CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo | Community Connections | Monday 11am-Noon, Friday 3pm-4pm (sunflower logo on the left, black and purple lettering on a teal background to the right and below)

Community Connections for 18 November 2022: Loon Town Again!

Show Notes

Danielle Savage in front of the microphone in the CKMS-FM studio
Danielle Savage
Dave Lacalamita and Nic Hyatt in the CKMS-FM studio, Dave in front of a mic with a sock on a boom and holding a guitar; Nic holding a microphone.
Dave Lacalamita and Nic Hyatt

Loon Town is back in the studio! Bob Jonkman talks with Danielle Savage, Nic Hyatt, and Dave Lacalamita about their tour of Ontario and Québec, making their video for Silver Flowers, musical collaboration, and writing harmonies. And Loon Town performs some songs, Live, On-Air, In-studio!

The interview starts at 2m47s.

Dave Lacalamita was also in the studio on CKMS Community Connections for 7 November 2022.

Online:

  • Website: https://thisisloontown.com/
  • Facebook: Loon Town | Facebook
  • Instagram: @loon_town | Instagram
  • YouTube: Loon Town | YouTube
  • Bandcamp: Loon TGown | Bandcamp
  • SoundCloud: Loon Town | SoundCloud
  • Spotify: Loon Town | Spotify
  • Eventbrite: Album Release Tour 2022 tickets
  • E-mail: loontownmusic@gmail.com
  • Podcast

    Download: ckms-community-connections-2022-11-18-episode104.mp3 (82 MB, 56m54s, episode 104)

    Index

    Exclusive tracks recorded in the CKMS-FM 102.7 Radio Waterloo Studio are now available! Right-click on a linked track title to download!

    Time Title Album Artist
    0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
    CKMS Community Connections
    Steve Todd
    00m49s Great Sorrows (CKMS sunflower logo on a circular teal background)
    Live, On-Air, In-Studio
    Loon Town
    2m47s Quick band intro. Reviewing the Ontario/Québec tour. Discussing Great Sorrow lyrics, and how collaboration works. The structure (and length) of the Slow Space album. “Bootleg” music from Dave’s previous visit. There’s some material for a new album, but for now concentrating on performing the current songs together. Nic explains why some songs didn’t make it to this album; they’re conceptually different. Discussing the artwork on the website and the album cover. Talking about the video for Silver Flowers that was shot in Québec the past weekend.
    12m12s/td> Silver Flowers Loon Town | Slow space (illustration of birds flying to the left, with a very large bird with a human head in the centre, a woman with a pennant on a staff riding behind the head, and several organic-looking buildings on the back of the bird)
    Slow Space
    Loon Town
    15m20s “It ends abruptly, right here.” Talking about the rhythmic structure of Silver Flowers. Shoutouts to the video production crew, discussing the complexity of shooting video and recording an album. Getting together again in the spring for more songwriting. Spread across Canada, it’s like Loon Town has four hometowns, with a home crowd at every stop.
    20m32s Party At The Ice Cream Shop (CKMS sunflower logo on a circular teal background)
    Live, On-Air, In-Studio
    Loon Town
    23m47s Bob resists the impulse to sing along. How Ice Cream Shop was developed. Sharing collaborative works to perform them solo — is there a “proprietary” feeling to the songs? No, the members are attached to the results but happy to play them; there’s a generosity to it. Talking about rights and songwriting credits: Everything is shared equally. How about the public “sharing” Loon Town music? It’s unavoidable, and they don’t mind as long as it’s from the ethos of sharing, but not for profit. The music is copyrighted, but they’re open to sharing if someone asks. Drop them a note! Cover versions of songs are equally valid. All band members have jobs in the music field: Dave is a music teacher, Nic runs a record label, Danielle does sound installations, and Milli is a full-time drummer. But they’ve all packed boxes and cut staples in their off-season. But this month of touring has been a full-time music gig, and it’s slowly increasing.
    34m04s Black Crow (CKMS sunflower logo on a circular teal background)
    Live, On-Air, In-Studio
    Loon Town
    37m42s How Black Crow here differs from the album track, and it’s more upbeat when played live with the band. Bob thought Dave’s guitar had been restrung, but it’s still wound nylon strings making a slidey effect between notes. Seeing what a song lives as — embracing who’s there, what instruments are there. The first album Exit Strategy was different from Slow Space, these songs have all existed as “B” sides or demo versions. Collaborating by sharing files might be time-consuming, with the danger of losing the creative spark. But Danielle says there wasn’t a lot of waiting; everyone had a shared repertoire and worked on it. There was enough material that if there was a lull they could pick up something else. Did some “distance residencies”, took a week to spend time writing together, called each other to work on material. Sometimes a song comes all at once, sometimes it can take years to finish the last 10%. The last 25% is the hardest. All members have other collaborators for different projects, creating different music. Lots of new material for the Radio Waterloo library! Shoutout to campus and community radio station, where interesting music is being played all the time. There is Loon Town merch, a vinyl disc of Slow Space! Hand-delivery by a band member if you’re in their hometown!
    50m53s Pick Up The Phone (CKMS sunflower logo on a circular teal background)
    Live, On-Air, In-Studio
    Loon Town
    53m50s Pick Up The Phone has three-part harmonies, how do you write harmony? Dave is a natural-born harmonizer. There are techniques, but sometimes they just try stuff out.

    Bob gives the end credits, and Dave Lacalamita plays us out.

    CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

    Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

    CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

    CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

    Bonus Footage

    YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 18 November 2022

    Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2022 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.