Episode 14 - Arts Everywhere - The "chill vibe" of Lo-Fi Bedroom Pop with Patrick Moon Bird

Get ready to be captivated by the intriguing and electrifying journey of Patrick Moonbird, as he takes us on a rollercoaster ride from his early musical beginnings to his current fascinating world of lo-fi bedroom pop. Patrick Moon Bird is an inspiring Indigenous musician, who began playing music at the age of nine, and has evolved into an established Saskatchewan musician, expressing his creativity through a genre called "Lo-Fi  Bedroom Pop". Patrick's resilience and passion shine through in his music. His sobriety and how his Indigenous roots have helped him stay strong through it all. 

With just an iPad, microphone, software , and the ability to play multiple instruments, Patrick has established himself as a leading voice of a very unique and "chill"  musical genre.

Listen to more of  Patrick's music here:  https://linktr.ee/PatrickMoonBird

Thank you to SaskCulture, SKArts, and Sask Lotteries for your generous support.

Visit our website: https://www.saskartsalliance.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saskartsalliance/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skartsalliance
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saskartsalliance/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@saskatchewanartsalliance57

STARTING SEASON 2, THEME MUSIC PROVIDED BY:
Patrick Moon Bird: https://linktr.ee/PatrickMoonBird
https://www.facebook.com/PatrickMoonBirdMusic/

Kevin Power: http://www.kevinpower.net/ The Saskscapes Podcast: https://saskscapes.buzzsprout.com/

Transcript

Kevin Power: 0:06

Your collective voice for the arts across Saskatchewan, this is Arts Everywhere, the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance podcast. Welcome back to the podcast, Kevin Power here, your friendly neighborhood podcast producer. So I learned the importance that a great piece of music plays in the podcasting world when I created my podcast series, Saskapes in 2014. For me, the podcast theme music sets the tone for the whole series. So when season two of Arts Everywhere began, I had discussions with host Em Ironstar about finding original music for this season. Enter Saskatchewan musician Patrick Moon Bird.

Kevin Power: 1:01

I discovered Patrick's music while listening to various artists online and instantly I knew his music was it. Now the tough part was which piece to choose. They were all that good and I found myself hitting replay on his tune Dancin' to Lo-Fi from his album 2021. So after about replay number 10, well, this song just felt right. Patrick's music fits into a genre called lo-fi bedroom pop. Admittedly, this was a new term for me and if I were to describe it in one word, it would be mellow.

Kevin Power: 1:42

Inn this episode, Patrick expands on the genre as he discusses his evolution as an artist. Reconnecting with Patrick's indigenous roots has been a part of that process and he speaks very candidly about how his connection with the past has helped keep him grounded today. So sit back, put your feet up and enjoy the chill vibe Patrick creates with both his story and his music and, as always, check out the show notes, which will take you to Patrick's music on the web. I promise you'll find something you like. And look, support our local musicians, purchase this music online and add it to your personal playlist of music that you love to listen to over and over again. Here's Em Iron Star's conversation with Patrick Moon Bird.

Em Ironstar: 2:34

I'm really excited to be here today at the paved audio studio in Saskatoon on Treaty Six with Patrick Moon Bird. Thanks for coming to have a conversation with me.

Patrick Moon Bird: 2:45

Yeah, no problem, thanks for having me.

Em Ironstar: 2:47

Yeah, no. So I guess our paths have crossed, because my podcast producer and editor, kevin, came across some of your music and approached to see maybe if you'd be willing to let us use a small clip of it for our podcast music.

Patrick Moon Bird: 3:07

Yeah.

Em Ironstar: 3:08

Yeah, I think maybe that was through a Sask Music playlist, I think. Oh, really that's so cool. Yeah, yeah. So maybe for folks listening out there, do you want to just give like a little intro and kind of who you are and what you do?

Patrick Moon Bird: 3:22

Yeah, my name's Patrick Moon Bird. I'm an Indigenous, low-fi bedroom pop artist from Prince Albert, saskatchewan, been playing music for over 20 years and just started producing in 2018.

Em Ironstar: 3:36

Amazing. I was listening to some of your stuff on my drive up to Saskatoon and I stayed at Dakota Dunes last night, and so I was listening on my drive back into the city and I was trying to think to myself like remember what album it was that you were listening to. It had Destiny on it.

Patrick Moon Bird: 3:56

Oh, Away From the City.

Em Ironstar: 3:57

Away From the City. Yeah, I really loved it. It's really nice and I'm going to come back to all your other stuff, so, yeah, I was really enjoying it. I'm interested in, like, some of the descriptors about the genres of your music, like low-fi, bedroom, like. What does that mean?

Patrick Moon Bird: 4:18

exactly, low-fi. Bedroom pop is a genre that was coined back in, I believe, 2019 to 2020. And it's mostly like it means like a bedroom producer, so like somebody who just produces purely in their bedroom or, like you know, in their house, no professional setup or anything like that. Okay, yeah, that's what I really strive on. Okay, I really pride myself in. Yeah, especially with, like, I'm using an iPad.

Em Ironstar: 4:49

Oh, amazing yeah, so I love using iPads.

Patrick Moon Bird: 4:52

I love using like technology that's like readily accessible for everyone, so that I could tell them like you can do this yourself and this is possible for anyone.

Em Ironstar: 5:01

Yeah, that's really cool. I have dabbled a little bit myself in like some like film work and just like video work and obviously like some audio. I do some of the editing for some of these podcasts and things like that. And yeah, I do it all for my iPad too.

Patrick Moon Bird: 5:18

Yeah yeah, it's super it's a handy tool and it's more powerful than a lot of people think.

Em Ironstar: 5:23

Yeah, for sure. How did you get started in music?

Patrick Moon Bird: 5:29

So what started me was music. Like in general was like my father.

Patrick Moon Bird: 5:33

He played blues and stuff like country and stuff, and I was like, oh, I really want to learn how to play guitar. There's always a guitar in the house. There's always like everyone in my family played something. So I was like, oh, I want to pick it up. The first time I picked it up and I just I wasn't that intrigued by it at first. I was just kind of like, oh, this is like a whole different universe and it took a couple of years. And then eventually I just picked it up and started learning at the age of nine.

Patrick Moon Bird: 6:03

Wow yeah. And then after that I was playing metal, like rock, all those kinds of things. So big, big shift from where my music is right now. Yeah, I was in a band called Dread Ship and then we used to play like couple shows in Saskatoon in PA, all that kind of stuff, when the PA metal scene needs to be really good. Okay yeah, and then things went south. I didn't really like the approach of like drugs and stuff like that and I was just like I want to, I want to like just clean up my life a bit. So I decided to quit the band and move up north and that's where I really started like finding my own groove and everything like that.

Em Ironstar: 6:44

Okay, yeah, yeah. And then I was like I'm going to say like you were in a metal band, because just from like listening to what I did today, I like that would have not been my first guess.

Patrick Moon Bird: 6:55

Yeah, it's usually like a big surprise for a lot of people.

Em Ironstar: 6:59

Yeah, totally so. Where did you, where did you move when you moved up north?

Patrick Moon Bird: 7:05

Cumberland House.

Em Ironstar: 7:06

Oh, amazing, I had the privilege of going there one time. Oh really, yeah, I used to work for the museum's association of Saskatchewan and at one point there was a group of folks there and I'm not with them anymore, so I'm not sure if that's still an ongoing thing or not but they were getting together a museum space and so we got to go up and meet with people. It was such a treat to go to that community.

Patrick Moon Bird: 7:30

Yeah, like I gorgeous, yeah, and I learned all about the Saskatchewan River Delta. Yeah, unreal, all right. Largest in Canada or North America, I believe?

Em Ironstar: 7:41

Yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 7:42

Yeah. So it's like, yeah, it's where my wife's from. So that's the reason why I went up there. She wanted to get closer to her family and I was like, oh, I'm totally down, I'll just pack up everything I have and just go yeah, amazing, yeah.

Em Ironstar: 7:55

And now you're back in Prince Albert.

Patrick Moon Bird: 7:57

Back in Prince Albert. Yes, we moved back after my house caught fire and then I lost everything I had, like a giant amp and like the dime-baked Daryl guitar and all that. That was back when I was working on my metal project, red Clay Earth. And, yeah, once I lost it all, I was like, oh, screw it, I was going to move back to PA and just try to start building up my equipment again.

Em Ironstar: 8:26

Yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 8:27

And that's what I did. Exactly what I did. But then, instead of going towards like a band, I decided like oh, let's produce, so let's make it myself, instead of having to like hire people.

Em Ironstar: 8:35

Yeah, yeah, and did you kind of know some of that, or is that like kind of just like, are you self-taught in that sort of stuff?

Patrick Moon Bird: 8:41

Oh yes, yeah, A lot of YouTube, a lot of a lot of tutorials, stuff like that, yeah.

Em Ironstar: 8:47

Yeah, amazing. Yeah, that's I've found for sure for a lot of the stuff I've done. Or, you know, trying to learn, I'm a visual artist mostly, but I do like printmaking and screen printing and different things like that. And, man, youtube is one of the best educations you can get.

Patrick Moon Bird: 9:04

Yes absolutely.

Kevin Power: 9:05

Yeah.

Em Ironstar: 9:08

So what's the art scene or the music scene like in PA?

Patrick Moon Bird: 9:13

It's pretty good. It's not like at the height of where it could be, for sure, and especially with, like, it's mostly country, mostly those kind of things, it's understandable, right, and I'm like the people that are indie or stuff like that, they should get a chance to shine. And that's what I really liked about Chesterfest, the music festival there, is that it actually allowed for a lot of the Saskatchewan bands that aren't just typically country to shine. And that's where I played one of my. I think it was my second show. My second show, yeah, it was at Chesterfest and I absolutely loved it. Great vibe, great atmosphere and everything like that.

Em Ironstar: 9:56

Yeah, amazing I was talking to. I can't remember. I had a conversation with one of the people, one of the organizers of that festival, and I thought it sounded really, really cool.

Patrick Moon Bird: 10:06

Yeah, yeah, just a bunch of coaches and a really, really relaxed vibe. I loved it. Was it Joel? Yeah, joel yeah.

Em Ironstar: 10:13

Joel Rose.

Patrick Moon Bird: 10:14

Yeah, yeah yeah, he's a good pal of mine. Oh, right on yeah.

Em Ironstar: 10:19

So I'm thinking for kind of especially the music and the work that you're doing right now, being able to be present on streaming services and online distribution and exposure and that sort of thing that must be key to kind of getting what you're doing out there.

Patrick Moon Bird: 10:38

Oh, yes, absolutely, and I use a distributor called DistroKid. Ok, and that's what I used to get all my music on to streaming platforms and stuff like that. But yeah, for me it's like an outlet. So I get that for one, get an outlet with my music, and then, for two, release it to all those platforms and generate revenue and generate all those streams and stuff like that, and it really, really helps. I don't want to say boost the ego, but it helps keep the self like oh, you're doing something important, you're not just serving yourself and doing all this, you're serving other people, and that's what I like to do, is service to others. I like to try to make sure that I'm not selfish in that regard.

Em Ironstar: 11:27

Yeah, yeah, and to kind of see oh yeah, other people are also into what I'm doing.

Patrick Moon Bird: 11:33

Yeah, exactly.

Em Ironstar: 11:35

No, there's maybe a little bit of ego, but it's also just like I see what you're getting at for sure.

Patrick Moon Bird: 11:40

Yeah, exactly.

Em Ironstar: 11:41

Yeah, I also really like a lot of the visuals that you have to go along with your work. Is that something that you do too, or is that something that you work with other people on?

Patrick Moon Bird: 11:53

So what kind of visuals are?

Em Ironstar: 11:55

you or like your album art. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 11:58

So usually what I do like away from the city, like the album art that was me going to Cumberland House OK, and that's the reason why it's called away from the city is that we were taking a trip away from the city and I just snapped a quick photo of the stars and it took, I think, eight seconds of a long exposure and I was just like, wow, look at this. And the little red at the bottom, that's not intentional. It was the brake lights of the vehicle that I leaned it on and it just happened to make this beautiful red flare and I was like, wow, this has got atmosphere to it and it was in the winter, just everything that I was trying to embody in this album. It just happened to perfectly display itself right in an image.

Em Ironstar: 12:41

Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I love when those kind of like happy accidents.

Patrick Moon Bird: 12:45

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Em Ironstar: 12:46

For sure. Yeah, what's it like being like so one of the things that we're doing right now at the Arts Alliance? We've had some people come to us that are interested in kind of getting together and being around other artists that are working in rural places, and I'm thinking like, well, prince Albert's a city, so it's kind of maybe not necessarily rural, but I think there's probably some aspects to being considered a rural or remote artist that you could probably relate to.

Patrick Moon Bird: 13:20

Oh, yes, absolutely. Especially with the beginning of my career, I was living in Cumberland House. Yeah, I can definitely relate to that.

Em Ironstar: 13:28

Yeah. So I was wondering maybe for yourself because also we've had a lot of the artists that we've been talking to have been in the southwest part of the province. We haven't had a lot of a chance to maybe talk to some artists from the northern part of the province what are for you, what are some of the challenges or things to maybe being an artist that's working in a more remote place?

Patrick Moon Bird: 13:51

Definitely, for one, one of my biggest challenges living in the north, trying to make music, was just finding people to relate with Right. Finding people to that would relate to the music, relate to everything like that, because everyone up north they listen to country music or they're listening to rock or something, and when you're making really, really relaxed mellow songs and stuff like that, it's not really the most well taken genre, I guess. And then that was one of my challenges. Another challenge was Not feeling like it's not really feeling like I'm fitting in, but almost in that aspect because, like I was, I am a first-generation survivor of residential schools, so that's what my parents went through and I wasn't able to learn my language. I was not able to learn anything like that, and being in northern communities that's where a lot of people speak their language I'm just like I wish I could understand, I wish I could sing songs and Cree or you know, stuff like that.

Patrick Moon Bird: 14:55

So yeah, that was definitely one of the challenges like many of Many of the thoughts that I had were just all about my upbringing.

Em Ironstar: 15:05

Yeah, yeah, that's definitely would be. Would be a Challenging thing to feel coming into a different place. Yes or trying to get to know people, or yes, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, what's. What are you working on? What's coming up?

Patrick Moon Bird: 15:28

Oh, okay. So what's coming up right now is Like I'm working on a lo-fi album where it's more just lo-fi, no singing, no, okay, if there is singing, probably very minimalistic and nothing from me, yeah, probably just like vocal samples from other people and stuff like that, and then so that one I don't know when the release date is, and then On top of that, I am Hopefully Looking into attending the SASS music awards.

Patrick Moon Bird: 15:58

Oh, amazing, yeah, yeah so, and also the Saskatchewan indigenous music awards, which will be held in Prince Albert. Oh cool, yeah. So yeah, I'll be attending both of those and super, super hopeful to get Like a ride and all that stuff, because I don't have a vehicle. Hey, okay, the way how I got here is from my wife's cousin.

Em Ironstar: 16:17

Okay.

Patrick Moon Bird: 16:18

Yeah, so yeah, it's just kind of a struggle, for sure, yeah definitely.

Em Ironstar: 16:24

Last year I got, I had the opportunity to go to the SASS music awards over there in Regina I'm from Regina, okay and they had asked me to Present a couple of the awards, which was super funny. It felt very strange. I felt like a game show host or something. But yeah, I think you know I, I really hope we can. You know, it'd be great to see you down there. If I wonder if they're where they are this year.

Em Ironstar: 16:51

Oh yeah yeah, yeah, it was, it's um, it was. It was really fun to just kind of be Admit it like in the midst of like all these amazing Saskatchewan artists.

Patrick Moon Bird: 17:02

Yes, exactly. Yeah like where, the first year I attended, I was. I Felt so out of place because I was like, oh man, these are all these names and like I've never I've never seen them in person, but to here they are like yeah talking to me. I was just like man what the heck like this is so weird. Like I just felt Surrounded by like famous people who felt like to me.

Em Ironstar: 17:27

Yeah, yeah, what's what's some of your favorite music.

Patrick Moon Bird: 17:33

Um, so okay, some of my favorite music is like Joji, love Joji. It's like one of my favorite artists, okay. And then another one is um, definitely it's got to be like half me run.

Em Ironstar: 17:47

Oh, yeah, I know them. Yeah, I'm coming to see them in November.

Patrick Moon Bird: 17:50

I'm so excited. Yeah, they're so awesome. What's another like? Oh, that's so hard to say.

Em Ironstar: 17:56

It's like it's kind of off the cuff question. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Patrick Moon Bird: 18:00

But yeah, yeah, there's so much music I listen to and it's like I just go on to my Spotify and like the suggested playlist, I'll go on there. I'm like wow, what is this? And I'll go find the artists search them up. Yeah, another one is Monica or something. It's like a French producer, cool, yeah, and he's really, really good.

Em Ironstar: 18:19

Yeah, I saw definitely a few of those. I don't know, so I'll put it on my list. Okay, yeah, yeah, I think that's. That's been a really interesting thing. I don't know, I'm always torn a little bit between like listening to music on streaming services Because I'm, like I'm still old school, like when I grew up it was like the advent of CDs, so I always some there's a part of me still that always kind of like misses having something or like owning it or but really I think like the music discovery and discoverability, like Just with streaming services, to be able to like know music that you likely never would have heard of.

Patrick Moon Bird: 19:00

Yeah, it's just amazing. Yeah, I think every Friday it's like some kind of Statistics where it's like a hundred thousand songs are released every Friday.

Em Ironstar: 19:09

Okay, yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 19:10

Yeah, that's crazy, right yeah. And then you think like wow, we're all these artists who are like what are their goals, when are their aspirations? Yeah and you just Kind of like put yourself in their own, like in their shoes and stuff like that. It's really really interesting.

Em Ironstar: 19:24

Yeah, how do you, how do you get the word out about your stuff?

Patrick Moon Bird: 19:28

I usually Instagram.

Em Ironstar: 19:30

Yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 19:30

Yeah, I use. I use Instagram, facebook, all the social media platforms that I can. Yeah, and like that's the thing too, is that, like when I first started, it was so hard to get the word out?

Kevin Power: 19:41

because I was like what do I?

Patrick Moon Bird: 19:42

do like I grew up in age where so social media was just starting to become a thing. Yeah, I had an Instagram, but like it was only for like dog photos yeah, like so it's like what do I do?

Patrick Moon Bird: 19:54

And then, yeah, I started learning and learning and learning, and that's the thing, though, is that, like you could always learn yeah, that's one thing I love to like Push out there and like let people know is that you could always learn something new, like, even if it's like a new instrument or a new, something like you can never. You can never put yourself down or, like you know, downplay your abilities by saying like, oh, I can never do that. You know, like it's practice, yeah this makes perfect.

Em Ironstar: 20:19

Yeah, perfect, exactly, yeah. Um, I'm yeah, so kind of like I said, like I'm a perm maker, screen printing primarily, or like I do like lots of like I like to do like lino cuts and and and that sort of thing. So I'm really like Process driven. So I'm curious, especially having like listened to some of your stuff how do you Like and and knowing that like you're kind of working in a lo-fi way, like what does your process look like?

Patrick Moon Bird: 20:48

So usually with like, when it comes down to making a song, stuff of that I want to like discover a vibe or like discover something new about my song. Yeah, like songwriting abilities. So usually what I do is I'll go into YouTube, search up like a like city or something like ambient noise from the city, like Houston or something. Yeah like I look at the people on the street like there's always a little video.

Patrick Moon Bird: 21:13

Hey and like I'll just watch it and be like what are they listening to? What would they want to listen to? And stuff like that and like especially with like the city Scape and everything like that around. Like I used to do that with saskatoon, like people in saskatoon, cool, and that's the reason why I wrote the song called glow Okay is that it's like because everything in the city glows right. So I was like, okay, I really love that. So I Usually start with that and then, if not that, I'll just Write down a simple idea on piano yeah, it just expands, expands, expands, expands and it just it's like never ending.

Patrick Moon Bird: 21:47

Sometimes it's sometimes my wife tells me to like you need to slow down on how many instruments you have on this, like on this song, because it's so, it's so muddy, like I'm just like, oh wait, it's muddy, and like I start overthinking it. Yeah, but yeah, usually what I do now is like all piano, drums, bass, guitar, vocals, if there's room, yeah, and if there's room, another synth or something right, yeah, usually that cool, and you're building it all on your iPad.

Patrick Moon Bird: 22:16

Yes amazing.

Em Ironstar: 22:18

Yeah, that's so cool.

Patrick Moon Bird: 22:19

Yeah, yeah, I just got a logic pro so I just like I've just dived deep into it and I'm learning so much new stuff now.

Em Ironstar: 22:27

Yeah, that's really exciting. I yeah, there's something so appealing about that to me. Yeah, to be like it's like. I mean, of course, there's probably like something really, and you know, having been in a band, you probably like know that there's probably I'm sure there's something magical about like being and working with other people, but there's also like Probably a beauty in being self-reliant.

Patrick Moon Bird: 22:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly like there. There are times where I miss a band, I miss having the whole setup and everything of that, but then, like I think about the drama yeah, that comes with that and I'm like, oh no. So then I started writing songs on my own and then, once I started, like I think it was a song, please by me, it's all my first album. I just listen to it and like I still listen to it like it's in my playlist, and every time it pops up I'm like I made that. There's no effin way. I made that. Like that's insane to me, yeah, yeah and did you have any other experience?

Em Ironstar: 23:24

like you played guitar and like play piano, but like with some of the other instruments or that sort of thing, or is it more just like you kind of just can do it, like by the way you, how you know it sounds and feels and so I first started learning like acoustic guitar.

Patrick Moon Bird: 23:43

I like your guitar, bass guitar.

Patrick Moon Bird: 23:44

Wow and then I started trying to do the violin, but I just wasn't really getting it, yeah. So I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna move on to another instrument. It was piano. And then, once I learned piano, it was like, oh, it's, it's done for people. And then my buddy my buddy who was my drummer at the time it was like, hey, you should hop behind the jump set and just give it a try. And then it was just four on the beat and it was so simple to me and he was like, wow, you're an actual like, you're picking this up really easily. It's like well, I listen to a lot of music, right, so I think I can make my way around everything. So then I got those little drum pads, yeah, like that little a chi kind, and it's like, just, I think it's 16 pads and I just love it.

Patrick Moon Bird: 24:28

Wow yeah, and I just I make my own drum kits. Now cool, and I'll just like put those into my little drum pad and then I make my own drum beats.

Em Ironstar: 24:37

Huh, that's, I'm just yeah, I don't know, I'm just fascinated by it.

Patrick Moon Bird: 24:41

It's so cool.

Em Ironstar: 24:43

Yeah, yeah. One of the one of the things I like to ask people, to ask my guests, are you know, is there? Is there anybody or anything, or like any organization or any artist that you want to give a shout out to like, oh yeah?

Patrick Moon Bird: 25:01

absolutely so. Like everyone I collab with, there's so many of them that I can't really like. Yeah, definitely. Like the top of the ones are Sub-solar. He's my buddy from while he's in Houston now but he's still living Florida. But yeah, he's like one of my best friends and like it's just fun to work with him all the time. So him for sure, just like some of the musician friends that I have in my life. Judd Rainey Nelson is one of them. Like it's so funny, his name is the same guy from the breakfast club. I'm like that's crazy. Yeah, he's just one of my.

Patrick Moon Bird: 25:35

He's like literally my cousin, so he's just a really good friend, and then the rest would have to be like sass music for sure, the sask art alliance and stuff like that like those those all like play a huge part in what I do, especially with like being artists and from Saskatchewan stuff like that. It's crazy how much exposure I got after I started like Submitting to sass music yeah, getting my name out there, getting Nominated for awards, stuff like that and I was just like, wow, these guys are really, really helping me like every single step of the way.

Patrick Moon Bird: 26:10

Like, even if I have questions and stuff like that, there's counselors and stuff like that that can help me, tutor me, yeah, so it's just like, no matter what I can always like, always have to say thank you to them Joel Rose for sure for letting me play. Chesterfest yeah, and I would have to say, remain modern as well. Because, yeah, because they let me play.

Em Ironstar: 26:31

Lugo Okay cool.

Patrick Moon Bird: 26:32

Yeah, and that was really really fun. Yeah, I didn't make it out to the last one.

Em Ironstar: 26:37

But that was probably the one you were. Yes, yeah, yeah, that was the one I was playing.

Patrick Moon Bird: 26:40

I think the theme was all together now, nice, yeah, that one was really fun. It was really really fun. I loved this vibe. I love the Artists they had. Yeah, I'm hoping to collect some of the stuff that I'm gonna be doing. I'm hoping to collaborate with one of them in the Northwest kid, yeah, yeah, he's a really really great rapper. I we've known each other for a while. He was actually my first commission. Okay, yeah, yeah, he was my first commission.

Kevin Power: 27:05

I was like no, effing way, man I want to like use my songs.

Patrick Moon Bird: 27:08

That's crazy, yeah, so yeah, that's really really cool.

Em Ironstar: 27:12

Well, that led me to kind of two other questions. One that's really cool that you are able to collaborate with people in like different parts of the world, because you said the one person from Houston. How does that kind of work for you?

Patrick Moon Bird: 27:24

Oh okay, so what usually happens is like I'll come up with an idea or something like that, like piano melody or like it could be chords and stuff of that Usually it's guitar, though and then I'll send those to him and like a giant zip folder, right, and then he just unloads them all onto his DAW and once he gets them in there, he'll start messing around with the drums. Send those back to me. Yeah, I mix everything because, I've just I've gotten used to doing all that.

Em Ironstar: 27:51

Yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 27:52

And then yeah, usually that's a process I used to collaborate with this guy named Seth Wulard as well tattletale Okay busses producer name and he sadly had to take all the music down. I don't know why, it's just like a mystery to me, but he was another really good friend, but just over time we just kind of grew apart and yeah, things happen yeah but yeah, he was like that was the same thing with him.

Patrick Moon Bird: 28:19

It was like we send ideas to each other. He sends a beat back, or he sends like a guitar part back, and then I throw it into mine and my iPad.

Em Ironstar: 28:29

Yeah, it just lines up perfectly amazing. Yeah, you need to collaborate over distances. It's pretty cool.

Patrick Moon Bird: 28:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Em Ironstar: 28:36

In a way then too, like because I was thinking when we were, you know, chatting before, like you're kind of doing everything, but you're still kind of getting that like maybe not a band feel, but it's that kind of back and forth, yeah, exactly, yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 28:47

I love. I love that aspect of it too is that like you never know what they're gonna come up with. Yeah, it could be like a drum part, it could be a whole brand new bass line or something. I'm like, wow, this is fits way more better than what I had originally, so I'm gonna throw that in and then maybe they will have two bass guitars you never know. Like it's just, it's really, really Interesting to see what people come up with.

Em Ironstar: 29:08

Yeah and then yeah. My other, my other kind of curiosity question was what's how, what's it like when you're performing, like how do you Perform live?

Patrick Moon Bird: 29:19

so usually what I do is I still use my iPad. Yeah, I have two of them and one of them is like an older model, so usually I'll just put everything into garage band, line them up into like a project that's like 40 minutes long, okay, and then there'll be one after the other song, and then After that I plug in my guitar into whatever amps available there and just use a microphone that they have. Yeah, and then that's what I did at Lugo and they loved it. They absolutely loved it. I didn't expect that kind of response to my music for one and then for two.

Patrick Moon Bird: 29:52

It's like it's really nice to see people Appreciate solo artists. Yeah, cuz usually people are like, oh, it's not bad, I don't want to see them. You know, it's like there's gotta be that band aspect. But like I had people come up to me saying like, wow, you made all that yourself. Like is there any bit of it? That's not you. And it's like, no, that's literally all me. Like that's what I do is like I produce, yeah, yeah.

Em Ironstar: 30:18

Have you, have you ever done any like producing for other artists?

Patrick Moon Bird: 30:22

Oh, yes, so I've produced for my sister. Okay, so I heard I Totally forgot to mention her, my bad. So my sister's artist name is admire and she just released, I think, just a single so far, but it was for, like, I think, a year ago.

Em Ironstar: 30:44

Oh cool.

Patrick Moon Bird: 30:44

Yeah, yeah, it was really, really cool. And then we also have a Project together. It's called the dead talk.

Patrick Moon Bird: 30:51

Okay, that's what we used to do originally back in like 2016 to 2017, but then things got complicated and I just I can, I can deal with like a not being able to play shows as a band and I was just like, ah, you know, I just wanna put that on the back burner for now, but we still sing songs and stuff like that together and stuff like that. It's really fun actually when you just pick up guitar and start playing some of the old songs and then my sister will jump in. It's really fun.

Em Ironstar: 31:23

Amazing yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 31:25

But yeah, there's that one. There is other people I produce for I do commissions as well. So like, if people want like an intro to YouTube or something like that, I'll do that. So I've done a couple of those, not really anything else. That's like super noteworthy, though. It's just like small YouTube channels. I don't even know the names of them. They just give me like a little commission and they're like okay, well, could you make a song that sounds like this, this and this.

Em Ironstar: 31:54

Gotcha. Oh yeah, easy, easy. Yeah, that's cool. So do you work on your music full time or do you do other stuff, or is it kind of tough?

Patrick Moon Bird: 32:06

So usually what I do is like I do work music full time. Nice, yeah, yeah. And it like I can't work actually because I have a disability, so I have fibromyalgia, oh yeah yeah, and it's like it causes like so much, so much problems in my life.

Patrick Moon Bird: 32:24

So it's like the only thing I can do is music and like, even some days when I'm doing music, I'm having a hard time, you know. It's like lugging up my guitars or something like that. It's like, oh, this is really killing me, but it's something I love, absolutely love doing. So it's like I'm not gonna like just bail out on music altogether. Yeah, so yeah. And also like the way how things are going right now I'm already building my name up and something like that. It's like I don't wanna just bail out because I have a pink condition. You know, yeah, but yeah and yeah, so that's purely what I do.

Em Ironstar: 32:58

Yeah, that's like definitely kind of, you know, a blessing and a curse in a way. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Patrick Moon Bird: 33:06

Exactly, it's like I absolutely love it, that like I don't have to go to work every single day, but it's like it sucks, that I have pain but, like you know, I get to work on my music every single day. I get to express that pain sometimes I get to like have a voice for it 100% yeah, so it really really helps.

Em Ironstar: 33:21

Yeah, is there anything else that you'd like to add or talk about?

Patrick Moon Bird: 33:28

So one thing that I wanted to add was that I'm also a recovering addict, so yeah, so that's one big thing about my like journey and everything like that was like music. Is that like? I used to write under the influence a lot? And that's cause it was just a norm for me and I really, really didn't like that, and it got to the point where I couldn't even write music without being under the influence.

Em Ironstar: 33:53

So, yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 33:54

So it was really, really hard. So I decided to say, screw that, I don't want that life anymore. So, yeah, and just trying to get in touch with my actual like traditions and stuff like that, especially with like being first generation survivor. It's so hard to try to like talk to my parents about like hey, do we used to do this, do we used to do this? Cause they don't know? Hey, so it's like I'm just getting back into roots and like back in touch with like like learning a little bit of Cree, yeah, yeah, and then using the sacred teachings to keep myself sober and everything like that, yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 34:32

so that's one thing I would definitely like to say.

Em Ironstar: 34:35

Amazing. Yeah, my wife's Nakota, and she's also first generation residential school survivor and that's where we're right now. I'm coming along for the ride as she's trying to learn Nakota. Yeah, I wanna be there and learn as much as I can with her too, so it's a journey.

Patrick Moon Bird: 34:58

Yes, yes, definitely.

Em Ironstar: 35:00

And, like you know, congratulations and good for you for like taking that step to be able to make your life like better.

Patrick Moon Bird: 35:11

Yeah, it's a huge it's huge, it's ongoing. Yes, yes, especially with like the I don't know what you would call it the epidemic.

Patrick Moon Bird: 35:21

Pandemic, yeah, Pandemic pandemic and everything Of opioids and stuff like that. It's so sad to see every single day Like, it's so rough to see like, especially when they're like you know they don't wanna do it but that's all they have, hey, and it's like, oh, I just feel horrible and I just like me and my sisters, we used to like well, not used to about what we did is that we got a bunch of sandwiches, made a bunch of food, and then went out to the community and started handing them out. And especially in Prince Albert, it's like kind of hard because Moose Lodge just closed and that was like one of the resources. It was like a, not a shelter, but like a place to help the homeless get food and stuff like that.

Patrick Moon Bird: 36:04

So we went out and we were doing that and they were like, what organization are you with? And it's like, oh, I wish, I wish we did, I wish we had one but, we don't. And, yeah, definitely in the future, if I ever like make it up there and stuff like that. That's one of my biggest goals is to try to like help the homeless people in Prince Albert and especially in like the Saskatchewan province. Like it's just, it's so rough to see.

Em Ironstar: 36:29

Yeah, we've been like you probably saw, I've been heard in whatever like in Regina this summer, like there was the encampment on City Hall a lot, and like it's just been, yeah, it's hard to, yeah, it's hard to know how to help. So to hear like you're just like doing it, that's pretty, that's pretty awesome. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Patrick Moon Bird: 36:49

And it's like the one way that you can help is definitely like just hearing their stories. Because that's what's killing them inside. Hey Right, it's like it's so hard to see that when people are like, every child matters. Well, these are the children that grew up.

Em Ironstar: 37:06

Right.

Patrick Moon Bird: 37:07

These are the children that made it out and they're struggling. You know you need to do something more than just wear an orange shirt on freaking September 30th. Like it's just. It's bigger than that.

Em Ironstar: 37:17

Yeah.

Patrick Moon Bird: 37:18

It's way bigger than that. So that's definitely one of my main messages.

Em Ironstar: 37:21

Yeah, that's a great message. Just listening to the stories and hearing, yeah, it's beyond.

Patrick Moon Bird: 37:29

Yeah, yeah, for real, for real.

Em Ironstar: 37:31

Cool. Well, I really, really appreciate you coming to chat.

Patrick Moon Bird: 37:35

Yeah.

Em Ironstar: 37:36

It was nice to get to know you a little bit better and thank you for letting us use your music for the intro and outro for our podcast. We really appreciated it. We really, you know, I think, the first season we weren't really sure what was gonna happen with it and just use some kind of stock, whatever.

Em Ironstar: 37:54

And we're like, okay, this year we're like, oh no, we gotta take it up a level and I'm glad our paths crossed in that way. Yeah, absolutely, I hope we can kind of you know I'm gonna follow, we'll follow you, I'll follow you, and I hope we can kind of keep in touch as our journeys progress.

Patrick Moon Bird: 38:08

Yes, absolutely.

Em Ironstar: 38:10

Yeah, well, thanks Patrick.

Kevin Power: 38:10

All right, thank you, cheers. The next episode of Arts Everywhere is coming soon, so keep checking the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance website and their social media pages for more information and if you're listening to the podcast through your favorite podcasting app, don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss a single episode. The Arts Everywhere theme music is composed by Saskatchewan musician Patrick Moon Bird. Dance into lo-fi from his album entitled 2021. Check out the show notes for links to Patrick's music. The Saskatchewan Arts Alliance would like to thank our funders, sask culture and Sask arts, both of whom benefit from lottery ticket sales through Sask lauderies, proceeds from Sask lauderies fund cultural organizations all across the province, and we wouldn't be able to do the work we do without your support. See you next time. That's just how it is.