In one way, the band alias Maybe Smith suggests an awkward wavering, yet this is precisely what Maybe Smith is incapable of. The Saskatoon sensation’s principal chairperson, Colin Skrapek, is a genuinely modest artist, boasting songwriting ability and consistently engaging musical output that is anything but wavering or awkward.
The band name itself has always held a sort of mysterious fascination for those familiar with Colin and his music. While Colin claims that the name came “from nowhere in my head,” he found out later (as is common in most artistic naming cases these days) that there is an old gunslinger movie from 1958 called “Man or Gun”, whose title cowboy/vigilante character was titled “Maybe” Smith, the unknown hero. But the name came to Colin’s imagination first by default. “I was tired of (Maybe Smith’s former moniker) The Pleasure Principle,” Colin details. “I realized it was kind of stupid - and also, it’s the title of records by Janet Jackson and Gary Numan!” It is then perhaps not completely outside coincidence that Colin appeared on Canada’s music radar as a nondescript musician who wanders the wide, untamed fields of music writing and production alone; a solitary figure, with chords ready to be amplified. Colin says, “I work best in the solitary.” The well-spoken, bespectacled twenty-something explains that once he’d found out about his older, unknown vigilante counterpart, “I managed to procure a VHS copy from some obscure website. I was really into spaghetti westerns, and I was really excited to see this gunslinger - he really appealed to me.”
Since taking up the piano at age eight, Colin has not looked away from his musical pursuits. Maybe Smith’s increasingly impressive discography and growing national interest is all the more ‘wowing’ in that Colin essentially plays all the roles in the band - from songwriting to recording, from performing to the “licking of envelopes” and mailing of press kits. The only tasks Colin isn’t personally responsible for are his album artwork (for the last few projects he’s worked with local friend and artist, Todd Gronsdahl), and the album mastering, administered by another prominent local musician, Joel Grundahl. Colin personifies indie rock’s DIY ethic. In fact, prominent radio host, CBC’s Grant Lawrence, has declared Maybe Smith “Canada’s best-kept musical secret.”
The Session gladly holds this interview at Amigos Cantina (nominated for Live Music Venue of the Year, WCMAs 2008 and CBC Radio 3 Venue of the Year Award 2009), without question Maybe Smith’s homebase. He is not only a success story given the almost absurd odds of being recognized in today’s flooded musical world, but is also an inspiration for other local artists attempting to be recognized as legitimate with little outside help or support.
Luckily, Maybe Smith’s modesty is kept and contained only in Colin’s interview responses, and is by no means reflective of this local genius’ dazzling musical abilities - even if he self-proclaims “stealing” from other artists. Any closeted or refrained personal hypes are inversely revealed in the exuberance and celebratory nature of his music, which traverses different styles through different albums. “Nardwuar will have a copy,” Colin laughs, speaking of one of the first Maybe Smith albums titled Rogue Music (which apparently only Colin himself has listened to). He recalls that he simply began experimenting, remembering that he asked himself, “Why don’t I just try singing over this stuff and see what happens?” Maybe Smith’s earlier work, like 2003’s One for None, reveals a heavy, noisier electro/pop feel, while newer albums such as the much-lauded 2007 breakthrough album Animals & Architects, is more engaged in rock n’ roll elements. Arguably, Maybe Smith’s latest opus, Another Murder in the Morning, exercises a cornucopia of all Colin’s past works, and present musical influences.
Colin explains, “When I started, it was all sampled-based music.” He continues, “Each album has gotten better - technically speaking. There was no one I could bounce ideas off of, and I enjoyed the solitary aspect. I liked pushing buttons and goofing around, and thought I was making music that would only be appealing to me. I didn’t really care if anyone else was into the songs, because I liked them.” Regarding his latest release, which is distributed nationwide through MapleMusic and online through Maybe Smith’s DIY label, Sir, Handsome Records, he cites a variety of muses - namely the contemporarily influential Animal Collective (although Colin specifies that he focused on their earlier work), the 1960s teen/pop crooners Gary Lewis & the Playboys, some older Flaming Lips guitar interludes, and fair doses of both 1980s punk/dance trailblazers Sonic Youth and New Order. “My (influences) definitely run the
gamut - they certainly don’t make sense on paper, but they do in my head,” he says; “On the press release for the new album, I decided to list all the bands I ripped off. I might as well admit right off the bat who I’m stealing from. Anyone who claims they’re not stealing from other people is a liar.”
Fans of Another Murder in the Morning might be completely surprised (if not awed) that while the album retains a terrific, organic drum sound, there is actually no live drumming on the album - it was produced and sampled synthetically. Colin ascribes his processes as a painstaking amount of trial and error, stating, ”I enjoyed the challenge of creating a real drum sound through synthetic means.” He further reveals, “I can’t drum myself,” which is a true head-scratcher given the album’s rhythmic affinity. “When I started, I used a (PC-based) looping station called Acid, which was really taken seriously, and mostly used by techno DJs. Every album up until Second Best Death was recorded on it.” For Another Murder in the Morning, Colin switched to Logic, an Apple-based program considered an equivalent to ProTools.
Given Colin’s experimental nature with sampling and plug-noodling, he admits that his has “always been a recording project first - which is why the live process has always been tricky for me. When I began recording, I never imagine, ‘How would I reproduce this live?’ But after I recorded Animals & Architects, I realized that this was a record that could only be performed with a band - it’s a more traditional rock album, and (so) I got a band together for that. It’s been great having that solid live band aspect, since it also influenced the sounds on the new record. Unorthodox to the typical recording process, Colin adds, “I usually don’t record demos of songs; I’ll play them over a hundred times and if I remember (the bit), I figure that means it’s worthwhile, and I’ll burn it into my memory- if it’s not, then I figure it’s crap and it wasn’t worth sticking around. I always wish for happy accidents.”
Apparently, Colin has an inherently lazy recording process: “A lot of the vocals are recorded in one or two takes…it’s nice to have something really human on the record, with all its thoughts and problems.” On the other hand, he says regarding the songs as a unit, “I spend a ridiculous amount of time on it; I get obsessive about it in weird ways…I’ll listen to a song a thousand times, and it’s really hard for me to let go of something because I have to tweak it indefinitely - maybe if I just add another bit of reverb here, twiddling levels up and down - sometimes I just have to slap myself.” With regards to a particular sonic path Colin follows for his records, he states, “I have a pretty clear vision. It’s pretty easy to stay on course.” He chuckles, “I’ve put out seven albums that way, and I wouldn’t mind trying something else out next time.” The Session mentions Maybe Smith’s production work on friend and popular progressive hip-hop artist soso’s latest album, Tinfoil on the Windows. Colin reveals this was a double-solitary process, in order to boost efficiency and productivity: “He’s the same way (as me), and works by himself - we were both just comfortable that way.”
Colin reflects, “I’ve always been happy with each record I’ve put out. After a month or so, there’s things I end up wanting to change, but it really doesn’t upset me - I’ve been pretty close to what I set out to achieve.” Colin states his happiness with the current, solid band lineup, which includes prominent local musicians from varying groups such as Steve Reed (bass, sampler, vocals) and Zach Low (guitar) from Carbon Dating Service, Old Joe & the Truth Hurt’s Joey Lorer (percussion, synth, vocals), The Fjords’/Pearson's Jeff Pederson (drums), and Colin on lead guitar and vocals.
Maybe Smith’s endearing nature certainly has a lot to do with his endearing Canadian-ized lyricism: referring to the latest album title (Another Murder in the Morning), he says, “You write what you know, and I know what it’s like walking to work in the wintertime.” He continues, “Waking up when it’s pitch black outside, I don’t see it as negative; it’s just my environment and it permeates what I do. I like writing about here, since I like living in Saskatoon. People have asked me why I don’t move away, but I think it’s a silly question. That’s not the reason why I plugged the microphone into the computer for the first time. It was just curiosity, which is what still drives each record - curiosity to see what I can do, and to see what makes me smile. Locations are irrelevant. I put out each album not knowing if it will be well-received, although I hope it is. I don’t expect to sell a lot of records, but each record has sold better than the last, so there’s an organic progression to it. I don’t worry about the commercial side of things too much, because that’s boring, it’s just not fun. Each album’s been released in the same way - I still stuff all the envelopes, and it’s great to see each new album gain momentum without me having to shove the music down people’s throats.”
Colin is much more satisfied putting out music this way, rather than in any contemporary marketing/business sense. He would rather the listener ‘discover’ it, and then like it. “Which is how it’s been, and I’m happy to keep it that way.” As an afterthought, he adds, “I know it’s not supposed to be that way, but who in the music business makes money anyway?” Spoken by one who cares more about the point than the profit.
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