Colten Bear is an Edmontonian musician and Victoria School alumni who I had the pleasure of interviewing after seeing his exposé in EGO magazine. His musical talent is vast and his advice is perfect for anyone interested in the industry or just music in general.

How did you get into music?

In elementary school, before I came to Vic, there was this little program where in the third grade you could start playing either the guitar or the fiddle. I did the fiddle for two years and the guitar for a year and once you start, you just keep going. So I was in third grade, probably nine.

What makes the Edmonton music scene special/ your favourite part?

The Metis Nation of Alberta is a Metis group so they work mostly with Metis people giving them as many opportunities as they can; so a friend of mine and I both work with [them] a lot. It’s mainly just whatever events they have, funding or hosting, we’ll usually be on the bill with them. They get me running around Alberta doing a lot of fun stuff, playing fiddle mostly.

With Edmonton music, I have to be honest, there’s not a lot going on-- not as much as there should be. A lot of musicians nowadays, they’re sort of relying on (something that I was doing a lot, especially when I went to Vic) covering a lot of music. I don’t get to see enough people making their own music, producing albums, getting it on Apple Music. What I will say is, the people who are creating and are doing a really great job of it-- well, it’s just that-- it’s incredible, it’s just not heard enough. [...] The fact is, a lot of people who are creating music, especially people who went to Vic, they are making great music; they just don’t go out and release it. It’s not as hard as it sounds.

How would you describe your music?

Simply put, it’s a very Blues sound, it’s very derivative of old musicians-- which is sometimes a really good thing, sometimes a really bad thing. My sound came specifically from listening to as much music as possible and sort of narrowing in on the idea that Blues was manageable and it was kind of waning in popular music. I thought that there was a way-- after listening to a lot of great Blues bands-- to sort of mesh that Blues and Alternative to keep it going. So essentially, it’s Blues or modern rock, not like Motley Crue or anything, it’s really just making music with your bare hands.

What did you listen to in high school? How does that affect your music now?

I’ve been asked this question before but I finally have a good answer for it: I don’t think it’s smart at all to restrict yourself to a singular genre of music. I have friends who are nonetheless great musicians but they tend to restrict themselves to one genre. [That’s] a good thing when you're releasing music, it’s probably smart to get good at one before you try another but when it comes to listening to music, the best case scenario is for you to listen to as much as possible. Obviously, you’re not going to like everything but you should hear it, you should try to understand it at least, you should understand why people do enjoy it. So for me, the kind of music I would listen to growing up was the kind of music that my dad would get me listening to you so a lot of Journey and Aerosmith; but now it’s sort of move on to what I like to listen to which is a lot of guitar heavy stuff, The Black Keys or Clapton [...] and I’m actually a huge fan of John Mayer, I think he’s fantastic. [...] Best case scenario, listen to everything you possibly can. Usually the music I listen to is the music that I want to be able to play.

What advice would you give to young musicians?

There’s a lot of good musicians that are fantastic, better than I am. First of all, make your own music, make it as original as it possibly can be and get it heard. Get it on the radio, get it out there. Saying it like that, it sounds pretty daunting but there’s a lot of local radio stations that would love to have young musicians. Get your music heard, get it written and when you play live (this is something that I shouldn’t have to say) but tune your instruments. There’s a lot of situations where there’s a really great young musician but their guitar is out of tune. 

What would you say to your high school self?

You’re doing it right. What you want to do, you’re doing it right. One thing about me in high school is that I was not by any means a creative guy, I was learning a lot of what I do now (still learning, obviously) and a lot of what I’m doing now is finally becoming its own thing, it’s finally becoming original, something I would be proud of having people listen to. If anything, I would say to myself in high school: sit down with a notebook, get to work. At a certain point I got bored with the music because I was just doing the same thing.

How does being Indigenous affect your experience in the music scene?

I’ve actually made quite the point that I don’t, as proud as I am of being an Aboriginal musician (I like to think a good one) I don’t like it when you get opportunities because of it. [...] Especially when people start to say specifically that [I am] an Aboriginal musician; I love that that’s something that is being acknowledged but, [I was getting offers like] there’s an Aboriginal station that would love to have you, there’s an Aboriginal studio that makes music for a lot of Aboriginal kids. How about we just make some music? The fact is, I’m very proud that people are noticing and acknowledging that I am Aboriginal but it’s something where I don’t see that it matters.

If you’re looking to find Bear anywhere, the best place would be over Instagram (@coltenbearmusic) where all of his projects will be advertised.