Twilight Hotel

Interview: See Magazine

Burning At Both Ends

Manitoba’s Twilight Hotel are finally on their way home after nearly three years on the road

Published October 16, 2008 by Andrea Mcquade in Music Preview, See Magazine, Edmonton, AB

Brandy Zdan seems a little tired. I’ve caught one half of Manitoba’s Twilight Hotel just prior to a soundcheck in New Jersey, and just nearing the end of three years of touring — I’m not too surprised by the weary tone of her voice.

“We had our first day off in a long time yesterday,” she recalls (“we” being the other half of Twilight Hotel, and Zdan’s partner, Dave Quanbury). “We walked around Manhattan, had coffee, did all these little things, and as we were staring looking at the skyline, all I could think was ‘My gosh, we should do this more often, have fun like normal people.’”

“Normal,” however, may not be in Twilight Hotel’s repertoire. Zdan and Quanbury are as much creatures of the road as Johnny and June, and their onstage chemistry is just as potent. The two met at Ontario’s Trout Music Festival in 2002, and the rest, as they say, is history — including the 30-odd months of touring they’ve put behind them.

“It’s hard,” agrees Zdan. “We’re without a label, we’re completely independent. To be on the road is a lot of work in itself, and then organizing everything yourself — well, that’s another big piece of energy to expel. To be perfectly honest, we’re burnt out.”
Though it appears that all that work and the ensuing exposure have paid off. Highway Prayer, the duo’s second album, is up for two awards at this years WCMAs: Outstanding Roots Recording and Video of the Year for the single “Viva la Vinyl.” Zdan underplays the nominations a little, though it’s evident she’s pleased.

“We try not let it inform our day-to-day lives too much,” she says, “but yeah, we’re excited. We worked really hard on this album, becoming Twilight Hotel together, being produced [by Colin Linden] for the first time. The album was a lot of great firsts for us.” The album and nomination are important for another reason: Highway Prayer is the last album pianist Richard Bell (perhaps best known for his work with Janis Joplin and The Band) played on before passing away in 2007.

“It’s really nice for us to be nominated,” Zdan says, “but really nice for him too.”

The WCMAs will bring Twilight Hotel a little closer to home — after performances in Edmonton for the awards festival and a few other tour dates after that, the pair heads home to Winnipeg. “It has been incredible, but we need to be at home now. At the end of October, we’ll be heading home for four months.”

Highway Prayer, which has become my own road-trip music, may be followed by a live EP based on Twilight Hotel’s travelling music. “We tend to listen to a lot of Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Daniel Lanois,” Zdan says, “and we’ve incorporated some of those into our sets over the years. We’d like to put it on a live EP — tentatively.” She laughs. Hopefully, with home nearly in sight, Twilight Hotel will get to work putting together another soundtrack for the travels of their fans.