Rick Sparkes + The Enablers, like most folks, have a bit of time on their hands. With a bit of material all ready to be pulled from Rick’s back pocket, he’s picked up a side hustle as a video direction. The DIY approach Sparkes took to their new single, “All the Gold in California,” is probably the only way it could ever be done. Filmed at home, the song has a strong streak of independence to it that balks at the idea of any sort of industry yoke.
Sparkes explains that he’s had “All the Gold in California” already recorded for a while, all it needed was some finishing touches (and the video, of course).
“The slide guitar and guitar solo was recorded in early April by Danny Drouin who has his own recording studio. Danny sent the solo to Brent Chaisson (at Studio Dimanche) and Brent did all the mixing,’ says Sparkes. “The video was just a fun project to keep us busy while staying home.”
Dragging his family into the process, Sparkes engineered an American Idol scenario in his living room, complete with a few painful swipes at some music industry tropes. Sparkes himself appears as the talentless Dirk Gallant (wasn’t the name of every other cousin on Just Passing Through?).
“Because we’re basically confined to home these days, I filmed the video at my place in Summerside,” says Sparkes. “While the song is essentially one person’s meditation on all the different ways they can get away from someone else, I wanted to take a different approach with the video. I’ve always thought that there was something fundamentally flawed about commercial talent shows, so we decided to poke fun at them a bit by having our protagonist (Ruth Ann) try out for one, but then turn down its offer in the end.”
“I don’t often stop to analyze the songs I write, but looking back on a lot of them, ‘All the Gold’ included, there is definitely a running theme of maintaining a sense of independence.”
“All the Gold in California” is set to appear on Rick Sparkes + The Enablers upcoming album, Pleasure in the Pathless Woods, some time this year. “Fall or Winter,” jokes Sparkes. “Who knows anymore?”