Oct. 13, 2010 - Issue #782 : Future Edmonton
Music Notes
Sean Burns
Thu, Oct 14 (9 pm)
"I've been doing it for 10 years already," the 26-year-old laughs. "My dad's a musician—he still is—and he was getting some calls for really shitty places in Ontario, and he would say, 'I'm not going to do it, but my son will.'
"So I'd get thrown out there, 16 years old, some of the worst places I've ever been, but it was really good, a real character builder," he continues. "You see some things you're probably not ready to see at that age, but I wouldn't change a thing."
Such an education lends itself to learning the ropes fast: working alongside veteran musicians from a young age taught him how to write songs that will win a room over, what to play and, most importantly, what not to do.
"I learned a lot of what not to do," he explains of the early gigging days. "We've never played for these rig guys in Alberta, who can be pretty rowdy. The guys I played with in Ontario wouldn't have known how to deal with them and would be pretty combative, whereas if you become their friend, they love to hang out and buy CDs."
Burns also takes the influences of his favourite artists—Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Tom Petty and classic country—and is a dedicated songwriter engaged in honouring his musical upbringing while honing his live show relentlessly.
"Most of these tunes I started writing last spring," Burns explains. "Everything is a true story, something that was observed, whether it was people or a gig I had, so it's weird, sometimes they come out bang, right away, and those ones seem to be the best.
"Other times I leave notes for myself and then get to it when I have some time and space. When you feel like writing, it's harder when you're conscious of it rather than just letting it come. So it all came out in a month."
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