Laurent Bourque talks about "What We Talk About"

Laurent Bourque, a multi-instrumentalist who is currently working out of Montreal, Quebec is poised to released his début solo album, "What We Talk About."

NxEW.ca contributor Travis Hatcher got in contact with Laurent through his MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/laurentbourque) to ask him a few questions about everything that is going on in the songwriters life as one of his goals is quickly coming to light on November 13th, 2009.

**The following has been reprinted from an email interview with Laurent Bourque.

---

Travis Hatcher:You've been performing/writing since you were 12 years old, where do you draw your inspiration from?

Laurent Bourque:Not really sure. Life stuff mainly. I always seem to write about myself… just about important things that have happened to me that have shaped my character.

TH:When you're writing a song, how do you put it together? Do you use theory or do you just feel it out until something speaks to you?

LB: Well the people that have worked closely with me can tell you that I’m horrible with theory!

I basically write a song, when I feel a song is coming. I usually mess around with a few chords, if I like what I hear, ill come up with a melody, some words…. 15 minutes later, a song is done.

Sometimes it can take longer… but I’ve never sat on one tune for weeks on end…. If it takes that long, it just wasn’t meant to be.

This has been my process so far, who knows though….

TH:Tell us about the process of recording your début album "What We Talk About"

LB: Well I started the record 2 years ago. I had always wanted to record a solo album ever since my first band broke up, The Spark, when I was 17. The problem was I had no songs!

I had never written one before. My job in the old band was to orchestrate the riffs. Put riffs and solos anywhere and everywhere. Those were the days…

In the summer of 2007, after living in Montréal for about a year, I wrote a song called “all you beautiful girls” it was pretty much the first song I had ever written. The first full song anyway…

So I called Dean Watson (the producer of What We Talk About, and 2 of the 3 records The Spark made) as well as Jamie Kronick (the drummer of the Spark and the main drummer on this record), and I booked a weekend in the studio for a few weeks after writing said song.

By the time the sessions came around I had also written “At Your Door”. So we went in for two days and came out with early versions of what you hear on the record now. This album really took so long because I had no set plans for anything. I just went in when I had money and good songs ready to go.

In terms of the actual recording, I would lay down a scratch track with just an acoustic and a vocal to a click. And Jamie would just hammer out a beat without ever rehearsing anything. And we started from there! I would lay everything on top of that, guitars, bass (on 6 of the 10 songs anyways…) vocals, keys, piano, banjo etc…I also got some great friends of mine to do a bunch of other things like strings, lap steel, vocals….

TH:Where can people get a copy of this album if they're not geographically close to you?

LB:Well people who are not living in Montreal, Ottawa or Toronto can get the album on itunes as of December 5th. It will also be on itunes USA on the same date. In addition, I will have physical copies available through some digital retailers.

TH:Will the acoustic album you recorded in the US be commercially available as well after the release of "What We Talk About"?

LB:Yes!

Once it is toyed around with and mastered. It will be available in those 3 cities above in record shops. As well as through digital retailers in Canada and in the US. It should be up on itunes by the end of February.

Its going to be a fun project. It’s a recording from an acoustic show I played in Brooklyn in august. I played the show with my good friend Zoe Speed (who also did a lot of vocals on the album). We sang some songs together, I did some alone… we spoke to the crowd a lot, it was really fun. It was my first show in the New York area. It was a show opening for Jonah Matranga. I am a huge fan of his!He was in a great band called Gratitude and is the lead singer in the band Far. They are killer. So glad they are back.

TH:What are your plans for the immediate future after your album release on November 13th?

LB:Well after the CD launch on the 13th with Amos The Transparent and Bananafish at club lambi. I will be playing at café dekcuf in Ottawa the next night, on the 14th! With my friends in The Property Line (who’s debut EP is available for free through there website, www.thepropertyline.ca) as well as with Steve St. Pierre opening. Steve is a great songwriter and he is also the person who did all the artwork for “what we talk about”.

After this show, I will be touring through the northeastern part of the US until early December.

I’ll be playing a few shows in boston, new york, some towns in Connecticut…

TH:What are your long term goals?

LB:Well like most people that set out to do a job… they hope to be successful at it.

Since I was a kid I’ve always just wanted to play music. When I was ten years old I would race home from school so I could play guitar for hours on end in my basement. Its all I thought about.

Its still all I think about!

I hope to be able to make records for the rest of my life, tour the world… you know… that old chestnut.

But at the end of the day. Even if no one is paying me to record or play. I’ll still do it. …. What else would I do you know?

TH:Walk us through your typical rehearsal schedule

LB:Ha! Well it depends what you mean.

On a personal level… I pick up my guitar every 20 seconds when im in my room. And I’ll play for about a minute or so…. Micro-rehearsal!

On a band level, we practice about 3 times a week. But it always depends on whether or not there’s some important gigs coming up. Or some recording going down…

TH: Do you find your local music scene supportive to the artists (yourself included) in your area?

LB: For sure. Montréal has a great music scene. Tons of great acts, tons of nice people. I mean, its why I moved here. I couldn't imagine playing out of anywhere else really.

TH:What are you working on right now?

LB:Promoting the album! That’s about it. Oh, and writing the next album. I start recording it in July.

TH: Will you be touring any time in the future? Where do you plan on going?

LB: Yes, definitely. In the winter I will mainly promote the album from my behind desk, and at the same time get the next album ready to be recorded. I will still play some shows though, just none in the states again until the summer.

But next summer I will also to be doing a few dates in Europe. Mainly Germany.

And I also hope to be playing a few dates in some of these fantastic summer festivals we have in Canada!

TH:What is your favorite part of playing live?

LB:Tough question. I don’t really know…. It’s just fun! I love interacting with musicians live. Especially since all the people I play with are friends of mine. It’s a good time.

It's great too because on this record, I played a very big majority of the instruments. Therefore, most of the time it was just me playing alone in a room trying to get a good performance…

Live I get to feed off of others. Its great.

TH: Is there any thing else you would like the people to know about?

LB: Not really… Check out my record! … I guess that’s it… I worked really damn hard on it.

Also, be sure to keep it touch. I love responding to messages.

www.myspace.com/laurentbourque

I hope you all enjoy it!

Take care

---

Laurent sounds like he has got it all together and he is certainly an ambitious writer. "What We Talk About" hits stores/iTunes and other outlets on November 13, definitely check it out. I have had the opportunity to listen to the album and a review is forthcoming but for the meantime you'll have to wait with baited breath.

For a sneak peak of what is to come, pop over to Laurent's MySpace page and listen to "Coming Up For Air", "Calm Down", and "All You Beautiful Girls" for a taste of it.

Cheers.

Travis Hatcher