John Maksym, Guitarist and Lead Vocalist for Canadian Rockers Breaching Vista. 
Breaching Vista Interview
1. How is Breaching Vista doing these days?
We’re doing really well right now. There’s been a lot of excitement in the past year, and especially recently – having just played our biggest venue/show to date. Last week we opened for Theory of a Deadman at Centre in the Square in Kitchener, which is one of the best acoustically designed theatres in North America, if not the world.
And we had a really good 2011, playing a ton of great shows & festivals, launching Vera City, and just checking off a lot of little things from the band bucket list. We seem to have carried that moment right into 2012, with the help of a great New Years Eve bash that we played with The Reason.
2. Can you tell me about the process behind the recording of the latest Breaching Vista album Vera City?
Well we started pre-production in mid-late 2009, and then spent pretty much all of 2010 working on the record from start-to-finish.
We decided to go back to Beach Road Studios, where we recorded our 2008 EP, because we haven’t found a studio that we feel more comfortable in. It’s a large facility out in the country, with an abundance of gear to play with and no distractions. There’s a cottage on site for bands to live in, fittingly named, “The Band House”. So we started off spending 14 days straight at Beach Road, with our Producer and good friend, Siegfried Meier.
We like working with Siegfried because he’s old school, and very good at his craft. Some of the cool pieces of gear that we used at Beach Road include a 2” reel-to-reel tape machine. So we did a mix between traditional analog recording, and Pro Tools. On any given guitar track we had 3 different amps running, with 3 different cabinets, and 4 mics on each cab. For one take we had 12 tracks recording simultaneously. And Sig is not a cut-and-paste kind of guy. He values capturing the performance.
Once the bulk of the recording was done, we enlisted some real session players for strings, including world renowned Cellist, Kevin Fox (Celine Dion, Chantal Kreviazuk). Kenny Bridges (of Moneen), played some piano for us and Billy the Kid (from Vancouver) squeezed in a recording session during her busy tour schedule to do a duet vocal part on our song “Letters”.
And finally, I had this vision of having a multicultural gospel choir doing a vocal melody on our song “Forgive You”. I spent a few months finding the perfect choir for the job, another few months convincing them to sing for us, and about a month or so booking a date to record them. The only available date to get their 8 best singers was Sig’s birthday, so we set up a mobile studio right in their church to take advantage of the natural acoustics. They sang beautiful harmonies effortlessly and sent chills down my spine. It was the final touch the record needed.
Siegfried did the mixing, and we sent it off to Troy Glessner at Spectre Studio, just outside Seattle, for mastering.
3. Where do you find the inspirations to write music?
My inspiration for writing comes from everyday life. Things that I encounter day-to-day. One morning I was sitting at my desk at work, and was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. Wasn’t long after that a melody with the line “just let me get some sleep” popped into my head. I ended up writing a song called “Sleep” from that.
I’ve written songs after watching movies, I’ve written about relationships, friends, past experiences in bands, after watching troubling events in the news on TV. Some are positive, some are negative, but it’s my outlet for what comes to me.
I know of songwriters who can just sit down and write a song, because that’s what they do. For me, it needs to be more than that. There’s this feeling I get when inspiration strikes, like a sudden adrenaline rush. And at that moment, I know that I don’t have much time to capture my thoughts and feelings, so I grab whatever is closest to me whether it’s my guitar, a pen and paper, or simply just voice recording an idea on my iPhone. Not every idea turns into a song, but that’s usually how it starts for me. And it has to be real for me. I can’t force inspiration.
4. How is the Rock scene in Ontario these days?
I think the Rock scene in Ontario has been sustaining itself. The underground scene seems to be driven between both metal influenced music, and the newer rhythmic rock that you can dance to. But there’s a little bit for everyone.
Big tours are still coming through Ontario, and tickets are still selling. Some of the big names rolling through right now would be Simple Plan with Marianas Trench, Hedley, and Theory of a Deadman just wrapped up their tour recently. This spring/summer will be Nickelback with Bush, Our Lady Peace, Billy Talent, and Bryan Adams, to name a few.
Not to say that they are all the same style of rock band, but they all live in the rock world. And it’s been pretty normal to see bands like Stone Temple Pilots, KISS, and Three Days Grace headlining major summer festivals in Ontario the past few years.
5. What are your current endorsements for Breaching Vista?
We haven’t actually looked into any endorsements just yet. We’ve heard that our band is on the radar with some companies, but I don’t think endorsements are handed out as easily as they once were. We know that they’ll come around when the time is right for both parties.
6. What’s your vision on the Internet as a tool to promote and market Music?
It’s like a double-edge sword. The Internet has made music accessible for fans all over the world. It’s never been easier than it is today to be sharing your music and gaining fans in other countries around the globe. Independent bands and musicians are paving their own way through the industry, and sites like YouTube are catapulting some to overnight success.
But the Internet is only as good as the people using it. Even if you somehow come up with a million dollar idea and create a viral video, there’s a good chance you were already working your ass off to get there. The thing with the Internet being so accessible is that there’s never been so much competition out there. You need to constantly be on top of your game, keeping your existing fans interested, and working hard to attract new fans to your band. And with a little bit of luck, the fans might step in and start doing some of the work for you. Word of mouth travels far. As do Facebook status’ and Twitter updates.
7. With all the bands coming out today. Do you keep updated with what comes out online at all?
I’ve always got an ear to the ground to keep up with what’s new. And it’s important to network with other artists and build friendships. The best thing you can do is to find bands similar to your genre, and play together in each other’s hometown. From there you start building some common fans and the more exposure you can get, the faster your name will travel around.
Sometimes it’s tough to keep up with the new social media sites though. Seems like every week someone has some kind of profile based music streaming website showing up promising to be the best one yet. We definitely screen each one that comes to our attention, but we don’t sign up on every site. It would be too many to maintain. The ones that seem to be the most relative today are Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
8. What would be some of your influences and Breaching Vista?
I’m the front man and main songwriter of our band so I’m a front man/songwriter kind of guy. My personal influences would be Billie Joe Armstrong/Green Day, Bruce Springsteen, Gavin Rossdale/Bush, Raine Maida/Our Lady Peace, Stephan Jenkins/Third Eye Blind, Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters, Adam Lazzara/Taking Back Sunday, Jesse Lacey/Brand New, Johnny Rzeznik/Goo Goo Dolls, and Kurt Cobain/Nirvana.
My dad got me started on Springsteen when I was 3 years old, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. I love the way he tells stories with his songs. Makes me feel like I’m right there watching the story unfold, and I feel connected to it. Green Day is by far my favorite band though. Nothing compares to the live show that those guys put on night after night. Billie Joe is in a league of his own for showmanship. He grew up a punky brat, but developed into a classy rock n roll icon.
The rest of the guys would probably agree with most of my picks, but I’m sure they’d also throw in Silverchair, Pearl Jam, Blink 182 and Styx.
9. Could you describe what goes on in a day in your life as a musician?
I don’t think there’s anything really interesting in a day in my life as a musician. But since you asked, let’s just say this is a day on tour.
Wake up – probably in my bunk on our beat up looking 1990 International tour/school bus likely to be parked at Wal-Mart in whatever city or town we’re in
Brush teeth – standing outside of the bus using a water bottle to rinse
Eat breakfast – egg mcmuffin at the McDonalds inside Wal-Mart with a black coffee
Browse – even though we wake up at Wal-Mart just about every day on tour I always need to do a lap around the store and usually buy a bag of ice for our beer cooler
Return to bus – wake up whatever band member did not rise from the grave
GPS/Drive – plug in address for next venue and start driving, eat Tostitos and/or Golden Grams as snack
Pit Stop – usually need to fuel up, use the washroom, buy lunch, etc.
Venue/Load in – arrive at next venue, find loading door and haul gear to the stage
Sound Check – sound check
Dinner – after sound check go out and find nearby pizza place, subway, or some kind of cheap food that is preferably not deep fried
Show – play awesome rock n roll concert, sell merch, meet new fans, let fans sign the inside of our bus roof
Load out – pack gear and merch back into the bus
Clean up – if venue has dressing room with shower, take a shower. If not, maybe find a YMCA, truck stop, or friendly person to let us come shower at their place
Drive/Park – find the local Walmart parking lot or one along the way to the next venue and park for the night Brush teeth – gotta keep the oral hygiene up, and I can’t sleep if my mouth doesn’t feel fresh
Sleep – climb back into my bunk and get the best sleep of my life! Our bunks are VERY comfortable. Custom made, of course.
10. Will there be any North American Tour following the release of Vera City for Breaching Vista?
We did about a month of touring last spring in support of Vera City, and spent the summer/fall playing various festivals.
This year the game plan is similar. We’re not going to jump on the road until spring time when festival season comes around. The festival shows are a blast in the summer, and we seem to fit really well on them, so that’s our main focus coming up. We’re also going to keep our options open for touring opportunities as a supporting band. Last year we went about it on our own, and this year we’d like to be a supporting act. Only time will tell what comes our way, but we’ve gotten off to a great start in 2012 so far!
Check out Breaching Vista Online http://www.breachingvista.com/