Kingston Songwriter Dennis Clark Sits Down With Coyler About New Album "May"

You can try to take the rock out of the music, but you can’t take the rock out of the musician.
“May”, Dennis Clark’s first solo album, may be an unplugged departure from his previous band work, but at the core, it still contains the energy one would expect from the young musician, and this was no accident.
“I wanted (the album) to have balls and it does. I didn’t want to tone it down at all,” says the Gananoque, Ontario native, who relocated to Kingston at an early age.
The juxtaposition between rock and acoustic is even apparent in Clark’s apartment bedroom, where an electric Ibanez sits on a stand just underneath an acoustic guitar hanging from the wall. The absence of electric guitar found on May is replaced with bass, occasional keyboard and relentless harmonica riffs that not only drive the songs, but add needed depth. The heart of the record however, lies most definitely in Clark’s powerful vocals and candid lyrics, which he says are intentionally not as straightforward as one would imagine.
“Lyrically, I don’t hold back. Maybe I sugarcoat a little, and not say things directly. Honesty and sincerity are a big part of my lyrics. About how much I put out there, I do like to leave it up to people to interpret it in their own way. If I say everything directly, people would say ‘I can almost relate to that’,” says the 21 year-old.
The bright colours and blooming flower of the artwork, coupled with the title of the record, might suggest a light, happy vibe. The title however, is simply his favourite month, and the album deals with dark personal issues such as the yearning for change and the breakdown of relationships. Sprinkled with standout tracks like “Leather”, “The Blink of an Eye” and “Summer Scent”, it was interesting that when asked what song he would show the world if he had one opportunity, his answer came quickly.
“Outside My Shoes because it sums up the entire May title. That song and the song “May” itself are about the exact same thing: being sick of doing the same thing all the time, the routine of living here my whole life and not getting away,” he says.
Some musicians have said that the best music can be made in a state of unhappiness because that is when the emotion is so strong that it can be poured into the music unfiltered. Clark agrees, and says that May would have been much different had he been more satisfied with what was happening in his life at the time.
“The album would have been less down if I was happy about everything. At the same time, maybe if I was happy about everything, the songs might not be as personal. If you’re sick of everything and you’re down all the time, it’s probably time to make a change. I’m sick of this scene,” he divulges.
“Anything At All”, a song Clark says is the most personal on the record, is about a New Year’s party he attended a couple of years ago where the partying got out of hand. By the end of the night, the police were called in order to end a drastic verbal and physical dispute. Ashamed of the incident, Clark says he rarely plays the song live.
The opening track, “Leather”, came about after Clark saw a storm coming over a body of water at a friend’s cottage. A song originating from such simplicity might lend to basic lyrics, but the honesty of the words is a realistic look at the sadness and regret that can exist in the world. “Nobody is informed not everybody finds their door. Not everybody gets theirs.” These earnest, truthful words seem like something a 50-something with an abundance of life experience would write, as opposed to a 21 year-old with the world at his fingertips. Later in the song, Clark sings “Chemo came and killed the cancer.” A long-time friend and former band mate of Clark’s was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, but Clark says that the words were written long before the incident, and are nothing more than a metaphor for finding a solution to a problem.
The album closes with the same subject as it opened, the ending of relationships, with “Summer Scent” being a recount of the demise of his former band, Degenerate. If the words “I don’t want it back although it was so good” are any indication, he’s put the past behind him and is ready for the challenge of being a solo performer, but also doesn’t rule out adding band members in the future.
“With a band, we could go anywhere with it. Right now I’m just writing on an acoustic guitar and I play by myself live. I can’t really take that much further without other people,” he says.
The new release was recorded in his apartment and it marks the first time in Clark’s career that he has recorded entirely on his own. The experience, he says, was refreshing.
“It was way more relaxed. I recorded everything like a hundred times. In a band, it’s more rushed. You need time to get everyone together. This time, I worked at my own pace. The album definitely consumed me. If I was recording with a band in a studio, I’m pretty sure everyone would hate me,” he says with a laugh.
Having experienced both worlds, band and solo, Clark says one of the biggest differences lies in the live performance. Performing, he says, is better when there are band members to share it with. There are people to talk to, and it is more entertaining for the audience as they can see that he is having fun.
Whether it’s a live performance or recorded material, Clark’s goal is to get his music out to as many people as possible, through whatever means necessary. Although he says that he writes music for himself, it becomes apparent that affecting the listener is of equal importance to the young musician.
“If I sell all those copies that means 500 people have my CD. That’s a good portion of people, and that would feel amazing. One out of 500 people has to count for something,” he says.
“If a record executive hears it and doesn’t like it but other people do, I really don’t give a shit what the record dude has to say about it. If a kid on the street likes it, if it does anything for him and he’s in the exact same position as me, that’d feel really good. Maybe that leads to a following and that’s all I really want,” he continues.
“This music is for me, I want to put it out there. If people like it, that’s awesome. But if they don’t like it, it’s not going to stop me from writing another CD. Same with the record dude, if he doesn’t like it, then whatever. I’ll write 11 more songs.”
With May being such a personal record about struggles, one could listen to it and get a sense of Clark being a Layne Staley/Kurt Cobain-ish musician: tortured and tired of it. Spend a little time with him however, and you’ll find that having fun is right at the top of his to-do list. His DVD collection includes Beavis and Butt-Head, Saturday Night Live: Best of Mike Meyers, and seasons one through six of The Simpsons. His CD collection varies from Alexis on Fire to Radiohead to Serial Joe (to be fair, it is still undetermined if that is a joke or not). And a more thoughtful side of the musician comes out when Stephen Hawking’s book “A Brief History of Time” is noticed. Turned on to the book after seeing the movie “Donnie Darko”, Clark explains it to be about theories on the stars and gravity, and confidently suggests that time travel is not impossible.
Leaving the time travel study up to Hawking, Clark cannot definitively say what the future holds for him, but a change in geographic location would be a welcomed one (given the lyrical content on May, that’s not much of a shock).
“I’ve lived in downtown Kingston, I’ve experienced it for what it is. I’m looking forward to change. Halifax, B.C., whatever. But I might end up writing another CD about how things suck. I’ll just print 500 more copies of this,” he says facetiously.
As far as the future of the music is concerned, Clark is happy to have completed his latest disc, and is allowing himself pressure-free time to gather material for another album. In the meantime, he plans on recording a six-song EP with tunes written at the tail end of May, as well as B-sides, in order to keep people interested. He doesn’t intend on recording it independently again, and wants to add percussion and bass to give it a fuller sound. One thing he knows for certain is that he does not want to recreate a similar record.
“I don’t want it to be the same, but I don’t necessarily know what I’m going to do that’s different. I’m happier now. I don’t feel like I’m going to write the same songs. I’m happy that (this record) is out there finally. Now I can stop writing songs about wanting it to be out there,” he says.
While waiting for the next release, fans can catch Clark performing at various clubs in Kingston (for more information, contact Dennis_clark@hotmail.com). In a world where Lindsay Lohan and Ashley Simpson say their music and shows are “personal” (as I write this, I’m trying to convince myself they actually write their own music), Clark says that his live shows are as real as they come, and that offstage, he’s the same regular guy. He says it, of course, with his sarcasm intact.
“It’s just me. I try to have a sense of humour. It’s the same guy with more of a cocky attitude. After I play, I’m better than you because I just played. I just go up there in my regular clothes, whatever I was wearing that day. I don’t go up there and fake anything, I’m just up and I’m myself. Sometimes I’m a little shy, and sometimes I’m a little drunk.”

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Humber Firefighter Jeff VanDerBeek

Sometime in the near future, Jeff VanDerBeek could be putting out a fire to save lives, and the training he received at Humber College will enable him to do just that.
VanDerBeek was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, but moved to Kitchener when he was three years old. Before reaching a decision to enroll in the Humber Fire Pre-Service Education and Training program, VanDerBeek says it was a process of far-fetched elimination.
“When I was nearing the end of high school, I was unsure, as were many of my classmates, about what they were going to do. I was trying to think about what the funnest jobs would be and off the top of my head I thought ‘NHL hockey player’, ‘poker player’. Once I got back down to reality and I actually started talking to different people, there were two main influences that lead me to firefighting,” he says.
When VanDerBeek was 12, he was playing ice hockey and got cross-checked in the throat, causing some swelling. His head coach was a firefighter and a paramedic, and he says that his coach was the only one to look objectively at the situation and do something productive. The coach calmed VanDerBeek and this, he says, was admirable.
Another hockey instructor of his used to tell stories about his firefighting profession, stories that VanDerBeek found very entertaining and exciting. But aside from these men, it was his ethics that lead him in the firefighting direction.
“What’s right and moral in regards to your day to day activity, there’s so much grey area. I didn’t want there to be any grey area in my job. I wanted it to be clear cut that what I was doing was a productive thing in society,” he says. “To believe in one thing whole heartedly is a little abstract but there’s nothing abstract about a person helping another person when they need it.”
Regardless of the reasons he chose firefighting, VanDerBeek says he is finding success and happiness in his program. In the first semester, he learned specific aspects such as ventilation and pump operations. Real fire trucks were used to teach the students regulating water pressure and setting up hoses in various manners. VanDerBeek says with the training they are doing now, there is more of a solid education on actually putting out fires.
They are trained at sites called Burn Towers, mock buildings used by fire departments for training new recruits. Humber students are trained in all positions of a fire crew: the crew going in to the building, the entry control team who look after the people going in, and another crew which is dedicated to rehab. VanDerBeek says the rehab crew is as crucial to a firefighting team’s success as any.
“When the crew comes out of a building, (the rehab team) takes vitals, blood pressure, and gives the guys water. In the real world, you can’t just keep sending people in to a long-running fire, eventually they’re going to go down. Those people go to rehab to get vitals down to an acceptable level so they can go back in and continue fighting the fire,” he says.
Humber’s firefighting program is three semesters long, and as excited as VanDerBeek is about obtaining employment at a fire hall, he has other plans for the immediate future. He hopes to go out west to work on the oil rigs before enrolling at Conestoga College for Paramedics.
“It’s all about taking care of patients, packaging, and wound care. That was one of my favourite parts of the firefighting program. Eventually I want to get in to full-time firefighting, that’s my primary goal,” he states. “But the paramedic will help me get there along the way, and I think it’d be a cool part time job. Good money there too. They’ve got benefits that’ll take care of my teeth at least.”
As for now, VanDerBeek plans on wrapping up Humber’s program, including a six-week placement in his third semester, which he hopes he can complete at a fire hall in the Kitchener area. With all he has to look forward to though, he still thinks about the little things.
“Right now, I’m excited about taking a nap,” he says with a smile.


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