BB Spotlight - POST SCRIPT
BB Spotlights feature Edmonton individuals that intrigue, inspire, and interest us and will be published once a month.
Paul and Steph are the two halves that make up POST SCRIPT, a local Edmonton indie folk duo whose bilingual music is beautifully crafted to possess your ears long after the songs are over. Not only partners in music, Paul and Steph are partners in life as well, and the more we talked with them, we could see why. Sharing laughs, stories, and thoughts on their pasts and futures, you can tell they aim to raise each other up while making unforgettable music as they go.
You can check them out at www.postscriptmusic.com, buy their EP now on iTunes, watch music videos on their youtube channel, and see them live on November 7th at the Artery, opening for Paper Lions.
How did you two meet?
S: We went to the same high school but we didn’t really know each other much, Paul was two years older than me. Then he started playing bass for my brother, my brother’s more into the pop music scene, and Paul played for him. I started going to rehearsals and shows and that’s kind of how it started becoming more of friends - through my brother.
Does music run in your family?
S: It does. My grandparents were always in choirs and stuff like that, same with my dad at one point (which is kind of scary), but my brother was probably my biggest influence. I think because every time I saw him onstage and playing music, I thought “I want to do that”. I always sang and was in these little tiny talent shows growing up but it changed when my brother one time asked me to sing a song for him. He was opening for Simple Plan at the Edmonton Event Center (Red's at the time). I was in grade 10 and was super nervous, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. But, then I kind of realized, “I could totally do this. This is what I want to do.” So it was through him. He’s the biggest influence I think.
When did POST SCRIPT form?
P: July 2012.
And that’s when you decided to start working together?
S: We were dating for a year, and we both had our own projects and we never really thought about doing something together for some reason.
P: It wasn’t a priority for us.
S: Yeah, and then my brother had a show and he suggested that Paul and I open for him.
P: So we threw something together and became POST SCRIPT kind of through that.
S: And we liked it. We thought, “Oh, this could kind of work”. And we have been doing that since.
How did you come up with the name?
S: (To Paul) That was you.
P: Paul and Steph. We just took the initials. I thought of P.S., but there’s a band called PS I Love You, so I thought of POST SCRIPT. We liked the idea of it. Our first EP, we kind of went for an old off the floor recording style, a more traditional thing, so we thought the name was nostalgic to that technique. We were kind of going for that vibe and what it gave off so it stuck.
So a less mastered vibe?
P: Instead of doing every instrument one by one, we did everything at the same time.
S: It’s like a live performance that we did over and over again and took the good parts and put it all together.
P: Aesthetically and audio-wise... POST SCRIPT stuck.
Recording like that makes the music sound differently than recording individually, right?
P: It gives it a different feel. It’s kind of hard to identify, I don’t know if I could point it out. It's more obvious for a big band recording, like a rock band.
S: And for us, we could pull it off. We were only two people, playing guitar, bass, and vocals. We were recording in a big room and we really wanted it to sound more natural. We didn’t want to go and do this thing that was totally and completely produced and then someone would come to our show and we wouldn’t sound like that. We wanted to stick to something quite simple to start with. Right now, we’re planning out our full length album, and we want it to sound a little bit more folk than our first EP.
P: We’ve added a third band member.
S: He plays guitar as well. So we have two guitars and a bass and he has crazy guitar chops so it’s really fun to play with him. It’s also going to add an extra voice. It’s super exciting.
You have a strong French side to your band, where does that come from?
P: We both have Francophone roots and I guess at least for me, I got a lot of my beginnings doing music in French so it’s always been something that’s stuck. There’s been some sort of demand created from it too, just from the Francophone community. So while we’re working, we might as well work in French. It’s not that much extra work for us to do it and sometimes the songs come out in French anyway so we go with it.
S: Yeah, there’s lots of opportunities. The French community helps us out a lot. We’ve been a part of several projects on a solo basis. Paul’s done a bunch of French music competitions and different things like that and they’ve supported us so much as POST SCRIPT, too. So, I guess for us we never plan and say, “We’re going to write six French songs” - songs just come out like that. Being bilingual, for me, I know that I will probably write a French song if I’m surrounded by French speaking people for a good amount of time. But it just depends, sometimes it just comes out. I’ll try to say something in English but it just sounds so much better in French, you know?
So do all of your songs have English and French versions?
P: No, if we write it in French, we try to keep it in French. So when we play shows, we have it split usually 60/40 or 70/30 English to French. It depends- sometimes if we get hired to do a show for a French audience, then obviously we’ll cater to that but on our own shows we like to come up with a show where it flows between the two and our audiences seem to respond without too much trouble.
Is that normal for a lot of bands in Edmonton or that you know of to be bilingual?
S: Well, just because we know a lot of French artists through the French community that do it quite a bit, but I guess that it’s not really normal. A lot of people in the French community will focus on just doing French. For us, it kind of just came through that way. We didn’t want to just do French or just do English. It’s hard to choose.
It makes it more interesting, I find. It’s a cool talent to have. Do you have anywhere else where your passion for music comes from?
P: Mostly from my family, too. My dad sang, played Blue Rodeo songs.
S: He still does.
P: Growing up, I always had a fascination with that kind of stuff and joined a band with my friends in high school and it all started off there.
And that’s where you learned?
P: I took lessons for a long time and I’m actually in university for upright bass so I’ve done some post secondary things.
S: I’m mostly self taught. There was this after school program that our high school did that was super sweet. Paul had his own band and then I had my own band. We were five girls. It was hilarious, it was so much fun. We learned how to write songs and how to work as a group so that influenced me a lot doing that. Also, I had a cousin who played guitar and I wanted to learn. My other brother, Mark, he’s not a huge music guy, but he’s a great guitarist. He’s like a closet guitarist who doesn’t show anyone but I kind of just saw him play and I thought I’d try it out. It took me a while to get into it. I tried lessons for a year and hated it so I quit. I stopped playing it for another year, and when I went back into it I taught myself how to play. Since then, I’ve taken a few lessons here and there, but for some reason every time I take lessons I just get frustrated. I think I’m better by myself, trying to figure it out on my own. That whole high school after school program was super cool. We were lucky to have that to figure stuff out, see how songs are written, see how a band works.
How do you think POST SCRIPT has evolved since the beginning?
S: We just had a meeting the other day and we talked about how much we’ve changed in the past year and how much we’ve done.
P: Its been a positive evolution I guess. We’ve been really trying to improve our craft, song wise and performance wise. When we started, we were doing a show every few months to now doing stuff every few weeks. We’ve been trying to really improve. Steph’s switched from an acoustic guitar to an electric guitar and we’ve added another member on electric guitar so the sound has evolved as well from a very straight acoustic sound to a little more contemporary. We’re trying to explore those possibilities. We’ve also improved on singing together. We were just talking about recording the EP, it was a big learning experience, as it always is going into the studio. It’s just funny how things we struggled with the first time aren’t problems anymore. We’ve worked on them enough that it’s like tying your shoes - it’s easier now, you don’t have to think about it.
S: And now we’re super comfortable. Our dating and our music is completely separate. It’s like we’re not dating AND music, it’s dating OR music. We try to keep things separate just because it could get complicated.
P: Inherently it’s not separate, but we try to keep things organized. Schedule time so we’re not always talking about work, we have a bad habit of doing that. Since I work freelance on my own stuff, I’m always working. So I’ve had to train myself to shut up and not talk about it.
S: But even being more comfortable with each other onstage, too, because it’s something completely different, right? We’ve closed to mastered that.
P: Yeah we’ve gotten better at that. I’m not a public display of affection kind of guy, so working on our chemistry onstage, letting people into that.
I bet people love that you two are an actual couple.
S: It’s funny because a lot of people don’t know and we don’t say it onstage.
P: We don’t hide it, but we don’t flaunt it. People have asked us...
S: ...are you guys together?
P: Some people we’ve known for like a year now, just a few months ago asked us, “Are you guys like dating? Because I didn’t want to assume…”
S: We saw them always through music, like when we were doing a show or the Canmore Folk Fest, always in a professional setting. They assumed but didn’t want to assume.
When you see a guy and a girl working together with such great chemistry…
S: Some people want them to date or are like, “I really hope you’re dating”.
What bands influence you guys?
S: A lot, I guess it depends. We have French influences and English influences.
P: We try to listen to a large breadth of music.
Like all different styles?
S: I listen to my own little style of music. For some reason I’m really judgmental with music, it’s so bad. Every time I listen to a song and it doesn’t catch me in the first 10-15 seconds, I change it right away.
P: We’re kinda opposites like that.
S: Yeah, Paul’s like, “No wait, I want to listen to the full song, it’s really interesting”. And I’ll be like, “No I hate it, let’s switch the song”.
P: I ban her from touching the iPod.
S: And then he got me into listening to records on a record player so I can’t do that. You have to listen to a full record without touching it. So that’s been very helpful. But for influences, we have this one artist from Regina, Andy Shaw, we really like him.
P: That’s like a direct influence for the sound we’re evolving into. There’s an Americana duo I really like called The Milk Carton Kids. They were at Folk Fest. We’re also both avid Bahamas lovers, mostly me I think…
S: Paul has a man crush.
P: I have more of a fan boy affection for him.
How do you find the music scene in Edmonton?
P: I wouldn’t say I’m on the scene a lot but I do know a lot of people and it’s a really great supportive community.
S: People support each other which is super cool and I think I realized that especially when we were at Canmore Folk Fest. There were three other bands with us in our group and we would just cheer each other on all the time. And there are some of them that are getting really big gigs right now and it’s super awesome. Everyone is just cheering each other on and people want to collaborate and it’s just really great.
P: People outside Edmonton underestimate it. Edmonton's scene is nothing to brush off.
How was Canmore Folk Fest?
P & S: Awesome.
S: It was our first folk fest and it was super awesome. It was really cool because we didn’t really know what to expect. I was really nervous, but we got a really good response and I think the best part of it was just being there and being a part of the festival - being able to be in Canmore, singing to the mountains. We got to play on the main stage as well, as one of the tweener sets. We didn’t really expect that. They said it might happen throughout the weekend but they told us about an hour before our performance. I think that was super cool. There was a lot of people and such good energy. It kind of made me realize that’s such a cool thing to do and I would love to do a bunch of music festivals like that.
You’re currently working on releasing your full album, right?
S: We’re aiming for September to really focus on more songwriting and demos and then hopefully recording in November/December and hopefully having it out in the spring.
I can imagine it takes quite a while.
S: Yeah, it’s a lot of preparation.
P: We’re getting more realistic about our expectations. This the third time I’ve gone through this process for putting together an album. You just have to be realistic about your timeline because certain things take time and certain things get pushed back. We’ll probably be done recording by December but to coordinate the release so it’s actually worth the time you spend is work as well. You might spend two weeks recording an album and however much money making it, and then if you don’t spend time promoting and getting the launch prepared, it just deflates.
S: Also trying to apply for festivals and book tours and stuff like that, you have to be organized.
What other things occupy your time?
P: My other band, I’m doing a solo thing in French, an indie rock band. Under my name, Paul Cournoyer. I just launched a cd last week.
How can people find out about that?
P: They can go to my personal website. www.paulcournoyer.ca
Do you have a long term goal for POST SCRIPT?
S: We keep our goals pretty close, just so we keep it real. We kind of have a timeline of things we’d like to accomplish.
P: We aim for different plateaus. Folk festivals are a close goal. Then, getting to a point where we can tour our own show. But before then, open for other people of course, we’ve got dues to pay.
S: I think being able to just do music and not have to work another job. To do what I love and be able to do it with this guy would be super sweet. That would be the best thing ever, just to be able to just focus on music.
