Interview with January’s feature, Patrick Swan
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As we often do, here’s a quick Q&A with the feature at January’s slam, Patrick Swan from Regina. See you Jan. 16 at the Drake!
Q: Do you remember your first poem? What was it like?
Patrick Swan: I remember writing a few poems, that I thought were total crap, as writing exercises for a creative writing class I had. Stupid things about what I ate for lunch or something like that. The first thing that comes to mind in terms of what I considered to be a real poem was an epic stream of consciousness type thing I called “The bridge to insanity.” As far as spoken word goes I started writing for that medium before I ever knew it was a thing I could do somewhere. I was young and all of those old poems were Idealistic, and quite frankly embarrassing. I didn’t really find my voice until I gave up being a hippy and gave in to being bitter and jaded. I like it here though. I’m not complaining.
Q: What kind of subjects do you tend to write about? Why?
PS: I write a lot about pop culture, being in love, sex, hangovers, and depression. Why? Because it comes easiest to me. Write about what you know? Is that what they say? Pop icons are easy targets, that and sex add a little levity to the other topics that weigh on me regularly. Writing about these things helps me to “embrace the suck” as my mum would say.
Q: What’s the spoken word scene like in your ‘hood? How is different than other places you lived?
PS: The spoken word scene in Regina feels almost non existent to me. It could be that I’m just not looking hard enough to find one but there are no regular events here. Saskatoon on the other hand has a wonderful slam started up there by Taylor and Charles in a little place called Flint. It’s a great show and it’s been pleasant to see it evolve over the last year. The only reason I ever left Saskatchewan for Vancouver in the first place was because I just couldn’t do what I wanted to do here. Now that I’m back it’s nice to see that things aren’t just happening here, they’re also picking up steam.
Q: To the people coming to the Drake on Jan. 16, what kind of set should they expect?
PS: Coming to the Drake on the the 16th? I think people should expect to see explosive honesty ripped from my mouth and tear apart all the things I love and hate about life. I know I’m excited for it. It’s been a couple years now since I’ve performed in Toronto and I want to make it one of my best.
Q: What you working on now? What’s coming up for Patrick Swan in 2010?
PS: I’m renaming 2010 Year of the Swan. I’ve got big plans set in motion. Right now I’m working on putting out a new book sometime in early 2010. My friends Graham, and Sean have been helping to make it come together and create something that will really be special. I also just made a live recording of a show I did here in Regina over the holidays and plan to put out my first real “album” in the near future. Other than that I’m trying get my shit together and make a tour happen. Ideally I’d like to tour until I’m dead.
(Facebook invite for the slam can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=232134656948&ref=nf)