Bumping into... Joe Strutt

Bumping Into... is a series of mini-chats with a variety of peeps that you might have run into in some of our local music communities. (There's a bit of an intro and my thoughts behind the series here.)

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How are you? Where are you?

Feelin' fine, in my apartment in North York.

What have you been up to since March or so?

Mostly living quietly. I've been privileged enough to be able to mostly stay close to home. I go for a good long walk every day, which is my favourite time to soak in new music.

I'd been saying for a couple years that I was more or less ready to ease back on the intensity of what I've been doing with the blog, so having live music shut down put that into effect in a more immediate way than I was expecting. I must confess, I've really enjoyed having more free time (not going to shows or editing audio from shows) to get back into other stuff I like doing.

I've been puttering away at music and have a couple cool things in the pipeline. I'm most excited about Our Way to Fall, my trio with Liz Lima and Del Stephen. Our album will be out on January 1st, so you'll be able to see something more on our bandcamp soon.

Have you found any new ways to do old things? How are you feeling about the shifts in how music is being made/shared/listened to?

I've been catching everyone's livestreams when I can, though I must confess I find it hard to watch/listen with the same intentness of purpose I could in person. And I really miss the social element of shows, probably more than the show part of shows.

I've done a couple things online and it's been... okay. As a performer who's such a beginner in listening to/reacting to people in real time, I feel like I'm really missing the cues of body language, etc. when playing with others.

In terms of consuming music, it's been interesting to shift away from physical media into pretty much 100 per cent digital. I'd been buying physical copies of things mostly at gigs for the past few years now, and I've found the shift to just buying stuff on bandcamp has been less of an issue than anticipated. I'm buying/listening to more recorded music without shows to go to and not actually missing having the "thing" to put on a shelf.

For sharing music, I've been doing drone mixes, and more recently "everything" mixes to go with letters I've been sending to my nephews on the West Coast. (It sounds a bit like a Hard Times headline: "Would-be Influencer Uncle foists jazz and Gen-X alt-rock on Nephews.")

And for new tricks, I'm trying to learn how to work with Resolve and make videos more elaborate than something made with Windows Movie Maker. We're in the early stages here, but I'm satisfied with this:

Any works of art that have been a light for you in these times? Anything that's just been a good diversion?

Definitely been watching more TV shows than I have in more than a decade. I watched Twin Peaks for the first time recently. Been tackling original series Star Trek for the first time since voraciously consuming it in syndication as a kid. Best TV show I've seen lately is probably the hilarious BBC show Detectorists, which plunges into an unfamiliar minor subculture in a way that denizens of other subcultures (like music) can appreciate. For films, watched a whole bunch of old Westerns. Earlier on in the shutdown times, when Space and Emptiness were such in-your-face existential concerns I was simultaneously obsessed with L'Année dernière à Marienbad and After Last Season.

Also been reading a bit more lately... Sarah Pinsker's books stick out.

And so much music... I'll try and prod myself to do some sort of wrap-up on the blog, so it's unfair to single too much out. But maybe I'll point out here how phenomenal a year Telephone Explosion has been having, releasing a whole bunch of The Simmering Grooves These Times Require.

How are you feeling about 2021?

I tried to take the long view from when things first shut down in March, but it's hard to not feel in a rush for things to develop, especially in view of all the Vaccine Headlines clogging the feeds at the moment. But there's still a good chunk of staying separate before things change.

I don't know when venues will be opening again (if there are any left!) but I suspect the next place I'll be hearing (performing?) live music will more likely be in a park once the seasons turn again.

Anything else we'd chat about if we bumped into each other?

That Wilco song just popped into my head: "When we came here today / All I wanted to say / Is how much I miss you". Hopefully this series will help people feel like they're touching base a little.