Learning more about a campus musician
Adrien Potvin: You’ve had quite the career so far, having just recently released a debut this past April. Do you feel that holding off on a proper release helped the production, recording, promotion processes?
Jordan Raycroft: Definitely! However, the “holding off” was not at all intentional. I self-recorded two demo discs prior to ever thinking about a studio-quality project. A project with the price tag of a full-length studio album seemed out of reach when I played my first show three and a half years ago. I played almost 100 shows between Toronto and St. John’s before I felt ready to commit to a studio record. “Holding off” allowed for a natural process to occur. I wrote songs, played them at shows, and rewrote them again. I created the songs because I had them in me, not for the sake of meeting a deadline. Nothing was forced. The result, in my opinion, is quite beautiful. It’s something I never would have imagined possible when I first got started. The songs on the album are so transparent. ‘Jordan Raycroft’ is essentially a musical journal of the past few years of my life.
AP: VIA Rail’s Artist on Board Program sounds like a great idea. Do you care to elaborate on how you became a part of it and what it was like?
JR: The Artist on Board Program is an incredible opportunity available to Canadian musicians. The program offers free travel between Toronto and Vancouver, and Montreal and Halifax in exchange for some on-board concerts. I had the opportunity to share my music with people from all over the world in one train car! I could not have toured without VIA’s support, and getting involved was as simple as submitting an application. I played anywhere from three to five concerts for each day I was on the train. My most recent tour of Western Canada took me between Toronto and Tofino playing fifty-three concerts in forty-seven days. Of course, there’s no way I spent all of that time on the train. I organized my schedule with VIA Rail so I could have time off to play concerts in various towns and cities throughout Western Canada. I only spent about nine days on the train in total.
AP: What’s your favourite kind of venue to play in? I imagine you’ve played many different kinds in your career so far. What are benefits and disadvantages of each kind of setting?
JR: My favourite venue is one with an attentive audience. Sure, aesthetically, a gorgeous theatre is going to trump a dive bar. However, if I had the choice between an inattentive audience at Toronto’s Massey Hall (my dream venue) and an attentive audience at your local dive bar, you’d better believe I’d take the bar. The audience makes the show, and interacting with them is my favourite part of performing. If we’re talking strictly aesthetics though, the coolest concert I’ve played to date was on a glass train car riding through the Canadian Rockies – with an attentive audience to boot.
AP: It seems like there’s something for everyone on this album, and a lot of different influences. What kind of stuff do you usually listen to on your free time?
JR: When I was in the studio, I was listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin. Believe it or not, there are some Zeppelin influenced bits on the album. I was also listening to a lot of Neil Young, Feist, John Mayer, City & Colour, and Sam Roberts. Recently, I’ve been really into Shad’s newest release, Flying Colours, and Harmony by Serena Ryder.
AP: How difficult is it to maintain being a working musician on top of being a student? What kind of sacrifices have you made for either?
JR: Being a full-time musician and full-time student is certainly tricky. Fortunately, I had struck a somewhat healthy balance between the two before recording my album. I was enrolled in four classes while I recorded my full-length. I actually managed to pull up my GPA during that semester.
During my second year, I bussed to Peterborough the day before a midterm for a show. I was scheduled to play at Master’ College at 8 p.m. and had to catch a Greyhound the very next morning at 5 a.m. to be back for my 11:30 a.m. midterm. That was pretty dumb; I almost failed the exam. It was a great show though!
AP: Do you have any advice for other budding musicians, specifically regarding promotion, especially with new media?
JR: Utilize the resources available to you. Eighty per cent of my tour bookings have come through checking out other artists’ websites and contacting venue’s they’ve played. Of course, it helps if the artists you’re looking up on shares a similar style as you.
Play to as many people as you can. You’d be surprised at the opportunities that can from busking and playing open mics. I got my first show from playing at the Wednesday night open mic at the Bullring in my first year at U of G.