Adrian Glynn has the kind of voice that settles deep in your gut, fluttering about like a frantic butterfly. And that’s just his voice. Seeing him perform live is another matter. You will be spellbound and unable to wrestle your eyes away. After listening to his latest album, Bruise, you’ll be hooked and soon enough you’ll have Blue Belle Lament on repeat, singing along to Adrian’s mesmerizing voice.

Some people struggle with pursuing a passion, how did you come to realize that music was yours?

Somewhere between spending hours on the song order of my mix-tapes when I was 10 and playing along to Nirvana in high school on Friday afternoons until my fingers bled. (Jimmy quit. Joey got married.)

Have you always been musical? When was the first time you realized you could sing?

My mom says my brothers and I used to criticize her pitch when she was singing us lullabies as pre-schoolers . So I guess I started being musical early. Or maybe I just started being a dick early.

What has been the biggest inspiration in your life?

Probably a fear of failure and a need to prove myself to myself.

Do you have a mentor? If yes, what is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from that person?

I have learnt from my father that it is okay to bloom late.

Do you have one person in your life that has completely changed the direction of your life?

No.

What has been your greatest accomplishment to date?

I’m pretty proud of this new record (“Bruise”). And I’m not just saying that to, you know, promote it, etc. It feels like the most fully realized artistic thing I’ve done so far.

What do you do when you’re not performing or creating music?

I stare at walls a lot and feel bad about not creating anything. I spend time with my excellent friends. (not the mediocre ones). I go on dates and that kind of thing. When I get a chance, I go hang out with people I haven’t met in countries I’ve never been to. That’s my favourite thing to do besides playing songs for people.

The ultimate mix tape would contain music from…

Dan Bern, Kelly Joe Phelps, Paul Simon, Lucinda Williams, The Cure, Jeff Buckley, Joe Pug, The Weakerthans, Social Distortion, Lou Rawls, The boss, The Pogues, Tom Waits, Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, Miles Davis, Circlesquare, Shostakovich, the Vancouver Bach Youth Choir, Iron & Wine, Goran Bregovic, Dropkick Murphys…
This would be a terrible mixtape.

Who would you love to perform with?

I got to share the stage with Dan Bern this summer, which was a dream realized. As well as Joel Plaskett. I’d say I’d like to share the stage with Tom Waits but I think it would just be weird. I’ll choose Springsteen because the guy puts on 3-hour shows for football stadiums full of screaming people- what must that be like??

What is your favourite element of performing?

I’m actually not sure. I don’t know what it is that spurs me to perform. I don’t always love it. But I feel this sort of need to do it. I suppose I like the attention. i suppose every performer does, in some way.

Are you a night owl or early bird?

If I like to sleep a lot, does that make me an early owl? I’d say I’m generally a late-night type person. But film work sometimes requires me to get up at hours like 4am so I’m kind of on my toes from time to time.

What instrument would you love to learn to play?

I wouldn’t mind knowing my way around a telescope.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Pornography.

What is one thing you would change about Vancouver?

I would dispose of the beach-buggying, uniform-wearing, smug-smiling, liquor-dumping preventers of normal, grown-up fun– my nemeses, the hated beach cops. I would make one of our beaches– just one– a Croatian style fun-beach with bars and restaurants in the sand and dancing all night. This would be the first step of many toward making Vancouver more fun. This city treats its citizenry like grade-schoolers sometimes and I think it’s preventing us from becoming a world-class city.

Where is your favourite bar stool and why?

I don’t have a regular watering hole in my hometown because I don‘t water my hole too much in Vancouver (that sounds gross). i get my drink on while on tour so i try to take it easy at home. Honourable mention goes to the Alibi Room. It’s the closest thing in Van to my favourite types of watering holes which are rural English pubs– i will take fresh cask beer, a warm, wooden room and the sound of happily drunk people talking  and laughing all around me anytime.

If you could go back in time, what era would you choose and why?

Dinosaurs! Can you imagine?? That’s a quick answer. This question raises questions– do I get to go on a sort of VIP trip with a lot of money and do really cool things? Or if I visited Elizabethan London would i be some peasant that just ends up in a dreary tavern with syphilis or something? Let’s say it’s the former– I’ll take a wadful of bills, an ability to swing-dance, whatever drug is a la mode, a sweet and sharp suit and I’ll hit the Manhattan jazz clubs in the early 40s for an all-nighter. OR I’ll be some kind of visiting Aztec dignitary in Tenochtitlan circa early 15th century– I would just kill to see what that empire looked like before the Spaniards arrived and.. that whole thing.

What inspires you on a daily basis?

I wish I was inspired on a daily basis. Sometimes I’m just a lump of shit. But I do make it a point to try to recline in the most fashionable poses.

Biggest challenge you have faced as an artist?

Myself.

Emotion you want your music to evoke from people?

A single tear. Or repeated dashboard bangs! Or a ravenous and unquenchable sexual appetite.

What are you most excited about that’s coming up?

The unkown unknowns. And hopefully a Europe tour next Fall. Also, I will be in my first play in several years in February! It’s a new work entitled Chelsea Hotel that is based on the life and work of Leonard Cohen without really being a “bio-play”. All the text of the piece are words from something he wrote. It’ll be at the Firehall Arts Centre in downtown Vancouver for the month of February.

Lessons learned from Adrian Glynn:

1. Wear comfortable and cushy clothing to an Adrian Glynn show to protect you when you fall from swooning.

2. Surround yourself with blank walls and paint them with your imagination.

3. Be true to yourself.

Don’t miss Adrian’s next show on December 8^th at the Waldorf Hotel with Louise Burns and Fine Times.

Adrian Glynn’s website
Adrian on Twitter
Adrian on Facebook

Read our other Interviews from a Bar Stool.

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