We sat down to interview High Valley band member Curtis Rempel about their new single ‘Single Man’ and the success of ‘Dear Life.’ Full interview available on the podcast here.
It’s been such a huge few years for you guys, have you had the chance to reflect on everything that’s happened with ‘Dear Life’ ?
It really has been incredible. We have had time to reflect, I’m at home right now enjoying time with the family. It’s festival season so I’ve got a few gigs on the weekends, then during the week I get to be at home with my family. It’s been an incredible year, we’re so thankful for everything that’s happened. Honestly, we’re just thankful we get to do this to provide for our families. We’re thankful we get to work and spend time at home with our families and do the things that we love, we’re grateful for that regardless of how many sales or chart positions we get and we get to do it with our families too.
So you’re actually the first Canadians I’ve had on the podcast. You’re from La Crete, Alberta and there’s been a lot made of that and how removed it was. Is it accurate, as people say that you grew up without a radio or television, or is that a bit of an exaggeration?
That is true, there was no radio station in our town, eventually when I was probably 10 years old – Brad and I are 6 years apart, so he would have been 16 I think – our town got a repeater of a radio station that was 3 hours away, so we listened to radio at that point and that was when that started. We didn’t have a TV – we could have had a TV but our family just wasn’t that family – and then we got one in 1997 and a Super Nintendo. We just had antenna, so we could only get the one channel, so we could watch the news and after school there was a couple of cartoons and that was about it.
La Crete was 500 miles North of Edmonton, the town where we’d fly out of.
Do you think that your background, growing up in such an incredible place and that sense of isolation, made your sound what it is?
Yeah I mean honestly there were a few years when we were trying to copy what we were hearing on the radio, and it wasn’t working. Finally, we were like ‘ok forget this, let’s just make music that we love,’ and that’s when we recorded ‘Make You Mine’ and ‘She’s With Me.’ A few months later, we were talking with labels and signed a record deal after that. When we decided to be who we are, that’s when everything suddenly worked. I mean we put a lot of hard work in before and there was a lot of time that went into it, but when we finally settled and said ‘let’s just do our thing and enjoy it.’
The way we grew up the music was very acoustic, just guitars, mandolins and vocals. We’ve got three sisters and another brother at home and our mum and dad and everybody sings, just very simple, not complicated music at all and we like harmony and guitars and that’s just what we did. Brad and I, that’s still what we do, we just work with a lot of cool, hip songwriters and producers and stuff and it just turns our old-fashioned take on what music is and makes it a little more relevant in today’s world. This stomping, bluegrass-country thing that we just love.
There must be something so special, growing up in a very musical family and having played with Brad for so long. Even when your selling out shows and going to these high places, you’ve still got the person with you who was there from the very beginning.
It is, and it’s great accountability, even musically, to stay loyal to where we grew up and the sounds that we’re making. If you’re a single artist out there, I can’t imagine what that’s like and I don’t envy anybody that. It would be lonely and who do you lean on for decision making, other than yourself. I’m glad I’m in a duo.
Do you guys write together, what’s the songwriting process like?
Brad does most of the songwriting, I’m not really a songwriter. I tried a few years back and it’s just not my thing. Brad’s super good at it, he’s been working at it real hard since he was 10 years old and he’s a great songwriter. I absolutely love his songs, more than anyone else in town. I’m thrilled to record his songs. He’s drawn inspiration from everything but honestly a lot of inspiration from his kids and family life and the way we grew up and how our mum and dad raised us. He knows how he grew up and how I grew up, so those experiences – he writes the songs – are so true to both of us.
Was there a conscious moment that you guys decided to go full-time as a duo together?
There was a few years probably in my teens, when we hit the road in the summers. Brad was out of high school and he was a car salesman and I was in high school. In summer break we would hit the road hard when I didn’t have school and Brad would take a break from his job. It worked. We paid the bills in summer. I think it was the beginning of 2007 when Brad quit his job and I took the rest of my curriculum out on the road and finished the last few years of high school on the road.
At that point, you were probably visiting Nashville a lot, how was your experience of the town?
We’ve been coming to Nashville since 2001, so we’ve been slowly threading that lifestyle and pattern into our career over the years. There was no major culture shock, but Brad started getting with professional songwriters at that point and honing the craft of songwriting. We were working with different producers and different musicians. When you’re in Nashville, you’re surrounded by amazing talent and you’re really stretched as an artist and it challenges you. It’s borderline depressing if you’re not careful, because there’s so much talent, so you have to be careful to try and learn and challenge yourself. That’s what we did, and we just got to know people for years and years and now we’ve found our sphere of people and producers and Brad’s got some amazing songwriter buddies. Nashville has definitely taken the quality of our music to the next level.
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Who’s most likely…
To turn up late to rehearsal?
Curtis.
To forget the words on stage?
Curtis.
To karaoke to Shania Twain?
Brad.
To be the better cook?
Curtis.
To embarrass themselves on the red carpet?
Curtis, Brad doesn’t get embarrassed easily.
To regret their outfit choice?
Brad
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The new single is ‘Single Man,’ which is a little bit of a misnomer considering both your status as family guys, but it is that ‘Country Switcheroo.’
‘Country Switcheroo’ you got it. That first verse especially is all about the wild and crazy lifestyle of a single man, pointing out that it’s kind of a liberating perspective, a fun lifestyle, but then in the chorus it switches saying ‘I don’t know a single man that wouldn’t die to be where I am right now with my wife.’ That’s how we feel, the single life out there looks amazing. We get to see people out there enjoying it to the fullest at these festivals and shows and it looks fun, but my favourite thing in the world is to get back at home and see my wife and my kids. I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for that. It’s such an honest song, but it’s also super upbeat and fun.
Going back to ‘Dear Life’ and everything that happened there… Are there any tracks that you wish had had a bit more recognition?
Yeah I think ‘I Be You Be,’ it’s a super dark and mysterious vibe in the verses and then it’s just this massively energetic stomping chorus. It’s just a love song, it’s not meat and potatoes or anything but it’s fun to perform, even though it hasn’t been on the radio. I absolutely love that song, I wish we’d singled that one, but not every song can be on the radio.
Obviously ‘Make You Mine’ and ‘She’s With Me’ were the two huge singles from the album, did you know automatically that those two would be lead out singles?
We had a pretty good idea through our fans. We let a very select group of our most hardcore fans hear some demos and let them vote on which songs they thought were the best, and should be on the record and on the radio. ‘She’s With Me’ and ‘Make You Mine’ came out on top and this was before we had a record deal or anything. After that we signed a deal and recorded a whole new record. The label liked ‘Make You Mine’ and ‘She’s With Me’ so we put those on as well. Those two songs that we recorded independently ended up being our first two singles, which is kind of crazy considering the fact that we cut a bunch of new songs with the label after the fact.
There was some great energy around those songs from the fans, and the label and different people in the business. Brad and I loved those songs a lot so we were thrilled to release them. We had no idea what to expect, you just never know and we were very pleased with the feedback.
Now you’re working on a new album?
Yeah we’re working on a new album for sure and we’re getting close to wrapping it up. We should be done recording by the end of the year for sure.
Is it a similar approach?
Yeah we don’t try to change our theme too much. Our goal is to make music the whole family can enjoy, as cheesy as that might sound. We’re family guys and I don’t want to record music I’m not willing to let my kids listen to or memorise the words and sing along. We love when families can come along to our shows together, so we’re always going to have family-friendly , positive vibes on the record. So that’s not going to be something that changes, stylistically I’d say ‘Single Man’ is a pretty good representation of the sound. There will be a spectrum of sounds and vibes on the record, but I’d say the bulls-eye of the spectrum would be ‘Single Man’ of the sound.
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Final Few
Beer or whisky?
I don’t really drink alcohol… I’m going to go with chocolate milk.
Record you’re listening to on repeat at the moment?
Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour
Record you couldn’t live without if you were stuck on a desert island?
Probably the same one, I just love it right now.
Thing you miss the most about La Crete?
I miss the fact that you live at least 5 minutes away from all your favourite people.
A Canadian stereotype that isn’t true?
Let’s see… Canadian bacon.
What are you binge-watching at the moment?
This Is Us.
Pre-show ritual?
We get together and have a band prayer, and then we jump right up and down and get the energy flowing.
Complete the sentence..
Music is… my life.
Country music is… the truth.
High Valley are… the most energetic German-speaking Menonite band from Canada in the Southern United States
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