Harris Newman's solo string picking will make you realize how useless your own fingers are To keep with the music, Kevin Shutterbug and Harris used their fingers to email each other a mishmash of questions and answers.

I was talking with Craig Fraid Dunsmuir last night, who interviewed you a year or so ago. So as not to repeat the past, I asked him a bit about you and your music. Neither of us have heard Accidents with Nature and Each Other, but Craig was under the impression that this record is a lot more 'flushed out' than your previous recordings, in regards to the instrumentation. Care to comment, maybe on the differences with the new record compared to Non-Sequiturs. Also, how does the studio environment translate into a live show?

The instrumentation on the new album is more or less the same as the first one, but I was less concerned with documenting something that could be reproduced live this time around. There are a few overdubs and collage bits, but for the most part I would say this is a live, acoustic record -- electric lap steel has a more pronounced presence, and there is a little bit of bass, but the focus is on acoustic guitar and percussion. Just about the whole thing can be played live. On this tour I am doing the shows solo, so I will be staying away from the tracks with percussion. On the first record, keeping things reproducable live was a conscious motivation, whereas this time around it was more a happy accident. No pun intended.

I don't know how much you know about Craig and his Guitarkestra work or his Glissandro 70 work with Sandro Perri/Polmo Polpo, but over the last year his music has gone from instrumental to having vocals. Have you ever worked singing into your songs? Would you attempt to at some point?

I've toured as a member of Polmo Polpo before, so I am well aware of his vocal explorations. I have sung in other bands, but I don't see that happening with this project anytime soon. I'm not a very confident singer and don't have any particular urge to communicate that way. And for what it's worth, Glissandro 70 is my new favourite band. No joke, don't sleep.

I've heard that you're semi-responsible for mastering every record made in Montreal. Is this a myth or not? Are you still doing this? And, do you ever feel influenced musically by working with so many different bands? Are you formally trained, self-taught or somewhere in-between.

That's quite an exaggeration, but I do run a mastering studio and get to work with a lot of amazing people. It certainly makes a difference to be intimately exposed to so much and such a wide range of music (and the people who make it), but it's pretty rare that I am working on things that I feel are on the same page as what I'm doing. I'm not sure if you are asking about my musical or studio training, but the answer for both is primarily self taught.

Harris, feel free to jump around or pick and choose in answering! I hope these aren't too tedious of questions.

I hope that is enough for you to work with, I don't think it really explains anything about my music or what I'm doing, but I have faith that you'll sort it out. I would of course be happy to answer anything else or fill in whatever blanks you have should you so desire.

Best,
HN