This Quebec-based indie-rocker writes about a dishonest relationship on his latest track.
Canadian indie-rock singer-songwriter Jeremy Rice writes about feeling "stuck in a cycle of dishonesty," on his latest single, "Why Do You Lie." Joined by Phil Bellemare on keys and guitar, Sylvian Martel on drums and percussion, Jean-Phillipe Vigneau on bass, and Mathieu Voyer on lead guitar- Rice plays with a full band, one that he's proud to call his own.
"Not only is this an all-star band, these guys are my closest friends," said Rice. "We hang out together far more than we jam, but when we do jam, it’s magic."
To avoid writing a book, the Quebecois singer-songwriter says he would settle on describing his personal style as pop/rock, although he takes pride in delivering a unique sound on each track.
"Each song takes you to a unique place of its own," said Rice. "I tend to lean towards multi-layered arrangements, but I’m not afraid to strip it down either. There is one constant however: it’s all about the melody." Rice is an artist with endless influences, specifically mentioning American rock singer-songwriter Jackson Browne.
"There are so many, I wouldn’t know which ones to list first," said Rice. "I will say however, while putting together The End of the Highway, I found myself thinking a lot about Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty. I guess because it’s a record about being on the road, it has that travel vibe. I definitely drew some inspiration from that record." The single was originally crafted way back in 2015, but wasn't intended to be a song, exactly, as Rice puts it, "It was more of a vocal, multi-track experiment." "At the time it was just “waa waa waa”," said Rice. "I did very little with it at first, I basically shelved it among hundreds of other unfinished works." The bones of the single were officially finished in 2020, after Rice built the structure and bass/guitar lines, but he still left the project unhappy with his verse.
"So back on the shelf it went," said Rice. "Then, years later, when I started assembling ideas for The End of the Highway, "Why Do You Lie" popped back into the foreground. I finally managed to find a vocal line that played nicely off the guitar riff, and sat that well in the arrangement. That was it. I go through a similar process with many of my compositions. Unfortunately, several of them get lost in the ether. This one came close a couple of times." The singer-songwriter pulled from a difficult personal experience for the lyrics on "Why Do You Lie", citing a "toxic cycle of dishonesty." "It degenerated into a bit of a nightmare," said Rice. "It was not a good time, but at least something positive came out of it." Rice and the band tracked their individual parts, then sent the pieces to Jonathan Blanchette of Aquafight Studios.
"The tracking process was pretty interesting," said Rice. "Given that we were all under confinement here in Quebec at the time, we had do do a lot of tracking remotely. As most of us are audiophiles, this was generally pretty straight forward. However, certain parts just had to be recorded in my basement studio. Some of us may or may not have occasionally gotten together in a clandestine fashion to track a few things. This may or may not be why I unofficially named my basement “Speakeasy Studios”."
According to the indie rocker, the music video turned out exactly how he hoped it would- including a whole bunch of mimosas.
"I directed it with the help of Mathieu and Phil from the band, who respectively lit and shot everything," said Rice. "I also must mention my friend Marie-Adrey Noël, who advised us on the framing- it wouldn’t have turned out nearly as well otherwise. Basically, we got together for brunch and mimosas at my place, then filmed the band and drank mimosas for the rest of the day, then wrapped, sang some songs, and had more mimosas. In post, I chopped the hell out of the footage to make what we see on YouTube today. I also may have had a few mimosas during the editing process." Ultimately, Jeremy wants his listeners to feel joyful when listening to "Why Do You Lie." "Should you feel so inclined, please follow, share and keep an ear out for upcoming releases," said Rice. "There’s a ton of cool new stuff coming. Thanks so much for listening."
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