After completing my first pop album, “Wine” in 2017, under my real name James Hardiment, I was back to writing another song for 2018. This time instead of whining about girls who don’t love me (what pop singer doesn’t?) I decided to do something with a bit of a historical theme to it, and still whine about a girl at the same time! I’ve had a passionate interest for history since a young age, one of my favourite classes in high school.
During my brief couple of years at University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, I developed an interest in local history of the area. In particular, the rum running time period of the 1920s, where gangsters would smuggle illegal liquor and booze across the Canada/US border during prohibition.
Prohibition was a time period where the sale and consumption of alcohol was made illegal in North America. However due to a legal loophole, hard beverages were still able to be brewed and distilled in Canada for export. This technicality created a whole hotbed of smuggling and a rise in organized crime and it’s power. Gangsters would control the operations and have the hooch made in Canada in Windsor to Detroit, Michigan, USA, the city which borders Windsor on the river. After crossing the border it would be transported across the nation to quench it’s unending thirst.
I wrote the song “Corrupted” set in that world. I wanted to capture the feelings of the time period. The vice, greed, and lust for power that summed up the era so perfectly. It’s all about a girl that leads a good man to do bad things, or at least things perceived to be bad during that decade of forbidden drinks and speakeasy’s.
The song is very synth pop, with some jazzy and rock type elements to it. I go high and rough for the vocals, a very rock n’ roll style. On the track I also had special guests, classically trained Lindsey Gillis, who was based in Ottawa at the time, singing backup female vocals. Another great musician I got to work with was Duncan Fyffe, also Ottawa based, on the saxophone.
Duncan operates a home audio repair business. He has an extensive collection of guitars, saxophones, and other instruments. He also has some great microphones for recording his parts, as well as Lindsey’s too. He even had a vintage 1920s saxophone for his solo, which added some authenticity to the fusion of different genres. I recorded all of my instrumentals on my iPhone and plugged in my own microphone for my own vocals at my home in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada at the time.
Filming the music video was even cooler than creating the song itself. We had access to an amazing mansion off Bank St. in Ottawa due to one of my friends at the time, photographer, and filmmaker Nikonas Davis having a relative that took care of the place for a family she worked for. There was a nice vintage bar that looked like it was from right out of those days. I added little details to make it feel more authentic, such as vintage beer bottles, wooden crates, costumes, and not forgetting the teapot and cups used to disguise the alcohol from the law, that wasn’t looking the other way!
The video featured many talented Ottawa based actors and was so much fun to film, as always. The singers on stage in the bar was actually footage I purchased later from a British group I found on YouTube called “Down For The Count Orchestra”. I can’t thank them enough for helping me compete the video in 2020. Life got a little crazy in between and delayed it’s completion.
Josh Hart would return as my audio engineer to mix the track and I released the video in 2020. It was an amazing feeling after taking nearly a year off from my music. At that point I was living just outside of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, about an hour away from Ottawa.
Be sure to check out the music video on my YouTube channel when you get a chance! You can also access it through the “Corrupted” tab on the website you are on now.
Duncan has a website for his audio repair if you have an old hi-fi or record/cassette player that needs a tune up or fix.
Josh Hart’s website if you need to get a song mixed or recorded in Ottawa:
https://www.joshhartrecordings.com
Have a great night folks! I’m gonna go get some legal drinks now at my favourite bar in town, Rendezvous Restaurant, 1213 Pitt St. Cornwall, ON, Canada.
James
Pictured: Duncan Fyffe plays his saxophone solo in his home studio on his 1920s vintage saxophone.
Pictured: (Left) James Hardiment being made to look pretty for the music video by the talented makeup artist and actor Taylor Efford (Right).