Bud Rice Step Forwards With a Second Album
Montreal Rock-Folk Artist Unfolded Awaited Album ‘Piece of Heaven’
“It was mayhem until now,” Bud Rice said about launching his second album Piece of Heaven.
It took nearly two years of writing, cutting, and arranging to deliver what the venue full of eager fans have been waiting for at his album launch party Sept. 7.
Pop-country singer Britty opened for Rice before he rocked the Petit Campus stage with his band. With what was also her first solo performance in a while, The Montreal-born artist re-emerged from Nashville to grace the audience with her country acoustics.
Britty played “Speed Queen,” a love song about cleaning dirty laundry while being content within her creativity and solitude.
That night, Rice reclaimed the stage with his refreshing new album.
“It’s like a breakup album,” said Rice; however, less sappy and more reminiscent of good times.
Within this album, Rice tries to capture the “ability to look back and remember fondly.” The album centres on the “fun times” of past romantic relationships that he had.
In the process of making Piece of Heaven, it was important for him to take his time. According to him, the money, time, and juggling of his band members who all play in other acts took a toll emotionally and physically.
“I wanted one song that was fun and big,” said Rice about “Evergreen.”
“‘Evergreen’ took me four minutes to write and I really didn’t like it in the beginning,” Rice said about creating the song.
Even though “Evergreen” took a shorter amount of time to write and produce, the song flowed easier than most according to Rice. He described it as having more of an upbeat groove and an excitable quality to it.
“Evergreen” speaks about looking back on a past love, but feeling less bitter and more at ease with moving on. In the music video, the artist walks alone through the Ormstown fair, singing passionately in the open space with his acoustic guitar.
While Rice shaped all of his songs, it was also very much a collective effort. He invited outside input from his music legend father Dave Gossage.
“He wanted me to play on the record too and add my own touch with my keyboards,” said band member Alex Lebel.
According to Lebel, it took time to get the album right. He added that it nearly took two years in the recording studio to arrange with Gossage and the members. Lebel was able to add his sounds and textures to some of Rice’s pieces including the single “Crescent.”
As opposed to Rice’s softer songs like “Oh, My Sweet Rose,” “Crescent” contained heavier sounds with electric guitar solos and synthesizers.
“He was really open to ideas,” said Lebel.
Various musical influences have impacted the artist’s style in many ways from Wilco to Bahamas and Andy Shauf.
“I definitely listen to a mix bag of stuff,” said Rice.
Gossage lent his technical ear during the production process and appeared on stage “flute first” for some of his set. Growing up, Gossage’s musical presence was always around.
As a boy, Rice listened to Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. When it came to styles of music, Rice eventually envisioned himself as a musician, listening to a lot of Motown and funk.
If he had to describe his sound today, Rice stated that it would be rock with Motown undertones.
“I still want to do a Motown record,” said Rice. “Motown will still come around for sure.”
