Bonfire Ball to be led by Jason Collett
“[Broken Social Scene frontman Kevin Drew] is very obsessed with bodily functions,” says Jason Collett, a member of the massive band-turned-collective with an indie-folk career of his own. “[BS is] very stream-of-conscious, and the singing of lyrics was always treated just as another instrument, which is really cool. It resonates on a bodily level too.”
Collett was comparing his massively successful indie-rock-guitarist career to his solo work, a more stripped-down singer-songwriter affair in the vain of Bob Dylan or Tom Petty. He'll be performing at Call the Office on Friday March 12 - but, as he explained over the phone from his Toronto home, it will be anything but a typical show. Hailed as the Bonfire Ball, Colett has put the concert together with another collection of musicians, including Toronto-based artists Bahamas and Zeus.
“We're not playing as three bands, three separate sets. We're all playing together in one set [and] there will be a short intermission, so it's raising the bar to a whole other level. We”ve been rehearsing it trying to figure out how to do this. [But] don't expect it to be Afie Jurvanen starting the show, it'll more than likely be myself, [and] we'll be batting it back and forth from song to song. It's going to be something special I think.”
Collett has been calling this tour a celebration of the history that the three bands share. Over a year ago, Collett became Zeus' manager, and in return they became his backing band, while Collett was still promoting his last album, Here's To Being Here.
“[At] the point I was making Here's To Being Here, the band was beginning to fracture. Not in a bad way, but fracturing nevertheless. Afie Jurvanen had an offer he couldn't turn down to go play with Feist so he was beginning that trajectory and he [was just] doing that for a few years.”
From there, Collett's backing band was slowly replaced by Zeus, with whom he has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship: “I lean on them in a big way to be my band and they've leaned on me to get their foot in the door.” But ties have run even deeper, as Carlin Nicholson and Mike O'Brien, lead writers for Zeus, took over production duties for Collett's latest album, Rat A Tat Tat.
“[The recording process] just got much deeper than what Paso Mino [Collett's former backing band] was for Here's to Being Here. There was some tension in making that record, but that can be a good thing and I think it all worked out fine. But there's a deepness to how this record was made because as we got further along playing together it became pretty obvious that this was a good direction for me to go in, using [Nicholson and O'Brien] as a production team. It became a great adventure for us eventually and resulted in my strongest work yet.”
And though they now all share in each others spoils from recording, managing, producing and playing with each other, Collett insists their relationship is more in line with a friendship than as business partners.
“I don't think of it in terms of a professional relationship. That's more of a monetary thing and that's not really part of what our relationship is. We have a working relationship but that's just where all the various dynamics of recording and touring are at play.”
Check out Jason Collett, Bahamas and Zeus as they perform their one-of-a-kind Bonfire Ball March 12. Tickets are $15 in advance/$18 at the door.
Collett was comparing his massively successful indie-rock-guitarist career to his solo work, a more stripped-down singer-songwriter affair in the vain of Bob Dylan or Tom Petty. He'll be performing at Call the Office on Friday March 12 - but, as he explained over the phone from his Toronto home, it will be anything but a typical show. Hailed as the Bonfire Ball, Colett has put the concert together with another collection of musicians, including Toronto-based artists Bahamas and Zeus.
“We're not playing as three bands, three separate sets. We're all playing together in one set [and] there will be a short intermission, so it's raising the bar to a whole other level. We”ve been rehearsing it trying to figure out how to do this. [But] don't expect it to be Afie Jurvanen starting the show, it'll more than likely be myself, [and] we'll be batting it back and forth from song to song. It's going to be something special I think.”
Collett has been calling this tour a celebration of the history that the three bands share. Over a year ago, Collett became Zeus' manager, and in return they became his backing band, while Collett was still promoting his last album, Here's To Being Here.
“[At] the point I was making Here's To Being Here, the band was beginning to fracture. Not in a bad way, but fracturing nevertheless. Afie Jurvanen had an offer he couldn't turn down to go play with Feist so he was beginning that trajectory and he [was just] doing that for a few years.”
From there, Collett's backing band was slowly replaced by Zeus, with whom he has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship: “I lean on them in a big way to be my band and they've leaned on me to get their foot in the door.” But ties have run even deeper, as Carlin Nicholson and Mike O'Brien, lead writers for Zeus, took over production duties for Collett's latest album, Rat A Tat Tat.
“[The recording process] just got much deeper than what Paso Mino [Collett's former backing band] was for Here's to Being Here. There was some tension in making that record, but that can be a good thing and I think it all worked out fine. But there's a deepness to how this record was made because as we got further along playing together it became pretty obvious that this was a good direction for me to go in, using [Nicholson and O'Brien] as a production team. It became a great adventure for us eventually and resulted in my strongest work yet.”
And though they now all share in each others spoils from recording, managing, producing and playing with each other, Collett insists their relationship is more in line with a friendship than as business partners.
“I don't think of it in terms of a professional relationship. That's more of a monetary thing and that's not really part of what our relationship is. We have a working relationship but that's just where all the various dynamics of recording and touring are at play.”
Check out Jason Collett, Bahamas and Zeus as they perform their one-of-a-kind Bonfire Ball March 12. Tickets are $15 in advance/$18 at the door.
