Meticulous Musical Montages
Royal Canoe’s new songwriting lineup records new music
By Mitch Kruse
“It’s pretty much a new band,” said Bucky Driedger of Royal Canoe. “I would say
from CO-OP Mode to now it’s been a re-invention of the band, we’re almost starting over
again.”
Royal Canoe began in 2006 as a collaborative side project for Matt Peters from The
Waking Eyes, but became serious when Peters put together a live band and released CO-
OP Mode on in 2009.
“Now for the last year, we’ve had the same guys and all six of us are part of the writing
and arranging process and it’s a really creative, fun group of people to make music with,”
said Driedger. “It’s really open and great.”
The reincarnated Royal Canoe comprises a healthy mix of members from The
Liptonians and Tele, but still sticks to collaborative methods. They are piecing together a
new album and EP at Private Ear Recording.
Teaming up with them is producer/engineer John Paul Peters, whose patience has paid
off for the ambitious band and their potpourri of keyboards, digital triggers, and effects.
“He’s an engineer/producer that’s really up for a challenge,” said Driedger. “He’s also
a guy that’s always really open to trying new ideas and trying something weird to see if
we could get a cool sound out of it.”
John Paul also pushes for ideal vocal performance. He will do everything to facilitate
a perfect vocal take, such as having water and tea ready or blocking out windows if a
singer prefers not to be seen singing.
“I have to feel an emotional quality coming from the singer, no matter how they sing,”
said John Paul. “If you’re perfectly in tune without emotion, nobody’s going to care.”
Though the new music still embraces the synth hooks and vocal effects of CO-OP
Mode, Royal Canoe now has a digital/analog double drum attack, played by Mike Jordan
and Derek Allard, which gives their rhythmic grooves human quality as opposed to
sounding programmed. Though not an electronic album, it will definitely embrace sonic
exploration.
“This album is going to have a lot of extreme contrasts,” said John Paul. “There will be
very wet, roomy elements and very dry elements working together to form very unique
tones and sonic textures.”
“We’re all pretty calculative,” said Driedger. “Not in a way that’s sterile, just that we
spend a lot of time while we’re writing making every part perfect.”
Royal Canoe debuted their new tunes live at The Pyramid Cabaret at the end of
December. The EP will come out early this year, while the album’s release date is to be
determined.
