Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: I grew up in Toronto, ON, and while I wasn’t musical right from the outset, I had an strong interest in music from a young age. Most notably, I became quite obsessed with the Beatles in elementary school, so much so that my parents were quite relieved when, at around the age of 11, I started to discover other bands and artists. I would’ve started, then stopped piano around the ages of 8-10 or so, not really taking it seriously until I was around 11 or 12. The big turning point would’ve been around 12 when I started to discover classic rock and alternative rock and got into drums. After drums came guitar at around 13, and by highschool I was finally starting to get interested in instruments and practice. I recall the Ramones being a huge influence, playing my cds into the dirt.
All said, the influence to take up an instrument came from my Mom. She played piano occasionally, and I do have a very vivid memory of hearing her play “Moonlight Sonata” and “Canon In D” and being a bit mesmerized by it, at around the age of 8 or so. I recall a moment, especially when listening to “Moonlight Sonata”, that I realized I wanted to know more.
Otherwise, I was very fortunate to grow up in a city as vibrant as Toronto, and from an early age had at least an awareness to a wealth of cultural traditions around me. Also growing up as a teenager in the early 2000s, there was a strong community downtown for punk, metal, and alternative music in general, and I remember being captivated by these communities in my early teen years. While I didn’t necessarily partake in all of those scenes at the time, it was inspirational to know there was stuff outside of the pop mainstream, which at that time I had no real interest in whatsoever and found antithetical to my whole being. But my interest in classic rock and alternative rock in my early teens guided me eventually towards psych rock, then progressive rock, then fusion, which eventually lead me towards Jazz at the end of highschool. Took a while but I eventually got there.
Q: Can you describe the musical style of “Lennox Campbell-Berzins” in three words?
A: Jazzy, mellow, dreamy
Q: How do you stay connected with your fans, and what role do they play in shaping your musical journey?
A: I feel like it’s not too different from anyone else these days, but it’s mostly through social media. The support and wonderful feedback I’ve received recently has done wonders for my motivation in general, and I feel very grateful for the outpouring of love for the recent stuff I’ve released. It’s been a long labour of love, and to receive any compliment or kudos is a huge gift, and only helps to keep my up my morale and spirits to move forward. Some strangers online have given advice or requests, and while it doesn’t necessarily shape the journey it definitely makes me consider different options in the path, for example covers vs originals for the next album. I still have to think on it but it definitely came up recently.
Q: You have just released your new album, ‘Lullabies For Lenny’. Is there a story behind it?
A: Absolutely. The album is notable for the fact that it relies almost exclusively on the “harp harmonic” guitar technique, developed and perfected by Canadian Jazz legend Lenny Breau. Breau was a huge influence on my first forays into jazz listening, and I was captivated by the tone he was getting with the harmonics – it was totally otherworldly and surreal. Around my early 20s, I started to teach myself the technique and got to a place of comfort that I wrote an original composition, then started arranging pieces starting in 2014. For years I kept it mostly to bedroom practice, until 2021 when I decided to upload some videos finally online of most of the arrangements I had up to that point. Finally, this past year, I decided it was time to put something out. My main band was wrapping up and I had some spare time, so I finally took a moment to say “put it out, make the album happen”. And so it’s the culmination of almost a decade of arranging and practice, all dedicated in loving memory to Lenny Breau who inspired me to learn the technique.
Q: What is your favorite track from the album and why?
A: Perhaps “After The Rain”. It’s one of the more recent arrangements and actually gave me a fair bit of trouble at first when starting to arrange it. It’s a very emotional tune, charged with a lot of heart but also simplicity. It’d be easy to overdo or underdo an arrangement, almost like a pastry or dish you’re aiming to get just right, and in the end I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, save for a couple of bumps here and there. It’s Coltrane, perhaps THE jazz god, so it was quite daunting at first but I got to a place where I am actually quite proud of not only the performance but also the arrangement.
Q: Can you walk us through the creative process of producing the album, “Lullabies For Lenny”?
A: So, back last year or so I had chatted with my buddy Neal Armstrong, who happens to be the floor manager at Hot Docs cinema here in Toronto. We’d chatted about the harmonics and he’d mention there was a possible opportunity to record the album in the cinema. Not only that, the cinema is rumoured to have some ghosts as well! Flashforward to earlier this year, my band is approaching hiatus, and the cinema was at risk of closure (inevitably it did close for part of the year but is recently back!). We both jumped on the chance to record it asap, while we still could, and he put me in contact with the videographer Braden Sitter. In between the last screening of the night and the arrival of janitors at the cinema, on a snowy friday in late March we setup and recorded the full album in the cinema.
We had a window of about three hours to setup, shoot, get two-three takes out of every track if possible, then tear down before the janitors arrived, and we did it! Each take is a one take, just like the old days – no edits.
After that, Braden edited the footage for a generous price, and my buddy and longtime collaborator James Atin-Godden mixed and mastered the audio. I’m still just grateful we were able to get enough takes in the window we had, and for the amazing generosity of everyone involved who offered to do it below their usual pay scale.
Q: What has been the most memorable concert or performance for Lennox Campbell-Berzins so far?
A: For this project, probably the recent show at Burdock on Oct 23rd. I had the pleasure of hosting supporting acts James Atin-Godden (who mixed the record) and Victor Xu, better known by vixuvixu, for a night of solo performances. A very intimate evening, it was the second time I’d played the harmonics live. Not only that, it was James’ first time singing live in 12 years?? Very special night.
Q: Reflecting on your body of work, each song holding its unique significance, could you share a particular track that stands out to you personally? What makes that specific tune special, and why does it hold a place of pride in your musical journey?
A: So, I have an oddly varied body of work. I’ve now published roughly 10 releases in the span of q decade, between two bands (Ruby Cikada & Broken Wolves) and three solo projects (Lennox C.B., Sleepy Demons, and Lennox Campbell-Berzins). The music covers a wide spectrum. For example, the solo project Lennox C.B. has traditionally been more dream pop and alternative indie, while the Broken Wolves sits in a world of psychedelic/grunge and dark folk-rock. But all said, when thinking about the recent release, I would say that the main single, “Over The Rainbow” encapsulates this past journey – dreaming of bigger things. I never would’ve imagined something like this ten years ago, and I catch myself off guard occasionally, despite my own critique, actually being quite proud of this album and the work I’ve put into my instrument. A decade ago, some people wouldn’t have believed it if you told them I played guitar half-decently, let alone to this caliber. You never know where you might land up, and sometimes you can surprise yourself in a good way when looking back down the road you came.
Q: Exploring the diverse creative processes within the music industry is always fascinating. Could you provide insight into Lennox Campbell-Berzins’ unique approach to crafting music? From the initial spark of an idea to the finished song, how do you navigate the creative journey and bring its musical concepts to life?
A: For this project, some of the pieces have been very slow burns. Since all of the songs are covers, it’d usually start with some discovery or rediscovery of some jazz standard I appreciate. Moments where I might say, “what song is that in my head? Oh wow, it’s ‘Someday my prince will come’, I forgot about that one”. Next I would have to go through a process of learning the melody and chords, roughly to start, just to get it a bit internalized. The daunting task after this is arranging it for the harmonics. It can be very time consuming as you’re trying to place the melody in a place that makes sense to navigate for the chord changes, the harmonics, the notes within the right hand finger pattern (sort of support notes) and the melody itself. Actually, with some of the older arrangements it was easy for the melody to get lost or compromised for the sake of the technique, and ideally I would aim to improve on the process in future arrangements. After that it’s all down to practice and repetition, entraining muscle memory into the fingers. Despite consistency, the technique can be very unforgiving, and it shows if there’s been a break between practice sessions.
Q: As we wrap up our conversation, looking ahead, what aspirations or dreams do you have for Lennox Campbell-Berzins, and what message would you like to share with your fans as they continue to accompany you on this musical journey?
A: Down the line I’d love to do an album of originals. I haven’t gotten around to writing material for the technique yet, outside of some support or accompaniment parts on albums of original songs. I’ve been thinking of doing something more ambient in nature, maybe playing with pedals and effects in the future. Food for thought and I’m not in a huge rush. I’ve also been considering doing another album of covers, perhaps Beatles since they’ve been such an inspiration throughout my musical journey, and fall into a category that is both classic and a bit more modern than your average jazz standard, even just as far as sensibility.
For aspirations, I’d love to see more awareness of the technique in the guitar community in general from this release. It’s such an esoteric technique that I’d be happy just to know it helped shine light on a different approach to guitar than previously seen. And even within the span of releasing this album it’s been cool to see the reactions and comments from strangers and friends, as a lot of people had never heard or seen this kind of guitar playing prior to this. I hope for more of that – more discovery of the technique for others, and perhaps a rethinking of the terrain and limits of the instrument.
As far as a message I’d like to share, the only thing I can think of is this – I have been surprised all along this journey, and looking back I’ve been amazed by how far I’ve come in even a short span of time as far as my ability is concerned. All to say, you can surprise yourself with enough commitment to anything, and anything is possible in the realm of music – sky’s the limit. Or to quote the song, “and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true”.
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