On March 13, Cuff The Duke's Wayne Petti released City Lights Align, his debut solo record via Outside Music. He will be performing at this Sunday's 368th edition of Wavelength at Sneaky Dee's, which is always pay-what-you-can (i.e. amazing).

Keep reading for a short interview.

blogTO: First off - did you check out anything cool this past weekend at NXNE?

Wayne Petti: I went to see the Bicycles and the Old Soul Saturday night at the Silver Dollar. Awesome show!

How did this solo record come about?

I was going on tour with the Hylozoists (playing piano) and I was also going to open most of the shows solo. I got Paul Aucoin to help me record some songs so I'd have something to sell at the shows. Which then lead to Outside Records putting it out on March 13th.

What was it like making a solo record after making 2 full-length records as part of Cuff The Duke?

Making a Cuff the Duke record is always a team effort. This was the first time I'd ever made a record and all the choices were mine. It was a little weird but a lot of fun.

You wrote all the songs on your solo record and you are also the principal songwriter in Cuff The Duke. How did you decide what songs to save for your solo record? Was that a difficult decision?

Actually, the song, "The Only Only One" was written by Jack Drag, and the rest were written by me. It wasn't very hard. Fortunately, I had just got through a phase where I had written a lot of songs in a very short period of time. It just seemed obvious which songs worked solo and which ones would be perfect for the band. I guess there are a couple of the songs that could have been Cuff songs but there was certainly no shortage of songs for the new Cuff record.

You're playing Wavelength this Sunday. For those (like me) who have not yet seen you perform solo, what can people expect at a Wayne Petti show as opposed to a Cuff The Duke show?

I like to think my solo show is pretty upbeat considering there's only one guy on stage. There are some mellower songs and there are some sing alongs. It's a pretty good mix.

What's next on the horizon for both you and Cuff The Duke?

I'll be playing the Mariposa Folk Festival this summer as well as the Regina Folk Festival. Cuff the Duke is just finishing mixing our new record, which should be out in mid September if all goes well.

Call & Response is a weekly series of Q&A's with bands from or playing in Toronto. Photo by emilish