Jorge Canan: Rising Star

Jorge Canan: Through Jesus, all things are possible. Right. I don't care what kind of problem somebody's going through, whether it's a mental breakdown, whether it's depression, you know, it could be anything, anxiety that, you know, you see so many people with that kind of stuff going on today. the answer to your or I should say the solution to your problem is in that Bible. Anything that you may have going on in your life, pick up that book, read that book. You're gonna find a passage in there that's gonna talk to you. So for me, it's one of those things where I try to bring people to Christ because I want them to feel what I'm feeling. I'm not trying to tell them or sell them a book or sell them even an album. I'm trying to sell them salvation, you know, because we're all lost, we're all sinners, we're all, you know, God died on that cross for all of our sins, right? And and rose from the grave three days later to be with our Heavenly Father. And I'm telling you, you know, I've never thought like this. The way I think today is I never thought I would be here, you know, doing what I'm doing. And it it's only because of the Holy Spirit was instilled in me.

Arin Hancock: Today on the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast, we're joined by Jorge Cannon, an up-and-coming artist who is making some great music with a great message. It's a great interview. Stay tuned for it. Alright, welcome to the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast, where it's all about the rock that makes me sing. I'm your host, Arin Hancock, joined as always with Kris Plamondan. How are you doing, Kris?

Kris plamondon: Good

Arin Hancock: like I said, we've got an interview with an up-and-coming artist. He's been around the music scene for quite a while, although he's been out for a little bit. Back on the scene, some great stuff to to doing some great stuff with a great message. I just want everybody out there to know. That we have a Facebook page, we are in all the social medias, we love to hear from you. Leave comments, feedbacks, and we're also on the Patreon. So if you want to join us there, you can join us there now. And we welcome Jorge Cannon.

Jorge Canan: Hey

Arin Hancock: How are you doing, Jorge?

Jorge Canan: I'm doing great, guys. Thanks for inviting me to the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast. This is fantastic to be here, man. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

Arin Hancock: Great. well have you first do interviews before we kinda do the background, so let's go to the beginning. how did you walk with God all get started?

Jorge Canan: gosh. well I've always believed in God, right? but the thing with me, when I was in a band called Rays back in the day and Toy Cannon, which we wound up signing Toy Cannon with Ionian Records about three years ago, and that was released there as well. But when I walked away from music was in the nineties, when kind of you know, that whole r you know, from the eighties transition into the nineties transition, where we went into more of the grunge kind of music, right? That changed a lot for me. So, at that point, you know, we we had open for poison. We did a lot of different things. And I just said, you know what? I got into downhill racing, mountain bikes, believe it or not. Just completely walked away from music and went into racing mountain bikes. And I've always, like I said, believed in God. But it wasn't until years later where, you know, my testimony is. It's kind of a long one, but I'll try to cut it down for you. Something that happened to me in Nagshead, North Carolina. We used to go down there to the beach a lot. You know, it's one of those areas where you know, you need a four-wheeler to get on the beach to drive to the place that you rented, you know, it's like three, four miles in. it's pretty cool because they have like wild horses running around. It's pretty wild in there. so it was me and and four other people that were there, and we rented a house. And in the evenings, what we used to do is we used to have two trucks and we bring them down. You know, it's literally about a hundred yards from the house to the edge of the beach. It was really far. So we would drive our trucks with the coolers and kind of hang out there, build a, you know, fire pit in the sand. And and this guy Eddie is Sonia's wife and his kid, and then my my ex-wife. she was my wife at that point. and we we were just kind of hanging out, you know, talking with the in the fire, and along comes this guy. You know, and mind you, like these houses are miles apart, like where you're at. You know what I mean? So this guy's just walking on the beach, And the entire time he walks up to our campfire, mind you, his icon his eye contact, I'm the one that's sitting further back, always on me the entire time. His eyes were just fixated on me. And He's telling me a story, you know. I I'm a recovering you know, drug addict, and I'm now a pastor. and you know, he was talking about his congregation and what he does and how he talks to people and never made communication or eye contact with anybody else. And he's telling me at that time I had cut my hair, like I had short hair, and there was no way, you know, I had no guitar there, there was nothing there. And he's like, you know, after I told him my name, and he proceeds to tell me. I know you're a musician. I'm like, Do you know I'm a musician, you know? And he starts saying all this stuff and he's talking about his life and what he's done. And then towards the end of that, and I'm trying to condense the story, but towards the end of that, he asks if he can pray for me. Right. And I'm like, Of course you can. You know, and again, I've always believed in God, but I wasn't walking with Christ at that point. And he came over to me, walked past the other people, and because I was leaning more on the truck, we had A truck facing, like I was sitting here facing out, and there was a nut like an L shape. And then he came in and held my hand. And when he held my hand, you know, we all kind of put our heads down, he's praying. And it was really weird, man, because I felt like this weird levitation. You know, I can't even explain to you like what happened there. But I was like, my god, this is kind of weird. You know, he's hold he's hold hand, he's praying. And then after that, he, you know, let's go of my hand, and he walks over to the side, and now he makes eye contact with everybody. And he while he's praying to me, he's also telling me, you know, listen, you're gonna run into a lot of difficult times and difficult things. but just know that Christ is gonna be there with you the entire way through. And just kept going on with that message. And when he stepped back, he basically had a very short conversation with everyone else. And he says, Well, thank you for having me here. And Jorge, you you know, take care of yourself and so on and so forth. And he turned around, and mind you. It's pitch dark. I don't know if you guys ever been out in the beach, either Hatteras or Nag's head at nighttime. Crystal clear skies, dark. The way it was hardly any little waves. Like little waves just hitting the shore. Soon as he left our campfire, Eddie had this big, you know, flood-like, you know, flashlight thing. And he put it up and the guy was gone. Like, you know what I mean? We all got up. I'm looking under the truck. This guy's playing games or something. I'm looking in the water. There's no way in heck in like five seconds somebody would have been able to run back to 100 yards to the house. There's no way he could have been in the water. It was calm. And there's no way unless this guy was like the flash Gordon, you know, just taking off. He was just gone, you know? And all of us sat there, I think, for a half hour after that happened. Didn't say a word to each other. You know, we were just sat there like looking at the fire and wondering, what the heck just happened? You know? And since then it planted a seed for me and it just wouldn't let go, you know? And sometime thereafter, I I actually went out and I and I purchased a Bible. And and I remember putting it on my dresser, my, you know, in my bedroom, and I didn't look at it for seven months. It's probably sat there for seven months, never opened it. Got it, just left it there. One day I came home, again, this is about seven months later, and For some reason, I just kept staring at it. I'm like, okay, I I gotta I gotta pick that book up for kind of loud. I bought it, you know, I gotta pick it up. So that night I picked it up. And since that night, I never put it down. You know, since I started reading

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Jorge Canan: that Bible, I've never put it down. And shortly thereafter, it was in twenty twenty April, the end of April in twenty twenty, I gave my life to the Lord. I said, you know I'm I wanna be I wanna be a born again Christian and that's what I did, you know. But th there's more parts to that story, but I just tried to condense it for the purposes

Arin Hancock: Right.

Jorge Canan: of the show here. But

Kris plamondon: Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure we'll add we'll get you to put

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha.

Kris plamondon: fill the fill in the bank blanks there. That is awesome. So

Jorge Canan: Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Kris plamondon: how did that experience come into the way that your music is?

Jorge Canan: Yeah, so I didn't know that I was coming back to music even at that point. Right. it wasn't until sometime after, like I was reading the in the the Bible and I started, you know, when I take Ubers or Lyfts or even fly to start talking about the Lord to anyone and everyone. I don't care who I'm talking to to about it. And from there you know as i started getting more proficient with it i again a a bug kind of came to me i'm like how can i how can i spread the word not just you know taking uber rides or lift rides or you know flying somewhere and talking to somebody I have quite a funny story too when I did that one time in a plane but so I I said one night I said to myself you know what God gave me a gift and why am I not using that gift to spread the word? Why you know And I came back to music full bore a year, a year and a half ago. And it took me, it took me a good part of seven months to get it all together. And as soon as you knew it, at the end of that year, I was recording, you know, a 14-song album.

Kris plamondon: So

Jorge Canan: Which I'll never do a 14-song album again, by the way. It's just

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha.

Jorge Canan: n endless nights.

Kris plamondon: How many albums do you have?

Jorge Canan: I well, I have as a matter of fact, I brought it here, man, so you guys can see it. This was the album that just came out, Jorge Cannon here. And then Toy Cannon,

Kris plamondon: Okay, okay.

Jorge Canan: yeah, and then Toy Cannon was one that was also with Onion Records. that was released about three years ago. And I know Ion Records has a couple hundred bands that they've signed. Believe it or not, that Toy Cannon album went top four best seller on their on their labels. I was like, yes, you know. So

Kris plamondon: Congratulations.

Jorge Canan: yeah, thank you, man. So that was a really cool story there. And you know, really good friends with with the guys, you know, Ryan and and Steven from the label. and they they took this album on and right now it's doing very well. I just came back from the monsters not monsters. I'm going to the monsters of rock cruise. That's another conversation next next year. we're probably gonna do a jam session there. but

Kris plamondon: You You're going to

Jorge Canan: Monsters of

Kris plamondon: okay.

Jorge Canan: Rock Cruise. Yeah, that's gonna be next year, May sixth or something like that. We're we're going and we're

Arin Hancock: Right. That that should be an exciting opportunity actually.

Jorge Canan: it's gonna be great, man. But I you know, I just got back from the mountain festival in Tennessee in Gat Gatlinburg. Tennessee.

Arin Hancock: Okay, yeah. How'd that go?

Jorge Canan: Yeah, yeah, when great. Onion Records invited me and I was sitting at their booth and we're just signing CDs the entire time we were there meeting new fans and I got a chance, you know, being with them. They they got me in there. I was like, you know, right up front side stage too, with watching Sebastian Bach and Jekyll and Lynch Mob and you you name it, all those guys was right there. So it was so, so cool. and you know, my bass player, he's going too the Monsters of Rock cruise next year. He goes, That was cool, but Monsters of Rock is that on steroids. So I'm like, Yes,

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

Kris plamondon: Ha ha ha

Jorge Canan: get me there, you know, get me there. I want to talk to everybody. So so that's how it's going. And the cool thing is too, October third, I'm gonna go see Stryper. I'm going backstage. you know, I got hooked up to

Arin Hancock: Wow.

Jorge Canan: go backstage and watch their sound check. So that's gonna be pretty cool. So I'm gonna be handling handing Michael Sweet one of these. So that'll be pretty cool. And I'm gonna ask him, I'm gonna, hey Michael, I want to tour with you next year. So make something happen, will you? So that'll be awesome.

Arin Hancock: That would be great. Hey, if you can get us an interview with Michael

Jorge Canan: Well, I listen, I don't know Michael, but I'll tell you right now that I grew up, you know, they he was one of my, you know, one of the inspirations for me in the in the late eighties and also Steve Perry from Journey. for me that, you know, I've never thought I would be in a position where I can actually meet him and that's what I'm doing. So and actu actually the night before that, on a Friday the second, I'm gonna go to Philly and I'm gonna go see Skillet. So that's gonna be pretty cool too. So I'll be in sk I'll

Arin Hancock: Wow.

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Jorge Canan: be skilled on on Friday and I'll be, you know, actually backstage for a Stryper So that's gonna be pretty

Kris plamondon: Yeah, they're they're pretty cool. They're another band that we hope to get on the show sometime, so

Jorge Canan: I I've seen them like two or three two times actually. This will be the third time. They are they are

Kris plamondon: Yeah, totally.

Jorge Canan: awesome, man. They are so awesome live, you know. But yeah, so that that was the story there. I don't know how I tied everything in just now, but it's you

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha.

Kris plamondon: Ha ha.

Jorge Canan: know, it it it's just a really cool ride right now with you know, Jorge Cannon coming into that was my solo project now. We're I'm I'm not supposed to mention some of these things, but I know that. we're doing a big show in New Jersey in in March. I think it's gonna be around March. it's gonna be a couple of bands playing there. and my guitar player, he's actually in Argentina. He's coming here for two months just to play some shows and stuff like that. And he's one that I write with, and I write with one in United Emirates. I write with another guitar player in Vancouver. I'm all over the place like you know with people. So it's it's so cool, you know. Yeah.

Kris plamondon: That's awesome. So So is your stuff like do you actually have a full band?

Jorge Canan: I have Sydney musicians right now. I have John Clapauci, he's the bass player. Nick Stiper is the drummer. He was the original drummer from Raze, from my first band back when,

Kris plamondon: Yeah, drumming's pretty good.

Jorge Canan: right? We used we used to open up for Skid Row, actually. We used to play with Skid Row a lot back in the day. and and and also Zebra at this particular place we're gonna be playing at, which I can't announce yet. And there's gonna be a whole name change as well. you know, it won't be the Jorge Cannon project. It's gonna be it's cool. We have a new name, new logo, it'll be a new website and new direction. I'm actually I was just working on the EP. we're gonna have a four-song EP release for that date when we play out there. So

Kris plamondon: And now you're on the Rock N Metal Faith talking.

Jorge Canan: I'm on the rock and metal faith, man. I mean, come on, it doesn't get better than this, man. You know what I mean? It's like

Arin Hancock: There you go. No, things are moving up. yeah, I'll tell you what, we'll definitely follow you, keep tabs and as changes happen, you know, you'll be on our news segment letting ev everybody know what's going on with Jorge out there. So that

Jorge Canan: Yeah. Absolutely, man. I appreciate you guys having me on. It's it's been quite the walk right now, you know, in in the faith here. And I know God is definitely driving this whole force. It's not it's not I can't even say it's me doing it, you know. I mean the calls that we're getting and the amount of people that are working with me. We got a PR person, a social media manager, an admin, and and as a matter of fact, we're working with some folks from the UK. possibly go to UK next year and play one or two festivals, perhaps. I'm hoping to do that. so those are the kinds of things that are going on. And it all happened so quickly. You know what I mean? We started, you know, last year I started the album and in January is when we kind of started launching all the social media stuff and everything else. And it's picking up really big. It's like we're getting a lot of, you know, and the other thing I want to do with social media as well and kind of use like the YouTube platform to have some memberships and kind of minister people. That's really what I wanna do is I wanna minister folks, you know. I don't wanna just

Kris plamondon: Have you guys put out a video a music video out yet of any of your singles?

Jorge Canan: we did a live. We we did a live in an interview it was at the the music den in Randolph, New Jersey. They have this, it's big music store. And in the back they have this stage area. It seats like a hundred and eighteen people. It's pretty incredible. They do shows

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Jorge Canan: there and that kind stuff. So we decided to do we brought in Dan, our sound guy, and and we did a one song live that's on the radio right now. You want it all. It's it's like a ballad song. and power ballad, whatever. But yeah, I mean, so th these things are all coming at me rapid fire, and where I'm just trying to really figure out like what the next steps are. And I think we're kind of ready to kind of evolve from the the solo project into a a band situation. And

Kris plamondon: That's awesome.

Jorge Canan: Yeah, so I don't have I'll tell you one thing about the full band situation. I've had auditions and if you see on my Facebook it says, you know, audition sign up here. Had so many people sign up there, but just didn't see anything that was fantastic for this band, right? It kind of has to match

Kris plamondon: So so Jorge, where where are you talking to us from? We're in Canada. We're

Jorge Canan: I am in New New Jersey. You're in what? Canada?

Kris plamondon: New Jersey. Okay.

Jorge Canan: New Jersey. I was just in Canada not too long ago. I was in Vancouver. I went down to Vancouver. So yeah,

Arin Hancock: All right. So

Jorge Canan: it's pretty cool. but yeah, I'm in New Jersey and you know, getting a band together, as you guys know, today and day, it's very, very rough, right? It's a really a tough thing because a lot of guitar players that I know are either in cover bands Or tribute bands, you know, not a lot of people are putting the time

Arin Hancock: Yeah, yeah.

Jorge Canan: and effort to do what we used to do creatively, right? Is write songs and be enthusiastic about getting a new tune out there for everybody, right? So it's very hard to find that. And I had to go outside the country to to actually find this this one guy we call him Pee-wee. he is amazing. He's a ripper from Argentina, and I will be announcing him shortly. But he's working on the new EP as well with me. He's worked on the prior stuff with me. and he's so into it that he's he's like, I'll fly out there for two months, man, we'll do our thing, you know, and I'll fly to UK, we'll do our thing there too. So he's really, really cool. And John Calpauchi, the the bass player, he's also doing some other projects, but he's sitting in, he loves our direction and Nick Stiper, the drummer as well. but they're all involved in their own projects. So the only person I can honestly say that I have as a a permanent fixture, so to speak, is the guitar player right now. And as we go on, I'm sure we will find someone that I'm pretty picky about who I want to put in the band. so for me, it's it really has to be a really good fit, you know, from not just from

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Jorge Canan: a musical standpoint, but also, you know, mentally where the person's at, spiritually where that person's at. So yeah, for some reason, you know, maybe somebody from Canada. Who knows? You know. You never

Kris plamondon: That that's right. So

Arin Hancock: I

Jorge Canan: know.

Arin Hancock: was just gonna say, hang on.

Kris plamondon: our audience w is they're listening to this, how would you describe your music to to a stranger?

Jorge Canan: Well, to a stranger, I'd probably be breaking out some some Christian talk first. But yeah, I probably would would say, Hey, listen, have a nice Christian album. it's rock. you're gonna love it. You know, just you know, and and if they if they don't like rock, I'll say, Well, start with you want it all. start with that song, look for it on disc or or look for it online, and then you'll you'll work your way into some of the heavier stuff that we have, like breaking chains and and and stuff like that, rise above it all. So yeah. I probably would do that. But my music, as a matter of fact, this new EP that we're putting together too still has a really good commercial vibe. very kind of Stryper like, believe it or not. I've been compared to Stryper in the past because my voice was so high back in the day. you know, we we have a a a pretty rough edge on this EP coming out, but it's still very commercial, you know, still has commercial.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, you y how how long have you been singing?

Jorge Canan: Gosh, I started singing when I was 14 years old, you know? So I've been singing. No, well,

Kris plamondon: I won't ask you how we'll draw.

Jorge Canan: listen, I stopped counting when I turned 40. So I'm not going there. You know what I mean? I try not to think about age because once you start putting a number and I should be this at this age or should be that at that age,

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Jorge Canan: you start thinking like that. And for me,

Kris plamondon: Sure.

Jorge Canan: I'm young at heart, young in the mind. And you know what? One cool thing that somebody actually said to me, it's like, listen, you took so many years off of music. You actually saved your voice for now. You know what I mean? Because a lot of guys that you see now that have been singing for X amount of years, that their their voice is just really blown out from so many years, rightfully so, right? from singing for so many years. But for me, I still feel like, you know, I'm twenty, twenty five, you know? So

Arin Hancock: Yeah, y

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: you you got a point with that. there are like I said a lot of singers who've tried to do it for the last forty years and they're not there anymore.

Jorge Canan: Yeah. But you know what? Michael Sweet is still hitting those notes, man. You

Kris plamondon: yeah.

Jorge Canan: know. He's still I mean, you

Arin Hancock: Yeah well

Jorge Canan: know, he's still doing it, you know.

Arin Hancock: I know. We we talk about that all the time here and yeah, it doesn't sound like he did forty years ago, but he still sounds great. You know, I got no comp yeah.

Jorge Canan: Still sounds great. Yeah. No, he still sounds great compared to and you know, when I saw Sebastian Bach a couple of weeks ago, you know, he's definitely more blown out than he was, you know what mean? but he still sounded okay. He still sounded okay, for sure.

Arin Hancock: that's good. Good. Actually t talking about that there and you're talking about trying to f put a band together. I just heard him on another podcast talking about fronting twisted sister. And

Jorge Canan: yeah.

Arin Hancock: but he was talking about I guess with the solo stuff and and finding band members online and stuff. He says and you gotta

Jorge Canan: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: make sure that the the that they can tour. Like he he picked up a couple of guys on on that he found online.

Jorge Canan: Yeah, he did it.

Arin Hancock: And they they didn't know anything about the the rigors of touring at all. They they couldn't handle airports and they

Jorge Canan: Yeah, that's that is true. He picked up, I think, one guy though also from Argentina, if I'm not mistaken. One of the guitar players was also from Argentina. Like my guitar player, he's from Argentina. I guess they're all good over there, you know. You know some people going to Puerto Rico and other countries to get good baseball players, you know, it's like I guess that's where you gotta go nowadays to find

Arin Hancock: Okay, yeah. Right. Right, yeah.

Kris plamondon: That's up.

Jorge Canan: a good guitar player, you know? But he he's definitely a shredder, man. I I'm so blessed to to have met him. Plus he's a great songwriter and we really r really hit it off pretty well, you know.

Kris plamondon: So Jorge in New Jersey, are are you single, married, you have kids? What's what's that like?

Jorge Canan: I am I have a girlfriend and she's actually my admin. She actually does a lot of the background stuff, you know, so she's very involved in the music, like I am. So it it's really good to have somebody that's there supporting you every day and pushing you every day and having the same, you know, she's a devout Christian as well. We go to the same church together. so we we try to minister and do different things as well. So yeah, I I fully believe that to be a Christian and to walk in in that in that walk, so to speak, your partner, whether it's, you know, your wife or your your husband, whatever it is, you know, vice versa, it it's you you have to be walking in that same walk together because you're you're just gonna get steered off track if you're with somebody that's completely different. And that's not to say, listen, everybody has their walk, whatever it may be, right? But for me. you know, in the past and dating in the past, you know, the relationships didn't go places and I do feel that because we weren't tied in in in Christ in that way. You know what I mean? And and I feel that that's very important for me moving forward, and for in the relationship that I've been in for two years now. So it's great. Yeah. Good good stuff.

Arin Hancock: Good, good. so yeah, with w recording this record it sounded like band members are all over the world in different places. Was this kinda recorded through the internet then and you laid on a track and the other members laid their tracks down and everybody just kinda piles on top of it or or

Jorge Canan: That's that's right. I have a studio. I actually went out and in the beginning of this, because I'm one of those guys, I'm either all in or all out. You know what I mean? So if I was gonna do this, obviously you know how expensive it it is to go into a studio, get sessions in there, and you bring a guitar player and you know, it it'll get astronomical. So I built my own studio and and I can't tell you the tons of hours that I spent on engineering, you know, figuring out how to engineer and figuring out how to master and figuring out how to. record and getting the right equipment in the studio that I'm in now. and it took me a couple of months to figure it out, but I think I got it locked down a little bit. You know, you can always learn more. And you know,

Arin Hancock: yeah, definitely.

Jorge Canan: I have friends of mine that that are engineers, like Dan, the guy that's the does our sound and he's given me some really good tips as well. So it helps to have somebody on board where I'm saying hey Dan, listen, I'm stuck on this. What do you think I you know, what do you think I should do? And he kind of directs me in the right in the right direction there. So yeah.

Kris plamondon: How how long do you think it took you the average time for you to get a single done in out like probably a couple of months or?

Jorge Canan: I I it took me about seven months to put together a 14-song album. So about seven months, maybe even a little

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Jorge Canan: bit more. I'm probably being probably eight months to put it all together. That

Kris plamondon: And and that was out of your own pocket, right?

Jorge Canan: was out of my own pocket. Out of my own pocket. And, you know, when we when Yonya Records, Steven from Yonya Records said, You are coming with us on that, right? I'm like, yeah, why not? You know. and and so you know, they helped out a little bit there too, towards the end there. But But for me, it's it's one of those things, if I didn't do that, it it just wouldn't be feasible to go into a studio and and record these songs, you know, especially if you don't have a full band together where you have to hire a musician to do this and a drummer to do that, you have to bother people, you know, if it's friends of mine to come in and do a song. yeah, It worked out really well in in the way it came together, but I also learned a lot the past year and a half, you know, in in production, writing. And the proper way to start doing this. And and I also learned don't put 14 songs on an album. That's gonna drive you mad. You know, 10 10

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Yeah.

Jorge Canan: songs. I as you could see, like in this new direction we're gonna head in. I I can't mention anything. I I desperately want to, but I can't mention anything until probably the end of next month. But I can't tell you how many times like I I just wanted to stop while I was doing this album. I'm like, I I can't, you know, it's I I'm going, you know, I'm sleeping two, three hours a night. You know, I'm going to bed at three o'clock in the morning every night putting this album together.

Kris plamondon: Mm.

Jorge Canan: You know, and it was training. So for me, that's why I went with the EP, you know, this time just to kind of introduce the the new the new band and direction and guitar player and also the big show that we're gonna be doing next year that's all gonna tie into everything I'm saying. but ten songs is the max I'll ever put on an album, period. And even that, I'm I'm like, eight? Can we do eight? You know, so right. So that's how it's gonna be.

Kris plamondon: So as a singer, How do you take care of yourself? Because your songs

Jorge Canan: Yeah.

Kris plamondon: are pretty intense. I mean really.

Jorge Canan: They are, man. And you know, I it's funny you said that because I had a I had this kind of recall when I was doing some of these songs because especially Second Chance at Sunrise, that one song, I just hit some notes that were in in the stratosphere. And then I I remember like Sammy Hager in one of the interviews, him saying, you know, when they were doing fifty one fifty, and and they were like, Man, if I would have known how to sing these damn songs, I would have hit, you know, hi you know, I would never have gotten there, you know. And I'm like I was thinking the same thing. I'm like, why did I do that? I mean, probably because I could, but that doesn't translate into live all the time. so yeah, maybe I kind of got to tone it down a little bit sometimes because yeah, even though you can hit some of those notes and it's easier obviously when you're in a controlled environment, but if you're doing that a a lot and you're doing it live, you really gotta control that and kind of bring it back a little

Kris plamondon: That's right. If you're not careful you're you could hit one note and then you you still have another four songs to do and you're already tired.

Jorge Canan: That's correct. That that is correct. Yeah. And yeah.

Arin Hancock: Well even even John Bon Jovi was was r kinda regretting some of the stuff he recur he recorded. You know, he's listening back to you know, like Living on Prayer says And then I put that key change in at the end. Why did I do that?

Jorge Canan: I know, yeah. And and the thing is too, that's a great point. For for me, I'm stubborn because I I stay in 440. You know what I mean? I don't tune down, you know, because I just personally think, and it's funny because Sebastian Bach said that too. He was talking about that as well. And I think one of the interviews I I saw with him, that he doesn't tune down. Because when you tune down, you're in that range and the song just sounds so much better. And you tune down, it just ruins the song. You know what I mean? The song just

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

Jorge Canan: doesn't sound the same when you're singing it. in and you know, one step down. You know, it's like, it's not the s it's not quite the same impact. And I know a lot of guys have to do that. And I'm hoping that, you know, I stop singing before I do that, you know, ever, you know, 'cause I would hate to tune

Kris plamondon: Yeah, yeah.

Jorge Canan: down. I would hate to to do that, but but yeah, so that's that's it.

Arin Hancock: Right, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm like that with some of my favorite artists who've been at it for a long time. I'm like, there comes a point where you say you had a good career and it's time to quit and

Jorge Canan: Right, right, exactly. It's but for me it's like I I I never thought as I mentioned before that I would come back into music. When I walked away from music, I'm like, okay, it's over with, I'm done, and that's that's I'm I'm on to a new life. I'm racing mountain bikes now, I'm doing other things. And but like I said, I you got I got the itch and it kept telling me that I I gotta get back here and do this, you know? I just remembered that story that I was telling you about the plane, right? I gotta tell you that story. So

Arin Hancock: Okay, sure. Yeah. Go ahead, tell that one.

Jorge Canan: what I was flying, it was a short flight. And I sat in the middle seat. And I sat next to this wonderful black lady sitting there. She was reading a book, and I found out a little bit about her. We started talking and she was explaining some of the things that she had going on in her life. And, you know, there's some stuff that was unfortunate and lost and that kind of stuff. And towards the end of that, I said to her, You know, you mind if I pray for you? You know? And she said, She looked at me with her eyes like wide open. She goes, Of course, you absolutely pray for me. I need it, you know. So I sat there and I prayed for her, and then and then you know, it went on for like a a minute or so. And and after I was done, she said. You mind if I pray for you? I'm like, of course. What are you talking about? And

Arin Hancock: Wow.

Jorge Canan: let me tell you something. She was a prayer warrior. I don't know who I picked on. I mean, God told me, pray for her, but

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha.

Jorge Canan: in turn, it wasn't really for her. It was for me. You know? She

Arin Hancock: Right, right.

Jorge Canan: turned around and prayed for me for a couple of minutes. And I'm telling you, she was the biggest prayer warrior you ever want to see. And I was like, man, I needed that. You know, I didn't realize that I needed that. So I picked on the wrong person in a way, you know, but but it was the right person. But but it was the right person, not just being sarcastic, but it was you know,

Arin Hancock: Or maybe the right person.

Kris plamondon: that that's good. It's all good.

Jorge Canan: it was that was a cool story because it was fulfilling for me. she she got something out of it. And in turn, I didn't know that I was gonna get anything out of it, but I certainly got a lot out of it from her, and it was really, really nice to see.

Kris plamondon: And you know what? Sometimes praying for someone, it's not necessarily what I'm getting out of it. Right? It could

Jorge Canan: Correct.

Kris plamondon: just be that you need that moment with someone. And maybe that helped you with a song that you're doing.

Jorge Canan: Yeah, well it I didn't pick a a song from that, but I definitely picked up you know, it kind of was a confirmation for me in what I'm doing and direction I'm heading in, whether it's musically, whether it's spiritually, you know, my walk with fa in my faith was confirmed right there to me. You know what I mean? It's like, this

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Jorge Canan: is awesome, you know. So she didn't realize that she was doing more for me than I was probably doing for her, even though I think it worked both ways. But I I'm telling you, I I felt like, man, I need to work on my prayers. I mean, 'cause after hearing that, she scolded me for crying out loud. You know what I mean? It's like, what happened? You know. But it was great. It was all good fun and we laughed about it and and that kind of thing. And I was so glad to meet her. It was really, really nice to to sit in that middle seat that I never sit in. So

Arin Hancock: Yeah, it's always great when to unexpectedly meet a brother or sister in the family or or whatever. You go, hey, how you doing? you know.

Jorge Canan: That's right. Absolutely. That's right, man. And I was mentioning to you guys too. we're going to the Monsters of Rock cruise next year. It's my first rock cruise. And and the cool thing is this guy Izzy, which is friends with my bass player always does, they do like a jam session there. And I hopefully we'll we'll be able to do a jam session there on that cruise as well. I think extreme is going there. I open for extreme, believe it or not, I open for extreme. Back in the day, in Boston. Gosh, it

Arin Hancock: Okay, yeah.

Jorge Canan: and I remember that was the first time I got a chance to meet Nuno and and

Arin Hancock: Wow.

Jorge Canan: the guys in the band And that guy is just phenomenal. He was phenomenal then. And and and and now it's like he's exploded. You know what I mean? He's like he he's an icon.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. We were we were just on another podcast or the To Hell with the Podcast, who is usually talks about Stryper all the time

Jorge Canan: Right.

Arin Hancock: and have now sidetracked a little bit and decided they wanted to talk about the last Extreme Record six and we joined for that. I've been

Jorge Canan: Yeah, that's awesome.

Arin Hancock: I've been an extreme fan since I heard Pornograffiti and first song I heard off that was Decadence Dance and I'm like, This is great yeah.

Jorge Canan: Dance, yeah, dance is awesome. I have another story about like when how we opened up for for poison. So

Arin Hancock: Sure. Yeah. I loved you here.

Jorge Canan: yeah, we so I I left Raze at that point, it was like late 80s, or was it early 90s actually. And we started a band, called Toy Cannon, brought in guys that I used to know from just, playing in Battle of the Bands kind of stuff, you know, back in the day. And brought in Mark Christopher, the guitar player and Bobby August and Mike Aldi. he was the drummer, Mike Aldi, and Bobby August was the bass player. And we got together writing really good songs, putting really good songs together. And we hadn't done any shows yet, we weren't ready. And we entered a contest. It was on Z100, Adam Curry from MTV. You guys remember Adam Curry from MTV, I'm sure. he was the DJ there on on Z100. So I think they had thousands and thousands of entries on the East Coast, you know, for this particular contest that they were running to open up for poison. And we submitted, we're like, you we're not ready, but we'll we'll submit it, you know, whatever. What are the chances of us getting picked? So I'm driving to work on that one Friday. And in the morning they were making the announcement that morning. So I'm listening to it before I get to work. and I hear them, okay, making an announcement for in third place. They mentioned the name of the band, you know, and and then they went on and into second place, this band, whatever that band was. And then they went, and for first in first place, I'm like, what are the chances of that happening? Right. I'm driving. Toy Cannon, you're gonna be opening up for poison. And I'm like, driving off the road, I'm like off on his shoulder. I'm like, what the hell just happened? You know, how did they just pick us, you know, out of the thousands of bands that enter this thing? And I think it wound up being like 6,000 bands or something, if I'm not mistaken,

Arin Hancock: Well

Jorge Canan: entered that particular contest. And and then in the same breath, he goes, You better be ready because you're gonna open up for them this Monday night. And it's Friday. And I'm like, Are we ready? Are we ready? It's like, so that was our first show opening up for

Arin Hancock: Wow.

Jorge Canan: poison. At the Academy Theater in New York City. It was fantastic. It's like 5,000 people there. and the thing was is they were playing a song, and you can look it up on YouTube for Toy Canan called Forever One. And that song they were playing it on the radio all weekend and people were calling in for that song. They were like, Who's this? You know, it's great. And but anyway, we went and opened up for Poison. Everything went fantastic. It was really cool because I remember being on stage and you know, back in the day, you know, they didn't have the cell phones, it was really lighters, you know. And we started a song Forever One was a ballad. And I actually saw all the lighters came on and people were singing our song, Forever One. Just from hearing it on the radio.

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Jorge Canan: And I'm like, nobody knows who we are. Nobody knows that. So how is this even possible? You know? So it was.

Kris plamondon: That had to be a moment. That had to be a moment for you.

Jorge Canan: I I'm surprised I didn't lose my words or my thoughts, you know what I mean? It was just like I was I was I'm still remembering that day. Yeah, that's yeah, it's like what

Kris plamondon: That's me That's me

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha.

Jorge Canan: the heck? And you'll see part of that video for everyone. You can look it for Toy Canan for everyone. It part of that footage that's there, it's us playing on that, you know, stage too. You'll see us in the background playing. from

Kris plamondon: W do you think that was the moment for you that you said, This is what I'm this is what I'm doing?

Jorge Canan: No, I think before that I knew that I was gonna do something with music at that moment, you know, before we got to Poison. We we got together, you know, with Toy Cannon to really take it to the next level, you know. because I I remember us playing at Close Encounters, and I think it took off from there. we played at Close Encounters, and it was a band called Zyrus playing there. They had a manager, his name was Peter J. And I'll mention his name now because You know, it there's some relevance there. And one night, I guess Ozzy Osbourne came in and and his wife, and guess who the guitar player was for the Zyrus band we used to play with? Zach Wilde.

Arin Hancock: Wow.

Jorge Canan: Zach Wilde. So they took Zach Wilde, you know, from Zyrus and Peter J became our manager for Toy Cannon. And so that was a pretty cool story there too, you know. So it's funny, we have a lot of little stories like that where, you know, you almost did this or you almost did that. another cool story was since we're on the story thing, we we there was a studio called Bear Track Studios. I think it was EMI Records. the house producer for EMI Records was Doug Oberkirker, and he loved us our music so much that he said, Let me, we're gonna go this weekend to Bear Track Studios. I think it was owned by Spyro Gyro or something like that. And we're gonna spend, you know, a couple days in there. We're gonna We're gonna blast out these songs and get them to I'll get him to the studio there. He was the house producer for the label. And you know, it took a little longer than we thought, but we got it done. And when he did finally get it to the label, they said to him, Dougie, why didn't you get this stuff to us earlier? We just signed Firehouse, you know?

Arin Hancock: no.

Jorge Canan: And we're like, so it's one of those moments where you're like, you're dealing with the right people, just the wrong timing, you know? So we've had a lot of moments. I've had a lot of moments like that. You know, yeah, where I

Kris plamondon: Wow. Huh.

Arin Hancock: Well that goes back to some something y you said earlier, right at at the very start of the this whole in interview. you know, playing in in in the clubs, playing that whole eighties scene and then

Jorge Canan: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: guess what? The nineties hit. You know. And you know what?

Jorge Canan: The nineties hit and that was that was kind of it, man, you know.

Arin Hancock: I think a lot of us tuned out the music when the nineties hit too, so

Jorge Canan: Yeah. Well, you know what? I'll be honest though, I didn't care for it either. And that was one of the motivations too for me. It's like, we're going grunge. But I s I wound up after a while really liking some of the bands, Soundgardens and that kind stuff. I I really wound up appreciating the music more later on, not when it was happening. Like, you know, Pearl Drams, Nirvana's and so on and so forth. But I didn't appreciate that until much later, which I'm kind of grateful that they came out too, you know. It really kind of left the 80s behind for sure, you know, that's just the transition of music. That's just the way things are, I'm hoping to kind of bring back some of the old eighties and nineties music to c you know, I'm I'm trying my best to to not only connect people to Christ through my music with with you know that that has a purpose in my opinion, and and also kind of hopefully inspire some young people. and even musicians in general to start writing again. Be creative. Come out with music. We haven't had good bands come out in I don't even know how many years. Where was the last time you saw Van Halen? Or was the last time you saw a Def Leppard or an Aerosmith?

Kris plamondon: yeah.

Jorge Canan: it's like it hasn't happened, you know. And I think a lot of musicians, and this is not the big my some of my great friends are in cover bands and in including my ex-members, in in tribute bands, but to me, it's like I think we have just lost touch of creativity coming in, writing a song, and being inspired about wow, check out this hook. That is so good, you know. people have just kind of gave up on it. And you were back in the day, we as musicians and bands, we had so much inspiration. You know what I mean? Everywhere you looked, you saw a band. You know, I used to play out on the weekends and with six bands. You know what I mean? There were so many bands and And there were so many bands to choose from, you know, whether you're, in rock or heavy metal or, other genres, there were so many, so much music for inspiration. The kids today don't have any inspiration other than the stuff we listen to, right?

Arin Hancock: Yeah, I th well I think part of it too was the scene has shifted too. That

Jorge Canan: Mm-hmm.

Arin Hancock: well especially with the in the internet, I think I diluted and I was just reading this article about how no one is set in one

Jorge Canan: Mm.

Arin Hancock: genre anymore. And maybe that's a good thing. That yeah, I think they were trying to say that that allows artists to not pigeonhole themselves in a genre and to create whatever they want to create, which

Jorge Canan: Of course.

Arin Hancock: can be a good thing, but I think it waters it down. Like, you know, back in the eighties, nineties, e early two thousands, he had the the scene that was set and and people, you know, followed that. I mean, not everybody followed the same scene. But, you know, and then

Jorge Canan: Right. That's true. That is true.

Arin Hancock: we had we when we did have one one guest on here one time who was doing his own thing, got out

Jorge Canan: Mm-hmm.

Arin Hancock: of doing tribute band, and he was struggling to to promote his own thing, but he said, you know, his friends from the old scene they were always asking me, why don't you come back? He 'cause he could make more money doing the tribute band than he could on, doing the original stuff. But he wanted to get the message out and wanted to do the original stuff and you know same so the same thing,

Jorge Canan: Yeah. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: but it's just the fact that I think a lot of people have lost interest in original music. Now, yes, there is a

Jorge Canan: Great.

Arin Hancock: group of people out there looking for it, but it's not as big as it used to be.

Jorge Canan: Absolutely. And and you know, it's a lot of older folks too that are, you know, kind of wanting to reminisce about the old music and they love hearing that. But what happens to the younger generation when that goes away, right? If we don't

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

Jorge Canan: plant a seed now, you know? Yeah.

Kris plamondon: So in in in New Jersey there, Jorge, are I don't know if you're in in church or not, but are they are they supportive of what you do? Like would they call you up, say, We're having a youth rally next week, can you get your guys come in and do a show?

Jorge Canan: Well, they know I'm still kind of working out and trying to get other bands, other musicians, I should say. but they're very supportive. My C D. I threw a bunch of CDs at the church, you know, to give to people and everything else. So they were and they announced about it. It was really, really pretty cool. So they're very supportive of me, you know, for sure. and they they just say, keep doing it, take it to the stars, do what you have to do, get the word out, so I have a very supportive team at Life Gate, where it's the church where I go. and

Kris plamondon: that's awesome

Jorge Canan: Yeah, it's so cool, man. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by people that care and really genuinely want to see this project really just go, you know, because I'm trying to inspire people too. I'm trying to j not just inspire people to get into Christ, but also inspire people to get that creative edge back, you know, because I knew so many musicians that were so creative, that great writers and they just great players. And I'm not saying that. They settled because that's what they want to do. You know, everybody changes and everybody does what they want to do. But just being, just being creative and trying to inspire other people and your creativity, I think is what I had growing up. You know what I mean? I had many people to look up to that were inspiring me to do what I had, what I was I remember sitting there watching a journey concert, I must have been 10, 11 years old. And I and watching Steve Perry on stage singing. I'm like, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna do that. You know,

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Jorge Canan: I'm gonna do that. A couple of years later I did that, you know. So he inspired me a lot. My first concert was the Cars. I think I saw the Cars. That was my first concert.

Arin Hancock: Okay. So w was Journey during that that moment where you go, That's what I'm gonna do?

Jorge Canan: That's what I'm gonna do. When I was at that concert, I remember I remember the hairs of my neck just kinda standing up, listening to that guy sing, you know? I was like, Wow.

Arin Hancock: 'Cause yeah, that's one of the questions I like to ask is, you know,

Jorge Canan: I was like, Wow.

Arin Hancock: yeah, that's one of the questions I like to ask is, you know, e every musician has that wow moment where they go, click, that's what I'm gonna do no matter what.

Jorge Canan: That was moment at that concert.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, nobody saying no.

Arin Hancock: you know

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: f

Jorge Canan: That was my moment

Arin Hancock: And

Jorge Canan: at that concert.

Kris plamondon: nobody saying Yeah.

Arin Hancock: you know f

Jorge Canan: That was I think it was at Madison Square Garden,

Arin Hancock: yeah, for those who are okay.

Jorge Canan: that I saw them and that was in his heyday. You know, I mean, he

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

Jorge Canan: was ripping, man. Like, you know, and everybody was just sitting there watching with their jaw, like, you know, because Journey was Journey, right? Back in their heyday. And to just to hear that guy sing, I mean, he was I mean, I I I still to this day I don't think I've seen anybody live like that. Like I remember

Arin Hancock: Right.

Jorge Canan: as a kid, you know. he was just an amazing

Kris plamondon: So what

Jorge Canan: inspiration.

Kris plamondon: So when you write do you write about your experiences, your what happened last week, your tr you know, what happened twenty five years ago. How do you

Jorge Canan: Exactly.

Kris plamondon: think you song right?

Jorge Canan: Yeah. So you like I have a song on on the Jorge Cannon album called You Shattered the Night. Right. That and you if you see the video on YouTube, you'll see the guy in there, in that video, that it looks almost exactly like what I I tried to replay that scene at the beach. What happened there in that video? And that's all about that experience, you know, how I came to Christ through and his name was Christopher, believe it or not. And w the relevance there, and I didn't think about it at the time, but what's in front of that name? Christ.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, yeah.

Jorge Canan: Right? I never put two and two together until much later on when he introduced himself. His name was Christopher. And when I look back, I'm like, well, that's an odd thing. I mean, this guy disappears into thin air, you know, literally disappeared in the thin air. And other people were there and they saw it and they were every we didn't talk for 30 minutes after that. And You know, and then I remember Eddie saying something, and he wasn't a very religious person, but he said, Man, I think God has something stu in store for you, you know. And and here I am, you know, pushing Christian music and kind of going that way. But your answer to like inspiration and writing, usually if I'm working with great musicians, you know, especially a good guitar player that can write really good melodic riffs, like you know, the three that I've bro worked with, especially working with Pee-wee, he's amazing. in Argentina. I mean, the guy is just, we have this one song that's gonna be the title song. Again, I wish I could say it. but I will be announcing it. But some of the work he's done on that song is amazing. It's just an amazing title track. And we'll be doing, I guess I could say this when we do this show, we'll be shooting a video for that title track as well. Early in the day, we'll be we'll

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Jorge Canan: we're gonna invite like a hundred or 150 people pre-registered. To come in and be part of that live video shoot that we're gonna do. And then the show will be that evening with bands yet to be announced. and I'll be one of them. and yeah, so we're putting all this all together with the Onion Records. it's gonna be it's gonna be a blast. And it's gonna be somewhere where I did play back in the day. I'll say that. So

Kris plamondon: Is that video out already or is it about to be a couple of months down the road?

Jorge Canan: It's a couple months down the road. Yeah. That that video

Kris plamondon: Awesome.

Jorge Canan: the video shoot will happen during that show and the E P release will happen during that show as well.

Kris plamondon: Well once it out once it's out, you could send them to us. I'd like to see that. That'd be awesome.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Yeah, we'll look

Jorge Canan: Yes, of course. Of course.

Arin Hancock: forward to that. Definitely sounds in interesting.

Jorge Canan: And and that show is also going to be pre-recorded live. It's not going be live. it's going to be pre-recorded for live. We'll also be posting it live as well. But but the the album will be, you know, available. The the EP will be available in whatever formats, digital formats as well. So we'll definitely let you know what's going on there. But I felt that that was a really good way to kind of introduce where the evolution of you know Jorge Cannon. And I do have a video also on YouTube. That's called evolution. I took it back from if you watch that all the way through, where when it was with with Raze and coming into Toy Cannon and then where Jorge Cannon is today, you know, with with the Jorge Cannon project and how it's gonna evolve into what's what it is next, the next phase of this. So very excited. Very excited, man.

Arin Hancock: Sounds good. I I see a gu guitar behind you. So do you play guitar as well as sing?

Jorge Canan: I play when I when I tell people I play guitar, I play guitar, but I see guitar players and I'm like, I'm not even gonna try to be that, you know? I

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha.

Kris plamondon: Ha.

Jorge Canan: I use it, you know, ma mainly for melody, just to kinda get good melody structure down. especially if like for instance, I'm working with Pee-wee, he'll show me a chord structure and and then he'll show me what it is and then I'll play with it as well. 'Cause it helps me it helps me figure out it helps me figure out like the direction of melody that where I want to take it. and that's ki it's been working. It's been working for me. So but usually without a good guitar player, that's why that was so important to me. Without working with good guitar players, it's hard for me to write, you know. because you know, I need inspiration too from from you know good chord structures, you know, and and a in a and a killer riff, you know, that just gets my juices going. and so I'm I'm very dependent on working with other musicians to write, you know, which is It's been hard because in putting something like this this together, when you don't have a full band, you have to rely on working with some other people to get your inspirations in, you know, to put these songs together. That's why sleepless nights happen for about seven or eight months. Probably more like eight months. Yeah. So but

Arin Hancock: Well

Jorge Canan: it's it's a good thing, man, for sure.

Arin Hancock: And you mentioned what Steve Perry of Journey and and watching him way back. Who are some of the other influences vocal wise or or music wise that you go these are the guys that you work in I love Def Leppard

Jorge Canan: You know, I'm a I'm a big Def Leppard fan, man. I don't about you guys, but I love Def Leppard, man. I've seen him I've seen him a good amount of times. And I c I think two years ago I saw them with Motley Crue and gosh, I can't it slipped in my mind. Journey. I think it was Journey too, with the the the new singer. But I I think Def Leppard has written some unbelievable songs in their career, you know? they're they're their song lists are unbelievable. You know what I mean? Terms of they got hits on there all over the place. You know what I mean? So I think they're underrated in terms of their songwriting. You know what I mean? And and the good songs that they have. so for me, all dating all the way back to like Rock of Ages and all that stuff. I mean, they they're just I I think to me, they were a big inspiration when I started singing for sure. You know, Journey was, there's no doubt, but I would say Def Leopard was definitely right, right there as well. And you know, and Michael Sweet, I used to, you know, and that's when I was older. but you know, I I loved I loved his his range. I loved what he used to do with his voice and what he's still doing with his voice, you know. It's 'cause I'm in that similar

Kris plamondon: legends.

Jorge Canan: range, you know, so yeah.

Kris plamondon: What I like to ask artists when we talk to them, when you're on stage, what do you think your your three favorite songs to sing that are yours? That when you look

Jorge Canan: gosh.

Kris plamondon: at the playlist and you s you say, Yes, I get to sing this again.

Jorge Canan: Well,

Arin Hancock: Well, he gets a picture playlist.

Jorge Canan: I I've had people ask me that. you know, coming back into the Zoo Project, I don't have a lot of shows line or you know, live yet. there will be. But the the one we did the one live and then we did an interview immediately after that just to kind of showcase who Jorge Cannon is. you know, the song You Want It All, it's making rotation now on radio stations and it got a lot of play and and good and some pretty good recognition. that one I I think is probably one of my best. And and the and the funny thing about that song is initially I was gonna put 13 songs on the album. And the reason why I was gonna put 13 songs on the album, I remember I remember telling Steven this from the label. I'm like, I'm gonna go 13 songs. Yeah, but isn't that a bad luck number? No, that's the reason why I'm gonna go 13 songs to prove to people 13 isn't a bad luck number. It's just a damn number, you

Kris plamondon: Mm.

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

Jorge Canan: know? And then along comes like, you know, we we had some other songs, still have some other songs that we put together, melody stuff. And I'm like, we finished like you want it all after I handed the songs into him. And then I remember making that call to Steven. I'm like, Steven, you know, do we have time to put one more song in that album? But he goes, I thought you had 13 songs because you wanted to prove that that's, you know, not a bad maybe it is a bad luck number. Maybe I do have to put 14 songs on the album. And that

Arin Hancock: Mm-hmm.

Jorge Canan: song that almost didn't make it in is like the most played now. You know what I mean?

Arin Hancock: Well.

Jorge Canan: And the most requested there. So it's funny how things work.

Kris plamondon: Hey, how do you

Jorge Canan: Yeah.

Kris plamondon: how do you decide which songs you write to go on the album?

Jorge Canan: if you can finish them. You know what I mean? Because

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha.

Jorge Canan: you get a lot of ideas. I believe me, I've gone, and I think I said this before. I've gone to bed, you know, with with, you know, after a session or whatever, because there's been many night sessions with with the guitar players and stuff. And I've got, man, that was a good hook. This is gonna be really good. And I'm saying it to myself and going. Then I wake up the next day and I get back into it. And I'm like, maybe this isn't that good. You know what I mean? So what

Arin Hancock: Yeah, yeah.

Jorge Canan: you think is really good sometimes when you're first kind of getting into something. winds up when you really have a second look at it. If I can wake up the next day and I can hear it again and I'm equally as excited, then I know that's gonna be good. But if I'm not equally as excited, then it probably wasn't that good. You know what mean? And

Kris plamondon: That makes sense.

Jorge Canan: I've had a lot of that kind of melody thing going on, you know, where I'm like, no, that's not, you know, maybe it was good, but maybe it could be good in the future for but just the structure that we were trying to fit it into just wasn't working. so I think everybody goes through that, you know. And There was a little period too that we went into some kind of block too. We just couldn't get something happening for the next song. and then along he comes with with some good riffs, and then, you know, those things always fall into place, melody wise, you know. but the the thing is with my songs too, they're kind of very anthemy, you know. and there's a lot of harmony in in some of the songs. So it's very important. and this is why the guitar player is flying out here, you know, like two months before this show, because there's a lot of work that we need to do there, even though he knows the songs and the other guys are learning the songs. but there's a lot of harmony structure in there too that really embellishes the song, makes it come to life. because you know, you can't just have like an anthem song where where you don't have any harmony or anything that's gonna make it, you know, that build up, you know. So that that to me is very important to have that as well. So we're we're trying to kind of get that put together.

Kris plamondon: Well I'm glad you don't have Harmony like the backstreet boys. That's all I care about.

Jorge Canan: No man, we're not doing that. But you know, we don't mind opening for them if they're still if they're still out there.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Jorge Canan: I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But no, yeah, man.

Kris plamondon: I I I think if if artists could do backstream boys with metal, that would be awesome.

Jorge Canan: Could you imagine? That that that's pretty interesting. That's pretty interesting. I always liked, you know what? Don't make fun of me, but I always liked Boys to what is it? Boys to Men. You remember those guys? Boys to Men, they they were awesome, man. and yeah,

Kris plamondon: No.

Arin Hancock: I remember them, not that I listened to but

Jorge Canan: it's you guys should should should look up. They they had really good songs. And

Kris plamondon: What is it?

Jorge Canan: believe it or not, I actually liked some of the old rap from the late 80s, like the eighties rap. The, you know, the like the super rhyme stuff. That stuff was actually pretty cool. You know, you remember when Aerosmith, you know, Stephen Tyler got involved and he was doing the, you know, working with the rap guys as well. Yeah, yeah, rub

Arin Hancock: That run yeah, the Aerosmith run DMC collab, yeah.

Jorge Canan: the FC and I mean that that was it was really cool back then and then rap just went, you know, off into like a unknown kind of direction.

Kris plamondon: I'm still waiting for the Christian band that sounds like Motley Crude, but without the crude lyrics. I mean, but musically, you know.

Arin Hancock: I think that would be Stryper. Kris

Jorge Canan: That's right. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: I Kris, I think that would be Stryper.

Jorge Canan: Yeah, you know, it yeah, it's still Stryper, right? But you know, I'm I'm hoping that my music will kind of be that way because you know, my music is gonna have live a really strong backbone, heavy backbone, good melody, good singing structure. So I'm hoping that we can pull that off too. You know, because I'm a big Motley Crew fan too. I remember going to see them back in the day too. I remember seeing Metallica. I still remember seeing Metallica at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

Arin Hancock: We're talking about great wholesale music, great music, you know, and great lyrics. One question we'd like to ask people too is especially nowadays with technology coming out, and you as an artist, what do you think with all this AI music that's being created?

Jorge Canan: You know, I I'm hearing a lot about like people using it for production, you know, getting production tools, you know, in there to get guitar parts or get violin parts and that kind of stuff and do it do the structure. As a matter of fact, my guitar player from California, He was on a session with me one time and he brought up because he had gotten that as well to one of the platforms and he was like, I wrote this song and this girl sang the song, but I needed some parts. Because I I can't get musicians either. And he got his song in there and he got drums in there for his song and he got something else in there for his song and made it sound really good, you know. But then, you could take it to the studio and then get real players, you know what I mean? But he's an amazing guitar player and songwriter too. and I remember back in Raze that he wrote most of the songs But, I think, you know, there's a lot of garbage probably going up there, you know what I mean, in terms of Spotify's. You know, I'm hearing all the time that people are just getting outputting songs in these platforms and uploading them to Spotify. And I don't know how they don't control that. They should control that, right? you you should be an original authentic singer, or you know, an authentic song. It should be your material, your lyrics, right? In my opinion. But I guess at some point I'm sure they'll crack down on that too, you know. And as they should. I mean, if somebody's putting stuff up that they just c exclusively took off a platform. And they're not they're not even a singer, they're not even a player, they're just kind of putting songs up there for whatever reason. And I saw something online too, or was it in the news, where one of the top songs, that they went to like top like number one on a billboard or something. And they were like a fake band. It wasn't even a real band. one

Arin Hancock: Wow.

Jorge Canan: was a girl band and one was like a a country, I don't know, something like that. I don't remember, but I did see it, where they went to to the top of the charts. And it was a it was a fake band. It wasn't even you know, real guys or real girl.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Yeah.

Jorge Canan: You know, how does that happen? Like, you know what I mean? It's like, you know, I got accused, believe it or not, in the beginning. when I get it came out and said, you know, and we we put out some of the songs because I wanted to tease people every month. So, you know, folks knew what the album was gonna sound like. So I put actually six songs out before the album even came out, you know. And nobody knew who I was, you know, and they're like, that's not a real band, that's not a real singer, that's that's just AI. And then somebody came on to the that string. I remember it was pretty funny. And he said, No, listen, he signed a deal with Yonian Records with Toy Cannon. This is a real singer from here. And he said, That's that's not AI. And then the other guy never came back. You know, he made this

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha.

Jorge Canan: comment, but then he's like, that's not real, and then he just took off and he came back. And that was one of the reasons why we wanted to do a live early on. We did a live an interview and and a live for You Won It All. you know, we got together and did that a live stream. because we wanted people to see, hey, there's a there's a band behind this, there's a singer behind this, there's music behind this. And after that, it's just, you know, there was no comments. But when you get into social media, you gotta expect anything and everything. You know, we get we get some things that are, you know, we have a no nonsense policy with our social media girl. She's amazing. She's actually in Barcelona, Spain. She she's fantastic. And kudos to her because she built up our platforms to get to a point where it's fan fantastic. But if she sees anybody that comes on there, you know, Christianity is always on the chopping block with some people, you know. Not with everybody, of course, but some people don't have nice things to say. And it hasn't happened often, but when that happens, we don't want to hear it. You know what I mean? We're like, go play somewhere else, you know, that you're not playing it, you're not playing

Arin Hancock: Right.

Jorge Canan: in this ballpark. You can go somewhere else and play, you know. So so we we have a no nonsense policy. If anybody comes out there and starts talking stuff to our people or bad comments, we just kick them out. We don't sit there and argue with them and say anything. But for the most part, we've had some really, really good responses and we have really, you know, we're trying to build a good community. and that's all I care about. You know, I'm doing this for the glory of God. I'm not doing it for me. If I don't get on a big stage again, well, you know, that's it is what it is, you know. I'll do ministering, I'll do something else. Maybe I'll become a pastor in the future. I have no idea, you know. But

Kris plamondon: You you definitely have that persona to be to for that.

Jorge Canan: Right. I I don't I don't mind doing it. I would love to. I told my girlfriend the same thing. I'm like, you know, maybe in the future I'll become a pastor and I'll I'll minister people, you know?

Kris plamondon: So Jorge, if there was someone out there and they were listening to this interview and they were saying why Jesus if you could look in her screen in your screen there and give them a minute of info on Jesus and why they should.

Jorge Canan: Right. Yeah. I mean, I would first start by saying, like, Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Through Jesus, all things are possible. Right. I don't care what kind of problem somebody's going through, whether it's a mental breakdown, whether it's depression, you know, it could be anything, anxiety that, you know, you see so many people with that kind of stuff going on today. the answer to your or I should say the solution to your problem is in that Bible. Anything that you may have going on in your life, pick up that book, read that book. You're gonna find a passage in there that's gonna talk to you. So for me, it's one of those things where I try to bring people to Christ because I want them to feel what I'm feeling. I'm not trying to tell them or sell them a book or sell them even an album. I'm trying to sell them salvation, you know, because we're all lost, we're all sinners, we're all, you know, God died on that cross for all of our sins, right? And and rose from the grave three days later to be with our Heavenly Father. And I'm telling you, you know, I've never thought like this. The way I think today is I never thought I would be here, doing what I'm doing. it it's only because of the Holy Spirit was instilled in me. And I know that God has put it in me to go out there, preach to others, show the other people that the the only way to salvation is really through Christ, And I know there's other religions out there that people follow, and you know, and there's a lot of false religions, out there, but you know, the only way to our heavenly father is through Jesus Christ. And that's the end of the story. There's no other story there, you know? So that's what I try to tell people. I try to be as polite as possible with it, and I tried to be inclusive with it. But, you know, when it comes to telling the story of Christ, remember they didn't like him when he came down, right? They they they even said that you know they hated me first before they hated you, right? So if I'm telling the truth and somebody hates me for it, I must be doing something right because you know there's either some demonic forces holding on to that person or you know, if they're fighting it, there's there's there's always a way out. And I always try to tell people and encourage people that only through Christ will you be able to be saved. And please follow me, do what you need to do. If you want to talk to me one on one. I'll be more than glad to tell you my story and more than glad to help you out. That's that's who I am. So yeah.

Arin Hancock: Wow, that's great. yeah.

Jorge Canan: Yeah, but

Arin Hancock: This has been a great conversation. we could probably could go probably could go on for hours just

Jorge Canan: Absolutely. Yeah, we probably could, 'cause I could talk forever, man. One thing you'll learn about me, you get me talking, I'm not gonna stop. So

Arin Hancock: But yeah, for coming

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that was great.

Arin Hancock: so thanks for coming

Kris plamondon: great.

Arin Hancock: on the program. We enjoyed having you. And

Jorge Canan: Thank you guys.

Arin Hancock: I think we'll leave it at that. So this has been the Rock N Metal Faith Podcast. Keep on listening, keep on rocking and

Kris plamondon: See you later.

Arin Hancock: God bless everybody.

Jorge Canan: See you later, guys. Youre-listening-to for Rock and Metal Faith podcast. That's where you wanna be. That's it.

Kris plamondon: Yes, he said it right. Awesome.

Arin Hancock: All right, thanks.

Jorge Canan: That's it. That's where you wanna be. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you. Bye.