The Secret Beach (CAN) — INTERVIEW

This November, Canadian indie folk outfit The Secret Beach will make their first trip to Australian shores, playing at the boutique festival OK Motels in Rochester, Victoria. Known for their warm, tape-hiss folk and Juno-nominated album We Were Born Here, What’s Your Excuse?, the band is led by the ever-curious and often understated Micah Erenberg—a songwriter whose roots run deep into the soil of Manitoba’s musical community.

We caught up with Micah ahead of their Australian debut to talk about prairie foundations, influences, collaboration, and how a small-town Canadian act ended up flying halfway around the world for one of the country’s most distinctive rural festivals.

Hey there, who is talking to us today, and where are you writing to us from?

You’re talking to Micah from The Secret Beach and I am currently crossing the border between Saskatchewan and Manitoba in a tiny car with my good pals Kacy & Clayton.

You grew up in Matlock, Manitoba. How did your hometown and upbringing influence your approach to songwriting and sound? 

Matlock’s a tiny beach town. The population explodes in summer. When I was three, my family moved into a tent in a field there and never looked back. I guess I got used to the solitude and convinced my parents not to make me go to school (I did later). It was quiet, lonesome, peaceful.

Eventually, my best friend Daniel moved in next door, and we spent pretty much every minute together for ten years. He’s the other songwriter in the band on the last two albums.

I think eight months of quiet winter taught us to follow our hearts and intuition, instead of whatever everyone else was doing. When I finally went to school in the city, I felt like I came from another planet. Maybe the other four months of summer beach-party town gave us just enough society to want a little attention. Ha! The band’s even named after a spot around there.

The Secret Beach feels like more of a project than a traditional band—how would you describe what it is?

That’s exactly what it is. In fact, when I started the Secret Beach I didn’t have any intentions of touring. I had resigned myself to the studio life and I was calling my studio The Secret Beach Studio. (it’s still called that)

I ended up making a bunch of songs with my friends and I didn’t know what to call it, so I just called it “Songs From The Secret Beach”, which ended up being our first album. It feels a bit like a moniker because it’s mostly me, but it’s also great because then the name can represent other songwriters—like Daniel, or whoever else joins in the future.

The band’s whole MO is: make great recordings with friends, tour however we can. It’s maybe not the easiest thing to explain in a press release, but I’m okay with that. If I die un-famous and broke, I will happily take the blame.

Humour and heartbreak seem to live side by side in your songs. Where does that come from?

Funny how those who have been through the most shite always seem to have the best sense of humour. Maybe the best way to convey certain emotions is to through extremes of the opposites.

What are some of your influences musically?

Neil, Bob, Theo Band, Dan Reeder, Karen Dalton, TVZ. Unique voices and great songs.

I’m also very inspired by studio heads like Chad VanGaalen, Elliott Smith, Ween, and producers/engineers like my Robs—Schnapf and Fraboni, who have both had a big part in the last two albums.

These days, I mostly listen to Lenny Breau and the Kurt Winter-era Guess Who.

How did your connection with OK Motels come about?

It was through the folks at Jet Black Cat Music, who put together all the Australia shows for Kacy & Clayton and I on this tour.

This will be your first time playing in Australia. What drew you to saying yes to a rural event like this? And will there be any other shows?

Ha! Good question. I pretty much go where they tell me. If it’s a gig and I’m not losing too much money or missing the studio too badly, I’ll usually say yes. That said, this seems like a really cool event. And yeah, I’ve got a few other shows opening for K&C and Marlon. They should be announced by the time this runs.

What kind of live setup are you bringing with you for these shows?
Just me and my guitar. Wish me luck.

What do you hope Australian audiences take away from The Secret Beach live experience?
My goal is always to give people a unique and personal experience. You can waste a lot of time sitting there with an acoustic guitar, but you can also change somebody’s life.

I hope I connect with people, make them feel something. Hopefully better. And hey, if they want to listen to the records afterward, that’s cool, too. It’ll be a totally different things. I’m always surprised how much people seem to like the acoustic show, especially people that don’t even like folk music.

What’s coming up next for you after OK Motels? Any new music, releases or tours in the works?

Yeah, we’ve got some new music in the works! A live EP and full-length. No release dates yet. I also produce and engineer for other bands, and there’s a bunch of that stuff coming out this year, too. And I’m currently writing a book about recording that I think is pretty handy!

How important is community—to you, to your fanbase, and to keeping this whole thing going?

It’s the most important thing. Even though I live in the absolute middle of nowhere and make a lot of my music alone, I couldn’t do it without my community. Most people in my local community aren’t artists, and that’s a great perspective to have. But it’s also great to have an artistic community around the world because it’s good to know you’re not alone. As much as I like to think I would make music no matter what, it sure would be hard to do it without fans. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the folks who listen to our music. It’s really the greatest thing ever.

Are there any up-and-coming artists/bands or creatives from your community back home that you'd love our readers to check out?

Kacy Lee Anderson & The Waverley Pickers. Zoon. Evan Redsky. Bobby Dove. Wyatt C. Louis.