Warning: Graphic language.
As a musician, it’s easy to write about sex, drugs and rock and roll.
But 19 years into his touring career, Jonas and the Massive Attraction front-man Jonas Tomalty says his songwriting muse is taking him and the band in a different direction these days.
Inspiration is something passing through a frequency somewhere, he said, reached on Monday at a remote northern Quebec fishing lodge, where he and his father and brother are resting and relaxing before the band hits the summer festival circuit again, starting Saturday night as the penultimate act on Day 2 of this year’s Thunder Bay Blues Festival.
“To be able to grab it, you never know what it is that’s going to inspire you,” he said. “I’m an observer, so I like to keep my eyes open and my ears open and hear stories of people’s tribulations and struggles, and definitely applying my own.”
Rather than penning meaningless lyrics about subjects that have been written about endlessly since the dawn of time, the Montreal singer said he wants to produce more of a hopeful message, a reality that can be found in the band’s latest song We Are All Human.
For that, he takes a more global approach.
“I think it’s hard to ignore what’s going on in the world right now. Sometimes getting caught up and getting too preachy about it can be a little bit much. But also ignoring it can be a little bit irresponsible. I’ve tried to take a bit of a positive approach to the observations.”
It helps to have some stability in the band.
While the Montreal foursome has changed lineups over the years (the current version also includes Julien Martre and Francis Fugere), one constant has been guitarist Corey Diabo, his partner in crime for the past two decades or more.
It’s a rarity in the business these days, said Tomalty, whose band is well-known in Quebec for writing alternative French versions of their songs.
“We’ve been really lucky. There aren’t a lot of lot of bands can say they’ve done it for 20 years almost,” he said.
“There’s been a real natural progression in the band, but a natural progression musically.”
It shows on their latest album, 2014’s X, the 10th anniversary album that features seven new songs and a trio of remixes.
“We really wanted to try something different. We wanted to can that lightning and get that life feeling that we’re kind of known for on stage, but not in our recording. So we took the approach of 10 songs in 10 days,” he said.
“We figured we don’t have time to fuck around … You can’t go back and try to pretty stuff up too much if you do it in 10 days.”
And that is about as rock and roll as one can get.
Jonas and the Massive Attraction take the Blues Festival stage Saturday night at 7:45 p.m.
Friday, July 8
Tom Cochrane (9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.)
Serena Ryder (7:45 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
Gowan (6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.)
James Boraski & Momentary Evolution (5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.)
Camden Blues (4 p.m. to 5 p.m.)
Saturday, July 9
Colin James (9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.)
Jonas & The Massive Attraction (7:45 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
Downchild Blues Band (6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.)
David Gogo (5 p.m. to 6 p.m.)
Steve Hill (3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.)
Carson Downey Band (2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.)
Terra Lightfoot (1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.)
Loose Cannon (12 p.m. to 1 p.m.)
Sunday, July 10
Burton Cummings (9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.)
April Wine (7:45 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
Jack De Keyzer (6:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.)
Dawn Tyler Watson (5 p.m. to 6 p.m.)
Steve Strongman (3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.)
The Devin Cuddy Band (2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.)
The Chain (1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.)
The Roosters (12 p.m. to 1 p.m.)
