In The Spotlight with Dave Woods: Patrick James Clark

Patrick James Clark has written over 750 songs in the last few years. Some of those songs have been recorded by other artists like Aaron Allen, Emily Clair and Sarina Haggarty. But, of course, he had to save some tunes for himself to be included on his debut album, Yacht Money, which is out now. The storyteller in Patrick shines on “Front Door” and “Pay You Back”. It’s his storytelling in his writing and his ease with humour that make him a great performer to see at a show. Those are 2 of the reasons he was named the 2021 winner of the talent competition The Shot. When pitching Patrick’s sound, I tell people “If you like your country mixed with some John Mayer, then Patrick’s music is for you!” I had a chance to catch up with PJC – as he is known – to ask him about the album, his proudest moment, songwriting, influences and new single, “Front Door”.

Your new CD Yacht Money is available at your website – physical copies – for free and is not currently available on any streaming services. Tell us a bit about this unique marketing approach.

Admittedly, this is a pretty unorthodox approach to marketing new music in the 21st century. And I’m not naive to how important streaming is in the modern music industry. However, there is a method to the madness, I promise!

The release of the album is sort of my attempt to combat the way we consume music these days. Because of streaming, everything is so instantaneous, and by way of that, rather fleeting. Generally, a new song comes out, we stream it, maybe add it to a playlist… and then kind of forget about it. I mean how many of us listen to songs we love on Spotify but don’t even know who the artist is? (I’m definitely guilty of this one.)

So, my goal with this album was to create a true musical experience. From receiving it in your mailbox, to putting the CD in your car, I wanted every piece memorable. We even toiled over what font to put on the envelopes to make it stand – because I wanted it to be more than just some new music. I wanted the CD to feel like a piece of art and I wanted the listener to feel like they were truly part of a music-loving community.

And so far, the response has really been incredible and while I, unfortunately, can’t boast about how many streams the album has got, I’m seeing a true music-loving community getting built in real-time and it is truly something special.

And if you would like your own free copy of the album mailed to your door you can get one at https://www.patrickjamesclark.com/free

Looking back on your music career so far, what would you choose as your proudest moment?

I swear I’m not trying to avoid the answer here, but it is hard for me to point to one specific moment. However, when thinking about what I’m most proud of about my career in general, I think it’s the fact that I’ve just stuck with it for so long. #RealTalk, being an indie artist is HARD. I mean, it’s not like being a roofer in August… but still, it’s really hard.

And there were so many times I wanted to throw in the towel and just give up. And now when I take a step back and look at my life and realize that I get to pay the bills by making music, and that I followed my dreams, and that I have actually been successful with it, it fills me with a pride that is hard to put into words.

If you were teaching a class on songwriting, what is the most important lesson you would want your students to learn?

This isn’t a very sexy answer but there’s no way around it, you just have to write a lot of songs. There’s certainly songwriting theory and it can help, and there are books and courses and they can help too. But you can’t theoretically learn how to ride a bike, you just gotta jump on the thing and start to pedal. The longer your ride, the better you get.

Who are your top 3 influences in music and why is each one significant to your musical path?

1. John Mayer
2. John Mayer
3. John Mayer

Just kidding… Well John Mayer is definitely in the number one spot, but outside of that, right now, I’d say the other two writers who are really living rent-free in my brain would be JP Saxe and Donovan Woods.

I think they just found a way to break the mold when it comes to songwriting. They threw out the play book and started going off the rails with absolutely incredible lyric writing. All of those artists introduced a style I had never seen before and truly changed the way I personally write music.

Your new single, “Front Door”, tells a very personal story. Give us some background on the real life inspiration behind the song. Why was it so important for you to write and record this one?

So, while on its surface, “Front Door” seems like it’s about a Front Door, and it is, I guess, but really it’s about life.

It’s about growing up, it’s about holding on to the things in our past that mean the most to us.

The song is based on a real Front Door that now hangs at my parents’ house.

Several years ago, my Dad was driving past his childhood home in Toronto and saw that they were tearing it down. He saw the front door sitting in a dumpster out front, so he drove onto the construction site, threw it in the bed of his truck and took it home. When I asked him about it, I remember he said something so poignant to me, which was just, “I walked through that door every day of my life, I couldn’t let them knock it down.”

The song that was born out of the story just means so much to me and I absolutely had to record it.

Follow & learn more about Patrick James Clark at:

www.patrickjamesclark.com
www.facebook.com/patrickjamesclark
http://www.instagram.com/patrickjamesclark