I was fortunate enough to see Bruiser Brody, back stage and on stage, at the 2018 Pain in the Grass festival at the White River Amphitheatre.
Recently I got to pester Glenn Cannon with a few questions, enjoy.

First up, tell us who you are and the bands you have or are currently in.

My name is Glenn Cannon and I was the founding member of the band Windowpane which did quite well for many years, we were extremely popular in Seattle and went on to do tours with Queensryche and Five Finger Death Punch before eventually disbanding. Bruiser Brody is a band that comes and goes, we aren’t doing much at the moment.
Currently really focused on Glenn Cannon and the Damage Done.

How is the music scene in Seattle at the moment and how do you fit into it?

Covid had a rather dramatic impact on the music scene here in Seattle as I’m sure it did in many other markets. The members of The Damage Done are all well known musicians from various projects over the years, as a result we had a built in fan base waiting for us when we launched the band. The debut record was heavily blues rock / classic rock influenced, while our newer material is spreading into deeper and more modern sonic territory. I’ve always found this music community to be very diverse and eclectic…so as far as how we fit into it? I’m not quite sure how to answer that. For my part I’ve always tried to support the music community in any way I could, helping bands connect, helping musicians find each other. Honestly, The Damage Done has been consuming a lot of my free time, so I haven’t been out at shows as much as I used to. The desire to grow and support my music community has never faded though. 

I see the Damage Done recently did a show, Migs Fest, with Wyatt Onley and the Wreckage and Outshined at Showbox at the market, tell me about that night.

Well,

     That was a unique event. I had initially assembled that bill as a means of doing a come back show for the all star band Bruiser Brody I was involved with. Sadly Covid killed the original date and in the interim the project came off the rails again. All the members have quite a bit on their plates, so when Brody can come together and make music it’s a rare and wonderful treat. All of that left me committed to a date at The Showbox with no headlining band. I worked with Will Andrews (Ten Miles Wide / The Walking Papers) JT Phillips (Outshined / Jar of Flies / Aisha / Bruiser Brody) and most importantly Steve Migs (KISW’s BJ & Migs Morning Show / Peter Parker / Bruiser Brody) and assembled this Migs Fest Event. This is how I was able to honor my obligation to AEG. 

     The show was really fantastic. The best part for me was seeing Upwell, Devils Hunt Me Down and Wyatt Olney and The Wreckage play that legendary room. It was something all those artists were very excited about. They all put on simply mesmerizing shows and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. It was really cool to see some goals met, dreams come true and artists truly transcending via their music and their connection with the audience. 

I know you do a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ music related work, explain that to us.

I think that all really started way back in the Windowpane days when the band was still a power trio. We’d built the band up enough that we had a great reputation with club owners in regards to being easy to work with and making the clubs money. It was a very different time. Back then you started on Wednesdays….if you could bring 50 or so people on a Wednesday, you had now earned a Thursday…If you could bring out 75 people or so consistently…you had now earned your Friday or Saturday. It was HARD work and a lot of hustling. I see bands these days handed weekends and bringing out 23 people and then griping about not getting opportunities or not being part of a click. The only click I’ve ever seen was the bands that work their asses off and the bands that don’t. Anyway, it got to a point where venues would simply give me a date and trust me to book all the bands, I would choose bands that hustled. As a result we had killer shows. Say my band drew 100 people, I would assemble shows with 2 other bands that could do the same and BOOM all of us played to full houses and made new fans. Eventually Tracy Moody, the owner of Studio Seven at the time, pointed out to me that I was essentially behaving like a promoter and doing all the work anyway…so I should just start renting out venues and cutting out the middle men so the bands could make more money for their hard work. That’s what I started doing. First at places like Studio Seven and The Central, then places like The Crocodile and Numoes, and eventually places like The Showbox Market and Sodo and Neptune Theater. It is a TON of work and crazy stressful, but in the end all the bands involved would play to sold out audiences of 1,000+ and walk out with $1,500 to $2,000k in their pocket for a 40 minute set. That made me feel SO good. Being able to take care of artists like that was always the most amazing feeling for me.

    These days the scene has changed so much, the venue’s ticketing policies have changed so much…I stopped doing huge events like that (other than Migs Fest this past weekend). It’s just too much time, stress and energy man…haha. Plus I’m personally on the hook for a small fortune if the show fails! 

I was lucky enough to hang out back stage, watch the Bruiser Brody pre-show set and catch the full show at the 2018 Pain in the grass, how cool was that show, with that line up?

Pain in the Grass is always a good time. I’ve been very fortunate to have earned a spot there first with Windowpane, then with Bruiser Brody, and now with The Damage Done. That year in particular was the year Steve Migs and I joined Stone Temple Pilots on stage and played Sex Type Thing…a pretty cool memory for sure man. 

You have been part of some massive shows post covid and we will get into that shortly but I want to know, as I am sure the readers do, what was Seattle like when you first landed?

I’d been here all of a week and saw Gruntruck at The Colourbox (long since closed). It was packed wall to wall and having been in Orlando for 11 months prior and working the East Coast, I really thought I had landed in the right city. I didn’t realize that I was arriving right as the Grunge wave was crashing. There was a backlash against any kind of Heavy Rock with many clubs and the scene rags and a genre I always called ‘Geek Chic’  was very in vogue. I’ve already explained what gigging was like back then. Man I did Wednesdays every month for a YEAR at The Colourbox trying to earn a weekend. Bookers were VERY biased. I fought tooth and nail to get into places like The Sit and Spin and The Crocodile. It was frustrating and uphill every damn inch of the way. Eventually my band and several others started a group called ‘The Band Support Network’. In essence all the bands shared their shows with each other, and we all went to support each others shows. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. In time we’d reinvigorated Pioneer Square and made it the musical hot bed for the whole city. We were all still hated by the DJs over at KEXP and The Stranger refused to acknowledge any of our bands… meanwhile they’d have to let 3 people out just to let 3 people in at these shows. It was a really cool time. Pure goddamn rock and roll party and a community that had each others backs all the way. It was a cool chapter in this music scenes history. I’m proud to have been smack in the middle of it.  

You have seen a lot of changes in the music industry and in Seattle, with the loss of friends and artists, popularity of differing genres and the increasing effects of economics on the industry, how would you rate your wins and losses?

That’s so difficult to answer. I’ve been ripped off for tens of thousands of dollars, started a record label and bankrupted it all in one night. Windowpane’s investors put a small fortune into that band (something I was never comfortable with but also had no control over) and we were never able to make that money back. Wins and Losses? Man…every time I play music it’s a win. Every year I keep doing it it’s a loss..haha. I mean, how do you measure success? For me? I’m really satisfied and proud. I do this because I love it and it’s who I am. I coulda been a cosmetic surgeon somewhere in Beverly Hills living a life of luxury… instead I’m doing this. I wouldn’t change a thing man.

So what’s next for Glenn Cannon? Bruiser Brody, Damage Done and Windowpane?

Well, Windowpane for me is done. I just cant see going back to that. I’m really excited about the ways The Damage Done is moving forward. We had a HUGE head of steam coming into 2020. Covid nuked us and everybody else. We’re getting it back though, the new releases have been amazingly well received with two of the 3 tracks released so far cracking 100,000 streams to date on Spotify and one more close behind. With Bruiser Brody…hell man I’d love to. I’m sure the planets will eventually align again and Brody will take the stage. I loved being in that band. It was a big furious fire ball…something with that kind of energy is bound to come of the rails… but we all love each other…so anything is possible 

Got any secret stuff your working on you want to share?

Nahh… not really. I have a ton of song ideas. The Damage Done is doing great…. so we’ll see where the future takes us! 

The Back 9

What was the first instrument you learned to play and was it the one you wanted to learn?

Guitar… and yes? But I quit for a long time, went to piano, horns, bass guitar for a while, eventually I circled back to guitar 

When we are little, we all want to be someone, who was your someone?

Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour and my Dad 

Which musician or producer have you worked with that you learned the most from?

Brett Eliason. I’ve been making records with him for years and he’s had a tremendous impact on my growth as a song writer and a musician.  

Biggest live show to date and were you nervous or stressed out?

Hard to say. Some of the shows on the Five Finger tour… The STP jam was like 14,000? No, never nervous…. it never hits me until after..haha 

Where do you find inspiration for songs and music.

Ohh man… other music of course but…just life in general. Ideas will pop into my head and I just sing them into the voice recorder on my phone. Sometimes movies too…I love movies.

What is the most useless talent you have?

I have no idea. haha. I feel useless in general. 🙂

Do you collect old music memorabilia? If so, do you have a particular band or item you collect?

Not really, I collect movie memorabilia. 

How do you balance your music with other obligations – family, children, job?

Well… no kids, that makes things much more manageable. It’s tough. It’s only since leaving Windowpane that I’ve found real balance. Living in your rehearsal space and practicing too much can suck the life out of you and your music. Finding musicians who not only understood this, but were talented enough to do their homework and bring their A game with out rehearsing 3 and 4 nights a week changed my life in a very real and remarkable way. Brody and Damage are both like that, everything is kept fresh and exciting. Making those records was electrifying as we hadn’t strangled the songs to death trying to ‘perfect’ them. Finding that balance has had a positive effect not just on my life, but on the music I help create with my band mates. 

Why does music matter? What does it mean to you?

I’ve thought long and hard on this. In the end I realized that my only goal was to set people free. Even if just for a moment. If I do my job right, they forget about their troubles, their bills, their stresses, all of it…all of it just goes away. Maybe just for 5 minutes, maybe for 55 minutes. In a perfect scenario I’d love to have two people side by side who have dramatically different belief systems, the kind of people who would mercilessly lash out at each other on social media, standing hand in hand, smiling, sharing the moment together, free of all that anger and hatred. If I can make people forget their troubles for a moment, forget their differences…If I can bring people together like that, and give them a release… I guess that’s worth living for…and worth dying for. — So that’s what I’ve done with my life, That’s what I’ll continue to do with my life. 

Thank you so much for your time and honesty mate, really appreciate it.

Cheers,

Wardy

All photographs have been used with permission from the following sources
https://www.facebook.com/GlennCannonArtistPage
https://glenncannon.net/
Or were from my personal collection