SPILL FEATURE: EVERYONE REALLY BROUGHT THEIR GAME – A CONVERSATION WITH IAN BLURTON OF CHANGE OF HEART

EVERYONE REALLY BROUGHT THEIR GAME

A CONVERSATION WITH IAN BLURTON OF CHANGE OF HEART

Change Of Heart might not have reached the same level of popularity or success as some of their contemporaries, but their influence on alternative rock in Canada is undeniable. Their 1992 album Smile is considered by many to be their best work and contained their biggest hit, “There You Go”. After the release of 1997’s Steelteeth, Change Of Heart parted ways. Throughout the years, they have occasionally reunited, such as to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Smile. Change Of Heart is back with In The Wreckage, which was released on March 7. This is their first album in 27 years.

“I guess you can look at where we’re at as a little bit of wreckage as a society and standing in that and still trying to be positive and community oriented no matter what life is throwing at you,” Ian Blurton says about In The Wreckage. “.. being able to rise above the crap that we get fed a lot.”

It is quite rare for a band to get back together after over two decades and release new material. So, what exactly led to Change Of Heart releasing In The Wreckage? “Well, Rob [Taylor], the original bass player, left the band in ’92, and we’d talk a lot, hung out, and we played a few Change Of Heart shows and we both at the same time were like, ‘Do you want to just get together and see what might happen if we try writing a few songs?’” exclaims Burton. “Literally in like three weeks we had the whole record written and it just happened very organically and naturally… I think that once we got into the writing, there was a real natural flow to it, and that made it a lot easier. Also, I think once we decided to have every member of the band who’d been through the band from ’82 to ’97, it sort of made it a collective thing and took the pressure off Rob and I a bit.”

Blurton feels like In The Wreckage was a fresh start for Change Of Heart. “It was not the greatest breakup – Being in a band for 15 years, you can build up a lot of baggage, and I feel like because we started so much later, we got a fresh start, and knew we were friends again, not that Rob and I ever weren’t friends,” he reflects. “We were on a really friendly basis, and everyone really brought their game, and all the ex-members really tried to do their best for it.”

“20 Acres” opens the album strong and features some remarkable vocal harmonies. “Damon [Richardson], the drummer, sang those harmonies with Kathryn Rose and John Borra [bass],” states Blurton. “When you have three amazing singers, and you need some backups, you sort of don’t tell them what to do except for maybe ‘it should go here and then after that go nuts.’ One thing I’ve learned, at least as a producer, is, for example, if you’re hiring somebody to paint your house, you wouldn’t go in there and start painting with them, so if you’re hiring somebody to do backing vocals, let them do their job cause amazing things can happen cause a lot of people aren’t ‘let off their leashes.’ If you say to someone anything goes, then sometimes you get these incredible things because they’ve got all this pent-up thing ready to go, and they already have an idea that no one will let them use.”

PURCHASE IN THE WRECKAGE VIA BANDCAMP

“Dollar Signs” opens with some cool and groovy congas. “That’s our dearly departed Mike Armstrong, who was the percussionist of Change Of Heart,” says Blurton. “He passed away just as we were about to start recording. We took a few of his things off of other tracks and then manipulated them to fit.”

Most of what happened in the recording sessions happened spontaneously rather than having a more intentional approach to the songs. There were only a handful of instances in which the band had an idea musically that they really wanted to have on the record. “The piano part in “Day One”, I’ve had for probably 30 years, but everything else was just really spontaneous and off-the-cuff,” comments Blurton.

One thing that Blurton really tried to nail down on this record was the vocals. “I always thought the vocals were kind of rough on our records,” he comments. “I really want the vocals to be in tune more so than the past.” Another thing Change Of Heart wanted to do, Blurton highlights, is “Trying to bring the other instruments forward – “Day One” was on a list of ‘Let’s have a piano-based song’ and “In The Wreckage” there’s no guitar until the chorus.”

Change Of Heart was essentially a ‘90s Canadian alternative rock band from the ‘80s. Their influence on the alternative rock scene can be heard throughout the ‘90s. Furthermore, they were also hugely influential in the Canadian indie music scene. One thing that Blurton really cherishes during that time is being part of people’s first-ever concert experience. “We would go and play small towns all the time, and that was part of what we wanted to do,” smiles Blurton. “Every now and then, I will run into somebody who’s like, ‘Oh my God, you were like the first show I ever saw in like Timmins.’ That kind of stuff is really amazing. We did a tour with The Tragically Hip, and we were the first on, and I’ve had a lot of people over the years be like, ‘You’re the first band I ever saw. I went to see The Hip, and I was like, what is this band with the bad attitude? I love them.’”

Another thing that Blurton enjoyed during this time was all of the music he came across. “There were so many excellent bands,” he states. “Kittens, Shallow North Dakota, Eric’s Trip, I love them. What would be fascinating is a box set of that time period but being able to reference all the scenes because there were a lot of really good bands that maybe only put out one 7-inch, and they were fantastic, and then they disappeared, and now no one talks about them at all.”

Along with In The Wreckage, Blurton has other exciting news in regards to working again with Jay Anderson, drummer of Biblical. The pair of them make up the band UWUW. “Jay and I put out an EP maybe about two years ago, and now we’re playing our first show,” comments Blurton. “We Are Busy Bodies, the label, released their 200th record, Everything Is Possible by Peace Flag Ensemble. They’re having a 20-year anniversary. We’re playing that show. Got the two Change Of Heart shows. My current band, Future Now, we’re working on our next record. We have a bunch of stuff. We’re gonna have a Future Now EP hopefully some time in the summer. Just keep rolling along.”

Artist Links

Photo Credit: Michael Crusty