Musicians Featured: Scott Helman
Thumbnail image courtesy of Warner Music Canada
JUNO-Nominee Scott Helman on Music, Connection, and the Power of Sharing our Voices
December 8th, 2021
Last week, I got to have a conversation with the incredible Scott Helman. Scott is a Canadian singer-songwriter, seven-time JUNO Award nominee, and the singer of one of my all-time favourite songs, Machine.
Alongside his fans, Scott created the Evergreen Manuscript, which brings attention to the climate crisis and has been delivered to politicians to help advocate for action against climate change.
Our discussion revolved around how music and activism can overlap, the role that music plays as a connector within communities, and the power in the simple act of sharing our voices with one another.
I hope that you learn as much from this conversation as I did, and walk away feeling inspired to share your voice in whatever way feels authentic to you.
Emily Weatherhead, Founder
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EW: So let’s take it all the way back to the beginning. How did you first get started with music, and how did it get you to where you are today?
SH: Well, I was a weird kid. I definitely didn’t fit into the school system mold very well. I took a big liking to creative outlets in general when I was younger - I really love poetry, art, and all kinds of creative outlets. I never really realized I was good at music until I got a guitar, when I was about 11.
Since then, I just found that music brought everything together. There’s a visual aspect to music, there’s a language aspect to music, there’s so many ways you can express yourself making music. And then I started writing songs, and I got noticed by a record label when I was about 15, and ever since then I’ve been working with Warner Music Canada and just putting out records.
“I’m kind of obsessed with threshold moments…the ends and beginnings of things.”
EW: And how would you describe your music – what moments in life is your music made for?
SH: That’s a great question. I’m kind of obsessed with threshold moments. There’s this Mike Posner lyric, “Beginnings always hide themselves in ends.” Those are the moments I like to write music for, the ends and beginnings of things. In House Key, that moment is moving. In Machine, that moment is feeling like you’re at your wit’s end. Music is so diverse and I feel like I’ve experimented a lot with different moments in life, but I feel like my comfortability and the thing that excites me the most is turning a page.
EW: That’s really cool to hear you say that. I remember I was riding home on the bus from a terrible job and I was listening to your music, and I was thinking, “Yeah, I am going to quit this job, I can find something better!”
SH: That’s awesome. That makes me so happy, that’s literally what my music is for. Quitting sh**ty jobs.
“When there’s change in the air, music is made.”
EW: So getting into the community side of things, how do you think music can build community and connect us?
SH: Well, the how aspect of your question is really important. I think that the beautiful thing is that we’re working from an understanding that we know it can. We know music can change the world because we’ve seen it happen. The jury’s kind of still out on what comes first, the change or the music. But when there’s change in the air, music is made.
I think that the job of the artist is to be present and be available, to be conscious and be useful. How do you do that? Do you write a song for the times, or do you just write about what you’re experiencing and hope it makes sense to people? And that’s the thing that’s so tough.
I’ll say though that if I ever felt like an artist didn’t feel like their music had the power to move people to get up and change the world, then that would be really sad for me. Because I think that it can.
EW: I like what you said about “When there’s change in the air, music is made.” Kind of like music is a reflection and a catalyst at the same time.
SH: Yeah, so that’s why it’s hard. I think it’s really a matter of what moves you - if it’s a matter of the heart of the individual, then I think that’s really cool. Because then we can just write songs and make music about what really inspires us, and hopefully that’s the flame that sets it on fire.
EW: Yeah, that idea that being authentically yourself is what can change the world.
SH: I think so, yeah. I feel like you can be brave, and speak your mind, and be fearless in your art-making. I try not to hold my artists to moral standards – I just expect the truth from artists. If that’s uncomfortable for people to hear sometimes, whatever.
“Of course we all want to be at the front of the line, smashing down the system. But at the same time, to go up to one person today, and to say ‘I hear you and I believe you,’ I think is equally as powerful.”
EW: Yeah. So going along the line of change, something I really admire is your Evergreen Manuscript. It gave people a way to mobilize their voices into collective action, and also tied into a really powerful song. How did you come up with that project?
SH: Honestly, it came from the music. I wrote the song “Evergreen,” and a big theme of that song is the climate crisis. One thing happened after another, and I essentially asked my fans to send me anonymous entries on the climate crisis. It ended up being way more than I ever had hoped for – I thought I would get maybe 50 to 100 entries, and we got an unspeakable number. It was just this massive scroll.
Initially, I was going to use it for a music video or some kind of art project, but then I felt like I had a testimony from a source group, and I could use it in a more interesting, more creative, more direct-action way.
So I sort of just compiled it all together, called it the Evergreen Manuscript, and had a community-action event in Toronto. We had tons of people come out and help paint a mural, which was really cool. And then people signed the manuscript, and we sent it out to government officials all over the world. We created an interface where you can, on behalf of me, send out the Evergreen manuscript to local representatives, which is really cool.
And I don’t know, maybe one of those local representatives saw that email and was like “Okay, people care about this issue. I’m gonna do more.” But the thing that I found was the most beautiful about it was that people wrote their deepest worries, concerns, and hopes on the climate crisis. Sometimes in the middle of the night. And instead of that just going into a chasm and disappearing, it was confirmed that there were others out there that also cared. People who maybe felt powerless before now felt like their voice mattered and was confirmed, and that is what the project really was about.
Of course we all want to be at the front of the line, smashing down the system. But at the same time, to go up to one person today, and to say “I hear you and I believe you,” I think is equally as powerful.
EW: Absolutely. Building off of that, how did it feel to read the responses, especially with so many of them coming from youth?
SH: It was really emotional. The climate crisis is horribly anxiety-riddling. I just felt like I was sitting there going “Am I the only one?” And then I realized, “Oh, no, I’m not.” And it was both scary and sad, but at the same time, really confirming. It felt really good to know that there were people out there who felt the same as me, even if it was about the end of the world. Which is a crazy thing to say, but it’s true.
“Music will always find a way…The more we make our world accessible, music will follow.”
EW: Yeah. Getting into another kind of connection-focused moment, how does it feel to sing your words to an audience and have them sing your own lyrics back to you? Can you describe that moment of connection?
SH: That’s the best feeling. It’s just beautiful. My brain goes like “Wow, we’re all one thing.” We’re really all just this organism, humanity. And you’re all singing something together, something that came out of your crazy, stupid, weird, inept brain on some Saturday morning, and then you’re on stage and like 5000 people are screaming it back at you. So in the absurdity of it, I just think, well it surely can’t be because I’m some individual that was able to do some individual thing. It must be more than that. I just think “Wow, I’m just happy to be alive and be a part of the human race.”
EW: That’s amazing. Do you have any final thoughts about the importance of making music accessible to our communities?
SH: Music will always find a way. I think the cool thing about accessibility in music is that you can’t stop music. Even if you got locked into a dark room for the rest of your life, you’d still have music. I think that that’s really cool. I think that the more we make our world accessible, music will follow.
I think it’s really important to just breathe accessibility and equity, and in that, the music that comes is just going to be more beautiful and more accessible in its nature. I think that the initiatives and programs around instruments are extremely crucial. I don’t know where I would be without the music education that I received. So I think that’s something that we really need to focus on. And really make sure that kids have the resources they need to make music - because they’re gonna make it anyways.
