Cuff The Duke’s TWELVE YEAR Creative Gap and Triumphant Return
Springing into New Beginnings with Wayne Petti… and The Creativity Guild!
The Creativity Guild is a community of mid-life creative explorers looking to reignite our creative sparks. This is the place to reconnect with your creativity, start the projects you’ve always wanted to work on and become the person you’ve always wanted to be.
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Hello Midlife Creatives!
Soooooo… it’s been a while. Our last post came out on February 20th (!!!) when Geoff wrote about the “Long Winter of Creativity.” He described his state back then like this:
“My creative energies aren't gone; they're just bundled up tight, protected from the cold, waiting for their moment to re-emerge.”
Well, guess what? It’s spring. And the creative energy is starting to bloom again.
This edition is about creative dormancy — and how to reawaken.
Geoff and I are cooking up a big creative adventure that we are both very excited about and we’re going to unveil it here in the near future. We have a few things that need to get lined up before we can talk about it in more detail, but it’s coming soon and we can’t wait to share it with all of you.
Sometimes, you have to take a break from your creative pursuits in order to come back stronger and refreshed. Sometimes you need an absence of creativity to know how much it means to you and what role it plays in your life.
I have a really meta-story to share with you about these themes…
I LOVE Cuff The Duke
Cuff The Duke is one of my favourite bands. I first discovered this band from Oshawa, Ontario, when I was working at CBC Radio 3. They get described as alt-country, but in my opinion, they are one-of-a-kind. I like this band so much that one of the early dates with the woman who would become my wife was a Cuff The Duke concert at the Electric Owl in Vancouver. It was such a memorable night that when we got married, our first song was “All I Want” with the chorus:
“It’s you. All I ever want is you.”
So yeah, I love this band.
After their 2012 album, Union, Cuff The Duke kinda disappeared. Year after year, I would hope for a new Cuff The Duke album or tour. And year after year, there was nothing.
Until last September.
Out of nowhere, Spotify sent me a notification that Cuff The Duke was coming out with a new album… in a few days. WHAAAT?!?!
After TWELVE YEARS, Cuff The Duke was back. I eagerly listened to the new album, Breaking Dawn, the day it came out, and absolutely loved it. As I listened, I kept asking myself a question: why did the band take TWELVE YEARS off and what prompted them to return to making music???
I was so curious that I emailed Cuff The Duke’s management and asked if I could interview the band’s leader and singer, Wayne Petti. In late September 2024, I had a really wonderful and vulnerable talk with Wayne, and I couldn’t wait to share it with all of you. Wayne is an AMAZING guy, and he shared some choice insights that I knew would be powerful with the Creativity Guild community.
So why are you only reading about this in May of 2025?
I Pulled A Cuff The Duke With This Interview
I am ashamed. My book launched on October 1st and my life turned upside down for many months. I was on the road, travelling a lot, doing launch events, talking at conferences, doing podcast interviews and webinars, and generally saying “yes” to every opportunity to help more people learn about the ideas in the book.
In the back of my mind, as month after month crept by, I felt more and more guilty that I had not yet published this terrific interview with Wayne.
You might be able to see where this is going...
There is a huge gap in time between when I interviewed Wayne and the actual publishing of the interview now. This aligns beautifully with the focus of our talk: long gaps in the creative process. Even weirder, it mirrors the Creativity Guild itself in the last few months… it went dormant in the winter and now it is ready to re-emerge with renewed zest.
A Twelve-Year Hiatus — and Why It Happened
So let’s get to Wayne and find out what the eff happened to this amazing band, why they took TWELVE YEARS off, and what prompted their long-awaited comeback.
“It did feel like we had just sort of plateaued, and we never really successfully did much outside of Canada, so you're limited in how much you can make to support yourself. And pretty much all of us have children now. So it just became like, “We need to take a break. Why don't we just secure other things, and we'll come back in two or three years and regroup?” And then it was a funny thing for us. We were always on a cycle: make a record, tour it, write a new record, put it out. Once we got off that cycle, it was hard to just jump back in.”
They tried to get together in 2020 after playing a few shows in 2019, but… COVID. A few more years were lost. All in all, Wayne sums up the twelve-year hiatus like this: “The short answer is just life. Life just happened.”
Losing (and Reclaiming) a Creative Identity
The gap had serious implications. When Wayne said, “Secure other things,” he meant taking a job. Wayne used his music experience and talent in new ways to help other artists. He became an artist manager, working with The National, Owen Pallett, Jennifer Castle, and many other talented musicians. Soon, in the industry, some people began to see Wayne, first and foremost, as an artist manager. And that was hard.
“Part of the reason I struggled is because in certain circles, I was an artist manager. And in other circles, I was the singer in Cuff The Duke. I had a really hard time juggling the idea of being an artist manager and representing artists, and then being one myself. That took me a long time to wrap my head around.”
Wayne felt like he couldn’t be an artist while he managed other artists. Even for himself, his identity shifted—he would tell other people that he was an artist manager and not mention his own music. I wanted to know what it felt like to hide his own creative identity in service of the creativity of others.
“I suppressed my own creativity in a way. And it really wasn't until the pandemic that I started really kind of like, really saw it affecting my mental health.”
Wayne has been vulnerable and candid about experiencing mental health challenges during this time. He felt lost. He didn’t know who he was anymore. And, perhaps most vitally, without Cuff The Duke, he didn’t have an outlet to express those feelings.
“I always struggled with this feeling of being selfish as an artist. But then I realized that the pursuit of an artistic vision is a selfish one. It just is. You need to do something for yourself. It’s sort of like not getting things off your chest. It builds up and builds up, and eventually it consumes you in the wrong way if you don’t let it out.”
Music Therapy
One day, Wayne had a revelation while he was playing guitar in his living room.
“I remember sitting there playing, and my wife said, “Oh my God, I miss hearing you play guitar.” And I realized that I miss playing guitar. So I started playing more. Then I started digging into old phone demos. I had hundreds of them. And I remember sitting there in our dining room, and my kids were playing on the ground. And I realized it was important that they see that side of me, that they don't grow up with a story like, “Oh yeah, my dad used to play music and he was in a band.”
“And then that made me realize, why am I not doing it? And then it got deeper. Why haven't I been doing it? I came to understand that the only thing stopping me from playing music again was me.
“I finally realized that I want to do this for me and to share it with the people I love in my family and have them see me do that and have that be a part of my life.”
Wayne’s creativity and musicianship had found new purpose. Returning to songwriting was not just to show an important part of his life to his kids, but it was also a vessel through which he could release everything that had been building up inside him and causing so much angst. Creativity became an act of self-discovery. I wanted to know what returning to music and songwriting had taught Wayne about himself and his identity.
“Oh my God, what a great question!
“What I learned about myself is that I am someone who needs to process whatever's going on around me through songs. Once I sort of popped the cork on that, I was off to the races.
“I thought, jeez, this is a lot more crucial than I thought. For me, creativity was always a form of sustenance that I needed. You can be very creative on the artist management side of things, but at the end of the day, I always serve the artists I work with. It was a great moment when I realized that I could still have my own journey, my own version of what I want to do.”
Lessons from Breaking Dawn: The Album is the Journey
As Wayne dove back into songwriting, what emerged was not just a collection of tracks but a raw and candid expression of his journey. “I don't know who I am anymore,” a lyric he almost changed for fear of being too vulnerable, became a testament to authenticity. This openness, he realized, wasn’t about complaining, but about connecting—both with himself and others who might feel similarly lost.
“Got You On The Run” viscerally feels like a panic attack: “Oh I know I can’t get far, when I’m lost without a cause,” and “When everything around me blurs, my hands go numb, the shadow returns. The light is lit but slowly burns.” And then, “The joy around me slips away, a deficit I can’t repay. The world moves on, and here I stay.”
A real stand-out on the album is The Ballad of the Breaking Dawn, which beautifully captures the restless search for identity and purpose through the metaphor of being adrift at sea.
Like that's just as blunt as you can put it. It's almost midlife crisis-y. Anyone can identify with that. My favourite lyric on the record is, “I have an angel on a leash and the devil at my feet.” That sums it all up. I have so many wonderful things. and we all have our demons. And if you're not careful, you can drift too far away from the things that are important.
You can hear Wayne wrestling with feeling unmoored in Leaving It All Behind: “The hardest part is not being sure where I’m going. I bought the lie that I told myself, now it’s coming back to haunt me. I’m getting ahead of it by leaving it all behind.”
Have a listen to Seasons Come, Seasons Go, a song that slowly ratchets up its own tension before fully releasing it, mirroring what Wayne himself is going through singing it.
It was very cathartic. I needed this and I let it out. I worked through a lot of things. I processed everything through my songs.
Isn’t that brave and inspiring? Just reading this quote puts a big smile on my face. The result of this cathartic process, Breaking Dawn, is a beautiful piece of art that takes you through Wayne’s journey and asks you to consider whether there are issues you might need to release into the wild, too.
Reconciling Wayne’s Duelling Identities
So over a decade after minimizing his own artistry in service of supporting others creatively, Wayne and Cuff The Duke are back. Making music reconnected him with his authentic self.
There is only one problem. Wayne is still managing other artists. When the new album was released, Wayne was worried about what the artists he was managing would think about him putting out a new album, but they all celebrated and supported the new album wholeheartedly.
“I definitely put that on myself. The National guys have my new record, and I was catching up with a few of them and they were all like, “Oh man, great. It was great to see you put out a new record!” And it was, that was great. I just got so deep into my head about it. And it was unnecessary.”
Today, back in the creative saddle, what’s been the impact on Wayne’s identity?
“I got into music because I loved it and it was fun and it felt like a thrill. And even on the artist management side, I remind myself of that. This is fun… We're so fortunate living where we live that we have all, we have freedoms to pursue these things that we want to and just try our best at them.
There is no failure in art. Failure is just how we perceive it.”
I love that the album is called Breaking Dawn. Much like this edition’s theme of spring renewal, the album signals the end of a long, dark period and the beginning of a new creative day.
Creative Prompts:
Have you taken an extended break on one of your creative passions that might be worth revisiting?
Has any part of your identity evolved to hide or mask your artistic side?
Do you have things building up inside of you that need to be released out into the world through art?
Is it possible that the only thing stopping you from doing the creative work you want to do is you?
Are you ready to transition to a new season of renewal and rebirth creatively?
Moby’s Free Music
Moby has generously released a load of new instrumental music as an experiment. We’re excited to see what everyone does with this musical gift!
mobygratis exists for one reason; to provide free instrumental music for creators. any creators. all creators; filmmakers, musicians, students, influencers, choreographers, non profits, video editors, remixers, singers, gamers, animators, rappers, etc
“Your best performances will come when you are working in a way that is a full expression of you. The work becomes a natural display of your personality. This is when you not only get better results, but also love the activity — because in doing the craft, you feel alive." James Clear
At long last, Wayne has reconnected with his creativity and I’m grateful. And after a long delay since interviewing Wayne, it feels good to write about it. Wayne’s journey is the perfect motivator to kick-start my own creativity.
Wayne - I’m so sorry it took this long to publish our amazing and inspiring conversation, but based on the topic, I hope you understand! 🙂
Finally, in case you were wondering, Cuff The Duke’s new album—even though it came out in September—was my most played album of 2024. After talking with Wayne and hearing the stories behind the making of Breaking Dawn, I’m a bigger fan than ever.
Wayne’s journey reminded me—and I hope reminds you—that creative seasons will come and go. But when you return to the work that makes you feel fully alive, it’s always right there waiting for you.
Here’s to blooming again. Here’s to a new creative season for all of us.
More to come on the new Guild project very soon…
Steve
Listening to "All I Want" right now for the first time and I love it!