The Globe and Mail - 22.02.2020

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R8 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY,FEBRUARY22,2020

O

n her press bio, Sarah

Harmer is described as a

platinum-selling singer-

songwriter and environmental

activist. When it’s mentioned to

her that the status puts her one

up on someone such as David Su-

zuki, the Juno-winning artist

laughs off the compliment. “I

haven’t been nominated for

Greatest Canadian,” she says. Fair

enough, but the esteemed scien-

tist Suzuki hasn’t the 49-year-

old’s melodist gift for willowy

folk rock and poignant, tuneful

introspection. From her home

outside Kingston, Harmer spoke

to The Globe and Mail about

hockey, the Tragically Hip’s Gord

Downie and her first album in 10

years,Are You Gone.

Ifyouknewyou’dbeaskedover

andoveragainaboutthebiggap

inyourdiscography,wouldyou

haveputoutanalbumsooner?

I don’t think so. It was kind of

hard to light a fire under me. I’m

not sure if even the pain of the

reoccurring question would have

sped things up. As time went on, I

was feeling more pressure. Just

the self-inflected voices in my

head.

Whatwerethevoicessaying?

They were asking, “Are you going

to do this? Are you going to make

the difficult creative decisions?

Are you going to dive in, or are

you just going to continue to

walk away and do the easy stuff?”

Part of the issue was committing

to how I wanted the songs to

sound. To get them in a shareable

form, there’s a bunch of steps. In

the end, I think the album came

out when it was ready.

Twentyyearsagoyoureleased

thealbumYouWereHere.That

titlemakesmethinkofatime

capsulethatyoumightopeninthe

future.Wereyouthinkingthat,

backthen?

I did need to listen to that record

again. We issued my albums on

vinyl for the first time recently. I

can remember making that al-

bum really clearly. I wrote the

songYou Were Hereabout my

friend Joe Chithalen, who was the

first Weeping Tile bass player and

a dear friend. He died while on

tour with the Mahones because

of a peanut allergy. He was such a

huge presence. He left a big flag

in the ground.

Speakingofalostpresence,can

wetalkaboutyourlatefriend

GordDownie?

Yes, of course.

ThesongWhatIWastoYou,on

thenewalbum,it’sabouthim?

For the most part, yes. The first

line was written for another

friend of mine, Phil, who I played

hockey with. He also died young

from an illness. So, I had the mel-

ody and the first two lines for a

long time before Gord was diag-

nosed. I ended up coming back to

the song, and wrote the rest of it

about Gord. It was while he was

still alive, looking back to him be-

ing a big brother when I was at

school.

There’saverseaboutthat,right?

Wherehetellsyou,“Iftheytell

youthisisthebesttimeofyour

life,don’tletitgetyoudown.”His

wisdomcomesthrough.

Yeah. It was great. He knew I had

been playing in the Saddletramps

in Toronto, in a band with guys

five years older than me. And

then, here I was going to frosh

week at Queen’s. The whole goal

of that week is to make you feel

that you’re nothing. I thought,

“What the ...” So, Gord and his

girlfriend at the time took me out

for a drink and said what I wrote

in the song, which was basically

“Don’t worry, you’ll get through

this. For some people, this is the

pinnacle of what they’ve experi-

enced so far in life.” Gord knew

that wasn’t the case with me. He

told me to just just brave my way

through it. It really stuck with

me. I’m glad it made it into the

song.

Youmentionedhockey.Areyou

participatinginthisyear’sJuno

Cup?

Not this year. I believe I was the

first woman to play in the Juno

Cup. I’m not much of a hockey

player, though I’m a good skater.

A few years ago, I played pick-up

games with some bartenders and

musicians here in Kingston. And

over on Wolfe Island, there’s a

nice outdoor rink. I’ve played

there for the Lake Ontario Cup,

on the Waterkeeper team. But

they accept anybody.

Who’sthebesthockey-playing

musicianyou’veeverseen?

Jesse Ruddock, a goalie from

Guelph, Ont. Her stage name is

Koko Bonaparte. She got a schol-

arship to play at Harvard. People

talk about [Blue Rodeo’s] Jim

Cuddy and [the Rheostatics’s]

Dave Bidini. But I would say she’s

the best.

Bidinihasgoneonrecordassay-

ingthatLawrenceGowanisthe

besthockey-playingmusician.But

I’msurehe’llbegladyoumen-

tionedhim.

I didn’t, really. I said other people

have mentioned Dave. I never

played with Lawrence Gowan. I

didn’t know he was a hockey star.

So, for me, it’s Koko Bonaparte.

SarahHarmerovercomesthevoicesinherhead

Thesinger-songwritertalksaboutGordDownie,hockeyandwhatittooktocreateherfirstalbuminadecade

SarahHarmer,seeninTorontoonFeb.4,saysshe’sheardthetalkaboutJimCuddyandDaveBidiniasthe
besthockey-playingmusicians,butforhermoneyit’sKokoBonaparte.JENNIFERROBERTS/THEGLOBEANDMAIL

BRADWHEELER

[Thevoicesinmyhead]

wereasking,‘Areyou

goingtodothis?Are

yougoingtomakethe

difficultcreative

decisions?Areyou

goingtodivein,orare

youjustgoingto

continuetowalkaway

anddotheeasystuff?’

Partoftheissuewas

committingtohow

Iwantedthesongs

tosound.

SARAHHARMER

SINGER-SONGWRITER

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