Music is amazing, because you get to take it into your office or your living room or wherever you get to know it, and later you bring all those personal connections into a room with thousands and thousands of people.
Sarah HarmerBecause I'm a musician aspiring to write good stuff and put on good shows, I'm hyperaware of what they're doing and what they're putting out. But listening now in a less critical way, I'm appreciating and admiring it even more.
Sarah HarmerMy friend worked at a record store in Burlington and I really liked R.E.M. and a lot of music, but I didn't go to see much. I was 16, so I wasn't in bars unless I knew the band and could get in.
Sarah HarmerGord [Downie] does so much Waterkeeper stuff. They were involved in [protesting clearcuts at] Clayoquot Sound [in the early '90s]. It's hard sometimes to use the capital you have as a beloved rock band and put it to various causes, especially when they're a bit more controversial, like energy issues.
Sarah HarmerI remember getting up and singing with them at Mile One arena in St. John's. It was such an honour that they asked me, but all I could think of was, "But I'm such a fan!" Later I sang on one of their records, that was awesome.
Sarah HarmerNo offence to Hugh MacLennan, but you don't even have to know or understand any deep philosophy that's being espoused, you can just have the feeling of those words together, and that you know them and can sing along with that melody with your fist up in the air. It's a wild vehicle for sentiment, because it's so powerful on the musical front.
Sarah Harmer