(by CSP)
On July 16, 2024, I sat down with my fellow Heavy Herb member, Jinxz, for an interview we'll be sharing in two parts here on HeavyHerb.com. In this segment we discuss Jinxz's experience of being in Heavy Herb and what it's like creating new songs for the band.
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CSP: What’s the most challenging part about being in Heavy Herb?
Jinxz: Probably not being in the same area. Corey’s in Toronto and I’m in Kelowna. It’s a lot easier to hang out in person, but we make it work.
And then also not having enough time to dedicate to it. If we had more time to dedicate to it then we could achieve our goals faster with Heavy Herb and in a more consistent way, which would be great.
Then also not having the budget to support Heavy Herb. There’s a financial constraint, but we’re trying to work on that in several different ways.
I think it should grow naturally if people like it and want to support it, it’ll grow at that rate. And we’ll be here supporting it because we enjoy it. We’re just building the foundation one day at a time and we’re on our fifth song, “Turn Me Into Snow,” and then we’ll work on our next song, and then the next song, and it’ll be great.
CSP: Is there anything that we’re doing now that we weren’t doing in the earlier phases of Heavy Herb?
Jinxz: I think you’ve been working hard on trying to simplify the song writing process, especially because you’re the one working the Logic Pro. Getting the tracks and the elements organized in a really streamlined way and trying to build it into a really efficient process.
I think that’s a really interesting and unique direction that you’re moving Heavy Herb in because then we could make extra songs and we could produce more for people to listen to and express more thoughts and put out more of our energy. I think that’s something that we’re doing that we weren’t doing before.
I think up until now we’ve been the main stalk of a plant. We’ve just been kind of building up steadily. And now we’re putting out branches and stuff like that, which is something I think is really exciting.
Instead of before we were meeting once a week, we’re meeting two or three times a week these days. We’re trying to incorporate more Heavy Herb and less of regular life than ever before, which I think is the direction we’re both excited to move in. Then at some point you got 90% Heavy Herb and then 10% regular life and you just step off. That’s the goal I guess.
CSP: How would you describe Heavy Herb to someone who has never heard our music before?
Jinxz: It starts out a bit as an existential crisis in the narrative. That’s because you’re just thrown into this life and then you just start to realize some things and you freak out and are like “Screw it,” and jump out of the plane and dive into the ocean and you’re just not sure if you even exist.
It’s about fitness and making it through these crazy magical adventures and discovering more about the world as it constantly evolves.
CSP: Are there any musical styles you’d like to see Heavy Herb incorporate that haven’t been incorporated yet?
Jinxz: I think it’d be great to incorporate some Métis music. Some fiddle, you know? Or some of the Red River jig or something, you know? Like a remix of that, or something crazy?
CSP: (Throws head back) Oh my god. I don’t know any of that stuff.
Jinxz: Or some Ray St. Germain. I think that would be just cool. I think we even talked about one of those songs before and following the storyline of one of his songs, which would be cool too. Kind of modernize it for a younger audience or something. I don’t know.
CSP: It’s a good song, yeah, I know the one you’re talking about. Ray St. Germain.
Jinxz: Yeah, yeah, that’s fucking so cool. So, yeah. That’d be exciting.
CSP: Which Heavy Herb song was the easiest to make?
Jinxz: I feel like “Am I Flying Yet?” was the easiest song to make. It just came really naturally. We were hanging out together. I think that was a key part of it. We were vibing. Corey you were in Kelowna at your sister’s place and I’d just come over and chill. We just had this kind of pressure there and we just made it happen and it sounded great and it didn’t really change that much from its original recording til later.
And I remember we had that recording and then I have a recording from where I was just kind of riffing. And then I get a, “On the flight they’re playing!” It was some crazy recording. I was like, “What!?” And we just made it in a week or something, which is super cool. I would say that was probably the easiest one to make.
CSP: And then, by contrast, what song was the hardest to make?
Jinxz: For sure “Tropical Christmas,” I think. “Tropical Christmas” was really ambitious in the sense that I had a song recorded that we wanted to optimize and make a super polished version of. It was a complicated song with a lot of tiny details that were really important. As a result, the production of it got really out of hand constantly from what I hear Corey telling me.
I think it turned out really well at the end of the day. It sounds exactly what I imagined it sounding like, which is a testament to how much thought and energy went into taking the original version, which is available on Heavy Herb’s Soundcloud, to the final version, which is available on all streaming platforms.
You know what I’m saying? (Increases pitch of voice) You know what I’m saying?
