Dylan Hudecki is a Hamilton, Ontario, Canada-based singer/songwriter and guitarist and grizzled Hamilton music scene vet, best known for stints in bands like By Divine Right and Junior Blue. Back in 2018, Hudecki stepped out into the limelight as a solo artist with his solo recording project The Dill — and the project’s full-length debut Greetings From.
Released through Dead Radio Love Records, a boutique imprint of Riverfest Elora, Greetings From was a vinyl release featuring a best of selection of the 52 songs he had written as part of a larger magnum opus titled 52, which features 113 different Canadian artists collaborating with Hudecki and took the better part of 15 years to write and record. Late last year, Hudecki took 12 of the remaining 40 songs left off the vinyl, had those tracks remixed and remastered and released it as a book-end effort titled Beside to close out the last chapter of 52.
rock musicians including The Weakerthans and Bahamas’ Jason Tait, Broken Social Scene’s Sam Goldberg, Rheostatics’ Don Kerr, Twin Within’s Steve McKay, Monster Truck’s Jeremy Widerman, Chalk Circle’s Chris Tait, Holy Fuck’s Brian Borcherdt and a list of others. Sonically, Besides is centered around playful eclecticism paired with Hudecki’s wry and sobering observations on navigating life’s great disappointments.
For Hudecki, the experience has shown I’m that good things do come to those, who wait. “I’ve got great friends, plain and simple,” Hudecki says. “If it wasn’t for them, this project wouldn’t exist. The spirit of collaboration kept me going. I had to finish it for them, if no one else.”
Besides’ latest single “Lover Baby” which features Bahamas’ Don Kerr (drums) and Monster Truck’s Jeremey Wilderman (guitar) sees Hudecki pairing his wry, deadpan delivery in English and French with a scuzzy and bluesy guitar-led groove that would thrill Jack White or Dan Auerbach and an enormous hook. At its core, “Lover Baby” is a playful yet earnest plea of eternal devotion. After making music that was full of guitar tracks and multi-layering, it’s great to try to be minimal and evolve as a songwriter to keep it to the basics,” the Hamilton-based artist says.
The recently released video for “Lover Baby” features Hudecki dancing around the streets of Hamilton, Ontario in a monkey mask. “Sometimes, we just need to go for a walk and dance down the street for the hell of it — taking the piss out of life,” Dylan Hudecki say of the video treatment. “I cruised around Hamilton, Ontario dressed as a monkey while filming the video for my new song, ‘Lover Baby.’ It was an interesting feeling to be looked at as odd and unusual – ostracized for being different – which ultimately felt freeing.”
