FIVE QUESTIONS WITH JOHN FIELDING OF SESSIONS

Matt Babiarz, Ricky Babiarz, John Fielding, and Brandon Pascoa of Sessions

John Fielding has been contributing to the 905 music community most of his life. Starting out in punk bands like Out of Options and Bombing Neverland, he would build self sustaining communities around his projects that would draw hundreds of people. A reliable booking for any venue. 

An equally minded business man, John continued to write, record and perform his own music and later found himself producing many local acts. His knack for production ended up bringing him to California, then landing executive positions in many prominent Canadian record labels. 

However, don't let the corporate job titles fool you. John is a pop-punker through and through and his new band Session is a testament to his love and understanding of the genre. 

We're thrilled to have John Fielding contribute to this edition of Five Questions With and don't miss Sessions play The 905 Board Holiday Reunion December 9th as part of Past Presents Future with The Penske File, Catapult and more. 

Sessions plays the Bovine Sex Club in Toronto.

WHEN AND WHERE WAS YOUR BAND  FORMED?  

 The when and where of our band’s formation is a bit nebulous to be honest (laughing). I guess it started when our drummer (Ricky Babiarz) was putting together a cover band for his uncle’s 50th birthday. He tapped his brother to play bass (Matt) and asked Brandon Pascoa and I if we’d be down to sing and play guitar. We jammed a couple of times and  then I had to bail as I had work commitments. Which is probably a good thing as we  weren’t a very good cover band. Cover bands are for real musicians, right? That’s why we all write our own stuff cause we’re not good enough to play other people’s shit. That’s what I’ve always lived by (laughing). 

Anyways, we all came from other bands and none of us had done anything for a long time. It was just a fun excuse to get together and jam. This all happened roughly two weeks before the covid lockdown. So that was that for a while. I had written a bunch of music in the lockdown. I sent a couple of demo’s to the guys and asked if they were interested in making originals. They liked the tunes. Brandon also had some song ideas that we liked and had also come up with the name and that was that. Sadly we could only demo stuff and talk about jamming together for a while.Then, the lockdown lifted, we started jamming quietly and announced the project with our first show at “Summer School 2022” (Thanks Benny) and we’ve  been rolling ever since. 

WHAT WAS THE FIRST CONCERT YOU WENT TO? 

I can’t remember which one was first. All three were round the same time in 1995. Green Day touring in Insomniac at Maple Leaf Gardens, I saw the Headstones in a small town by my family cottage in Baysville and I saw Bush X at Molson Amphitheater (Now Budweiser Stage). 

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST “BIG SHOW”? OR YOUR FIRST SHOW EVER? 

My first show ever was with my first band Out of Options and our high school coffeehouse in 1998.First big show was at Canada’s Wonderland opening for Matt Good and Kardinal Offishall in 2004. This was the first time we had a rider. Matt Good stole our helluva good dip. We were devastated. So we told him his set sucked when he asked us. We were joking but he took it personally. We laughed

WHAT WAS YOUR WORST SHOW OR FUNNIEST SHOW MEMORY?  

I’ve had a lot of bad shows. Like A LOT. The funniest/worst show memory was probably at the Dungeon in Oshawa back in 2005 I think. I’ll spare everyone the details but let’s just say the garlic bread I ate for dinner before wasn’t sitting well by the second song. I barely finished the set and had to run off stage to the bathroom. Anyone who ever went to The Dungeon knows I would've been better to head anywhere else. That was awkward, it was an all ages show and I don’t think that did well amongst the female cohort in "The Shwa" area after that. 

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOUR BAND? 

We’re about to finish our EP and likely drop a new song in December. Then put out the entire EP top of the new year and start right into the second release. Other than that, play some shows with our pals and maybe think about learning how to play our instruments... But Mediocrity is truly today’s gold standard.

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