{"id":3486,"date":"2011-08-19T00:16:10","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T07:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3486"},"modified":"2011-08-19T00:17:02","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T07:17:02","slug":"ron-sexsmith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/ron-sexsmith\/","title":{"rendered":"RON SEXSMITH"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

RON SEXSMITH<\/h1>\n

Getting his career back with the help of an <\/strong>unlikely collaborator<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ron Sexsmith doesn\u2019t come\u00a0across as your typical rock star. Cherubic and looking perhaps half of his 47 years, he\u2019s notoriously shy and insecure. So what is this sensitive soul doing hanging around with Bob Rock, a guy best known for producing the hard-and-heavy likes of Metallica and M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce? \u201cWhen Bob came on board, I started to get excited again,\u201d Sexsmith recalls. \u201cI told my manager, \u2018We have to make this happen.\u2019 I just wanted to do it Bob\u2019s way\u2014whatever musicians, whatever studio.\u201d Rock came to produce Sexsmith\u2019s 11th and latest album, Long Player Late Bloomer<\/em>, after a chance meeting at the Canadian Juno awards. \u201cKnow any good producers?\u201d Sexsmith asked Rock, and the two were\u00a0off and running.<\/p>\n

Still, few expected a singer and songwriter with a love of pop music who embraces crooners like Bing Crosby, Harry Nilsson and Charlie Rich to find common ground with a producer whose r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is heavy on the metal. But this seemingly odd couple bonded over their mutual admiration for the Kinks, Deep Purple and other icons of \u201960s British rock. \u201cThat\u2019s where my head was,\u201d Sexsmith says. \u201cThe album is not all doom and gloom, because the songs are up-tempo. I like when that happens\u2014when the lyrics are at odds with the music and it creates that tension. Most of this record is very disillusioned, and yet it was cathartic. I felt that my career had gotten away from me, and I didn\u2019t know how\u00a0to get it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sexsmith knew what he was getting with Rock\u2014and it\u2019s precisely what he wanted. \u201cProducers at that level tend to make records that are slicker than some would like, almost airbrushed or something,\u201d he observes, \u201cbut that\u2019s exactly what I wanted. I felt the songs would benefit from that powerful production and bigger approach.\u201d Still, Sexsmith didn\u2019t exactly hand over full control of his music to his new collaborator. He remained scrupulously dedicated to making certain his songs would stand up well no matter what production was applied to them. \u201cI\u2019m obsessed with it,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to go into the studio unless I know I have good songs. I try to keep up the quality control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sexsmith has been hailed for the quality of his songwriting ever since the release of 1995\u2019s Ron Sexsmith<\/em>\u2014praise that he says only adds to his anxiety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put a lot of pressure on myself,\u201d he\u00a0admits. \u201cWhen the first album came out, I didn\u2019t know what to think. Because the label hated it at the time, I expected everyone would hate it\u2014so when the critics got on board with that first one, it put pressure on me. I\u2019ve tried to stay ahead of myself ever since, so when it comes time to make a record I\u2019m not scrambling trying to write. Because I haven\u2019t had a real successful album, I feel each album is my first all over again. I\u2019m a\u00a0work in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the release of Long Player Late Bloomer<\/em> was delayed by more than a year due to prospective record labels\u2019 hesitation. Sexsmith eventually elected to release it through his own Ronboy Rhymes imprint. \u201cWhen we were shopping the album, we were told it was too mainstream,\u201d he says. \u201cI was thinking it isn\u2019t mainstream compared to what\u2019s considered mainstream these days. But I come from a more melodic time. The music I liked had nice melodies, and that\u2019s\u00a0what I\u2019m trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Lee Zimmerman<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RON SEXSMITH Getting his career back with the help of an unlikely collaborator Ron Sexsmith doesn\u2019t come\u00a0across as your typical rock star. Cherubic and looking perhaps half of his 47 years, he\u2019s notoriously shy and insecure. So what is this sensitive soul doing hanging around with Bob Rock, a guy best known for producing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1807,970,2418],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3486"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3489,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3486\/revisions\/3489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}