Taylor McCluskey on Live Rooms, Glen Robinson and Remembering Susan Moss

Exposed Vocals: What was happening within the band that made the Piccolo Studios sessions feel like a moment worth documenting?

Taylor McCluskey: You know, there’s a point when you’ve been working on songs for so long that you just want to stop thinking about them and play the damn things live and loud.

That’s pretty much where we were.

We’d spent a lot of time writing, rehearsing, and getting the arrangements where we wanted them. Glen Robinson and I have been writing music together for ten years, so we’ve learned that sometimes you’ve just got to stop messing with a song and let it live.

I wanted to get Ange, Gary, Justin, and me into a room, turn everything up, and capture what happened naturally.

That’s what I love about live recording. There’s nowhere to hide. You’re either bringing it, or you’re not.

And Piccolo Studios has such an incredible history. Artists like Céline Dion have recorded there, so you’re walking into a place with some serious musical history.

But once you’re in the room and the red light goes on, none of that really matters. It’s just you, your bandmates, and the music.

We weren’t trying to make some perfectly polished record. We’d already spent plenty of time doing that over the years.

I wanted something that sounded like us.

A little dirty. A little dangerous. Something with some balls.

And I think that’s what we captured.

Exposed Vocals: You made room for bleed and imperfections in the live recording. Can you point to a moment you kept because the feeling mattered more than a technically cleaner take?

Taylor McCluskey: Oh, absolutely. I mean, that’s the whole point of recording live, isn’t it?

Look, I’m a huge fan of great production. Glen and I have spent countless hours in studios chasing the right guitar tone or getting a vocal exactly where we want it.

But sometimes you can polish the life right out of a song.

And I’ve been guilty of that myself.

You start fixing one thing, then another, and before you know it, you’ve got something that sounds technically perfect but doesn’t make you feel a damn thing.

At Piccolo, we weren’t interested in that.

We wanted the drums bleeding into the guitar microphones. We wanted the amplifiers moving air. We wanted those little moments where somebody pushes a little harder than expected, and the rest of the band responds.

That’s where the magic happens.

And vocals? Man, sometimes the best vocal take is the one where your voice is hanging on by a thread. You can hear somebody fighting for the note.

I’ll take that over a perfectly tuned vocal any day.

I grew up listening to rock ’n’ roll records where you could practically hear the sweat coming off the musicians.

That’s what I want.

I want people to put on headphones, close their eyes, and feel like they’re standing in the room with us.

Exposed Vocals: Dancing Mist, Breaking the Mirror, Cold Surveillance and Bullet in the Head make up the EP. What made those four songs the right portrait of the band at that point?

Taylor McCluskey: I love those four songs because they’re all a little different.

And that’s something I’ve always wanted with my music.

I’ve never been interested in making an entire record where every song sounds like the last one.

That would bore the hell out of me.

“Dancing Mist” has an atmospheric quality. There’s an emotional side to that song that I really enjoy.

“Bullet in the Head” has a different kind of intensity. “Cold Surveillance” takes things somewhere darker, and “Breaking the Mirror” brings that aggression and urgency that I love about heavy rock ’n’ roll music.

They all have their own personalities.

But when you put them together, you hear the band.

You hear how we approach dynamics, build tension, and let the songs move.

I’ve always been drawn to music that makes you feel something. It doesn’t necessarily have to be heavy or loud all the time.

Sometimes a simple guitar part can hit you harder than a wall of amplifiers.

But when it’s time to bring the hammer down, I want it to hit like a freight train.

That’s the balance I’m always chasing.

And I think these four songs give people a pretty good idea of what we’re about.

Exposed Vocals: How do Ange E. Curcio, Gary McKenzie and Justin Read change a song once everyone is playing it together? Could you walk us through one specific example from Piccolo?

Taylor McCluskey: Well, first off, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with some fantastic musicians over the years.

Ange is a monster behind the drums.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

He’s got that power and precision you need in a rock drummer, but he’s also got great musical instincts. He knows when to push and when to pull back.

Take “Breaking the Mirror.” When Ange locks into that groove and Gary comes in underneath him, the whole thing takes on a different weight. Then Justin starts digging into the guitar parts, and suddenly the song has this energy that you can’t manufacture sitting alone with an acoustic guitar.

That’s what a band does. It takes something you wrote and turns it into something bigger than yourself.

You bring in a song thinking you know exactly what it’s supposed to be, and then somebody plays something that makes you go, “Well, shit. That’s better than what I had in mind.”

One of the coolest moments at Piccolo happened when students from Eastview Secondary School in Barrie, Ontario, joined us for “Dancing Mist.”

That was fantastic.

Here we are, recording this live performance, and these young students are watching us play.

They’re moving to the music, cheering, getting into it.

And afterward, they’re asking questions about the recording process and what it’s like being a musician.

I loved that.

Because I remember being that kid.

I remember watching bands and thinking, “Man, I want to do that someday.”

And suddenly you’re standing on the other side of that experience.

It was a beautiful reminder of why we started doing this in the first place.

Music connects people.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you come from.

When the music hits, everybody gets it.

Exposed Vocals: You’ve worked with Glen Robinson for a decade. What can the two of you say to each other about a song now that would have been harder to say at the beginning?

Taylor McCluskey: Oh, man. Glen and I have been through a lot together.

Ten years is a long time to work creatively with somebody.

We’ve written songs, made records, spent ridiculous amounts of time in studios, and probably driven each other insane more than once.

But that’s what happens when you’re both passionate about what you’re doing.

The biggest thing we’ve developed over the years is trust.

We can be brutally honest with each other now.

If something isn’t working, we say it.

There’s no need to dance around it.

Glen might listen to something I’ve written and say, “Yeah, I’m not feeling that.”

And I’ll say, “Really? Because I think it’s fucking good.”

Then we’ll sit there, pull it apart, and usually discover something better.

That’s the relationship.

Neither of us is interested in protecting our egos at the expense of the song.

And Glen’s a hell of a musician and producer.

He hears things differently than I do, which is exactly why the partnership works.

Sometimes I’ll come in with an idea that’s completely outside the box, and he’ll find a way to make it work.

Other times he’ll push me in a direction I wasn’t expecting.

After ten years, we’ve developed this shorthand where we don’t have to explain everything.

We just know.

And I think that’s special.

We’ve made some music I’m incredibly proud of, but I still feel like we’ve got our best work ahead of us.

That’s what keeps it exciting.

Exposed Vocals: The EP is dedicated to Susan Moss. If you’re comfortable sharing, what is one memory of working with her that captures what she brought to your creative circle?

Taylor McCluskey: Yeah. Susan.

That’s a tough one.

Susan Moss was a special person in my life, and in the lives of everyone who had the pleasure of knowing her.

We first worked together back in 2016.

I was playing a show at the Paradox Theater in Verdun, one of my first live performances in Montreal, and Susan came out to photograph it.

I remember seeing the pictures afterward and thinking, “Holy shit. Who is this woman?”

Her photography was incredible.

She had this beautiful way of capturing light and shadow, especially in black and white.

Being a filmmaker, I immediately connected with her work because her photographs felt cinematic.

She wasn’t just taking pictures of somebody playing guitar.

She was capturing a story.

But what I remember most about Susan wasn’t her photography.

It was her kindness.

She was such a genuine, loving person.

She believed in what we were doing, and she was always there with her camera and that wonderful energy.

Over the years, she became part of our creative family.

And that’s why the Piccolo recordings mean so much to me.

They were the last time we filmed with Susan before she passed away.

I didn’t know that then.

None of us did.

And when I look back at those performances now, it’s emotional.

Because I remember her being there. I remember talking with her. I remember seeing her behind the camera doing what she loved.

And now those moments are preserved forever.

That’s a powerful thing when you think about it.

We dedicated the EP to Susan because she was part of this journey with us.

And I wanted people to know that.

I miss her.

We all do.

But every time somebody watches those videos or sees one of her photographs, she’s still telling stories.

And I think she’d really love that.

Love you, Susan.

This one’s for you.

Exposed Vocals: Each Piccolo song has a performance video. As someone who also works in film, how do you decide where the camera should look without interrupting what the band is doing?

Taylor McCluskey: That’s a great question because it’s something I think about constantly.

I’ve spent years working in film as an actor, writer, director, and producer, so I’m always thinking visually.

Sometimes it’s probably a little annoying for the people working with me.

But I can’t help it. That’s why I trust my production team: André Bendahan (Director, DP, Editor), Chris Carpenter (Director, DP, Editor), Kelly Reese (Colorist, Swing Shift Post), Pierre Messier (Piccolo – Live studio recording/mixing), and Robert Vosgien (Mastering).

When I’m watching a performance, I’m thinking about composition, lighting, movement, and how the camera can help tell the story.

The trick is knowing when to leave things alone.

For Piccolo, I didn’t want the videos to feel overly directed.

I didn’t want us stopping every five minutes to recreate something for the camera.

That defeats the whole purpose of recording live.

I wanted the cameras to capture what was happening naturally.

If Ange was going off behind the drums, I wanted to see that.

If Justin was digging into a guitar part, I wanted the camera to find him.

And if a moment happened organically between the musicians, that’s what I wanted to preserve.

There’s something beautiful about watching musicians communicate without saying a word.

A look across the room. Somebody smiling because another guy just played something ridiculous.

Those little moments tell you everything about a band’s chemistry.

And from a filmmaking perspective, I love that.

You don’t always need some elaborate camera move to make something cinematic.

Sometimes the best shot is the one that simply lets the audience experience what’s happening.

I wanted people to feel like they’d been invited into the studio with us.

Not like they were watching a commercial.

Exposed Vocals: Our invitation mentioned the Hotel2Tango recordings with Howard Bilerman. What question about your music did you want those sessions to answer after Piccolo?

Taylor McCluskey: I think the biggest question was, “Okay, where do we go from here?”

We’d just had this incredible experience at Piccolo, capturing the band live, and I wanted to keep exploring that approach.

But I didn’t want to repeat ourselves.

So, we went into Hotel2Tango with Howard Bilerman and recorded four new songs live to tape.

“Dark Thoughts,” “Ride My Soul,” “Roll with You,” and “See You Through.”

And man, there’s something really cool about recording to tape.

You must commit.

You can’t sit there endlessly fixing every little thing.

You must play.

And that’s exciting to me.

Howard brought his own perspective to the sessions, and I really enjoyed that.

I love working with people who challenge the way I think about music.

I don’t want to walk into every studio and make the same record repeatedly.

What’s the point?

I want to experiment.

I want to make mistakes.

I want to discover something that wasn’t there when we walked through the door.

Sometimes you get halfway through a take, and something happens that nobody planned.

Everybody looks at each other afterward like, “What the hell was that?”

Those are the moments you remember.

And that’s what I love about making records.

You’re always searching for something.

Sometimes you don’t even know what it is until you hear it coming back through the speakers.

I’m really excited for people to hear those recordings. It’s another side of the band, and I think it shows where we’re heading creatively.

Another exciting part of those sessions was bringing in our new bass player, Roman Pagliaro.

What a talent. What a pro.

There’s something incredibly energizing about bringing a new musician into the room. Different instincts, different energy, a fresh perspective.

Roman brought all of that, and I’m excited about what we’re creating together.

Exposed Vocals: How has living and making music in Montreal changed the songwriter you were when you left California?

Taylor McCluskey: Well, California will always be part of who I am.

That’s where I came from.

That’s where I developed my love for rock ’n’ roll music, filmmaking, and that whole creative world.

I spent years playing the Sunset Strip.

The Whisky, the Viper Room, the House of Blues.

Those places are legendary, man.

You walk into the Whisky and think about all the incredible musicians who’ve stood on that stage before you.

There’s something special about that.

And California has this energy where everybody’s chasing something.

Everybody’s got a dream.

I loved that.

But Montreal changed me in ways I probably didn’t expect.

First off, it’s an incredible city for artists.

The music scene, the film community, the cultural diversity. There’s so much happening here creatively.

And I’ve met some extraordinary people.

Glen Robinson, Ange Curcio, Susan Moss, André Bendahan, and so many others who’ve become part of my life and my creative journey.

I think Montreal has made me a better listener.

When I was younger, I was always pushing forward.

What’s next? What’s the next gig? When are we making another record?

And don’t get me wrong, I’m still like that.

But I’ve learned to appreciate the process more.

Sometimes you need to give a song room to develop.

Sometimes you need to listen to somebody else’s idea instead of insisting on your own.

And sometimes you need to walk away from something for a few days and come back with fresh ears.

I’ve also become much more comfortable bringing all my creative interests together.

Music, film, writing, acting.

For a long time, I treated those as separate worlds.

Now I see them as different ways of telling stories.

And I love that.

California gave me that rock ’n’ roll attitude.

Montreal gave me another perspective on what I could do with it.

I think I’m a better songwriter because of both places.

Exposed Vocals: What are you trying to do in the next chapter that this live EP only begins to suggest, and what should listeners watch for next?

Taylor McCluskey: More music. More shows. More films.

And hopefully a little more wisdom along the way.

Seriously, though, I’m excited about where things are heading.

The Piccolo EP was such a great experience, and I’m incredibly proud of what we created.

But it’s just one chapter.

We’ve got four new songs coming from our Hotel2Tango sessions with Howard Bilerman, and I can’t wait for people to hear them. That experience pushed us creatively, and I think people are going to hear a different side of the band.

I’m also developing a couple of feature films through TaylorMade Films, and man, these projects have become a huge part of my life.

The first is THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, an action thriller I’ve been developing with some extraordinary people from the Special Operations community, including Tier One veterans and the team at TACGAS.

It’s about a retired Tier One Operator whose past comes hunting for him. When a ruthless cartel targets his pregnant wife, he’s forced back into a world of violence, betrayal, and unfinished business. It’s a brutal story about brotherhood, loyalty, and just how far a man will go to protect the people he loves.

The second is YOU HAVE TO LIVE HARD TO BE HARD, based on the extraordinary true story of Dan Laguna, a decorated Green Beret and Special Operations pilot.

Dan’s lived a life most people couldn’t imagine. But what fascinates me most isn’t just the combat or the incredible missions. It’s what happens afterward. The loss of brothers, the survivor’s guilt, the emotional cost of war, and finding the courage to keep living when everything around you has changed.

Both projects are deeply personal to me, and I’m incredibly proud of the people involved.

And you know what’s interesting? Whether I’m writing a screenplay or a rock song, I’m chasing the same thing.

A story that makes somebody feel something.

I’ve always loved moving between music and filmmaking.

One day I’m in the studio working on a guitar part, and the next I’m writing a screenplay or working on a film.

It keeps things interesting.

And creatively, I think those worlds feed off each other.

But when it comes to music, my goal hasn’t really changed.

I want to write great songs.

I want to work with musicians who inspire me.

And I want to get onstage and play music that makes people feel something.

That’s it.

I’m not particularly interested in chasing trends or figuring out what everybody else thinks I should be doing.

I’ve been doing this long enough to know that you’ve got to follow your own instincts.

Sometimes it works.

Sometimes you fall flat on your ass.

But that’s part of the adventure.

And I still love it.

More from Taylor McCluskey on EV

• Taylor McCluskey’s artist profile
• Found in the Inbox: Taylor McCluskey Preserves a Band’s Chemistry at Piccolo Studios
• Official links and music
• Secret Service Publicity on EV

Photo: Susan Moss. Supplied by Secret Service Publicity. Interview conducted by email; answers are published as written.