Blog

When I first started in the music biz, I started reading Canadian Musician magazine. Every Canadian recording studio you walk into seems to have copies arms-length from their lavatory thrones or in a reception area.

I liked it because it wasn’t just focused on one aspect of the music industry. There were articles on live sound, recorded sound, vocals, guitars, drums, or even just the business in general. Some articles were geared towards newbies like me, and others were geared towards vets. And, it’s Canadian. It’s nice to learn about new local acts away from the towering shadow of the U.S. industry.

I learned a lot from reading the articles on Vocals, but as I gained more experience, I found myself skimming them (not to sound like a know-it-all) and focusing more on the stuff I know very little about (like everything else! Haha…)

So one day, while flipping through the magazine in my manager Mark’s office, I shot off my big mouth at the wrong time.

Jo3: It’s still my favourite magazine for everything else it has in there but I could probably write one of these Vocals articles, no problem.
Mark: Do it then.
Jo3: Hahaha…sure sure.
Mark: No seriously, you’ve said that before so put your money where your mouth is.

So there you have it. One innocent sentence leads me to spend countless hours writing an article for my favourite magazine.

It took a lot longer than I thought it would. The first draft was double the length. Had to lop it down quite a bit. Then I sent it out to a few singer-friends to make sure I didn’t write anything completely stupid. Check. Then I sent it to my friend Lois Plaunt who has 16 English degrees or something like that. Lois caught a few problems and then we were good to go.

Anyway, all’n’all it was fun. Kinda neat to be published in a magazine that I’ve loved reading for so many years.

Oh, by the way, for any singers out there, here it is http://essentialsmusic.com/images/CMOlivaArticle.jpg (If it’s too small to read on your screen, you can download it and then, I don’t know, figure out a way to increase the size.)