When the times get tough, artists often find themselves in the most creative head space. This was also the case last year for The Honest Heart Collective front man Ryan MacDonald.
The band’s debut album ‘Liar’s Club’ had been released in 2015 and was hugely inspired by MacDonald’s stay in Ottawa while attending college. The Honest Heart Collective even went on to perform the legendary Ottawa music venue Zaphod Beebelbrox’s last show ever.
Year later MacDonald was going through a hard time in his personal life and decided to seek help.
“I found myself in a very interesting situation and I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it so, I started seeing a therapist. One day we were talking and he goes, “you know the root of your anxiety is you are not allowing yourself your grief rights”, and as soon as he dropped that phrase, everything kinda snapped into perspective.” MacDonald said. “I realized it’s ok not to be ok, and that we are not going to be ok for our entire lives. You just got to ride those waves.”
He admits the experience was a huge part of drawing the inspiration for the band’s second full length album ‘Grief Rights’, released in May this year. MacDonald also felt lyrically he wanted to tell a lot more stories people could relate to, so he went on to add actual characters on the songs and named them.
“It was something I always thought was a bit cheesy, but when I started getting super into Springsteen, it was something that was his thing, and I kinda adapted it and made it a part of what I do as far the lyrics and songwriting goes.” He admitted. “It was all definitely a part of that self-indulgent, self-therapy that I was able to get while recording this album. I haven’t’ really yet quite figured out all the answers, I think nobody ever really does, but I’m on my way there.”
The Honest Heart Collective has recorded all their material at their own studio, Lionheart Studios in Thunder Bay, where all the band members have their roots, but for ‘Grief Rights’ they decided to work with two different producers to get a fresh perspective on the album.
The first three songs on the record were produced by Jay Ruston, who is known from working with heavier bands such as Stone Sour, Anthrax, and Steel Panther, and finished the rest of the record with a Toronto producer Derek Hoffman (The Flatliners, Silverstein, The Elwins).
“The record really started to come together when we started working with Derek. We saw it as more and more as a whole, and when he ended up mixing the entire record, it just worked out. Sonically this album sounds bigger than anything we’ve ever done before. We were always unable to capture the energy and the moments of the live shows, so our goal with ‘Grief Rights’ was to finally capture that sound”, MacDonald said. “I loved working with both Jay and Derek and I got to learn so much more about recording and producing, and I feel like that has made me a better songwriter.”
The band’s Facebook page lists songwriters who have most influenced the band, such as Chuck Ragan, Brian Fallon, and Frank Turner, which may come as a surprise to some considering the band’s sound is very much a combination of pop punk and indie rock.
“Our songwriting is a sentiment of those folky songwriters, and our sound, demeanor and way we are on stage is from a background of listening to punk and metal bands.” MacDonald said. “We get to package it however we want to package it and that’s what makes The Honest Heart Collective. It’s more so a collection of sounds than just a collective of members.”
MacDonald says living in a small Northern town, finding himself almost isolated at times, has also contributed to the band’s music significantly. Whereas outdoorsy people may find Thunder Bay exciting, MacDonald, his brother and other band mates found themselves killing time writing music and playing in bands ever since before their teens.
Even though the darkness of winter may sometimes inspire more melancholic tunes, MacDonald says it does not always have to be the personal tragedies that birth the songs.
“Sometimes you can get pigeonholed, but for me it’s always a little easier because I feel like I can always find inspiration through stories and things and other hardships. There’s a song on this record called ‘Strike Sound’, which is a story about when my dad had just had me and was going on strike, which was a part of the biggest labour strike in the history of the country.” He said. “There’s always something to write about, you just have to go out and find it.”
The Honest Heart Collective are performing with Fast Romantics and Jacquie Neville on Friday, November 30th at The Observatory at Algonquin College. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased here.
By Laura Collins
