written by Marko Jakob | 02.03.2022 |
Pix666: Hello Janick. Thank you for your time for this interview. How are you doing these days?
Janick: Thanks for having me! I’m doing good, a lot better than at the beginning of the year. I’m not here to complain about how hard life can get and shit, but let me just say that I’m happy to be out of the place I was in a few months ago and I truly hope wish I could tell everyone that might be in a dark place at the moment that it’s just temporary. I know everyone says that, and that’s what my mom would tell me when I was at my lowest and I was almost angry at her because I thought she couldn’t understand, but she was right.
It’s very hard to see the end when you’re stuck in it, but I’ve realized that time does heal you and for at some point I realized that I needed to rethink how I wanted to live my life and I also began taking antidepressants and going to therapy. It seems to be working for me, but I understand everyone is different, you’re the only person who knows what’s best for you but you have to put in the work in order to feel better, as hard as it might be.
Pix666: Janick, when exactly did you realise that you wanted to become a musician – how did it all start, who or what inspired you?
Janick: The first band I fell in love with was Linkin Park. I was like 9 or 10 I think and I remember me and my friends moshing in the living room to their “Live In Texas” DVD. But the band that really got me into playing music was Green Day. I remember seeing the music video for “American Idiot” on Much Music and instantly fell in love with them. I actually began being obsessed with Billie Joe.
My parants gave me tickets to go see them in 2005 and I remember just sitting there, not saying a single word, just being captivated by Billie Joe and I think the day after I started playing guitar and became the biggest Billie Joe wannabe for the next 2-3 years… I still am. I was only playing Green Day songs, I was watching live shows and was trying to mimic everything Billie Joe was doing.
Pix666: You’ve been on the road with Story Untold for many years now. What have been the most memorable moments with the band so far?
Janick: There’s so many but if I had to pick one it would be Warped Tour 2018. I remember we were so bummed out when they announced it was gonna be the last one because we knew we had no chance to be on it. Our manager at the time even called us when we were on the road to tell us that we had no chances to be on it. Then the next day we were driving to a show and I remember Jessy receiving a call from our manager and he asked him to put the phone on hands free and then gave us the news that we were gonna be on the whole thing. We were freaking out.
It was the hardest tour we ever did because we were 7 people in an 8 passenger van, with no drivers, so we had to drive ourselves to every city. We were the band that had the smallest vehicle on the tour, but it was definitely worth it money wise. We had so much fun on that tour, every show was insane and meeting everyone at the mercy table after every set was so fucking cool because we thought no-one would show up and most days we would end up taking pictures and talking to people for like 2 hours.
Pix666: A few days ago your new single ‚Don’t Fall In Love With Me‘ was released. What has been the reaction so far?
Janick: It’s been so good! Best reaction we’ve had since we put out “i luv that u hate me” with Kellin Quinn. Everyone seem to like it, I haven’t seen any bad comments about it which feels amazing. We love trying different things, but we felt like having a straight up pop punk song like that one would be cool. It also got added to some pretty big Spotify playlists, which always feels good. We’re dropping a new song every month this year and we can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve been working on.
Pix666: What topics do you sing about in your songs and how do they come about? Does your personal life influences the lyrics?
Janick: I always talk about personal stuff, wether it’s my struggles with life in general, not loving myself the way I should, my relationships, etc. I always have a special connection to the songs from other bands I can relate to and it’s really cool to see people say the same thing about the songs I write. They all come from a real place. When you see me in real life I like to have fun, make jokes and all that stuff, but I think it’s important for me to talk about real shit in my songs. I like to see them as my personal journal, just that it’s out there for everyone to hear. I don’t like writing happy songs, I always feel like they sound cheesy and it might sound weird but I think sad songs can actually make you feel better. At least that’s what it does for me.
Pix666: You‘ve been releasing a lot of singles lately. Is one reason to keep the fans regularly updated with new material in the time of the pandemic, since they can’t see you live at concerts? Will there nevertheless be an album from Story Untold in 2022?
Janick: We’re trying to keep ourselves busy the best we can! We haven’t played a show in 2 years and it’s driving us crazy, so the best thing we can do is put out songs. Everyone is bored and so are we. We’d rather release singles than put out an album, that way we always have new material to share with our fans instead of putting out 12 songs and then have to wait another 6-8 months before releasing something. It’s a win win in my opinion.
Pix666: Is there a reason why you stopped working with Hopeless Records?
Janick: I think it was a mutual decision. We wanted to do things differently and I think they were not really on board with the direction we wanted to take, which is fine. We’re very thankful for everything they did for us and for taking a chance on us. But I think right now we have the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want, which is amazing.
Pix666: How is the situation around Covid in Canada at the moment? Do you think there is a chance of concerts in the near future?
Janick: I don’t really want talk about it… It’s kind of a mess and I don’t really follow the news because it pisses me off and I don’t really understand the government’s decisions… BUT we have a show on April 4th in Montreal opening for Kennyhoopla, which is fucking sick. It’s gonna be our first show in 2 years. We’re probably gonna suck a lot.
Pix666: Do you know where most of your listeners come from? Do you look at Spotify and YouTube statistics?
Janick: It’s kinda weird because we’re from Montreal, Canada, and you’d think that most of our plays would come from Canada, but in reality Canada is like 4th on the list. We have the most streams in the US, UK and I think Germany, which is fucking cool in my opinion. It’s also very hard for a band like us to get some recognition in Quebec, because it’s a french province and since we don’t sing in french, radios won’t play our songs and it’s also harder to get on festivals and shit.
Pix666: Would you rather have been a musician in the ’80s and ’90s, or do you feel right at home in this millennium with social media and all that stuff?
Janick: I would’ve loved to be a band in both the 80s and 90s. The 80s for the sex, drugs and rock n roll lifestyle, the 90s for all the new alternative wave. I think we live in a time where there’s so many bands and artists that are good. We have access to so much music on Spotify. Sometimes a song I’ve never heard before starts playing and I look at the band and they have like 5 million monthly listeners. That’s insane to me. It makes it a harder in a way, but at the same time it’s very cool that some dude in his bedroom can make a song and get millions of streams online.
Pix666: If you had one wish, which artist/band would you like to go on tour with?
Janick: Celine Dion
Pix666: Janick, you have done a lot of great acoustic covers of bands from different genres in the past. What are your personal three favourite covers?
Janick: I really enjoy doing acoustic covers of Bring Me The Horizon. I love Oli Sykes lyrics and I think playing the song on the acoustic guitar gives the songs a whole new vibe and I just love singing their songs. Green Day songs are also easy to play and sing. I also love playing acoustic covers of pop songs. One of my favourite one to play is “Hold It Against Me” by Britney Spears.
Pix666: As a musician, you certainly spend most of your time creating music – but what else do you do in your free time when you want to get your mind off things – are there any interesting hobbies that you pursue?
Janick: I work at a liquor store haha! And to be honest I don’t do much. I’m boring. When I have free time I mostly watch stupid or educational YouTube videos, listen to music, hang out with friends (well I used to 2 years ago), I also like training and going on bike rides.
Pix666: Do you have any other news that you would like to share with the fans?
Janick: I might dye my hair green this year. But for real tho, new song out every month this year, keep an eye out for our super high budget music videos.
Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting answers – good luck for the future and stay healthy!!!
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