Jason Collett

What kind of music are you listening to / art are you checking out these  days? 

I've been listening a lot to Emmitt Rhodes. I really don't know much about him,  but he made these 4 track records in his parents' garage in the early 1970's. He sounds so much like [Paul] McCartney, it's remarkable. We found his records on the road about 2 weeks ago and we've been listening to it quite a bit.

We have a little record player hooked up on the tour bus. We found it in San Francisco – it's amazing, it can download the vinyl tracks to a flash drive and  then you can throw those tracks on your iPod, it's pretty great. We also listen to a lot of reggae - but at this point, every one has their own iPod  (except me), so every one is a goddamn DJ. There is almost too much music. 

What kind of music are you listening to / art are you checking out these  days? 

I've been listening a lot to Emmitt Rhodes. I really don't know much about him,  but he made these 4 track records in his parents' garage in the early 1970's. He sounds so much like [Paul] McCartney, it's remarkable. We found his records on the road about 2 weeks ago and we've been listening to it quite a bit.

We have a little record player hooked up on the tour bus. We found it in San Francisco – it's amazing, it can download the vinyl tracks to a flash drive and  then you can throw those tracks on your iPod, it's pretty great. We also listen to a lot of reggae - but at this point, every one has their own iPod  (except me), so every one is a goddamn DJ. There is almost too much music. 

 What kind of music are you listening to / art are you checking out these  days? 

I've been listening a lot to Emmitt Rhodes. I really don't know much about him,  but he made these 4 track records in his parents' garage in the early 1970's. He sounds so much like [Paul] McCartney, it's remarkable. We found his records on the road about 2 weeks ago and we've been listening to it quite a bit.

We have a little record player hooked up on the tour bus. We found it in San Francisco – it's amazing, it can download the vinyl tracks to a flash drive and  then you can throw those tracks on your iPod, it's pretty great. We also listen to a lot of reggae - but at this point, every one has their own iPod  (except me), so every one is a goddamn DJ. There is almost too much music.

Why should people, especially youth, vote? 

If you aren't engaged, you have no right to complain about the state of the world. To put it simply, it's your future. If you want one – you have to be engaged in it. You are kidding yourself if you take the stance of, “I'm not a political person,” because that in it self is a political statement. People need to get over their fear of that.

For you is there a connection between art and democracy? What is it? 

Absolutely. The space that art and artists have always occupied is an “outsider  status.” The role is to be somewhat critical, and to reflect where a given culture is at. I've always felt the artists are society's conscience. The space that artists occupy on the spectrum is getting increasingly blurry, as there is less funding for arts, the corporate sector has moved in, and the resulting relationship blurs the line of the outsider status. It is a bit of a minefield to navigate and a fascinating shift over the last 20 years.

You go to a gallery, and the things that were publicly shared, are now named after Sony and Kellogg's. We have allowed the corporate world to pay for that  space – and as artists you have to play along to that tune – which is moving in a dangerous direction. I don't think ultimately it's a democratic direction. 

It's all relative though – U2 for their last record did an interesting thing. I had never seen U2 do a commercial before, and they did a big iTunes commercial, but they didn't take any money for it. They were piggy backing their own advertising for their own record. (U2 as consumers happen to be are big Apple fans and saw iTunes as the best alternative to illegal downloads.)  

Why do you care about community when it is so easy not to?

I don't think it's easy not to. I think most people are brought up to care. I grew up in a suburb, the architecture of that suburb got in the way of people being neighbours, because it is all about defining personal space. Living downtown in an urban place or even in the downtown of a small town with a village type atmosphere, it all lends to caring, because you are rubbing shoulders with the people in your neighbourhood.

The last Canadian census I found quite fascinating. One of the key issues that urban planers had failed to identify is that as the older generation ages, and is no longer able to drive; it is becoming a nightmare scenario to live out in the  suburbs. You can't walk to a local café or even to the store to get milk without it taking hours, if you can manage at all.

The issue is that the development density doesn't sustain the public funds (tax base) for good public transportation, or for quality home care, these oversights are real problems.

Where I live in Toronto, there are a lot of Italian, Greek, Portuguese, people on my block. Some of them have many generations living in the same duplexes – many of the kids grew up and moved out to the suburbs, because they thought that was the right thing to do.

The generation of people still living there have know each other for 50 years, I watch them hanging out with each other having coffee, baking muffins, and going to each other's homes. They are all engaged, which makes the community vibrant. It is so much more dynamic when you are rubbing shoulders, when you are engaged in a real neighbourhood. Plus, when you have a community to look out for you, or your kids, it's safer.

What do you look for in a politician? What do you expect from your MP?

I look for someone who has a history of being engaged in the neighbourhood. It all starts there.

When I lived in Kensington Market, Jack Layton and Olivia Chow lived around the corner from me. I would see them all the time riding around on their bicycles or at community events. Witnessing that on a day-to-day level, I knew they were  genuine, I support that.

Charlie Angus is another politician who I respect; he represents a riding that is up  north around Timmins, it is physically larger than Britain. I know Charlie from around Toronto from another life when he played a seminal punk band called l'Étrange. I played in bands with him, and after he moved back up north, I was excited about him entering politics. He is a firebrand and extremely dedicated. Charlie has blown the lid off of some of the terrible legacy that Canada has left in the native communities up north. He was the first politician to go up to the  Kashechewan, people before him never took the time to go! 

Because I have some personal relationships with politicians, I understand that the vocation takes a lot of dedication. I feel it's important to not just play the game, but to have the courage to step out of line from time to time, I think people respond to that. You need to be a fighter.