WINDSOR—Ron
Sexsmith has never had any artistic qualms about his desire for success:
“I
never wanted to be famous; it’s just about wanting your music to be heard.”
The
singer-songwriter – who has 25 years of experience, 12 full-length albums, a
Juno award, and documented acclaim from Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, and Paul
McCartney – has never been a household name like his heroes.
“I’ve
always tried to have mainstream success. I never set out to be a cult artist,”
Sexsmith says. “All my heroes were people who made great albums, and also had
hits off them. When I was growing up, someone like Joni Mitchell or Neil Young
could actually have a hit on the radio. That’s a career I always wanted to
have, but I realized it’s a whole different world out there today.”
On
the closing leg of his tour, Sexsmith is making stops in Windsor, Meaford, and
Alliston before finishing the follow-up to last year’s Long Player, Late
Bloomer.
Wrapping up a tour of the UK, Sexsmith is making a point to do a “thorough job”
of Canada, and hit places he missed the first time.
“A
lot of people are coming out to see the show because it’s the thing going on,”
Sexsmith says about playing in smaller cities. “Bigger cities, all the people
that are interested in my music will come to the show and know my records. With
the smaller town, you’re pulling in people that say, ‘Oh, I heard that Ron
Sexsmith guy is good.’”
Even
though it was never his intention to be the under-appreciated elder statesman
of Canadian folk, it’s a role that he is able to live with: “I’ve always had a
cult following, and I’ve been fine with that. Retriever [released in 2004] was one
of the first albums that did pretty well [in Canada]. Sometimes, I’ll make a
record that has higher profile than others, but I can usually fill a room with
people that are really into my music, even though it’s not something the
average person will have heard about.”
That
sentiment seems to be Sexsmith’s career in a sound byte. He’s an artist who has
never seen album sales that match his numerous critical accolades or ability to
draw a crowd. The stagnating level of his success after so long in the game put
Sexsmith into a slump.
“With
the last bunch of records that I made before Long Player, I felt like my career was
slipping away, and I was trying to stand up for myself.”
Long
Player, Late Bloomer was
produced by Bob Rock, who has worked with artists like Metallica, Mötley Crue,
and The Cult. Despite the possible genre mismatch, Sexsmith was eager to try
something to get out of his slump.
“It
was actually Michael Bublé who told me I should work with Bob, because Bob had
produced his record. That was news to me because I thought Bob only did hard
rock music,” Sexsmith explains. “It seemed like a crazy idea, so my management sent
out an e-mail to [Bob] just to see if there was any interest. They got back to
us the same day and said they were really interested. The dilemma was trying to
raise the money to do it, because obviously I don’t have the kind of money
Michael Bublé does.”
The
making of Long Player, Late Bloomer was the subject of a documentary called Love
Shines in
2010. The film covers the writing and recording process of the album, during
which Sexsmith spends a lot of time trying to crack the code to breaking out of
the niche he has held since the early 1990s.
“I
was frustrated with my career because I felt like it didn’t have any momentum,”
Sexsmith says of his mindset, as documented in Love Shines. “I think the movie was a
little bit over-dramatic; the director was trying to make a movie where I was in
a depression. And I was, but not 24 hours a day. I’m up and down like everyone
else.”
Even
though it’s a constant motivator, Sexsmith has never had any conflicts of
artistic integrity in his pursuit of success, because that has always been
exactly the kind of music he’s wanted to create.
“I’m
just a fan of pop music,” Sexsmith says. “Whatever you’re working on, you’re
just trying to get what you hear in your head onto the tape, and it sounds like
a hit in my head. Sometimes it changes and goes in unexpected ways; you go with
it. But I’m not sitting there thinking, ‘It doesn’t sound like a hit, we better
put a different guitar solo on there.’”
Now
nearly a year old, Long Player has reached a level of success that rivals anything
Sexsmith has done thus far; it reached No. 1 in the UK and charted with
Billboard in the United States. For the first time, one of his albums debuted
in the Canadian Top 10, and was on the shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize
last summer.
“It’s
not like it did as well as Rihanna, but for my little world, it was great,”
Sexsmith says.
He
began to notice that the sales of the album had an effect on the tour: “In
attendance, it was probably the best tour I ever had. It’s kind of bizarre, because
I didn’t expect that to happen at this late stage of my career.”
The
success of the album has given Sexsmith a tangible confirmation that his work
is resulting in something: “There were points in the past where I felt like a
rock star, when you’re able to tour with your band and good things are
happening. I got to experience that tail end of the record industry where you
record in New York and they fly you to L.A. for mastering, and there’s tour
buses and everything. It had been a long time since I’d felt like that.”
“It’s
kind of silly, but it really does have an effect on your self-esteem, to feel
like things are happening. People are waiting outside a venue, wanting to say ‘Hi.’
All these things sound sort of frivolous, but they’re the things you dream
about when you’re a little boy.”
Ron
Sexsmith will be in West Vancouver on May 15, at the Kay Meek Centre.
//Josh Kolm, The Lance (University of Windsor)
//Josh Kolm, The Lance (University of Windsor)
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