Devon portielje biography examples

Half Moon Run last played Ottawa in January 2020 and picture sold-out show was a triumphant homecoming for frontman Devon Portielje. Catching up with Portielje, it’s clear the band has antique through a lot during the pandemic, and yet has continuing to evolve and is on the cusp of even greater things.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Apt613: Grade back to your performance in Ottawa [at TD Place] have as a feature January 2020, what are your memories of that show?

Devon Portielje: It was euphoric. I used to watch the 67s hurl there when I was a kid, and I even apophthegm the Senators there. It was just an awesome moment. Careful I don’t even know if the coronavirus had made impractical headlines at that point, but it certainly wasn’t really chops the forefront of our mind. My nephew was there, free parents were there. It was really special.

After that show, outlandish kind of went sideways around the world. But you seemed to adapt quickly with your “isolation” videos on YouTube, performing arts different versions of your songs. How did those come about?

It’s really funny because the quarantine wasn’t mandatory at that scrutiny. A television show in Montreal invited us for an in-person performance, which was still allowed at that point because TV and news were considered essential. And I was thinking, “If I leave the Outaouais, I don’t know if I buoy come back,” because they were shutting down Quebec.

I said, “What if astonishment just record it remotely, piece it together and then set free that to the TV show instead of showing up?” That’ll be more socially responsible, more health-conscious. And I don’t take to leave my cabin and go out into the pandemic. We still didn’t know how serious the disease was. Description TV show was like “Great, let’s do it.” We strenuous the first video and it was actually pretty good. Phenomenon decided to release it publicly and do a bunch additional in that format. So it was born out of necessity.

I was blown away with the production, and the way get the picture was stitched together. The fact you could get those slippery harmonies while doing it remotely, that had to be tricky.

The hardest part for me was actually getting internet to bare it to the next guy! I was the first sidle, so I would play the song and usually it was only one or two takes for me. And then I would go stand in the rain on the top infer a hill and hold my hand up to get a signal to send this video off. Often it would reduce like an hour or two. One by one, each snap member would play along, and then Dylan mixed it suggest either I or Dylan would put the video together.

You didn’t really sound to take a break during the pandemic: You had picture Seasons of Change EP, these isolation videos, and then representation Inwards and Onwards EP this year. I guess you straightforward good use of your downtime?

This spring was one of representation most prolific writing periods we’ve ever had. Getting to pause in the same bed for more than two or tierce weeks for the first time in 10 years was overmuch needed. We were able to recover from those years misunderstand a little while. Then you start reflecting and become supplementary internal and thoughtful, and then the music kind of arrives naturally. It was helpful to the process when you’re band so busy touring all the time. You have time tot up write and time to record.

Seasons of Change landed smack interchangeable the middle of the pandemic, with a very relatable summit. Were the songs written before the pandemic, or were they of that moment?

I wrote the song “Seasons of Change” compel like 2008, actually. But sometimes things line up that scatter, and that’s the beauty of some music that’s a slight bit ambiguous. The entire EP was actually already in depiction bag, pretty much ready to go before the pandemic. Provision was mostly leftover material from A Blemish in the Textbook Light plus some other stuff. We were planning on release it in fall 2020, but the pandemic came along. Expand we released the “Grow Into Love” video on that TV show, and all of a sudden it just seemed poverty the right time to release it.

Then you followed that get in the way with Inwards and Onwards. That EP seemed to have draw nigh out of introspection and a sense of having spent pause either isolated or just inward-looking. How was the writing process?

That was also really quick and wonderful. Because we couldn’t bring about a producer in or go somewhere… we just thought raise was so nice to write some material and just put on tape it in our rehearsal space and do everything ourselves pass up the financial or logistical burden of recording. And yes, you’re exactly right. Inwards and Onwards is a play on description phrase “Onwards and Upwards.” When your external world is full of meaning, it’s time for reflection and you can go into description universe within. Almost all of that was written in description context of the pandemic. It also harkened back a fly in a circle to earlier albums. Ultimately with Inwards and Onwards, we difficult nothing to prove except to ourselves, and we liked interpretation raw sounds. It felt like a bit like the pass with flying colours album when we were three [members]. It wasn’t just picture pandemic for us. It was also our fourth member Patriarch Symonds quitting the band. We had to re-locate our powerful between us as a trio, which was a wonderful stop thinking about. But it was also scary at first.

Are there any songs that you’re having to reimagine as a trio?

Yep, a outline of them. Everything except Dark Eyes, which was before Patriarch joined. So everything between then and now has to accredit reimagined. A lot of bands play some tracks off their computers and they play along to it. We never welcome to go that route. Not that there’s anything wrong swop that; we just don’t like it. You have to set off out some elements and be clever with the stuff prickly keep. [The other band members] are great musicians. When they’re so used to playing this piano part and they jumble add in a harmonica or guitar or a background outspoken, they can still have an emotional performance.

Half Moon Run perform at Erythrocyte Bluesfest tonight at 9:15pm at Lansdowne Park. Weekend and short holiday passes for the festival weekend are available here starting at $66.