S RADIO ruled by fools

plotting to anesthetize

our brains (and make them more receptive to the advertising imperative), as Elvis Costello would have us believe, or is what the pro- grammers feed us, as we flip through the frequencies of a pop soundscape crowded with hook-heavy hits, the soul food we subconsciously are drawn to and need?

As a jingle writer for Coke, Chevrolet and Expo'86 and as a naturally-gifted radio hit man, Paul Janz has worked both sides of the equation.

janz, whose music fits comfor- tably into the Contemporary Hit Radio, Adult Contemporary and Adult Oriented Rock playlists, is garnering much air-time with the first hit from his latest aloum telease Renegade Romantic.

Every Little Tear recently busted out of the box to chart top 20 three weeks after its release earlier this year. The album followed right behind.

Radio play translates into sales, with the Janz single being the eighth hottest selling single in the country last week.

Janz recently talked about com- posing and his own hit-making process. Every Little Tear was composed last year in West Van- couver.

Music Now: When you sit down at the piano and think ‘hit’, what do you put into the making of a popular song?

Paul Janz: ‘‘It’s either groove or melody — that’s how a song starts for me. Every Little Tear started with a bass groove. From that point on it's not like, ‘What's go- ing to sell here?’ If something feels good, | want every part of the song to feel right. Joy is part of it. It’s something real deep. It certainly isn’t cerebral. But it isn’t entirely emotional either. it’s mainstream pop music but something happens in the synapses of the brain.” Music Now: Is there a moment when you know that a particular song you’ve composed has ‘‘it’’? Paul Janz:‘‘There was one mo- ment in particular with Every Little Tear. This was the last song | wrote for the aibum. I’m sure i’d done 18 or 19 songs to that point. It was very important this time around that the people in America (A&M Los Angeles) felt that they had a record they could go with. They

The Association for the Preservation of Swing and Big Band Music continues its very popular series of dances. With favourite tunes o! the swing era.

featurin RON RUTHERFORD and HIS 17-PIECE

PRESERVATION OF SWING BAND

With Vocals by Karen Kelm & Lach Duncan Regency Ballroom

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MICHAEL | BECKER

record review

wanted to hear at least four singles. Up until that time they were hearing two definite ones, but they wanted to hear two more.

“It was Coming around the time when ! just wanted to record this record but | knew they wanted another couple of songs. { realiy compressed a lot of energy into about six weeks of work on two songs. Every Little Tear happened to be the last song | wrote. | was definitely thinking single, but not sort of bastardizing the thing.

“Ido remember the one mo- ment when I was still living in West Vancouver. | wrote this thing there when | was sitting in my studio and | was just working through the chorus and | did one special change so that all the chord changes never rested. Every

chord in the chorus is leading and — bam — something hit and | said, ‘Wow, | think I got some- thing here.’

Music Now: Do you draw the words for your music from ex- plicitly personal experience?

Paul Janz: ‘The inspiration is more from a feeling than anything. A lot of my stuff is. it doesn’t really boil down to an experience thing or to an issue. Every Little Tear simply depicts my feeling about emotions and relationships.”’ Music Now: What are some of your musical influences?

Paui Janz: “Pop influences have been very broad except | was never into stuff like the Sex Pistols. ! can’t say | don’t appreciate what they did. The way they put themselves into what they were doing was certainly all the way and that alone has a lot of merit. My influences are people like the Beatles, Elton John, Brian Ferry, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles.

“In order to do rock music ! don’t think you have to be an angry person, you don’t have to depict anger or bad boy. There's just a lot of great stuff out there that’s dane in good conscience.”

bss : scam PRESEN F,

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25 - Wednesday. March 21, 1990 ~ North Shore News

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