Catch the Release...

This month, I (singer/songwriter James Hardiment) teamed up with upcoming filmmaker Jake Adamson, to help him create the soundtrack to his short film, “Down by the Bay”. The project stars Evan Bridson as the lead, the plot is reminiscent of Jonah and the Whale, meets Jaws. Filmed and edited in both Long Sault, and Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.

Last year, I worked with Adamson on another film, called “Murder of Crows”, which we filmed out in Kemptville, with Ottawa actor Olivia Gault, and Kemptville thespian Maxwell Brennan, both in their early 20s. Adamson, and I, are in our 30s at this point! It was screened at one of last years KINO monthly film festivals (or maybe it was our own J3 Pictures screening party at the same location), hosted by filmmaker, photographer, cinematographer, and visual artist Vincent Valentino, and fellow artist Delaney Hinds. Vincent runs the Ottawa Filmmakers page on Facebook, which is a great way to find other like-minded, creative video creators.

KINO is hosted every month at LIVE! on Elgin, which is an event space, bar, and stage above Zak’s Diner at 220 Elgin St. in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Vincent knows the owners, and they are very supportive of the arts. Many live music shows pass through the space, so be sure to check out their page to see what’s coming soon. A projector is set up on the stage and the laptop is plugged into the sound system as well. They usually screen around 15 films, and there is typically an intermission between, about the half way mark. There is a fully staffed bar, and tables to sit at for the show. Vincent and Delaney typically pick the theme for each month and post on their official KINO page onto Facebook. This months theme was "Catch & Release”.

For the “Down by the Bay” film, Jake chose to create a black and white look, which appears to be a consistent theme with his two independent projects so far, since he got back into creating his own original pieces. The film is all about a man who heads out onto the bay in his kayak to go fishing, and the crazy adventure that ensues. I really love the ingenuity of filming on a micro-budget, using a smartphone to shoot, and utilizing the space that surrounds you. The kayak belonged to Evan, so it wasn’t bought just for the project. Jake has been honing his Special FX skills, blending CGI, and stock footage to create impressive, cinematic scenes on a shoe-string.

Evan Bridson plays the lead character of the short, a Kayaker who ends up going for a wild ride!

Building the music, Jake wanted me to adapt the melody from an old nursery rhyme tune called Down by the Bay (the same as the title of the film.) and he gave me rough ideas of what he had in mind. He wanted some discomforting sounds from time to time, so I tried to play some eerie string noises. I chose an old, off-key piano sound for the main melody, which would speed up in tempo, or slow down, dependant on the scene. On the other hand, for the calmer sequences, he desired a more upbeat version. So I used happier sounds, such as brighter, higher piano, accompanied with brighter pad synthesizer chords.

The film, along with the other entries, shall be screened this Wednesday June 28th, 2023 at 220 Elgin St. in Ottawa, as mentioned before above. Tickets are $10 at the door. Here are the links below:

https://ottawafilmmakers.com/pages/kino

That’s all for now folks, I’m very busy this week!

James

Retro Fun with a Green Screen!

Continuing the ‘Rescue Me’ album, set for release later this summer, I, singer/songwriter James Hardiment, teamed up with live performance artist Jonny Yumang, and filmmaker Jake Adamson to work on a new music video. This time, I would again continue with my upbeat, retro, Spanish Italo Disco, dance music style, which was popular in mainland Europe in the 1980s, especially at nightclubs. That style has been the primary inspiration of the project. The 3 of us filmed our parts on a green screen, which I had set up in my garage at home. I am based in a small town outside of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, called Long Sault (Pronounced Soo) for those reading from the various parts of the globe.

I love the fast synthesizer riffs which were typical of the genre, and the catchy melodies. I would sing the choruses in Spanish, and the verses in English. I love to blend languages in my songs, something many Italo artist would do as well back in the day. Artists such as David Lyme (Jordi Cubino) would sing his verses in English, chorus in Italian. The style originated in Italy, and despite being a Spanish artist, my guess was that he wanted to pay tribute to the country where it all came from. Not sure on that just my theory of course! He was also an opera singer to begin with, who discovered the style by accident, which might have been the reason as well.

The song is called ‘Señorita Por Favor’ and is all about falling in love with a dangerous woman, sort of a tongue in cheek, cartoonish melody. It has a bubblegum pop feel to it during the English verses. My dream girl rides a motorcycle, drives a powerboat on the river, and has a cute little pug that comes with her on her badass adventures. I find the Spanish language so romantic, and fun to sing in! The chorus basically asks a lady if she wants to join my gang of love, a very upbeat, and positive message. If everyone loved each other, things would be a lot better than constantly fighting, but that’s probably too much to ask.

I wanted to make a track that could make you get up and dance to, and I think I succeeded with that part at least. Dance music is one of my favourites, amongst other styles, including rock, pop, RnB, South African synth funk, and boogie. My album explores many different musical genres, but the constant theme throughout is that Spanish Italo Disco sound that I love.

Jonny Yumang is a Cornwall local legend when it comes to singers in town, especially, lately for the present karaoke sets across the city. He can be found often at Glengarry Pub, Rendezvous Restaurant, and Daffodil to name some of the venues in the town that offer karaoke nights. We often perform songs together at Rendezvous especially, sort of my home base. I’m there Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays typically, but Jonny has to work some of those nights. You might as well follow his Facebook page to know, or ask me since we are friends. Rendezvous is at 1213 Pitt St. Cornwall, Ontario. Jonny used to be an Elvis impersonator as well, and has an old costume lying around in an old cupboard somewhere. Lately he has been working another job, outside of music, like many of us have to pay the bills!

Pictured: Jonny Yumang on the keyboards! Fun times for sure.

As I mentioned earlier, I had the guys position on the green screen separately, as it wasn’t big enough for all of us to be in the same shot. There was a bit of room, but it was a bit of a squeeze for Jake with the drum pads on stands to hit to the beat of the track. I shot all the video with my iPhone SE built in camera, then edited the clips together using a powerful video editor app called Cyberlink PowerDirector. I love the cheesy, retro transitions I could throw together, similar to what you would have seen on a TV show in the ‘80s, which is what I was going for. I also ran the final edit through a VHS filter app, it creates a tape look to the footage, complete with distortion, and that analog fuzz you would have seen.

I’ve released the song to YouTube so far, thanks for everyone and their support, liking, commenting, and sharing. Every little helps an artist trying to get his, her, of their name out there. Check it out below!

That’s all for todays blog post I think, I’m excited for the stuff coming together this summer, it’s gonna be a record heatwave, hopefully I can sell some records as well! Feel free to explore my website too, there’s lots to read about, and I try to keep things local too, not always though.

Follow Jonny Yumang on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/RockinKing/

James

Sabadell Sound

Last year, 2022, I composed a song, part of a larger collection to go onto my upcoming album. The album shall be called ‘Rescue Me’, after the song I released in the Easter of the same year. For those new to the blog, I am a singer/songwriter called James Hardiment, who is based near Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. This track I worked on I decided to call ‘Sounds of Sabadell’.

Sabadell is a town in Spain, where a certain sound was created in dance music, back in the 1980s. Fast synthesizer riffs, lots of melody, and harmony. It was a Spanish branch of the Italo Disco style, which began in Italy, and branched out across mainland Europe. It replaced ‘70s disco, and featured synthesizers, drum machines, with the occasional sax, or guitar. The vocals were usually sung in English, sometimes mixed with other languages too. Artists such as David Lyme (real name Jordi Cubino) pioneered the sound, which dominated the dance music in Spain back then. He tended to sing the verses in English, and then throw in some Italian words for the choruses. Check out songs such as ‘Bambina’, and ‘Bye Bye Mi Amor’ are examples of this. Great songs by the way, and you can find some a pretty cool, lip synced TV performances from back then. There’s an awesome one, on a Japanese television program, that features a whole team of backup dancers, dressed in fun costumes. Jordi is dancing on the stage in an awesome black tuxedo, paired with a white dress shirt and bow tie. I love how classy dance music was back then sometimes, romantic too. Today it’s all rude and crude party songs, or so it seems anyways!

The sound, as I mentioned, has been a big influence on me. I find myself listening to Spanish Italo Disco the most, I love to dance to it. Other artists I should note include, Daydream, Squash Gang, Marce, and some next generation artists which I enjoy, as Italo has made a comeback, include Vincent International, and Stylove. The English is typically sung with a thick accent, which I find adds to the charm, and makes it more European in flavour.

I’ve written a few songs in the style, which have been so much fun, ‘Mistletoe Lady’ a Christmas track, ‘Rescue Me’, and ‘Sounds of Sabadell’. There are a few more in the works too, I look forward to releasing them all soon enough, I want to get the album out by the end of the year, hopefully anyways. ‘Sounds of Sabadell’ is all about dancing in the monsoon rain, wishing I was with the girl of my dreams, dancing together all night in Spain to the sounds of Sabadell.

I shot the music video on a smart phone, my filmmaker friend Jake Adamson helped me record it. Jake is also based in Cornwall. We teamed up with actor, and model Marianne Laver in the video, which features her, and I, strolling along the Rideau Canal together in Ottawa. It was a very fun shoot, so grateful for all the help from my friends. I added a VHS filter to the footage to make it appear like an old music video from the 1980s. Then I had my friend Duncan Fyffe, record a sax solo as well. Very retro, which is what I was going for, and romantic!

The song was mixed and mastered by audio engineer, Josh Hart, who is Ottawa based. If you need a song mixed, or recorded check out his website, to get in touch:

https://www.joshhartrecordings.com

I had such a blast with the project, I just released it to YouTube this evening. Hope everyone enjoys the tune, I’m so happy with how it turned out in the end!

Thanks for reading, that’s all for now!

James