How the Song Happened: Powfu’s “death bed (coffee for your head)”

Story by Kerry Doole | Wednesday September 9th, 2020

Two months ago, the family of Isaiah Faber (aka Powfu) moved from Mission, B.C., to a new house in Chilliwack. The place is going to need a trophy room to display all the platinum plaques the 21-year-old singer-songwriter/producer is amassing for the international success of his blockbuster hit track “death bed (coffee for your head).”

“The first one [for certified U.S. platinum sales] arrived a week ago,” says Powfu. “It’s pretty crazy to look at that.” More are coming, as the single has officially gone double-platinum in Canada and Ireland, and platinum in Australia, Sweden, Mexico, New Zealand, Italy, and Norway.

“It was getting a lot of views on YouTube, and TikTok took it the rest of the way”

Originally released in 2019, the breakthrough track made the Top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, and has been streamed more than a billion times, and counting. Its success story helps illustrate the ways that such platforms as YouTube, SoundCloud, and TikTok can break a song.

Powfu recalls that “death bed” got started when it was uploaded on YouTube. “It was getting a lot of views [currently at 178M] and then TikTok found it and took it the rest of the way,” he says. More than a million Tik Toks have been made with the song, and that phenomenon was followed by mass streaming on Spotify, and other outlets. A recent remix of “death bed” by U.S. pop-punk heavyweights Blink-182 has continued its momentum.

The poignant lyrics of “death bed” have resonated deeply. “The thing to me that stood out about it was the story, talking about death,” says Powfu. “I’ve never heard a song with that kind of story. People like the melody and the rap, too, so I guess it all came together.”

It’s a Family Affair
Powfu’s father, David Faber, found national success with his rock band, Faber Drive, and now acts as his son’s manager. “Isaiah and I co-write all the time, since he was about the age of seven,” says the elder. “He co-wrote a recent acoustic song that Faber Drive released called ‘Payday.’” In turn, Powfu incorporated a Faber Drive song, “More Than Perfect,” into his song “Letters in December,” featuring Rxseboy. “In my opinion, he made the lyrics better,” says dad David. Powfu says, “Growing up, I looked up to my dad on everything. He taught me the basics of songwriting and playing instruments… He was doing pretty good, so all my friends knew about him, and they rather expected me to follow in his footsteps. I felt a little pressure to be as good as, or better than, him.” Powfu’s younger sister, Patience Faber (aka  sleep.ing), also contributes vocals to Poems Of The Past, and is releasing her own music, too.

Powfu initially came across the song’s beat, by Otterpop, on SoundCloud, and then used a sample from English artist Beabadoobee (taken from her song “Coffee”), though the song’s lyrical subject matter is his creation. “That was, and many of my songs are, written from [standing in] the shoes of another person,” he says. “My life is pretty boring compared to many people, so I like reading, and watching movies, about other people’s lives. “

The impact of “death bed” helped Powfu land a deal with Columbia Records, and his recent EP Poems Of The Past is the first fruit of that union. As with earlier Powfu indie releases, it showcases an eclectic style featuring hip-hop, punk, and pop elements. “I have different styles of songs, so that each of my fans will have a different favourite track, depending on the style they like,” he says. “I call my sound ‘lo-fi hip-hop punk.’”

Powfu’s do-it-yourself material is, literally, “bedroom pop.” “I have a desk in the corner of my bedroom and the computer set up there,” he says. “I’ve tried the big studios out, but recording in my room just feels more comfortable to me.”

He describes his songwriting approach this way: “First I’ll find  a beat I like the sound of, then I’ll freestyle flows or melodies on top of it. If I come up with a melody that I think sounds cool, then I’ll try to write lyrics for it.”

It’s heartening to know that success can be just that simple.

Photo by Norm Wong

Noah Reid: Not just paddling up Schitt’s Creek

Story by David McPherson | Tuesday September 15th, 2020

As an actor, Noah Reid (Schitt’s Creek) plays a part; with each new role, he adopts a character and follows a script. As a songwriter, the 33-year-old creates songs from his heart. No acting. No script. Honesty and life experiences drive these narratives, though many reflect his acting experiences. Summing up his common approach to both acting and songwriting, he asks, “If I’m the character, how do I explore that world?” It’s a rhetorical question, posed from his Toronto home, just two weeks after his wedding, attended only by close family, socially distanced, on a beach overlooking Lake Huron.

Reid grew up in Toronto, but these days the dual citizen splits his time between T.O. and L.A., depending on where his work takes him. From a young age, he took piano lessons, and recalls enrolling in the annual Kiwanis songwriting competitions, always making up songs at the keyboard. Acting overtook his life, then became his chosen artistic path, but his love of creating and playing music never waned.

“For a long time, I was writing songs and not doing anything with them”

In 2015, Reid met JUNO nominee, industry veteran and fellow singer-songwriter Matthew Barber at an event in Stratford, Ontario; the pair clicked. While Reid jokes that he was just a “hobbyist” at that point, Barber convinced him to make a record. The pair spent two days in the studio together, resulting in the Songs from a Broken Chair album (2016).

“I was like, ‘Wow’ I want to do more of this,” says Reid. “For a long time, I was writing songs and not doing anything with them. They were just places to put my thoughts and feelings.”

The success of the award-winning TV comedy Schitt’s Creek’s – on which Reid plays David’s boyfriend Patrick – left little time to put out another record. But with the show coming to an end in 2019, Reid called up Barber and returned to the studio. On May 29, his sophomore record Gemini was released. The dozen songs on it are arresting, piano-driven compositions that show the other side of Reid’s talent. Unsurprisingly, the balance between his two passions, and other dualities,  is something the songwriter thinks about more, now that he’s in his 30s.

“The Best” Cover Ever
One of the most poignant moments on Schitt’s Creek came in Season 4, when Reid, playing Patrick, serenaded David (played by Dan Levy) with an acoustic version of Tina Turner’s “The Best.” A digital single of the performance reached No. 3 on the iTunes Canada Top 10 singles chart. What’s more important to Reid is the lasting legacy of that made-for-TV moment. “I never expected it to be so impactful for so many people,” says Reid. “I knew we had an opportunity with the audience that watches that show, and knowing moments like that are few and far between in the LGBTQ community… It was incredibly rewarding to be part of that moment for a community that doesn’t feel represented much on TV.”

“I’m not as concerned anymore with being cool, and all the ‘social stuff,’ as I was in my 20s,” he says. “Balance is something I’m striving for now, as the dualities in my life are being made known. There’s a sweet spot between letting it happen and making it happen… a lot of the songs find equilibrium between two things, and show that two things can exist at the same time, and that’s OK.”

For Reid, the songs and songwriters he’s drawn to are those that show a human side: a rawness and “realness” often lacking in some of today’s auto-tuned pop. Touchstones include singer-songwriters of the 1970s like Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Carole King, and Paul Simon.

 One of Gemini’s most earnest songs is “Underwater.” It’s one of Reid’s favorite compositions, and received an early rave review from a certain Schitt’s Creek co-star.

“The recording feels super-dynamic,” he says. “When I wrote that song, it was a step up for me in terms of songwriting… I hadn’t heard that sound coming out of me before. It just felt so honest. The world of the song expands as it goes along. I remember playing an early mix to Catherine O’Hara at an airport somewhere. She took her headphones off and said, ‘Noah, that is amazing! The lyrics are very sad, but the arrangement is so hopeful.’”

Photo by Olivier Savoie-Campeau

Decision-Makers: Marcella Grimaux

Story by Claude Côté | Tuesday September 8th, 2020

As a creative director, visual designer, and artistic director, Marcella Grimaux takes over the stage in a way that makes us dream. Meet a woman who constantly lives on the artistic edge.

She gets to design the look and feel of eagerly-awaited new stage shows by Québec artists; it’s the story of her life. “We’re in a business where we have to put ideas and images to words. It’s not always easy!” says Grimaux.

She grew up in New York City, with her mother as a model and inspiration, before moving to California to study theatre and stage directing at the University of Southern California. Her first acquaintance with the profession was in 2009 with Dominic Champagne, who was then presenting the stage play Paradis perdu (with music by Daniel Bélanger). “As I was only there to shoot the rehearsals, there was no creativity involved, but I was thrilled to be working with him,” she says.

Marie-Mai

Marie-Mai. Photo by/par Patrick Beaudry

Grimaux began her career at Geodezik in 2010. She started directing in 2018. She now owns her own company, the Noisy Head Studio.

The same question keeps coming up during production meetings: “On what kind of trip are we going to embark? What kind of trip do we want people to experience, what will the visual signature look like?” In the case of pop star Marie-Mai, who had switched record companies to join Spectra Musique with a new sound and a new image, they needed to come up with a visual presentation that was worthy of the artist’s stage comeback. At the Bell Centre, of all places.

For the Elle et moi tour in 2019, Grimaux acted as creative director. “We designed the stage set and the video; the set list was done with her music director, David Laflèche,” says Grimaux. “In what direction could we steer that huge boat? Each song was telling a different story. We visualized the angles of vision in 3D from every Bell Centre seat. We added a staircase, and moving screens, providing us with additional stage entrances and exits. The show’s opening was spectacular. We pre-filmed Marie in the same outfits she would be wearing during the live show to achieve perfect continuity. In one song,  “Empire,” she asks, ‘Am I being re-born now?’ That sentence gave us the direction we needed!”

Marcella and her team won the Félix (ADISQ) Awards for Lighting Design and Projections at ADISQ’s 2019 Industry Gala for that show.

Loud

Loud. Photo by/par Susan Moss.

People are still talking about Loud’s entrance to the stage for his show at the Bell Centre. The striking use of an airplane cockpit was pure Marcella, in her creative-director role. She co-created the stage sets, and then a short number with Simon Cliche (a.k.a. Loud), besides designing the video content.

“At our first meeting, his manager told me, ‘We’d like to see Simon arriving onstage in a plane,’” she says. “That’s the kind of time when you raise your eyebrows, and write down in your notebook, ‘Arrives in a plane.’

“That was in early February of 2019, and the show was scheduled to open May 31…

“We started designing the stage, but still needed a plane by the middle of March. Building a cockpit from scratch, or even a set, would have been way too expensive. Did you know you can’t buy airplane parts? Each part has a serial number and an owner. It’s illegal, and the reason is, to curb the black market for plane parts.

“A month later, a friend spotted a nearly abandoned aircraft in a Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu yard! What a lucky break!”

Michel Rivard

Michel Rivard. Photo by/par Marc-Étienne Mongrain.

Michel Rivard’s Origine de mes espèces show, which won the Félix Aaward for show of the year at the 2019 ADISQ Awards, was a different story. Directed by Claude Poissant, this show (with the fateful moment when Rivard opens the letter revealing his father’s DNA, then blackout!), called for a more sober directional approach.

“How could we portray the memories Michel was talking about in his flashbacks?” asked Grimaux. “We had to scan some 350 photographs from his personal archive to create the video. We were looking for out-of-focus images, looking more like old memories.  The golden rule was that the video was only there as an accompaniment. Before, lighting technicians used to insert images themselves because that was their turf. Today, these are two separate operations,” she explains.

Then, there was a memorable solo show with Jean Leloup at Place des Arts in 2016, with a huge fibreglass cranium sitting onstage, complete with light beams. Grimaux was artistic director on that project.

“Jean kept talking about campfires,” she says. “He wanted a campfire feel in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier – and he’s so all-over-the-place that committing him to something too concrete would have been a mistake. My role was to bring in video universes that we didn’t want to be narrative or continuous: we had to design them in such a way that they would remain flexible, because Jean didn’t have a set list. He might decide to sing “Je joue de la guitare” before “L’amour est sans pitié,” and we had to adapt, we had to be super-flexible. We had four visual universes ready, to help us follow him on whatever musical path he would choose at the last minute. The biggest challenge was a technical one: the size of the background projection screen was nearly as big as an IMAX screen: 50 feet large and 32 feet high!”

The long pause created by the COVID-19 pandemic made it possible for Grimaux to co-direct the video of Patrice Michaud’s song, “La grande évasion,” with her creative partner Daniel Faubert, and then to direct Asteria, a daring new virtual-reality music project that was recently released by the La Maison Fauve and Studio La Fougue.

“At meetings, I’m often the only woman at the table, and I consider myself lucky to be surrounded by men who don’t care one way or the other,” says Grimaux. “But I know of no other studio of this kind in Montréal (Noisy Head Studio) being led by a woman.”