Interview with Ian Manhire, singer/songwriter in The Retrospects
Shock Treatment: So Ian, I'd like to start off with some questions about you if that's ok? What band or musician first inspired you to want to write your own music?
Ian Manhire: I can't say for sure. Because I don't totally remember. It would have been at a young age. I took a lot of piano lessons as a kid. I remember in music lessons being less interested in learning the sheet music, and more interested in making up my own songs. I was in bands since a young age. I started playing drums in punk bands as a teenager, but never wrote the songs. Maybe contributed some ideas, as far as collaborative bands go. Through my 20's I continued playing drums in bands. I eventually started playing bass. Then I decided to pick up the guitar and learn how to play. The first band I picked up a guitar and stood behind the microphone was the White Wires. It was the first band I wrote the songs for. I had dabbled with some song writing in previous bands. But the WW was the first band. By this point I was deep into record collecting and deep into going to shows and festivals. Of course inspred by a massive list of hitmakers from before my time. I grew up listening to lots and lots of music. In terms of writing my own, I think I had been making melodies on various keyboards and guitars my whole life, then I saw young bands on stage, people my age, just electrifying my creativity. I was moved by the bands with hooks. The bands who above all else were writing catchy songs. I was moved by live shows by the Black Lips, the Clorox Girls, the Carbonas, the Marked Men, the Busy Signals, Jay Reatard, Lost Sounds, the Observers, Gentleman Jesse, the Tranzmitors, geez I could go on for hours! That opened up a whole world when I started writing my own songs. This interest in writing music has been strong. I am constantly chasing a catchy hook, or a great chorus! Lately with the Retrospects, the range of influences is detailed and long, but the top 3 is Giorgio, Rational Youth, and Cassie. I was lucky enough to see Rational Youth perform here in Ottawa at our sacred home the House of Targ. The use of the synthesizer to deliver a hook is so effective. The allure of the electronics. The chilling detail of the sound of the synthesizer. I have been making electronic music for a long time, messing around with synths, keyboards, drum machines, fruitty loops etc. But the latest obsession has been making it all on the synthesizer! The whole band. The whole song. Sequenced midi tracks. The idea of using electronics, DAWless, no computers, just midi and synthesizers, totally inspired me to travel to new places.
Ian Manhire: I can't say for sure. Because I don't totally remember. It would have been at a young age. I took a lot of piano lessons as a kid. I remember in music lessons being less interested in learning the sheet music, and more interested in making up my own songs. I was in bands since a young age. I started playing drums in punk bands as a teenager, but never wrote the songs. Maybe contributed some ideas, as far as collaborative bands go. Through my 20's I continued playing drums in bands. I eventually started playing bass. Then I decided to pick up the guitar and learn how to play. The first band I picked up a guitar and stood behind the microphone was the White Wires. It was the first band I wrote the songs for. I had dabbled with some song writing in previous bands. But the WW was the first band. By this point I was deep into record collecting and deep into going to shows and festivals. Of course inspred by a massive list of hitmakers from before my time. I grew up listening to lots and lots of music. In terms of writing my own, I think I had been making melodies on various keyboards and guitars my whole life, then I saw young bands on stage, people my age, just electrifying my creativity. I was moved by the bands with hooks. The bands who above all else were writing catchy songs. I was moved by live shows by the Black Lips, the Clorox Girls, the Carbonas, the Marked Men, the Busy Signals, Jay Reatard, Lost Sounds, the Observers, Gentleman Jesse, the Tranzmitors, geez I could go on for hours! That opened up a whole world when I started writing my own songs. This interest in writing music has been strong. I am constantly chasing a catchy hook, or a great chorus! Lately with the Retrospects, the range of influences is detailed and long, but the top 3 is Giorgio, Rational Youth, and Cassie. I was lucky enough to see Rational Youth perform here in Ottawa at our sacred home the House of Targ. The use of the synthesizer to deliver a hook is so effective. The allure of the electronics. The chilling detail of the sound of the synthesizer. I have been making electronic music for a long time, messing around with synths, keyboards, drum machines, fruitty loops etc. But the latest obsession has been making it all on the synthesizer! The whole band. The whole song. Sequenced midi tracks. The idea of using electronics, DAWless, no computers, just midi and synthesizers, totally inspired me to travel to new places.
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| Photo by Ming Wu |
ST: A lot of your lyrics seem so personal and introspective. What kinds of things actually inspire them?
IM: I usually think of each song on its own. Maybe if I really thought about it, there's a common thread. But I mostly approach them one at a time lyrically. My lyrical content is all about my own experience. I try to tell my own story. I talk about my joys, and I talk about my sorrows. I think about the delivery. I like things to be relatable. Anecdotal sometimes. Feel good. Positive. Inspiring. I think about the places these words could sound. I think about the events and the times and the people who could be there. I think about the band behind the lyrics and what we represent.
IM: Many years passed since WWIII. In that time I was busy building my family, my home, and my business. I continued playing music all along, although in a smaller capacity. There was a great band Voicemail, which I never finished, but it was awesome. We were channelling all of our favourite Northern Irish punk bands of the 70's. There was another band the New Calling, which was a stepping stone between the White Wires and Sedatives and the Retrospects. But the biggest single thing that departed from guitar based songwriting was meeting Chad, synth wizard in the Retrospects, who introduced me to the midi sequencer. During the pandemic, this became an obsession. I spent a lot of time learning about midi and synths, and drum machines, and sequencers. To the point where I just decided to go out and make an album. Actually, the second biggest tipping point for making a synth record was my friend Mike. Mike bought an 1850's stone church in rural Canada. Its epic. He turned it into a recording studio. I did a concrete job for him, building a new slab, on a handshake deal of trading my time for studio time. And that's how the Retrospects was born.
ST: You released the first S/T LP in 2024. Can you tell me about the experience you had making it at Studio Cimitiere?
IM: Studio Cimitiere is an incredible place. The destination recording experience of my dreams. It starts when you travel up the Ottawa Valley into the Pontiac. It's an hour drive through the beautiful canadian countryside. It's vast forests, and mighty rivers. Upon arriving at the church the feelings have already developed. I am moved every time I arrive there. The town is small, the church sits on a massive property in the center of the town, next to the legendary Ottawa Valley Tavern called Gavin's. With fabled tales of its working class roadhouse glory! The church and studio are owned and operated by Mike and Erin, who each built careers of significant musical and creative credibility in the Ottawa and Canadian scenes. The building is old. It is stunning and remote. Inside, the hall of the church is dedicated to the studio. It is outfitted with a long list of production gear, and many careful details, like microphones positioned in the peak of the vaulted ceiling to capture the acoustics of the room. Performing in there, especially singing in the church, is surreal. It is emotional. Honestly, I had to take a break in the first album vocal session because it hit me. Not because I am religious, I am not whatsoever, but because the magnitude of the opportunity. I felt very lucky to be there. Maybe you can hear that in the first album. It's 110. I was belting at top volume. There is so much I could say about this place. I've seen some incredible small performances in there. It's really special. One other cool thing is the bell tower! It's gotta be 50' tall, solid stone walls 3' thick. The baffles at the top are open air, so the sound in there carries through the town. Mike set up my guitar amp in there and recorded a room sound on it. I was so stoked on that. It sounded amazing!!
IM: Yeah, so second album, one year later. I was just really fired up after the first one. I had such a good time making the first one. I decided to do it again. It's basically the exact same approach as number 1. Same studio, same setup, same instrumentation. I added some new things on the second one, like a vocoder. I got a polyphonic vocoder which I could sequence melodies to, and sing through a microphone into. It's the best. When I discovered I could send midi to a keyboard vocoder, I got pretty friggin excited! In retrospect, I hear the 2nd album as a very maximal follow up to the first. There is a lot going on. I think there are some classic melodies on there, and some hooks that have some holding power. I personally love the song Take Them One. I think that could be on any of my previous bands records.
IM: Yeah, that 7" was really fun. The boss from Fish and Cheap Records contacted me and asked if he could release 2x Retrospects songs on a 45. I let him pick the 2 songs, and then he did the art, which I love, and released a quite limited clear 7" in a paper sleeve. I think that's rad!
I personally live by Fred Cole's 10 commandments of Rock and Roll. Fred's first rule is release your own records. Don't wait for a knock at the door. If you don't believe in yourself why should anybody else. And if you flop, try, try again. I never sent this to any labels or asked anybody to do this. I just started up a new label, Vintage Voltage, and pressed 100 copies which I believe we can move at our live shows and at the local record shop.
ST: So Ian, you've done guitar rock, now synth pop, is there a musical genera you're holding back the urge to try your hand on?
IM: There is certainly more. I know it. I might do an acoustic piano and vocals album one day. That’s mostly how I practice. I also practice a lot on the acoustic guitar. I play drums in a psych punk band. It's the brainchild of local legend Dan Druff. His music is very minimal, ferocious, and intense. And I play bass with one of my favourite singer songwriters in town Andrew Vincent. Plus I have a Giorgio Moroder cover band with fellow Retrospect Chad...we're called the Giorgioz, and we're the number 1 Giorgio cover band in town!!
IM: Live, I think the band is brilliant. It works well at big parties, big nights, crowded dance floors. It is quite the spectacle. Any 5 piece band is. But this is 3x synthesizer players on stage with a drummer and a guitar player. It’s a different format too with keys bass. We always play a cover or 2. Which I think is important as an unknown. We only play when we are invited, and we have been really well received. At the end of 2025, we got to open for Alvilda on a Saturday night in Ottawa. It was one of my career highlights. I am obsessed with their band and their songs. It was so cool to be in that oversold room. And absolutely humbling to have Alvilda in the front row singing along with our songs!!!
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| Photo by Curtis Perry |
IM: I’m working on album #3 at the moment. It’s exciting. I'm changing direction on this one again, and going very minimal. More raw, more stripped down. Up tempo. Very pop. Trying to channel that Heroes of the Night era of private press hits.
ST: Where can people go to hear your music and buy your records?
IM: Our music is up on all the streaming sites and services. And our records are available at my local record shop the Record Center, for mail order too. Or you can book us a gig with all your friends in your disco garage and get one straight from the band!!
