Braden Barrie of SayWeCanFly. Photo Credit: Samantha Madnick
SayYouCanFly has been enjoying their newly found success on this year’s edition of the Vans Warped Tour. The one man musical venture spear-headed by Canadian Braden Barrie has been reaching new fans on each stop, and most recently announcing a recording partnership with Epitaph Records.
Prior to all of this happening, Barrie built up his name and music by himself through the wonders of the internet. He explained how he built up SayWeCanFly and how he reached countless fans.
“In 2009, I decided I wanted to start a YouTube channel, which was the beginning of SayWeCanFly. I don’t remember the day but it’s near my birthday I’m sure,” he said, about his early years.
He placed a lot of energy into learning about how to use the internet, especially the various social media platforms, which is now commonly used (and not always properly) by many musicians in recent years.
“Social media has been my biggest tool. So I think for the first couple of years of Saywecanfly, when I didn’t really leave my house, I would literally come home from school every day, learn about social media and how to use it, and about the algorhythms and what works and what doesn’t. That was my version of college I guess? I knew that everyone, when they had a minute would go and check their Facebook. I always wanted to capture as many people as I could at the right time. I always wanted to bring people along on my journey and post stuff up every single day,” he said.
“There’s a website called PureVolume I used to use. I started posting stuff on there and kids started asking me for more. I started recording in my bedroom. As Saywecanfly grew I started working with other people. I’ve self released all of my albums. Between The Roses is my first full length that I just put out. It’s all been a learning process. I’ve had some offers from labels but I’ve always felt there’s more I’ve wanted to learn on my own, and there’s more I want to accomplish by myself before I possibly take that step. It’s definitely been a conscious decision and a really tough one. That’s what I’ve wanted to do.”
While he has built up quite the extensive following, especially on YouTube and Facebook, his fan base has come from some of the most unexpected places in the world. Aside from his recently discovered fans on the Vans Warped Tour stops and his previous tour supporting Metro Station, he shared some of the other areas he discovered to fans in.
“I have a huge following in Brazil, which is something I never expected and judging off of Facebook stats. Places like that and are way far away like New Zealand. It’s so cool to see how people across the globe have found my music, even if it’s small pockets of people. I think the strangest place is Poland. I have a small following there, which is cool. My grandparents were from there. I’ve never been there.”
“Just where people can’t speak English, it’s crazy that they listen to my music. It blows my mind.”
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