Canadian singer wraps up We Were Here Tour
She’s a singer-songwriter, mother, and now a comic book artist too. Canadian singer Lights not only recently released her fourth studio album, Skin & Earth — she also published a six-issue comic of the same name that she wrote and illustrated.
As Lights nears the end of her We Were Here Tour, The Ontarion had a chance to speak with her over the phone ahead of her upcoming stop in Kitchener on Friday, April 6.
Karen K. Tran: First off, congratulations on winning the Juno award for pop album of the year. What was that experience like, especially considering your last album, Little Machines, also won back in 2015?
Lights: That is pretty crazy. It’s like a two for one. I’m feeling pretty good. It’s funny, and I commented on this when I went up — my first Junos was in 2009, and it was in Vancouver, and that was almost 10 years ago, so this is all full circle. [This year’s Junos] was back in Vancouver and I feel like so much has changed in those years. Every album has helped shape my sense of self and I’m so thankful for the journey. And being able to come back here, almost 10 years later, and still feel that support and still feel nervous going up and giving a speech and screwing it up — it was so good.
KT: So with your new comic and album, Skin & Earth, you’ve drawn this really cool character, Enaia Jin. In the past you’ve also referenced some anime that you like in your songs, and now in your live shows when you’ve played clips of Sailor Moon and Chun Li from Street Fighter when you perform your song “Fight Club.” So I was wondering if you took inspiration from your favourite anime or manga while you were drawing the comic, and if you have any specific characters you really love.
L: Yeah, definitely. I think the comic was a fun opportunity to give a nod to all the things that have ever inspired me. Diablo, for one. The world of Diablo is called Sanctuary, so the forest in [my] comic is called Sanctuary Forest. I put little things like that through it that nod to things I like. With manga in particular, I really like Bleach and Attack on Titan and Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist, and I got to nod to that style of art in a children’s book within the comic. In the comic, the main character Enaia’s favourite children’s book while growing up is called Mitsuki: The Moon Princess. It shows snippets of it throughout and that’s all manga-style. So that was an opportunity to nod to manga-style characters within the comic. I’m actually not that good at drawing manga-style, so I have to work on that a bit more. But it was fun to integrate that a little bit.
KT: Speaking of “Fight Club,” your song is featured on the game Just Dance 2018. What was the process of getting your song chosen? Have you tried playing the game yet?
L: They just kind of told me, “Your song is going to be on Just Dance 2018!” We went back and forth on how Enaia’s likeness would look doing the dance. So the person actually doing the dance wore a red wig and a military jacket and boots so that she looked like the character and that was really cool. And in the background, you could see the dilapidated buildings. They worked really hard to integrate the feeling of Skin & Earth into that dance, which I thought was amazing. The dance, however, [is] way, way too hard for me! Whenever I watch it, I’m always blown away, and I’m blown away by how people can do it. I’m a horrible dancer. I actually haven’t even tried it yet, but that’s to come. When I do, I’ll post a video and it’s going to be horrible.
KT: During this tour, you’ve had your family with you, so what’s that experience been like? Having your daughter, Rocket, on the tour bus with you?
L: It’s awesome. She was actually only out on the first month of it, but I think she probably caught a bit of cabin fever spending too much time in the venues. What people don’t realize is that you’re not seeing the cities when you’re on tour, you’re just waiting to play all day for the most part. I think after a while, she was like, “I want to go home.” So she’s at home right now with my husband, but it was awesome.
I mean, it really grounds me having her there. She brings a youthful, innocent energy to the tour, which helps when we’ve been out for a long time and everyone gets tired. You have a crappy show or you have a good show — she doesn’t care and she reminds you what really matters. It’s a lot of work though. I mean, I wake up in the morning and instead of playing on my phone for half an hour, I have to get dressed, make her breakfast, and get into Mom Mode for every minute that I’m not in Music Mode.
KT: Now that the We Were Here Tour is nearing its end, what have been some of your favourite moments on the tour?
L: It was really nice. The first half of the tour was with Chase Atlantic, and I really got to know those dudes and they’re awesome. Their last night was in Minneapolis and they stormed the stage, and it was a really memorable moment. It was St. Paddy’s day and it was really funny.
I also remember all of us getting the stomach flu and feeling like crap, but everyone was in it together and we pulled it off. I’m proud of the crew for all the things that we deal with.
KT: And you guys also got matching tour tattoos as well?
L: Yeah, it’s a gas can with the Skin & Earth logo on it from one of the We Were Here Tour shirts. It’s directly from the comics, which are directly from the music video — so it’s all tied in. “We Were Here” was my favourite chapter to write, to draw, and then my favourite song to write. And it’s one of my favourite songs to play, and the tour is called that, so everything just made sense. It’s kind of like a really empowering moment in the comic. So obviously it means more than just a tour, but it’s nice to have a little reminder of a good tour.
KT: Any plans for a comic and album sequel?
L: You know what? When I was working on this, I thought this would just be a tidy six-issue series that closes and it’s all finished. And when I finally got to that last issue and I was perfecting the ending and making sure that it was just right, I realized this isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning. So I think there will be more, but because it’s a one-woman show, and I probably can’t take another year off tour, it might be a while. But I’d like to say that this is just the beginning of Enaia’s story.
Feature photo courtesy of Matt Barnes/Universal Music
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