Plays well with others

OK, so it's not a joke, it's what's been happening every Wednesday for the past 12 weeks at MCM Studios, where producer/engineer Mike Petkau has been gathering Winnipeg musicians for his Record of the Week Club.

The concept of the ROTWC is to take three musicians from different genres, put them together in the studio and have them write and record a song in one night. Petkau then mixes it and posts it online immediately.

Another wrinkle to the project is that none of the musicians know who they will be playing with before they arrive.

"I try to put people together who I think will get along on a pure personality level, and people that can find some common musical ground," Petkau explains. "I want people who have already demonstrated they can think outside the box and experiment a bit on their own. I want people already interested in blurring the lines a little bit."

Petkau, 29, came up with the idea three years ago and finally honed the concept to a degree that he was able to secure funding from the Manitoba Arts Council for 16 weeks of recording. The tracks are sold online at recordoftheweekclub.com for 99 cents each, or $13.99 for a 16-week subscription. The first $1,600 raised will be donated to the West End Cultural Centre's rebuilding project.

In the first 12 weeks, Petkau has mixed jazz artists with pop musicians, country songwriters with indie rockers and blues rockers with folkies. There is no boundary when it comes to choosing who is involved and no limit to what kind of music they can make, Petkau says, noting some participants were chosen by him, and some sought him out.

"Musicians in the Winnipeg music scene make a lot of records, but my ultimate goal is that I want people to experiment more and get a little bit more adventurous," Petkau says. "I think a lot of musicians have been excited having a session where they can show up and be free to try something new and experiment. If we can open a couple doors to that process, then great.

"And hopefully people who live here will get a small sense of pride in their city, knowing that all these really great musicians are making cool stuff happen. This isn't Toronto or Montreal, this is Winnipeg, and we're going to do it here."

For Brandy Zdan, one half of award-winning roots duo Twilight Hotel, having the chance to work with Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra violinist Rachel Moody and DJ Grant Paley (Moses Mayes) pushed her out of her comfort zone. It gave her a sense of freedom to just go with the flow and follow the song wherever it led.

"Writing music with someone you've never written with before means you have no idea how their process works and you have to learn very quickly," she says. "When I got there and saw who I was working with, I was excited because I knew I was going to be out of my element -- and we all were, which was great because we all took risks."

The trio ended up recording the dance-oriented track Call Me over the course of six hours. The song was built around a bass line before beats and violin were added. The track was almost complete, but there were still no lyrics. Paley joked about rapping -- which he hadn't done before -- on the track and the group liked that idea so much they got him to do it.

"I was like, 'Oh man, how do I write lyrics to a song like this?'" Zdan says. "I had no idea. I don't have experience writing a song like that, with that kind of feel. It was very light. I actually have no idea what the song is about. It sort of conjures up images and it's a fun thing that just flows."

This past Wednesday, Jay Churko, a member of indie pop-rock band Chords of Canada, was teamed up with sound artist Ken Gregory and Jesse Warkentin, keyboard player for experimental jazz-rock-fusion instrumental group Mahogany Frog. In six hours, the group created a trippy prog/indie-rock track called The Royal Canadian Lovers School, filled with Moog keyboards, atmospheric soundscapes, guitar and drums.

"It was a great experience," says Churko. "No one came in with a plan or a song. We were starting from scratch and it evolved from there and it took some interesting turns. That's always exciting, when you think it's going to go one way and it goes another way.

"Everybody got a chance to do some singing. It could have been a super progressive, instrumental, keyboard-guitar soundscapy kind of thing, but it actually turned more structured and it turned into kind of a pop number at the end."

Both Zdan and Churko believe the concept works on several levels, from providing listeners with new music created during a flash of inspiration to bringing together people who might move in different crowds to make something not easily slotted into one genre.

"Maybe it will bring the community together a bit more, because it really transcends all genres and circles," Churko says. "It's exciting for both the musician and the listener."

Petkau has some experience getting musicians to play nice together. In the past year he has helped organize the Last Waltz of the West End (a recreation of the Band's final concert) and a live production of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. He makes his living as an engineer and producer and plays in three different groups: Les Jupes, a post-rock/new wave band; the Liptonians, who specialize in catchy pop-rock; and indie-rockers Ian LaRue and the Condor.

Petkau is hands on during the recording sessions -- he helps with the arrangements, taking seemingly random ideas and turning them into something cohesive so it's not just a night of brainstorming that never ends. He also jumps in on some sessions when asked or if someone can't make it at the last minute.

"I view producing like making mix tapes in high school: ultimately finding what sounds work best together and how to make a song have an impact, so it's something that kind of came naturally out of being a musician," he says. "I've got a lot of creative ideas, so let's apply them in the studio."

When the 16 weeks of ROTWC are up, he'll explore funding options to see if he can release the sessions on CD, but for now online is the place to get them.

"I like the idea we can write and record a song and people can listen to it the next day. That was impossible 10 years ago," he says.

"I figure if I'm challenging the musicians to put something together quick, I'll challenge myself, too."

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 16, 2008 $sourceSection$sourcePage