The McDades: Music in the age of technology and polarization

The McDades have been playing music together for almost 20 years. A lot has changed over the years, for music and the world at large. After taking on the CKUA stage at KDays, the band talked about those changes.

The band is made up of three siblings — Shannon Johnson, Jeremiah McDade, and Solon McDade — and Eric Breton and Andrew Hillhouse. The three siblings’ parents were musicians, and they started a family band. The three stuck with it, and eventually met Breton and Hillhouse through the music scene. 

The McDade family grew up going to and playing at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, which brings together more than just your usual folk music.

“The after-parties used to be incredible,” Solon said. They used to happen in Lister Hall at the University of Alberta. “You’d just push a button on the elevator and the door would open and you didn’t know what you were going to find. But there would be people sitting in the hallway playing music together.”

“Every floor, all over, had jam sessions,” Johnson added.

It was a very different time then, with more alcohol and fewer phones. “It was a very free kind of event where people felt, I think, safe in the sense that we were all there to play music and just be creative and have fun and get to know one another and try things,” Solon said. 

“Now, with the technology, with the phone, and the internet, I think that so many people want everything to be perfect,” he explained. “But, really, that’s not what art is. Art is about failure, and having ideas, and trying them, and then making mistakes.”

Making room for bad ideas and trial and error

The McDades’ music blends Celtic sounds with jazz and global rhythms. “The melody comes first, and then we try to think of what kind of textures or sort of other elements can we have that would complement that melody,” Solon explained. 

Solon said that the ever-present risk of being filmed by someone and ending up on the internet has stifled creativity. But failing and welcoming both good and bad ideas is a huge part of the McDades’ process.

“Sometimes that bad idea can go really far,” Johnson said. “You spend a lot of time on that idea until you realize that this is really going nowhere.”

She said there have been times when the band has kept coming back to an idea for years before realizing it wasn’t going to work. 

“Often it’s about what not to do, I guess, in a lot of ways,” she said. 

“It’s trial and error,” Solon said. “That riskiness is really, for me, that’s actually maybe the most exciting moment in music, where you get surprised by something.”

“Chicks are cool, and so is Canada” Johnson says

Another thing that has shifted more recently has been the politicization of Canadian identity. 

The McDades played a benefit concert for Canadian unity on July 22, alongside Secondhand Dreamcar and the Mbira Renaissance Band. All of the proceeds went to the Edmonton Food Bank, the Bissell Centre, and Sanctuary of Peace. 

Solon said he’s frustrated that people have been telling him that playing that concert was political. 

“We’re Canadian, we’re born here, we’re proud of our country. Does that mean we are Liberals, or [New Democrats], or Conservative? No,” he explained. “Everyone should be proud of where they come from and their story. That’s not to say that Canada is perfect … but it’s not political to say that you love your country.”

He’s been seeing a creep of American right-wing culture into Canada, especially with the internet and technology. Solon prefaced that he’s not a technophobe, but he’s concerned with what he sees as a conservative, and often anti-women, point of view that social media companies push.

Music can go a long way in pushing back against these issues. The McDades have drawn on musical inspirations from the 60s, which was a highly political time in music. 

“But even before [the 60s], there were lots of people that were talking about social justice and things that needed to change in the world,” Johnson said. 

“There’s that in the lyrical sense … but I think also music can be something that just brings people together. It can be such a celebratory thing in people’s lives. So if you’re all enjoying the same thing, then … there’s a shared experience and a shared thing that you can build off of.”

The McDade’s most recent album, Thread the Light, leans more into the side of spreading positivity and creating connections. 

“Let’s be together, share together, enjoy together, have a good time,” she said. 

“Dance and celebrate,” Solon added. 

Johnson could be found in the crowd at the CKUA stage doing just that. She finished the interview with “Chicks are cool and so is Canada.”