Sometime after 11pm tonight at Bliss, Pat Reid will strum his first guitar chords, lean into the microphone and start singing. Most of his audience will be holdovers from the night's first act, rock 'n' roll cover band The Originals. Wired and maybe a bit drunk, more than a few will have trouble shifting gears for his thoughtfully earnest acoustic rock. Will he grab their attention? Moments like these show the measure of the man as a performer, but Reid isn't worried. "It's gonna be a bit tough since I think I'm playing after a rock band," he says. "But I'm confident in what I do and I think I can hold my own."
In a country where dull soft-rock ballads are nearly inescapable, you need courage and skill to follow a rock band with only your voice and an acoustic guitar - especially when your audience is mostly foreigners. The ugly ghost of Daniel Powter raises its head. You must convince people you're not like James Blunt or John Mayer, and you've got to do it quickly. But Reid - who is 28 and estimates he has played 500 or so live shows - is a gifted singer, songwriter and guitarist. He's worked with numerous Taichung-based bands, served as lead singer for funk group Schlumpy, and is a member of Black Lung Inner City choir, which has toured Canada three times. The only schlock rocker he calls to mind is Dave Matthews, but that's only because their voices sound similar.
Interviewed by phone Wednesday, Reid, who will be performing under the name Reider, listed his influences as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Neil Young. Contemporary artists he likes include Sublime and Ben Harper, both of whom can be felt in his music. Many of his songs are about inner conflicts, growth and resolution. Others are dramatic stories, including Wake Up, which is about a guy who drinks too much and gets into a car accident with his girlfriend. Then there's Grizzly Man. Reid, who is French Canadian and has worked on reforestation projects in Northern Ontario, wrote it after watching the Werner Herzog documentary about a bear enthusiast who was eaten by a grizzly bear.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF PAT REID
"I used to write a lot about myself when I was younger," Reid says, "but the older I get, the more I start thinking about other people's lives and how they view themselves. Sometimes I prefer writing songs that are not personal because then you can say that's not me."
Reid's pop-oriented arrangements can be intense, dynamic and above all real, as if he's either experienced or living in his mind the situations he sings about. But not all of his songs are so serious. If the moment seizes him, he can write something like Jailbait, a bebop-esque tune about underage girls who try to attract the attention of older men. "It's a bit crude," he says, "not necessarily my style, but I like it."
To listen to Pat Reid's music, log on at www.myspace.com/reiderband
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