In Conversation: Megan Nash

In mid November 2020, I met up virtually with Saskatchewan based singer-songwriter Megan Nash for an extensive conversation about her music and her upcoming new album. Megan’s 2017 album Seeker was Juno nominated, and since then she has been busy touring and working on the follow up record. The interview started with the two of us reflecting on livestreams and technology as the Zoom call started with a few audio issues on my end. As the conversation progressed, Megan shared details about writing and recording her next full-length album in the midst of a global pandemic and discusses some life lessons she has learned over the past few years.

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Greg Torwalt: Okay, I think we’re good to go.

Megan Nash: I’m so not ready for this new world Greg… like the technological side of it too.. It’s just, I’m so not into it.. Ahh, you know I don’t want people to know the inside of my house. I don’t know if you can relate this, but you know, you give so much. I go up on stage and I’m so open with what I want to be open about.. Like it’s a lot, but it’s also somewhat curated. I will only say what I want to and I will always keep enough for myself but when we had to go inside and everybody was doing every livestream and everything from their home...I don’t want people to know that I have… [looks around at her walls]... it’s not even like I don’t want people to know I have certain things, it’s just that I just want to keep something for myself - and that was this little gopher hole of a home I have in the middle of nowhere. Does that make sense?

Greg: Ya it does make sense to me - it kind of blurs the line between being a performer and being yourself - as a vulnerable songwriter you’re already blurring the line a bit...but feeling almost expected to do livestreams and open up your home was strange.

M: You did a live set from a basement right? Was that in April? It was pretty early on I felt like...

G: That was JunoFest - we were supposed to play the Friday night so we were already rehearsing the set in Nathan’s basement for a while so we figured let’s just put up a phone in his basement and go live and do the set.

M: K what! It was JunoFest weekend that you did it? Like right away?

G: Ya!

M: K that’s amazing, cuz I feel like the livestreams in Canada got burnt out pretty fast so you hit it while it was hot. Cuz I remember being interested, you know what I mean, I remember tuning in like “oh how are they doing this” and then after a while everybody’s livestreams kind of became like white noise it seems. Maybe I’m sounding too cynical.. Sorry. [laughs]

G: [laughs] I was planning to ask you about how you felt about livestreams anyway. You did a SaskTel one right?

M: Ya that was at the end of August. But it was a prerecorded one, that was nice... I was able to get my…well my visual - it didn’t look very good because at that point I was propping up my phone with a tarot deck, like I had this little box of oracle cards and was able to wedge my phone in it… thank you cards! I set that on top of a book on top of a wooden laundry drying rack - so I wasn’t set up tech wise at all.. But I was able to pre-record that and get the audio dialed in the way I wanted it. It was still live off the floor audio, but my partner just edited it for me and made sure the levels were good, so that was nice. But ya… The livestream thing.. I just don’t know.. I haven’t really done anything else.

G: Were you contemplating doing one initially back in the spring?

M: Nooo.. not initially. No, because I physically couldn’t. Like I couldn’t sing for a couple of weeks. I have high-functioning anxiety to begin with and I have ever since I was a small child. I’m just really starting as an adult to reflect on some of those emotions I had as a child - and like oh ya, that was definitely anxiety. So I’ve been like this my whole life. I posted about this on my personal facebook pretty early on, I said something like.. “when the world can feel like it’s ending on a “non-pandemic” day - when there is a global pandemic it can be really heavy...” So for me, everybody grieves differently. We were all grieving our past lives suddenly. I definitely feel like we went into this - especially with the live music industry, like everyone’s world changed - but we’re not back to this “new-normal” and we won’t be until there’s a vaccine that people will actually take, and will actually work and will actually be distributed. You know I’m releasing a record next year [2021] and I normally would be like, Oh I’ll have a tour… but probably not...maybe local stuff in Saskatchewan and bigger venues if we can get our numbers down. But I don’t think we’re going to see a big change until 2022 and I hope that we can have festivals back by 2022…. Doesn’t that still seem optimistic of me to say that?

G: Ya it’s such a strange time to know what to do for booking or for livestreams or shows.

M: I was thinking of doing some livestream stuff down the road because I’m learning apparently some other markets aren’t as burned out as Canada. But I do like the idea of doing it pre-recorded and then even if it is a platform that allows for a chat you can interact with people in the comments. And you have your set dialed in and there’s no room for tech errors. Like that’s the biggest stress is all of the tech that it takes to actually do this stuff… and some people were set up with home studios - but myself, I didn’t go to audio engineering school so it’s all kind of me trying to piece it together and make it work. And we’re recording the new album still and we’re all doing that in our own locations. We have been able to get together - like I can legally rehearse with my band but I don’t expect everyone to want to bubble with me. You know what I mean? We’re in different regions so the last time we rehearsed at The Artesian in Regina, it was awesome. We had Tanner on the stage, Dana on one wall and Darnell at the other wall and I had a mask on the whole time I was singing. I don’t have a singing mask - like my sister has an actual choir singing mask - but if you’re using a microphone, I just need one that allows my jaw to move, you know… But I dunno, we’re making it work. Sorry I’m rambling on [laughs] you can tell I didn’t talk to another adult today, just Shiloh (her dog).

G: [laughs] No it’s good - we might as well just dig into the new album. I was going to ask about some Seeker stuff first, but let’s maybe move to the new album.

M: Whichever works for you!

G: Let’s keep rolling with the new album - so you’re still recording it, I know you were working on it a bit before the pandemic hit.

M: Ya we had done some tracking in January and February, and then in March we were going to play JunoFest and then right after that we were going to head into the studio for a week, but of course we didn’t do that. I guess in hindsight, well I dunno.. I don’t remember how quick the lockdown happened… But ya, at that time it felt bizarre to risk anybody’s life for my songs, you know. So we just went home and my anxiety got really bad and I couldn’t sing for the longest time and when I did start singing it was all karaoke [laughs].. I dunno, just working through some stuff, you know [laughs]... I actually love singing along to Patsy Cline karaoke tracks on youtube. Love it. But anyway, after that we had a couple songs tracked, started the mixing process and then everybody kind of started recording from home a little bit and we were able to get together a couple times over the summer. When I’m talking to the team and they’re like “when is the record going to be done?” I kinda go.... I hope.. But we’re doing this in such a different way. You know, we’re not taking two weeks and living and being up in each other’s business. We’re taking time and having so much space with it - physically and ya, just with time... I actually did a photoshoot in September, I needed new headshots and I needed to get the album cover or start the branding process of the album because I really wanted to release a song this year. I didn’t want to go one more year - it had been so long since I released anything. And then after I got back from that photoshoot, I wrote another song that feels like the mission statement of the whole record. I still don’t know if I’m done writing this record. But I kind of like that too.. .I dunno if you can relate to that but there’s something to be said about being in the recording process and then you can sneak out another song. Like it’s so fresh and exciting and if you can capture it... cuz some of these songs… well it’s not like Seeker, Seeker had a lot of very old songs on there for me already. They were quite old by the time I recorded them, but some of these songs, well they’re over a year and a half, or two years, so it’s fun to have some really fresh stuff on there too. And also because this is a breakup album, you know.. It’s basically turning into a dessert themed divorce record strangely. Ummm [laughs] so to have more perspective on that has been really special to me, but my goodness I wish it wasn’t a global pandemic that gave that to me.

G: So were most of the songs written in a period of time, or are you writing them sporadically when they come up? Did you have a chunk kept in mind for the album?

M: The majority of these songs were written in between time on the road. Like last year, in 2019, even though I wasn’t touring a record I was still touring so much. I always have. To the point where I was realizing uh oh - this is unsustainable. And that’s something that this year has really given me - a chance to reflect on how I was living my life before wasn’t very sustainable... Like I was heading toward anxiety induced insomnia. I was just doing so much - wearing so many hats and just always wanting to push myself and those around me. I really feel like booking and sleep and touring and movement and self care on the road, and all these different things have really come up this year, and I think okay...When we can resume touring, I have to do this differently. I have to. And I’m using some of the promotion, and videos for this album, as a not so subtle reminder to myself and others about that because it’s just something that is really important to me. But I was able to write a bit last year. I wrote one after Songs 4 Nature (September 2019)... [thinks]...I wrote one that will be on the record in January (2020) actually while the band was working upstairs on drums, and I went down in the basement of The Artesian, we were recording at The Artesian in Regina, I wrote this song and it came to me pretty quickly.. I LOVE THOSE SONGS that come and it’s done within three hours or something. You’re like how did that happen, where did that come from? Ya, like really it’s just all been kind of this whole grieving process and picking up pieces and putting yourself back together.

G: And these last 6-7 months have been inspiring new music too, like you mentioned with the mission statement song.

M: Yes! And that song came from a photoshoot! I just want to throw this out there cuz I don’t know if you have found this among peers, I have come up against this attitude with a lot of musicians.. that they loathe… ah, loathe is a strong word...but strongly dislike photoshoots as part of this process. But that has never made sense to me because photography is also an artform. I get being uncomfortable to get your photo taken, it can be kind of an awkward thing, but you’re also just making art with another person.. you know, you’re collaborating. This photoshoot actually inspired the song which definitely has become the mission statement of the record, and I think it will maybe be the bookends of the album - because I think it has an instrumental life that it’ll take on at the end of the record. I’m just so excited about that song because I feel like I really wanted to address shame, and I finally did it. And this song that came from a photoshoot finally does that. So yay!

G: You just recently released “Artifact” - I love the song! Congrats on the success you’re having with it. So when you were working on the song, did you feel like it would be the first single? What made you decide to put it out as your first new tune in a while?

M: Well it has a heaviness to it that I just really wanted to let go of. I just really wanted to get it out there. It was one of those songs that came to me in an afternoon and those are little blessings. I am just so grateful for when those happen. I feel like the reason why this felt like the first single was because it had this heaviness that just says: “Oh hey, hello world, I’m back and let me tell you, it’s been a little bit tumultuous but here I am.” Ya.. and I didn’t want to come out with.. I have more upbeat stuff but I wanted to say this first. I was really happy, a friend of mine whose opinion I really, really respect cuz I think she’s really smart [laughs] - she’s like “I really like the poetry in “Artifact”, I really like the lyrics”. She said that to me about a year ago and when she complimented that, I was just so “Oooh!”. I don’t know how you feel about this Greg, but there’s some songs I would never speak and I don’t think of as poetry, and then there’s some songs I think of as “no those are lyrics, no this is poetry” and some there’s no line there - they are both. And that song to me felt like they are both and I just wanted to throw that out there. So that’s why we’re releasing a lyric video for “Artifact” because I just.. I dunno.. As a songwriter I come at it from lyrics first. I’m pretty sure we talked about that at the songwriting camp and like… I love how lyric videos are just like: “here are the words, people” you know [laughs] I dunno.. I didn’t really give you an answer [laughs].

G: For your lyric video, is that a collaborative project - are you sharing what you have in mind for a visual idea?

M: This video was done by Andrew Friesen who did my “Wait” lyric video. I love his work and basically it was: “here’s the song, what do you think?” And I just let the song speak for itself and let him see what he gets from it and I am over the moon with it. I just think it’s got this heaviness to it and this spookiness to it that really lends itself to the song well. I’m pretty excited to have that video out into the world.

G: You mentioned lyrics first when you’re writing - so do you pull from poetry or journals or are you coming up with lyrics and melodies right on the spot?

M: It depends... I do journal quite a bit and I have some songs on the go right now. I’m trying to write a song right now that doesn’t have guitar at all, just a vocal melody because I haven’t actually done that. I feel like sometimes I hold my songs back because of my limited guitar abilities, so I wanna try that because I still feel like I want to sneak out one more song for this album. For me, ya.. it’s usually lyrics first, but usually with the guitar and melody. But I journal a lot too so I’m not sure if I have a clear answer for that.. Sorry.. [laughs]

G: Do you have any practices that help you get into a creative mindset?

M: Umm.. I know it’s a drug and I shouldn’t rely so heavily on it - but my god, does coffee help! I love drinking coffee and then getting into it. Right now I’m still in the writing process and I haven’t had to deal - knock on wood - with too much writer’s block stuff. But for writer’s block, I definitely have some things I like to do but right now it’s kind of coming easily. I’m like knocking on all the wood right now. Of course, I love to watercolour but I haven’t had to do that right now. I’m not in that stage. I’m realizing that the older I get and the more time I’ve had to reflect on my processes, I’m noticing there’s different seasons [laughs] and right now I’m still in the: “okay, let’s try writing this song right now”. And also too, having to balance trying to write new material with tracking the other songs that are written - it’s actually been a lot easier this time around because we are doing it in a different way. There’s just so much space. I’m curious if at the end of the day this album is going to sound like an album or if it’s going to sound like a collection of songs. But that’s okay for me, you know. I’m a song nerd. I love songs. I love records too - don’t get me wrong. I like a “collection” - but it doesn’t have to sound… I don’t write an album, I write songs and that’s just the way it is. [laughs].

G: So when you’re writing songs - you’re writing personal stuff as a songwriter. Are you writing as you’re feeling the emotion or are you writing as a reflective piece? Do you ever just sit down when you’re really angry or really happy and just start writing out a poem or a song?

M: I think you’re helping me answer one of your questions from earlier. When I’m feeling something it’s usually coming out into a journal. It’s when I’m reflecting and trying to process stuff, that’s when I’m writing [songs]. When I’m in the moment, I’m in that moment. I’m such an emotional person. I’m very emotional and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I’m not trying to be self-deprecating. It just is what it is. It’s not good or bad - it’s the truth. I’m just a very emotional person so if I’m really feeling grief I might not be writing at all… I dunno… but I do like to journal. And I guess sometimes when I’m here alone I might just start writing some songs, it really does vary. But ya, I think my writing comes from a place of reflection. Especially with some of the things that I went through last year, and have gone through in life, I dunno if you can relate to this - but that heaviness or that grief is so heavy that it kind of numbs you so you’re not even fully… or you go into that: I just need to get out of bed, have my breakfast, do the things, drive to the show, play the show, go to sleep and you’re just kinda trudging through it and you can’t allow yourself to feel it. Like when I’m grieving I usually throw myself into work and not writing. Like, “Oh my husband asked me for a divorce, I’m gonna book a tour for me and a band from Germany [laughs]. I’m gonna rent that Ford Transit Van and we’re gonna drive to the mountains and back and I’m gonna make this happen. And oh what kind of visa do they need to come to Canada? I’m gonna find out and I’m gonna tour manage this...” That’s how I process grief - I throw myself into work and then after that’s done I go to a Songs 4 Nature camp and decompress and then the stuff bubbles up. And it’s been interesting for me because I don’t have a lot of that work that I used to throw myself into, it’s gone. I don’t know if you can relate to this, but like I get a buzz when I get a gig, like when I book a gig - I’m still self booked and I’m like “oh ya! they got back to me! That venue actually got back to me - yay”. There’s like a mini celebration there and it’s like a little buzz. And that’s gone and that was 80 percent of my income. 80 percent of my work was booking and touring and playing those shows. It was such a huge part of it. Ugh I wanna cry.

G: Ya I haven’t reflected on it that much. Like we were busy playing shows but we weren’t touring as our livelihood - we both have other jobs. So the first months I just kept myself busy with doing other projects. But this fall has been tough, usually this is when we’re starting to book and apply for festivals, and book for spring tours. And to not be doing that or not be researching venues or bands. Ya it’s different, it sucks. It’s feeling really real now. And we didn’t know how long it’d be - maybe it’d just be a few months but then ya, it seems like it’s gonna be longer than we hoped at first.

M: You’re so right. And especially with heading into winter again and knowing that we’re still going to be in this for a while… because there was this optimism in April and May, even though we didn’t fully understand the virus as much and there was still so much scary unknown, it’s like we thought by the fall something would be different and now hopefully we’ll have festivals in 2022. Ah what a thing! Oi… I think I’m really gonna throw myself into Christmas this year. Like the holidays, I’m gonna hit them hard. I got a wreath that tomorrow I’m going to put it up on my front door - like I don’t care, I’m going out for it this year. [laughs]

G: Yea I know, just leaning into all those good Christmas feelings. I love Christmas and this year it feels good to celebrate Christmas.

M: I normally don’t, normally I’m not a big Christmas person. Like I was really into it as a kid - I was a total Christmas nerd. Did you ever go to claus.com as a kid?

G: Maybe… that sounds kind of familiar… explain it...

M: It was this Christmas website where you could go to Elf school. And you could get all these different diplomas and I had all the Elf diplomas. I printed them out on my parent’s computer and I had an elf costume that I’d wear to school during December. I was so into it. And then just as an adult I was just so busy with touring that I would miss a lot of family stuff. I would never miss Christmas Day but usually Boxing Day would be a show, so I’d kinda always never really be present, so Christmas was something that sort of fell to the wayside for me. But now this year, I’m not going to be gigging. That’s something too that’s kind of disappointing... if we would have talked about a month ago I maybe would have had a different attitude about gigging even, like maybe we could have done something this December with being socially distanced, especially in some of these larger venues. But now with the numbers going up… I don’t know what is going to happen.

G: Ya I know, it’s like - take it day by day, but when you plan things 6 months in advance or a year in advance, it’s hard to just hear “take it day by day” [both of us are quiet for a few seconds] let’s maybe pivot back to the album a bit. [laughs]

M: [laughs] Have you ever gone to elf school Greg? Have you ever gone to elf school!?

G: I definitely remember that website, I was all over that, yep! [laughs]

M: Oh man, ya I loved it so much.

G: Actually let’s keep on this topic just briefly before moving back to the new album…What would be some positive things you’ve learned recently...you mentioned you’ve been able to enjoy some of the holidays more, so what are some positive lessons you’ve got out of this slowdown?

M: I’m not one to really take time off. And right before the pandemic hit I knew my body was telling me you need to take time off. But when you’re gig to gig - it seems like an impossible idea. So umm, the pandemic has really forced me to assess how I was living my life, and what is sustainable and what isn’t and what do I actually want out of life. And what are the important things to me. And I mentioned earlier, I can’t keep touring the way I was before. I need to really prioritize health, not just my own, but of those around me too. And I was starting to lean towards that more before the pandemic, like with tour routing - trying to make sure that everybody could at least have the option to get 8 hours of sleep. Whereas before I don’t know how many times it was like, “Oh guys, let’s get back in the van and if we start driving now we’ll be back to Saskatchewan in 30 hours. Let’s rotate drivers.” You know - we’ve done that! And it’s kind of fun when you do it once in your mid-twenties but it’s not sustainable, you can’t expect everyone to want to do that. So reassessing how I operate as a business, reassessing how I work as an artist, reassessing who I am as a friend, my relationships with my family, how I communicate with people. I feel like communication is something that has really been on the forefront of my brain because right now, just getting together with your parents or a friend involves so much communication prior to, and understanding, whereas beforehand I wouldn’t need to know your shopping habits before I come over and have coffee. You know, you’re not going to get together with someone right now unless you know they’re wearing a mask, and that they’re keeping a small bubble or who’s in their bubble and can you bubble? There’s so much communication now so definitely there’s been some roadblocks trying to communicate with everyone in my life that openly. It’s been such a surreal time but it’s brought a lot of stuff up that I now know I have to deal with. Ya I dunno Greg, I feel like I’m really rambling today - I hope I’m giving you something to work with…

G: No this is awesome, whatever you’re wanting to share is great. So what can we expect to hear on the record sonically? Are you going in a new direction, trying different things? Is “Artifact” a good sonic representation of what we’re going to hear on the rest of the album? I was reading on your website that there’s stuff about synthesizer on one of the songs!

M: [laughs] I know! That’s the new bio because I was able to send a few demos. I’m like, is it weird that it talks about songs that aren’t out yet? I dunno… they’ll be out soon. Maybe I should edit that out for now, I dunno.. But anyways, ya I love synth. Basically this album feels like it’s going to have a little bit of everything from the last ten years of my life. It’s gonna have the vocal and guitar stripped down singer-songwriter. It’s gonna have the more fuzzed out rock band, it’s gonna have more synthy stuff too. I wish I had a clearer answer for you, but I’m still kind of in it. I’m looking at it like this still [brings hands up right in front of her face]. I definitely hear a lot more of my influences in this one than I have in anything else. I’ve never made a record the same way twice and this is just another chapter, you know? At the end of the day it’s always going to be… I know the industry doesn’t like this word...but I’m a singer-songwriter through and through. That is how I identify. That’s how I market myself. Like of course I have to check off different boxes when applying to different things and people wanna know, but at the end of the day whatever best serves the song, we’re gonna put on that song. So it might be hard to market and some folks may not like it cuz it’s just not as clean cut and clear cut. There’s gonna be stuff like “Artifact”, and there’s also gonna be some alt-country stuff, and kind of everything I do sounds a little alt-country because of my voice, you know [laughs]. I feel like sometimes I don’t… I’m not doing anything wild, but let me tell ya, in some of the traditional genres world, I sometimes feel like I don’t fit in but whatever, it doesn’t matter.

G: So what are some of the things you’ve been influenced by for this record? You said you can hear more of your influences coming through.

M: Julia Jacklin’s Crushing record has definitely been an inspiration, I love that album. Sharon Van Etten - I love her work and I would point to her most recent record as inspiration, but really it’s all her work that is an inspiration. I’m inspired by Patti Smith a lot and I don’t know if that’s just because I love her, I don’t even know if it comes out anywhere... [thinks] No, it has come out in songs before. But Leonard Cohen - his Book of Mercy, there’s some inspiration there. Ya I guess Julia Jacklin, Sharon Van Etten, Neko Case, Patti Smith, and Leonard Cohen. Ya I think those are the folks…. Also the sound of a grain elevator being torn down if you want a sound.

G: Going back to your website, I was creeping through there. It sounds like the album will be another very personal record, the description was: “It’s the sound of Nash’s very own heart beating from the driver’s seat of some ragged vehicle barreling down a prairie highway at dusk” That description is so great.

M: [laughs] A friend of mine who is a very talented writer, Matt Williams, wrote that. But there was this part of me that was like: “Does he think my car sucks?” when I read that. “Why does he not like my car?” [laughs] That car did get written off in his defence… but I thought it was a nice car.

G: Do you ever second guess being so vulnerable with your songwriting?

M: I don’t second guess being vulnerable with my songwriting when it’s my experience. When I second guess myself is when I feel like I might be saying too much about other people in my life. That’s where I second guess...that’s where I have to be careful about this record because.. You know, I joked earlier that it’s a dessert themed divorce record. Well if I went through a divorce I didn’t do that by myself. I didn’t get into that by myself. And I have a lot of love and respect for my ex-husband and I wouldn’t want him to feel too uncomfortable with any of these songs, so I think in order to avoid that I have to make sure I’m writing my experience. My experience is fair game to me, you know… If I was writing a song trying to write from his perspective or calling him out… I don’t feel like I’m calling him out. But it feels like I have to be mindful of that constantly because I don’t want to hurt people in my life because this is how I reflect and how I choose to make a living. But for me personally I love being this vulnerable. At the end of the day, I do believe that us as humans have more in common than different. We all experience loss and grief and love and joy. If me talking openly about my grief can help somebody else help work through theirs, then that’s totally worth it. Because the worst thing in the world you can feel and experience is feeling like you’re 100% alone. And that is just, ya feeling alone is just terrible. Ya, so that’s why I like being really vulnerable and that’s why I celebrate sad songs so much. There is a joy in that solidarity, like “Oh, you’ve been through that too?” and it’s actually a very positive thing. Ya, so do I joke about it? Ya, oh ya! Do I use humour as a coping mechanism? 100%, like that’s my thing [laughs] but I’m aware of it and I really think there’s something about getting into those sludgy feelings, feeling that sadness. Sitting with that sadness can ultimately lead to a healthier time on this planet. I really believe that, I don’t think everybody is going to agree with me. I know the posi-vibes only folks are not gonna like this record, they’re not gonna like me. And that’s okay cuz I don’t like posi-vibes only [laughs]. And this is coming from somebody who used to spiritually bypass the hell out of my twenties. You know, I was thinking of writing an open letter to anyone I maybe hurt by spiritual bypassing so much in my past few years of life. Ya, so I’ve kinda had to go full circle on my journey to get back to this point of where I’m at now. My twenties, man they were wild.

G: What songs are you most proud of in regards to being open lyrically - maybe on previous releases or on your upcoming record?

M: I’m actually very self-critical. Oh, how do I word this… There are lots of songs I’ve written that I don’t like to listen to for enjoyment. And I’m trying to be careful saying that because a lot of people have put a lot of love and energy into my songs, so it’s not their work. But sometimes I go, well I know what I was going for there but it doesn’t really resonate with me anymore. Um.. which I think is the scariest part of putting out recordings.. You know, like.. “Here I am, this is me now!” But Seeker for me is 24 year old me, 23 year old me. Like I’m 30 now...No I’m 31! [laughs]. It’s actually quite an old snippet for me. And a lot of those songs, I don’t feel like that anymore. There’s a song about shame on the new record that I’m really happy with how those lyrics turned out because again, it was a topic I wanted to talk about so badly and then when it just sort of happened I thought, “Oh, good.” I really wanted to say the word shame in the song cuz I’ve had to deal with a lot of shame and there is SO much shame around divorce, even in… I think of myself as fairly open minded, fairly progressive and I didn’t tell anybody that my ex-husband asked me for a divorce until I think three months after because I had so much internalized shame, you know. And that again goes to the loneliness, like when you are that alone and you’re keeping a secret like that… I think I maybe told like one person. I didn’t tell my parents until after the Junos cuz I just wanted them to be happy that I got a Juno nom. I didn’t want that to cloud it. And also my mom had just lost her mother earlier in the year… the start of 2019 was such a tumultuous time… But anyways, I’m really happy with the song about shame. And I’m pretty happy with how the lyrics turned out in “Artifact” too because that song is about my own world and being too close to it and not realizing it was falling apart until it was too late. But I feel that way about the climate, and that song draws a parallel to the climate crisis as well - maybe it’s a little bit Jetsons and Sci-Fi, the idea of floating through space and looking back at Earth that you destroyed but we live in such a delicate time right now. If we don’t make some real big changes soon it’s irreversible. Wow, and especially folks that are bringing kids into the world, it’s gotta be on your mind - the climate crisis. Ya so anyways, that song I’m proud of [laughs] I guess from the older stuff… man like “Wait”. Those lyrics about messing up and being messy and vulnerable and trying hard and failing. That song, ya...here it is.

G: So let’s go back to the last album Seeker. It was nominated for a Juno award - there was a lot of success around it but you’ve also said there were a lot of personal things you were going through during the success that came around that album. So what have you learned about yourself as an artist since the release of Seeker.

M: I dunno… that’s a good question. I think that I need to sometimes separate myself from a song, especially when I’m producing my own songs and working with other people. Finding that balance that everybody you’re working with feels appreciated and that you really thank them for putting their love and energy into your songs. And also balancing that with thinking about the song first and giving the song what it deserves, and also balancing that with your own ego. So to just try and find that balance between people’s love and energy and time, the song itself, and your ego. Cuz I feel like there’s been times over the years where I’ve made suggestions in the mix - and it’s like, “Is that ego driven or will that best serve the song? Do I really need more of my vocal there or is that just me wanting to hear more of me?” So to try and find that balance, I think it’s something I have to be mindful of. Also, I think in the last year I had to find a lot of patience for myself because Seeker was released in 2017, so if we’re talking about the two year album cycle I should have released a full length in the fall of 2019 but the reality is that I wear so many different hats and I didn’t have the time to take off two or three months to just write. Also I don’t write that way… I think because I write songs that are so personal and so vulnerable about my life, I kind of write them in between the time that kind of gets carved out around living that life, you know. So I’ve realized that maybe I write one good song a year and that’s it [laughs] like I can’t be so hard on myself and expect this two year album cycle, which now… I don’t even know, people probably just want more and more and more and more. And some artists can do it, but I’m just not one of those people. But I also want a slow-burning career - I don’t have anything else planned. I don’t have a plan B. I’m not giving myself a time frame saying like, “Oh, if I don’t make it by 35, I’m done” No I’ve never done that, this is it. It’s not really an issue of “making it”. It was just that I’ve always tried to build my life around the fact that I have to write songs and that’s it.

G: What are some of your favourite Seeker related memories?

M: Oh man, so many. That’s another thing this pandemic has done, it’s made me reflect on so many cool things I’ve had the privilege to do. Like the day Seeker came out I was playing in Hamburg, Germany. I was playing Reeperbahn festival by myself on stage [laughs] and that was the day it came out. So I didn’t have a traditional album release show the day of... I was touring and I was like, “Hey everybody! My album’s out today and ahh cool” But that was pretty neat. While we were recording the record, I went and played MerleFest - again by myself, I travelled there by myself. I remember I broke my tooth and I ended up dedicating the album to it. I broke my tooth in the hotel room in North Carolina...what a bizarre experience. The next day I showed a friend, we became friends on that trip - Ken Tizzard - he’s a great songwriter out of Ontario, he was playing too. And I’m like “Ken, look what I did, I broke my tooth!” and he’s like, “You need medical help, you need medical attention,” and I was just so chill about it. Like now, I dunno how I was so laid back about a tooth... I ate half my tooth but anyways… Ya that’s such a weird memory. I was backstage at MerleFest and they found a dentist in the audience and he was putting in a temporary filling for me… I was back in this recliner… like what a bizarre thing. And Seeker opened a lot of doors for me, and with the Juno nomination - even though I had a bunch of personal grief around it - that was an amazing experience. It was completely overwhelming and I felt like I was just moving through the motions but it was still so cool. It was so cool. I got to walk a couple red carpets which is bizarre...[laughs]. Some people really thrive in that and I’m just too Scorpio for that, you know what I mean… I’m kinda like oh... kinda awkward. Even though I’m open, I’m still private. But being asked what are you wearing - I didn’t even know this was a question people asked anymore - and I got to say: “Oh, this is second hand”. To be able to say that to a journalist on a red carpet felt pretty cool [laughs]. I felt like grandma would have been really proud of me because she loved second hand shit. I love second hand clothes and thrifting - it was such a funny experience. I don’t know, Greg, I could go on forever, there were so many amazing things that came out of Seeker. And I also feel like I made some of the closest friendships of my life throughout that process. It wasn’t the easiest process recording that album, but it was bonding nonetheless and I just feel so grateful to have the people in my life that I do.

G: Is there a song on the album that you think needs a bit more appreciation or was maybe slept on? Maybe by yourself or by people listening?

M: Short answer, no. I feel like the album got a lot of love and attention and I’m just so grateful that people cared and listened. But the one song [laughs] it’s not a song but I recorded my grandma talking about how her and my grandpa met and I don’t know if folks take the time to sit with that. And I don’t expect them to. Like for me, that was more for me and my family and it’s weird to maybe put that out on a record, but also I don’t give a shit. If anything, I was hoping that maybe that would cause people to maybe reflect and think that they should record their grandparents. Cuz when I think back to my family, I just have lots of photos of my grandparents. I was very close to all my grandparents, very fortunate that I got to spend time with them. Every weekend I’d go to Moose Jaw, both sets of my grandparents lived in Moose Jaw so I got to spend a lot of time with them but I wish I had recordings of their voices. So when my Grandma Woodward was still with us, I made a point of recording some of her stories and that was one of them. I don’t expect people to be like: “Oh that’s a great song,” because it’s not a great song [laughs], it’s not a song..it’s her story and Dalton made a trumpet drone. But no one really talks about that one… And I know it’s probably a huge skip-over on Spotify [laughs] but you know, at the end of the day whenever it comes on… like my mom called me the other day, and she was crying, and said: “I was listening to your album and I forgot you had that song on there and thank you so much for that.” That makes it worth it to me. It’s not mixed very loudly either - I wanted it to be like a dream...like you have to want to hear her. Ya, you know, just making art...you gotta work for it. Like I know you’re not supposed to do that [laughs] but if people wanna enjoy it, they gotta work for it a little bit. And that is so not the way that music is going in the mainstream world, like that is the opposite. But whatever. I hope to do something like that on the new record too.

G: Do it.. Bend the rules a bit - there are no rules.

M: I love writing pop songs. If you look at the structure of my songs, they’re all pop songs for the most part. But if the record needs a spoken word poem, or if it needs your grandma and a trumpet drone [laughs] then that’s what it is.

G: So I wanted to move a bit into living in the prairies and questions about your bandmates. First, how does living in the prairies currently impact your sound and songwriting?

M: I have a lot of prairie imagery in my lyrics. I like to say that there’s an openness and a vulnerability to myself that I feel the prairies also have. The openness that the prairie landscape has - I don’t know if it’s impacted my ideology or how I live my life. But I’m a very open and vulnerable person and so is this little house I live in. There’s no shelter. And I really do love the prairies. I love the land here. And I’m just really fortunate to get to call it home. I don’t know… I have had folks comment, especially when I’m in cities… like: “oh you don’t sound like you’re from Saskatchewan.” I always think that’s an interesting thing… to hear, like, “oh, you don’t sound like you live on a farm.” But when you think about it, I really write country music - like I’m from a farm in the middle of nowhere and ya... the other day I had to take a business meeting and I had somebody working inside my house so because of covid I left, and I also have a really small house so it would have been busy… but I was on the phone with a member of my team and a tractor drove by and I’m like: “Oh I’m sorry about that, that was a tractor”. Yet I don’t write country music… but I do, I guess.

G: What else do you appreciate about being an artist from Saskatchewan?

M: We have a very tight knit music community and my favourite part of it is, especially being a part of the Moose Jaw music scene for so long, is that you’d just put on shows with your friends. No one cared about the genre. Maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to the label singer- songwriter because it’s just nothing, it doesn’t really mean anything. But I loved being the “singer-songwriter” on a bill with an alt-rock country band and a punk band and maybe another songwriter. Those kind of bills that would happen in small towns, I loved that. And the people that come out to shows for the most part are just there for good music. And what I mean by good music is just something that is genuine. Unfortunately I feel like authentic and genuine are sort of these buzz-words now, which kinda sucks because… ya I dunno.. But if people are just singing songs about their experience, about stuff they love and they’re just passionate about their music, and their instrument and they’re just doing it as well as they can - like, why not love that? I feel like a lot of the crowds we would get in Moose Jaw were there because they were friends of people, or they just wanted to hear good music and it didn’t matter the genre. There’s a lot that bums me out about the music industry - but the one part that does bum me out sometimes is having to figure out how to navigate genres. I just find that to be a bit challenging at times but it’s okay.

G: What do you mean by navigating genres? Like trying to fit a mold?

M: Ya, like for the marketing part. I feel like even with this new record it’s like… I just always try to go with the terms that mean the least. You know, if I say alternative… I dunno… it’s just I have some records that it’s just me and guitar, and Seeker you know was very full band, and then now with this one, trying to put this new record into a… there are going to be songs that are more like alt-country, and there are gonna be songs that are more like “Artifact”, and there are gonna be songs that are more like “Quiet” which is synths everywhere and it’s more of a dance tune. So it’s not like I’m an artist that writes synth-rock songs, you know, it’s not like I’m an artist that writes alt-country songs. I feel like sometimes I could be difficult to market, like my music can be difficult...I’m not saying…like I think I have very accessible music, you know, I’m not too art-rock. I feel like I’m taking a song-first approach and sometimes that can be hard to paint the whole picture with one genre. To sum up my rambling - that’s maybe the safest way to phrase that.

G: So you work with your band called The Best of Intentions. I’m familiar with your band but maybe some of the readers aren’t, so can you tell a little bit about who they are and how you know them?

M: Well basically I wanted to create a band name so people would know it’s more than just me and the guitar. So when I have full band gigs I want to say Megan Nash & The Best of Intentions. It also kind of serves as a second album title, it really just sums up the part of my life right now… like “I had the best of intentions”. Right now, three of my bandmates are pretty steady. We do have people come in and join us on certain songs and things like that and for that song they’ll be a part of The Best of Intentions too but for the most part it’s Tanner Wilhelm Hale on drums, Darnell Stewart on guitar and Dana Rempel on bass and synth bass. They’re members of Bears in Hazenmore that I met over four years ago, or no… it’s gonna be coming up on five years ago when I met them all and they booked me to play at the German Club with them in Regina. I was the opening act for their Christmas show and then a few months later I spent time with them again at Swift Current Music Camp because they invited me to be a guest artist to talk to the participants of that camp. And then really we started collaborating then because they arranged a few of my songs to show the students...like it was a chance they could show the students here’s the song with just a voice and guitar and here’s arrangements. So we performed a few at the Lyric Theatre at the camp’s showcase night. And I remember asking them that night: “Do you guys wanna play Breakout West with me?” It was the first time I ever got Breakout West, first time I was ever showcasing and I was like, “do you guys wanna do this?” And they said yes, and so suddenly we had to put this whole set together, and not just any set… a showcase set and hope for the best and really the best came out of it. We recorded a whole record together - the Bears and I started in the last couple years touring together, mainly as a four piece. Cuz we were a six-piece when it was all of us so we started doing the four-piece thing more often. And then I thought, instead of it being Megan Nash and Bears in Hazenmore, or Megan Nash and some of the Bears, I just thought “Okay I’m just going to create a band name: Megan Nash and The Best of Intentions”. It’s self-deprecating in a sense, and it just has a big shrug-emoji energy that I’m so about. I think the shrug emoji…I read a good quote about it… I can’t remember exactly what it was but something about just accepting the chaos of the universe. And I love that and that’s what this album is about. And the project itself is about that.

G: You’ve known them for a long time now - how are you working together as a band? Are you bringing song ideas to them and then working them out as a band, or are you writing together as a band from scratch?

M: No we’re not writing together as a band from scratch… it’s something I’d like to do down the road if anybody was like, “hey I’ve got this...” but they also put a lot of love and energy into Bears too...that’s their main creative outlet. The way we’re working right now is that I’ll bring a song to them and then we’ll arrange it and work it out as a band. It’s usually a fully formed song when I bring it to them but it’s still very special to me because I am a solo artist at the end of the day and could be working with session players. And I have done that in the past and no disrespect to session players, I’m not saying that they don’t give their all to a project but I do think there’s something that’s special that comes from investing… like being INVESTED in the project. You know, if this record does well and we’re able to one day tour more or get these different opportunities, they’re the guys that are gonna be coming along with me for that trip. So I’m very fortunate that I have people that are as invested in my music as they are… like that’s so beautiful, it’s such a beautiful thing that I don’t ever want to take for granted. That’s another reason why I really wanted to create a band name… because of how much energy they were putting into my songs. They’re not just coming and filling in the space - they’re so much a part of this sonic journey that I just need them to be… I just wanna give the people that are putting love and energy into my music… It was kind of a practice of gratitude to create a band name if that makes any sense?

G: Yes! I like the band name, it’s reminiscent of artists like Prince and Tom Petty and all those artists who had named bands. So you’ve been self-producing your own work for a while now and recently produced a group song for Songs 4 Nature. Is the producer role something you want to step into more in your career down the road?

M: I would like to, but I have to be aware of my own limitations too. I don’t know a lot of music theory… I think the best way for me to work in a production role is to have more of a co-production kind of role at this point cuz if I can have somebody else help me speak musician [laughs] to the session players that would be really helpful. I’m really fortunate again to be working with my bandmates cuz I feel like we all really work well together. But I do love producing songs, I do love working with musicians. So maybe I’m being a bit too self-deprecating there. I guess not every producer needs to know theory… I don’t mean to suggest that, just that sometimes I wish I knew more. I also say that but I don’t go learn because I also feel like sometimes ignorance is bliss too - I kind of like not knowing. But ya I do really like producing songs. Would I like to produce more in the future for other artists? 100%. Ya I think that would be really fun. Sorry - that’s my short answer. Yes I like it and I’d like to do more.

G: What do you think makes for the ideal recording scenario?

M: Well at the end of the day for me it has to be just working with kind people. I think the most crucial thing is having that ego balance. If you can try your best to leave your ego at the door and just think about what is going to best serve this song. And that can be tough because if you’ve been working on this bass line for like forever, and you bring it into the studio and I go: “it doesn’t serve the song” - that sucks and I get that. That’s not from example, that’s not from a scenario that’s just a hypothetical thing I said, okay [laughs]. But I think an ideal recording scenario is everybody got enough sleep, there’s enough food, there’s a lot of coffee, everybody is trying their best to check their ego at the door and think about what best serves the song. And that can mean putting a lot of hours and time into something that at the end of the day gets cut, and just having acceptance of that. I think that’s the ideal scenario. Because I think a lot of the technical stuff - if people know what they’re doing they know what they’re doing… a lot of the magic comes from those other variables.

G: Now that you have a new album in the works, you’ll be starting to add more new music to your sets when you’re performing so that means some older songs will have to be trimmed off the set to make room. So do you have some favourite older songs that are staples that you won’t get rid of and do you have some that you’re kind of excited to be putting off to the side?

M: Yep 100%. So “Deer Head” and “Wait” are just staples. “Deer Head” has taken a life of its own. I feel like it’s its own entity, that song… you know what I mean? And I’m really grateful for it and that one will just always be there. And same with “Wait”, that song has taken on a life of its own. But you know there are some songs like “Salted Salamanders” - that sucker is going up on the shelf. It’s the farthest that I’m from stylistically - and honestly I’m still kind of surprised it had the life it did - oooh that’s maybe not a good way to word that [laughs]. Out of all the songs on Seeker the fact that it was the one that had the most legs in a lot of scenarios is surprising to me in a way. It’s the more folky one, it’s the most stripped down of all of it, and it’s also the one that is most specific to my own life. So when people kind of connected with that, it actually kind of did surprise me because it kind of goes against a couple of songwriting rules. Some other songs, like “Seeker” - the title track - that song is fairly lush and has this huge arrangement and is kind of larger than life and then “Salted Salamanders” is me whistling and my sister and I singing with guitar and a little percussion. Ya but that song itself is going to get shelved for now. It’s just, for me, I’m pretty removed from it. Ya and also other songs… honestly I’m kind of ruthless with my songs - it’s amazing when they stick. For me, I just cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. But ya those are the three that come to mind. “Deer Head” and “Wait” are always there, they’re my comfort zone, my little security blankets. “Salted Salamanders” will just rest for a little while and come out on special occasions.

G: Do you have any songs from your last few releases that you avoid playing or you refuse to play live?

M: Well there’s some that I just forgot how to play because I haven’t played them in so long. Especially off Song Harvest, like some of those songs they kind of live best in that form too. I don’t even sing the same way that I did on that record. If you really like a song on that record, it’s recorded for a reason, people can listen to it and I don’t know if you need to experience it… like if I could even do it anymore. I don’t know… I feel like my singing style has changed a lot in the last 6 years. My voice has changed a lot which is kind of fun because I feel like there are some artists I know that have been who they are from day 1, and they just keep making records. And some of my older stuff is kind of embarrassing to me, but I have to put it in the perspective of “I can see my own growth”. Is it weird that it’s all out there on the internet and it’s all under the same umbrella and if people are just shuffle playing it on Spotify they’re not gonna know what year? Maybe, ya. But at the end of the day, I can see my own progression. I feel like I haven’t plateaued yet, I feel like I keep getting happier with my songs and even with the way I’m singing so I’ll keep going, like it’s okay. I’m curious with this record, I think that there are gonna be things that sound different from Seeker even. I hope I can keep seeing some kind of progression, that’d be kind of neat. I’m not trying to sing differently, it’s just happening. I think when I was younger I was really trying to push and see where I can go. Like pushing... straining... just seeing what can I make my voice do? And that served its purpose, that served its time and now I just don’t feel like I need to be doing that anymore. So ya, there are some of those songs where I don’t play them anymore and I think they live better in that world.. In 24 year old Megan’s world, not so much anymore.

G: Do you have a song on the new album that you think will become a new setlist staple?

M: “Artifact” - I think it’s gonna be there for a while, same with “Quiet” which is the next single… I can’t talk about that yet, I guess. We’re gonna take a while, this is gonna be a slow burn release because it’s not like I need to get it out in time to go on tour. So it’s gonna be a slow release and I’m totally cool with that cuz it’s a singles world anyway. People want the record, I want to hear a whole album but at the end of the day it’s a singles world. Which as an artist who writes song by song by song that’s not even too bad of a thing for me. But I think “Quiet” will definitely be a song that will be on our setlist because it’s upbeat, melodically I like where it goes. It’s kind of one of my poppier songs, but I’m really happy with the lyrics. If I can find that marriage of a melody I really love with lyrics I really love - ooh that’s what’s gonna keep a song on a setlist.

[Editors Note - Just a reminder that this interview took place in November of 2020. We are pleased to inform you the Megan Nash recently released the song “Quiet.” Check it out below.]

G: In an ideal world, what can people expect from your live show or what do you hope they experience when they come to a Megan Nash show?

M: I always want my show to feel like a bit of a rollercoaster in a way [laughs], hopefully a song can really go “oof I’ve been there, or oof I feel that, or oof I have goosebumps”. Like if I can give someone goosebumps... the biggest compliment is when someone comes up and says “you made me cry”. Ooh that’s so nice..like thank you… But also if I don’t get a belly laugh from an audience, I feel like my show sucked. If somebody can cry and have a belly laugh at my show, there we go! That’s it, that’s what I want. That’s the dream. Sorry I guess I just told you what I hope to be able to do, I don’t know if that’s a guarantee but that’s the thing I strive for.

G: [laughs] High standards, but that’s good. So you’ve been playing some drive-in shows recently. How have those been? How are you finding that experience?

M: I feel so blessed and privileged to get those drive-in gigs. What a production - it is such a production and a lot of work to make those gigs happen. I am so grateful that I got to play not one but two this year. One at the Regina Folk Fest which was sold out which was just such a nice thing. It felt surreal. So we actually got to play a matinee and an evening show and I’ll admit, I kind of had to do this thing where I was trying to associate honking with a positive reaction. In Canada I feel like our driving culture, a honk is usually a negative and it’s not like that in every driving culture. I find when I’m driving in other places, it can be more like... I think I was in Germany, I was like “Oh, people are just honking to just kind of let people know,” - it wasn’t viewed as a rude thing but in Canada it’s like we feel we’re about to get hit or something. So it was kind of unsettling at first, all the honking. But by the time I got to play the third show that we just did in October at the NDP Rally in Regina - there were some semi trucks there too so they were honking as well… it was very fun, very funny. I’ve been feeling very blessed to get to play those gigs. I actually think that’s what the next year is gonna be like, like that’s my goal for the next year - as strange as that sounds - I hope I get some more drive-in gigs, cuz I think that’s gonna be the situation we’re in.

G: Do you have a pre-show ritual?

M: No, not really. Usually if I’m with the band, we’re trying to get some food and crack some jokes. I try not to eat too close to singing. I’m so fortunate that, honestly, my bandmates are three of my closest friends… like wow, that is just such a dream. So usually just laughing a bunch before the show, you know warming up, and making plans for food after the show too cuz I’m a big fan of post-show food [laughs]. I dunno.. Just trying to laugh, drink water, warm up, go to the washroom, hit the stage. Oh ya and scramble for setlist papers still cuz I’ve been doing this for 13 years but for some reason I’m still so unorganized with my setlists.

G: What have been a few of your most memorable live shows or venues?

M: I played MerleFest by myself on stage to literally thousands of people. I tried to get the count of how many people there were that night but they couldn’t tell me cuz they just knew the count for the whole festival but it was thousands of people right before The Avett Brothers and I was by myself on that stage. I honestly think I was a bit naive and didn’t really even understand at the time how big of a deal that was [laughs] so I wasn’t as stressed out or as freaked out as I maybe could have been. But ya, I’ve had a lot of cool show experiences… big show experiences just myself - me, myself and I - up on stage and that’s kind of special. And with the band, we played The Snow Castle in March 2019. So not only are we playing in a snow castle that’s built entirely of snow on top of a lake in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories - we’re doing that to a packed snow castle that is singing along to my songs. I have goosebumps thinking of it right now… and not just cuz it was so cold, if you know what I mean. [laughs] But that was amazing, like that was so cool. Yellowknife is a community that has meant a lot to me. I’ve gone up there, it has to be eight times or something now, I’ve played up there quite a bit. It was kind of just by chance that I found myself going up there on tour - an artist to artist connection allowed that to happen. It was a community that I kept going back to, and the energy there was just so reciprocal and it was so cool. Ya what an amazing place. I’ve also had some really amazing experiences touring in Europe. When I was playing during one of the last tours I did in Germany… was it the last tour I did in Germany? No.. second last tour I did in Germany! It was with Scotch & Water, and the Green Apple Sea and we all collaborated on stage with one another’s songs. Playing to different rooms in different parts of Germany with two German bands… a lot of their banter was in German and the crowd and everyone just speaking in German and I’m just kind of like this - I don’t know very much German at all. Just to be up on stage with everybody, so many of us up on stage in a different country. We just met each other a few weeks ago but we just bonded so quickly. I miss that so much about touring - I miss how it can go for better or for worse but I’ve been so fortunate it’s usually better. And how you can bond so quickly with people on the road and become really good friends in a short amount of time because you’re living with somebody all of a sudden and it’s just such an amazing experience. Maybe that’s not as common as I think, I’m talking about it as if everybody does it. But because of these tours I’ve been invited to be on with these other artists I’ve just had the opportunity to make some really amazing friends. It’s been so cool and I miss that so much. I miss that unknown - what used to scare me so much. I miss being scared with that kind of stuff. I was just writing a song about that the other day - the line is: “we’ll get to worry about the wrong things again”. I just look forward to being stressed out about shit that doesn’t matter. It does matter, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that big of a deal.

G: I know you’re into astrology, so how does your interest in astrology affect your career as a musician? Does it influence your decision when picking release dates, or booking a recording session or are you reading horoscopes for your bandmates?

M: [laughs] Well I have this book - this is hilarious that it’s right here. This is one of my favourite books - this is like my Bible [holds up a big red book titled: The Secret Language of Relationships with two big suns on the front that have human faces in the middle of them]. And it’s by your sun sign, but weekly. It’s very fun. But I’m actually starting to take it all more now with a grain of salt because I’ve met more and more people that have kind of thrown me for a loop and haven’t been the atypical moon in Aries. Actually, okay, I take it with a grain of salt, I always have but I’ll admit to you Greg, I’ve had to delete a couple apps… like The Pattern. Have you been on that?

G: No, somebody was telling me about The Pattern the other day but I did not download it.

M: K it’s amazing, but I think it can be too intrusive. I think I can be too influenced by it. Like I love astrology but I think I allowed it to influence me too much in the past with regards to my relationships with people. Now with album release cycles...absolutely! I want to release a song when the moon is between the new moon and the full moon [laughs] cuz I want this to grow, you know! I treat it like lunar farming essentially. I do think about it with my album cycles. And also if something is just not connecting I’ll look and see what’s happening as far as the stars go, and think, okay well there’s a bit of resistance within the universe energetically right now, let’s just try to go with the flow… it’s not going to happen as quickly as we may want to plan. But as far as my personal relationships go, I’m not allowing it to influence me as much. Usually I would rely on astrology for empathy, like okay that person can’t help that they’re like that because they’re Libra, they’re gonna look at both sides - maybe be a bit indecisive, okay I need to be a bit more patient. So I used to use astrology for empathy because maybe I’m a mean Scorpio at heart [laughs]. Yes, I use it with my career for release cycles but I don’t use it as much with my day to day relationships anymore because I feel like I was maybe putting people into boxes unfairly and that was influenced by astrology. I just maybe have been a bit reckless with it in the past and I don’t want to do that anymore. I downloaded the app The Pattern and then I had to get it away because it was just too kind of ruthless with people. Like I don’t want to be like this with people, why are you writing people off. It was kind of weird. It would be worth a download to check it out maybe [laughs] I dunno… but honestly it was too much. But also too, that’s not astrology, that’s an app designed by people. So I’m trying to use astrology more in my relationship to the world and less with my relationship to people.

G: So how about your dog Shiloh - how long have you had Shiloh now?

M: It will be [laughs] 2 years and 2 months in six days [laughs]. I love the little guy.

G: What made you want to get a dog?

M: Nothing! Nothing. There was no decision - it was bizarre Greg. At the time, my ex- husband and I… I was on the road a lot and we kind of talked about him getting a dog because he was here in this little farmhouse in the middle of nowhere alone a lot and so I guess he mentioned that to a coworker of his when he worked at the hospital in Gravelbourg and they dropped off a dog at the house. So really I have my ex-husband to thank cuz if he hadn’t been living here alone while I was off touring, I would never have a dog because of my lifestyle... when you first look at my life, it doesn’t allow for a dog. Boy, has that changed this year. I hang out with this little buddy every single day. And also too, my life has taken so many turns since he first came into this house. It was such a shock - like I’ll never forget opening the door and this little dog ran into the house, did a 360 and jumped up on the couch and my ex and I just looked at each other like: “What?” and then our neighbour who dropped him off is like: “Oh you guys need a dog, you need a dog.” And immediately I was like, yes we do, we do, we do. I kind of thought… first of all, I grew up with animals, I grew up on the farm. We always had dogs, we always had cats - and also to be really honest and open with you - I kind of thought that having a dog would save my relationship. And actually the opposite happened, this little dog became my support through grief and I’m so grateful for him and I just think it’s so amazing the relationship we have with animals. When you find that soulmate animal, it’s so special. And I’m just so grateful to have him in my life. He’s a mature dog and his exact age is kind of unknown, I don’t know his birthday. So every day is Shiloh’s birthday around these parts, you know [laughs]. Ya I’m just so grateful for him and ya, this new album is dedicated to him.

G: What’s the best advice you’ve received in your musical career?

M: What’s wrong with my brain when I can list off the worst advice like boom, boom, boom, boom.

G: That’s the next question, so we can go there first!

M: Worst advice would probably be move to Nashville, move to Toronto. That’s the worst advice for me - that could be the best advice for somebody else but that’s the worst advice for me. For numerous reasons… 1) we actually have really good funding in Saskatchewan. That’s not a very sexy answer but it’s the truth. 2) The Saskatchewan music scene is usually very community minded and not so cut throat. I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to grow and develop as an artist to get to where I’m at because I haven’t been in an environment that’s gonna just say: “you’re not good enough, you’re not good enough, you’re not good enough”. Like I had room to grow and I don’t know if I would have been afforded that if I had moved to Nashville when I was 17 like other people told me to or if I had moved to Toronto... I just think I would have had a totally different path. And I mean, it maybe would have been better but for me I really like where I’m at and I think Saskatchewan has really shaped my life and my career - for better or for worse, maybe - but I think for the better. The best advice… [pauses to think]... actually you know, that Saskatchewan can be a great homebase. That’s something I heard very early on in my career and it really resonated with me. Derek Bachman - I worked at SaskMusic with my internship. I studied Music Business in Nova Scotia and did my internship at SaskMusic with Derek Bachman in his Saskatoon office and I remember him talking about how Saskatchewan can be a really great homebase - the secret, the key, is to tour. And also, he said to work hard and be nice. Probably the best advice I’ve ever received is from Derek Bachman.

G: Do you have any dream collaborators?

M: Definitely Feist...Bahamas. I would love to do something with Digawolf from Yellowknife down the road. And G.R. Gritt. They’re great, I’ve toured with them. That’s such a good question… I’m trying to think. But my knee-jerk responses are: co-write with Feist, get Bahamas to produce a song, like wow, dreams…

G: Are there some Canadian artists you’ve been enjoying new releases from lately?

M: Oh ya! Jennah Barry from Nova Scotia - she released this record Holiday, I don’t even know when it came out but it’s like frickin’ gorgeous and I’m just like… was I sleeping on this? When did this come out? Like this is so good. So Jennah Barry. K, I know this has been a shit year, but there has been some really cool music. Jennah Barry Holiday - that album is so beautiful. And then also Marlaena Moore from Edmonton’s Pay Attention! Be Amazed! is so good. Those are the two that really took my breath away, the ones I was most excited about this year.

G: So the last thing I’d like to do for this interview is a word association game. I’ll throw out a category and you’ll say the first thing that comes to mind that relates to you/your music… Animal?

M: I was gonna say scorpion, but that seems like too intense, doesn’t it? [laughs] Or maybe too on the nose. I’m a bit of a dog actually. Scorpion and a dog - a dog with a scorpion on its back. They’re friends - they hang out all the time.

G: Food?

M: I just wanna say the three Cs: cheese, chocolate, coffee.

G: Season?

M: Ummm… this is what my music is or me?

G: I think you as an artist… so I guess your music.

M: Okay, I should change my food answer then, cuz that’s just my favourite food. Oh I just really love to over complicate simple fun things, I really do, I really do…my mom has a one- bowl chocolate cake recipe but I like to use two bowls cuz I just like to make everything a little bit harder than it needs to be. Why don’t we say that for food: my mom’s one bowl chocolate cake recipe but I always dirty two bowls when making it [laughs].

G: [laughs] that’s great. So what season?

M: I feel like everybody probably says fall, but I don’t know if I’m fall or winter. I feel like I’m fall in Saskatchewan which is kind of just winter.

G: Colour?

M: Grey [laughs]

G: Beverage?

M: Coffee

G: Piercing

M: My music can’t have any piercings because I’m allergic. I don’t have any, I’ve had my ears done twice and they can’t work. I’m gonna stay true to that.

G: Flower?

M: Chrysanthemum - kind of just sad, it’s my birth flower.

G: Plant or tree?

M: Mint

G: Instrument?

M: Ahhh… that’s such an interesting thing - like what instrument is my music or me because I don’t identify as a guitar player, so I can’t say guitar...that’s what I use primarily but I can’t say it. microKORG then, I’ll go with a microKORG.

G: Scent?

M: “Dude, did you leave something in the van?” special. So the Van Smell. But one time I was touring with coffee beans as merch and that was when my van smelled the best so I’ll say coffee beans.

G: Dance move?

M: Just like the little Indie Rock Shuffle.

G: Survival Tool?

M: Jackknife

G: Crystal?

M: Labradorite

G: Ooh nice, I’m holding one right now but it’s called Galaxite - it’s a micro- Labradorite.

M: Ooh that’s cool, I’m gonna write that down.

G: Mode of transportation?

M: Walking

G: Constellation?

M: The only one that I really pay attention to actually is Scorpius. I check out Scropius a lot when I can see it.

G: Cupcake or Regular Cake?

M: Oh I have to go with the full cake, I want the full cake and I want to eat it too.

G: That’s it! Thank you so much for getting together for this chat.

M: Greg, it was such a pleasure - thanks for being the first human I talked to today - and sorry for that [laughs]. And I just got your book of poetry in the mail today so I’m looking forward to spending time with that. I was so excited to see that you had them up for sale. And my partner just bought me Florence Welch’s Useless Magic so it’s a poetry month for me right now.

G: That’s awesome! I didn’t realize she put out a poetry book.

M: Well it’s lyrics for the majority of it, lots of photography and art and then there’s just poetry at the back. I’ve always wanted to do a book of poetry myself so I’m always curious to see how folks are doing it. Ya, so I have your book and Florence Welch - that’s my reading this month.

G: Amazing. Alright - take care, enjoy the rest of recording! I’m excited to hear more!

M: Thank you so much! Take care friend!

G: That’s awesome! I didn’t realize she put out a poetry book.