Knee deep in touring, Jesse Roper celebrates a few days at home in Metchosin.
Between U.S. gigs, the singer-songwriter spends time checking out the garden, wrestling with the neighbour kids, and discovering his parents’ place is his favourite new coffee shop.
After a few days on home turf, Roper heads out again to take the stage in Charleston, South Caroline on April 30, followed by shows in in Atlanta, Nashville, Asheville, Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York through May 12. Find the full tour online at jesseroper.ca.
In the middle of the latest tour leg, the singer – affectionately dubbed The Metchosin One – also plans to release a new song on May 2.
Based on true events, “it’s all about living in Metchosin,” he told the Goldstream Gazette Thursday (April 25), while home for a handful of days.
“I was just sitting in the sun and reflecting on how stoked I was to be born there and continue to live there. I was in a great mood and I just started singing this song to myself,” Roper said.
He hopes people take away the same vibe he does.
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“How I feel when I listen to music I like, I hope it makes them feel like that. It takes them out of whatever their real lives are and plants them into something enjoyable for three minutes and 20 seconds. I’ve been trying to do that for myself really.”
Busy jumping from tour to tour, across Europe, the U.S. and even locally the last couple years, Roper is confirmed for at least one Vancouver Island gig so far this summer – at Laketown Shakedown June 28 to 30 in Youbou.
In the meantime, other new music could come in the form of covers, with Roper throwing out a social media callout for ideas to record and share with fans, even if just as a reprieve from being online all the time.
“When I come home from these trips, I sign off from social media and it doesn’t work to my advantage,” he said.
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Roper was surprised at the response, noting a post could get five or 300 responses.
“Sometimes I underestimate how many people are looking,” he said with a laugh. “It was like ‘oh O.K., folks are paying attention and they want covers’.”
A theme appeared, with common responses including “no need to do covers” followed by ideas.
Creedence Clearwater Revival appears in several suggestions so far. Others include Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison, Audio Slave and Steely Dan. Ideas with a twist include a popular pop song in Jesse Roper style, or revamp of a Roper original.
“I get all kinds of contradictory advice and that post was kind of a decent example of it,” he said with a laugh.
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Known as a storyteller online and in his music, Roper figures covers are another cool and a fun way to explore music and engage with fans.
“I’m not always in a super funny mood and there’s not always a story to tell,” he said.
Fully intending to take some time away from songwriting, a near-constant pastime, Roper must have been inspired by his return home, happily enjoying rainy days on the West Shore.
“In the last three days, I finally started picking up on some stuff I really love,” he said. “I’ve got some cool (stuff) actually that I wrote recently, more storytelling stuff.”
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