Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Pablo Paddy to find out about his creative process, origin in music, goals for the future and new single.
Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?
Pablo Paddy: My dad always had an acoustic guitar around when we were kids. I took lessons from a pretty young age but didn’t play super seriously in my teens because I was into sports. Nevertheless I had a Mexican Strat that my parents got me for Christmas one year and I would pluck away at that as a kid and through high school. Not long after university I started writing songs while working on some short fiction. The lyrics came first and then the music. That was almost ten years ago now.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Paddy: It’s changed a lot over the past few years. When I first started writing the words came first. Now that’s more rare. Usually I half-dream a melody when I am just about to fall asleep and have to drag myself out of bed and manage to sing it into my phone as a voice recording. For “Need to Know” the riff came to me while I was tuning up for a solo gig. From there I wrote a bunch of lyrics (way more than what made the recording) and sang them along to guitar and a drum machine. Then I brought it to the other fellas in the band and they helped to make it leaner and better. That’s often how it goes.
Review Fix: What inspires you?
Paddy: All kinds of things in life. Mortality, relationships, the challenge of creating an identify, living in a big city. I think I also draw a lot of emotional inspiration from my work as a psychotherapist; working with people to feel better and create meaning in their lives.
Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?
Paddy: It’s such a hard question to answer but I also don’t want to cop out. A few years ago when we were playing in Halifax someone said we were “like the Tragically Hip on acid.” I’m not sure many would agree with that but hey, someone said it. We definitely have an alternative sound but the songs are all a little different, very eclectic. It’s good and bad, because it’s hard to describe the sound to other people or make the case that it’s a uniform thing, but I definitely think it makes for an interesting experience as a listener and the variety of the catalogue absolutely keeps us more engaged as players and prevents us from growing bored.
Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?
Paddy: We try to capture the same energy in a recording as we do in a live show. Most of our recordings have been live off the floor to a certain degree, and I think that helps to create a similar energy between the live shows and studio work. For this project I do a combination of solo shows and band shows, though my preference is always to play with the whole band.
Review Fix: What inspired your latest single?
Paddy: It’s about creating an identity and figuring out who you want to be and what you want to do in life. It’s called “Need to Know” because a lot of that seems to be left up to chance and isn’t knowable until it actually happens (at least that’s how it’s been for me). It’s also called “Need to Know” because there’s such a sense of urgency and a strong desire to know what’s in store for the future.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Paddy: We have another song coming out in early December. It’s called “Lost Holiday” and it’s slower and dreamier than the one we just released and also has a sort of latin lounge vibe through the verses. We’re playing a show at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on January 2nd and will be applying to summer festivals.
Leave a Reply