Dion Roy

New York singer/songwriter Dion Roy was in town on October 3rd as the supporting act to Tyler Hilton at Il Motore.

His brand new album “Into the Day” was released on April 29th and is available to purchase on iTunes everywhere.

CONFRONT: Is this your first time in Montreal?

DION ROY: No. We didn’t play here last tour but the first show I ever played as a musician was in Montreal. I’m from New York but I was so nervous, I didn’t want to play in the States, so I did a road trip with a buddy of mine. We came here to Montreal and then to Ottawa.

CONFRONT: Do you remember where you played?

DION ROY:  I wish I knew where it was. It was a little dingy basement place and they had an open mic. They gave me three songs instead of two and that was the first place I played. I have to find the name. I’m sure I can dig it up somewhere in my e-mails. I was that nervous to play and I just had to get out of the country.

CONFRONT: It’s smart to pick Montreal as your first place to play!

DION ROY: Yeah! I’m back and glad to be back. It’s my first time being back in the city since that first experience.

CONFRONT: That crowds here get pretty pumped up.

DION ROY: Yeah! Toronto and Ottawa have been crazy; they were both sold out as well. It’s been pretty neat.

CONFRONT: How’s the tour been so far? I know you’ve been on the road for quite some time now…

DION ROY: It’s been fun. Tyler is a great tour buddy so it’s good when you’re friends with the people you tour with. It’s been awesome seeing different cities and trying different foods.

CONFRONT: Is there any food you’ve tried in the different cities that you’ve really enjoyed?

DION ROY: I did Montreal smoked meat poutine.

CONFRONT: You doubled what we’re known for!

DION ROY: *laughs* I doubled it and just went for it. That was pretty amazing. It probably wasn’t good for me but it tasted great.

CONFRONT: Have you had a favorite memory on this tour so far? Something that has stuck out in your mind?

DION ROY: On this tour? We bought spider-man and iron man masks as well as a pig nose at Wal Mart so we’ve kind of been acting like idiots the whole time. My favorite moment so far was going into Ottawa airport with our masks on.

CONFRONT: Do you wear the pig nose on top of the masks?

DION ROY: I have! It’s happened. *laughs* We’re in the car all the time so we have to keep ourselves entertained or else we lose our minds. It’s a lot of travelling.

CONFRONT: Have you been to Europe yet?

DION ROY: We’re going in two weeks. I’ve never played so this is all kind of new to me.  I’m excited. I’m seeing all these bucket list countries. I’ve been to London before and Paris but I’ve never played.

CONFRONT: Is there a place that you’re particularly excited to visit?

DION ROY: I think Belgium or Berlin. I hear all this awesome stuff about these places and I’m like “Cool. I get to hang out there for one day and play a show.”

CONFRONT: At least you can say you visited it, even if it’s just for a day!

DION ROY: Yeah it’s a step above saying I visited it but had to stay at the airport. We pack our days though. We get a hotel, we drive to the venue, we have food and then usually we’ll get 24 hours. We’ll see tons of stuff because normally we’ll be stuck getting lost in our car while trying to find the venue.

CONFRONT: Is music what you always wanted to pursue or did you have any other career aspirations growing up?

DION ROY:  Since I was sixteen years old I was always involved in music. I wound up doing a little bit of everything. I’ve done music production, where I would record other people. It’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do.

CONFRONT: What have you learned since you wrote yo

ur first EP to now?

DION ROY: That you should just record whatever you want and not record for any particular genre or person or to keep anybody happy. It’s the music business and it’s so fickle and you might as well be doing what you want to do and play what you want to play. If you really want to do it it’s going to be night after night after miserable night after awesome night.  It’s a whole rollercoaster and you better love what you’re playing. Fans know it too. When you write something that’s not in your voice you might play it well but fans know. They can tell when it’s not your music or your vibe.

CONFRONT: Do you have a process when you write your albums? Do you get inspiration from anywhere?

DION ROY: It’s all different. In my phone I keep voice memos and I’ll be walking down the street and I’ll sing a melody and go “That’s cool” and then I’ll record it. I might say something or hear something and I’d think to myself that it might be a good song. I have hundreds of ideas and sometimes I finish them. Most of the time I finish them quickly but usually it’s me picking through a bunch of stuff.  I have A.D.D with music writing.

CONFRONT:  What’s one song that you’re most proud of?

DION ROY: I have a song called “Daughter” which I wrote for my daughter. That’s the one I’m most proud of. That’s why I mentioned before that fans know when you’re being true. That’s a song people connect with. I didn’t expect that. I wrote it for me and I pulled it out one night on this tour. I didn’t expect to be playing it but I just wanted to play it for fun and it’s been a part of my set ever since. I’m proud of that one.

CONFRONT: How would you describe your live shows?

DION ROY: It’s usually me and an acoustic guitar. They’re going to get taken on a fast motion dialogue of my life. I tend to start off with songs about girls who broke my heart and then it progresses to me finding somebody. You can figure out my entire life from the beginning of my set to the end of it.

CONFRONT: What’s one thing fans may not know about you?

DION ROY: I’m South African. I love tacos. I’m a computer nerd. I love playing computer games. They might know this about me.

CONFRONT: Do you have a favorite computer game?

DION ROY: What have I been playing? I just beat Diablo 3. I’m not a World of Warcraft person. I don’t have time for that. I wish I did. That’s one thing I miss from before I started touring. We had Call of Duty on the tour bus once and it was every night from 11pm to 3am. We would drive over night and that’s all we would do. Tyler sucks at it. You should ask him about that. What else don’t fans know?

CONFRONT: You’re an open book?

DION ROY: Pretty much. With this last album “Into the Day” I was keeping my personal life separate but I figured why not? So I put out “Into the Day” which is where the album name comes from. You can figure out my entire life from it.

CONFRONT: Where do you hope to see yourself 10 years down the road?

DION ROY: On an island with a drink with an umbrella in it probably. I don’t know if I can keep touring forever. Not touring like this. I would love to be somewhere touring every now and then but mostly on a beach chilling out and writing.

CONFRONT: So you still want music to be a part of your life?

DION ROY: Yeah always! I would just like to be hanging out at home more.

CONFRONT: Perfect. Thank you!

DION ROY: Thanks!

To learn more about Dion Roy click on the links below:

Website: http://dionroy.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dionroymusic

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DionRoy