Jill Barber Interview

While taking a break from exploring caves on beautiful Vancouver Island, BC, Canadian singer-songwriter and bombshell, Jill Barber, took a moment to talk to us about living in Vancouver, her current Canadian tour, and her new album – Mischievous Moon, which was released April 5th, 2011.

        * photographed by Ivan Otis

MVRemix: You’re on Vancouver Island now, how is that going?

Jill Barber: It’s great! We’ve played three shows, we’ve played Victoria, Tofino, last night Cumberland, and tomorrow night we’re in Nanaimo. It’s great, I love Vancouver Island. I love the Island folks, and it’s been great to have my band here; They’re all from Toronto so it’s kind of novel for them to be here. We’ve seen lots of wildlife, we’ve also seen a couple of bears, and a bear cub…lots of deer. It’s been awesome.

MVRemix: And you and Grant have just celebrated your one year anniversary, right?

Jill Barber: Yes, yesterday.

MVRemix: Did you do anything special?

Jill Barber: Well, because I was working, it just so happened that he’s here working on the island as well. He’s guest hosting the All Points West, which is the Victoria based CBC afternoon show. So he came up to Tofino with us and he and I stayed in a really romantic lodge in Tofino, so that was really nice.

MVRemix: So you’re based in Vancouver now, how long have you been living here?

Jill Barber: It’s been about two and a half years.

MVRemix: And how are you adjusting?

Jill Barber: I really like Vancouver, I like it a lot, I think I’m still getting to know it. It takes time I find, with big cities. I’m used to living in slightly smaller places. I was in Halifax for six years before Vancouver, and Kingston before that, so, yeah it’s different, but it’s great. It’s so beautiful. We live in a really beautiful area, we’re right next to Stanley Park so it’s national beauty next to me, everyday.

MVRemix: I can relate, I’m actually from Nova Scotia.

Jill Barber: Are you? What part?

MVRemix: I’m from Truro.

Jill Barber: Oh, cool.

MVRemix: Yeah.

Jill Barber: That’s awesome, I like Truro a lot. We’ve played at The Marigold, have you ever seen shows at The Marigold?

MVRemix: I have! It’s a great venue. It’s pretty small and intimate, it’s nice.

Jill Barber: Yeah!

MVRemix: It’s funny, I was reading your Twitter the other day, and I saw that you were drinking Starbucks and wearing yoga pants, very Vancouver of you!

Jill Barber: Haha! Yes, yes, just trying to go with the Vancouver flow.

MVRemix: So how has your relationship with Grant and subsequently, Vancouver, inspired your music? Is there anything that it has brought to it?

Jill Barber: Well certainly my relationship – definitely what’s been happening internally. Yeah, you know, being in love, and having a husband, and that’s certainly changed my life and it’s given me a lot of inspiration for songs for sure, and I think Vancouver, in a funny way. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but I think it’s been influential in a way. It just feels like a new chapter in my life, I guess the Vancouver chapter. It’s funny, I don’t know how you feel coming from the East Coast, but for me I feel like living on the East Coast next to the Atlantic Ocean, it’s kind of like a city of ghosts, and it really wore its’ history on its’ sleeve and that was really inspirational to me for a time, for sure. Coming to Vancouver, Vancouver is the opposite. It kind of feels like you’re on the Pacific side you know, and everyone is looking to the future – more of a forward looking kind of place, and kind of cutting edge. It’s interesting to have the opportunity to have both, in both ways, the Ocean and the majesty of the Ocean, the romance of that kind of affects my music.

MVRemix: Mischievous Moon was recorded with a twelve peice string section. That’s a very different sound than you were doing say, five years ago. What would you classify your genre as today, compared to five years ago?

Jill Barber: I’m not very good at classifying my genre, because it’s kind of a mix of things. I certainly take a lot of influence from folk, jazz, and country music, and I’m very influenced by the classic standard, but also a lot of my peers, my contemporaries. I think it’s kind of a blessing and a curse for me, it’s not easily classifiable. I guess I leave it up to you, the journalist to classify it, and I can just keep following my muse and keep allowing differences to show their face in my music. I’ve certainly evolved stylistically from what I was doing five years ago.

MVRemix: I’ve noticed that Edith Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald are a couple of women that you note often as your influences. Is there anyone making music today that you are drawn to in particular?

Jill Barber: Hmmm, yeah, certainly people like Royal Wood, Sarah Harmer, Hannah Georgas, David Myles, Rose Cousins, my brother, Matthew Barber; I’m pretty biased towards Canadians. I love the Canadian musicians that we have. So certainly, as you mentioned, Edith Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald – I love, they’re classic. When it comes to contemporary music, I listen to a lot of Canadian stuff, often times people that I play with and that I’ve toured with, and are friends with, lots of people. Michael Kaeshammer is another guy who I’m performing with in Vancouver.

MVRemix: How about Michael Buble? I understand you would like to do a duet with him?

Jill Barber: Yeah, you know what I’m doing? I’m putting that out into the world! They tell you that if you want something you should say it out loud. It’s funny, someone asked me that recently, who I would like to collaborate with, and I said Michael Buble, and now I feel like it’s coming back to me. A few people have been commenting on that, and yeah, I’d love to do a duet with him. I think that his sensibilities and my sensibilities would work well together, and I think he’s a really talented guy and it would be fun to perform with him and I’d love to tour with him. I’m trying to get in touch with him. I haven’t had any success yet. I don’t have a direct line into him yet, but I’m working on it.

MVRemix: I don’t think it will be that hard, I think you’ll get it if you keep away at it.

Jill Barber: Yeah, we’ll see!

MVRemix: Going back to talking about the Marigold Centre earlier, in Truro, you’ve played in a huge variety of venues. You play in large venues, you play in really intimate venues. Do you have one type you like over the other?

Jill Barber: Well it’s a timely question, myself and my band, we’ve been playing bigger venues. Like two weeks ago we played Massey Hall in Toronto, which is pretty much as big as it gets, and last night, we played The Waverly, in Cumberland (BC), which is charming, and it’s kind of… it’s charming, let me just say that, but it’s a far cry from Massey Hall. I really like playing a variety of venues and there’s something gained for sure when you play at Massey Hall, but there’s something lost too, possibly. I love the intimacy of a small club, and the energy of a small club. I find that when you’re in a smaller room, tucked in closer to people, it’s easier to have a connection and to feel the energy of the audience. I came up in this industry, and I continue to come up in this industry by playing clubs and theaters, and hopefully winning over a fan at a time, and that’s always been my strategy, to just work hard and play a lot, and try to reach as many people as possible. I wouldn’t want to limit that just to the big cities and to the big theaters, because nights like last night, and the night before in Tofino – those are really magical evenings because it gives us a real chance to connect with people in smaller communities, and this country is mostly made up of smaller communities right across the board. It’s always been important to me.

MVRemix: You’ve toured across Canada many, many times now. You’ve played in the States, you’ve played in Australia, is there anywhere in the world you haven’t toured yet that you would really like to?

Jill Barber: Absolutely. I would really like to tour in Asia. I’d love to go to China, I’d love to play Japan.

MVRemix: How about Europe?

Jill Barber: Yeah we’re working on it. I’ve been to to UK, but I haven’t played Central Europe, so we’re working on it for sure. I’ve played in France, I’d like to play more in France, and Germany. I mean, essentially, I’ll play anywhere that people will have me, truly. But on my list of places that I think would be exotic and fun, Asia would be right up there, and Europe for sure.