Vancouver singer-songwriter JJ Myers explores faith, resilience, redemption, and finding purpose through music on his deeply personal debut solo album.
Vancouver-based singer-songwriter JJ Myers has released his debut solo album, I Don’t Want To Die, a deeply personal 10-track collection that brings together alt-country storytelling, alternative folk, and British post-punk influences.
Produced with Jackson J. Gardner, the album reflects a lifetime of experiences, exploring themes of survival, spirituality, personal transformation, and the search for meaning. After years of performing with Canadian bands and navigating significant personal challenges, Myers has found a renewed sense of purpose through songwriting and fatherhood.
The album follows the release of “Heading For A Storm”, featuring Polaris Prize winner Owen Pallett on strings, and introduces listeners to a more intimate side of an artist whose musical journey has spanned decades.
JJ Myers I Don’t Want To Die Explores Faith and Doubt
One of the album’s standout tracks, “Dear God, I’ll Be Leaving,” explores Myers’ complicated relationship with religion and spirituality.
Inspired by his unexpected experiences as an altar boy during his teenage years, the song examines the tension between belief and uncertainty, drawing from moments of rebellion, family conflict, and the desire to find something greater than oneself.
The accompanying music video adds another dimension to a song that reflects the emotional honesty running throughout the album.
JJ Myers I Don’t Want To Die Highlights Resilience and Redemption
Before launching his solo career, Myers spent years performing with numerous Canadian bands throughout the 1990s and 2000s. His musical journey also included the psychedelic rock project Silva Dawn, whose 2024 album, The Great Unknown, explored spirituality, identity, and human emotion.
While those creative influences remain present in his solo work, I Don’t Want To Die represents a more grounded and personal chapter.
After writing approximately 40 songs, Myers worked with producer Jackson J. Gardner to shape the material into a cohesive 10-track album. The result is a collection that confronts difficult memories while finding room for hope, resilience, and renewal.
As Myers explains:
“Every track draws from personal experiences and the LP exists as a testament to the uprising that is so inherent to being human.”
Five Questions With JJ Myers – Interview
With I Don’t Want To Die now available, Canadian Beats Media caught up with JJ Myers to discuss his debut solo album, the experiences that shaped his songwriting, and the role music has played in his journey toward healing and rediscovery.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hello, I’m JJ Myers. I currently live in Vancouver, BC, but I was born and raised in Halifax, NS. I’ve been playing music most of my life, and after growing frustrated with bands I had been supporting splitting up before we ever gained serious traction, I decided it was time to start writing and fronting my own projects. That move has been beneficial for me on many levels—writing songs has helped me get in touch with myself and explore and work through things emotionally and mentally. In a lot of ways, it feels like journaling. I spent a few years working on a psychedelic rock outfit here in Vancouver before shifting gears to the JJ Myers project, which feels much more aligned with where I am in my life now.
Tell us a bit about your recent release.
I Don’t Want to Die is a collection of 10 tracks that my producer, Jackson J. Gardner, our dear friend Amanda, and I felt were the strongest of the 40 demos I had written for this LP. We recorded it in a small studio in a laneway house in East Vancouver. Most of my songs are very personal, but we also wanted to include a couple of lighter-themed pieces so the record didn’t feel completely bleak. We had some great players come in to help, including Owen Pallett on strings. I’m happy with the results, but I’m already in the studio working on the next one, where I hope to elevate both the performances and the production.
Walk us through your creative process when creating music.
Songs always seem to come to me early in the morning. I’m like a farmer—I wake up at the crack of dawn. I’ll usually have an idea, a melody in my head, and a loose concept for the lyrics. I’ll grab my guitar, work out the foundation of the idea, and get it into Logic Pro right away. Then I’ll pick away at the song on and off throughout the day until I feel like the idea is clear. Sometimes I finish with a fully fleshed-out demo, and sometimes it’s still pretty stripped down.
Now that the music is out, what does the “road ahead” look like? Beyond tours and videos, what’s one “bucket list” goal you hope to achieve with this release?
To be honest, despite playing music for a long time, I’ve never had the opportunity to tour. I hope this LP opens the door for me to take a band on the road—it’s a very big dream of mine. I love travelling, meeting new people, and making music, so getting to combine all of those things would be incredibly meaningful.
Every artist has a “lightbulb moment” where things just clicked. Looking back, what’s the one performance or milestone that made you realize, “Okay, this is what I was meant to do”?
I don’t think there was ever one specific lightbulb moment for me. I’ve just always played music. There have been a few brief periods when I wasn’t playing or performing, and those tended to be very dark times for me. Music is simply an essential part of my life. More recently, I’ve put more effort into approaching the “music game” and being a bit more professional about everything. That has opened my eyes to the avenues available for getting music out into the world—and to the chances it can create to do the things I really want to do, like touring with a band.
We love championing Canadian talent. If you were curating a “Must-Listen” playlist of emerging artists right now, who is the first person you’d add?
Oh, this is a tough one. I’ll stick locally, because Vancouver has such a wonderful music scene right now. I’m really into local legend Johnny de Courcy, I love the songwriting of D.L. Forrest, and I’m also a fan of Vancouver transplant Nick Griffith. I get excited seeing what runner are up to, but the artist who really excites me most locally right now is Spank Williams. He’s such an amazing entertainer and seems to be an all-around great human. I’d also love to give a shoutout to Roundelays, such a fun band with super cool songs.
There’s nothing like the energy of a live room. Where can fans catch you on stage next, and for someone seeing you for the first time, what should they expect from a JJ Myers live experience?
We have our LP release party coming up on November 12 here in Vancouver at Hero’s Welcome. JJ Myers shows are a good time—I have a seven-piece band made up of incredibly solid players. If you like what you hear on the I Don’t Want to Die LP, imagine that but way more rowdy. We’ve really adapted these songs for a live setting while still honouring the core of
