Constantines frontman preps new material while working and parenting
I met Bry Webb about a year and a half ago while volunteering at CFRU. He’s the full-time operations coordinator at the station and also runs quite a few tech training sessions for new volunteers like myself. In the time that I’ve known him as a humble mentor and family man, I didn’t have the slightest clue that he was also a gifted musician with a long and successful career.
Imagine my surprise when, while preparing to cover Fiver’s appearance at the ANAF, I came across an artist profile page for Bry Webb, singer-songwriter and frontman of the popular Canadian indie rock band the Constantines.
Webb played in his first garage band at the age of 13. “It was just myself and a drummer. We skateboarded together and we both got instruments around the same time,” said Webb. They may not have been groundbreaking, but this is Webb’s earliest recollection of writing music.
Webb went on to write and perform with punk rock bands in London, Ont., before moving to Guelph and launching the Constantines. “I was really involved in hardcore punk rock and I did a lot of touring in the ’90s as part of that network that existed all over North America,” Webb recalled.
Webb’s music as a solo artist is much softer, leaning more towards a folky, acoustic sound; something he has always been drawn to. “I think when you’re playing loud music, and touring a lot, and steadily just performing full-on energy rock music, you don’t really listen to that stuff in the car. The Constantines, despite being a really loud band, when we were travelling in the van it was mostly mellow stuff like John Prine and Vashti Bunyan.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAXTI-zotpk
Webb and fellow folk songwriter Simone Schmidt (Fiver), whom he opened for at the ANAF, have known each other for over ten years and have built up a fruitful friendship. “Simone is a real mentor and friend as well. I’m trying to figure out why I should write a song as a white, relatively straight, cis-gendered, able-bodied person who embodies most privileges in this world. It’s just a regular thing for me to wonder why anyone should listen to my perspective. Simone’s been amazing, because I know that she won’t go easy on me,” said Webb.
Webb is due to release a new record, but it may be some time before listeners can add it to their favourite Spotify playlist, according to Webb. “Working a day job and having a family, one has to make time to make that stuff happen. I’m trying to get back into the swing of things and figure out why I should write another song. What do I have to say that anybody should listen to? We’ll see.”
Photo by Carlos Mandujano