Working With Childish Gambino, New Balance, and Jessie Reyez?!
Recapping 2022, the wildest year yet for Rare Americans, through the eyes of Jamesy Boy himself
It’s 2023 already? Wild. It’s fun to look back on a year and see everything you did. That’s what’s so great about iPhones, the notes and photos apps where you can re-live your year. I took a ride down the last 12 months for my own reflection and figured I would let you guys into it as well. Sometimes I give myself no credit for anything, I’m very much a “whats up next?” type of person, but that’s something I’m working on. Having gratitude for myself, being proud of what I’ve accomplished, and celebrating the little wins. So here’s a look back at 2022.
A Brand New Year - Part 7 - July/August 2022
READ THE FULL SERIES
July/August 2022 (Childish Gambino, New Balance, and Jessie Reyez)
November/December 2022 (Finding Myself Deep in the Costa Rican Jungle)
JULY
Michele and I flew directly from Europe to Toronto for the opening of Crooked City Studios. Crooked City Studios is our animation company, a partnership between RA and what was formerly Solis Animation. They have animated all of our videos besides Cats, Dogs and Rats. Similar to RA, Solis is a family business made up of 3 siblings. We really loved working with them so we proposed starting a new joint venture together, focusing on original IP. We currently have a mini-series in the works (Brittle Bones Nicky), a show (Crooked City), and a 60 minute concept album which I won’t give the title away just yet. It’s really exciting, I just wish they were in Vancouver because it’s a 5 hour flight and a 3 hour time change, just enough to make it tough to be there all the time with our crazy schedule. Nonetheless, we’re off to a flying start and did work for HBO Max this year, as well as a New Balance commercial that features Childish Gambino. Here’s a few pieces of work.
After 6+ weeks on the road in Europe and Toronto, here’s me reuniting with Alfie!!
I got really into boxing in the summertime. I like feeling fit and challenging myself. I also wanted to learn how to protect myself in this crazy world we live in. I recommend that everyone should have a little knowledge of self-defence. You never know what could happen.
July had some much needed R&R before our final lap of 2022, and the toughest lap of all, the 2 month USA Fall tour. A few big stress relievers in my life are fitness, cooking, and nature. Michele and I went on a couple camping trips in July. I didn’t camp growing up, but during the pandemic there was nothing else possible to do, so we tried it. I couldn’t believe how much enjoyed camping. Being in nature, hiking mountains, and cooking on an open flame. I use my phone less and really focus on being present in the moment, having good conversations and unplugging. There’s nothing like feeling connected to nature, especially when its in one of the most beautiful places in the world, our backyard, British Columbia.
Michele and I hiking the Chief in Squamish
This was a 7km hike up the chief. It was really tough, proud of Alfie for conquering it.
I came across some old family pictures in the summer. Here’s a couple of me after my surgery to remove my brain tumour which I’ve talked about in a few songs. Scary times for my family.
Who knew, 25 years later Jared and I would start a band together. Looks like we were rocking (and cooking) since day 1!
And yes… I did used to be a chubby kid as ive also mentioned in a few songs. This was me transitioning out of my chubby phase.
One of my favourite pics from my childhood!
And lastly, we finally set up the RA HQ with proper desks and chairs instead of working on the couch all day. We are officially profesh!
AUGUST
After a short rest we were back to it. August was a real busy month as we had to create a new live show for the USA tour. We were also getting ready to release You’re Not a Bad Person, It’s Just a Bad World. There is so much that goes into crafting a new show, beyond playing through songs. We want our live show to be interactive, engaging, and full of what we call “moments”. These are little extras throughout the show that make it more entertaining than just 4 guys playing their instruments. Examples include the drum line introduction, the animation snippets, and telling stories between songs. All of these take brainstorming, writing, and practicing. 5 weeks to put together a show is VERY little time, but we’ve gotten good at working under pressure.
Because the first tour went over so well, I was nervous that show 2.0 for the fall tour wouldn’t be as strong. We also went from a 5 piece with Ginger on bass, to a 4 piece with Jan switching from guitar to bass. I’ll write more on that later.
To be honest, the first few cracks at a new setlist didn’t work. We tried several different iterations and actually kept tweaking it through the first 5 shows of tour before landing on what I think was even better than the first USA/Europe tour. Maybe there’s a lesson here: never settle if you know in your gut something isn’t as good as it can be. If you keep working at it, keep tweaking and improving, you’ll reach something better than you thought you were capable of.
Here’s a silly little skit we put together for the merch collection for YNABP. We always try to keep it fun. We wrote this jingle in 10 minutes and filmed it. You guys sold out this collection so fast. Another little win.
Here’s the mock up for the jackets idea. I thought this could be an additional “moment” to start the show with. We bought these jackets off Amazon for $20 and had the idea to write the title on the front and back to accompany the drumline. We did a mock up in photo shop, then found a local artist and had her take a graffiti approach to them. Unfortunately we didn’t research that rain coats repel paint (DUH!) and all tour long they were shedding on us, but the show must go on!
Thanks for selling out the Jamesy Boy jerseys so fast.
I did something crazy and died my hair blue for the tour! Hadn’t done that since I was like 11, and turns out, I really loved it. Might do it again for Europe. Really hated the process of bleaching my hair though, it fucking burned.
Join us on the next post as we go over what happened in September!
awww puppy
Still amazed at all that this group has done in such a short amount of time. I hope James dyes his hair red for the next tour, it’s the best color. Not a huge outdoors guy but I’ve always wanted to hike up Mt. Fuji.