SERENA RYDER WEARS BAD CLOTHES AND TALKS SMART (WHEN SHE CAN) - Vue Weekly

SERENA RYDER WEARS BAD CLOTHES AND TALKS SMART (WHEN SHE CAN)
BRYAN BIRTLES / bryan@vueweekly.com
There’s no doubt that the life of a touring musician is a hard one, but when you’re seemingly plucked from indie obscurity and placed on a year-long international tour the way Serena Ryder has been, the challenges can start to affect you physically.“I lost my voice last night,” she tells me as she whispers into the phone from a ferry taking her from the Island to mainland British Columbia. “This is the first I’ve talked all day.”After relating a story about silently ordering coffee from a concession on the beach, Ryder takes a moment to reflect on her increased activity over the last year.“It’s about an 80 per cent increase in my busy-ness,” she says. “I’ve been touring a lot in the last five years, but nothing like this.”
Most of the increase can be attributed to Ryder’s decision to switch from Hawksley Workman’s independent label Isadora Records to the major EMI. While some musicians are leery of the majors—a fact Ryder is well aware of—she maintains that there hasn’t been a downside to her decision.“A lot of people ask me about working with a major record label, but they forget that people make choices,” she says. “It’s just sort of a bigger community, a bigger family. I don’t have to worry about a lot of things I used to have to worry about, plus I can connect with a lot more musicians.”Connecting with musicians is something Ryder is doing quite a bit of these days as this tour differs from many of her others in that she is bringing a band with her. The whole group was recently spotted in a restaurant by a rather astute server.“As we were paying the bill,” Ryder explains, “the guy asked, ‘Are you guys musicians?’ and we asked, ‘How did you know?’ and he said to us, ‘Well … you talk smart, but you don’t dress too good.” V
Fri, Feb 9 (9 pm)Serena RyderWith Lindsay EllSidetrack Café, $15