Rock Cellar: Well, to your credit, it sounds like a band.īryan Adams: Well, that was the impression I wanted to give. It was really fun to try and live my lifelong dream of being a drummer and then structuring each piece of the record one-by-one until it sounded like a song or it sounded like an album. And so what I was doing was recording all the instruments myself, one by one, and trying to create the feeling of a band - and in the meantime, perhaps this is one of the reasons the record is quite joyous. The only thing that’s different on this record compared to previous albums is I couldn’t perform it with my band. I didn’t skip a beat, went right into it and emptied out my pockets of all the drink coasters with ideas on it and just put them up on a board and started going through them one by one until I had about six or seven songs. I just went straight into making an album. What were things you were able to do with that time off? Were you able to use it to your advantage?īryan Adams: Yeah, completely. Rock Cellar: For touring artists like yourself, having so much time off must have felt a little weird. We’re starting on Saturday night, playing to a big crowd here and then another one on Sunday and believe me, I’m going to be filming it to show the rest of the world that people can get back together again. So Happy It Hurts is really about the sentiment of spontaneity and freedom. And it was pretty difficult in the beginning for all of us musicians because we couldn’t do what we do best, which is go on tour. But again, it wasn’t by design, it’s just how I was feeling. Was that something important for you to get across, that we can’t lose that human connection? It’s a harder feat to attain now with what’s been going on.īryan Adams: Yeah, that’s pretty much exactly how I’m feeling. Rock Cellar: The record has that much-needed positivity, but it also emphasizes the importance of human connection. I actually wrote it and recorded it during the worst part of the pandemic. This album was finished in January of last year, I’ve been sitting on it for a year. All my albums are pretty much the best songs I could write within a year. It just came out that way, it was how I was feeling with the songs I was writing. Rock Cellar: Was that your thought behind the overriding tone of the record?īryan Adams: Well, to be fair, I didn’t really design it in any way. Rock Cellar: The first thing to say is thank you for delivering a feel-good record at a time when we all need some positivity.īryan Adams: Thanks. Playing all the instruments on the new record except additional six-string help from longtime guitar player Keith Scott, the new album demonstrates Adams’ enduring ability to write and record picture-perfect rock and roll songs meant to be blasted on car radios around the world.Ĭlick here to pick up So Happy It Hurts on CD from our Rock Cellar StoreĬlick here to pick up So Happy It Hurts on Deluxe CD from our Rock Cellar StoreĬlick here to pick up So Happy It Hurts on LP from our Rock Cellar Store His latest album, So Happy It Hurts, is the feel-good record we need right now during these troubled times. Since the early ‘80s, the Canadian singer/songwriter has racked up a mountain of hit records, among them “Cuts Like a Knife,” “Run To You,” “Heaven,” “ This Time,” “It’s Only Love,” “Somebody” and countless others. Talk about an investment that has paid off handsomely! In his classic hit, “Summer of ‘69,” Bryan Adams sings of getting his first six string from the local five and dime store.