FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Livin' in the wild, wild West,
Calgary's Tariq proves he's (not just) a singer
By Aubrey McInnisIt's hard to imagine that controversies have wriggled their way into Tariq's 29-year-old life, but they have. He only moved to Calgary from Montreal a few years ago, but has quickly become a regular face in the music and cafe scene, quick with a smile, guitar chord or a cappuccino. But that is all old news compared to today.
A singer / songwriter and social commentator who, at one time, financed his musicianship with cappuccino-making prowess, Tariq captured the attention of EMI. Upon hearing his debut album, Splat, EMI signed him and financed The Basement Songs, which is co-produced by the Odds' Steven Drake. And already, before it's even hit the streets, The Basement Songs has accrued a slew of controversial attention.
Hours before we meet for the interview on a balmy Saturday afternoon, word is out that the first single from the album, "Chevrolet Way" (enjoying an exhaustive rotation on the two rock radio stations in town) has been "pulled" from the playlist at popular Edmonton station, the Bear.
Investigative journalism beckons me to call up the station and try to request it.
A disc jockey answers the studio phone and relays that the pull was a general decision. The album is not on the playlist, but is still available for play. She instructs me to call back tomorrow and "bug the hell" out of another DJ who will fill me in.
During a second attempt hours later, another disc jockey tells me to request it on their "Most Wanted" request program. What is Tariq now? An outlaw?
"I'm still unclear as to everything that's going on up there. Did tons of people complain about it?" Tariq has heard the news from his manager and is a bit befuddled, to say the least. He reasons that the song must not have fit in with the station's classic rock format.
"If it pisses somebody off or if it doesn't fit into some format...," he ponders, looking away for a second before admitting, "it can be frustrating. It reminds me how stale everything has become. That whole classic rock thing is so tiring. I never understand it because obviously people really like it.
"If you feed people the same thing, of course that's what they're going to want. It perpetuates this narrow vision of hearing the same, really safe songs over and over.
"I didn't write the song to piss somebody off. I didn't write it to go, 'Oh, I'm a rebel, I'm going to push the envelope.' It just happens to be the way I write."
The way Tariq writes is anything but passive. He comments on everything from relationships, sexism, racism to, uh, music critics (nothing is sacred anymore). Tariq expresses discontent over people becoming stuck in standards, formats and the way things ought to be. He instead chooses to write about the way things are.
"The way things are" has been presented in top 40 form and the lyrics are included in the new album. The lyrics behind "Chevrolet Way" have garnered attention because of their racy subject matter. Between the lines lies the culmination of three separate stories intersecting at what Tariq describes to be a very masculine dilemma.
"There's a certain element of aggressiveness, brutality, injustice," says Tariq about the single. "It's all woven into being a guy.
"The song (is) basically three separate stories. It started when we were out doing a folk festival last summer, South Country Fair, which is a great festival in Fort Macleod. We did the show and had to leave early the next day to go to Saskatoon. So we get up in the morning and stop at this diner on the way out. That's where I remember getting the typical strange looks - you don't fit in and everybody is very uncomfortable. And the guy who was actually driving the van was oriental. So we had that and all the rest of my band, whether they're white or dark, everyone looks like they don't fit into this scene right here."
Tariq remembers getting into the van that night and making notes about how weird it was to be loved and hated in the same place, which spurred a lyric in the single. As for the rest of the song, Tariq explains a rape case that occurred in Bermuda last summer. Two tourists from Quebec were raped - one was murdered - while hitchhiking a ride from two "native black" motorcyclists. He took the rape account and combined it with his own band's brush with racism with yet another story that disturbed him a great deal, about love lost.
Apparently, a man shot himself after a woman he was dating broke up with him and moved away. Although she wrote him many letters, he couldn't stand to be away from her and took his own life.
Tariq linked the stories together and even though "Chevrolet Way" does not completely refer to Southern Alberta (nor is it an invitation for a Chevy endorsement), it is ultimately "inspired" by the couple of pinhead Fort Macleod diners during the folk festival.
"(It) makes me think that I have to work a little harder or it's going to take a little longer, but that's okay. Maybe I'm asking for that by doing something that I want to do that I believe strongly in, sorta the price you pay. You're going to have to stick it out," Tariq says. "I don't mind earning my medals."
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