Joel Plaskett

I’m going to blame the small side stage at the Corner Hotel. Back in early 2007 I was all the way at the other side of the band room facing the main stage. The sound coming from the side stage was awful, and I couldn’t see a damn thing because of the hundreds of tall punters blocking my view. So I really didn’t pay close attention to the lanky Canadian opening for Augie March. It’s a shame….

Joel Plaskett was born and raised in around Halifax, Nova Scotia and still resides there today (making him a lifelong Haligonian). He’s been making waves in the Canadian alternative rock scene since the early 90s when he started the now defunct Thrush Hermit. Once Thrush Hermit broke up in 1999, Joel Plaskett launched his solo career and positioned himself as one of Canada’s most beloved musicians. His most recent album Three, with its 27 songs ranging from folk to country to alternative rock and horn-driven soul, has put Joel Plaskett on the shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize, which will be given out tonight in Toronto. So what better time to find out more about Joel Plaskett and give him the attention he obviously deserves.

Why I love him, and you should too…

Joel Plaskett released his first solo album In Need of Medical Attention in 1999. Since then he picked up backing band the Emergency and has released six other albums either solo or with the band. The Joel Plaskett Emergency was nominated for two Juno Awards (the Canadian Grammys) and won Rock Recording of the Year at the 2005 East Coast Music Awards for the album Truthfully, Truthfully. In 2008 Joel Plaskett Emergency were nominated for seven East Coast Music Awards for their 2007 release Ashtray Rock. They won six of these awards including Group of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Single of the Year and Video of the Year.

Plaskett’s latest solo album Three was released on March 24, 2009. It was recorded in Plaskett’s home studio and then mixed in Texas with Gordie Johnson at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studio. The result is an ambitious triple CD with each disc consisting of nine songs many of which contain three-way titles. Written when he was 33 years old (are you seeing a theme here?), Plaskett deftly depicts the three phases of travelling on this album: departure, separation and return. Disc one focuses on the idea of leaving or being left behind and is the most soulful and rock n’ roll, while disc two is about being alone, both physically and emotionally. This sense of isolation is captured by the stripped back, somber folk feel of the music. Finally disc three portrays the slow return home.

Three was also the first time Joel Plaskett recorded with his father, Bill. Plaskett Senior is a longtime musician who used to sing and play guitar semi-professionally. Growing up, Joel Plaskett would occasionally play a song or two with his dad at local folk nights. So now it’s Bill’s turn to tour as part of Joel Plaskett’s backing band.

In the random file, Plaskett even finds inspiration in White Fang, the cat that he and his wife took in on September 11, 2001. Now deaf and arthritic, this adored cat features in songs, is the subject of sing-a-longs at Plaskett live shows and is even the mascot of New Scotland Records, Plaskett’s new record label.

Listen Up!

Here’s Joel Plaskett’s video for the song, “Through & Through & Through.” Unlike many of the songs I’ve profiled thus far, this one is pure fun. You can tell Joel Plaskett had a blast making the video, and you can’t help but smile watching it.

And here’s “Heartless, Heartless, Heartless” recorded at McDougall United Church in Edmonton, Alberta with his dad, Bill Plaskett.