Done Sleeping is the second release by the solo recording artist Canalss. It is a recording project for Floridians who hate the sun. Out March 1st via Zerowell Records and recorded largely while he was living in Miami. It is delivered with sarcasm and deadpan. In between his sleepless nights and existential contemplation about Manatees, Canalss hopped on to the Jitney to talk about the new album.
This album was a total find. Especially rare for a place like South Florida and Miami. I love the outsider view of it all. You provide such a refreshing critique of money and status-hungry phony culture. I noticed several Miami area landmarks in your lyrics.
Canalss: Yes, I had a job as a middle school English teacher in Tamiami and saved enough to rent a room in South Beach, where I recorded most of the album. It was in one of those old Art Deco style apartment buildings and the walls were extremely thin. My bedroom wall was shared with a neighbor who absolutely hated me for all the noise I’d make in there. You might be able to hear him pounding on the wall, trying to shut me up in songs like “Done Sleeping,” “Time With Your Ear,” and “Manateez” which were recorded in that apartment.
Thanks for sharing that fun fact! Can you elaborate more on the lyrics “The American work ethic is scary as shit to me” from ‘Misery Business’? That got my attention.
I had just moved back to Miami from Spain and was thinking about how the general Spanish work ethic seemed to be more about quality of life than getting ahead. I felt intimidated by my new full-time job and knew that I’d have to start doing a hell of a lot more than I was in Spain if I was going to make ends meet in my own country. I couldn’t get to sleep on the night I wrote these lyrics. I guess that’s a recurring theme of the album, but anyways, when I wrote “Misery Business,” I felt like I was trying to “rush relaxation” so that I could fall asleep in time to have enough energy to work the next day. But I couldn’t sleep because the American work ethic was, in that moment, scary as shit to me.
I love this analysis. Getting ahead so you have the ability to make the world better vs. just getting ahead just to get your share in the rat race to the bottom are two entirely different things. The latter- scary as shit to me as well. On that note, your critique of the ills of capitalism are so spot on in “$$$ Eyes” (my favorite song on the album). Tell us more about the back story of that awesome track.
This song was inspired by that big Hard Rock Guitar Hotel Casino thing in Hollywood, Florida. I met my old friend there one night. He was in town with some of his old frat bros and I guess that’s where they wanted to go. I had driven by the place a bunch of times. I had even seen the light from it shooting up into the sky on nights I’ve spent at my parents’ house and thought for sure I was witnessing some alien presence. Anyways, I never actually went to the big Hard Rock Guitar Hotel Casino Thing until I met my friend and his friends there. I drove there and parked at the Lucky Street Garage.
I finally got into the guitar structure itself, which is a bit like a shopping mall but louder and filled with drunk people. The guys found me while I was frozen by what can only be described as sensory overload. The place was loud and boozy and smelled like cigar smoke and Drakkar Noir. We spent a few hours gambling and drinking and I mostly just felt weird about how much money people were spending at this place, how much money it cost to build, how much money every other patron’s outfit was worth, how much mine was worth. I thought about my meager salary as a middle school English teacher and how I was spending a Friday night here, of all places, giving my hard-earned money to experience the (expensive) cheap thrill of maybe doubling it, but probably just losing it.
Money is scary, but I think it’s particularly so in South Florida. I think it’s the worst place to be poor in America. Too often our fun revolves around spending and being at the big Hard Rock Guitar Hotel Casino Thing turned that notion up to 11 for me. I did end up shutting a lot of that mental stuff off after a couple of drinks. It was nice to shoot the breeze with an old friend either way. But on the journey back to my car, I couldn’t shake my headache nor the urge to kick out some Mercedes-Benz’s taillights. I probably almost got hit a few times again because I was distracted by writing these lyrics out on the notes app on my phone. Oh well, I guess unchecked capitalism has brought us some nice little conveniences after all.
