Community & Alumni Blog
Michael P. Falk: Winnipeg music mogul
Falk at work at Paintbox Recording. (Click to enlarge.)
It’s difficult to overstate the contribution Michael P. Falk has made to Winnipeg’s music scene.
Over the past 15 years, Falk (nee Petkau, CMBC 1997-99) has carved out an impressive career as a recording engineer, working with some of the city’s best-known bands including Moses Mayes and Mahogany Frog.
Last year, Falk’s work earned him a nomination for Engineer of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards.
An accomplished singer, guitarist, and songwriter in his own right, Falk released two solo albums before forming the four-piece rock band Les Jupes. Les Jupes toured throughout North America and Europe and released a couple of EPs and two full-length records.
Falk released the band’s second full-length, Some Kind of Family, shortly after the band broke up last year. The album was recorded in Montreal and Winnipeg with Marcus Paquin, who has worked with the National and Arcade Fire.
In addition to Les Jupes, Falk has played guitar and bass for a variety of local bands, including Alfa, a hip-hop project spearheaded by CBC Radio personality Ismaila Alfa; Ian La Rue and the Condor; and the Liptonians.
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If that weren’t enough, Falk spent nearly two years as the artistic director at the West End Cultural Centre (WECC), one of Winnipeg’s most beloved music venues. He’s also worked for the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival.
These days, Falk keeps busy with Paintbox Recording, a studio he runs with fellow producer/engineer Lloyd Peterson. Falk also runs Head in the Sand, a music company that includes a record label and artist management services.
After the untimely demise of Les Jupes, Falk has returned to music-making with a new band he’s fronting called Touching. The group features noted Winnipeg musicians Dave Quanbury (ex-Twilight Hotel), Derek Allard (Royal Canoe), and Alasdair Dunlop (Sweet Alibi).
Touching played its first show at the Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg this past weekend. The band plays again this coming Thursday, February 25 at the Good Will, and on Friday, March 18 at the WECC as part of the seventh annual Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival.
We spoke with Falk about all of the things he’s been up to since he studied at CMBC. Here’s what he had to say.
On what attracted him to being a recording engineer:
I love records. I love music. I like being a part of it. I like working the songs and working with artists and trying to make a song the best it can be. (I like) that process of finding cool sounds and sticking them together. It’s a magical process... I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to make a lot of cool records and great records for musicians that I respect... It’s been a great creative, collaborative process, and that’s super exciting.
On the unpredictable nature of his work:
I love being in the studio... It’s a pretty great place, but it just means that you have to be comfortable with a very up and down kind of lifestyle because there’s some times when you’re working seven days a week, 12 hours a day for three months, and then you go for three months with a week of work in there scattered around. It’s kind of a feast or famine kind of gig.
On Some Kind of Family:
I definitely didn’t anticipate the ending (Les Jupes) met, but it’s the record that I’m the most proud of that I’ve been a part of... I obviously wrote most of the songs and had a big hand in the arrangements—I’m creatively tied to it on a lot of fronts—but I feel sonically what we achieved is the best (thing) I’ve achieved in the studio process yet. I was pretty proud of that one. I’m the third set of hands on that record. Marcus Paquin recorded about half of it in Montreal, and kind of the most important half, and it was mixed by Tony Hoffer, who’s done some amazing records (for) Beck and M83... It was cool to be a part of that team.
On Paintbox Recording:
Lloyd and I have a good balance going on. Our situation is such that neither of us want to be that guy that’s recording 60 hours a week, non stop, losing their minds... We want to be able to give our clients a bit more focused attention, be creative, (and) have the energy for a record.
On studying at CMBC:
It was a time of a lot of really great personal exploration and being challenged to think better and think for myself... It was a really engaged community. People cared and people sought the hard answers and I think that that willingness to be challenged was really great and inspiring, and is something that has always stayed with me... That value set of thinking critically and really exploring the issues, that stuck with me.
On Touching:
We are all Touching! Touching is my new outlet. Back in summer, I started writing and writing. I've got almost 50 new songs demo'd right now... They're kinda all over the map, as I'm trying to create from different starting places than I did with the old band. It’s been quite freeing, and I imagine at some point I'll start separating the wheat from the chaff, but right now I'm just trying to push myself in new directions, write as much as possible, and have some fun playing music again.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
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