by Jolie Flink
In the aftermath of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and the end of a long-term relationship, I was on a manic tear and writing songs at lightning speed. At the time, my late-night escapades included a lot of flings and raging substance use — this was the only way I knew how to manage my symptoms at the time. I wasn’t exactly treating my bipolar disorder with traditional medicine or therapy.
by Alex Southey
This song, We Have Been Here for a Week, is about the perceived personality of the city of Vancouver.
When I’m playing or listening to music time stands still, and the outside world doesn’t exist. My imagination runs free. That’s what I most enjoy about being a musician. I like to spend time alone which gives me plenty of time to write songs, but then performing in front of an audience is an entirely different thing.
Back in the late ’80s, my parents started up a rainforest conservation project in Cameroon. They had their adventures getting there, having driven the whole way with all their gear in a Landrover. They almost got lost in the Sahara desert and crossed Chad, which at the time was in the midst of a civil war.
Their project was based in a remote village called Oku, in the north-west province of Cameroon. It revolved around working with local people to protect a remaining island of rainforest on Mt Oku, home of the Oku tribe.
by Jack Norton
I, Jack Norton, am an Emmy Award winning singer-songwriter performing hokum blues and vaudeville folk music. Based in the United States, I recorded my most recent album “Busker’s Blues” in a cabin in a remote part of Manitoba, Canada. Armed only with a mic, a guitar and a week in the woods, the following is a journal kept by me while recording…
Apart from being behind the band SoundFields, I (Robert Fields) am the main character in a screenplay about someone who started thinking back in 2007 that he is the one John Lennon wrote his song, Doctor Robert, about.
You might wonder how someone comes up with such a thought. One reason is that I was already around when the song Doctor Robert has been written. The Beatles’ songs filled the room where I lived when I was just a little child; when something dramatic happened: I nearly died.
Write a story about what inspired my first EP? Nothing might be better suited to represent the songs on the EP then the stories of Bucharest at night, haunted by all the life consumed by the city during the day.
by Sarah Fletcher, Feathers, Wood ‘N’ String
Feathers, Wood ‘N’ String was born of a move between continents, a 24 hour trip between us and our family and friends, a new climate and culture, and unrestricted time together, just ourselves and Lloyd’s guitar. Three years on, we have developed our own brand of alternative rock, varying from soaring indie clean tones to heavy distorted ones, and we produce all this on our own in a one bedroom flat in Southampton, UK, a base 16,356 kilometers from our hometown of Adelaide, South Australia.
by Didi Fever
In the wake of trauma, and especially abuse, there is often a bottoming out of the self: it can feel like everything you were has been hollowed out and replaced by this terrible event. When I started to heal, I began writing songs.
by Cold Pickle
I grew up listening to a lot of alternative rock music — a good handful of hip-hop but nothing in-depth. Most of my musical influence came from Nine Inch Nails and the “industrial uprising.” My parents met at a Ministry concert at the first actual venue I ended up playing at, in the closest city’s bar scene. My dad got me into every good popular metal, hardcore, punk, rock band I can think to listen to today, besides newer bands of this generation.