Passion before a paycheque

Third time’s the charm with Aidan Knight, it seems.

The folk musician and I finally got the chance to talk about his musical influences and his latest tour after playing a lengthy game of phone tag due to miscommunications.

Knight tells me that while he’s excited about his upcoming tour dates, the lifestyle of a musician isn’t typical.

“There aren’t many people who understand it. It doesn’t make sense on paper, that’s for sure,” he tells me.

He said he’s grateful that he’s able to do a job he’s passionate about every day, while others aren’t as lucky.

“People in their 20’s have vast amounts of knowledge. When I look around, I see people are taking jobs or committing 60 per cent of their life to day jobs rather than their passion,” he said.

Knight’s latest album Small Reveal takes a look at Knight’s obvious love of music. This is an experimental album ranging from the sweet lullabies to crashing ballads.

Quite unusually, Knight tells me that comparisons between his music and the music of other bands is like having a passionate uncle.

“It’s kind of like the toughest uncle you’ve ever had — he was this brilliant, poetic mind who had a real appreciation for arts and creativity, but also drank hard at the bar, worked full-time and had really gnarly hands.”

The band is often compared to indie rock group the Constantines. Knight said when his idol Bryan Webb, the lead vocalist from the band, came to one of his shows in Winnipeg he was more than a little star-struck.

“The only thing I could think of to say was, ‘You play Guild guitars and I also play Guild guitars. Do you want to see it?’”

Talking to Knight over the phone, I found him to be a friendly, genuine guy in an abnormal situation, and he found much of the same talking to his idol.

“I felt really dumb about it because he seems like a very genuine, normal, just regular person, so I don’t know why I was building it up so much.” Knight said. “I remember there was about an hour where I struggled if I would go over and say hi.”

Aidan Knight plays the Grad Club on Saturday at 9 p.m.

Aidan Knight, Constantines, Interview

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