Pete Lesperance
Pete Lesperance is known for his work with the Canadian hard rock band Harem Scarem. His highly technical guitar performance and guitar style with trademark licks definitely proves him to be a guitar hero. Pete is also known as a great songwriter and keeps fascinating his fans with his quality music.
Unfortunately, Harem Scarem has broken up, but Pete continues to make and deliver his quality music to the fans. Pete Lesperance has now released his new solo album “Fade Into Stars” and proves that he is taking his music and performance as a singer and songwriter to another level.
Muse On Muse asks Pete about his new solo effort.
Interview / Text Mamoru Moriyama
Translation Louis Sesto (EAGLETAIL MUSIC)
Muse On Muse : It’s been 8 years since your last solo album “Down In It”. How do you feel now after completing your new solo album? What else were you up to during those 8 years?
Pete Lesperance : It feels good to finally be finished another album. I promise it won’t be 8 years before my next. Some of these songs have been around for a few years so it’s good to get them out of my system. I spent the time between records working on other people’s music. Playing guitar or producing different projects for other people as well as getting some balance in my life with family. I do a lot of studio guitar work, production, writing and now mixing so that has kept me quite busy.
MM : This new album turns out to be a great vocal album, also having a very wide variety of music styles, which should be a pleaser not only to the Harem Scarem fans but to mainstream rock and pop fans as well. What do you think?
PL : Thank you for the compliment, I’ve been putting a lot of time into my singing for the past few years. I’m not a powerful hard rock type of singer but it’s always a huge compliment to me when someone finds something in my voice that they connect with. I think musically the record is geared more toward mainstream music fans, not so much the hard rock lovers. That was my intent.
MM : Did you have a particular concept for this album? What is the meaning behind the album title “Fade Into Stars”?
PL : There was no real concept for the album. I guess, creatively, I felt it was time for me to do another album and this is a collection of songs I’ve written over the last bunch of years that seemed to fit well together. The title Fade Into Stars comes from the 4th line in the song “Say Hello”. Usually fading is associated with something going dark. I liked the imagery of fading into something bright.
MM : Similar to your last solo album “Down In It”, it seems that you put more weight on aspects such as songwriting, vocal melody lines and lyrics, rather than on guitar oriented performance, as typical guitar solo albums turn out to be. What is your perspective on that?
PL : The songwriting is always my first priority. I always try and play for the song and the genre. Pop songs call for a different sensibility and approach than guitar driven rock and as this was not intended to be a hard rock album I didn’t approach it that way.
MM : How long did it take you to write and record the album?
PL : The songs for the album were written over the last 5 years but I only started the recording process in April 2011. I took my time and only worked on when I wasn’t working on another project or when I felt inspired to.
MM : How did you record the album?
PL : I recorded the drums up at Harry Hess’s studio then finished and mixed the album at my place. Thanks to the technology, some of the fine folks that played and sang on my record recorded their parts in their own home studios and sent me the files. I love working like that.
MM : What do you keep in mind when writing songs?
PL : I guess I’m just trying to keep myself interested, both melodically and lyrically. If as the writer, if at any point you’re getting bored, you can be sure everyone else will be too.
MM : Did you have a different approach to songwriting when you wrote for this album compared to when you wrote Harem Scarem material? For example, would guitar riffs be an important factor in writing songs for Harem Scarem which has a more hard rock style of music?
PL : Yes, it’s a completely different thing. When I know I’m writing for myself I focus solely on the melody and lyrics and this dictates the instrumentation and approach. With Scarem I focus more on having interesting parts and riffs because that’s part of the sound that Harry and I make together. We still work just as hard on the other aspects of the songs but knowing the way the songs will be presented opens them up to more real playing.
MM : “Be The One” has a very impressive piano part to it. Did you write this song on the piano? When you’re in the songwriting process, do you write some songs/parts on the piano and others on the guitar? If you do use both instruments for songwriting, how do you decide what instrument to write which song/part?
PL : Thank you and yes I wrote that one on piano. Usually if I sit down with a guitar or at the piano to write and a song idea happens the song usually develops to completion on that instrument.
MM : Do you have a different approach to playing guitar for the music on this new album compared to what you played in Harem Scarem?
PL : Absolutely, it’s a completely different approach because the style of music is completely different. On my album, the songs dictate the guitar parts where with Harem Scarem; more intricate guitar parts are built into the songs from the ground up.
MM : The guitar solos on this album are very impressive, and match each song perfectly. Do you prepare your phrases beforehand, or do you improvise these solos?
PL : Most of the solos start out with some degree of improv and the solo just develops from there. I never just hit record and pick the best off the cuff pass.
MM : Please tell us how you decide on your guitar sound to match each individual song.
PL : Again, the songs dictate everything. I’ll work with a guitar sound along with a track and gain it up or down and fill it in eq-wise until it’s accomplishing what I’m hearing in my head for the song.
MM : Please tell us about each song on the album. How the song came to be, what you feel about each song, and/or any episodes while you recorded that particular song, etc.
PL :
“Say Hello”
The original idea for this song is over 10 years old. I love Creighton Doane’s Beatlesque harmony parts.
“Save Me”
I wrote this song with the wonderfully talented Marc Jordan. I love Ray Coburns synth part. It makes the song for me.
“Too High”
This is my favorite song on the album because over all it sounds the least like something I would do. I love Rich McPherson’s vocal part at the end. That may be my favorite moment on the album.
“Be The One”
I wrote this song with my brother and it features the vocals of Tara Lyn Hart.
“Hollywood”
I wrote this song with my very good friend Dean McTaggart for a project I was producing a few years ago. It was covered by an artist from Nashville as well.
“Satellites”
I wrote this song with Steve Freeman and Mary Lynn Stella on a trip to Nashville and had Barry Donaghy play bass and sing on it. Also originally intended to be a country song.
“6 Ways(It Could Only Be You)”
I wrote this song about my wife and she sang some of the back up vocals on it. Along with some dreamy steel guitar from Jim Hoke.
“Love Someone”
This is the last song I finished writing for the record and Harry Hess adds his big vocal presence to the song.
“One Last Time”
This song was originally written as a country demo for a trip I was making to Nashville a couple years ago.
“The Ride”
I wrote this song right after I finished working on the Fair Ground album.
MM : Which song on the album would you personally consider to be the most special?
PL : “Be The One”
MM : Please tell us about your gear. What guitars, amps, effectors, foot pedals did you use for this recording?
PL : I used a Koch Powertone 2 for the amp through a 2×12 Mesa-boogie cabinet.
My pedal board consists of
-Pigtronix-Philosopher’s Tone compressor
-Love Pedal Kanji overdrive
-Keeler Push overdrive
-SubDecay Prometheus filter pedal
-Whetstone Phaser
-Electro-Harmonix-POG 2
-Empress Temolo
-Malekko spring chicken reverb
-Boss Giga-Delay
-ernie ball volume pedal
MM : What kind of guitar picks did you use? What kind of guitar strings did you use?
PL : I get custom picks from “In Tune” guitar picks . . .with my name on them to suit my gigantic ego. I used ernie ball-10s on the tele and light top heavy bottoms on the Les Paul and Gretsch.
MM : What do you have coming up next?
PL : I’m going on a 6 week tour playing guitar for a great Canadian country singer named Michelle Wright and then I’m going to start a more guitar oriented album or EP.
More for the guitar fans. . I know. . . I’ve been saying that for years.
MM : Please give a message to your Japanese fans.
PL : I’d like to thank you all so much for your support over the years with Harem Scarem and hope you enjoy “Fade Into Stars” as well.
FADE INTO STARS / PETE LESPERANCE
1. Say Hello
2. Save Me
3. Too High
4. Be The One
5. Hollywood
6. Satellites
7. 6 Ways (It Could Only Be You)
8. Love Someone
9. One Last Time
10. The Ride
