Interview W/ Fraser Wayne

Photo credit: Alex Carre

Born and raised in rural Ontario, Fraser Wayne has spent the last decade carving out a distinctive voice within Canada's independent music scene. After making their mark in Montreal with garage rock outfit The Fuzzy Undertones, Wayne returned to Ontario, working on a farm while assembling a collective of Toronto rock veterans known as The Desert Eagles. The result is Follow The Darkness Into The Light, an evocative debut album via Good Gourd Records.

Drawing from Canadiana, folk-rock, gothic country and spaghetti western influences, the record explores grief, resilience and the enduring possibility of hope. Accompanied by an ambitious series of interconnected music videos culminating in a horror-inspired short film, the album represents Fraser Wayne's most expansive artistic statement to date.

We caught up with Fraser Wayne to discuss the record's deeper themes, revisiting older songs, horror cinema, queer storytelling and why healing is never a destination.

Follow The Darkness Into The Light feels like both a personal journey and a philosophical statement. What does the title mean to you today?

I feel like the title is an usher into the darkness, into the unknown, where we may find answers and insight. That being said, it is also akin to the imagery of a snake eating its own tail, because we have to relive this process over and over throughout our lives. There is no such thing as a "healed self" - only a constant journey of healing.

You've described grief and hope as "two sides of the same coin." How did that idea shape the songwriting across the album?

That idea actually shapes a lot of my songwriting, because I think that "two sides of the same coin" adage may be the only universal law that stays pretty much constant throughout a lifetime. I try to write honestly about my experiences, or the experiences of characters from books or movies that I love or relate to. Taking this approach has led me to the realization that I write a lot about grief, probably as a way to process. But grief is a hole you can get stuck in, and it can be hard to get out if you're not careful and not tending to your own garden. This is where the concept of hope becomes so important and illuminating to me. We need to keep the lantern of hope alive, or we will be eaten alive by grief. They are interconnected, always. I need to sprinkle hope into my songs, otherwise they would feel hopeless. I want my writing to be relatable, but I always want to inspire people to be better, and I want to share little glimmers of hope in an otherwise dark and confusing modern world.

This record pulls together songs written across different periods of your life. How did you make those different chapters feel like a cohesive album?

I am like 3-4 albums behind myself, strictly due to a lack of time and money. I would love to one day catch up to myself and be able to release songs as I write them, but life is expensive, and recording records is even more expensive. Farm work isn't making me rich by any means, and grant funding is a nightmare to wrap my head around because I prefer to create spontaneously when it feels right. Deadlines and planning scare the hell out of me haha. Hence being stuck in this limbo of trying to bring fresh songs into older albums and vice versa. I think I just follow the feelings of the songs, and try to bring a diversity of emotion and style. There isn't a set formula for it, other than trying to collect songs that make sense together. I try to make plans for albums, but they always end up shifting and morphing as I'm working on them. It's like uncovering something I didn't know was even there, and I guess that's how these songs found their way together.

You mention that some songs date back to your late teens, including "Painted Blue." What was it like revisiting and reimagining older material for this project?

I always knew I had to put Painted Blue on a proper record. I wrote that song the day after an old room mate in Ottawa taught me about the 12 bar blues haha. I think it very accurately captures the feeling of being lost and lonely and looking for friends in a new place, and that's kinda what my life has been like for the past 5-6 years. New starts, abrupt endings, lots of changes and moving pieces, looking for love and companionship. So it made sense to bring that one back and show it to the new band for this record. It almost feels like the backbone that the rest of the album rides along. Other older songs like Last Times In Tull came back from the dead due to the spooky subject matter of the lyrics, which make a nice sandwich between Walking Through The Woods and Down In The Grave for the short film! I definitely sifted through a lot of older material, but only chose a few songs that made sense with the newer stuff.

Looking back at the finished album, do you hear more of the person you were when the songs were written, or the person you are now?

I think the songs have evolved with me, and although some tunes bring back certain memories and feelings, I do feel like I hear more of the person I am now on this record. That being said - I am ready to move on to the next record cause some of these tunes have become difficult for me to play live. I feel emotions very intensely, so dredging up old relationships and yesterday's problems over and over again while I'm on tour has become a little destabilizing. The next record is slightly less personal, and leans more into mysticism and social issues, rather than stories that were so vividly a part of my life. But at the end of the day, the art is always a reflection of the artist's inner world, so it's pretty much impossible for me to separate myself from the songs.

The upcoming short film sounds like a mix of gothic western, horror, and country music storytelling. Why was it important to expand the album into a larger visual universe?

I have always felt the need to bring a visual element to my music. I missed the boat on film school, but I'm trying to slowly build a portfolio and get some attention in the film world, which is very alive and well in the city of Toronto. I love expanding on the feelings of the songs through film. It gives a new experience and new life to the music, and can guide the audience to key feelings in the songs. I have a deep love for horror movies, and I'm slowly but surely trying to incorporate the imagery I love into my music, album covers, poster art, promo content, etc in order to create a little universe of my own in this weird world where I often feel extremely out of place. We will be doing a screening of the full video series + short film at Eyesore Cinema in Toronto in late October! I will also be getting some custom VHS tapes made for the nerds!!

Nature imagery appears throughout your work. What draws you to landscapes, forests, and rural settings as storytelling tools?

I grew up wandering around in the forests and hills behind my folk's place out in Springwater, Ontario. From a young age, I have always held a deep appreciation and fondness for nature. I love going for walks in the woods. I love the rain, I love the sunshine. Lakes, rivers, trees, birds, bees. The natural world is something that is very alive and real and inspiring to me, and it has always held its place in my songwriting. I also love the writing of artists like Townes Van Zandt and Neil Young, and the early poetry of Walt Whitman, all of whom use nature, landscapes, forests, and water as poetic devices. It comes naturally at this point and I don't think about it too much.

Your music is rooted in emotional authenticity and often written from a queer perspective. How important is that perspective within the stories you tell?

I do try to write genderless songs for the most part. These stories could be about anyone, anywhere. That is done on purpose, so my generally queer leaning audience, can insert themselves into the stories and relate to them on their own terms. It's a small, but deliberate notion. Giving the songs breathing room outside the concept of a gender binary, allows them to be enjoyed by everyone, which is important to me in a world where being straight/cis is the norm, and queer people often don't see themselves in mainstream storytelling. Using terms such as "partner" or "them" or using animals or nature as metaphors for relationships allows a certain mystery to flow through the record.

Have you noticed changes in the country and roots music scene when it comes to representation and inclusivity?

Yes and no haha. There is definitely more acceptance for people like me in country music nowadays, and it feels like there is maybe a broader interest in what queer people have to say and the stories we tell. At the same time, I am watching North American governments actively stripping the LGBTQ+ community of human rights on a daily basis, so I know we can't remain stagnant on the illusion of progress. Country / folk music is such a wonderful way to learn about people, culture, hardships, daily life, social structures, etc. I would recommend to anyone who isn't queer to actively seek out queer stories when you are trying to decide what to listen to or what to watch. Learning to love us and understand us, even though we don't fit into the weird boxes of the straight world, is one step closer to the peace we all want to achieve. Is there more queer representation in country music these days? That's a tough one. Thanks to people like Orville Peck, Bobby Dove (love you), Melissa Carper, Creekbed Carter, and many other lovely songwriters, we definitely do have a lot more visibility! It feels like folks are more accepting and curious about us these days? Maybe? It's hard to tell, cause just when I'm getting my hopes up, I overhear some nasty things at the table next to me which make me want to go home and never leave the house again… Country music still has big time issues with homophobia, misogyny, and white nationalism.

What do you hope listeners discover about themselves while listening to Follow The Darkness Into The Light?

I hope you can release some of your bottled up pain and have a good cry! If you're into horror movies, you'll love side B of the record + the new short film coming out in October!! I hope you discover that no matter what you're going through, your life is valuable and there is always a way out of the darkness.

Follow Fraser Wayne on: Instagram / Facebook