By Mike Mettler
MM: Tell me when you first met Gord.
JOSH: I play in a band called The Skydiggers, and we did shows with The Hip together around 1990/1991, just before our first [self-titled] record came out. Up to Here was out [in ’91], and The Hip were well on their way to becoming quite popular up here. I remember we did some shows in Ottawa and Montreal, and I met Gord at those shows.
MM: You were doing the Acoustic Meltdown thing at the time, right?
JOSH: Yes, that’s right. Gord and I struck up a friendship, and I’d say
around ’97 or so, we started talking about playing togehter. At one point, there was talk of doing a recording like a real, out-there. . . I don’t even know how to describe it. It wasn’t very songwriterly at all. The attraction of it initially was that it was something completely different from what both of us were doing. Both of us share a common. . . I’m trying to think of the right words. . . we share a love for something a little more outside.
MM: How long did it take Battle of the Nudes to come to fruition?
JOSH: It was done over the course of a long period of time — I think 2 years total. And we actually recorded half of it, maybe more, before the first record, Coke Machine Glow, came out in 2001. It was almost all done live. It’s all very immediate. What’s interesting is that there are different versions of the songs that made the record. When we went to the studio in Bath, Ontario, we recut some versions, but those were also done completely live. In the past, I’ve worked where I didn’t have a lot of time to make records; we had to do it within a specific timeframe. This had an open-ended time frame, and that became the challenge. One week, you’ll listen to two different versions, and decide one is better. Then, a month later, you’ll decide the other version is better, based on the circumstances and timeframe is involved.
MM: What do you think Gord’s strengths are as a songwriter?
JOSH: Without question, lyrically, he stands alone. He’s incredibly melodic as well. I find that a lot of the melodies are very strong on Nudes. He’s pretty unique in what he’s doing and how he’s doing it. A lot of his stuff is subtle that way. I’ll hear something once, and it’ll grow on you — that’s a sign of a really great songwriter.
The other thing is how he delivers a vocal, both live and in a recorded
sense. What really blew my mind from take to take was that he could deliver a vocal that would be so consistent. And he would change words, which would dictate that the phrasing would be slightly different. In between takes, he would scribble something down phonetically, and the syllables would change the way he would have to sing something. Some singers, that would throw them completely off, but for him, that’s like, he relishes that stuff. That’s the challenge. Working the way he has in The Hip for so many years has given him
a skill I’m not even sure he’s conscious of. I think that’s true of anyone who’s done something for so long — you forget how honed you’ve crafted your skill and what you do. It’s a combination of the singing, the melodic content of these songs, and just his ability to deliver the goods when he sings.
MM: How do you feel about how this band has jelled together?
What’s pretty cool is that it evolves from gig to gig and show to show. The shows we did down in the States [in July and August 2001] were really interesting because they were pretty low-key, and that gave everyone a chance to be relaxed and to stretch out a little bit. I look forward to doing more. Instead of starting from zero, we’ll have a running start since we’re more familiar with each other as players.
MM: Was it a bit of a surprise to find out that you’re on the same radar with another group of people besides your other band, The Skydiggers?
JOSH: We talked about that. Obviously, one of the advantages is that Dale, Dave, and Dr. Pee all play together in The Dinner Is Ruined. But I’ve known Dave for a long time; he played in The Rheostatics for years, and The Skydiggers and The Rheos were contemporaries. But as soon as Dave and I started playing together on Coke Machine Glow, I felt like I’d played with this guy my entire life. It was very interesting. You don’t often make connections with people that way on a musical level.
MM: You mostly play bass and acoustic guitar on Nudes, right?
JOSH: Yes. I played bass for years in a band I was in when I was in high school. . .
MM: Was that The Ramblers?
JOSH: Yeah. (laughs) I guess there are no secrets here. When I came back from England [circa ’82-’83], I started writing songs with Andy [Maize, of The Skydiggers] and moved back to guitar just because it was easier for writing songs. We went out as a duo, in that Acoustic Meltdown you mentioned earlier. And I’d read that Woody Guthrie book by Joe Klein, A Life, years ago, and that had a huge impact on me at the time. Anyway, I mostly play bass on Nudes because I really enjoy playing with Dave Clark, and I hadn’t found a drummer I was that excited about playing bass with for a long time. It was good for me to come back to it, because I’d played guitar for years, and I’d learned a lot. For me it’s been a blast. Some people would probably say I play bass like a guitar player, but, personally, it’s all the same to me. I do whatever is required. I find that whatever instrument you’re playing, you just want to try and find the right thing to play.
MM: What are some of your favorite songs on Nudes?
JOSH: I like "Pascal’s Submarine" a lot, but my favorites might be "Pillform #2" and "Steeplechase." I also really like "Willow Logic." That was a great live track. I look forward to going out and playing the whole album. We’renow gonna have a lot of stuff to choose from with two records out there.
MM: I know you’re a big Neil Young fan. Were you responsible for choosing the Neil Young covers in the live set on the first tour in 2001 ["Tonight’s the Night" and "When You Dance I Can Really Love"]?
JOSH: Everyone in the band is a big Neil Young fan. The first show we did together was in Yellowknife [in July 2001]. We had about a week before the show, and we hadn’t even really rehearsed at all (laughs), but it was pretty inspiring to go onstage without a set list, which is what we wanted to do. But we did want to learn some covers. We were all holed up in a house where the guy who owned it had a pretty decent record collection. And we just started pulling stuff out and listening, and I think Tonight’s the Night was collectively a record that everyone liked. As to the other song, I think it may have been Julie who suggested it. She was big on "When You Dance."
MM: Anything else you guys covered in rehearsal that you didn’t wind up
performing?
JOSH: I don’t remember. I do remember listening to The Who’s Live at Leeds a lot, though (laughs). And, in fact, I think on "Who by Rote," Dale did a sample of one of those songs.
MM: If the sample’s from Leeds — or even Tommy or Woodstock, for that matter — then that’s all post-Monterey, which happened in 1967. The line in "Who by Rote" goes, "like The Who by rote at good ol’ at Monterey."
JOSH: Dale tried to have us guess the sample in the studio, but no one got it. He was toying with us. I think there was some kind of prize involved. If you figure it out, then Dale might have to pony up. (laughs)