Music: {allcanada} Sexsmith hopes to go mainstream

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

{allcanada} Sexsmith hopes to go mainstream

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Anybody watching the new Ron Sexsmith documentary, Love Shines, might think the Toronto pop-folk songsmith is ready to pack it in if his just-released 12th studio album Long Player, Late Bloomer doesn't provide long-awaited mainstream success.

And, well, they'd be half right.

Sexsmith, 47, says the film -- which debuts May 14 on HBO Canada -- just happened to catch him near rock bottom, when he was filled with anxiety about his future and performing live due to some weight gain.

He says he often feels he's at a career crossroads despite such famous fans as Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Daniel Lanois and Feist, who all sing his praises in Love Shines.

"I've thought that on many occasions and it's not just me," said Sexsmith at his local Starbucks on Queen Street West leading up to Thursday's Kingston, Ont., launch of his cross-Canada tour.

"I've heard Elton John say, 'Oh, I'm never making another record.' I was in a weird place because the last album (2008's Exit Strategy of the Soul), and tour, they really did my head in. I just felt kind of embarrassed like I was touring a dead album everywhere.

"Also, I was putting on a lot of weight and I didn't want anyone to look at me. I don't think I played a show on the last tour where I wasn't drunk even, not like sloppy, but I was just having anxiety issues. I didn't like how I felt. I kind of let myself go, sort of the fat Elvis stage. I wanted to give everyone their money back."

Still, Love Shines, which found Toronto filmmaker Douglas Arrowsmith following the songwriter around for about seven years, also captured a more optimistic Sexsmith as he recruited Winnipeg-born hard rock producer Bob Rock (Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Metallica) to produce Long Player, Late Bloomer, in what some people considered a surprise move.

It was actually another Canadian, Michael Buble, who suggested Rock when the two musicians were at a Junos party in Vancouver.

"It was Buble who told me that Bob had produced his record, or part of it anyway. I just got the idea in my head, 'Well, maybe I should reach out to him?' I knew that it would seem kind of like a sort of unlikely pairing, and that idea sort of appealed to me but it wasn't just some sort of stunt. I thought he would be great."

Sexsmith said he found Rock, who he was first impressed with in the Metallica documentary, Some Kind of Monster, a very calming, patient presence.

"He was just so easy to talk to," said Sexsmith. "And (my wife) Colleen even noticed when she saw me with Bob that he had a nice effect on me because I wasn't self-conscious and insecure and he's just a sweet guy. He's not a stressed out guy, yelling at people. I felt these songs, even before I thought of Bob, I thought there's something kind of epic about them, or that they would benefit from something bigger-sounding. And then when Bob told me he was into it, it was just like, my mood instantly shifted. I was like, 'Wow, he wants to work with me.' I was just really excited."

Love Shines ends with Warner Records in the U.S. rejecting Long Player, Late Bloomer, for a worldwide release but Sexsmith said he's ultimately happy with the deal he ended up with split between Warner Music Canada, U.S. indie label Thirty Tigers and Cooking Vinyl in the U.K.

Also, the new single Believe It When I See It is on heavy rotation on BBC2 radio, he's slated to appear on Jimmy Kimmel March 13, and Emmylou Harris just covered his Hard Bargain -- the title track for her new album due in April.

"I mean it was a little disappointing that we didn't get a Warner's situation (worldwide) but it wasn't devastating," said Sexsmith.

"When I put a record out, there is interest for it, in the people that follow my career. It's just trying to break out of that cult following."