Friday, March 29, 2024

Sarah’s Hotspot: Protest Music with Peter Snow

Columnist Sarah Jessica hosts Hotshots on her website Sarah’s Hotspot: a monthly podcast series for musicians, artists and professionals within the scene to discuss the ups and downs of working within the Canadian entertainment industry.

In February’s podcast, Sarah Jessica speaks with Peter Snow; a GTHA-based musician, activist, and frontman of politically-charged socialist rock band The Soviet Influence

True to style, Sarah Jessica hosts a timely, honest and straightforward look as to why musicians decide to get political, the historical impacts of socially aware music on today’s culture and share some of their favourite protest songs. A condensed version of the conversation is below, with the full podcast available at the end, or directly from Sarah’s Hotspot.

Sarah Jessica: When did you discover your passion or interest in music?

Peter: I think it came pretty early. As a kid, I was a singer. I sang in choirs and musicals and all that kind of stuff. I really loved the power of music and the way it makes me feel when I’m singing and playing guitar. It’s like this magic. So pretty early on. And always kept that from childhood on. I never really stopped. I look back in the years since I was a teenager, and a lot of people that I know who were really big into music back then have moved on into other things, but I just never really let go. I was just one of those people who couldn’t get past it. Couldn’t let it go.

Sarah Jessica: When did you get involved with The Soviet Influence? When did that come together?

Peter: There are basically two phases to the band. First phase was, I was in a different band called The Histrionics, and that ended and I had some songs kicking around. So I started recording, and back in 2012, and spent 2012 and 2013- that era recording an album on my own with some friends. That was Boundaries, that was our first record. And then between 2013, 2014, up until 2019, I was still playing music and stuff, but had other things going on. I was writing, but not really focused on recording. I recorded in 2019 the material that became the second Soviet Influence album, which is The Price of Vigilence, and that was the point where I started to bring in permanent new members. So we have Peter and Blake and Kai all coming along in that period. So that was, sort of like, now this is an actual thing. And then from there it became, ‘okay we do everything together now.’ So previously it had been pretty much my project, but now it’s all of us equally. I don’t even write all the songs anymore, which is nice to have other people’s feedback and ideas.

Sarah Jessica: What role do you think art plays in social movements?

Peter: I think it’s central in so many ways. To so many social movements. Because when you’re talking about changing people’s minds, and changing people’s feelings, words alone aren’t enough. You need ways to tap into people’s emotions. You need ways to tap into people’s thinking about stuff. And it’s not just music. I think film and visual arts and all ways that you can express ideas are important. . .

. . .So I think that’s the power of art. To take something that might seem abstract and help to pull it into the realm of emotion and feeling and concrete experience. And I think music can do that just as well, because music is an inherently emotional art form. It makes people feel stuff, and you can use that to your advantage to help them think about topics and help them want to do something and help them feel that they aren’t the only person who thinks this way. 

Cause that’s the other value of art is it can spread a message and help people understand that ‘you know, I’ve thought this before, but I thought I was the only one who thought this, but now I know I’m not. Someone else thinks this way, too.’ Which is pretty powerful, to realize other people think the way that you do. So I think it’s hugely important. . .

Sarah Jessica: Do you think the arts community within the GTHA does enough, or puts enough effort into pursuing social progress? Or do you think that could be happening more?

Peter: It’s an interesting question. Because I think at some level, there’s a lot happening, and then at other levels, there’s not. There are musicians who are very involved in social activist projects in various cities throughout the GTHA. During the pandemic, there were a lot of people- we were involved in two different compilations for two different causes, and a lot of musicians stepped up in support of that and put their music out there. . .

People are doing it. I think what it ends up being is a compromise. People have to compromise between their principles and their careers sometimes. Unfortunately. And not maybe like, they want to do that, but it becomes a thing of like, ‘I’m going to make my music, and I’ll have my political stuff, and I’ll talk about it and I’ll tweet about it, but at the end of the day, I also have to be mindful that I’m a brand.’

Which is fair. Because the margins are razor-thin for musicians in Canada. Success is hard to find and you gotta do what you gotta do. So could we do more? Yeah, probably. I think we could definitely all be doing more, and all be trying harder to push the different things that we’re interested in and the different ideas that we care about. I do think that compared to the general population, that the music community is doing a lot. Compared to the average person, because there are more socially conscious people in the music community than in whatever community. 

But yeah, we could definitely be doing a lot more. Even as simple as using our platforms to amplify other voices. Which is something I don’t even think we do well enough, our band, you know, we try to really amplify other voices and amplify the marginalized people that are missing and lost in our communities, because they have a lot to say, and they don’t always get to say it. So I think it’s the most important thing for someone who has privilege to do is to use that privilege to amplify the people that don’t and to create opportunities for them. Without expecting anything in return. 

I think that’s the thing for us. We don’t want to come across as ‘we’re doing this because we want to use it as a catapult to some sort of stardom or something.’ It’s not. . .the success or failure of our music careers is secondary to attempting to be genuine and real. So yeah, I think there’s more we could all be doing. . . 

Featured image by Christopher Arndt.

Sarah Jessica Rintjema
Sarah Jessica Rintjemahttps://www.sarahshotspot.com/
Sarah Jessica Rintjema (she/her) is a music and arts journalist and live music photographer based in Hamilton, Ontario, and working within the GTHA. Besides running a Canadian arts promotional blog titled Sarah's Hotspot where she interviews local artists about recent single, album, and music video releases, Sarah Jessica hosts a podcast called HOTSHOTS where she dives deep into industry issues with local artists, which inspired her weekly radio show on Mohawk College's 101.5 The Hawk every Tuesday at 7PM, called HOTSHOTS On Air. You can contact Sarah Jessica through email, Instagram, or through the contact form on her website. Profile photo by Christopher Arndt.

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