The Dementians

Toronto has always spawned some great bands and musicians, and now another from the city is starting to grab people’s attention. David Jacques is a songwriter/solo artist who does things his way so we wanted to know more at Rock Pulse and he has kindly agreed to share himself with us.

Thank you for allowing us to pry into your musical world David, firstly and simply, tell us about yourself and your musical upbringing.

David Jacques: Sure, thanks for having me.  Well, I grew up in small towns north of Toronto, my dad was an Anglican minister who had a love for music, as did my mom, and we all had music lessons as part of our upbringing. I started early, at age 5 with the violin and studied that for 10 years before choosing a way cooler instrument, classical guitar. Everything I do is for the ladies. But in my other universe, I was a total headbanger, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest,  Kiss were sorta the staple metalhead bands at the time and Canada had its own names like Triumph, April Wine and notably, Rush. Rush was definately a big influence.Eventually my family moved to Toronto and I got into University of Toronto's Music program, but by this point, I had heard more classical music than the average dude and I bailed in second year to live a more exciting life as a bicycle courier. I bought myself a four track and started writing tunes.Recording is an integral skill to making music so that became a necessary obsession and with electric drums and drum loops, if you play the guitar, you can be a self recording band. Why not? My autocracy is without challenge and nobody wants to play with me anyway. 

I think the name, The Dementians is pretty obvious but please could you tell us the meaning and why you chose it? 

Ya I was thinking dimensions as in multi-faceted and dementians as sort of the state of mind to achieve it. I'm not advocating anything here, oh no no, just the idea of forgetting limitations to achieve something different. I like to write in different styles, my take on them anyway, heavy tunes, mellow tunes, serious, comical whatever, of course this is only possible when you are independent, so why not?  The musician is still recognizable in the music.                  

 Listening to your music you are not the easiest to tag genre wise, which I like not being a fan of labelling artists, but how would you describe your sound to newcomers to your work?

David: Ya, it's like stuff that is good. Maybe an acquired taste ummm....it's just the best damn stuff I can come up with and I have experience. Trust me.

 Can you describe the writing process in creating your unique music?

David: Ya, I sometimes start with an acoustic guitar and words, words and an acoustic guitar, sometimes I lay down a riff with guitar, bass and drums and just think about melody and come up with words at the end. I try to map out the whole tune, beginning, middle, end before I get into sounds but sometimes the sounds influence the way the tune goes so... I just try to stay loose. Things have a way of coming together if you keep at it and in the mean time I try to remain flexible.

I read you produce around 10 songs in a year is that just how naturally it has worked out or you purposely have set it at that?

David: No there's no quota 10 would be nice but only if it's 10 good one's. I'm on track for that but rushing tunes can wreck them and I've scrapped a few...sucks. In fact, as I record more, I become aware of more, more things that take time to make things better. Fortunately my business and my wife have allowed me the time that it takes.

Do you involve others in any part of making your music and are you open to collaborations with others?

David: I am totally open to collaboration as long as everything goes my way. No, seriously, no one's an island, it's only to expedite the song that I do everything myself,  although it does do away with intercontroversy. My only chance on my own is to achieve a zen like state but my liver doesn't want to.

Who would you say are your influences in your musical journey and have maybe flavoured your sound today?

David: I would say classical music in general has influenced me for better and worse. It's vocabulary doesn't fit into popular music but the idea of consciously building up to a climax like a story and then resolving it makes good song writing sense. The precision that gives clarity and also exposes you is a good classical music ethic. On the other hand rules and intentions can stifle you. Some bands have certainly influenced me but I don't think I sound anything like them. I am always listening out to see where rock and roll is going and that influences me most.

You are getting a large number of plays on internet radio shows but can people see you live?

David: I must admit that shlepping to gigs ain't the rode I'm hoping to take to become known. In my opinion, music is consumed mostly non-live and the distribution means are there but I sure do love a good concert and if the demand rises I'll have no choice. In fact I would totally enjoy it if I could get permission from my wife.

What is next for The Dementians and where can people find your music?

David: Album coming out this spring, "Bullitz4Brains" three tracks of which can already be previewed at http://www.myspace.com/thedementians.You can download my stuff on itunes in Canada, U.S. EU and Japan, Reverbnation.com, Lastfm and Unsigned.com. Oh ya I'm also on Facebook.

Thanks for your time David, have you a last word or thought for the Rock Pulse readers?

David: Thanks so much for having me dude, I hope your readers enjoy my tunes and I never run out of ideas so stay tuned!

Check out The Dementians at the following links:

http://www.myspace.com/thedementians

http://www.facebook.com/thedementians
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/thedementians/id399226951

or tweet me @thedementians

Pete RingMaster

Copyrighted to RingMaster