Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Justin Sawicki discusses his new album “Upsala Trees.†Created in his home studio and only worked on by Sawicki and his close friends, it’s the epitome of an independent album.
For more on Sawicki and his tunes, click here.
Review Fix: What do you think separates you guys from other performers?
Justin Sawicki: I think what’s cool about us is that we are all extremely good friends. The same guys that help me replace the floors in my house are the same guys that lay down a groove on a new song I’ve written. The guys (Eric, Dan, Andrew and Matt) have been around my creative process for years and years. There’s almost a sixth sense that exists when we play now. I can’t say enough about how musical they are, and how much I respect them not only as musicians but as good people.
Review Fix: How important is social media to you?
Sawicki: Social Media is a big part of the business these days. It’s not an extremely important thing to me personally… but it is an important thing for my career as a musician, given it’s extreme popularity. At this point Social Media almost IS the internet. I think a number of people that you can connect with almost instantly, and with relative ease is amazing.
Review Fix: How are your live shows different than your studio work?
Sawicki: It’s not a heck of a lot different to be honest. What you hear on this record is pretty much what the live show sounds like. I really wanted this album to be like that… I had a lot of fun creating my first album (Nothing for No One), and we did some really creative things in the studio… but these were things that I didn’t have the resources to recreate in a live setting. For this album I really wanted to focus on simplicity and being able to present a really good representation of the album live.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Sawicki: It’s always changing.  I usually spend up to a year trying to write songs and feeling like I have no idea how to do it anymore. But I keep at it and write something every day. From that I usually get dozens and dozens of snippets that I think are good ideas… maybe a half of a chorus, a guitar hook, a lyric line, something, anything haha. Then after beating my head against the wall… the songs start to fall out of me when they do there’s not much thinking involved… I’m basically trying to write it as fast as it comes out. I feel like I need to get myself into that process in order for the songs to come.
From there I will send them to the guys… they’re pretty good at saying this song is good, or this song sucks… then we get together and they come up with parts, we may decide to rearrange a few parts or take a part out, or add parts… but the songs are pretty much written by the time we’re in a room together.
Review Fix: What are your goals for this album?
Sawicki: I’m really just hoping that people will give it an honest listen. That is a goal of mine. At the level that I’m at it’s very easy to get lost in the shuffle. There are a ton of very talented artists making fantastic records, so one of my goals is to become one of the few that is able to gain some traction and in return put some ears on it.
Review Fix: What’s the standout song on the album? How was it written?
Sawicki: I’ll give two answers.
The standout song according to the people that have heard the record is “Upsala Trees.” It is an homage to my grandparents cottage, or camp (which is what we would call it in Thunder Bay, where I grew up). The camp is actually located on Lac Des Mille Lacs which is just on the outskirts of Upsala. I obviously had a tough time fitting all the syllables of Lac Des Mille Lacs into a song… so I decided to go with Upsala! The riff was kicking around for a while, and I could never find anything that went along with it. I think we even jammed on that riff with my previous band… the band that I recorded “Nothing for No One” with. Then one day it all kind of came out… I think we jammed on it a few times, and we were having trouble with the arrangement. After a little hiatus, I went back and listened to some old recordings of our rehearsal and the arrangement was pretty much how it sounds on the album… we were just thinking too hard about it.
I have to give massive props to Dan and Andrew for their harmonies on this song… they really take the song to another place. I was so happy the way it turned out. This was the last song recorded for this album and my grandparents love it too which is great.
My second answer is that “Just Break My Heart” is my standout song on the album. Dan Rodrigues’ guitar solo on this track is maybe my favourite guitar solo… like ever… in all guitar solos. It really is that good. This song was the first time I had to deliberately try to write a sad song… I had so much happiness going on in my life at this time… I had met my (now) wife recently, and I really was in a fantastic head space. I came home and thought it would be neat to try to write the saddest song I could…
Review Fix: How do you want this album to be remembered?
Sawicki: As an honest album with simplistic arrangements that make you feel human.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Sawicki: My wife just gave birth to our first son Charlie, so I’m looking forward to spending time with family. In the new year, we’ll play some shows around here and I have already started writing for a new album. Hopefully, some of the tracks start to trickle into our set. I really want to keep building on the interest that this album has generated so far, keep creating new music, and keep having fun.
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