So in all honesty, I didn’t expect the first episode of Creative Maintenance to feature… well, me! But considering I talked Laura into doing this, it only felt fair haha. In case you missed the trailer we dropped, Creative Maintenance is a new series I’ve produced with my friend Laura Harvey, a photographer based in Vancouver who wants to have an honest dialogue about how we work. Across anonymous submissions, we chat with guests about the trials and tribulations of trying to build a career that you can be proud of, while also navigating the headf*ck of being a human being.

Getting to build this series with Laura has been a beautiful experience, and being the first guest feels like a colossal honour. It also feels serendipitous, because my attitudes and approach towards work have shifted so much in the last few years, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic years we all went through. I rarely get to talk about that, and Laura did such a brilliant job at making me feel comfortable enough to share these thoughts (intro song is Cassette Player by Rebecca Mardal).

When it came to the season finale for season 9, I admittedly overthought things. But as our world delved deeper into darkness, I kept finding myself thinking of how I wanted to leave you with a sense of hope. That led me to having Valerie June on, an American singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist who lives an extraordinary life. Valerie is an artist who’s very driven by people; learning from people, connecting with strangers both on stage and off. That curiosity has been a mainstay of her life, and that sense of whimsy is all over her latest album, ‘Owls, Omens and Oracles’ (which is out now). On this episode, I chat with Valerie about the vitality of seeing hope in others and why we need to always allow room to play in our lives.

Also, in case you missed the announcement: I’ll be launching a new series on June 9th with my dear friend Laura Harvey. That series is called Creative Maintenance, and the talks on there will reflect how so many of the disappointing experiences we have at work are a lot more universal than we often think. Episodes of that will be out all throughout the summer, along with season 10 of The New Exchange starting in September.

Before we wrap season 9, I’m happy to announce Creative Maintenance with Laura Harvey, a new mini-series I’ve produced. Laura is a ridiculously talented British-Chinese photographer based in Vancouver who deeply cares about community.

Creative Maintenance is a series about just that: highlighting how, as working creatives, we vitally need a sense of community. The format of the show is we take anonymous submissions from our peers about times in which they felt undervalued, where projects they’ve put so much of themselves into never saw the light of day. Together, we chat about these submissions, along with a guest for each episode, all to show how so many of the problems we face at work are more universal than we think.

The first episode will be out on Monday, June 9th. Be sure to follow Laura over on Instagram at laurahphoto and to visit her website to learn more about her and her work (Intro song is Cassette Player by Rebecca Mardal - from Epidemic Sound)

The dancefloor is a sacred place, and no one knows this better than Pierre Kwenders. The Congolese-Canadian artist has made a name for himself by being a daring creative who isn’t afraid to dig deep to make you move. A few years back, he was awarded the prestigious Polaris Music Prize for his project, José Louis and the Paradox of Love, a wildly ambitious album where Pierre sings in multiple languages (Lingala, Tshiluba, and Kikongo to name a few) and fuses various genres to create something completely new. His latest offering is still ambitious but in a much more intimate context; it’s an EP titled Tears on the Dancefloor.

This new body of work explores how unique dance music is and the spaces in which it’s celebrated. How to dance amongst strangers is innately an intimate and vulnerable thing to do, and in essence, is you seeking connection amongst others. It’s a strikingly emotional collection of bangers, and together Pierre and I chat about the qualities that makes dance music uniquely special.

It feels safe to say that there isn’t another music genre more in consistent flux than R&B. It’s a genre whose fans demand authenticity, a respect towards its forefathers, and evolution all at the same time. Where practitioners of other genres might get away with exercising old tricks here and there, R&B fans simply don’t allow for that. Burundian-Australian artist Beckah Amani has a perfect understanding of all this, with her debut album ‘this is how I remember it’ being the shining example. What Beckah has achieved on her album is showing why she’s an artist who’s here to stay, with a clear passion for storytelling and setting the perfect mood for listeners to pour themselves into her art.

On this bonus episode of the podcast, we go into Beckah’s story, how the album came to be, and how she’s gone on to attract the attention of music giants like Coldplay and Jorja Smith.

Truth be told, there’s not really an artist that does what Tamara Lindeman does. With her project, The Weather Station, she’s figured out how to weave personal stories with universal themes that touch….well, all of us, really. What intrigues Tamara above all else is humanity, the ways we’re connected through this planet we live on, and the highest of highs and deepest of lows that come with being a human being. Her latest album is called Humanhood, it's one of the most creatively inspired albums I’ve listened to in a long while, and this conversation you’re about to hear has made me appreciate that body of work even more. Naturally, we chat about the way Tamara and her band fuses sounds of folk, rock, baroque, and stream of consciousness across the album, while also talking about her persistent passion towards climate advocacy and how caring about that is more personal than you expect.

Stop me if you heard this one before: a group of four friends form a band, create music that initially people don’t understand but ultimately they win the hearts of a nation, inadvertently becoming THE biggest band of their country. And then suddenly the beloved lead singer decides to quit and start life anew. Ok, you’re right, I also haven’t heard of such a story, but that’s the unique story of Dutch musician Eloi Youssef, ex-frontman of the rock band Kensington (or at least the story so far).

It’s mentioned within this episode, but this one came about from a beautiful place of serendipity: me wanting to talk to Eloi about his post-Kensington life and Eloi arriving at a place where he wanted to talk about it. Along with discussing how his life has changed, we also talk in-depth about the tour he embarked on with the orchestral group Kamerata Zuid, a very first for Eloi. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, I’m happy to say that this is a perfect place to start and welcome.

(Thanks for the help on this one, Todd Owyoung!) It’s kind of wild how intoxicating the idea of “quitting your day job to chase your dreams is.” As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that the glow of that idea becomes brighter rather than dimmer for many of us. But what about the realities of doing such a thing? Well, that’s something that photographer Deanie Chen knows all too well. Deanie is a photographer that largely focuses on musicians, traveling with them and documenting their moments both on stage and off. She’s toured with the likes of Lizzy McAlpine, Lawrence, and Mumford and Sons as they play some of the biggest stages around the world. Prior to dedicating her life to this, Deanie also studied law, passing the bar exam and working at a law firm. Though it might seem like a fantasy dripped in more glamour than you can imagine, the realities of such a path are far from easy; which is exactly what we chat about on today’s bonus episode.