“We’re playing 21 shows in 18 days,” says Lucas Stagg, on day four
of his eastern-Canadian tour with Busted Flat labelmate Paul MacLeod.
The two songwriters embarked on a similar tour this past October and
Stagg says it went so well that they decided to do it again, this time
in support of Stagg’s Great Big Gone and MacLeod’s new album,
Bright Eyes Fade. Though they met on Waterloo’s songwriter
scene, they got close on the road. “Until we were in the car together
for eight hours last time, we had spent five minutes together,” Stagg
says. “Now we’re really good friends.” They also share a common
appreciation of punk rock—Stagg refers to the previous day’s Joy
Division morning and Replacements afternoon.
The tour is taking Stagg and MacLeod off the
beaten track, to places like Picton, Tweed and Perth. “You’ve got to
play smaller cities,” Stagg says, citing the limitations of playing
only Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. Though Stagg now lives in Toronto
(with his girlfriend, singer/songwriter Tanya Philipovich), he grew up
in Kitchener, Ontario.
Southwestern Ontario is an important place
for MacLeod, who spent lots of time in Toronto while playing in The
Skydiggers, but calls Kitchener home. “I like where I live,” MacLeod
says. “And distancing myself from my family and the people I’m close to
would be a detriment to what I do.” MacLeod’s last album, Close and
Play (2000), was produced by (then lesser known) Hawksley Workman,
and caught the attention of Maple Music. “‘Broken Wing’—they loved
the song,” MacLeod says. He remains independently minded as he works on
completing his next recording. He also plans to pick a venue for a live
DVD performance. “Something close to home,” Macleod says. “And
something meaningful for an audience that helped get me started.”
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.
