Scott Nolan

have songs will travel

By Josh Markle

Winnipeg is a wondrous place. Canada’s finest musical export, Neil Young, was born there. It is the geographical and, in many ways, cultural fulcrum of Canada, acting as the East’s “Gateway to the West.” And you can’t forget the Jets drafting Dale Hawerchuk in the first round of 1981. Add Scott Nolan to Winnipeg’s long list of accolades.

The former mercenary rocker – who was once with the New Meanies and Nathan–has now honed his natural talents as a solo singer-songwriter. Playing with long-time musical partner, drummer Joanna Miller, the two-piece has established a sound of their own and are taking it on the road.

“We just had our pilot run last night,” says Nolan of the first official show of the tour. “Joanna has been playing with me right from the start and now we are traveling as a two-piece. We have incorporated different instruments to help smooth it out, but mostly it is just the two of us. We can cover a huge backlog of music and nothing ever seems to be the same way twice.”

It is a departure from Nolan’s previous gigs as a freelancer. His solo career allows him to strive for more depth and breath lyrically, unfettered by the often confining collaborative process a band requires. “When I’ve been in a band I’ve always been on the sidelines a little bit,” says Nolan. “I mean, I wrote and contributed, but once I started putting out records like this, that was it.”

Nolan has found his niche in terms of the business side of the music industry as well. Opting out of the do-it-yourself business model to release his last record, No Bourbon and Bad Radio, he signed with Transistor 66, a small indie label rooted in Winnipeg. Working with the label has made touring and publicizing that much easier, not that he intends to veer from the word of mouth publicity that got him to where he is today.

“Before Transistor I was just really doing it out of the trunk of my car,” Nolan muses. “I like what they [Transistor 66] do. They are just really there to support us and make things go smooth. And for myself, I really thrive on someone else’s energy, and there is a lot of positive energy there.”

The new album may be owed to Nolan’s penchant for finding synergies with other musicians. On a tour through Texas – a place where, according to Nolan, songwriters are revered by children like guitar heroes or star rookies of the Hawerchuk variety – Nolan and Miller stopped into a friend’s studio to record a song or two. Five days later, Receiver/Reflector, Nolan’s forthcoming new CD, was cut, astounding everyone involved.

“Yeah, it was last November and we had some shows down there, and when the shows were done we went down to a friend’s house and just meant to cut a couple tracks. He ended up being the third man and we cut the whole record in five days.”

While his writing and recording has been prolific, the touring has been sporadic. But with Miller he’s able to access a long history of music that provides the duo with a solid foundation. Have songs, will travel – Nolan is now determined to tour relentlessly.

“We have built up such a large body of work that we can now tour non-stop and go to all those places we have had to skip over,” says Nolan excitedly.
The prospect of the road also suits Nolan’s temperament. Introspective and observant, he’s not satisfied with just playing to crowds of fans in intimate venues across the continent, but he also captures the more subtle and memorable moments of touring, whether it be recording impromptu gigs with different musicians, or compiling footage of the tour into a documentary.

“The last year we went out, I had this project on the road and I made a record called American Hotel,” says Nolan. “We just set up in random places and invited musicians we met up with to play. I put this little bootleg out and it was surprisingly well-received.”

“So now the new project is a DVD,” Nolan says. “I have just been spending so much of my time doing this and I want to capture the things that happen out there.”