Live Buzz @ The Cove - Tom Juhas of Generator Party | Full Interview

Performance by Tom Juhas. Photo Credit: Sherono Photo

Guitarists have always been amazing to me. I mean, I play bass guitar, but beading around on those lighter strings and really pulling some screaming emotion out of an amp it is really quite beautiful! I’ve seen some amazing guitar players, but it’s the ones that really make it a natural extension of them that I have been most enthralled by. Tom Juhas seems to have this trait. Something that drives it all home for me is the fact that his shaggy hair literally blinds him, suggesting that every note he plays is in his mind’s eye! I, like so many others, are so excited to have him back to The Cove to channel his inner Dean DeLeo with the inimitable Generator Party on Saturday, March 1!

Seamus Cowan: I will never forget the first night that I saw you perform. It was a couple of years ago as the after party for MUSICwestport, our annual music festival. We knew that your band Generator Party played 90s music but had no idea that it was on the level of a religious experience! For you, what is it that brings you so close to that music to recreate it on a level that is almost your own?

Tom Juhas: Haha, I remember you saying that it was like a religious experience. I think that the nostalgia that we, who experienced this music as it came out, was lost over the years. 'Grunge' or 90s rock has not been popular for the last 10 to 15 years. Unlike the perpetually celebrated decades that came before (Beatles, Stones, MJ, Coltrane, Otis Redding, Joplin, Elvis etc), grunge kind of disappeared and became...icky? It aged fast and was kind of tucked away, except for an occasional wedding band version of a squeaky clean/half hearted Smells Like Teen Spirit. I loved all of those 50s-through-80s classics too, but my first guitar heroes were J Mascis, Kurt Cobain and Kim Thayil. Joan and I always clicked on that music. We love the warts-and-all raw attitude, the loud guitars, the weird harmonies, the ever-changing tempos, the encouragement of character, socially aware and meaningful lyrics (...most of the time). Of course, there is the ridiculous fashion and the 'uber-bro' connotation a la Woodstock '99 as well. Either way, despite the bad taste that the memory of grunge left in many people's tongue-pierced mouths, we missed it and we wanted an excuse to play all the music that nobody played, or at least that nobody asked us to play! Pulling it back out of its grunge hole really seems to hit some happy memories for a lot of people we play for...if we're lucky; it's still not for everyone. But when we find that crowd that gets it, they really turn it loose and resort to their animal selves in the best way.  We feed off that energy and The Cove shows HAVE been magical and perhaps even spiritual for us too because of the genuine connection between us, your crowd and that music. It's crazy that Courtney Love, Alanis Morrisette, Billy Corgan and Mark Lanegan were the voices of pop music for a decade. So weird, but so amazing. That amount of variation in character does not fly today. I feel like there is an idea of how a male or female voice is meant to sound these days and in that era it was like, the more confidently weird, raw and flawed a voice was, the better the artist did. Sometimes to an amazingly dated and lyrically stupid comical degree, but we love to celebrate that too. We love all of it!

Seamus: Seems you have a knack for internalizing music (like in other cover bands, Dwayne Gretzky) and personalizing it quite emotionally. Maybe this all sounds more technical than it’s supposed to, but can you tell us where the depth of inspiration comes from?

I suppose, I like to hear a song the way it goes? And you're right, it's not so much about the notes and rhythms and technical stuff as much as the feeling it's supposed to carry. I am a schooled musician and I come from a family of musicians and meticulous crafty types. I like to get to a point where you don't think about the technical. However, there is a technical process I go through to get there. It usually involves trying to hear and understand every instrument's role in the music, learning my parts in different positions, octaves, etc. and kind of just noodling over the form of the song while I get to know it. Singing and playing is a trip too. You can really cross yourself up and get caught in a wild tangle where you're not sure why you can't quite say the words properly and have the rhythm land where it should even though both are totally fine when played separately. Anyway, you gotta just sort that out. Slowly. 

Tom: In terms of memorizing, I can read music, but I absolutely hate looking at it or relying on it during a performance. Almost as much as I hate watching other people read on stage, ha! There is a fear there that clearly states that you are unsure. The feeling is stiff. A performance of a series of notes and rhythms. If they're correct, performance well done! Anyway, I personally feel like it takes me away from the feeling of the music and the engagement with the crowd and the band.  That said, I'm not actually great at sight reading and I've seen some real badass musicians and/or performers pulling it off...that's cool. But I won't do it and WILL harp on musicians that do.  ONLY if we are sharing a stage.

Seamus: You’ve had some incredible opportunities to perform live. Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Lollapalooza, to name a few. The situations are no joke. They take you into a different headspace both personally and as a band. What do those live situations do to transform your outlook on performing?

Oh yeah. That kind of stuff can really give you the jitters! You start thinking, am I standing cool? Moving too much? Not enough? Is the sweat going to make it hard to play?  Why are my hands shaking but my fingers are not moving like they should?

Sometimes you're soooo prepared and everything falls apart or some weird technical malfunction occurs. Sometimes you know you're not ready but an amazing performance comes out. I've seen a lot of unplanned things happen, but it's usually something fun or outrageously silly or even scary. Those moments are definitely memorable and just the beautiful bizarre nature of real life. It really is best to enjoy those mini disasters.

Tom: Ultimately, it's never as important as you make it seem to yourself. It's just a rock show after all, but those feelings do still pop up sometimes. It's normal, but I'm lucky enough to play with people that really know me and that I absolutely love, so if I start to feel that way, I'll do something silly, broken, off script or just wrong and get it out of the way as much as possible so we all can realize it's no big deal. It's most important to be yourself and try to connect and experience together, as opposed to staying in your head and being concerned about 'correctness'. My hair always looks awful either way.  

Seamus: The list of artists that you have worked with is really quite something! Dwayne Gretzky, The Mercenaries, Banners from the UK, Juno nominee Royal Wood opening the Canadian Bonnie Raitt tour, Juno winner Justin Rutledge, Canadian Folk Music Award winner Jadea Kelly and so many more! What are some of the things you learn from rising to the level of those artists and stages?

Tom: Oh, each one of them has so much to offer in their own unique personalities, talents and approaches. I can go on about all of them, the musicians involved and teams involved. I've learned so much from all of these people, but the main takeaway from every single one of the artists mentioned here is that they are infinitely kind and generous. I find that the people I know, who achieve this level of success, have that in common every time. I've tried to aspire to that in taking on a leadership role and starting these bands with Joan. We are bringing all kinds of new people under our umbrella. I really hope I'm passing that feeling and that knowledge on properly…(clenches teeth and tugs at neckline).

Seamus: The diversity of artists that you play with is also something to behold. If you could think of a possible area or style of music that has been uncovered in your career, what would you say it is? Who would you still love to work with?

Tom: I mean, there are a lot!  I have another project called El Blotto Twangueros that explores some instrumental kind of pseudo-jazzy randomness. Basically all the things that wouldn't make sense to do with Joan Smith & the Jane Does or Generator Party. I really like surf guitar, west African guitar playing like Bombino and Balkan bands, super technical jazzers like Kurt Rosenwinkel and Marc Ribot. I've got a pretty scattered interest in music! In my younger days, I thought about getting hired by famous people. What if I was in this band or studied with these people? I ultimately want to focus on my path and see it through. I like working with different people on their projects, but I also feel like I have an excellent family of amazingly capable and creative people around me. I want to stop dreaming and try to stay more on the doing. I find this approach attracts the people I want to be working with anyway. Last year, The Jane Does teamed up with one of my favourite artists and dear friends, Friendly Rich, on a release of a whacky little four song EP. I'm super proud of it and hope to have more of those types of collaborations in the future!

Seamus: You are working with your partner, Joan Smith on her latest release. What’s it like creating with your partner and what would you say is the next step for you creatively and personally?

Tom: Yes we have our band, Joan Smith & the Jane Does, which is basically informed by the love of 90s and 2000s rock music that we cover with Generator Party. We share a common goal, aesthetic and intention. We approach our music from opposite skill sets though, which is great because there is never really a fight over creative or performance roles!  I mean, for the most part. Ha!  

We have managed to put out a record called 'Do Me Some Harm' that was released in 2023 (with songs mixed by Alain Johannes) as well as four singles that we released last year. There was also the EP with Friendly Rich (A Modest Proposal) and our debut EP, Normalize, that Toronto indie label Cartridge Heart is re-releasing for us this March or April. Stay tuned! But yeah, it is hard to keep the ball rolling in this industry or as an artist in general. You get pushed around a lot, denied and have all the artsy feelings of self doubt, or knee injuries from stage antics and so on. That can really derail momentum for artists. It's helpful to have another person as passionate, determined and invested as you in a musical project, to kick some of those bad feelings out the window of the house you live in together, or take the ball and keep it up until the other is back on track again. I never thought I'd be in a situation where I'm working this closely with my partner, but it truly is the best thing I've ever done. It's also my favourite music that I've ever had a part in creating. Working with Joan is the best!