By Ken Wallis. Photo Credit: Ken Wallis.
Andre Bisson came from a small town in Ontario to Hamilton to attend Mohawk College’s Applied Music Program. Since those early days in music education, Andre has flourished into an accomplished vocalist, guitarist and composer with an impressive catalogue of albums. He’s been a professional musician for over 20 years and has toured across North America and Europe, thrilling audiences with his insightful music. Andre was the winner of the Blues & Roots Radio International Song Contest in 2022.
Ken Wallis interviewed Andre Bisson for the radio show BluesSource Canada. The following are transcripts from that interview, amended and edited for brevity and clarity.
Ken Wallis
Andre Bisson has a new album out. It's entitled Latchford and to tell us all about it is Andre Bisson. Andre thanks for coming on the show.
Andre Bisson
Thanks so much for having me.
Ken Wallis
So, tell us why the title Latchford?
Andre Bisson
The whole album is kind of, a concept about perspective and Latchford is really almost a metaphor of returning back to where you where you started. The song Latchford follows someone who's traveling basically across country and kind of contemplating their lives and the things that are happening and following a series of observations on their way back home. I kind of thought about myself being from a small town. That idea started originally as I was touring across Canada and driving through the Prairies, and I had a lot of time to think. I wanted a small town, but I needed something that had less syllables than where I was from. So, I just I literally Googled small towns in Canada and I stumbled across a few and when I hit Latchford, I just thought that that's such a great sounding title. It really just fitted the song and it was a real town in Ontario, I think with the population of 300. It really just fits the mark so that's where the title of the song comes from.
And you say the album is all about perspective. What do you mean by that?
Andre Bisson
Just kind of looking at our lives and realizing sometimes that it's not necessarily always the situations that are bad, it's how we approach them. If we change the way that we look at things, we realize how good our lives really are. It's not that we need to necessarily maybe move to a different city or even change a job or even change a relationship, but sometimes if we change the way we look at it we can appreciate everything that we have. Then internally we can make a better life for ourselves.
Ken Wallis
Do you see your style of music changing with this album?
Andre Bisson
I think it's always kind of moved in this direction. The more you write, you get more and more into your own sound. If I look back, after 10 albums you can see a progression. When you start out, you're kind of wanting just to sound more like the people you love, so you're trying to just emulate that sound because you love it so much. What I found with each album, I find a little bit more of my own originality or my own personality that starts kind of coming through and just figuring out how to really voice it in the way that makes sense to me. Each album has been evolving to this point of this album for sure.
Ken Wallis
What comes first, the music or the lyrics? How do you go about composing your songs?
Andre Bisson
I guess it's different for everyone. I read a lot of books and usually there’s a concept of some type, like say perspective or changing the way you look at something. That'll usually sit around in my head for a while. Sometimes it almost happens simultaneously but not together. The lyric kind of starts ruminating in my head and then basically the music becomes a soundtrack to what it is and I follow the story visually, kind of in my head. Then I think, what would be the music behind this story that's kind of happening. Sometimes I might have another idea that I've kind of worked on before, like a musical idea and it will fit with this, so and I kind of put the two together. But a lot of the times it comes out as I want to write a song about a topic, and I want to write a song using this musical style. Then thankfully they usually work together in the end.
Ken Wallis
You're well known for starting with a three-piece band, and then you've grown it into an 11 piece band on an album. What sparks that growth? Why do you decide to add extra instruments?
Andre Bisson
As I arrange every album, It kind of grows and once you learn about one thing, you go, okay, well let's try this next thing. It just comes from not being afraid just to try things and going like, well why not add strings, it’s not for just adding things. It’s really the song itself. There are certain dynamics or sounds that you want, but it’s definitely a learning process. I start small and then once I figure out how to arrange for say two horns, then we added five horns. So okay, now let's try some backing vocals and then let's try strings and then it kind of opens up to this whole thing. It becomes almost more orchestral, like a movie score that kind of backs up the story that follows.
And again, the album is entitled Latchford by Andre Bisson. Where can folks get a hold of the album?
The first two singles, Shake and Dusty Albums are released online right now on Apple music, Spotify, any streaming platforms. As well as on YouTube there's videos for those and then the full album release comes out on Friday September 15th.
Ken Wallis
Will you be having a CD release party?
Andre Bisson
Yeah, we have a few starting in November. We'll have one at the Westdale Theatre in Hamilton, November 3rd, and then we're at the Aelion Hall in London, November 10th, and then November 25th, we're at the River Run Centre in Guelph.
Ken Wallis
Well, it's a great album and I encourage everyone to grab a copy as soon as it comes out. Andre, thanks again for your time. It's been great chatting with you.
Andre Bisson
Thank you so much for the support.
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