Brian Byrne Goes Back To Start Fresh

Brian Byrne came in as the new frontman for I Mother Earth following singer Edwin's departure almost a decade ago. But after years of touring and two albums with the revamped Can-rock band, Byrne showed up peddling a new folky/country sound on select stages last year. His Tuesdays, Thursdays And If It Rains debut LP draws on his life well before IME.

"I remember actually being made fun of in grade two," says the Newfoundland native. "We had to bring our favourite record in [to class]. And of course I brought in Johnny Cash, and I was actually made fun of by my grade two teacher — who has since passed away and I loved her very much.

"We actually kept in touch all the way through high school, but imagine being in grade two and everybody's bringing in pop stars. But I brought in Cash and she said, 'You've gotta be kidding me. You don't like this music. This is terrible music.'

"I was so embarrassed."

Byrne is still friends with his IME compadres, but he's long looked forward to stepping out on his own, having a chance to add the "songwriter" suffix to his "singer," and creating something more personal. He insists that he doesn't even miss the screaming teenage throngs.

"You certainly take a bit of a step back financially, where before it's like, 'Wow, this is what I do. This is my job.' And now it's like, 'Well, this is what I do because I just love it.'

"And hopefully I can get out and do a tour, and this will be my job again. But I don't really care whether my fans are screaming young kids or older people that just want to sit and listen. I think it's flattering to have people relate to the music, whoever they are."

Smaller shows also mean a closer interaction between those fans and Byrne.

"We did a few shows with Matt Mays and largely, of course, 95 per cent of the people are there to see him," says Byrne. "But it's always nice that by the end of the set you can see you've won over a few faces — people that don't know you, and who certainly don't know I Mother Earth, because they're just a little too young, perhaps.

"That's always pretty thrilling, even if it's only a handful of people, two or three people. That's how it's got to happen, really."

In addition to playing clubs, Byrne will be getting even more intimate with people by performing at a number of bookstores for the next month.

Here are Byrne's tour dates:

April 14 Toronto, ON @ Chapters Festival Hall
April 18 Toronto, ON @ Indigo
April 21 Toronto, ON @ World's Biggest Bookstore
April 22 Toronto, ON @ Indigo, Yorkdale Mall
April 22 Toronto, ON @ Opera House
April 28 Kingston, ON @ Indigo
April 29 Montreal, QC @ Indigo
April 29 Pointe Claire, QC @ Chapters
May 6 Ottawa, ON @ Chapters, Rideau Centre
May 6 Ottawa, ON @ Chapters, Pinecrest Shopping Centre