Interview with Tegancat Music's Jim Stoeber (2001)

     The Asian-Canadian music scene is exploding with talent and the man behind one of the labels producing that talent is Jim Stoeber.  

     A musician and producer who got involved in the music industry at the age of 11, Jim's earlier experience in the music industry was as a band member, having a job and working at a music studio, and his band releasing a single and album titled "Side Effects".  In 1995, Jim started his own music label titled "Tegancat Music", which is the power behind the talented Filipina music trio "Tegancat".

     I recently had the opportunity to interview Jim about life, music and how he got involved in promoting Filipino Canadian artists.

DENNIS: Let's start out with a few basic questions. Where were you born and raised?

JIM: I was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada.

DENNIS: How did you get involved with music?

JIM: I started learning to play musical instruments at a very young age.  As a child there were various instruments lying around the house and I was always intrigued by watching other musicians perform.  I naturally just picked it up.

DENNIS: Were you brought up in a family of musicians?

JIM: Not really, my parents were very amateur musicians but from time to time they would play and sing just for fun.

DENNIS: Did you have any role models or did someone influence you to become a musician?

JIM: No one in particular, I was influenced by any music that I heard, whether live, on the radio/TV or records.

DENNIS: If you had one memorable event in your life as a musician or in your music career as a whole, what would that memory be?

JIM: There are many memorable events; one of the more recent ones was in November, 2000 when Grace Murillo and I went to Toronto to perform at BrownScene Magazine's "SceneStealers" event.  It was kind of an unplugged performance with just me on guitar/drum machine/vocals backing up Grace and her awesome voice.  Pure music, no gimmicks.

DENNIS: If you had one word to describe your music, what would that word be?

JIM: Worldly?

DENNIS: Let's talk about your company.  Can you tell us more about your studio/record label, Tegancat?

JIM: Tegancat Music is a songwriting/recording studio and record label/music publishing company located in Winnipeg, Canada.  It is the home of artists Grace Murillo, Janice Baris and Trish Magsino who are also members of the vocal group Tegancat.  Along with these artists is a worldwide network of songwriters, musicians, vocalists and others that contribute to the projects that are worked on here. We are dedicated to bring out original music that, while having strong commercial appeal is also very musically valid, embracing aspects heard in many styles, from pop to R&B to dance to hip hop to reggae to jazz to rock, and on.

DENNIS: How did you get involved with working with Filipino Canadians and why?

JIM: My wife of 15 years is a Filipina, and as I was contemplating starting my own label I had one of her cousins record some of the songs that I had written.  Once I started Tegancat Music and had released the Monaliza CD word got out in the Filipino community in Winnipeg and eventually I was introduced to some very fine artistic talent from around the city. Working with such gifted vocalists as Grace, Janice, Trish and others is a real privilege for me as a songwriter.

DENNIS:  I know you also have been active as a writer for a Filipino publication in Florida.  Can you tell us more about that?

JIM:  I spent 2 years as a contributing editor writing a music column for Super Pinoy Times from Miami.  This led to our 1999 Tegancat Florida tour.  I have also written articles for some Fil-Can publications. Why? It just happened that way. I am happy to be a part of it all.

DENNIS:  What about the Filipino Canadian music talent as a whole.  Is it strong in Canada? 

JIM:  There is a strong Fil-Can music community in Toronto and I have made some very good friends there that I have worked with.  The Dreamscapes - "A collection of Canadian Artists" CD was one of the projects that came out of this.  It is ten songs by various Fil-Can artists and I was honored to be a co-producer.  Since then I have continued to work with these artists and others.  Having our web site really introduced us to many Filipino artists and Filipino people in the biz from everywhere.  

DENNIS:  What major differences do you see between Filipino-Canadian based artists compared to Filipino- American based artists?

JIM: I think that Canada and the US are very similar. I don't know of any real differences between Fil-Can based artists and Fil-Am based artists.

DENNIS: How do Canadians view Asian-Canadian talent? Are they becoming accepted on television, film or radio over there?

JIM: I cannot speak for all Canadians but as far as I can tell, any good talent has always been accepted here, however now more than ever you are seeing Asian-Canadian artists breaking into the mainstream music and television/film/radio scenes.  I think this is great and I hope that it inspires others to follow.

DENNIS: Your record label has survived for quite a long time, which is great!  In the US, we are starting to see a few indie labels which focused on Asian American/Filipino American talent trying to survive or having gone out of business. What do you think has helped the Tegancat label survive throughout the years?

JIM: Having been involved in the music scene my whole life I have learned what to expect from the music business.  In most cases it can take years of effort building a business platform to launch a label's attempts at success. I don't rely on Tegancat Music to earn a living and that gives us a bit more freedom to experiment.

DENNIS: In the Philippines, we are starting to see a lot of talent come from Canada such as Vanessa del Bianco.  Is it possible we will see Tegancat perform in the Philippines very soon?

JIM: We have talked about it.  Anything is possible.

DENNIS: In the US, I have heard Asian performers talk about how discouraging the industry can be because there is not enough from DJ's and radio stations to play their music and perhaps many DJ's are not open to Asian artists. What is your take on this and how do Canadian radio stations perceive Asian music talent?

JIM: Understanding how radio stations operate is very important.  It is extremely difficult for "anyone" to get airplay on mainstream stations, especially charted airplay.  There are many reasons why radio stations choose the songs that they do and I think an Asian artist has as good a chance as anyone.  The average radio station gets around 75 new CDs a week with only around 2 or 3 song slots to fill.  To stand out above the others, the winning songs and artists must be exceptional.  There are alternatives like college radio, internet radio where it is a little easier for independent artist's music to get played.

DENNIS: What is your opinion of MP3's. Are you for or against them?

JIM: I'm going with the flow of technology.  I have no choice but to adapt to whatever comes along.  MP3 technology has been useful to me. 

DENNIS:  If you had one word to describe yourself, what word would that be and why?

JIM:  Earthling - I tend to think of myself in a global sense.  Rather than separate people by ethnicity, I like to think of us all as humans from the planet earth. World beat, universal music.

DENNIS: I'm curious!  What does Canada have that the US doesn't?

JIM: Strong beer.

DENNIS: What popular Canadian artists do you recommend?  In the US, we are pretty limited with our knowledge of Canadian artists with the exception of Bryan Adams and Bare Naked Ladies.

JIM: Sky, Snow, McMaster & James and many more.

DENNIS: In the daily routines of your life, what makes you happy and what makes you tick?

JIM: I'm happy when I'm creating music and sad when my computer crashes before I have saved my work.

DENNIS: Where do you see yourself five years from now?

JIM: I'm going to keep moving forward with CD projects, one after another and maybe I can get a hit song or two along the way.  I see myself co-writing more and continuing to bring others into the creation of our music.

DENNIS: What advice would you give to our readers who are thinking of becoming a singer or a musician?

JIM: If you are a natural at singing or playing an instrument and you want to get into the biz, try to learn as much about the music business as you can.  The internet is a wealth of free information.

DENNIS: Any final words for our readers?

JIM: Support independent music =>peace.

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You can get the latest information on Jim Stoeber's latest projects, the music trio "Tegancat" and sample the latest songs from Tegancat Music at:  www.tegancat.com.

Note:  All celebrity photos on nt2099 Entertainment has been supplied to us by the artists, their agencies or their recording companies.

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Dennis A. Amith is the former Editor-in-Chief of Asian Pacific Review and an entertainment writer and celebrity interviewer for several publications. Dennis A. Amith is known for his knowledge of pop culture especially Asia pop culture. He is also known for his conversation-style celebrity interviews in which he was inspired by popular entertainment writer, Lawrence Grobel. He continues to stick with his formula of promoting artists and professionals who are well-known to the up-and-coming, his goal of helping to smash the barriers that exist for Asians in the entertainment industry and to ask questions that will definitely grab your attention.

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