00:00:00:16 [Music]
00:00:02:17 I think that most people are like a lineage
00:00:04:12 as far as what they listen to the music.
00:00:06:06 Like something
00:00:08:06 sparked their interest in music in young age.
00:00:10:01 And then eventually there is a point where someone like gets
00:00:13:09 into a type of music that brings them where they are today.
00:00:17:14 Notes from the front line of a stringing culture,
00:00:19:19 this is Strange Notes.
00:00:21:18 [Music]
00:00:32:16 Right now we are in a taxi cab on our way to go see
00:00:35:06 Jon-Rae, Jon-Rae Fletcher formally of The River,
00:00:38:10 now moved onto a solo project.
00:00:40:26 Fletcher sung with a fantastic tale
00:00:43:22 of leaving home, coming to the big city,
00:00:46:24 then going home and connecting with your roots.
00:00:49:19 He is a really interesting character.
00:00:51:24 First, I met Jon-Rae at St. Catharines,
00:00:53:10 he was opening up for Attack in Black.
00:00:55:13 He come through back when he was with The River.
00:00:58:10 But, half of The River didn't show up to the show.
00:01:01:08 So it was just him and he has got Paul Mortimer
00:01:03:20 who was playing lap steel and who is playing guitar.
00:01:06:18 And it was...
00:01:09:03 I don't know it was just like a very honest performance,
00:01:12:03 is this really kind of like distinct voice
00:01:14:10 that kind of cuts through.
00:01:16:17 [Music]
00:05:02:18 Excellent, that's good. Awesome.
00:05:04:28 It's great.
00:05:06:09 Actually, we start the Jon-Rae story with where are you from?
00:05:09:04 My parents met in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
00:05:11:28 And then moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
00:05:15:28 and then Edmonton Alberta where I grew up.
00:05:19:13 I know that your father was a Preacher and your grandfather...
00:05:22:05 Yeah, right.
00:05:23:14 Both grandparents.
00:05:24:28 -Both grandparents. -Yeah.
00:05:26:01 Was there any pressure to kind of like
00:05:27:19 follow in the footsteps kind of thing,
00:05:29:25 become a man of the cloth, you really like considered it?
00:05:32:04 -No, never any pressure. -Okay.
00:05:34:20 My dad is actually really, a really liberal minister.
00:05:39:05 He actually bought me well at underground and stuff like that.
00:05:43:23 Where other people were completely against fantasy
00:05:47:03 because of the implications of dungeons and dragons
00:05:49:06 or stuff like that.
00:05:50:15 He would give me, by comic books for me,
00:05:54:03 possession of evil spirits or whatever like murdering a family
00:05:57:28 and Christians being like...
00:05:59:08 Oh! That's the devil. -Yeah.
00:06:01:16 He would almost encouraged that sort of stuff, that imagination
00:06:04:07 and thinking for yourself sort of stuff.
00:06:06:13 Yeah, that seems a little bit more true to life.
00:06:08:18 Atheist tend to have this like feeling about Christians as
00:06:10:28 though they are all like these people who want to change the
00:06:12:28 way you think about everything you do in your life.
00:06:15:13 I don't know, I have never seen it like that.
00:06:17:16 All the Christians have been really closed to my life
00:06:19:27 and have always been like these really great people.
00:06:21:18 [Music]
00:06:24:06 Stay tuned for the more tales of bizarre



00:00:00:13 [Music]
00:00:04:13 And then I guess your parents would have
00:00:06:15 exposed you to the majority of the music
00:00:08:01 when you were young kind of thing?
00:00:09:15 Oh, yeah, there was Church Service every Sunday.
00:00:11:15 So the Church I went to,
00:00:14:26 half of the sermon which was an hour long was singing,
00:00:17:28 that was the music that I listen to you know I have.
00:00:19:28 It was just like, it was worship music
00:00:21:28 and singing with other people.
00:00:24:01 I didn't know about bands like the Rolling Stone.
00:00:25:28 I think the first time I heard of the Sex Pistols
00:00:27:29 when I was like 17,
00:00:29:20 it was all Christian music, like Hymns and Gospel songs.
00:00:32:13 When you turned 15, it was like a backlash,
00:00:34:12 it was like a massive backlash?
00:00:36:05 There was like that entire world of music
00:00:37:24 that I've never heard of.
00:00:39:09 -The floodgates opened -And I was just like,
00:00:41:09 I want to learn about this, so yeah, my dad,
00:00:44:04 my dad did sit down with me for a few things,
00:00:46:21 and we listened to songs together,
00:00:49:04 and we talked about it, like...
00:00:51:27 Like a Velvet Underground Song 'Heroin'.
00:00:53:13 Yeah sure, yeah of course.
00:00:55:15 Like he didn't... he didn't ban it,
00:00:57:07 he was just like let's be opened about what this is about
00:00:59:20 and what he is singing about, which was really cool,
00:01:02:00 and yeah, I sort of thought about music
00:01:04:13 from maybe a different perspective than I would have,
00:01:06:28 if I didn't have that opportunity with my parents.
00:01:08:28 That's great,
00:01:10:08 you had the parents that had the savvy to do something.
00:01:12:14 It did take away my Alice in Chains record.
00:01:14:16 Really?
00:01:16:03 Yeah, because he heard the singer say,
00:01:17:14 "That they were like Satan's deck."
00:01:22:20 That's why it's like, that's not in our house.
00:01:24:28 I heard your dad met Roy Orbison?
00:01:27:00 This is what he tells me.
00:01:28:12 I have no proof, so I'll say it's true.
00:01:31:03 So it's true, it's like that Tony Wilson quote,
00:01:33:20 if you have the choice between printing the legend
00:01:36:13 and printing the truth, you print the legend.
00:01:38:28 It doesn't matter.
00:01:40:12 -Okay, this is the legend of my father. -Okay, the legend.
00:01:42:26 He was a Chaplin at the University of Alberta.
00:01:45:23 And I don't know why, but for some reason,
00:01:50:05 Roy Orbison was in the hospital, say like on...
00:01:53:04 on his death bed.
00:01:54:17 I think they were doing something like last minute hard
00:01:56:28 stuff that was only available at University of Alberta,
00:02:00:23 back than it was like in 80 something, '89 or '92.
00:02:07:00 And yeah, he went in and go to hangout with Roy Orbison.
00:02:09:27 That's pretty wild?
00:02:11:14 Yeah.
00:02:13:12 Yeah, I can't even imagine.
00:02:14:24 Roy Orbison is like one of those just like massive voices that
00:02:17:16 I had like, I remember from like going up North with my parents,
00:02:20:14 like they did have like the Roy Orbison cassette,
00:02:23:10 and now when I listen to it, like, of course yeah,
00:02:25:05 same sort of thing, like you turn 18 and then you like,
00:02:27:25 I love punk and everything, hey, and I am pissed off,
00:02:31:04 and then like you get a little bit older, and you kind of come
00:02:32:28 back for those thing. -Yeah, totally.
00:02:35:11 Like I imagine seeing Roy Orbison's eye,
00:02:38:10 like something intense.
00:02:41:16 Yeah seriously, they are always hovered with shades.
00:02:45:00 Just looking at you, and just like,
00:02:46:15 it would be awesome if he talked like he sang too,
00:02:47:28 we are going to be fucked up
00:02:49:16 if his talking voice was like really, really different.
00:02:51:21 Yeah, completely different.
00:02:53:19 Yeah, completely different, yeah, yeah.
00:02:56:12 He was a quite talker or something?
00:02:57:21 So when did The River,
00:02:59:06 like The River didn't start in Toronto obviously, because...
00:03:01:03 No, no, The River started in Vancouver.
00:03:05:04 I wanted to record an album with the band.
00:03:06:23 So I just put together this band
00:03:09:08 for the record that I recorded.
00:03:11:12 Started getting us to play shows,
00:03:12:25 because people started hearing the record,
00:03:14:11 and one of the band play,
00:03:15:22 that's the only reason why The River actually started.
00:03:18:29 Were you like straightened like the bars,
00:03:20:13 or was it like halls or was it...
00:03:22:12 Always bars at that point.
00:03:23:21 Okay.
00:03:25:00 Yeah, yeah, I was... I think at that point I was 20.
00:03:29:04 When the River started I was 20-years-old.
00:03:32:03 So yeah, I was bars.
00:03:33:17 Was it still kind of that like Indie kind of folk like scene,
00:03:37:03 or was it like a mixture of like Lumberjacks in like,
00:03:39:22 I don't know,
00:03:41:14 I have this purely stated typical view of Vancouver.
00:03:44:03 Oh yeah.
00:03:45:11 It was everything from like Punks,
00:03:49:08 like the leather stud Punks
00:03:51:10 and it's like little skinny like cardigan kids.
00:03:54:28 Yeah.
00:03:56:15 Yeah, that's the think about Vancouver scene, this is like
00:03:58:17 pretty inter-mixed, all types.
00:04:02:25 Yeah, I get that feeling when I was moving out there recently.
00:04:06:02 There were like,
00:04:08:15 we were talking to Mr Guy who was like playing his punk band,
00:04:10:28 and basically just saying how Vancouver is like...
00:04:13:03 it doesn't matter, like everybody is at the same shows
00:04:15:18 kind of thing, there's not that kind of like fierce divide,
00:04:19:00 as much of a fierce divide as I find there on places like,
00:04:22:03 maybe like Southern Ontario,
00:04:24:10 where like certain crowds don't mix as well, kind of thing,
00:04:27:03 Like almost Fist-a-cuffs.
00:04:28:13 Yeah. What can probably move you to Toronto?
00:04:31:07 A girl.
00:04:32:21 -Yeah, straight up. -Straight up, huh?
00:04:34:21 It was a crazy time,
00:04:36:28 because we are just recorded a proper studio album after a year
00:04:41:26 of playing together as a band in Vancouver,
00:04:45:03 and the day it was released,
00:04:48:15 like the release date, is when I moved.
00:04:51:27 Broke up the bass.
00:04:53:14 Just broke the band right up.
00:04:55:11 Yeah, yeah, it was like, see you guys.
00:04:57:28 You know, like art has it's reasons, huh?
00:05:00:19 Yeah, and everything worked up for the best, I mean,
00:05:03:16 Ladyhawke got to playing like a year...
00:05:05:21 The original lineup was comprised like...
00:05:08:07 The Original River was Steve Hubert on bass,
00:05:12:12 who did the artwork on my new album,
00:05:17:27 Ryan Peters on drums, Darcy Hancock on guitar,
00:05:21:29 and Nick Krgovich on Piano,
00:05:25:18 No Kids, he was on keyboards,
00:05:28:00 a bunch of people, and they are like keep going.
00:05:29:29 And was it difficult like to get to Toronto reforming the River,
00:05:32:10 like was that kind of difficult?
00:05:33:28 The River never was a consistent like form group,
00:05:38:17 it's just kept changing,
00:05:39:27 like people would join, people would leave,
00:05:43:12 really like three or four constant members,
00:05:45:12 but it will go like between like 6 to 8 people.
00:05:49:13 [Music]
00:05:51:02 From the ashes of the old, I am George Pettit
00:05:53:17 and this is Strange Notes



00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:05:07 I read a lot of interviews in my articles
00:00:07:11 before we did this and like, everybody talks about Toronto,
00:00:09:13 like the Toronto era of Jon Rae as being like this like dark,
00:00:15:06 you know, this is like the drug period,
00:00:17:06 the fucking like, are your memories of the Toronto era
00:00:20:18 like, they kind of see him a little bit conflicted.
00:00:23:18 They were crazy time or whatever;
00:00:25:28 it was only like probably the last year.
00:00:28:18 The rest of it was pretty like rosy cheek, like innocent.
00:00:31:12 So I don't know,
00:00:32:18 it was just the last year I was here and it got pretty dark.
00:00:35:08 Yeah. I was here for like four years.
00:00:37:13 -Yeah. -Yeah.
00:00:39:18 They are three awesome years too.
00:00:40:28 When you decided to go back and like break up the band,
00:00:43:28 what was like the catalyst for that basically?
00:00:47:02 I can say one thing.
00:00:49:04 It was probably like a...
00:00:50:11 It was like two handfuls of things.
00:00:52:16 Yeah.
00:00:53:27 Yeah, I needed to get away for sure.
00:00:57:08 -Yeah. -Yeah.
00:00:58:14 Say as much as little as you want obviously,
00:01:00:12 National Post was quite intrusive I found.
00:01:04:02 As far as like how much got out there about like;
00:01:07:04 your divorce and like Constantines/Ladyhawk Tour,
00:01:09:23 -Right -Yeah.
00:01:11:06 And just like...
00:01:12:15 that's when like it seemed like
00:01:14:03 The River was kind of starting to...
00:01:15:28 I guess like Peter out, is it fair to say.
00:01:18:28 And now that you are back,
00:01:20:08 it's like the media has all kind of turned to this like,
00:01:23:01 The Return of Jon Rae,
00:01:24:20 like everybody seems really kind of behind this.
00:01:27:00 It's cool but it's all in reference to this like degrading
00:01:31:04 year of my life, I could say that.
00:01:34:22 People want to have a story, you need a story,
00:01:36:27 and it's a story I guess.
00:01:38:20 So, whatever.
00:01:40:01 The new record, you have written some murder ballads,
00:01:42:12 what was your influence for doing that?
00:01:44:14 Musically I wouldn't say there was a single influence.
00:01:48:05 As far as the idea of writing from
00:01:51:04 the perspective of a murder,
00:01:52:17 it was something that came to me a couple of years ago.
00:01:57:23 I found this way of writing songs
00:01:59:28 where you write from a perspective,
00:02:01:28 not necessarily your own.
00:02:03:22 And you just start to make it up,
00:02:05:08 which I found really easy to do,
00:02:07:28 which was pretty much all of those what you need.
00:02:10:12 It was all written from like this perspective of, alright,
00:02:13:08 these are soul songs about intimacy, or this is a soul song
00:02:20:07 about drinking and partying.
00:02:22:06 Instead of like, I am going to look at what I feel right now
00:02:25:12 and write a song about it.
00:02:26:22 So that's sort of where I came from.
00:02:28:08 I was like, I need a direction to write songs,
00:02:31:06 because I needed to force myself to write songs,
00:02:33:09 and I just came up with this idea that it would be
00:02:36:00 interesting and difficult to write songs
00:02:37:08 from the perspective of a serial killer,
00:02:40:02 [laughter]
00:02:42:18 which is where the Oh, Maria came from.
00:02:45:00 Yeah, how do you feel about Oh, Maria?
00:02:46:08 It was songs I was never intending to release.
00:02:49:09 So, because there is like a really personal element to it
00:02:53:29 that's hidden through subtly,
00:02:57:08 and hidden in the lyrics like a puzzle,
00:03:00:14 but it kind of comes out really strongly
00:03:05:13 when you know the story. Sure.
00:03:06:28 So, it's...
00:03:08:13 I am not sure if I am too into it, being out there.
00:03:11:22 Yeah. But I love it.
00:03:13:13 I love the album, I am so happy with how it turned out.
00:03:16:08 I had no idea how it would sound when I asked Darcy,
00:03:19:15 and Catherine and Deward and play on it.
00:03:21:18 But it turned out like better than I could have imagined.
00:03:24:25 And it was all done relatively like,
00:03:27:18 was it live off the floor or?
00:03:29:03 Everything was live off the floor,
00:03:30:13 we sort of sat in a circle and we did two takes.
00:03:34:13 It doesn't sound so live off the floor.
00:03:36:02 Not going live.
00:03:37:08 It sounds very tight for a Live Off The Floor Record,
00:03:39:15 which is pretty cool.
00:03:40:24 And Collin did such an amazing job of mixing it.
00:03:43:24 I listen to that album up against some other ones,
00:03:48:24 and it sounds incredible,
00:03:51:04 it sounds really good.
00:03:52:10 I am really happy with the album.
00:03:54:07 Yeah, mixing is like one of those things like yeah,
00:03:56:14 I get in front of the board
00:03:58:06 and I am just like I go cross eyed,
00:03:59:28 staring out like a Japanese magazine or something.
00:04:03:12 totally... no idea what's happened.
00:04:04:20 And then he will throw in something like,
00:04:05:28 what sounds better, this or this?
00:04:07:08 And it's like, both?
00:04:09:11 Yeah, exactly. How will you pick?
00:04:11:26 We are definitely recording with the guy
00:04:13:13 who has like perfect pitch.
00:04:16:00 So, like he can hear two things that are like fraction off,
00:04:18:21 right? Yeah.
00:04:19:28 And he'll just be like no, that's off, and I'll just
00:04:21:27 be like, I can't even hear what you are talking about.
00:04:23:18 And you are just like, can I do it?
00:04:24:29 He is probably just just fucking with us
00:04:26:18 [Music ]
00:04:29:03 This is STRANGE NOTES, you are welcome!



00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:05:22 ♪ [Music]
00:01:21:16 How much of Brentwood Bay went into O Maria
00:01:25:20 do you think, like how important was that place
00:01:27:28 to the writing of the record?
00:01:29:06 I wouldn't say it was important at all really.
00:01:32:19 I'd say there is more import in Canmore.
00:01:37:06 I lived a few months in Canmore, which was pretty awesome.
00:01:40:27 -Yeah. -Yeah.
00:01:42:10 It's beautiful country out there.
00:01:44:13 Yeah, it really is, and I was living with this girl, Crystal,
00:01:48:04 who knew the area really well,
00:01:51:06 because she was a tour guide there.
00:01:52:18 So she took me to all these back places,
00:01:54:18 like up in Kananaskis Country.
00:01:57:15 Yeah, it was actually really magical.
00:02:00:13 It was a really good time in my life .
00:02:03:16 Yeah, I can imagine.
00:02:05:18 I can imagine what they would be like, the first time like
00:02:08:27 breathing after being underwater for a long time.
00:02:11:17 Like this city I find, like Toronto,
00:02:13:10 like I have mixed feelings about it as well.
00:02:14:29 You know like, you kind of have this like, it's fun and
00:02:18:05 it's busy and it's like always going,
00:02:21:13 but it's also kind of a big show, right?
00:02:25:08 -It is. -you know.
00:02:27:13 It's important to remember that like, we built this place,
00:02:30:28 like this isn't what the world is like,
00:02:32:28 this is what our world is like,
00:02:34:13 but like we're part of actual...
00:02:37:20 we're a part of nature. Yeah.
00:02:39:18 We're not separate from nature,
00:02:41:12 but that's some thing we forget in the city, I think.
00:02:43:02 -Yeah, definitely. -Well, you know,
00:02:44:24 like yeah, think about it, we build things to stand on,
00:02:47:08 we live within our own creations, right? Totally.
00:02:49:10 Like how often nature becomes something,
00:02:51:13 almost it's like foreign to us.
00:02:52:28 Yeah, and we have to like go retreat to nature.
00:02:54:27 Yeah.
00:02:56:20 Which is completely weird.
00:02:57:28 Yeah, very, very strange.
00:02:59:21 It was important for that to happen in my life,
00:03:01:21 to be out there.
00:03:03:14 Yeah, definitely.
00:03:05:23 So what's next on the horizon for Jon-Rae?
00:03:10:11 Well, I've got some ideas musically.
00:03:13:12 -Yeah. -Yeah, I've got some ideas.
00:03:15:19 I'm going to try and convince a band
00:03:24:03 we both know to back me up on a gospel.
00:03:29:00 They haven't really agreed to me yet, but I hope they will.
00:03:33:07 I'll put in a word, I'll put in a word.
00:03:35:09 -Yeah, do it, do it. -I'll be like...
00:03:37:08 I'll call them up and I'll be like listen, you guys should
00:03:39:11 probably do this, maybe, you know, like you know,
00:03:40:28 it will be a good idea. They're still to hear the songs,
00:03:42:20 and I have demos of them all recorded.
00:03:45:07 It's like hymns, it's like the simplest music.
00:03:48:13 It's made...
00:03:49:28 hymns were written to instantly be able to sing along with,
00:03:54:24 and know, like, oh yeah,
00:03:56:15 the next chord is going to be this.
00:03:58:00 Oh yeah, this make perfect sense.
00:03:59:28 Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
00:04:02:08 I think that's a good direction to go in.
00:04:04:13 A big gospel record would be like...
00:04:07:03 Like dirty rock kind of, kind of dirty rock.
00:04:10:13 This is... yeah,
00:04:11:23 feel like the introspective record has happened.
00:04:15:02 Yeah. And now let's...
00:04:16:16 Redemption.
00:04:17:23 I want to see the vein, I want to see the vein in your head
00:04:20:02 come out when you're like really cutting into a song, you know.
00:04:23:10 I want to see that too.
00:04:24:16 Yeah, that's the one, that's the one.
00:04:25:23 I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable about that,
00:04:28:17 but when that vein comes out, I trust that vein, you know,
00:04:34:13 like I believe what you're saying to me when that vein
00:04:36:16 comes out, you know.
00:04:37:25 There is truth in the vein.
00:04:39:06 There is truth, there is very... the truth is honesty.
00:04:42:13 I've got some country songs too.
00:04:43:28 I'm going to record a country record with this band called
00:04:46:19 Yukon Blonde.
00:04:47:29 Yeah, That's cool.
00:04:49:16 Yeah, they're cool.
00:04:50:24 The songs, songs are coming along, they're all kind of
00:04:53:28 more down beat, but yeah, I like them.
00:04:57:12 When do you think, like maybe like about the summer,
00:04:59:13 maybe like a little fall?
00:05:00:28 Probably the winter.
00:05:02:24 Yeah. I am thinking winter is when that one will be ready,
00:05:04:28 but hopefully the hymns will be recorded and ready by summer,
00:05:09:00 yeah. Awesome!
00:05:10:11 So thanks.
00:05:11:18 [Music]