A Chat with Francis Baptiste

By @shotbydevan

Interview by Drew Stewart

WHO IS FRANCIS BAPTISTE?

Francis is an indigenous musician currently based in East Vancouver. His music explores themes of addiction, family, culture, and how those elements can interact for better and worse. His work also often features elements of Nsyilxcən (nah-silk-sen), his endangered native language.

His new album “Lived Experience in East Vancouver” is a reflection, examination, and celebration of the community that makes up Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (as the title implies). Last week we sat down to chat with Francis about his most recent release and the creative process behind it.

THE GOAL OF THE ALBUM?

“The last year of my life has been centered around addiction and addiction recovery. There was this turning point, where this got really out of hand, and I felt like, especially after the creation of my second album, (Sənk̓lip, The Trickster) that I really needed to give recovery some more focus, it was putting a lot of strain on my personal life and my professional life. So this album was me focusing on those problems, the problems of addiction and mental health, and struggling to survive here in the East side of Vancouver. That was kind of always the intent of the album.”

FAVOURITE TRACK?

“How Long is the Winter is by far my favourite listen on the album. It's got great performances and it's really fun. That or Kid on the Block because it has the most instrumentation. I invited a lot of people into the studio to help me out with this album, and I really enjoyed that process of just seeing what other people are going to bring to it.”

THE BOOKLET?

“I've always liked the print medium, so I have print copies of this booklet that I've been putting on merch tables. It’s this chance to illuminate the intent behind some of the songs. Because sometimes it's not really obvious. I did something similar for The Trickster. I got a good response and I thought I'd like to do that again and just try to bridge that gap of understanding again, so people understand what the songs are about, or where they're coming from.”

WHAT’S THE TAKEAWAY?

“I hope it makes people think about addiction a little more. I think the problems that addicts face... It's hard to empathize with people that have such different life experiences. Spending so much time on the Downtown Eastside, I see a lot of people just kind of disregard the population down here. Some people look at the Downtown Eastside like a stain on the city. I think it'd be great if people could try to understand the other side a little more. That’s where my mind was at when I was making the album.”