Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Film & Music

Collett's spontaneous, collaborative attitude is a winner Photo: Arts and Crafts

Already well-established as a mainstay on the Toronto scene both from previous solo work and from his membership in the esteemed Broken Social Scene collective, Jason Collett has little left to prove when it comes to songwriting. But then, he's never been out to prove himself. Not one to overthink the artistic process, Collett places high value on collaboration and praises the work of his peers as enthusiastically as he discusses his own.

Nonetheless, his personal accomplishments are many. The esteemed indie rocker is getting ready to roll out the tour bus once again in promotion of his fourth full-length record, Rat a Tat Tat, set for release on March 9. Last Friday afternoon, Collett took a break from his busy schedule to chat with The Strand about the spontaneous, community-oriented philosophy that informs his approaches in songwriting and beyond.

Collett's characteristically creative take on traditional musical sentiments continues to deliver on his latest record. Throughout Rat a Tat Tat, Collett's signature laid-back vocal style is backed by solid, rootsy rock 'n' roll sensibility, introducing a new, slightly gritty garage-rock quality that speaks strongly to the songwriter's attitude of capturing music in the moment.

As on previous albums, many of the songs that appear on Rat a Tat Tat were penned on tour. However, high traffic in the studio pushed the recording process back a few months, giving Collett ample time to write even more material. That creative momentum didn't slow when the band finally moved into the studio.

"I kept writing while we were recording, which was a new thing for me. I just wanted to be able to mess with writing things on the spot - stopping the session if we were working on something else, just to start on a brand new idea. And that, I found, was very fruitful."

More than any of Collett's previous records, Rat a Tat Tat is the product of spontaneity. Recorded largely live off the floor, the backing musicians had in many cases not even heard the music before heading into the studio. As Collett explains, "That kept things really fresh, because they had to react instinctively, as opposed to taking it home and thinking about it. I'm more interested in the initial ideas, and so are Zeus. The first ideas are usually the good ones."

In recent months, the songwriter's current backing band, Zeus, has been making headlines as an emerging group in their own right. Yet their connection to Collett remains as strong as ever. Building on a long-established musical partnership, Zeus members Carlin Nicholson and Michael O'Brian took over production duties on Rat a Tat Tat. The musicians brought a strong familiarity with Collett's creative approach into the studio with them, and it shows. Discussing the process behind Rat a Tat Tat, the songwriter is quick to credit Zeus' important collaborative role in the crafting of the record.

"The band is really coming into its own. A big part of the sound, the texture of this record is tapping into what Zeus has been cooking in their studio and in their scene."

While Rat a Tat Tat clearly exemplifies the importance of good production in the establishment of a solid album, Nicholson and O'Brians' skill is perhaps best noted in their ability to keep the record sounding fresh and raw. As Collett points out,

"The real magic lies not in the technology or the gear, it lies in what kind of emotion you can capture. And a lot of that happens when you're just open and you're playing with people that can think on their feet and be fast and capture an idea - the essence of an idea, not the polished, practiced 'end' of an idea - because you lose some of the magic as you begin to execute things better and better. It's really about capturing the initial spirit of something, whatever it is."

Such an attitude reflects the musician's wider embrace of a loose, 'natural' approach to song-craft. Quick to deride any notion of formula when it comes to art, Collett is a strong believer in the power of the 'happy accident.'

"There's no rules about any of this. I try not to get too cerebral about it, and to just trust my gut. Songs tend to have a mind of their own. The more you can stay out of the way, I think, the better the song ends up being. It's a funny little business, this song-writing thing is. What you really want to get into the state of, is just being a vehicle for whatever the hell is coming through you. The less you intellectualize it, the better."

Collett may be reluctant to let his mind rule his creative processes, but he is clearly an intellectual at heart. The musician is a strong promoter of the literary arts, as demonstrated by his wildly popular Basement Revue series at the Dakota Tavern, which encourages interdisciplinary dialogue by bringing artists from different spheres onto the same stage. Clearly enthusiastic about his 'curating' role in the series, he hopes to expand upon it in coming years.

"The idea would be to try and turn it into a mid-winter multidisciplinary festival, where you run it like a music festival in a bunch of rock clubs, but it's got this literary element. We'd be exposing all the great, vast amount of talent we have in the literary world in Canada, artists who just don't get the recognition that sexy rock 'n roll musicians get. I'm quite intrigued by it, seeing if something like that could fly - but it could take a couple years to get the ball rolling on that."

In the meantime, Collett is open to pursuing other forms of artistic 'cross-pollination'. Such relationships are certainly fostered on Rat a Tat Tat. Literary inspiration is engraved in songs like "Vanderpool Vanderpool", whose lyrics were drawn from a book on the history of Chicago's red light district. Nonetheless, he's quick to acknowledge the differences between lyrics and prose.

"The thing with music is, you don't need for it to be literary; you don't need for it to make sense. They're different disciplines. And I'm quite fine with that. Some of the greatest songs that have been written, nobody knows what the hell they mean - but they emote on a level that does communicate with people. And that's because you can lean on rhythm, and melody, and everything else. But you know, on this latest record of mine, I have begged, borrowed and stolen quite a bit from the literary world."

The literary world wasn't the only sphere that Collett drew on as he put this record together, however. When asked for the story behind the album's title and cover art, the musician responds with a wry description of life on the road.

"Well, you know, I've been a bit of a card player, particularly Euchre; play it a lot on the road. I think of it as a really high form of socializin'. You're practicing skilled card playing with a partner, drinking, smoking, and sort of having a conversation- but you can also just get deeply into the game. I like the culture of it. So I started researching the history of playing card art and just came across a treasure trove of vintage weirdness… Most of the artwork on the record is well over a hundred years old. It's mostly drawn from jokers, and some ace of spades; some of the more interesting elements of playing card art, in quite subversive ways - mocking various monarchies or political figures. So I really was attracted to much of that."

Collett is himself a strong advocate for political engagement. A member of the NDP party, he is currently working to support friend and fellow musician Andrew Cash, who plans to run as MP for Davenport in the next election. Asked if he feels a responsibility to use his position as an artist to speak out politically, Collett maintains strongly that political engagement is the responsibility of every citizen, artist or not.

"Whether you have a lot of power or not, being engaged as a citizen is all you can be. It doesn't have anything to do with me being a musician or an artist; it just has everything to do with me being a citizen. I'm quite comfortable being politically engaged in that respect."

Collett's open engagement with Toronto's political community is clearly matched by his engagement with the city's growing artistic ones. Despite burgeoning success, Collett has not abandoned low-capacity performance spaces like the Dakota Tavern, a move that speaks to his valuing of small-scale interaction.

"I just like the intimacy of it - that's key to doing those shows. It makes it a special event; it's not about the money, it's really just about people coming together and doing some cross-pollinating. It gets some bigger names doing something perhaps they wouldn't normally do, and allows people in a very intimate way to get to see another side of an artist - whether it's an artist they already know, or an artist they know nothing about yet. Community-building is so essential, I think, for any city like this to develop a scene- one where artists can come out and support one another, and validate each others' work."

Such a community has clearly been present for Collett in BSS, a group of long-time friends who continue to fill an important artistic role in the development of his solo work.

"I've learned a lot working with those fellas. They're fantastic musicians. We're a tight group of friends, and as such, we hear each others' work in various stages and give input and support and criticism. It's a good healthy environment. It allows us all to know when you're doing something good and when you aren't."

Nonetheless, the road to success demands a great deal of independent work as well. Asked if he has any advice for students looking to tap into a similar creative power, Collett reveals that songwriting can actually be a bit of an isolator.

"You really have to want to do it, because in order to get any good at it you're gonna suffer socially - you really end up locking yourself in your room for a good portion of your life. But it can be quite rewarding. For me, the most fundamental reward in doing this is the writing. There's no greater thrill. It's the same as journalism or fiction - you develop instincts for it."

When I point out that Collett's track record shows little sign of social suffering, the musician chuckles.

"Yeah… I just curate those things to get all those people who are usually locked away in their rooms out of the house."

If the crowds lining up to get into Collett's shows are any indication, that's just what this city needed. Here's to the next happy accident.

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