Ken Wallis Chats With Brandon Isaak
- Ken Wallis
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Photo Credit: Ken Wallis.
Originally from the Yukon, now living in B.C., Brandon Isaak is a polished veteran of the Blues scene. His accolades include an abundance of nominations for prestigious blues awards but his main goal is to entertain. And entertain he does. He’s been touring for over 35 years and delivers his unique sound and lyrics with a passion that is readily apparent to audiences.
Ken Wallis interviewed Brandon Isaak for the radio show BluesSource Canada. The following are excerpts from that interview, edited and amended for brevity and clarity.
Ken Wallis
Brandon Isaac has a brand-new album out. It’s a great album and it has a very interesting title, Walkin' With The Blues, and joining us to tell us all about it is Brandon Isaak. Brandon, great seeing you again.
Brandon Isaak
Hey, Ken, great to see you too as well.
Ken Wallis
So tell us why did you get into the Blues in the first place.
Brandon Isaak
That's a good question, just listening to a lot of that old rock'n'roll as a kid, like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. You listen to that stuff and sooner or later you try to find out where that comes from and what those guys were listening to, and who some of these songs they're covering are actually written by, like Sonny Boy Williamson or whoever. And that's sort of how I came by the Blues and just sort of digging further back on some of the old classic 60s and 70's rock. It was just a natural thing for me to play the Blues. I played lots of styles, country and others and making a living wearing many hats. But Blues was always something that just kind of came natural to me, I felt anyways. I was just sort of kind of meant to play it, I thought.
Ken Wallis
Your album is a little bit of a departure. I've seen you play quite a few times, mostly acoustic and all of a sudden here comes a rockin’ Blues album and you're calling it an old-fashioned Blues record. What do you mean by that?
Brandon Isaak
I guess just a lot of those tunes are just pretty kind of old-fashioned Blues. Today there's a lot of Rock and Blues out there which I love too. And I think it's cool. I got one track on there that sounds like a Jimmy Reed tune. So I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel or make it really super hip for the kids or anything. I'm just paying tribute to that old cool style of the late 50s, 60s of Jimmy Reed on that particular tune. I'm trying to trying to keep that alive with some modern themes and lyrics and I do that with quite a few of those songs where I'm just trying to keep some of those old grooves alive.
Ken Wallis
The one song, Walkin' With The Blues, everybody seems to be quoting the four lines in there, but the line that that really struck me was you say you're going to share this heavy load. Is it a heavy load? Being a musician? Is that what you're talking about or is it the heavy load of keeping the Blues alive.
Brandon Isaak
The title Walkin' With The Blues isn't necessarily saying it's a dark, depressing road. What I mean when I wrote that song is more about it's just life, it's the journey. And I I have been walking with the Blues for a long time. Not that I'm depressed. I look at Blues as a half full glass. I do sing some down and out themes once in a while, but the majority of my music is happy and pleasant. That's the kind of Blues I like because it's just the human story, however you want to tell it, happy or sad.
Ken Wallis
You're a musician, but you're also a storyteller. And I think that album reflects a lot of that. What comes first when you're trying to write a song? Does the music come first or are the lyrics first?
Brandon Isaak
A little of both. It depends. Sometimes you know you'll get a catchy little riff, or again, you might be inspired by that Jimmy Reed sound and you start playing that. And you want to sing something a little more modern for the people to grab onto. So sometimes the music, sometimes the lyrics come to mind and you think, oh, what could I put with that? If it's kind of a heavy lyric, so maybe a minor chord would sort of reflect that sort of dark tone. Then you try clothing on the lyrics, you try different clothes. And what I mean by that is grooves, chords, tempos, all that, and you try to find a home for the for the lyric that fits right.
Ken Wallis
Tell us how this album was recorded and where it was recorded.
Brandon Isaak
It was recorded right here at my home. I just have a bunch of old ribbon microphones and other microphones too. But mostly I like to use ribbons. They're just kind of warm. And I just love the total quality of them. I tried to get all the sounds as organic and natural sounding as I could. The drums, I try not to over mic the drums. A lot of my favourite recordings, the drums are in the room, they're back there somewhere. It's not a mic on every single drum and high hat and symbol. Nothing wrong with that. Again, that's a really cool technique to make great music.
Ken Wallis
You also produced the album. Does that change any kind of perspective as you were going through the album and producing at the same time?
Brandon Isaak
Yeah, it means you got to sort of play and make sure it's sounding good at the same time, but you can do that. You just keep it simple. And when it's comfy you hit record and off you go. And when it's over, you hit stop. [LAUGHING]
Ken Wallis
Well, it's very enjoyable. I really encourage our have listeners out there to grab a hold of it. Where can they get the album?
Brandon Isaak
It's on all the streaming platforms, for one, but the best way to support an artist would be really to go to their website. Mine is Brandonisaak.ca, or Bandamp. That's the best way, because then you're actually putting a little money in the artist's pocket. But it's nice to have the music heard either way.
Ken Wallis
Well, that's for sure, but I always encourage people to buy, don't stream. And it's very important to keep musicians in the Blues alive. So I thank you for everything you've been doing to keep the Blues alive, and I hope to catch up again with you soon one of these days.
Brandon Isaak
And Ken, I appreciate what you do for the Blues and thank you.
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