After last night’s triumphant hometown reunion show in the books, Hollerado lead singer Menno Versteeg pulls double duty, opening for friends Tokyo Police Club’s final Ottawa show tonight at Algonquin Commons Theatre.
However, unlike his raucous set yesterday, Versteeg will be playing a toned down selection of songs tonight focused on his new solo material.
Part Two of our chat focused on the transition to a solo artist, and the differences, and advantages, in ‘starting over.’ Read Part One here.
APT613: Now you’ve got your solo show coming up right after the Hollerado reunion. When you were writing the new solo album, was this a backlog of stuff that you’d had accumulated over the years, or is it all new?
Versteeg: No, it’s all new. It’s a new chapter. I did screw around with some old ideas once I started getting an album together, but the album just started coming together organically. I was just writing and it started to have a shape. This batch of songs really felt like a cohesive thing for the first time.
I honestly really found my own voice for the first time, lyrically and melodically, just in the last couple years, which is crazy because I’ve been doing this for so long. But I’ve really started to feel like I’ve been able to express myself musically the way that I want to.
It’s definitely different, and I’m wondering was there any apprehension when you started going down that route?
It was the least apprehension I’ve ever had. The songs are not as weird. They’re a little bit more down the middle and a little more universal. I’m not writing songs about driving a minivan through a garage door. They just really felt like a representation of what I’m going through, what I’m experiencing now in my life, the age I am, and how I want to express myself. So, this is the opposite. It’s the most natural sounding album I’ve been part of, and has no expectations.
There’s no Hollerado, in a good way. There’s a lot of different chefs cooking in the kitchen, and the expectations and fans who expect certain things. When it’s your livelihood you have to take that into account somewhat. But with this one I just wrote the music that I wanted to write.
You’re a pretty busy man, considering you’ve got three music projects, your solo career, Hollerado, and Anyway Gang, if you can find some gap in the schedule that you can get together and collaborate again with the other three guys. Plus you’re running a label. So what’s next on your agenda?
I’m really excited about this next chapter of my musical career. I’ve been touring this record for the first time, I’ve done 20 shows solo this fall, and then I’ve done three with a six piece band. And it’s felt really nice. It’s starting, not quite at zero, but kind of. And I want to give it a fair shot. I like the excitement of starting a new project. And I love the idea of doing some touring with this band and seeing where it goes, having some new adventures. Starting a new chapter of my musical journey.
I guess in a project like this, it’s like you’re sitting in a car with an open road and there’s no preset destination that you have to be at a certain venue, at a certain ticket sales point, certain sales, so it’s wide open.
It is, and it’s really liberating. There’s something about starting something new that has always been what’s inspired me about art. Reaching a new audience. We played every rock club in North America and Europe, like we just did it all. But with this new one, because of the style of music, I can play in ‘soft seaters’ and it’s so cool to go back to these cities that we’ve played literally 50 times, and play a place that I’d never played before, where we’re sitting down, in an old theater. To me, there’s something really exciting about that. There’s some growth about that both artistically, and in life experience.
I did the first leg of this tour just in a car by myself, and once again, that’s really a cool feeling. There’s something liberating about just being able to hop in a car, bring a guitar and go on tour with one of my friend’s bands.
So basically you can live the troubadour life: ‘Have guitar, will travel.’
I’m at a point in my life where I just want to go play and I don’t care if it’s for like seven people or 700.
Menno Versteeg will be opening for Tokyo Police Club at the Algonquin Commons Theatre, Nov. 22, with a full supporting cast (including some familiar faces). Very limited tickets remaining, available here.
Look for our interview with Tokyo Police Club also available today!
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