Séan McCann is currently touring throughout the Maritime provinces in promotion of his fifth solo album, There’s a Place. The album represents a big step forward for McCann, but also a step back. When he left Great Big Sea in 2013, he was walking away from Canada’s greatest party band, and for him, an unsustainable situation. He has since publicly acknowledged his battle with alcoholism, and has become an advocate for mental health.
McCann’s subsequent solo career was also marked by his shift in lifestyle that was also reflected in the two albums released following his departure. Both Help Yourself and You Know I Love You veered from the style that brought him popularity with Great Big Sea.
With his new album, though, for the first time in years McCann is crafting and performing songs that are far more akin to his traditional roots. Making his returning to that style with There’s a Place has been a matter of McCann coming to terms with much of his past.
“On November 9, I’ll be eight years fully and completely sober. I have lost many friends to addiction along the way so I consider myself very lucky and grateful for this second shot at life,” explains McCann.
“People drink and use drugs for many reasons, and the hardest thing to do is to face your own truth. In my case, that was sexual abuse by a priest when I was just 15. This was a secret I carried around inside and tried to drown in whiskey for almost 35 years. There is only one way to defeat a secret and that is to tell it. If I hadn’t done that hard work, I don’t think I’d be alive today. It is a struggle…but the rewards of recovery are worth it.
At first I didn’t think I’d be able to write anymore, or even perform for that matter. Booze and drugs were so ingrained into our culture and lifestyle that I just couldn’t comprehend how I might be able to continue without those crutches. But I have written, recorded, self-released and successfully toured three solo records in the last five years (Help Yourself, You Know I Love You, and There’s a Place). It’s amazing how much more you can get done when you’re not under the influence. Music is strong medicine and I credit songwriting and singing with others as being “instrumental” in my own continuing recovery.”
While McCann is now in a more stable place emotional, mentally, and physically, he says that during Great Big Sea’s run, the band suffered from a lack of focus and direction, which comes as little surprise for any band whose natural state is a perpetual kitchen party. Eventually it caught up with them.
“Rather than try to resolve our problems we avoided them. In the end we found ourselves arguing a lot about money. I knew then that our days as a group were numbered,” continues McCann.
At the time of the band’s breakup, McCann found himself in a difficult situation. It was his decision, after all, to leave the band, and as a result much of the blame was shouldered on him by both his bandmates and their fans.
“I will take a third of the blame for that contention. I have learned that anger is always the enemy. It never wants to help or heal, only to hurt and by the time I finally decided to leave there was a lot of anger between us. I did manage to remain sober on the bus for our last tour, but in retrospect that was probably not the best place for me to be. I lost 3,000 Twitter followers the day I ‘left’ the band but I think now people have come to understand why I had to move on. You can’t heal in the same environment where you got sick.”
Despite the challenges that Great Big Sea faced, and the challenges that McCann faced within the lifestyle of that band, he says that hopes of a reunion might not be as unlikely as they once seemed.
“If you had asked me this question a month ago I would have answered ‘no’, but on June, under the shade of a giant willow tree in Bowering Park St. John’s NL, we had the first positive Great Big Sea meeting in over a decade. We talked for almost two hours and no one got mad or offended. We still have our differences but it feels like most of the anger is now gone.
The subject of a reunion show did come up and no one was opposed to the idea. I don’t like the way things ended between us after 20 years together and I think our legion of fans deserve a better ending to our story. It would be great to finally have some positive form of closure so I am now very open to the idea of singing together one more time.”
Tour Dates:
08.13.18 – Trailside Cafe’ & Inn, Mount Stewart, PEI
08.14.18 – Arts & Culture Park, Quispamsis, NB
08.15.18 – Art in the Park, Riverview, NB
08.16.18 – Straphsey Centre, Mabou, NS
08.17.18 – Music On Main, Antigonish, NS
08.18.18 – Highland Arts Theatre, Sydney, NS
08.19.18 – Tata Fest, Tatamagouche, NS
08.20.18 – Ships Company Theater, Parrsboro, NS
09.01.18 – Chaffey’s Lock Community Hall, Elgin, ON