From The Artist's Perspective Interview at Point Magazine. Thursday, July 20, 2000 |
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"I don’t have any false
expectations of anybody. I know how tough it is for promotion and marketing people to work
a record. I am also acutely aware how tiny the percentage is of records that actually
break through and sell the massive amounts of copies that it takes to make people into
massive rock stars."
Bryan Potvin broke into the music industry as the guitarist for The Northern Pikes. The six album Pikes catalog has sold in excess of 500,000 units internationally, including three gold records and the multi-platinum selling Snow In June. Potvin himself provided the group with several radio hits including: "Hopes Go Astray", "Dream Away", "Believe" and The Pikes top 5 radio smash "She Ain't Pretty". Various Potvin compositions continue to get national airplay. After years of touring and recording the band broke up from fatigue and burn out.
Between 1994 and 1998, Bryan Potvin was employed by Mercury Records Canada. During this time he also dabbled in soundtrack work, with such credits as co-writing the theme to the internationally acclaimed television show Due South. He walked out of Mercury after four years with what he calls "a degree from the University of Polygram. A profound knowledge of how the machine worked." He thinks he was there for every reason except for A&R.
Today, Bryan has returned to his where his heart is, recording and performing. With his new album Heartbreakthrough now in stores, we sat down to talk with Bryan about how his life has changed over the years.
Coming from the many years in The Northern Pikes and going into A&R at Mercury, were you shocked to learn how the music business really functioned?
The differences where massive, they were black and white. There was this all important bottom line money thing at a very political environment and then there was this sort of eternal teenager’s lack of responsibility thing about being in a band on the other. Now I have a hybrid of the two. I don’t have any false expectations of anybody. I know how tough it is for promotion and marketing people to work a record.
I am also acutely aware how tiny the percentage is of records that actually break through and sell the massive amounts of copies that it takes to make people into massive rock stars. The whole thing about "you don’t miss what you don’t know" held true going into it. It wasn’t until I was there for a little while when I realized I really knew nothing about the business side of it. I never even really fully understood my previous record contracts that I signed.
What did you learn about the talent in Canada from your position in A&R?
I guess we are where we are supposed to be. There is more talent on a less obvious level than we are aware of and that’s only because I don’t know if there are the mediums and outlets to support certain types of music. I remember clearly when I was doing A&R and starting to learn the parameters of the company and what they were looking for. I remember hearing lots of music that I loved. Eclectic stuff, stuff that I’d like listening to on my own and have in my record collection, but would I walk into a promotion or marketing meeting with this and hand it in and say here sell this? They’d look at me like I was nuts. That was really quite sobering when I learned the parameters that were involved in doing A&R. Especially in this country. We seem to develop and nurture major label level pop music and that’s kind of about it.
They needed a hit , they needed a young face to sing that hit - it was all very specific. Did the experience shape your idea of what your Heartbreakthrough was going to sound like.
Did you see a strength in a certain area that you felt comfortable reestablishing your career in?
I don’t think so. I mean if I really wanted to utilize those resources and knowledge, then I would have had a D.J. on the record. I and the Northern Pikes were pop songwriters to begin with, so that was what we did. I was raised on radio music. I’ve been asked that before and I have to say no. You are so centered and conscious of the work you are doing and you're trying to convey it properly. I was more worried about singing in tune , I had other things on my mind.
Did the experience help you realize what a symbiotic relationship between artist and label really are?
Absolutely, just the levels of professionalism and how simply being a nice person can take you far in this business. You can endear yourself to people if you are pleasant to work with and not be a dickhead. Appreciating the work people put into things can take you a long way. I found the Pikes, toward the end, falling into some trappings that I saw in some of the artists when I worked at the label and those were sort of the narcissistic things you fall into. I remember someone phoning us once, when we were on the road, and telling us that our single went top ten. We were like, well why wouldn’t it? It was horrible, I am so embarrassed now that I think about it.
You start developing that competitive spirit that gets drilled into you by the record company. Labels can be very cynical environments and I think that cynicism is brought on by their competitive spirit. They are all scrapping for the same radio adds, retail space, everything, and that rubs off on the artist.
If the Universal/Polygram merger did not show you a package, would you have stayed on, were you getting comfortable with the idea of A&R being a career?
No. It wasn’t long, maybe a year and a half into the gig when I started trying to figure out how to make a record. But you get used to that paycheck every two weeks and that was the hardest thing to let go. I kept scheming how could I make a record and keep my job. It was impossible. There are a few A&R people in the U.S. that can get away with it, but it’s a different business down there.
What is the description that you feel most comfortable with: singer, lyricist, writer or entertainer?
Well I would like it to be singer because I have been really working hard on that. I’ve been studying with a voice teacher for a long time. So if someone one day said I was a great singer then that would be amazing. But I don’t know, I would like to be all of them. Certainly it’s not lyricist, I’m very insecure about that.
What do you find more difficult to write. Music or Lyrics?
Absolutely the lyrics. The melody just comes to me. I don’t know what it is, but coming up with something very communicative and relaying some kind of information that hopefully would mean something to somebody and to myself is incredibly tough. It either comes real quick, like in a half hour and it all makes sense, or it can be this long process, sort of hammer on anvil, sitting there for weeks just banging this thing out.
Why didn’t you opt for a publishing deal to help finance this album?
I thought I would weigh my options. Often they will throw a little money at you for your futures and I just thought I’d role the dice and hope that the record sells or have developed some kind of hit and maybe raise the ante a bit to get maybe a little more money later.
Do you feel impatient for this album to be hugely successful, to see monetary rewards, or are you just laying a foundation?
My focus and priorities are to make enough money to pay the mortgage, feed the family, and to record a follow up to this record. I’m really looking at this like in a very pragmatic sort of five year business plan. I would like to look back in five years and say I’m doing alright, the company (Klementine- his own label) is tidy, there’s money in the bank and things have grown. Like an audience has grown. I’m very cognizant of that. I really want to nurture the audience and take care of them and ensure that I am delivering music that we collectively, being the audience and I, deem worthy. I’m thirty seven years old, I’m not a spring chicken. I have no other plans or agenda whatsoever. I just want to record and perform music. I don’t fully understand retirement, I think retirement is for people who really don’t like their job all that much.
They just want to sit around and do nothing, or do something they have always wanted to do. I feel very lucky that I am doing something that I like to do, so I just want to work.
What’s happening with the Northern Pikes?
A year ago EMI contacted the band. They wanted to put together a comprehensive package of unreleased material and hits, and they wanted to know if we wanted to be involved in the liner notes, which we did, and the band began corresponding. The package came out just before Christmas last year and we thought it would be fun and novel to go and do a quick tour for a laugh. We did thirteen shows in seventeen days out west and had a ball. We were completely humbled by how many people showed up at shows. Most were sold out and people were up front screaming and yelling and singing all the songs. So then we went out East and we’re doing one offs all summer.
We’ve block booked a studio in Toronto in August and September to begin recording a new album. The long term plan is to try to record four studio records over the next ten years. How does that conflict with your plans as a solo artist?
I’m fine with it and the guys know my stand on it. I’m recording come hell or high water. If this Pike’s record is the only one we’re going to do, I’m going to keep recording. Even if we do keep going I will be recording another record on my own. Just for the simple fact that I can change the landscape. The Pike’s was the only real recording band I was ever in, so this record was a totally different experience than recording with those guys. We made five records together, so obviously I did enjoy working with them and I look forward to recording this record.
Sounds like the time off has left you with a positive approach for your future. The best thing that could ever happen to me was that I left it for awhile. I feel like I have this fresh new approach, I see things completely different now. I feel extremely blessed that I am getting a second shot at this. When you are twenty-three years old and you sign a worldwide record contract with Virgin and the record is released in eighteen countries and they’re spending money hand over foot 80’s style, there are a lot of expectations heaped on you and pressure to get out there and work and try to get the big American brass ring. I don’t feel that anymore. I will be so satisfied if for the next ten to fifteen years I’m able to perform and record. I want it to be my job.
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