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BIOGRAPHY

Trevor Guthrie
	BIOGRAPHY | GALLERY | GOSSIP

Born and raised in North Vancouver, the blond-haired singer grew up playing piano and writing songs until meeting bandmates Dave Bowman and Ken Lewko while attending Capilano College. From there they formed the band Indecision, before eventually signing with Universal Music Canada and finding fame as soulDecision.

We're sitting in the Commodore Ballroom just following Guthrie's soundcheck for the Cupid's Ball show (which missed Valentine's Day by one night) that soulDecision is headlining. It's been two years since the band broke into the pop world with their platinum debut "No One Does it Better" so the immediate questions at hand are regarding new material.

"Yeah, we're all curious about that," says Guthrie when I ask about a new album. "We just heard back from the label and they apparently picked five singles." The songs are still in their demo stage, but Trevor is already forming plans for the bigger picture. Besides planning to have the studio musicians from their earlier album become full time soulDecision members, he is also planning on once again working with producer Charles Fischer (Savage Garden) and possibly adding David Kahne (Sugar Ray).

When asked if he'd like anyone to appear on the new album he was quick to reply: Will Smith. In fact, the band had tried to get hold of Smith to rhyme on "Faded", the breakthrough single from their first album. They never got Smith, but instead opted for Canadian rapper Thrust. "We tried to get ahold of Jazzy Jeff and he wouldn't return our calls. So we got Thrust 'cause Will wouldn't do it," explained Guthrie. But he's eager to try getting the now comedian-rapper-movie star to appear on the next release.

When soulDecision first broke onto the scene, they were often dismissed as another manufactured boy band. But what separates the boys in soulDecision from N'Sync or the Backstreet Boys is that they write their own songs and play their own instruments. Apart from their singing duties, Guthrie and Bowman play guitar, while Lewko can be found on the keyboards. Guthrie himself is actually a former student of Capilano College's music program. "I was trying to major in jazz piano and I'd been playing since I was three," says Guthrie, and then jokes, "but as you can see, on stage for the last two years, I have actually not touched a piano."

Besides learning guitar and piano, Guthrie also spent a lot of time working on his songwriting, and he stresses that the song is what matters. "There's a lot of great musicians out there, great artists," he says, "but honestly, it's the song. Kids come up to me all the time and say 'Check out my voice, let me sing for you' and they'll sing for me and I'll say 'Great! You have a great chance. Do you have any songs?' and they don't."

When it comes to writing for his own albums, Guthrie tells how he approaches every song as a possible single. "I'm sick of buying a record that has one good song on it and the rest are garbage." While this probably echoes the sentiments of many record buyers, Guthrie makes a conscious effort to write records that can hopefully be enjoyed the whole way through.

"I grew up listening to a lot of compilation stuff that my parents listened to," he says. "It was like the best of the Beatles, the best of the Stones, the best of Buddy Holly, so all I got to hear was the singles. I didn't grow up listening to a record where there are three songs you like and the rest are cool, but they're album cuts. So I didn't know what that was. When I write, I try to keep that in mind. I want to hear an album that's full of stuff that's catchy, clever and possibly a hit."

The Cupid's Ball, which also featured singer/songwriter Chin as well as Swollen Members, marked the last live performance for soulDecision for a little while. Following a short vacation in Costa Rica, Trevor and the band will hopefully find themselves in Los Angeles working on their sophomore effort and once again hoping that no one does it better.