INTERVIEW: Baby Jey — Music Musings & Such

INTERVIEW:

Baby Jey

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IT has been cool speaking with Baby Jey…

ARTWORK CREDIT: Molly Little

about their new single, Someday My Space Cowboy Will Come, and what its story is. I ask the guys what we can expect from their album, Someday Cowboy, and how they managed to complete the record in only two days!

I discover how Baby Jey formed and what sort of music they are inspired by; the upcoming artists we need to get behind and support; if there are going to be tour dates coming up – they each select a song to end the interview with.

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Hi, guys. How are you? How has your week been?

The week’s been great. We’re getting ready to drop the second single off the record this week so that’s exciting. It’s called U Don’t Have 2 Go Alone.

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?

Sure! We’re Baby Jey; a Canadian band currently based in Edmonton. We’re getting ready to release a new record called Someday Cowboy on Maintenance Records on September 14.

Someday My Space Cowboy Will Come is your new single. Can you tell me how it came together and what inspired it?

When we wrote these songs, we were listening to all kinds of different stuff: lots of Country music from the '80s like Tanya Tucker, Keith Whitley and Johnny Lee; lots of Soft-Rock like America and Carole King, lots of Prince. I guess our first single - Someday My Space Cowboy Will Come - is a play on ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’. It’s a fun little tune about having a mirage in the desert.

Someday Cowboy is your upcoming record. What sort of themes inspired the songs that will feature?

Jeremy: There’s a certain feeling of nostalgia to a lot of the album’s lyrics - we reminisce about tobogganing as kids and dreaming about cowboys. It’s fitting that I was able to play the same piano that I first learned on.

Mitch Holtby is in the mix for your new record. How did you meet him?

Mitch started playing shows in Edmonton in 2007. That was long before any of us were even old enough to go to shows but, once we got older, we definitely started seeing him at shows. Mitch came out to one of our shows in the spring of 2017 and asked us to open for him later that year. He seemed like a good fit to work with because we knew we wanted to go for a poppier sound.

Is it true the record came together in two days?! Why did you decide to home-record and lay it down so fast?

Jeremy: Mitch had been moving back and forth between Edmonton and Montreal. He had a bunch of his gear in Edmonton but no studio and no piano. We realized we could use the piano at my parents’ house and pay Mitch to build a temporary studio in their living room.

The band had played a bunch of shows leading up to the recording sessions, so we were able to just track the record live-off-the-floor. Of course, we did do some synth and vocal overdubs after those sessions.

How did Baby Jey get together? When did you meet one another?

Jeremy: Both Dean and I had been active in other projects in the Edmonton music scene from 2012-2015. Then, I left Edmonton to go to school in 2015 and a lot of my musical interests changed. When I came back, Dean and I started jamming. Then we went for lunch one day and I asked him if he wanted to start a band.

Is there more material coming next year? What might we see next?

Jeremy: We have at least another twenty songs written - so we definitely plan to keep recording and keep putting stuff out.

Do you think there will be touring dates? Can we catch you play?

We’re playing a send-off show in Edmonton on August 24th at the Kasbar in the basement of Yianni’s on Whyte Avenue. Then, the full record drops on September 14. By then, we’ll be in New York so we’re hoping to secure a New York show that week.

You have achieved a lot over the past year. What do want to tick off the to-list before the end of this year?

Shoot a music video if possible!

If you each had to select an album that means the most to you; which would they be and why?

Dean: Bryan Adams - Reckless

Classic Canadian album with timeless songwriting and dated drum sounds.

Jeremy: JT - James Taylor

PHOTO CREDIT: Mitch Holtby

Have you each got a favourite memory from your time in music – the one that sticks in the mind?

Not just yet: the best is yet to come (smiles).

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

Paul McCartney.

Two bottles of sparkling water; one bottle of tequila; a bag of all dressed chips and a V.H.S. of the season recap of the 1992 Toronto Blue Jays season.

What advice would you give to artists coming through? 

Hope for the best, expect the worst.