The East Coast Overture Blog

(The interviews for this article were just too good to not publish in their complete form. You can read the full article here: Polaris Judges: Opinions & Temptation.)

1. How did you become a member for the Polaris Music Prize jury?
I’d like to think it’s because 11 years’ worth of astute music criticism here at the Star (and a coupla more before that back in the day at the Ottawa Sun) have earned me the respect of my peers and a reputation as a reliable arbiter of good musical taste. But the truth is that Polaris founder Steve Jordan and some of his fellow board members — the lovely Liisa Ladouceur, for instance — have been very dear friends of mine since well before all this stuff started and they probably knew that I’d start whining if they didn’t eventually put me on the grand jury. I bruise easily. Also, I know they’re pretty careful about balancing out the final jury so that no single album has a clear advantage over the others. I’m usually a pretty loudmouthed supporter of the bands I get behind in the run-up to the short and long lists in our online Polaris discussions and this year, for once, a couple of the records I voted for actually made the final cut. I just fit the mix.

2. Are you excited for this year’s events?
I know it sounds corny, but I’m actually thrilled to be on the grand jury. I’m a total music geek, as are most rock writers, and I take this sort of stuff very seriously. There’s gonna be a pitched battle backstage while everyone else gets to take in the show — which, I gotta say, I’m kinda miffed I’ll be missing because for the first time all 10 nominees are performing. The past Polaris galas have been pretty solid from a musical standpoint and I’d imagine this one won’t be any different. As long as I’m out in time to see Fucked Up break some furniture, I’ll be happy, I guess.

3. Of the ten albums that made it to the Short List, are you surprised at all? Were there any albums that you felt deserved to be on the Short List but didn’t make it?
There were a lot of repeat finalists. Which, I guess, didn’t surprise me — I just wish we weren’t so bloody predictable in our voting. I know everyone wants a bit more weirdness in the short list, but this is a big country and you realize once the voting starts that a lot of the contenders got to the long list by virtue of regional appeal. Finding 10 albums across the country that critics can vaguely agree on is no mean feat. Of course you’re gonna be left at the end of it with some sorta-familiar choices. I’ve been doing a lot of listening lately, though, and they’re all pretty solid records. I voted for Fucked Up and Chad VanGaalen and I loved the Metric record going in, but even the stuff I’d kinda waved off in my mind has crept up on me. That Elliott Brood album is fabulous. I totally slept on it.
As for stuff that didn’t make it, I wish Dog Day’s “Concentration” was up there. One Hundred Dollars’ “Forest of Tears,” too. D-Sisive’s “Let The Children Die” was wicked. I kinda knew those three would never make the cut but I love them all. The omission that really surprised me was Handsome Furs’ “Face Control.” I figured that was a shoe-in.

4. What do the judges take into account when choosing what band/artist gets the Polaris Prize?
For me, by and large, it was always just personal taste that guided my voting — if I liked a record and listened to it obsessively, it went on the list, with an emphasis on the ones that I thought were doing something original or artistically compelling. I don’t think I’d ever put something on there that I respected but otherwise found unlistenable. That’s not a “best” album, in my books. Now that I’m doing the grand-jury thing, however, I’ve actually surprised myself with how seriously I’m forcing myself to consider even the records from which I’d normally recoil in disgust. And, without naming names, there are definitely a couple, although I’ve actually warmed up to them a bit through this process. So there you go: Polaris is teaching me to have an open mind.

5. Of the ten nominees, 2 are from the east coast. How tempted are you to push for an east coast artist, just because you’re from the area?
My emotional investment was in Dog Day, who are from Halifax and totally fucking awesome — that’s my favourite Canadian band right now — so that temptation was stomped out of me when “Concentration” didn’t even make the long list. The Joel Plaskett triple-album is pretty fine, though. I could easily get behind that. I’d probably feel more biased if there was a band from New Brunswick in the running. Maybe I’ll start lobbying Polaris 2010 on the merits of the new Rick White album right away.

6. What other aspects influence who you vote for?
I’m a big fan of musicians who surprise me with something I really haven’t heard before — Fucked Up, for instance, who’ve made the world’s first “shoegazer hardcore” album — or people who take the familiar and spin it into something unexpected. I’d put VanGaalen or Elliott Brood in that category. But there’s also something to be said for simply turning in a tight-as-fuck, no-fat pop album, as Metric and Plaskett have both done. It’s a situational judgement, I think. An album just has to work for me in some way, has to make me come back to it. I’m not interested in a record you scratch your chin and nod appreciatively to for a couple of spins and then tuck away on the shelf forever. I want something I play all the time and that makes me excited about music again.

7. Do you already know what artists you’re going to vote for?
I’m an enormous fan of the Fucked Up album, but there are a couple of dark horses to whom I’ll be happy to grant consensus if the backstage situation merits. There are a couple of lesser lights in there that I’ll die to keep from the victory lap — not because they’re awful, just because they’re a bit typical — but I’m going in with an open mind. And an arsenal of arguments on Fucked Up’s behalf.

8. Is there anything else readers should know about the Polaris Music Prize?
This thing’s honest and genuinely well-meaning, from the top down. I know the results are a source of endless squabbling, but if you were privy to the online Polaris discussion group of which all jury members are a part you’d see some real, albeit borderline creepy, passion on display for Canadian music of all stripes. Pretty much year-round, too. This is the work of some serious music lovers. God, I’m being corny again. Maybe I should just make some shit up and say it’s rigged and the results are generated by a computer. As someone who hates awards, though, I respect Polaris a great deal. As do other people, apparently; you hear the brand mentioned all the time in U.S. and European media. Someone’s doing something right.