Brendan Ladner channels political passion into music—and council bid

The personal might be political, as the old slogan goes, but for Brendan Ladner, the political is also creative.

The Whistler council hopeful tackles the same topics—climate change, inequality, and community—in both his campaign platform and his songs. 

“Watching how we as a society squandered the opportunity for cataclysmic positive change [as COVID wore on] and reverted back to our more traditional capitalistic goals of society of hoarding wealth and selfishness—I write about that,” Ladner says. “This is all hard for me to digest, so songwriting is a way to express my feelings about it.”

So is running for council, it turns out. Despite a hectic schedule with two young kids and plenty of time dedicated to music, Ladner has decided to throw his hat in the ring for this fall’s municipal election. 

“I’m too passionate of a person,” he says. “I can’t contain myself … Yes, we have some individual responsibilities, but the idea that the individual, if we all just stop eating meat or take fewer flights or get gas out of our homes, none of that is going to tip the needle. It’s going to require collective action. Leaders need to take a stand. We need actual leadership.”

Longtime Whistler locals might remember Ladner, who lived in the resort from 2005 until 2010, and played in both a band called The Release and as part of reggae artist Kostaman’s band. 

“We toured across Canada in the fall of 2009,” Ladner remembers. “Four of us left town both as The Release and Kostman’s … Dub Squad. I played the bass in that band. We’d switch over [every night]. We played 100 shows going to St. John’s, Newfoundland and back.”

While he left town shortly after that, when the pandemic started, Ladner found he and his family drawn to Whistler once again. So, they took a leap and made the move back up the highway. 

“I always thought it would be an awesome place to live with kids,” he adds.

Aside from sparking the move, the pandemic also served to give Ladner the time and space to work on original music. It wasn’t long before he amassed 20 new tracks to add to his catalogue. 

He also took a new approach to those songs, relying on a loop pedal to layer bass, drums, and harmonies so he can sing and play guitar over them. 

“This new collection of songs that I wrote during COVID [is] much more complicated than the stuff I wrote before in terms of how the songs were constructed,” Ladner says.

He had the chance to show off those tracks—which he says are a mix between the familiar rock ‘n’ roll of The Rolling Stones and the improvisational counter-culture vibe of the Grateful Dead—on the Village Stroll for an Arts Whistler gig this summer. Next up, he’ll hit the stage at The Point Artist-Run Centre’s Sunday Concert Series on Sunday, Aug. 28 (with none other than Kostaman) from 3 to 6 p.m.

“There’s some really great talent and creative people [in Whistler],” Ladner says. “The Point is a great place to come celebrate that. I’m so grateful I get to do this.”

Tickets are $15 at thepointartists.com.