Jun 18, 2020
Mark interviews Ashley Joanisse, a Canadian Country
Singer-Songwriter who writes songs about politics, love, and
life.
Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent
episodes, welcomes new patron Krista D. Ball, thanks patrons,
and reads a word from this episode's sponsor, Findaway Voices.
You can learn more about how
you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems
around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
In his personal update, Mark shares a new StoryBundle that he is
a part of, which launched on June 18, 2020, as well as a pair of
videos he recently released focusing on how to pronounce his last
name.
In their conversation, Ashley and Mark talk about:
- Where Ashley's love of music first started
- The fact that Ashley always payed close attention to the lyrics
of the songs she listened to
- The strong desire to write her own music rather than cover
someone else's songs
- The little journey that Ashley kept since she was about
thirteen years old, constantly jotting down poems, notes, song
lyrics, and other things that inspired her
- Writing a chorus that might stay in the journal for several
years before the lyrics for the rest of the song came to her
- Ashley's introduction to music in the 8th grade, and first
learning how to play chords on the guitar
- Playing by ear - she has not yet learned how to read music
- The first guitar class Ashley was in where the instructor laid
out a rule that nobody was allowed to play "Smoke on the
Water"
- The very first song that Ashley nailed, which was "Outsider" by
Taylor Swift
- How Mark learned about Ashley when she was putting out a
collaborative call for people to submit video clips for a
forthcoming video release
- Ashley's first single, "Hey Bartender!"
- How the song reminds Mark of a classic tune like "Piano Man"
from Billy Joel
- The way that the music video was partially inspired by the
clips Ashley received from friends and strangers
- How "Hey Bartender" was written and recorded two years ago and
was produced about one year previously and the depression and
circumstances that delayed the release
- The way that the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic inspired her
out of the funk she had been stuck within
- The logistics of how Ashley created the video for "Hey
Bartender" completely on her own
- How Ashley pulled off a video where she played two different
characters (bartender and patron) in the same shot (and the way she
learned how to do it)
- The difficulty for an artist when you put something out and you
get virtually no response to the effort (something that is common
for writers, musicians and other artists)
- (A little mix up where Mark's Google device starts playing a
song)
- Ashley's latest song, titled "American Dream" which is a song
inspired by tweets from the 45h president of the United States
- How this song allows her to express something she feels so
intensely and how listening to the song can perhaps help others who
feel the same way
- The way that "American Dream" is like the Arkells song
"People's Champ" in that it's a powerful and catchy song, but
there's an underlying meaning that some listeners might not
actually pick up on
- How Ashley felt so strongly about releasing this song that she
went out and bought professional equipment to produce it
- The mechanics of how Ashley recorded the song and produced the
video for "American Dream"
- Why it's important to actually sing instead of lip syncing when
you're trying to lip sync to an audio track for a music video
- Mark's impression of how bad the lip syncing on Grease 2
was
- The way that feedback from her two recent releases has further
inspired her to want to continue to write and record more
songs
- The irony of two negative things (a global pandemic and a
narcissistic president who feeds on ignorance, fear, and lies) that
inspired art, and got Ashley out of the depression she had been
in
- Why Taylor Swift is a major influence on Ashley
- The advice that Ashley would give to her younger self
- And more . . .
After the interview, Mark reflects on two of the things Ashley
spoke about. The idea that if you stop, you'll never ever write
that song that might move people, and how writing and music is a
way to allow people to have a voice, to say things they are
thinking and feeling about, which can empower writers/musicians and
readers/listeners.
Links of Interest:
Ashley Joanisse is a Canadian Country Singer-Songwriter who
writes songs about politics, love, and life. She is an activist for
human rights, and feels that we need to take a stand against hate
and injustice anytime we can!
Ashley has always had an interest in music since she was a
little girl and her passions remain music and writing. Ashley grew
up in Mattawa, Ontario a very small that helped her to become who
she is today; just a small town girl living in a lonely world.
The introductory, end, and bumper music
for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by
Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and
is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0