Through the good times and the bad, music has always been a refuge for Adrian Sutherland.
That was a theme that Sutherland had in mind when he was writing High Road, the latest album from roots rock group Midnight Shine, fronted by Sutherland and based in Attawapiskat First Nation in Northern Ontario.
“Music always kind of helps me find a place for those certain things that you have to go though and endure and sometimes you carry inside,” Sutherland said.
“And I think I had to write about it and sort of get that energy out and put it somewhere else and that’s what it was like for me, I guess, writing that album.”
Sutherland said High Road covers ideas around “standing up for yourself and what you believe in.” One of his favourite songs on the album is Leather Skin, which recounts the toughness needed to make it in Attawapiskat.
“You need thick skin to be up there in my community in a lot of ways, whether it’s just enduring and surviving a harsh winter or poor housing or lack of work or jobs and crappy food at the local store,” Sutherland said.
“There’s just a lot of things you need to endure and I think Leather Skin, that’s where that whole song came from is being able to overcome and just really having the perseverance to push through all that and still be able to exist.”
Another song is about Sutherland’s father, who passed away when Sutherland was a child. It a subject he’s only recently been able to address in his writing. Sutherland said it’s an emotional song.
“It feels good to sing it and feels good to finally start talking about that stuff through the music,” he said.
The record came out earlier this year and on Sept. 9 Midnight Shine bring it to Nanaimo when they open the Port Theatre’s Spotlight series. It’s their first show on Vancouver Island.
High Road was recorded at Blue Rodeo’s studio in Toronto and features a number of guest musicians a couple producers who’ve worked with the Trews and Rheostatics.
Sutherland said he was honoured and surprised that so many experienced people wanted to work him. He said he learned as much as he could from them.
“It was so interesting to learn about how the whole process works from start to finish,” Sutherland said.
“And getting to work with these guys, just the energy they brought in, the ideas they brought in was, for me, very refreshing and of course they just added so much more to the songs. They really brought them to life and made them what they are.”
Sutherland said he’s hoping to do more collaboration for Midnight Shine’s next album, which he said he’s already started thinking about. He said he hopes to do some songwriting in Nashville.
“I want to keep building on what I’ve done so far and I think High Road is really miles above anything I’ve done previously,” he said.
“And the next album, I want it to be an evolution, just to keep growing and keep building on what I’ve built up so far.”
WHAT’S ON … Midnight Shine performs at the Port Theatre on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. General admission $26, $22 for members and $12.50 for youth and students.
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