We’ve already talked about how Brian Glavine got his start, travelling all around Canada, to Jamaica, and back again while he was writing his songs. If you missed that beat, you can take a trip down memory lane with GLVN here. There’s more of his story to tell, but first, we have to take it up to now for a second. GLVN just dropped Never Ending Encore. It’s the first of his new releases, there’s going to be more coming, and he’s putting together a live show to tour them. He doesn’t just want to spin tracks, he wants to play, sing, and get the crowd moving with him in a way your average DJ doesn’t. Seems like a good time to talk about why he wants to change the game.
A Taste of the Energy
Brian didn’t start out thinking he’d be in EDM. Growing up in Newfoundland, he loved classic rock, pop music, and the hard rock sounds of the nineties. Half Case, his first musical venture, was a rock trio he founded with his friends. It wasn’t until moving to Toronto, years later, and experiencing the city’s live festival scene that his curiosity was piqued. “I’d never seen tens of thousands of people moving together like that,” Brian says. “I’d been to lots of rock shows, but the energy is different. You’ve got some people dancing, some people moving around or singing along, lots of people just sitting or standing, chilling out. It was wild, that level of excitement.”
It was also something Brian knew he wanted for himself. He started thinking seriously about adapting his existing songwriting catalogue to EDM. Never Ending Encore is the result, and it speaks for itself.
Moving the Space
But what about the live experience, the backbone of EDM? The people, the venues, the vibe? Brian loves the live performance aspect of rock, the way a great band or front-man can move the audience from track to track. DJ’s can do it too, but often opt for a different dynamic, building the energy in the space to a crescendo towards the end of their set rather than a more complex interplay, a back-and-forth with the crowd. “There are definitely some live acts out there in EDM” Brian tells me “but at the big festivals there’s usually the live stage and the main stage. Sometimes you see a bit of crossover, but the headliners are always DJ’s.”
The Live-Performance EDM Experience
With a string of hits ready to follow Never Ending Encore, GLVN wants to bring the live stage to the main stage. “I’m going to be singing and playing guitar, and as this thing builds and we can put on that really comprehensive live show, I’d like to get to the point where I have some more instrumentals up there backing me up.”
It’s not easy, crossing genres and styles, trying to change things. Sometimes it takes an outsider, a person new to the scene. Maybe that person needs the passion, will, and patience to make what they want happen.
You won’t have to wait long to find out.
Hear What We’re Psyched About: Stream Never Ending Encore, The Debut Single From GLVN.
