy was I wrong. I was in tears within 20 minutes but I did get a song out of it. Theres a greta scene where they are breaking into a beach house in the film, the melody of the songs just started rolling through my mind, I had to go out to the lobby and use a pay phone and sing the melody into my answering machine. This has always been a popular song in my catalog. Ironically it manifested itself Into real life with our house in Victoria, the driveway was always flooding, neighbours dog barking. It’s all good now! Wow, looking at the liner notes shows that my friend Dwayne Strohm plays banjo on this one.

7. I break hearts- We scrapped the rocking version that ended up on the Tales from the back porch EP for this laid back mellow vibe. Love the melodica and Dannys Harmonies throughout.

8. In the night-Ive always loved this one. I’m not sure where it came from, I was really into Tegan and Sara’s “If it was you” album and this seems to have a touch of that plus some Interpol vibes going on in the guitars in the chorus and the chord progression. I guess a lot of things can happen under the darkness of night or the darkness of your mind, better watch out and hold your lover tight.

9. House of Sin- Man, I could spin em out real sad back in the day hey? Some nice writing and production on this one. I love Tolan’s steel playing on here.

10. One note lullaby- More Heartbreak songs. Still trying to mend that broken heart I suppose. Some really great slide playing by Dan Weisenburger on this one. Some pretty fun production on this one considering its a rather sad song. I do love the innocent writing on these. I obviously want thinking too hard, more feeling. I can feel my youth in these songs and I dig it.

11. Sweet Liza Jane- must be singing to my dark angel here. It’s like a drunken argument with myself.

Over all I think this is a beautiful record. My only issue is my voice, I obviously hadn’t found my own yet but I can forgive myself there. The production is really cool and I can see why a lot of people really dig this record. “Just in Case” really paved the way for me to succeed in a career in music. I’m grateful for all the folks who worked on this album.

I really feel like I was finding my way in all of this, lots of ego (As you can read in the cringe worthy Toronto Star Article Below), Lots of alcohol and lots of adventure. If I could do it all again I would likely have taken a little more time to treat my friends better, I was hell bent on moving forward and left some folks in the rear view that probably deserved more from me. Hopefully we learn as we grow up a bit.

I played a couple songs from this record for the first time in ages last weekend in Langley. It felt great to reconnect with them in a new lense. Maybe I’ll add them into the set from time to time.