November 01, 2014
Publication title: The Windsor Star, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Windsor
Writer: Ted Shaw
On Sarah McLachlan’s tour bus, mom has the last word
Sarah McLachlan is back on the road in support of a new album, and along with the usual sound checks, public appearances and nightly shows, she’s also home-schooling her two daughters.
“It’s a bit of an experiment because we’ve never done this before,” said the 46-year-old singer about the home-schooling, necessitated by taking her girls — India Ann Sushil Sood, 12; and Tanya Summer Sood, 7 — out of school for two weeks.
“We’ll see when we get back if they’re caught up or completely in the hole.”
McLachlan is on a Canadian tour through Nov. 22 that brings her to Caesars Windsor’s Colosseum on Saturday, Nov. 8, at 9 p.m. Tickets $45-$110 at caesarswindsor.com.
Her latest album, and first in four years, is Shine On.
The girls love coming on the road, said McLachlan. “It’s like a camping trip. The band is on the same bus as us, so they have all their ‘uncles’ with them.”
But that doesn’t mean it’s all fun and games. McLachlan laid down the law at the outset that they’d have to do at least two hours of school work each day.
“My oldest one hates school and homework, or the idea of me teaching her anything. I had her sign a contract that she has to do school work!”
McLachlan admits playing working mom as well as the music takes its toll.
“It takes a lot out of me, out of my voice,” she said. “I get really exhausted and with cold and flu season coming around, the trick will be to stay healthy and get my 10 hours of sleep a night.”
The four-year break between McLachlan’s 2010 album, Laws of Illusion, and Shine On should not be considered unusual, she said.
“It’s fairly typical for me. I have never professed to be prolific.”
But it was four years full of incident, and some of it is reflected on Shine On.
“Besides having two small kids and running a free music school in Vancouver, I had a lot of big distractions in my life.”
She divorced her husband of 11 years, drummer Ashwin Sood, in 2008, lost her father not long after that, then changed management and her record company.
“Change is scary,” she agreed. “But it can also be a time to rejig and figure out what the next move is. By the end of making this new record, I felt I’d come full circle. I felt strong and whole.”
There’s a poignancy in many of her new songs that comes from long hours analyzing where her life was heading in the wake of the sea-change.
Song For My Father, while tinged with regret, is far from depressing, however.
“It’s an homage,” McLachlan said. “My dad was a great guy. There is sadness attached to it because he’s gone. But I try to find the silver lining in every cloud. What did my father give me? He gave me so much, so let’s focus on that.”
The handful of shows so far on the Canadian tour, and last summer’s U.S. tour, have been warmly received by critics. McLachlan looks refreshed and confident.
“I love playing live. OK, so touring is a young person’s game, but if I could just stay healthy, I want to continue doing this for a long time.”
She is performing with what she calls a “mean, lean” four-piece band, and takes some of the electric and acoustic guitar solos herself.
“I think about how the songs will sound when they’re performed,” she said. “It has to be strong with a single instrument and voice, or in a band context.”
McLachlan’s mother died just before her eldest daughter was born. “I feel my mother’s spirit went right into my first born and she’s there to make sure I don’t get too full of myself.”
When McLachlan picked up the girls at school and showed off a new pair of Converse platforms, they scoffed, saying only rock stars wear them.
“You’re not a rock star,” they told her. “You’re mom!”
