Many of us play music as a way to unwind from our day jobs — but musicians need to find other pastimes in order to get a break from the daily grind.
We reached out to some Canadian artists to find out about their pastimes, and they responded by telling us about vintage video games, connecting with their ancestors via ceramics, acrobatic handstands and frolf.
Tanika Charles
Baking
Photo: Michael Warren
Soul singer Tanika Charles knows all about the power of focus and perfectionism. If the timeless R&B of her new album Reasons to Stay didn't already prove that, her approach to baking surely will. "Am I a baker? No," she admits. "Bakers make all sorts of things in large batches. I only bake cookies, and I only make two — three times a week, in a never-ending quest to perfect my recipe."
As the batch depicted in this photo, it was "okay-ish."
Maya Cook
Hand to hand
Photo: Jane Tapatsiak
When not making the jazzy, soulful folk rock heard on the recent debut album salt, songwriter Maya Cook is a circus performer with the performing arts collective in Igloolik, NU. She's been working on being able to do handstands for around eight years, and, "I'm just starting to really be able to hold them," she says. The real fun comes when working with others: "It's so fun to play around with other people to hold each other up, challenge ourselves, and try new things," she says. "I'm starting to learn to base proper hand to hand — where someone would be doing a handstand on my hands — which is exciting!"
Melanie St. Pierre-Bednis of Casper Skulls
Visual art
Photo: Neil Bednis
Kit-Cat, the new album from college rocking Toronto/Sudbury group Casper Skulls, comes complete with a cute painting on its album cover — and co-frontperson Melanie St. Pierre-Bednis tells Exclaim! that she was the one who painted it. "My first love was actually visual art," says the art school alum. "I create a lot of illustrations and bounce around in different mediums including graphite and micron pen drawings, acrylic and oil painting, full on graphic design, photography or sculpture. I even got commissioned to do some pieces for my favourite podcast on earth, Radiolab!" In the photo above, she can be seen with the paintings she made for Kit-Cat and its accompanying singles.
Sebastian Gaskin
Cooking
Photo courtesy of the artist
Songwriter Sebastian Gaskin has been cooking up something good — and not just the R&B pop of this year's LOVECHILD album, which is its own form of comforting soul food. "I love cooking for people," Gaskin tells Exclaim! "It's the most pure form of love, providing sustenance to the ones around you. Cooking is similar to music, in the way that sometimes you have to improvise if you don't have all the right ingredients."
Olivia Wells of la lune
Ceramics
Photo courtesy of the artist
When Olivia Wells isn't kicking up an alt-rocking shoegaze racket with Vancouver's la lune, the bassist can be found working on ceramics — something that results in cross-generational connections. "I enjoy working intuitively, letting my thoughts and feelings flow through my hands," Wells says. "I have been enjoying exploring my culture through my ceramic practice, but have not been able to research heavily as there is hardly any documentation showcasing Mi'kmaq potters that are not contemporary, except for found shards. Making work that is connected to my ancestors through materials such as sweetgrass and processes like pit firing and weaving makes me feel incredibly connected to them spiritually. In my process, I rely heavily on how I am feeling while making, transforming my generational trauma and thoughts into my pieces."
Mappe Of
Xbox
Photo: Milly Meikle
Mappe Of songwriter Tom Meikle breaks the conventions of typical folk music and reimagines it in a new form on "Happiness in the Singularity," his comeback single after a quiet few years. Even when relaxing with a video game, he's always breaking rules and thinking outside out of the box — the Xbox, that is. "I just picked up a modified original Xbox that's stacked full of emulations of a bunch of vintage consoles and games," he says. "I also grabbed some physical copies of some Xbox classics. I'm currently playing through Tony Hawk's Underground."
Mark Kowgier of Newfound Interest in Connecticut
Disc golf
Photo courtesy of the artist
Music fans are showing a newfound interest in Newfound Interest in Connecticut, the math-y post-hardcore band who recently reunited amidst a resurgence of interest surrounding their only album, 2005's Tell Me About the Long Dark Path. The 20 years since that album have given the band members plenty of time to cultivate non-musical interests — including bassist Mark Kowgier, who got into Frisbee golf (a.k.a. "frolf," the superior form of golf) during the pandemic. "The band has a long history with Frisbee and the outdoors, and so once I started I couldn't stop," he tells Exclaim! "Unlike ball golf, courses are much more wild and usually free. This (better) golf is truly for everyone."
Billy Riley of Ribbon Skirt
Film photography
Photo courtesy of the artist
There's a timeless, era-crossing quality to the post-punk and alt-rock heard on Ribbon Skirt's new album Bite Down (out April 11 through Mint Records), and the same can be said of the photography that Billy Riley makes out outside of the group. "Photography gives me the chance to slow down and really be present in my surroundings. It's made me more attuned to the joy and absurdity in everyday moments," Riley says. "Working with film photography specifically has never lost any of its magic for me. I get the same feeling I had when I was a kid dropping film off at the pharmacy and waiting patiently for the results. There's so much space for imperfections and accidents that make the process so special. There's no better feeling than taking a photo, and then seeing it on a physical negative weeks later!"
Aiko Tomi
"Cute connaisseur"
Photo courtesy of the artist
Aiko Tomi's brashly grinding new hip-hop single "INVOICE" is a lot of things — but, with its brash shouts of "fuck that," cute is not one of them. In her free time, however, Tomi considers herself a "cute connoisseur." "I've always loved things that are rotund, colourful and cute," she tells Exclaim! "Blame my Japanese and Taiwanese roots — I've been thoroughly brainwashed by Sanrio, anthropomorphized objects and cutesy mascots. It started with plushies in my childhood, expanded to uniquely playful sofa cushions, and now, somehow, I've become a dog mom to a real-life, almost unreal-looking puppy."