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Swimming in Lost Channels with Tony Dekker of the Great Lake Swimmers
by Troy Rogers
 Tony
Dekker of the Great Lake Swimmers is pure folk
talent that would make Neil Young, Hank Williams,
Johnny Cash and the Carter Family proud to have
been role models for a younger generation. Given
how Dekker has evolved into one of the best songwriters
in music today, with modern sound and relevance,
the sincerity in Dekker's lyrics recalls the early
days of the folk movement where a pre-electric
Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger where the big draws
on the folk festival circuit. For our chat with
Tony Dekker, interestingly that's exactly where
we found him.
The lead singer and songwriter for the five member acoustical folk band, Great Lake Swimmers, Tony Dekker is what music should be when you strip away studio production and what it was when all you needed was a guitar, a microphone, and the honesty of life experience within your songs. Bursting onto the music scene with the band in 2003 and the self-titled debut, "Great Lake Swimmers," Dekker and his band mates released two more albums, the successful break out "Bodies and Minds" in 2005 and the eclectically mysterious "Ongiara" in 2007, which led to the March 31, 2009 Nettwerk release of "Lost Channels," the fourth full-length album from the Great Lake Swimmers that the band is promoting on tour.
In between performances at the Vancouver Film Festival this past weekend, which featured a variety of internationally known folk acts and other notable names such as former Barenaked Ladies front man Steven Page, legendary Mavis Staples, Arrested Development, and The Proclaimers, we caught up with the Great Lake Swimmers singer - songwriter to learn more about how he approaches live folk, what he's learned from past legends, how he finds inspiration to write songs, the Great Lake Swimmers in Europe, and whether Tony Dekker has actually swam in all of the great lakes.
THE DEADBOLT: How does the city or town you're playing in affect how you approach the music on stage? Do you recognize if there's a different expectation of folk per region?
 TONY
DEKKER: No, not necessarily. The only time
I change up our set is if we're going to be
playing in a city with a rock vibe and we'll
be playing more up tempo numbers. But generally
speaking, we don't change our set. Aside from
the folk festivals we've been playing, we'll
play a few more traditional songs. But other
than that, we basically play the same for everybody.
THE DEADBOLT: As a songwriter, what have you been able to discover about the material of Johnny Cash, the Carter Family, Hank Williams, and the older guys that's still relevant today?
DEKKER: Well, I found it to be hugely inspiring, particularly the Carter Family. I found a huge amount of inspiration in their songs and the ability to represent sort of complex ideas in simple terms. Yeah, a huge amount of respect and inspiration from particularly the Carter Family and Hank Williams for sure.
THE DEADBOLT: Do you see any comparisons in yourself to Gordon Lightfoot in terms of being able to sing about Canada, but have it appeal to the world?
DEKKER: Oh man, I don't know. That's
a pretty big hill to climb, but I don't know.
I'm a huge fan of his work, obviously as a songwriter,
and especially as a Canadian songwriter. You
look up to people like that and you only hope
you can achieve some level of meaning that music
can give over as long as his great career.
THE DEADBOLT: We saw you back in March, which was just before you guys were heading down to the U.S.. How did that tour go?
 DEKKER:
It was great, actually. It was the first time
where we had several folk shows in the U.S.
and it was really great. It was the best one
yet. I mean, it was a really hectic pace at
the same time. There's always a set of challenges
that come along with being on the road and away
from home for that long. But it was great and
it went really well.
THE DEADBOLT: While you guys are on the road, what do you do to pass the time between gigs?
DEKKER: [laughs] We drive. We sit in the van and drive. I try to get some writing done. I'm not able to get as much writing done on the road as I'd like to do. We listen to a lot of records.
THE DEADBOLT: With "Lost Channels," just like the previous albums, you recorded them in unconventional places like an abandoned church, a silo, and a castle. What does that give the album when you record in places like that?
DEKKER: For me it draws out a certain kind of performance you wouldn't get if you were playing in a more, what I would consider, a sterile environment like a regular recording studio. I think it sort of inspires the performance a little bit more if you're in a setting that has a special energy to it, like those ones do. So to me it's become a really important part of the process, too, instead of just sitting around the studio and waiting and the clock is ticking. It's kind of like, "Well, no let's make this special effort to go to these incredible creative ends." Overall I think it adds this element, which I think is important to what we're doing.
THE DEADBOLT: How does inspiration for songs hit you? Do you let it flow organically or do you actually force yourself to sit down and create?
 DEKKER:
I think most musicians and songwriters would
say the same thing, that it's very difficult
to sort of force creativity or force those ideas
to come out. I mean, sometimes it's good to
give yourself certain parameters and restraints,
and that can sort of cause you to jump ahead
and jump out and try to finish something. But
for the most part, I think it's most important
to just try to be available when the inspiration
strikes and make yourself as available as possible
regardless of where you are.
So when it comes time to finish the album, and I have unfinished songs on the table sometimes, it's that little bit of extra stimulus that can help you wrap everything up. But for the most part, it's very difficult to force. It's so much better to be available when inspiration strikes.
THE DEADBOLT: "Your Rocky Spine" is a such great track. Where did the inspiration come from?
DEKKER: I think when we recorded that album, we had been doing quite a bit of traveling leading up to it and we found ourselves in all of these different environments, and that was the first time we had toured to that extent. So we found ourselves not in just physical landscape environments, but also mental environments, too. I think that song exists in the spot where those environments kind of overlap. You know, I think that's part of it. I think in general for that album, I think that's a small piece of the puzzle of where that comes from.
THE DEADBOLT: There are a few more up-tempo songs on "Lost Channels" than the other records. Is this something we'll see more of in the future from you guys?
DEKKER: I'm really not too sure. I mean, that was the product of working closely with band members over the course of a period of time and it came about naturally. It wasn't planned out. It wasn't like a thought out thing. All of the songs I wrote and brought to the table sort of evolved that way when they were introduced to the band. So I'm not really sure what will come next, but we'll see.
THE DEADBOLT: I've heard about the project you guys have with fan videos. What can you tell me about that?
 DEKKER:
We thought it would be a great idea for people
who came to the shows to record little clips
of video on a couple of songs on their cameras
or phones or whatever, and then we were going
to try and patch together a video using the
clips from all of the shows we played. I think
we played like 60 or 65 shows in one stretch.
So we thought it would be a really interesting
idea to try and get clips from the same song
at each show and then string them all together.
That was the idea, people could film it and
we could patch it all together, and that's still
in the works.
THE DEADBOLT: Back in May you guys played a number of shows over in Europe. How does it feel to be recognized outside of North America like that?
DEKKER: It's really great. But at the same time I think that's where we were first sort of recognized. We've been playing shows in Europe now for the last five years, and we had a really good start there when the first record came out, and we've been going back ever since. But obviously it feels great to be sort of a Canadian ambassador over there and it's nice that people are recognizing Canadian music more, in general, around the world. I think the eye is on Canada right now and has been for the last couple of years. So it feels really great to be a part of that for sure.
THE DEADBOLT: Since you grew up around Lake Erie, have you swam in all of the Great Lakes?
DEKKER: I have swam in all of them. I haven't swam across them, but I have swam in all of them [laughs].
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