Ken Tizzard: Press

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Ken Tizzard to take weekly gig at The Spill

Posted By Bergen, Werner

"Musician - Father - Husband - Tall - Teacher - Traveler - Student - Writer - Singer - Bassist - Friend - Storyteller - Believer - Lover - Listener - Owner - Sinner - Aging - Performer - Liar - Thinker - Fighter - Driver - Optimist + more," is how Campbellford's Ken Tizzard describes himself on his website.

Ken Tizzard's story is the stuff of legends, a guitar player moving from St. John's, Nfld., to Toronto seeking fame and fortune.

Tizzard leaves St. John's with only his bass, $30 and all the clothes he could stuff into a case.

Working day and night jobs until he gets his big break by joining a rock band The Watchmen, looking for a bass player.

Jump a few years and a province west, Tizzard hooks up with his brother-in-law and a friend, a summer tour for fun and suddenly a hot new band is formed - Thornley.

They toured and opened for bands like Nickelback, Three Doors Down and Peterborough's 3 Days Grace among others.

During his time with Thornley, Tizzard began to look hard at what he was doing with his life. Being a new father, yet still living to play music, Tizzard struggled with the hustle of 10 months a year on the road.

Last year he bought an RV, which takes him, his wife and two daughters camping, exploring and performing. While camping in the mountains last year, Tizzard began writing a new CD. With no electricity in the woods Ken turned to his acoustic guitar and harmonica and wrote the songs that appear on his new CD "Lost in Awe.'

Tizzard's first solo record "Quiet Storey House...an introduction" is a collection of songs that highlight the six-string bass as primary accompaniment. Tizzard followed up the release of this album with two tours across Canada as a soloist, performing in venues ranging from pubs to concert halls and theatres.

His collaboration with Donna Bennett and Brian Finlay at Westben Festival Theatre includes co-writing a musical, helping with arrangements and even organizing a talent night.

Tizzard will become better known to Peterborough audiences when he starts playing The Spill, 414 George St., every Monday in April at 8 p.m.

Sounds Like: Tom Cochrane music meets Roger Waters vocals

WHY / WHY NOT: The debut from the bass player of The Watchman has a Canadian sound in line with contemporary offerings from some of this country's music hall of famers, namely Tom Cochrane and Bruce Cockburn. This is the type of stuff you'd hear in a (pre-bylaw) smoky bar, with a harsh, heavy domestic beer in your hand, listening to a crooner sing his heart out for truck drivers and seasoned cougars.

Ken Tizzard - Doing it His Way

After playing music professionally in a succession of celebrated bands including The Watchmen and Thornley for over a decade, Ken Tizzard simply got sick of rock and roll. With the walls of his house thoroughly encrusted with the gold and platinum fruits of his labour, the spark was simply gone and the challenge with it.
The bassist is very upfront about these things; in fact, his candour is knee-buckling when conversation turns toward his body of work and his distaste for what he calls the music industry game. “After I left Thornley, I had a few things that I wanted to do,” begins the bassist as he begins to unfold the story behind his newest project. “I’d had a belly full of rock and roll and I’d had enough; I was feeling repetition in my system and I wanted to do something new musically.
“I wanted to do something with bass,” continues Tizzard, “and I wanted to push the limits of what the bass guitar does. I started developing the idea, and one night I was talking to an industry colleague about wanting to do like a Billy Bragg-style project, but with bass instead of guitar and he said, ‘You’re fuckin’ nuts. You’re one of the top rock bassists in Canada, why do you want to commit career suicide doing this?’ My only response was that it was something that I wanted to try. I knew I wasn’t going to be playing to thousands and thousands of people every night like I did at a rock show, but I was fine with that because it was a different kind of thing. That night after that phone call, I ended up writing “If You Were Wrong, I Was Right” on the bass and that was kind of when it hit me; just me and my bass in my little studio with nothing else, and that’s when I decided that this is what I wanted to do.
After about nine months of wood shedding at his home studio and recording the results, the bassist was finally ready to unveil his new project, Quiet Storey House; a work that Tizzard is the first to admit is just for him at its core. “It feels great, and I haven’t had to play that fuckin’ music industry game,” says the bassist bluntly. “There have been moments in my career where I’ve put whatever I was writing or working on at the time through the critical analysis filter of what’s happening in pop music. You
know, measuring your time to make sure you hit a chorus within the first 25 seconds and stuff like that and I can say that I never want to go back to that again. It’s too soul destroying.
“Quiet Storey House is a very different type of recording,” enthuses Tizzard. “I kept the vocals very upfront and raw. I didn’t
want to accentuate the mistakes, but I didn’t want to cover them up. I wanted a kind of raw, natural feel combined with a very tailored back end to the music on the record.
“Some people love it, some people think it sounds too slick, others think it’s not slick enough, which is actually kind of nice; they’re getting the point even though they don’t know it,” he laughs.
Since Tizzard released the album on his own about 10 months ago, the bassist has kept busy performing shows in a variety of formats in which Tizzard never thought he’d find himself including those that have found him performing with
orchestras, ensembles, trios that occasionally include Moist
keyboardist Kevin Young and Mike Billard on drums, quartets and solo as well as the occasional specialty show including one where Tizzard found himself sharing the stage with a piano player, guitar player, drummer, percussionist, harmonica player, keyboard player, a bass player (Tizzard only played bass on a couple of songs), and a 14-piece choir. While the bassist does concede that running the whole show himself has presented all-new, unfamiliar obstacles, Tizzard says that he’d never trade the creative freedom that he now enjoys. “[Doing Quiet Storey House] wasn’t really an egotistical, ‘I need to be in control’-type thing,” explains Tizzard. “It was just a matter of the fact that I’d lived in a world where so many people had their hands in it for so long that I knew I wanted to do it myself. “It’s a slow process, too. I can’t tell you how hard it is. Going from where I’ve been to where I am, sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes I don’t think I can do it again. But I always do and I always end up feeling happy that I’ve done it. That gives me a great amount of relief. I never know what I’m going to get on any particular night, like at Strega, there might be three people sitting there having coffee. But I’ll still get up and I’ll still do it and they might dig it. Sometimes there are nights when there are a fair number of people there, but that’s usually when there’s something written up in the local paper because, realistically, no one knows who the fuck Ken Tizzard is. People don’t even really know who The Watchmen are anymore; we were a popular band 15 years ago.
“That’s the main reason that I put the album out under my own name; it’s who I am, this is what I do and people will know that, if they come to see Ken Tizzard, you’re going to see a guy and a bass; they’ll know what they’re coming to see. For example, if I had to do this interview with you while I was on a major label, it’d have to go through and be approved by press people, publicists, managers and agents. It seems so simple this way; I just give my phone number to someone and tell them to call within a time frame on a particular day, and all of it gets done.” P
[BILL ADAMS]

Ken Tizzard drops wine and women from road trips; keeps song

Entertainment - Friday, June 22, 2007 Updated @ 6:20:01 AM

This time, it's personal for Ken Tizzard.

The former bassist of The Watchmen and Thornley is putting family first after more than a decade of extensive road travel, during which time he was rarely home. "I didn't want to come home in my mid-40s to a couple of teenage daughters who I didn't know," said Tizzard in a recent telephone interview from his Campbellford, Ont., home. "I would rather sacrifice that time now and put in the time with them (and) do music that I feel is closer to me and more personal."

His debut solo disc, Quiet Storey House . . . an introduction, was released last July. Tizzard stops at Loplops for a solo show on July 2. "It's a great phase of life right now. The commercial world is so demanding," said Tizzard. "You're writing songs differently because you're writing for an audience. You're not writing for the music."

During this summer tour, Tizzard is traveling in an RV with his wife and two daughters.
Concert dates are interspersed with stays at provincial parks. He plans to record new music by the camp-fire and post it to his website.

His tour objectives are a far cry from earlier road trips, when parties, women, alcohol and drugs were common.

"I just realized I'm missing my daughters' lives," he said. "I wanted to change my life to make music work within it."

While he was used to previous bands boasting three-, five- and 10-year plans, Tizzard has no similar goals mapped out.

"Although it worked it was confining at times," he said. "The way I want to do it now is just let's see what happens next. That way it keeps it exciting for me."

Tizzard's focus now is touring solo successfully. Now that he's happy with a year's worth of touring, Tizzard wants to form a band this fall. "I really needed to prove to myself that I could do this before I get anybody else involved," he said. "I don't like letting people down."

Ken Tizzard - Quiet Storey House . . . an introduction (Audio Playground Records)

In 2004, I wrote in a review of a Thornley set as the band opened for
Nickelback that I was distracted by the band's bassist Ken Tizzard's stage
movements.

The hard-rocking bassist, after stints with The Watchmen and then Thornley,
has moved onto a solo career and his debut disc is one of the year's best so
far.

With a voice that oozes tenderness and angst and drips with cool, Tizzard
has crafted an engaging album of thoughtful, melodic material that is
moving, touching and memorable.

The album is as far away from his material with Thornley as New Dayton is
from New York. It's mellow, soothing, and captivating, the type of music a
person would want to listen to cruising down the highway on a melancholy
rainy afternoon.

Relying on his voice and bass, he's crafted nine songs that showcase his
varied talents.

On Quiet Storey House, Tizzard emerges as a songwriter with the heart of
Dylan and the soul of Mellencamp.

He's forging a new path, one which should bring this artist to the attention
of many new audiences.

KEN TIZZARD: Fans of platinum-selling Canadian rock bands THE WATCHMEN and THORNLEY will know Tizzard as the highly skilled player of a low-slung bass guitar in those groups. For some time now, he has been working on his own material, in a very different vein. His new release, Quiet Storey House...an introduction, shows him to be a fine songwriter and sculptor of sound, and possessor of a gently haunting vocal style. Two cover songs here, NICK DRAKE's :Fly," and TEARS FOR FEARS' "Mad World," reveal some of his influences, and his intelligent ambient style merits wider exposure. Will be interesting to see how it translates live when he performs at The El Mocambo on March 1. Check out www.kentizzard.com

After over a decade toiling with commercially successful rock acts The Watchmen and Thornley, Newfoundland-bred bassist Ken Tizzard is stepping outside his comfort zone. Now residing in Toronto and acting as his own agent, promoter, tour manager and publicist, he released his debut Quiet Storey House… An Introduction on July 1.

"This is sort of an introduction record to what I'm doing," he says. "I did my first symphony show July first of this year with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Kitchener-Waterloo, and that was a brilliant feeling. There was a full orchestra backing me up on bass and singing. I couldn't believe the rush I got from it, it was so powerful."

For his July 28 performance at The Seahorse, Tizzard will be accompanied only by electronic samples and, of course, his bass. He is using his five date, two-week Atlantic Canadian excursion to test the boundaries of his new project and hone a concise live show before piecing together a band.

"It's something I've always wanted to do, to get the music and my own arrangements together," he says. "I'm thinking at this point drums, guitar and keyboardist…and erasing all the sampling for the live show."

Tizzard is enjoying the freedom of working unaccompanied. While he describes The Watchmen as being a fantastic creative working environment, Tizzard longed for a greater voice than his brother-in-law Ian Thornley's band was designed to offer.

"We had a great time, it just got to the point where we realized it wasn't working the way it was," he says. "Me and the drummer, it just kind of worked out at the same time. You know, 'The touring's kinda done, the record's kinda done,' it was the time. Are we ready to do this again?"

While he concedes not everyone understands his current bass-centric direction, his experimental project is capturing the essence which characterizes the definition of genuine artistry—and he has brought his wife and kids along.

"I am travelling with the family this time, and we decided just to stretch it out a little bit, have some fun and relax," he says. "I really wanted to get my head straight, because when I get back at the end of August/September I am going to be really busy putting the band together and organizing more symphony shows. The whole solo thing will become more of a special thing."

Ken Tizzard, the former Watchmen bassist and later bandmate in Thornley, plays his own tunes March 9 during an inimate solo gig at the London Music Club.

He's emerged as an artist worth keeping tabs on.

In an effort to "discover his own sound," Tizzard took on the role of singer/songwriter and kick-started an indie-rock solo career.

He's now trying to redefine what we know about him with a solo CD called Quite Story House . . . an Introduction. The effort was mixed by L.A producer John Whynot, who has worked with the likes of Blue Rodeo, Big Wrek and Colin James.

The show begins at 9:30 p.m. at the Colborne Street venue. $5 at the door. Call 519-640-6996.

Gettin’ it on
Throw in Ken Tizzard’s CD when the mood is right



It is the middle of the night, 3 a.m. to be precise. I am not quite sure what I'm doing up this late; usually if I'm up this late I'm either almost through a bottle of Jack, or trying to get another slap and tickle from the girlfriend...I mostly just get the slap!

As it happens, Ken Tizzard sent me his new CD in the mail today. It is called Quiet Story House...an introduction, and it was just recently released.

You may not know him by name, but you are probably familiar with his work. Some may know Ken Tizzard as the lunging bass player from The Watchmen; others may remember him as the Mohawk toting bassist from rock band Thornley. If you dig a little deeper you may know him as DjObscene, Shadrak, Audio Playground High + Wide or a multitude of other monikers that Ken has worked under. One thing for sure, Tizzard ain't no slacker.

So, I have decided I may as well get started on this story, and I begin by reading the insert notes. I notice a cover of Fly, by Nick Drake, who during his short lifetime (he killed himself in 1974 at age 26), produced three of the most beautiful, haunting and complex records of all times. Unfortunately, while I can appreciate Drake's introspective musings, it's not all that much fun at 3 a.m...I mean c'mon - he killed himself!

So I'm a bit trepidatious about listening to some artist who counts Drake as a major influence. I'm leaning a little more towards, say, The Slider by T.Rex.

But my amazing work ethic takes over and I slap on Quiet Story House... and, sure enough, the first lyric I hear on the CD is "So, they've deemed you insignificant...

again". Aaarrrrgggghhhh!!! I scramble for the nearest shot of anything to take away the pain of another whiny, philosophical singer/songwriter trying to whip his maudlin world view upon another unsuspecting listener.

But wait! Before I can drown my ears in bourbon, track two comes on. It's a song called All Because of You, and it stops me mid-swallow. As I listen, I notice that it's an excellent 3 a.m. song, the kind of song some saloon singer might have crooned back in the 1940s. No, no, it doesn't sound like a 40s tune, but it has that certain ambiance, a kind of unrequited love thing that works so well in the deep, dark night.

So, I continue to listen to the CD, and I discover a couple of interesting things. Firstly, Tizzard treats his bass guitar like a lead instrument, which adds a kind of surreal jazz effect to these obviously well-written pop songs.

Secondly, this is one smooooth CD. Translation: Ken Tizzard wants you to get laid, and he wants you to listen to him while you do it. OK, he's no Bryan Ferry, but I bet Tizzard listened to his share of Ferry's roxy musings.

And that's OK. There are a lot of influences on this CD, and Ken Tizzard ain't afraid to show 'em off. His solo identity has put him in some interesting headspaces. "It was not until I realized how totally alone I was that I finally began to discover my own sound," he says.

Part of that journey of discovery came with working with John Whynot (Blue Rodeo, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, Bruce Cockburn, Colin Linden, Sue Foley, Kathleen Edwards, Lucinda Williams, Big Wreck, Doctor, Change of Heart, Colin James etc...) "Having John come onboard with this record was a dream come true. He took everything that I was doing and put it all in exactly the right place. Without much in the way of explanation he managed to get things sounding exactly as I had imagined," Ken explained.

Ken Tizzard is indeed entering new territory. His first solo record is a dramatic departure from anything he's done before, and in late June, he performed at the Westben Arts Festival Theatre in Campbellford, Ontario. He played selections from Quiet Storey House...an introduction with a full orchestra.

"I have to admit I was pretty worried. Standing with my back the orchestra and the grand piano behind me and the conductor behind the piano left me with only the audience to face. Having no conductor left me totally out on a limb with no percussive element to follow. Coming from the pop/rock world this is incredibly intense. I found that with total concentration I could hear the strings breath a pulse, but this was the sort of concentration that I am not accustomed to." He continues "Admitting that it was tense and scary, I also have to state the obvious - it was pretty damn amazing. The dynamic range of the orchestra is unbelievable. From the "hear yourself breathing" intro to the full volume of the second chorus I was just floored at the control with which such a large group of musicians can have simultaneously. There were moments where I could feel the music push and others where I felt in total control - usually just for a moment or two. All in all it was fantastic." Tizzard is from Newfoundland and is looking forward to his East Coast Summer Tour, which will bring him to St.

James Gate in Moncton on July 25; Sessions Café in St.

John on August 10; and, The Taproom in Fredericton on August 12.

Quiet Story House...sure isn't a cd you'd take to a beach party. And personally, it's not 3 o'clock in the morning music either, although it worked for a while for me when I listened to it then. But the next time I'm sharing dinner and a bottle of wine with my girl, I will probably slip Quiet Story House... in with Avalon, Let's Get It On, MCMXC a.d, Chet Baker Sings, and Otis - Blue.

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Paul Wiggins has had a long career in the music industry as A&R man, Arranger and Producer. He can be reached at lazyfolksinger@rogers.com

Before he embarked on his solo career, Ken Tizzard played bass for the Watchmen and Thornley. Personally speaking “Quiet Storey House” got off to a rather shakey start but it slowly won me over with its fine selection of originals and two inspired covers: Nick Drake’s “Fly” and Tears For Fears’ “Mad World.” Other standout tracks include “Thirteen” and the Leonard Cohenish “If You Were Wrong.” With nary a trace of his post-grunge roots showing, Tizzard fits in nicely with the current batch of singer-songwriters. Dave Clark B+

I’ve been living out of my email lately. It’s just how it works when the only communication you have with editors and things is there. Ken Tizzard sent me a personal and well directed email, asking, since he was releasing his first solo album (after previous work with the Watchmen and Thornley), if I would be interested in doing an interview or an article or a review. He left his home phone number at the bottom. When the CD arrived in the mail there was a handwritten note and a signature in blue ink. These small scraps of human communication were not lost on me. I wanted to like this album.
But, sadly, this kind of earnest and personal care didn’t translate to the actual album. Most of the tracks, littered with potential hooks and intriguing lyrics, are weighed down largely by overproduction. The opening track, “If You Were Wrong,” slams every trick in it can, most noticeably echo vocals and whispery synth (not to mention an alarmingly choppy bridge), which ultimately take away from the strong base built by the bullet-quick drum line. Similarly, “Sorry” is overcrowded: the multiple vocal tracks and the rushed riff bunch lead to a chorus predictably rooted in overdone ‘90’s rock and cliché.
That’s not to say there aren’t decent tracks here: “All Because Of You” is anchored by a plunky piano and desperately smoothing vocals; “take a chance” too is infectious in its chorus and quick pace. To Tizzard’s credit, he does include another “naked” version of “If You Were Wrong” that is acoustic and bare, but by this point in the album the listener has been bombarded with too many vocal echoes and production-flourishes. The engaging tracks are put against songs like “thirteen,” a transparent commentary on the war in Iraq that suffers again, from too much going on: the refrain of “bombs over Baghdad” is tired; the vocal filters and layers again distract the listener away from any message within the track.
The struggling dichotomy of this album can be found in its covers: the strongest track here is “Fly,” a Nick Drake song, that Tizzard squeezes wonderfully with a thick voice and sparse instrumentals. But this song is overshadowed by an ill advised cover of “Mad World”; it’s not that the track is that bad, just that there have been many other covers of the song that do a lot more with the original (the Gary Jules’ version comes to mind). Where “Fly” comes across as a man picking through his favorite records and singing a homage, “Mad World” is a easily reproduced track forced upon the record.
The album surfaces then as an uneven, patchy work. Where the record is the best is in its instances of the personal where a musical honesty and emotional rawness peak, only too occasionally, through. In an attempt to modernize the sound from his origins of 90s rock bands, he falls back on the crutch of the studio. In the end the gloss of production and retread musical themes and structures on Quiet Storey House would be better if they were scrubbed away by the uneven scrawl of a ballpoint pen.

I first met Ken Tizzard back in 1999 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlantic City, New Jersey when a band I was promoting had the good fortune to open for The Watchmen. The Watchmen were a terrific band out of Canada signed to a big label, but never got much marketing help here in the U.S. The band eventually disbanded and Tizzard joined Ian Thornley's band for their debut record.

On tour with Thornley, Ken was cool enough to hook me up with my first real "backstage" interview back in June 2004 when he invited me to talk on the band's tour bus at the Rolling Rock Town Fair in Philadelphia where they played with Sevendust, Finch, Finger Eleven and Three Days Grace.

These days, Ken is entering new territory again. He's released his first solo record and it is a dramatic departure from anything he's done before. He'll hit even newer territory this weekend at the Westben Arts Festival Theatre in Campbellford, Ontario when he'll perform selections from "Quiet Storey House...an introduction" with a full orchestra. He'll be performing alongside other internationally renowned artists like Nancy Hermiston, Donna Bennett, Michael Burgess, Viginia Hatfield, Kim Dafoe and Brian Finley.

For details on the show visit the festival's site and be sure to check out Ken's site for song samples and more info on his new project.