Greg Soden (Unscripted Moments: Conversations with Propagandhi)
SPB: You’ve obviously followed Propagandhi for many years – what was the biggest surprise or revelation to you about the band as pieced the book together?
Soden: To me, the greatest joy in interviewing members of Propagandhi for five years was the mutual respect that we built between the project and the band. When the band realized I was working as hard as humanly possible on this project, they afforded me so much of their time to appear on the podcast and conduct the interviews that eventually became the book. The dedication I put into the project made it so the band was more interested in collaborating with me. They are so meticulous with their songwriting and I did my best to be as meticulous with my creation of the podcast and my organization for the interviews.
Readers of the book may find the format and style of the book different from other band books. This isn't so much a definitive biography of the band as it is a collection of conversations where the history of the band is woven in, but with deeper emphasis on certain songs. What is so fun about the book is that as the band members returned for more interviews throughout the podcast/book, the storytelling got more personal, the anecdotes from their personal lives became more in-depth, and the relationships between members of the band became more clear.
Another thing that surprised me is the friendship and dynamics between the band members and their excellent fit they have as people. A version of this band has been together for 40 years. I am 42 years old. In my opinion, the relationship between Chris Hannah and Jord Samolesky is comparable to Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson's trajectory; two creative spirits that forged a life together in the arts. Chris and Jord forged that life while emphasizing a value-system that inspired a small but mighty group of young people.
This book is super fun for me because it is representative of this project, not anyone else's project. Readers can explore this book linearly or completely out of order, including reading from back-to-front.
I was so surprised the band engaged as much as they did and I'm so grateful they allowed this book to exist.
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Learn more about Greg Soden.
