Q&A with POSTDATA
POSTDATA (Photo by: Griffin O’Toole)
How does “Run Wild” differentiate from POSTDATA’s previous music?
I think the songs veer more into pop territory than ever before… but also as a record, it’s more varied, a wider range of emotive ground and sonic territory covered... it’s also a continuation from what I started with Twin Flames especially lyrically and thematically... the songwriting and also the production process of it was begat from Twin Flames if it’s not too icky to use a word like “begat”.
How has POSTDATA evolved as a project since you released your first album?
It started as a stripped-down ode to my grandparents and to my family... something I did over the holidays with my brother Mike. Just for fun and to see what we could up with. As a songwriter, it was about going deeper into myself and expressing emotions in a way that I hadn’t fully explored up to that point maybe… and maybe emotions that I didn’t really know how to express in a band atmosphere? It was also sort of a personal test to see what I could do with as little production as possible. Seeing where I stood. I love going deep into production and going “large” and really having tons of full-spectrum things happening. Sometimes a production can act as a bit of a forcefield... and stripping everything away was an important process for me, to see what’s there beneath it all... to make sure. I think that process unearthed something in my songwriting... I think I’ve built it up production-wise in these last few albums and hopefully gotten better at writing songs and developed in the process while hopefully retaining that spirit captured in the first thing.
There were eight years between your debut and “Let’s Be Wilderness”. With each subsequent album, that gap has gotten shorter and shorter. Is there more of an urgency with this project now? Is there anything, in particular, driving this ramped-up attention to the project?
I think with the pandemic I just got into production at home and started writing a ton... really finding a lot of joy and purpose in the process of that. Also just being able to work with new people and to work at the clip that home studio recording allows. Jamming with Jordan and Keith who live pretty close to me. Paper Bag [Records] has been really great to work with and really fostering/championing what I’ve been sending to them. Having the chance to work with people like Joe Chiccarelli, Nyles Spencer and Matty Green is really inspiring and motivating too. It’s not lost on me how lucky I am to even chat with these people via email let alone meet up and record and send files and exchange mix notes. Pretty wild.
How have your creative mindset and goals evolved between “Twin Flames” and “Run Wild”?
It’s a good question and a hard question to answer: I think I’ve always always had the same mindset, mapping out where I am emotionally at a given time. Songwriting for me is a way to comprehend my internal world and the outside world also... these two records are essentially the same block of time 2020-now for me so I think lyrically and thematically it’s a similar gamut (dumb word) but production-wise and song choice wise they vary quite a lot. Twin Flames was tracked early stages of the pandemic... so I guess it was at some level processing how I felt in those early days and months even though much of the material was written pre-pandemic. It really feels like it meditates or circulates in a specific emotional space... and feels really meditative on that and in that… Run Wild feels like it’s reaching out of the abyss and into the world a bit more. The tracking process for Twin Flames was largely done remotely so I’d track some stuff and Ali would track some stuff and we’d add drums and bass (either Ali & Matt in Bristol or me and Jordan in Halifax).. also got some friends to feature on the songs.. so it was a lot of remote work. It felt like everything came together sort of magically. Like a song would be at a point and then Ali would send this sick bass part and drums and then Tim D’Eon (Wintersleep) or Andy Monaghan (Frightened Rabbit) would fire in this amazing part a week later... Ali was amazing to work with and really fostered this idea to to dig deeper and inspired me to really try my hand at tracking all of the things whether it’s guitar or synth or especially vocals... I don’t think I have even tried a main vocal by myself up to that point let alone a whole record. Because of that experience with Ali, I felt really confident at the demo phase of Run Wild and really built up a lot of the music and vocals before going into track. We tracked drums and bass live off the floor with Joe and Nyles.. and those guys are just sound monsters dialling in amazing stuff and tweaking things until they were perfect. Joe had a lot of neat ideas for sounds and arrangements and it was just really nice to work in real-time... I feel like it was really immediate for me in that sense just for everyone to be in the same room tracking together.
As the front person of Wintersleep and POSTDATA, how do you manage the creative processes and approaches for each project, and how do they influence one another?
Wintersleep is a band. Tim, Loel and I all work at the songwriting and the initial stages of production and shape what it’s going to be. It’s a bit more of a process writing, demoing and seeing where the spark is at a given time… because it has to check all of the boxes for all of us and where we’re at personally and artistically... as well as whoever we’re working with at the production and mix level when it gets to that point. Our live sound and or intention is something we try to incorporate into the production so the players on the records are also so important to the way those records feel. It’s really distinctive I think because of that. Lots of different types of songs as the songs come from three sources... and lots of different ways to contribute... like sometimes I’m bringing in a more or less complete idea but sometimes it’s just a riff or two... and sometimes I’m just writing the melody and lyrics over someone else’s piece of music. POSTDATA is kind of just me at that songwriting and pre-production phase. Maybe there’s a bit more curation from the people I’m producing those POSTDATA records with… the players on it (Jordan and Keith on the latest) also bring a lot to the table emotionally and come up with cool parts and ideas that add a ton... It’s all a learning process.. and a way to push yourself and see where you’re at emotionally and artistically… pushing yourself to new heights and limits... sometimes working through something on my own is really helpful and brings me to places I can’t go with a distinctive band or band at all and sometimes working in a more collaborative band setting brings out completely different shades of colour and can be super inspiring.
You are known for your incredible songwriting. Are there any specific influences or inspirations that played a role in creating the songs for the album?
That’s amazing to read. Thanks so much :) I work so hard at it and write tons of garbage too haha. A lot of different outside influences like books, music and poetry. I think writing for me is mainly a response to what’s going on inside my heart and brain. A way to emote that.
As you anticipate the release of Run Wild, what are your hopes and expectations for this album?
I don’t know if I expect anything from it. I know I put a lot of care, work and love into it and just hope it finds its people. I hope to be able to play it live a lot as that has an immediacy that I think serves the music well.
What can fans look forward to in terms of promotional activities, such as live performances or other engagements related to the release of Run Wild?
I’m going to tour eastern Canada and Toronto and Montreal in the fall and hopefully some west coast stuff in the spring - maybe Europe/UK/US in the spring if it all lines up and goes well!!
