Every time you write you sit down and you want to just reach out there into that indefinable ether of creativity and grab that gem. It takes energy, its hard to explain....Enter The Future.illroots.com: First off thank you for the interview, and sitting down with a nobody.[Laughs]
Colin: Hey man from one nobody to another.
illroots.com: Who is Colin Munroe?
Colin: Well I guess he’s probably the kid that you may have not noticed back in school, that kid that kind of kept to himself, you know had some ideas that he was working on in the corner. You know he decided that he had to get out of the small town and into the big city just to try out some of those ideas.
illroots.com: What do feel is your biggest asset that your bringing to music?
Colin: Well I like to be able to play in all the sorts of different fields musically and I feel like for the most part I’ve been able to do that and some sort of good response and you know respect in both sides of the musical arena. So I can think that that’s something that not everybody brings to the table. I actually don’t know too many people who have been able to do that. So if I could I would love to be able to record an album in the Pop/Rock side of things and then produce some people in the Hip-Hop side of things. Then maybe I’ll do an album with an R&B artist then who knows do a country album with an artist who knows and keep my feet in all sorts of arenas. So I can be the person that can do all that and not as a gimmick, you know, honestly, from the heart and the gut, and make it something that is real and do it everytime.
illroots.com: Okay so your life in one song what’s the name of the song?
Colin: The song is already written actually and it will be the title track from the album when its finally released and its called “Don’t Think Less of Me”.
illroots.com: Give me a little background on you.
Colin: I grew up in a little small town outside of Ottawa, which is the capital of Canada.
illroots.com: Okay okay I got an “A” in Geography so you know I’m up on the all the capitals and all that [Laughs]
Colin: [Laughs] Yea okay well you know not everybody is familiar with the cold north here so. I grew up really kind of not exposed to as much music as I would [have] liked. I had parents that were a little old fashioned and wanted to keep the house under tight control and I so I had to break down some barriers as I was getting older and get out the house and figure out the best place to pursue something musically. If I want to do anything in the big city, in Canada, that means Toronto. So I came to Toronto and just tried to get involved in the community here and like literally [I] just fell into the urban community here. It wasn’t what I was look for but the people in that community were so open to like you “he’s got some talented I don’t really care what he looks like or where he comes from but he’s got some talent so lets do work, lets put him in the studio”. So that’s really how I got my start and if it weren’t for that community and those people, those singer, emcees, those producer, I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now. After that its sort of like the rediscovery of all of the rock music that I grew up with and realizing that I really got into this music game because I loved to write songs and so I got back into that.
illroots.com: I know hip-hop right now is very stagnant and dry if you will, there’s very few people that are trying to do some change. Truthfully when I saw the video it was wild. What was one of the biggest influences of the Flashing Lights video.
lashing Lights
Colin: Well the video is really, I think, the visual representation of whats being expressed lyrically in the song itself. I guess a meditation on the constant feeling of trying to get forward with where your going and meeting obstacles and getting discouraged and every turn you can’t expect where its going to take. The victory aren’t always pretty and maybe the victory is just getting by and no glorious moment but that’s what has to happen.
illroots.com: Where do you think your going to be in 5 years from now, where do you expect to be?
Colin: Five years from now I would like to be a name that stands out and means something distinct. I don’t want to be that guy they say “Oh that was that guy with that rock album or that guy that did that gimmicky little thing”. I want to be that guy that is talked about and respected in the circles by the people that I respect and a name that the next generation can look up to and seek influence from. Just to do something different of what everyone expects of you because where you come from or what you look like.
illroots.com: Okay so you said you wanted to dabble in a lot of different genres give me one artist that you want to work with?
Colin: I would really like to work with this Spanish artist by the name of Bebel Gilberto and she got a lot of buzz in Brazil for doing this really really old style Brazilian music. That to me would be really cool to find out how to blend what she’s doing with something that’s a little more accessible to the pop world. Taking that classic old Brazilian stuff and making it new.
illroots.com: How did you come about Philip Sportel?[keep it locked for our interview with Philip in the very near future]
Colin: He is a guy that came to me through a mutual friend and said that I like your music I have some cool ideas visually lets see if we can work something out. The first time that we sat down in talked I could tell that he knows music and he has an amazing understanding of the connection between the visual image and music sound can be. You know its like any typical partnership you just know when it clicks you know that it clicks and if you keep walking down that road your going to hit some special stuff.
illroots.com: What would you say is the biggest process to write a song?
World of Pain
Colin: Feeling like its something that is completely special. As a songwriter, I’m sure all writers are different, but the ratio of magic to normal can be all over the place. Every time you write you sit down and you want to just reach out there into that indefinable ether of creativity and grab that gem. It takes energy, its hard to explain, its like putting yourself out to the universe and being vulnerable for it to plant something special in you and to do that everytime its tiring and it becomes draining and I can see why some writers get used to cashing it in. You can’t start to smell that in their writing you can start to taste it, it just doesn’t feel inspired anymore its reaching. To me it’s a draining process but I try to put myself through it to get something special.
illroots.com: One good book you recommend?
Colin: I would read this book that actually a lot of my album ended up being based on its called Narsis & Goldmund written by Herman Hef, this german writer from back in the day. He basically just tells this story about a kid who wants to experience life, make mistakes, do some stupid stuff, have adventures and some how find his place in the world. Its about him doing that basically and its really an amazing story and it brings to the realization that everyone of us is crafting our own story with our lives. You know it needs to have drama, it needs have some mistakes, its needs to have tragedy. There’s beauty within those tragic moments that if you have the right perspective you can sit back and look at your life. Ultimately you can sit back and say “Wow I’m crafting something that’s going to be worth telling”, Its not just you know I decided to this and then I decided to do this. You really cherish the scars just as much as those golden moments.
illroots.com: Very well put. Where you can we find Mr. Munroe.
Colin: There’s certainly stuff all over the web, myspace and other profile sites, nothing else is downloadable at the moment because we’re currently sorting out the situation with the record, I’ve got this great partnership with Dallas Austin now, he’s been really huge in getting us into the right offices, so we’re trying to sort the situation out.
illroots.com: Thanks a lot fam for everything.
Colin: No thank you guys for the opportunity, keep up all the good work.
Check out Colin.
