Hedley Reflect On 2008

CHARTattack sat down with Hedley's Jacob Hoggard and Dave Rosin and went over some of the highlights that led to them being named Chart magazine's artist of the year. Here's what they had to say about 2008:

You won four MuchMusic Video Awards.
Jacob Hoggard: Yeah, that's a lot. That was really exciting because we never win anything. So it just felt cool to be on the other end of the win stick... the other end of the lose stick, which would be the winning end. I guess it's not a winning stick or a losing stick so much as, um, the stick of celestial selection.

You were nominated for group of the year at the Junos.
JH: It was cool. I think there's a group of people that sit around and drink chai tea and then pick who's going to be nominated. And when they know who's going to win, they pick sacrificial lambs, like, "Who else can we throw in for the nomination?" So we always kind of get tossed in there. And that's fine.

"Who's going to lose to Blue Rodeo?"
DR: That's alright. It's kind of like losing to my uncles. I grew up listening to Blue Rodeo and Finger Eleven and stuff, so it sounds trite and kind of... it sounds like a manufactured thing to say, but it's nice to get nominated. It's great to get nominated with bands you have a fun time hanging out with. We played shows with all of those guys. It really is a neat thing just hanging out and being part of it.

JH: Those awards are for the largest, most accomplished bands in the country. That's who win these awards. So it's just an honour to be included in those types of things. We never expect... I always get bummed out because I'd love to win a Juno just because I'm a Canadian musician. Maybe one day I'll pay someone off enough and we'll do business and politicize my way into winning a Juno. But until then, I'm really content with being there. It's a really great environment. It's a lot of fun.

You also went to Barbados and, among other things, shot a video and communed with nature in various states of undress.
JH: Oh, really. How did you know that?

I watched video of it on MuchMusic.
JH: Oh, in Barbados. I thought you meant, like, living in the woods and stuff. I didn't think anybody knew about that.

Oh, have I uncovered something here?
JH: No, no, no. After Barbados we came back from tour and I went and lived in the woods for a while by myself. It was pretty exciting.

So yes, to answer your statement, I agree with all those things. Those were a lot of fun. We got to make a music video on a boat. It was a two-day shoot. It was the biggest video we did with the smallest crew. And it took two days and we put a lot of work into that video.

DR: A lot of sunscreen went into that video, too.

JH: We made it identical to Duran Duran's "Rio." To the best of our abilities, we made it identical. That was really important for us, to do it justice and not just kind of cop it out. If we were going to do it, we wanted to make sure that we did it. So we were so happy. That's kind of one of the points of my, if you want to call it a career, where I was like, "Wow, I really feel like I did something cool there."

That was really exciting. We got to travel somewhere exotic for work. It's sort of quite high up on what I wish I could do for a job. And we were very lucky to do it. And I feel that we worked really hard. It wasn't a vacation, by any means. We were up every morning by seven. It was a lot of work.

DR: it was a long day.

JH: But it was enjoyable. We live to work. Not many people can say that. A lot of people work to live.

What were your personal highlights of 2008?
DR: You know what was really neat, actually? We played a democratic rally in Halifax. It was a free show outside of City Hall to celebrate 200 years of democracy.

JH: We smoked a doobie in City Hall.

DR: Yeah, probably the oldest government building in all of Canada.

JH: We smoked a doobie in it.

DR: We got to party with the Trailer Park Boys this year. That was pretty cool. They were rad dudes.

JH: I grew up a trailer park boy. I didn't live in a trailer, but...

DR: I've got that covered for you.

JH: ...but that was how you did things.

DR: Yeah, four o'clock in the morning and who walks through the door but Julian. Julian and his buddy, and they've got beer. That was really funny and kind of surreal for a second.

JH: We're really blessed guys. We've done a lot of things and seen a lot of things that I didn't think I was ever going to get a chance to do in my life. And it's opened doors for me to be able to take steps that I didn't even fathom in my lifetime.

All of a sudden, from here where I am now, there are so many more opportunities that I feel like I can push myself to achieve as a result of having done something that I didn't think I could do.

DR: There are way more city halls in Canada than just one.