Dean Brody set for country road trip
Coke, Cheezies, tunes.
That’s pretty much the standard checklist for any standard, self- respecting road trip.
Oh. Except maybe for one thing more. Chainsaw. “My buddy picked me up a Husqvarna chainsaw,” says Dean Brody. “I’m going to try a chainsaw solo during one of the songs.”
Now, that makes it a Road Trip. That’s the current co- headlining, cross- country tour featuring Canadian country music stars, Alberta boy Paul Brandt and the B. C.- born, Nova Scotia- based Brody.
The pair announced the jaunt in April — at the same time Brody released his new album, Gypsy Road — with helicopter press events in Edmonton and Calgary, so to think that the shows, themselves, will be any less of a spectacle, wouldn’t feature something like a chainsaw solo, would be selling them short.
Prior to the pair heading out on their Road Trip, the Herald caught up with the Juno and CCMA- winning Brody, who was staying in the “sleepy little town” of Victoria and rehearsing, fittingly, in an old sawmill nearby in Sooke.
Q: It’s been awhile since you released the album and it seems to be doing quite well for you?
A: Yeah, for sure. When you finish an album you wonder how it’s going to be received and how the singles will be received, if you picked the right ones. We’re kind of in the middle of it now and you get a feel for the energy and the response to the music and we’re feeling great about it. Bring Down the House has been huge for me and Upside Down — it’s just a really fun and different kind of song for me. I think once in a while you need to do stuff that’s just a little bit out of your wheelhouse just to keep it interesting for yourself and your fans. I felt like Upside Down was that kind of song.
Q: It is a great spring/ summer song — very light — and I guess that’s owed, in part, to the ukulele.
A: Yeah, I learned how to play the ukulele this past year. My daughter has a ukulele and she was having a lot of fun with it. So one day I asked her if she could teach me a couple of chords, so she brought out her chord chart and taught me three chords, and I sat down and wrote Monterey, which is another track off Gypsy Road, and Upside Down on the ukulele.
Q: Congratulations, by the way, on the Canadian Country Music
Association award for video of the year for Upside Down. How were the awards this year? The Canadian country music industry is relatively small and tight- knit, it must be nice to get together with your peers and just celebrate it?
A: It is, man. We look forward to it every year, just hanging out in whatever city we’re going to be in. The music life is a unique way to live so when you run into other people and get to hang out with other people that are in that way of life, it’s fun. We hang out a lot over the course of the week. We don’t get to do that much when we cross paths at festivals or shows, so we do look forward to that ever year.
Q: You had mentioned earlier that Bring Down the House was doing good things for you, and I know that was a second guess
on your part, you didn’t know if you should even include that on the album because it is so different, with its dance music influences.
A: We originally had it as a bonus track and Matt Rovey, my producer, he put the sequencing together and he had it in that order, and people listened to it, going, “Oh, this needs to be part of the record, we love the song.” Of course, everybody was saying it was their favourite song; not only that they liked it, but it was their favourite.
But, I don’t know, I just thought, ‘ Well, I wonder if real country folks are going to dig this?’ so I sent it to my sister and brother- in- law who are super country folks, who live in rural B. C. And, of course, they came back with their favourites — I didn’t give them any setup at all, just ‘ Come back with your favourites’ — and Bring Down the House was on both of their lists, so I thought, ‘ OK, let’s try this song.’ We tried it and people really love it.
Q: Back to the upcoming tour, is there going to be much interaction between the two of you, are you going to be playing together much?
A: We’ll definitely do something together, we’re working on a song. We’ll definitely make an appearance on each other’s stage, so that’ll be fun.
Paul’s a great guy. I just got to know him really this past year, with the promotional tours we’ve done. I’d met him backstage and we were acquaintances until this year, so I’m definitely looking forward to spending a good five or six weeks out here with him, and getting to know his band and crew, as well. They’re a good bunch of guys.