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music

John Adam Ian – Elastic

In January of 2014, a friend of mine from New Brunswick asked me to be a part of a long distance collaboration project. Jai Sadler (aka John Adam Ian) used to play in the metal band We, The Undersigned (great band name), but has since moved on and now lives in Montreal. He had written an instrumental and wanted me to try singing on it. Well, about a year and 9 months later I finally got around to contributing my part. Along with some melodic input from his former bandmate and fellow friend Andy Stevens, I wrote some words, sang them, and then took Jai’s stem tracks and mixed, edited and tweaked some things before sending it back. So, it’s with pleasure that I present to you a project that took way too long for me to finally participate in, but I’m glad I did. Who knows… there might be more on the way!

Wonders of the Arctic

Last Fall I had the fortune of working on a 3D, feature-length IMAX documentary put together by Science North called “Wonders of the Arctic”. I was chosen to participate in a mentorship program, working under award-winning composer Amin Bhatia (Flashpoint and more). I traveled back and forth to Toronto to work at Amin’s studio throughout October and November, assisting where I could.

IMAX-2

As soon as I met him, we clicked and I knew I’d be contributing meaningfully to the project rather than being “the intern”. I added my vocal talents to the score, wrote music for a cue and even secured Tanya Tagaq, the internationally acclaimed Inuit throat singer (who has collaborated with some of my idols like Mike Patton and Bjork) to feature on soundtrack. Tanya and I even did a bonus improvised throat singing session that started with birdlike coo’s and escalated to aggressive polar bear growls. What a spirit! It was a wild experience to interact musically at that level.

GG players wideshot-2

Towards the end of the creative process, we prepped for the live recording session at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio using musicians from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Opera Company. I can’t even describe the feeling of sitting in an empty theatre listening to an orchestra perform some music that I helped create. The only comparable experience would be watching the final film in 3D on an IMAX screen!

wonders_of_the_arctic_xlg

The film was recently premiered at Science North in Sudbury with over 400 people in attendance. I was reunited with the director David Lickley and composer Amin Bhatia as well as various other crew members that worked on other components, like Dave Clement who helped get some of the fantastic underwater footage.

A huge thank you goes out to Science North and the NOHFC for giving me the opportunity to participate in such an exciting project. You can watch it on the big screen in Sudbury, click here for showtimes.

Wonders of the Arctic

Last Fall I had the fortune of working on a 3D, feature-length IMAX documentary put together by Science North called “Wonders of the Arctic”. I was chosen to participate in a mentorship program, working under award-winning composer Amin Bhatia (Flashpoint and more). I traveled back and forth to Toronto to work at Amin’s studio throughout October and November, assisting where I could.

IMAX-2

As soon as I met him, we clicked and I knew I’d be contributing meaningfully to the project rather than being “the intern”. I added my vocal talents to the score, wrote music for a cue and even secured Tanya Tagaq, the internationally acclaimed Inuit throat singer (who has collaborated with some of my idols like Mike Patton and Bjork) to feature on soundtrack. Tanya and I even did a bonus improvised throat singing session that started with birdlike coo’s and escalated to aggressive polar bear growls. What a spirit! It was a wild experience to interact musically at that level.

GG players wideshot-2

Towards the end of the creative process, we prepped for the live recording session at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio using musicians from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Opera Company. I can’t even describe the feeling of sitting in an empty theatre listening to an orchestra perform some music that I helped create. The only comparable experience would be watching the final film in 3D on an IMAX screen!

wonders_of_the_arctic_xlg

The film was recently premiered at Science North in Sudbury with over 400 people in attendance. I was reunited with the director David Lickley and composer Amin Bhatia as well as various other crew members that worked on other components, like Dave Clement who helped get some of the fantastic underwater footage.

A huge thank you goes out to Science North and the NOHFC for giving me the opportunity to participate in such an exciting project. You can watch it on the big screen in Sudbury, click here for showtimes.

Toronto Rhapcity review

Uri Mendoza of Toronto Rhapcity was on his own Canadian tour not so long ago, stopping in every other major centre in Canada, reviewing bands, records and more at every stop. As a touring machine myself, I could certainly appreciate his determination!

While he was in Thunder Bay, he caught my show and did a review. On top of that, he also grabbed a copy of the new record and gave it a really nice review! He’s in Korea at the moment, so we wish him  well, but he’s busy writing about his adventures so make sure to check out his website: www.torontorhapcity.com.

Complexity in Simplicity” album review

Meet Jean-Paul De Roover” article

 

Some highlights:

–  “Watching him perform onstage was like watching shattered glass piece itself back together; the songs started out as small fragments of a whole, and slowly coalesced into their proper form.”

–  “This is what pop music should sound like; it should sound like a dream, because dreams are where our desires come from, and pop music speaks to our desires.”

–  “He actually reminds me of Steven Page, the former vocalist for the Barenaked Ladies.”

–  “A one-man coming of age and introspective musical about your life. Every moment of self-doubt, every hopeful and revitalizing moment of tranquil clarity, every little detail of your taped up broken heart marked “fragile,” every difficult goodbye, they’re all here. Except that De Roover’s voice is so crisp and clear that it immerses you in the story, placing you in the moment. When he screams, “Get up! Get up! Get up!” you want to get up and run out the door, feet pounding the ground underneath you, their intensity matched only by your hammering heart, which screams out for a second chance.”

Fall US Tour in photos

Now that I’m back in the swing of things, I figured I’d share some of the photos that Shannon Lepere took while with me on the last US tour, as well as some of my iPhone “photography”. This includes the trek from Thunder Bay to Victoria, BC, then south to Santa Cruz, CA, back up to Portland, OR, then east to Duluth, MN before coming back home. Of course you can always look through my instagram (@jeanpaulderoover) feed to find some other random gems.

Scroll towards the end for some shots from the Y2KX+2 International Live Looping Festival in Santa Cruz, CA.

A big thank you to everyone I met on this leg of the tour, and the random friends we made while you let us sleep on your floors. Cheers, until we meet again in the Fall!

 

Live at the CB Booking Fest in Victoria, BC (Lindsey Blaine)

Greg Rekus representing Canada in Napa, CA

Live at the ArtLab in Fort Collins, CO (Shannon Lepere)

Live at Side Door Lounge in Omaha, NE (Shannon Lepere)

Alicia of The Love Technicians at the Side Door Lounge in Omaha, NE (Shannon Lepere)

Live at the NorthWest LoopFest in Portland, OR (Shannon Lepere)

Live at the NorthWest LoopFest in Portland, OR (Shannon Lepere)

Live at The Greater Good in Sonora, CA (Shannon Lepere)

Jumping near Big Sur, CA (Shannon Lepere)

Shannon jumping near Big Sur, CA

Admiring the view near Big Sur, CA (Shannon Lepere)

Watching over the shore near Wolf Point, CA

Live at Tycoon’s in Duluth, MN (Shannon Lepere)

Jellyfish display in the Monterey Aquarium, CA (Shannon Lepere)

Belated birthday dinner in San Francisco

 

Y2KX+2 LIVE LOOPING FESTIVAL: Santa Cruz, CA

With over 55 artists from 7 different countries, I certainly felt at home and in my element performing at this festival for the first time.

Jean-Paul De Roover (Canada)

Stanosaur (US) – didn’t actually use a looping device, but had three separate amps that created feedback loops. Had to leave the building it was so loud!

Whoolilicious (US) – think Cuban/Latin dance music with a looper and a live drummer

Bill Walker (US) & Mandoman (Japan) – a definite highlight! Bill plays guitar and Mandoman plays mandolin, but Mandoman built both instruments, so this was the first time that these two ‘brother’ instruments performed together!

Krispen Hartung & Aaron Davis (US) – Krispen runs the improvised music festival in Boise, ID, but this was live looping dance music to the extreme.

Laurie Amat & Rick Walker (US) – Rick runs the whole festival every year, so for the final performance he and Laurie did an experimental performance, incorporating not one but two vibrators (used musically) into the performance!