The Devin Cuddy Band will soon be making another trip to Northern Ontario following a previous sold out show. Devin Cuddy himself joins me on Under The Radar to talk about Canadian touring, growing up as the son of Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy, his perspective on growing up in the Music Industry, and we get some details on a new album! Scroll down & enjoy the interview!

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Daly: Say someone has never heard of the Devin Cuddy Band before but they wind up at a show. How would you describe the live show to them?

Devin Cuddy: Well it’s definitely a high energy show and we play a lot of country and blues inspired music. Lot’s of up tunes, dancing is always encouraged. Usually we actually get people out on the dance floor pretty quickly so it’s generally a good time I’d say.

Daly: Your fans in the North must have already known that. Your last show here sold out so we’re glad you’re coming back. How did you find the show at The Working Class?

DC:  Oh it was great. First time in Timmins. It’s always fun to go for a first time to a Town. It was January, so we’re looking forward to playing there in the summer…there was a LOT of snow.

Daly: I know, it can be brutal.

DC: That’s ok, I think that’s part of Canadian Touring.

Daly: How have you been finding the reception to Kitchen Knife?

DC: It’s been pretty good. It’s been out for a couple years now; we’re just starting on another record. But I think it went pretty well. We got to go to lots of places, got to do lots of touring with it and people seem to like it. The last tour we did in January was particularly good so it’s got a bit of longevity which is nice.

Daly: When do you think the new music will be coming?

DC: We’re going to start recording in August so probably in January of 2017 or December of 2016

Daly: When it comes to your music and your band – also feel free to correct me and tell me I’m completely wrong here – But I love that with Jim Cuddy being your Dad, you neither try to hide it OR use it for promotion.

I feel like a lot of Artists in your shoes would either try to distance themselves from the name or use it for shameless promotion. I get the vibe from you it’s kind of like, “Yah, he’s my Dad. He’s awesome. But here’s MY music”.

DC: Yeah of course, I try to kind of toe the middle between those two things. Obviously we do something that’s different and I write all my all songs so I feel that I’m expressing myself. But also I’m very proud of what they [Blue Rodeo & Jim Cuddey] have done. I’ve obviously lived as his son for a very long time, musically and normally.  And you know in this industry especially nowadays it’s very hard to do it and to get ahead.

As much as I enjoy being my own man being his son has opened a lot of doors for me. It’s hard to turn that away and I think that a lot of Artists would be foolish to. I remember when I first realized I wanted to be a performer I just realized I had to accept it and shying away from it would be too hard and tiresome. I didn’t really want to do that. I was an easy decision for me. I think it’s great; we get to play shows with them, we get to do lots of our own touring so I think we’ve found a nice balance which has made me very happy.

Daly: Do you ever have people associate you with Jim or Blue Rodeo when you would rather have them focus on the Devin Cuddy Band?

DC: It’s unavoidable to have the comparisons really. It doesn’t bother me though, I’m lucky in that it’s never bothered me. I know a couple of kids of Artists who have a hard time with the legacy and that stuff but I’m still young and new. I mean maybe it will tire on me but right now I’m more than happy and proud to carry the name and whatever tradition he created for me.

Daly: Being brought up in the musical environment that you were in did you ever picture yourself being something other than a musician or was it always in your head that this is something you were going to do?

DC: Oh no it wasn’t actually. I always liked music and we were forced as kids to play music so probably at the start I hoped to God that I could quit and never do it again. But there was kind of a turning point when I was a teenager…

Daly: You realized that girls love the guy who can play the guitar and piano?

DC: Weeelll, that is a no brainer. But everybody talks about that right? So I knew that that was going to be a thing. But it wasn’t until I was 23 or 24 that I started preforming and knew that I liked it & that it was for me.

Now growing up around it up all the time I had kind of skewed concept of what it was like, obviously they [Blue Rodeo] had been successful my whole life. But I have a memory of being at a festival in Welland Ontario, one of our first festivals. I was sitting on the road cases and waiting for my sound check and was thinking this is all a pretty familiar setting, you know, sitting backstage at a big show. And then they’re like, “Devin Cuddy Band, time to do your sound check” and I thought, “Oh, I guess it’s my turn now”.

Daly:  If you weren’t a musician what was the one career path you had in your head?

DC: I didn’t really have one, when I was a kid I liked zoology, I toyed with the idea of being a cop for a while. But obviously when you start discovering things in your twenties or late teens you realize they do testing for things [laughs]. I don’t know, I guess I never really had another path that drew me in so when I discovered I liked performing, It’s like thank God I have direction now.

The Devin Cuddy Band has a show in Northern Ontario July 8th. Click HERE for details

THE DEVIN CUDDY BAND

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