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Bry Webb: Constantines Frontman Credits Feist With Reviving His Music Career

Bry Webb, FeistCaitlin Durlak | AFP/Getty Images

The Constantines always projected a working-class vibe, but no one could have predicted that, after the band went on extended hiatus in 2010, frontman Bry Webb would nearly give up music completely to join the working class.

After celebrating the Ontario band's 10 anniversary with a series of shows in 2010, the Constantines announced they would be taking time off to focus on other pursuits. While most of the members started up side projects, Webb admits he was burned out on music completely, and so he went to join the lunch pail crowd he spent so many years singing about.

"I worked in construction in Montreal for a while to focus on other things, and then my wife and I found out we were going to have a baby," Webb tells Spinner. "I didn't even really listen to music much, I was listening to talk radio, podcasts and stuff while I was doing construction. I just couldn't think about it."

Webb and his wife decided to pack up and move to Guelph, Ont. -- where the Constantines first began -- and Webb took a job as program coordinator at the local community radio station, calling it "the best job a transitioning ex-professional musician could ask for." He wasn't even thinking about returning to music until he got a message from an old friend.

"Leslie Feist emailed me and asked if I would sing on her new record, which was, of course, a really big confidence boost," says Webb. "This is right after we had our son so we were in heaven anyway. I was feeling pretty good about life, so this was a push towards making music again."

Watch Bry Webb and Feist Perform 'The Bad in Each Other'

Admittedly, the birth of his son was the biggest reason Webb began making music again -- his solo debut, 'Provider,' and particularly its opening track, 'Asa,' are loving tributes to the young boy. But after assembling a group of musicians and spending a couple of weekends recording the album, along came Feist with another invitation that pushed him to revive his music career -- at least part-time.

The multiplatinum songbird asked Webb to open for her on her Canadian tour, a relatively leisurely stretch of dates that would fit his family schedule as well as offer a chance to work some of the most incredible stages in the country. So Webb convinced his label, Toronto imprint Idee Fixe, to rush the new songs out in a remarkable two months.

"It's incredible that Leslie invited me to [tour] given that I didn't have a record planned when she asked," Webb said. "She's been very supportive and I'm super lucky to have her pushing me."

Although it's clear Webb is in music for the long haul now, it'll never again be the one-and-only in his life the way it was when he was fronting the Constantines.

"It is really flattering that people remember me as a musician," Webb said. "But I feel like my biggest role is as a father now and it's going to be impossible for anything to overtake that."

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