If you need a pointer for the talents of Canadian singer songwriter Mariel Buckley, look no further than her winning the annual Project Wild contest in 2019. The competition, sponsored by radio station Wild 95.3 and Alberta Music, earned Buckley a cool $100,000 towards her career overheads and she put some of that funding towards the recording of her fine, recently released album EVERYWHERE I USED TO BE. With the production overseen by Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire, The National, The Weather Station, Tim Baker, The Barr Brothers) plus a host of Canada’s finest session players contributing, it’s an album that packs a hefty punch from start to finish. It features Buckley’s most unguarded writing to date as she lifts the veil on some difficult personal issues. We spoke recently with the career-focused artist about the album and her musical influences.
Where are you based at the moment?
I am in Edmonton, just three hours north of Calgary but I'm originally from Calgary.
I understand that you grew up in a fairly conservative environment. How difficult was that for you?
It's a fairly conservative part of Canada, for sure. The Far West is kind of in that right hand cradle but honestly, it was not too bad. There were obviously exceptions that I talk about on the new record and there was certainly an old-fashioned mindset in a lot of religious and social values for sure
Did that draw you to music as a way of kind of dealing with that?
Oh, definitely. I was a big music fan since I was just little, I would burn CDs and really dive in and I definitely felt understood and heard when I listened to music. So, definitely being an outsider was a big push for me to get into music.
When did Mariel the listener become Mariel the writer and performer?
It took some time. I was pretty shy about it. My brother is also a singer, songwriter and performer. He was ahead of me by quite a few years and when I started to see him performing, I would have been about fourteen and I was kind of toying with the idea. It still took me another five or six years of practicing in my room before I would be comfortable sharing my own stuff.
Was there any particular artist or album that convinced you that you had the songs and the talent to take the next step?
Not that made me feel more confident. I certainly heard a lot of records that made me think that I really needed to practice more if I wanted my own records out there. Right around the time when I wanted to start performing, I heard a lot of Neil Young and a lot of Lucinda Williams, which would have been both from my brother's collection. When I heard Neil Young for the first time, I certainly learned that there's room for some strange songwriters in folk music.
Winning the Project Wild commercial radio artist contest with a prize of $100,000 must have been hugely rewarding both in respect of the income and also an endorsement of your talent.
Yes. It was a development kind of contest that took about a year to complete from start to finish. There were ten people accepted and there was a series where we had to write a marketing plan and a grant report. We then had to do a performance piece, just like one of our shows with original content. We were then essentially scored and graded and the winner was allotted the prize money. The money was facilitated through our provincial Music Association, so I don't actually receive the funds directly. But the funds go towards touring and recording. So, it was a huge help.
There appears to be a huge support for the arts in Canada.
Oh, yeah, we're very lucky in Canada. I think we are up there with some of the most federal arts-funded people in the world. We're also very fortunate to have this Project Wild project, which is a privately funded contest. So, I was just lucky to tap into it, I guess.
That must have been a huge confidence booster for you.
Well, yes and no. I obviously was so excited to win, but I was also like, ‘oh my god, what sort of expectations do folks have now, can I live up to those expectations?’ There was a bit of reckoning that I had to do but that didn't take too long to get over.
Your latest record EVERYWHERE I USED TO BE arrived four years after your last release MOTORHOME, which was released four years after your debut album DRIVING IN THE DARK. Was this an intentional four-year cycle or a coincidence?
So far, it's been coincidental, and I would say, you know, with semi-confidence, I'd like to shorten that significantly with the next follow-up. The only reason this one took four years was partly because of the pandemic. But things do seem to happen for me in four-year bands. I don't like to put things out before I feel like I've got something reasonable to say.
I believe you were going to call the album SAD ALL THE TIME.
That song Sad All The Time is a B-side now. It was just a satirical song I'd written for the record that I was sort of toying with using as the title because I just found that sort of satirical and funny, and for all the depressives out there. But I waffled back to EVERYWHER I USED TO BE for the title. I just felt that that one really encompassed a lot of the themes that I'm talking about on the whole record, that feeling of growing in a liminal space and moving on, so all that stuff seemed to be wrapped up nicely in that tune. So, that's why I ended up picking that one.
I read that you wanted to make a good pop/country record but the album is far removed from what is masquerading under the pop/country genre coming out of Nashville.
Well, what I mean when I say that is that nobody can argue that great pop music is some of the most influential music that anyone's listened to, as well as some of the most interesting stuff to listen to. When I made this record, I wanted it to say things that would complement my very traditional sensibilities of songwriting and production. I wanted something that was more contemporary in feel, and less contemporary in content because I like that sort of juxtaposition. I think that to do pop music with that sort of polished sound really well is an art and especially without all the digital stuff and much of the crap coming out Nashville and, on the radio, which I agree with you it's not good. It's very fun to do that but it’s also difficult to do well.
Less than a minute into the opening track Neon Blue, I was reminded of Kathleen Edwards and that comparison remained with me both in the songwriting and delivery of a number of the songs
Yeah, she's the best and a big-time influence for me in songwriting. She was such an original voice coming out of Canada. There hadn't really been a female singer like her, especially out of Canada, until she came out. That was a very promising thing to see for a young songwriter like myself at the time. So yeah, she’s top of the batch for me.
There is a lot of soul-searching on the album. The track Hate This Town particularly stands out. Mixed emotions?
Yeah, it's obviously super heavy. But I loved writing that song. It came out to me very quickly, as difficult things often do, because it feels very cathartic to get them out. So, as much as the song is dark, it’s also a little bit sickly and funny in spots. I really like playing that song because it really disarms people quickly.
I love the lines on the song Love Ain’t Enough, ‘Thought I saw you in the back of my car, you were combing your hair in the mirror, I was falling apart.’ Are lines like these personal recollections or part imagination?
Mostly recollection. With that particular line, I think I was I was trying to do a Bruce Springsteen thing. He does such good artistic call-backs and memories and tells them in a way that makes you feel like you're in the back of a 1960s Muscle car. So, I think I was doing something similar there, but a lot of that is from my own experience
You called on Marcus Paquin to produce the album. He previously worked with Arcade Fire, The National, Tim Baker, The Weather Station, and The Barr Brothers. Did the funding from Project Wild give you the freedom to choose your producer?
Yeah, it certainly did. That was a huge help in landing Marcus. The National and Arcade Fire are great bands, but certainly his work with Tim Baker, The Weather Station and the Barr Brothers was a big reason that we chose him because he has such a cool approach to music. Marcus is not prohibitive by any means but, as you know, the costs to record an album are immense and to be able put all the finance down at once as opposed to paying it back over time really allowed me to kind of get everything in place with all the people that I wanted, and in a relatively short window to get it all done. That was a very big gift.
How long did it take to record?
Everything was recorded live off the floor except for my vocal, which is doubled on the record. There are a couple of synth patches but mostly everything is live off the floor with me in the band and Marcus playing percussion in a room. We did it all in about twelve consecutive days, without any pre-production. So, everyone came in pretty fresh which was also really fun. On this record, the only returning staff from my previous albums was Tyson, who is a bass player from Vulcan, Alberta. Everyone else was a session player from Alberta or Ontario or Quebec.
You are due to continue your hectic touring schedule supporting The Bros Landreth in the U.K. and Europe soon.
Yes, we're in Germany and Denmark after the U.K. dates with them, and then I’m over to Sweden with my full band. I start touring again in February and March of next year, that's mostly in Canada and then the spring and summer will be in North America. We'll be back to Europe in the fall of 2023.
Are you happiest on or off the road?
Most of the time on the road. But everybody's always the same. You get about three weeks in and then you kind of want to be at home. And then when you sit at home for a couple of weeks, you start to want to go back on tour. It’s always one or the other.
You appear very structured. Do you have a career game plan in the short to medium term?
Yeah, absolutely. I certainly am a person who likes to make plans and try to hit my milestones. Hopefully, we'll get another record out in less than four years and then just keep touring, and keep growing it. But, you know, I'm glad people are listening to it so far and seem to dig it. I want to be able to work and keep playing and make a little bit more money as the years go so the band gets fed and everyone’s doing okay.
Interview by Declan Culliton