Q&A: Devon Welsh Invites Listeners to be Their Own Action Hero
Photo Credit: Nika Roza Danilova
Montreal musician Devon Welsh has released his highly anticipated album Come With Me If You Want To Live, a menacing album title that shows the songwriter putting up a fight and not backing down in his artistic endeavours. Released via American Dreams, the former member of defunct band Majical Cloudz steps into the experimental pop terrain with luscious synth hooks and a reverberating sincerity.
Written and recorded at home, the production is cinematic as it sets the tone of Welsh inviting listener’s to seize their own story; a soundtrack to their own life-affirming film. Welsh used a Prophet 12 synthesizer for the majority of the songs, in addition to electric guitar and electronic drums. It also houses a few collaborations with two songs on the album (“Before the Moon Was Full” & “Alone”) created with Ky Jukka (Snake of Rhyme), a former bandmate, longtime collaborator, and friend of Welsh’s, having gone to high school together in Ontario. The album was then finalized with recording engineer Randall Dunn (Zola Jesus, Sunn O))), Thurston Moore), who mixed and mastered the album at Circular Ruin Studios.
We were intrigued to learn more from the mastermind behind this action-packed album, so we asked Devon Welsh a few questions fresh off the release of Come With Me If You Want To Live.
REVERIE: What’s the origin story of Devon Welsh? Where did your journey as an artist begin?
Devon Welsh: I started writing poems when I was around 15, and began playing the guitar around that time as well, so that’s probably when my journey as an artist began. I got a lot of satisfaction out of creating a song or a poem, even if I didn’t feel as if I knew what I was doing. Creating a song or poem also gave me the opportunity to express myself, which was a good feeling. I continued with all of that for years and years, and that brings us up to the present.
R: You released your new album Come With Me If You Want To Live. What did you want to explore differently on this album compared to your last?
DW: When I wrote Come With Me If You Want To Live I was older than when I wrote True Love, which was my last album, so there was plenty to explore there. I don’t usually have an idea of what I’m trying to do in advance of writing an album. I just write a lot of songs and pick out the best ones, and then some themes end up taking shape. This album felt a bit more cartoonish than the last one, I think because of how interesting and bizarre life seemed when I was writing the songs.
R: The album artwork by Gel Set is brilliant - what’s the story behind it?
DW: I met Laura through a good friend, and we talked about ideas for an album cover. The album already had its title, so an action-style cover made sense. We had discussed how cool the hand-painted Ghanian movie posters are, and that was the inspiration for the image.
R: What would you say your biggest inspiration is?
DW: I don’t think I have a biggest inspiration – it depends on what’s going on at the time. Making music itself is probably the single biggest inspiration if I had to say one.
R: What are some of your favourite venues to play?
DW: Any venue that will have me is good – I like playing in any venue where there are people that are interested in my music.
R: And if you could play with any bands, who would they be?
DW: I would open for GG Allin on an 8 month world tour where I sleep in the trunk of a Honda Civic.