Today we have a guest from Montreal, Canada – JP Lessard who is a musician and co-owner of the music school Musique O Max. He was born in 1981. JP had the opportunity at the age of 19 to start touring with local artist and it never stopped. His first solo rock guitar album was released on April 21 last year. The music school was opened in 2014 and now has 10 teachers and hundreds of students.

Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?

I am JP Lessard From Montreal, Canada. I am a guitar player, producer, and co-owner of Musique O Max. Musique O Max is a music school, guitar repair shop and recording studio. I have been in the music field for 15 years with local artists as a guitar player at first and now as a producer.

What do you record in your studio?

Band, local artists, everyone who wants to be recorded, doing some mixing and analogue mastering for albums, tv and radio. Also working with young new talented artists and help them with arrangement and producing.

Tell us all about your music school! How many teachers and students do you have? How did it all start?

Musique O Max is me, Tommy Théberge – my friend and associate, 10 teachers, a web programmer and a receptionist. We have 7 studios for lessons and also teachers that go to people’s home. We give guitar, bass, piano, vocal, drums and studio lessons. It all started in the summer of 2014 when we decided to create a place where people can learn music and record in the same building. Now we have 200 students a week.

What was your relation to music before the school was born?

I was a freelancing guitar player, doing a lot of shows with local artists, cover bands, studio guitar session player and running my professional recording studio since 2002.

How is working with music as a business different from just being a professional musician?

There is a structure, paperwork… Employees, commercial building rent, it’s a whole different world than being a freelance musician. There’s a part of the business that’s not really musical but it has to be done.

What’s it like working with musicians?

As usual… I am a musician!

How old is your youngest student? And the oldest?

That’s funny, we have a 3 years old student that takes piano lessons. We also have a lot of retired people during the day that takes guitar lessons.

What’s the most important thing you want your students to remember?

To have fun playing their instrument. Never forget the word “playing”, even when you’re practicing. Playing an instrument is also a way to express yourself, there is no good answer, just feel it. After that you try to be better at your instrument.

How has the music industry changed since you got into music?

With the internet, there’s now a lot of lessons online but a lot of people try and end up at my place cause there’s nothing better than human contact. For the studio, everything changes. I mix some bands that have recorded their tracks at their home studio. Same thing for mastering. I do a lot of online mixing and mastering and people (from all around the world) are paying with PayPal. The music industry changed a lot since a couple of years but we have to follow the industry and adjust our services.

What are your favorite bands and solo artists?

Right now in my car, I have these CDs (yes I buy a cd): Rival Sons, Incubus, A Perfect Circle and Frank Zappa. I am also a big fan of Led Zeppelin, I really love when you can feel the band’s vibe.

Tell us about your first album! How would you describe your own music?

My first album is songs that I have composed in the last 10 years! It’s really a kid’s dream. When I was 13-14 years old I used to listen and ‘try’ playing Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, etc. I told myself that one day I’m gonna have to make an instrumental guitar solo album. My first song that I did was at the age of 10, I started creating at a very young age it came natural and I had the urge to create. I see my album more like a modern classic rock instrumental album. I’m also a big fan of “gear”… I like to try and buy old tube amps and matching guitar with the amp to create some tones. I don’t use a lot of pedals and effects. The whole album was recorded with real drums, bass, and guitar. My Album is available on iTunes and Google play and you can follow me on Instagram and facebook.

What did you learn while recording it?

I fell in love with ribbon microphones for guitar. I love riffs, groove, tones, melodic parts more than just shredding. I am more of a creative musician than a technical musician. I see more the big picture than just the guitar solo. It is really hard to mix your own stuff, this is why I asked a tech friend to help me for the final mix and master. I have a lot of guitars but always ending with classic one (Fender or Gibson).

Any plans for the future?

Yes! Right now I’m working on my second album. This album is more ambient.
Acoustic guitar, even some songs that I’m using classical guitar and fiddle.
Musique O max, we are also working right now on “Brailletab”, guitar partition in Braille.

Name three musicians or bands we’ve probably never heard of but are definitely worth checking out.

Steve Hill, Andy Timmons, and Tommy Emmanuel.

What advice would you give to those of our readers who want to make a living out of music?

Never give up, do it for the right reason – for the love of music. Never stop learning. Have a good attitude, in my opinion, a good musician is someone that is more listening to other players in the band than his own playing. Everything is going really fast in this business, you need to follow.

What do you think of Drooble?

Really a cool place for a musician. You can learn from others, chat. The online video for jamming live with other musician is really a nice concept. I think every musician should be on Drooble!