Gord Grdina-Solo Album
By Jamie-Leigh Gonzales
Vancouver-local guitarist, Gord Grdina is known as a seasoned improviser and expert collaborator. With a career that boasts dozens of collaborations with top-notch musicians from around the world, Grdina is known to fuse the worlds of jazz, rock, and metal with classical Arabic folk styles. He may be known for his guitar skills, but you might catch him playing the oud more often than not these days.
His recently released digital album, China Cloud, has been nominated for Instrumental Album of the Year at this year’s Juno Awards. I had the privilege of following up with Gord about his thoughts on the nomination, the album, and some of his inspiration.
JL: What does it feel like receiving the Juno nom this year - has it lost any of the magic?
GG: This feels really good because it’s for a solo album that didn’t get any press coverage and was kind of lost in the shuffle of late press releases. I don’t even think I have a review of it!
JL: What was the process of recording this album? What was the inspiration?
GG:I recorded a live concert at the china cloud and then the next day recorded all day. I had been wanting to do a solo album for a while and then Mark Lawrence at Big in Japan Studios (which is in the side room at the China cloud) said that he really wanted to do it. Mark’s the best and made it really comfortable. I then applied and got a Canada Council for the Arts grant which enabled us all to get paid! This cd was all improvisations except for one precomposed to and then Doll’s house was an add on cause I had recorded that song with Dan Mangan but that recording doesn’t quite showcase the melody so I wanted to do it again.
JL: As long as I’ve known you, I’ve been going to your gigs at the China Cloud. Can you tell me about what the space means to you and what it means to the music community in Vancouver?
GG: It’s my favourite smaller size venue in the city. There was an extremely influential collective in the city called 1067 which is where I really learned how to play and I feel that the CC has taken up the mantel but in a completely different way. There is far more cross-genre music making and presenting and mixed with the comedy crowd it has become a hub of creativity for the whole scene. For the experimental music scene, I feel it is especially valuable to have a venue where you can try new things out and get a responsive listening audience without it feeling stuffy or forced. People go there to hear all kinds of different music and comedy etc so it feels more like a cultural hub and not snobby or stuffy but also the audiences are respectful and interested
JL: How has your style of music changed or taken shape over the years? What were some outside influences, either from other musicians or regular life things?
GG: I feel like aesthetically it has changed quite a bit as I’ve become more and more excited and interested in harmonically complex and dissonant sounds. I guess in order of influences it goes from elementary school... Stevie Ray Vaughan, then Miles Davis and Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Jim Hall, Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, and then at the same time..Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix etc…
JL: Any tips for other independent artists consumed by the hustle, who also have families?
GG: Christ… practice when you can, write when you can, and try to learn how to function on no sleep! Once I had kids I got really good at just working when there was an hour available… before kids, I was pretty focused but would waste a lot of time deciding on what to do etc… having kids made me not judge as much and just do because you can’t do both!
JL: What’s coming next for you?
GG: I’ve got a Solo tour around the Juno Awards in London and then I’ll be back playing a solo show at the China Cloud opening for Colin Cowan’s Elastic Stars on March 23rd… then I’m going to Germany for a jazz conference and a show in Berlin with Christian Lillinger, then a Marrow Tour to NYC, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal… then June Quartet tour and Haram tour out east in July!