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featured artists  { A - E }

A - E    F - J     K - O     P - T     U - Z

Abe Vigoda:
The Godfather’s Tropical
Punk Incarnate

These days, Los Angeles is known for the crazy adventures of Lauren Conrad and her friends on The Hills. Surprisingly, while talking to Juan Velazquez of Abe Vigoda, he made it very clear that he’s no stranger to these types of “adventures.”

“I’ve totally staged fights with my friends, worked for Teen Vogue or whatever,” Velazquez says jokingly. “What I like about L.A is that although it’s expensive you can find a way to live here for cheap and have fun.”

Well, it’s safe to say that L.C and her girlfriends don’t live cheap, dudes like Velazquez are more accustomed to the simple beauties of the big city: the beautiful weather, the architecture, and most importantly, those crazy summer nights.

“It’s so good to just go out in shorts, riding your bike and hanging out with friends; moments like that are super amazing and epic,” Velazquez says. “A hot night with your friends doing crazy stupid shit and going swimming, it’s the best.”

Originally from Chino, Calif., Velazquez and his friends Michael Vidal, David Reichardt, and Reggie Guerrero (who recently left the band) formed Abe Vigoda while in their senior year of high school. They’re named after the actor most famous for playing Sal Tessio in the classic film, The Godfather. For people who’ve never seen the film or heard of this actor, Velazquez says it’s been quite the recurring question during a lot of their interviews.

“We get asked this question a lot and I think people are hoping for this amazing story or for us to say something witty, but unfortunately, we were 16 and just really big dorks,” Velazquez says. “A lot of people don’t know Abe Vigoda as an actor and people sometimes assume to that one of us is Abe Vigoda, which is kind of funny.”

Upon moving to L.A full time, the band got a lot more serious, while holding down days jobs on the side. Most of the initial attention was garnered from their many performances at the L.A venue, The Smell, which has been home to a lot of local indie rock acts such as BARR, Lavender Diamond, HEALTH, and one of Abe Vigoda’s good friends, No Age.

“We’ve known them since 2004, but we knew of them because of their previous band WIVES,” Velazquez explains. “Dean (Allen Spunt of No Age) helped us out a lot early on when we booked our tours and they have been big supporters of what were doing.”

With many shows at The Smell under their belt, Velazquez explains why their last show with Guerrero was one of their best.

“I kind of choked up and cried, which was kind of embarrassing. The show was really good, but it went by really fast and it was kind of surreal,” Velazquez says. “I think I was thinking too much about an end of an era or something. It’s sad to see someone leave the band since we’ve been through a lot in the last four to five years.”

The band has released two albums, Sky Route/ Star Roof (2006) and Kid City (2007). Last year saw the release of their third album, Skeleton, on Bella Union. The album’s charisma, smoothness and sometimes very brash delivery garnered the boys more attention then their previous two releases and was one of the many records last year that put the L.A scene on notice.

“I think 2008 was just a good year for L.A bands and a lot of that has to do with No Age’s popularity, which is awesome,” Velazquez says. “We’ve grown a lot since our earlier releases, but I think something definitely sorted of clicked with Skeleton.”

The band toured with No Age prior to the album’s release in early 2008 and later toured with Diplo in the fall. In Toronto, they opened for Diplo at CiRCA, along with Brooklyn duo Telepathe. Going from playing The Horseshoe to playing for club kids and hipsters at CiRCA was a bit of a step up and definitely different from the what the boys are used too.

“The main reason we did that tour is because we wanted to try something different, but we definitely liked the venue we were at for the No Age show,” Velazquez says. “That CiRCA place was sort of strange and definitely more of dance club than a venue. It was one of the hardest shows we’ve ever played, but luckily we had some friends in the audience.”

Reviver is the band’s new EP and it sort of picks up where they left off with Skeleton. A lot of bands who follow up a hit record with an EP are seemingly trying to keep the momentum going, but Velazquez explains that they had a different approach.

“We recorded these songs during the No Age tour. We’ve played these songs since then and we wanted to put them out without having to compile a whole new record,” Velazquez says. “I think the songs stood well on there own and I think EP’s are really cool aesthetically.” 

www.myspace.com/abevigoda

- Max Mohenu

Acres of Lions:
Working Across Canada

Embarking on your first cross-country tour can be a daunting prospect for any young band. Acres of Lions have taken a fairly pragmatic approach.

“Considering the winter conditions for this tour there's definitely the fear that our shiny new van might turn into a rocket toboggan somewhere in the Canadian Rockies; but other than that there's nothing we're too concerned about,” states guitarist Tyson Yerex.

His statement certainly comes across as rather dry. Rest assured this four piece, pop-punk product from Victoria’s oft-reticent music community is chalk full of ambition as well.

Yerex continues: “We've got about 35 dates booked across Canada and our only real expectation for those shows is that we're gonna get up on stage every night and have a great time playing music. For people who have only heard the album, we definitely bring more of an intense live rock show than you might expect; but our main focus is always on getting the fans involved in the show. Whether that's picking up two spoons and clanging them together, rattling a tambourine, screaming at the top of your lungs, or just standing up and dancing and clapping along; we encourage participation.”

Taking an active role in Victoria’s music scene has served Acres of Lions well, evidently. After releasing a three-song EP in the summer of 2007, Acres of Lions worked the circuits with tireless grassroots efficiency, sending their EP to local radio stations before “Let’s Get Sentimental” began receiving airplay. They were eventually featured on Victoria’s 91.3 The Zone as the band of the month for February 2008.

The organic effort Acres of Lions has plied towards their craft has seemingly paid off. They have perfected a formula which many other bands have treaded on before; their cut and dry take on pop-punk strikes a direct chord in the hearts of listeners. “Dance Sequence” takes no prisoners with anthemic, chopping guitars with a poignant opening line: “Honey, can we make this work?” Though Lerex said that he also hopes to “Make a lot of new friends and fans” throughout their first cross-Canada tour, Acres of Lions seem to have a good grasp on their pop-punk listenership.

Yet in a musical landscape satiated with paint by numbers bands that disappear after their first single drops on MySpace, how does Acres of Lions set themselves apart?

“I think what sets us apart is our live show. The record does sound very polished and smooth, like we intended, but if you come out to see us live, you will know we mean every word and didn't just write the songs with the intention to sell it,” claims vocalist Jeff Kalesnikoff.

Infectious, dance-ready sound? Check. Determination for the cold roads ahead? Check. Acres of Lions are following the pop-punk aesthetic rather well. The only thing left to ensure is that the emotional lyrics which are pungent in Working, the band’s debut LP are born out of authentic emotional involvement.

“Most of my inspiration comes from the people I have met in my life that have made some sort of impression; their interactions and my interactions with them, the brilliant things they say, the things we achieve together. I find my friends and family very inspiring,” Kalesnikoff continues.

Keeping their emotions in check will be a high priority for Acres of Lions as they cross Canada. Dates in remote locations such as Medicine Hat have been qualified with three dates in Toronto, which included one at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern during Canadian Music Week.

But for Acres of Lions, a potent mix of ego-less and sky-scraping pop-punk, they qualify where they’re going with where they’ve been.

Bassist Dan Ball declares: “The music on Vancouver Island is very rich because there aren’t really a lot of places to go. We got started just opening for our friend’s bands.”

- Joshua Kloke

Akron/Family: Setting Them Wild

When life’s got ya down, the economy is in the toilet and Wal-Mart Supercenters are being built in your garden, it’s nice to know that at least someone is trying to keep the American dream alive. No, not the 2.5 kids and Cosco Member Card American Dream, but the old school American dream – a throwback to the spirit of America – of wilderness, and hard times, and all that.

Ohio’s Akron/Family, the psychedelic, genre-bending trio attempt to capture this rural American vision in their fourth studio release, Set ’Em Wild, Set ’Em Free, yet the band are not without hard times themselves. The past year has been a turbulent affair for Miles Seaton, Dana Janssen and Seth Olinsky (bass, drums, and guitar/vocals, respectively), transitioning from their Young God label to Dead Oceans earlier last year, and the departure of original member Ryan Vanderhoof marked a creative milestone for the band, a period described as “complicated and emotional.” Akron/Family’s downsize from four members to three appears to be a symbolic moment in their creative process.

Bassist Miles Seaton defines the change: “the band was started as a family of sorts, or with the idea that it would grow and change, we spent so much time developing as a four piece creatively and interpersonally that despite our intellectual idea of ourselves, we were really emotionally and creatively a four piece.”

Heralded for their highly improvisational and trance-like live performances, Akron/Family had to adapt to the dynamics of a three-member band without Vanderhoof – an adaptation Seaton describes as an evolution of their creative process.

“It has been difficult live to create the sonic worlds we are attempting to create [with a trio], so we have employed more instrument changes, samplers, and drum machines,” he said. “I think with each tour we are gaining confidence with these tools and they are becoming more inside the sound and the performance. I think it just takes time.”

Akron/Family individually collaborated from long distances over the last year, and arrived at the studio with acres of material, writing songs with a newfound creative blank slate. While tracks on Set ’Em Wild, Set ’Em Free have a more structured symmetry than previous efforts, the bands penchant for the improvisational is still loud and clear.

Although the band hails from the Midwest, their roots to pastoral American ideologies are undeniable. The album artwork features the star-spangled banner, and the ghostly slide-guitar woven throughout the album suggest some wide-open spaces, something Seaton describes as a return to some down-home roots.

“Pastoral was definitely a word I was using a lot in reference to a certain element I was interested in representing in this record,” he said. “I moved from Brooklyn to Central Pennsylvania two years ago, lived on a beautiful 50 acre farm, and wanted to put some of the inspiration the ‘land’ shared with me into the music. For me, probably the largest part of this American thing that i want to connect to or celebrate is a land thing. It is social too, but in a way even that feels inspired by the beauty and diversity of the chunk of land that we all get to live on.”

Take that, Springsteen.

The new album is a testament to the American identity, drawing its inspiration from a rustic group of influences, like Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. The country/western sound is eerily permeated by Akron/Family’s howls and inherit weirdness, creating a surreal depth to the album that nods to Americas supernatural spiritual traditions, not just the plains of Kansas.

Akron/Family are known for their spiritual mysticism, infusing elements of Kabbalah and Buddhism in their material, yet the bands new mystic trajectory appears to be “America, the land.” The band’s title track is featured on the home page of their website, the music video of which is a cast of horses galloping across a pasture – a clear metaphor of the American identity – something Woody Guthrie would write a lick or two about.

Guthrie’s influence is so strong throughout the album, that Akron/Family are currently embarking on something Seaton calls “The Woody Project.”

“I wrote called a song called ‘Woody Guthrie's America,’” Seaton said. “We are asking all of our friends to record versions of it and we will post them. It will hopefully be a throwback to the days when a song was not a commodity, but a story that people shared, traded, and shared with friends and family.”

As usual, Akron/Family’s genre is mainly indefinable. Hulking between the country/western theme is the man-tastic influence of psychedelic rock, which contributes a disorientating rhythm and spectacular guitar lovin’, while electronica and post-rock make themselves heard as well. Its kind of like Mogwai, its kind of like nothing you’ve ever heard.

It is described by Miles Seaton in seven seemingly unrelated words: “Sawtooth lumberjack wave generative bee locative train-hopping.”

More coherently, he later adds: “It’s a very beautiful and wild landscape, America.”

- Tommy Morgan

Alan Cross’s Take on Audio Books

Alan Cross, long time program director of 102.1 The Edge in Toronto and host of the ever popular Ongoing History of New Music has decided to make a foray into the world of audio books. Cross was approached last year to turn a print book he’d written in 2000, into an audio version to be read by Alan himself called The Alan Cross Guide to Alternative Rock.

“The audio book market was initially a little slow to evolve, but now has just taken off,” said Cross explaining why it took so long to make the obvious leap from print to audio. “Now, people are doing a lot of commuting, listening [to books] on iPods,” to put it simply the timing was right. “Much to my surprise, we sold out the first run of about 2000 audio books in ten days.” The print book, a 25 chapter analysis of the most influential alternative rock artists of the 20^th century (including U2, The Clash, and The Velvet Underground) has been split into 3 separate volumes for its audio book format. The first was released in October 2007, with the next two to appear in early and late 2008. Each chapter of the book is a detailed biography of a band or artist who made an incredible impact on music and the world at large. Far from a point by point standard bio, Cross’ book reveals little know facts and unheard stories much like The Ongoing History...“There’s some quirky stuff in there,” Cross assures. For those who already own the print book Alan confirmed there is much new material to be found in the audio version. “This was the beautiful thing; there was an opportunity to do an update, for all the chapters.”

Fans of The Ongoing History needn’t be worried their host is thinking of canning the show however. “I have no idea how long I’m going to do the show, it has absolutely taken on a life of its own but I’ll probably end up doing it until I die” he said without a hint of sarcasm. “People will always want to hear about their favourite bands.” The show which is researched, written and produced by Alan Cross himself has garnered a legion of fans in Toronto and around the world largely due to the quality and depth of the research on the program and Cross’ charismatic, unguarded delivery. Alan promises there will be many more quality programs in 2008. “I’m actually working on something right now called, “Fan Fatalities” about people who have died at rock shows. Then I’ve been asked extensively to do a profile on Linkin Park and somewhere down the line we’re hoping to do an in-depth profile on grunge as well.”

Alan Cross’ audio book, The Alan Cross Guide to Alternative Rock can be purchased at most bookstores and online and The Ongoing History of New Music airs Sundays at 7pm and Mondays at 11 pm on 102.1 The Edge.

- Sam Stilson

Interview with Alan Wilder
October 12, 2010
Recoil
Mute Records

When Alan Wilder left Depeche Mode on his birthday in 1995, industry people and fans alike probably thought that was the end of his musical career, at least in terms of him ever enjoying the mountainous success as he did with DM. Alan Wilder proved the doubters wrong when he came back at them with Recoil. Recoil was a big departure from playing in a huge pop band. It was a  risk, one that he needed to take and one that was worth it. Through Recoil, Wilder proved his talent and intelligence as a pioneer in the world of sampling and his gift of transforming technology into music. Wilder continues to set one back on one’s heels. The latest Recoil tour supporting the band’s newest release Selected certainly will not be a disappointment.

Alan Wilder, speaking from his studio in the UK, is forthcoming and dedicated t his craft. True, he finds it a challenge to draw attention to his music, which leans away from convention. Considering this generation of music lover is  fickle, tech-savvy and short attention spanned, “You have to spend a lot of time trying to cultivate presence.” It’s “the lot of the modern musician,” but “Not a challenge that I spend a lot of time worrying about; ultimately I do what I do and hope people will tune in.

In celebration of nearly 30 years of exploration in electronic music, his label Mute Records suggested that Wilder do a compilation CD. He wanted it to be something more than just a standard history of the works of Recoil so “Selected” became that creation, a retrospective of Recoil’s most accomplished work to date: “I wanted it to reflect work I’ve done in the past and for it to be wide ranging. They gave me the creative freedom I desire so we were both happy, it is a way to make money by introducing a special edition and selling it at the right price.”

Has he ever thought of going on his own, leaving Mute? “It’s a thought, but there wouldn’t be a lot of point in terminating our relationship. I have no financial reasons to leave. Mute’s Daniel Miller and I have a good relationship. One can still lead the way with what you want to do and show the label the direction to take; it is a reverse order of things in the modern music industry.”

Without the presence of a lead singer and the revolving door of collaborators, it is interesting to learn how he chooses his eclectic mix of co-conspirators for each project. Recoil has worked with the likes of Toni Haliday, Moby, Douglas McCarthy and fellow Mute artist, Diamanda Galas.

Wilder has also teamed up with Gary Numan and ex-band mate Martin Gore for select shows in Chicago and Germany. Wilder explains, “Gary and I have been good friends for many years. We wanted to work together but it was never really formulated. I noticed that we were touring the same places just in reverse! I called him up and suggested we double up and play some gigs together.”

“He is dead keen about DJing at the Recoil show”

With regards to Martin Gore, who will also join in as DJ on the Santa Ana, California date, Wilder says, “We had a good chat when I joined Depeche Mode in February at London’s Royal Albert’s Hall. Since he lives in California I thought I’d rope him in! He is dead keen about DJing at the Recoil show.”

He explains that the reunion with DM in such a grand venue was a positive experience: “It was… how I imagined it would be. It felt very familiar to be on stage with them and it was for a good cause [cancer]. It was the perfect event, easy to do and very natural.”

Wilder opens up about leaving Depeche Mode: “I was disillusioned with democratic music making. It quite suits a younger person. At my age now it doesn’t suit me. Everyone had his or her own ideas and agenda but you had to agree on everything in order to get it done. It was too frustrating and confining in the end. Being part of a gang, when you are young is fine but it’s not for me at this age. I don’t miss the dynamics of being stuck in that. I am not against the pop format, just not that interested in it any longer.”

“I wouldn’t say I am fascistic”

Wilder dispels notions of being a control freak when it comes to music, “I wouldn’t take it as far as saying I am fascistic. I welcome input and creativity from others I am collaborating with. I do want to have say in how it is put together and presented in the end. It suits me well working that way.

“The downside is I miss having someone to talk to and listen to what you’ve done, that instant feedback. In terms of successfully working with collaborators as opposed to having a standard band format with a constant lead singer, it depends on if the ground rules are worked out in the first place. Everyone is then clear on the process and goals. I’ve had one or two collaborations not come to anything but mostly it works for me.”

It seems that it would be a challenge to transform the work done in Recoil’s studio to a live venue format – the music might lack warmth, feeling and be uninteresting. However Wilder disagrees, “It is not difficult but not traditional; I would describe a Recoil show as being a giant remix tailored to the live venue. We take the audience on a journey, there are moments that are quite dancy, others quite lush and poppy, melodic and engaging but not like a typical live show. We also project film as well since some things I am doing on stage with computers are not that exciting to watch! Having different performers and DJ’s doesn’t hurt in keeping it fresh.”

Asked if he notices any differences in how the culturally diverse audiences around the globe relate to Recoil when they play live Wilder asserts, “I am not really that experienced with North American audiences except for when I worked with Joe Richardson [Blues man], we played in NYC and they loved it. Mexico went mental for it and the Latin audiences really seem to eat it up as well, I love playing the Latin countries. Eastern European audiences take to the music, I guess it is all new to them, they are open to anything, which is great.”

Wilder is inspired by all types of music, but only if it’s “well  done.”

He’s not necessarily au currant, “I love 70’s music and well… anything from Lou Reed to Gil Scott Heron and Massive   Attack.”

As far as his own music goes, “I don’t know how people listen to my music; what they are doing when they listen. It requires some time as Recoil’s songs tend to be longer in length, depth and layers… it’s difficult to judge but the live audiences seem to be engaged. Then I have my die-hard listeners…”

If you aren’t already one of those tried and true fans, I suggest you open your mind and heart and check out the Toronto Recoil show on October 27^th at the Opera House. Joining him is: Paul Kendall, Architect, Conjure One and DJ Kevin H. You are certain to be pleased, and besides, Alan Wilder tells me there is a small surprise waiting at the show. Everyone loves surprises, especially the good ones!

Daria Essop-Lafontaine

www.myspace.com/recoil 
www.recoil.co.uk

Amanda Martinez:
Mixing Business With Pleasure; Martinez multi-tasks with style on her sophomore album, Amor

As she embarks upon a new album, touring, and motherhood, singer/songwriter Amanda Martinez draws on her business background and strong work ethic to enhance her artistic endeavors. With a voice so soothing and melodic, and lullaby-like arrangements that combine all the best elements of Latin music, it’s hard to imagine a woman with such artistic flare came from a finance background. Amor, produced by George Seara, features a mix of Martinez’s usual bandmates with some surprise guests. Martinez sits down to chat about her creative methods and how she finds balance between “work” and creating.

Creating an album solely of originals is no small feat. With a name as important and powerful as “Amor” many artists would come up dry or fall short of relevant material, referring to the same old love clichés. Martinez examines love from many different and creative angles and delivers them in a way that could never get old. She explains the places in which she was able to find inspiration.

“About half of them came from more specific situations; falling in love with my husband, waiting for love while I was pregnant with my son,” she says. The rest came from a variety of different inspirations and observations.

In a multifaceted industry where the emphasis is not only on what you create, but what you do with what you create, many artists claim to have trouble with the business/marketing side of their music. Martinez, who completed her master’s degree in business and left a finance job to pursue music, laughs when talking asked about the balance between music and business.

“I find the complete opposite is true for me,” she says. “Coming from a business/finance background, my mind is always thinking about new marketing and business opportunities when it comes to my music. . . . Dedicating time to writing and creating is the most challenging for me.”

She explains that her creating process is an inconsistent yet comfortable one.

“A lot of it ends up being collaborative, sometimes I sit with a guitar player and play out some ideas, sometimes it’s just me and guitar,” she says. “Sometimes my husband follows me around with a guitar while I sing melodic ideas.”

With melodies so easy on the ears, you could have the CD on repeat for hours and the beautifully complex yet subtle guitar comping of Kevin Laliberte, it’s no wonder so many of her songs have been featured in television, film and other artists’ albums. The arrangements are perfectly crafted getaways, complete with accordions and the lovely and surprising use of male voices singing background harmonies. She over-sings nothing but somehow manages to squeeze passion into even the smallest of syllables.

With added dates to her tour and the hectic nature of parenthood and the business, Martinez relies on her deep-rooted love for music to keep her head in the game.

“Once the band starts playing I am transformed into a performer,” she says. “It changes my mindset immediately.”

What to expect next from the lovely songstress? Her business mind already ahead of the game, Amanda hints that her next project will probably be an album sung in both English and French. You can expect some great live jams and surprises in her upcoming live concerts, including a string quartet and some stripped down versions of her songs.

Amor is out now and features  Martinez’s longtime musical  partners Kevin Laliberte (guitar), Drew Birston (bass), Rosendo “Chendy” Leon (percussion), Alexander Brow (trumpet) and Osvaldo Rodriguez (violin) along with special guests Kevin Fox (cello), Robi Botos (piano) and Tom Scezniak (accordian).

— Melissa P.

Amazing Baby:
You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea

Amazing Baby is hungry. Each member steadily sips an alcoholic beverage after ordering appetizers inside the Drake Café on Queen West after their six o’clock sound check at the Drake Underground. That is, every member except lead singer Will Roan, who plops onto the last empty chair in the four-table spread the band occupies by the entrance to the thriving outdoor patio. Across from Roan is guitarist Simon O’Connor, who’s wrists are covered in multi-coloured laminated bracelets from different venues, trophies from the tour, denoting to any security guard that he’s definitely in the band.

Back in North America after a string of festivals in Europe and Japan, Amazing Baby’s stop in Toronto is par for the course en route to Chicago’s Lollapalooza Festival from Montreal’s Osheaga Festival. Their debut album, Rewild, was released in June on Shangri-La Music.

It doesn’t take long for Roan, with his turquoise Oakley shades resting on his head, to inquire about a drink.

“Yo, Ellis,” he addresses his manager at the other end of the tables. “What did you get to drink? What’s in that? Whiskey?”

Ellis nods.

“Sounds great. I’m going to get one of those too!” Roan turns to a busboy he mistakes as his server. “Can I order a drink?” he asks.

“Not from me. Do you know who your server is?” asks the bus boy.

 “No, I just got up in here. Up in here,” Roan replies.

Indeed, Brooklyn’s Amazing Baby just got “up in here,” considering the band was conceived as a recording project in January 2008 and bore a solid band lineup in July of that year; now consisting of co-founders Roan and O’Connor, Don Devore (bass), Rob Laakso (guitar), and Matt Abeysekera (drums). July 2008 was also when they released their four-song EP, Epic Fucking Cross.

However, Amazing Baby garnered attention from NME two months before the EP’s release based on the merit of the songs on their MySpace page and being mutual top friends with fellow Brooklyners MGMT (of whom O’Connor — and only O’Connor, to clear those popular internet rumours — knew from his days at Wesleyan University). For awhile, Amazing Baby and MGMT shared the same drummer, Will Berman, until Berman decided to work solely with MGMT and that’s where the MGMT connection ends.

On the NME blog, the new music editor of the time, Alex Miller, gushed, “They’ve only played like two gigs but everything they’ve got up on their site is blowing my mind.” NME’s attention didn’t stop there. A profile piece or two later in the magazine came about and in November 2008, Roan was ranked 30th in the publication’s annual “Cool List.” O’Connor explains the press in England works very differently than here, tying itself more to celebrity than substance.

“(The main) reason why haters are hating is because NME picked us up really quickly,” he says. “A lot of the misconceptions about our band like how we all met in college came from the British press in the beginning. They tried to describe us as a Brooklyn hippie collective, which is such bullshit, immediately. I don’t fault them, that’s just the way they write.

“For some bands, NME can be incredibly helpful but things move so quickly in the U.K. that a lot of bands are just a flash in the pan. They were holding us as the greatest band to come out of Brooklyn and by the time the record came out, the staff who covered us from the beginning had all been fired and this new staff hired. It’s all very bizarre.”

And so it went; months before their album’s release, Amazing Baby was opening for the likes of Bloc Party, MGMT, The Virgins, Phoenix, and Cold War Kids. When success comes in a manner deemed as “too much too soon,” pockets of backlash often follow. Even the band’s Wikipedia page criticizes them by citing one negative CD review that said their album was “supernaturally shallow.”

“People were surprised by our record because they thought we would be the next Passion Pit or something like that,” O’Connor says. “They were like, ‘oh shit’ and getting disappointed because it didn’t actually fit into what they expected us to be like. But I don’t think it’s our fault and I don’t think we need to cultivate an image. . . . People were reacting to the fact that people were talking about us before we had much music at all.”

Amazing Baby did not even contribute to how their “image” was portrayed in any of their music videos to date. According to O’Connor, friends approached them to film videos for free with the catch: “as long as you do whatever we say.” It was a good deal for a band whose members had only just been afforded to quit their day jobs. 

Rewild’s 11 tracks in 47 minutes not only balance more light-hearted, nonsensical songs like “Smoke Bros,” with lyrics like “We are starving cannibals. / She protects her animals,” and heavier songs like “Headdress,” but also include what Roan, the main lyricist, told November 2008’s issue of Spin Magazine is a balance of “introspective songwriting with extroverted production.”

“Lyrically, you don’t have to know what a song is about,” Roan says. “At least, I don’t have to know what a song is about when I listen to lyrics and get inspired. I usually make my own story out of lyrics, so I tend to act that way when I write my own. Nonetheless, you do need to express a certain amount of tone and heart and emotion with that. That said, we are also very much into — or at least we were into in the making of our last record — making bombastic and extreme styles of production. And you want to make sure that you can still express the meaning without going all balls out; expressing subtle nuances of passion through rock and roll.” 

Rewild is why O’Connor and Roan are in Toronto tonight; eating fish tacos and ordering a Drake burger, respectively. This is the band’s third trip to Toronto. The second was in June opening for Phoenix and the first was on their own at the Horseshoe Tavern in April. It’s almost amazing they returned to Toronto after what happened the first time. Tired after their show and full day drive from Brooklyn, the guys were relaxing and smoking weed in their hotel room. Then, Devore pointed out a man getting a blow job in the window across the way.

“And then it turned out that it was no guy getting a blow job,” O’Connor reveals. “It was this dude in front of a window just jerking hard and was completely naked and noticed us looking and jerked harder. And then we were like, ‘fuck, this is weird.’ So he turned off the lights and we were like, ‘he’s gone.’ Then suddenly candles are lit and there he is in the dark jerking off some more. I looked right to the point where I was almost gay. It’s like the sun, you know, when you almost go blind?”

And that was not their only memorable Canadian experience. At last year’s CMJ festival in New York, Berlin-based Montreal musician King Khan constantly called Roan “Wayne Gretzky,” thinking there was some resemblance between him and the Great One.

“King Khan is this crazy German dude who loves to rage and belittle people by calling them hunky ice skaters,” Roan explains.

But cases of mistaken identity were never the band’s intention. After their fall tour, they intend on recording and releasing a new EP. So far the new EP is in the form of a text document on O’Connor’s computer with a list of ideas.

“There’s no music yet, but there will be,” he says.

“Music comes very quickly for us,” Roan confirms.

Finding time to write and record is the band’s biggest challenge, as they are almost always on the road. But that doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten the challenges they had faced when starting out. Their advice to other bands?

“Definitely be very wise about how you expose yourself,” says Roan, knowingly.

“You can take a different approach from what we’ve done,” O’Connor adds. “A lot of what we’ve done has been completely right because this is what I do for a living. Whether it’s our fault or not, we put ourselves out there when we weren’t even really a band, and people were treating us like a band and expecting a lot from us when we had just wrote two songs and recorded them. So, be cautious and there’s no rush, especially in music.” 

And living they are. A few minutes pass and Ellis looks up from his Blackberry. “Guys, we’ve just been confirmed for a Spin photo shoot after the Lolla set,” he announces.

The band cheers. Amazing Baby has proven they are more than a fluke promise of potential; after Rewild’s release, they’ve shown they can truly deliver.

Amazing Baby intend on returning to Toronto for their fall headlining tour. Their new single “Supreme Being” is available for free download this month at greensoundlabel.com.

— Melissa Kim

Andrew Cash on Murder=

Interviewing Andrew Cash is like interviewing Canadian folk rock royalty,  he is up there with Daniel Lanois, Jim Cuddy, Bruce Cockburn and Gordon Lightfoot. As a producer, songwriter, lyricist and overall musician Andrew Cash is a man with an enviable resume to say the least.

Ever since breaking onto the Canadian music scene way back in 1982 with his punk band L’Étranger, Andrew Cash has worked tirelessly to make a name for himself over his nearly 30 year career. Still considered an indie artist, Cash has felt the change from being independent in the 80’s to what DIY means in the computer age.  “There no comparison on many levels, we put out independent EPs back then and the reason they were EPs is that it cost so much money to record an album in those days.  Today it’s a complete revolution I mean there were no cell phones, faxes, computers when I started so it was really labour intensive to say the least.  But that said, there are some things that are exactly the same, you have to be playing shows, you have to have be touring, and you have to get your CDs out to campus radio to ensure an audience on the road.”

Being an indie artist for almost thirty years can have its ups and downs and in some ways can cause one to question their definition of success. Cash having flirted with major labels yet remained independent enjoys the classification. “All the different permutations have their benefits and drawbacks, I mean being on a major label is amazing because of the marketing power they have which is unmatched by any independent situation, however I’m happy to be involved with an indie strategy at the moment because I have alot on the go and my work is at a pace that I am comfortable with.”

Murder =, his latest album was intended to be just acoustic and vocals with very minimal extras, but ended up getting a full band treatment on several of the tracks.  About the change of heart Cash explained, “Well I sent the raw tracks of just my vocals and guitar to my producer friend Daryl Smith in Vancouver to see what he could come up with, and what he did was unbelievable.  I was expecting a little tambourine here and there but I think this turned out way better than what was originally conceived.  It was great to have someone who I fully trust to take this project on, because it was nice to step away from being so hands on this time around.”

Letting go of the producer role was definitely a change of pace for Cash as he usually produces his own music and is very much a perfectionist, which explains the impeccable sounds and production on almost everything he has released. Murder =  takes a few listens to really sink in, but once it does there’s no turning back and you can’t help but to love it.  From start to finish this album is impeccable.

Andrew’s seasoned songwriting skills really shine though and some of the most well crafted and beautiful tunes on the record are “Conversations Under Bridges” a song that stays true to the original acoustic theme of the album and “Beauty” which takes us back to sounds of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, with a nice folksy swing track that treats us with subtle layers of piano and brushed drums.

Andrew  takes the opportunity to get political as well on the title track which he described as being about war in general and the everyday power struggles that face the less fortunate around the world.  “Murder equals opportunity, you can make a lot of money selling weaponry” and “Jesus Christ is so over the hill” are bold statements found in the lyrics. Nearing the end of the album on “The Naked Man”, Cash writes about a man in a refugee camp, who basically has no ego, no worth, no pretension, he is just raw and has only his integrity and inner strength to survive from.
 
Also included on the album is a song Cash wrote ten years ago, called “Black Type On A White Page” . Andrew had tried recording it with the Cash Brothers but it never felt 100% for that project.  They ended up recording a version of it but it never made the cut, so after many years and a few incarnations it has finally seen the light of day on Murder =.
 
Murder = has a very distinct personality and with so many stories and characters featured on this album  Andrew Cash will undoubtedly continue releasing new and great material for some time to come.

- Andre Skinner

Andy Swan Hits the Ground Running

Ten years ago Andy Swan was bursting at the seams with creativity, writing lyrics and songs, that he finally decided to lay down on his 4-track with no concrete intention in mind other than self satisfaction. After getting some recordings together Andy decided to compile some of his best tunes and start sending demos around. To his surprise his music was very well received and one of the demos made it's way into the hands of Exclaim Magazine writer and future head of Kelp Records Jon Bartlett, who had all but rave reviews about Andy's music. Bartlett eventually invited Andy to join the Kelp team and Andy was pleased to accept. This was the start of a great relationship for the pair and Andy has since become one of Kelp's main focuses.

Shortly after Andy's third release titled Andy Swan's Ottawa, reviews started coming in from large publications such as the National Post, The Globe and mail, Eye, and NOW magazine, all to great review. This was a huge step for Andy and the Kelp label as it was the best press any of the Kelp artists had garnered, and by far the best Andy had received. Andy is currently promoting his cd with local shows in the Toronto area and plans on touring Canada in the near future. When asked about his plans for 2008 Andy said "I would like to try and record an EP a month, I need deadlines or nothing gets done." That may sound like a daunting task, however, if anyone can churn out that amount of material it would be Andy, I mean for a guy who's side solo project produced a 27 song cd outside of his other band The Michael Parks (formerly Detective Kalita), this should be a clear indication that an EP a month would be something of ease for him.

I was curious about Andy's thoughts on myspace and YouTube revolutionizing the face of music and if he thinks it is for the the best. His reply: "Now with home recordings being so cheap, it's a lot easier to get demos out there and with myspace it takes away manufacturing costs and the middle man between the artist and the fans." Andy has no plans on making a video, but he is all for how myspace and YouTube have made it easier for artists to get noticed, to make connection and attract new fans. He mentioned the only downside is the number of artists with profiles online, making it tougher to get noticed.

It was a pleasure being introduced to Andy's music and having the chance to interview him, he's humble, pleasant, and extremely talented. If Mr. Swan hits his Mark of an EP a month, the music world no doubt be paying lots of well deserved attention to a man who certainly has the talent and drive for a long and rewarding music career.

-Andre Skinner

Anvil: Justice will be Served

The roots of speed metal band Anvil began in the basements of Toronto around 1973 as two teenage friends shared a passion for loud and heavy music. A few years later they were out playing the dive bars of the day, such as Larry’s Hideaway and The Gasworks. Now 30 years later, the band is enjoying new found recognition by an allegiance of fans around the world that are not even aware of their past accomplishments.

“We never really stopped playing,” says drummer Robb Reiner.

As the band began, it was very much a new wave and disco sort of music scene happening. Releasing an album called Metal on Metal wouldn’t seem like the most appropriate thing to do at the time but the band persevered and lived on way past the majority of the 80’s one hit wonders. The band were originally called LIPS, but changed the name to avoid any possible confusion with the funky town sounds of Lipps Inc. The LIPS version of their first album, Hard ‘N’ Heavy, is quite rare as only 1000 copies were manufactured. The music is the same but the cover art work is a simple lip print, red on white with the name LIPS printed in black.

This year, the band is being inducted into the Indie Hall of Fame at the ninth annual Independent Music Awards on March 14, part of Canadian Music Week. This will likely be the one and only time to see Anvil play at the infamous Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

“This is an achievement that will be received with gratitude. It’s nice to be recognized after all these years,” frontman Steve Kudlow, a.k.a. Lips, admits.

So how does a band remain together and continue to plug along three decades after forming?

“The motivating factor is quite simple, we’ve believed in ourselves. When you have this kind of focus you find ways to continue on. All factors weigh against the rock and roll dream of stardom and it is an upward endless battle. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time, and the only way to make that combination work is to always be ready, and by not giving up,” Lips advises.

Anvil influenced countless other bands throughout the years, but what bands played a role in determining their original sound and direction?

“All bands pay homage to their predecessors, and for us it was bands that came out playing hard rock music in the sixties and seventies: Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk, Cactus are some examples of our influences,” Lips surmises. “The music we all listen to generally works in cycles although every time it comes around it’s a little different. The interesting thing is that these days it’s still electric guitar oriented music which connects it to five previous decades of music to draw influence from.”

The recent resurgence and interest in the band owes a lot to one particular gentleman once referred to as “Tea Bag.”  The band met him in 1982 at the Marquee Club in London when then 15-year-old “Tea Bag” went back stage after the show to meet the band. This lead to him working with the band as a roadie, later being mentored by Reiner on drums and eventually playing in the band at a couple shows. Then one day he was gone, until 2005 when he was back in their lives after Lips received an unexpected e-mail.

“Tea Bag had gone Hollywood,” Reiner laughs.

A couple subsequent e-mail exchanges and phone conversations lead to Lips flying to Los Angeles to meet Sacha Gervasi (Tea Bag), chat some more and return back to Toronto. A few weeks later Gervasi flew to Toronto, got together with the band and told them they had a story to tell: Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

“He was so impressed with our tenacity he decided to make a movie about it,” Lips confides.

Gervasi has presented an often hilarious account of Anvil's last-ditch quest for elusive fame and fortune. The story of Gervasi could be a separate film in itself. The self-financed feature length movie made its world premiere at the acclaimed Sundance Film Festival in 2008, where Gervasi and the band got to enjoy the long awaited spotlight of their career. The movie played six times to sold out audiences, and one cannot help but draw comparisons to the Spinal Tap saga, as the guys posed for photos appropriately decked out in their toques in true Canadian hoser style. The film has since gone on to win dozens of awards at film festivals around the world, and is finally set to make its much anticipated Canadian theatre debut.

“We call it the slow burn rise of film notoriety,” Reiner laughs.

Gervaisi worked on several other productions (The Big Tease, The Terminal) as a screenwriter, but this is his directorial debut.

“My inspiration came from real life experiences as a young kid touring with my idols. I made a film about people I love with people I love,” he says.

The DVD version of Anvil! The Story of Anvil and a follow-up book are both scheduled for release sometime later this year.

“The actual story is one about relationships, perseverance and dedication. The fact that we are a heavy metal band only plays as a back drop to the story,” Lips mentions.

“The book provides answers to all the questions people may have had after seeing the movie,” Reiner adds.

The Anvil Experience is a very interesting concept that the band and management have developed since the release of the film. It’s a combination of film and live performance whereby the movie is screened followed by a full live music set by the band. It’s been hugely successful in New York, Los Angeles and most recently London, where the band did a one week stint of sold out shows at the Metro Theatre. There are also plans to tour this concept across Canada sometime later in 2009.

Reiner says there is a new album on the horizon, Juggernaut of Justice, which he describes as “a genius piece of work.”

“We were criminally overlooked 30 years ago, and now justice will be served,” Reiner proclaims.

It should be noted that Gervasi has done a guest appearance on drums playing “School Love” at three different shows in the past, in Tokyo, Brooklyn and Toronto. With the Canadian premiere of the movie and the Hall of Fame induction, there’s likely a good chance number four could happen at some point during Canadian Music Week.

- Bryen Dunn

The Bovine Sex Club Reunites the Asexuals
An Interview with John Kastner

Given the wide array of technology and tools that new bands have available to them today, it may be hard to entertain the thought of an upstart band 25 years ago having to make and post flyers, cold-call dive bars and enlist friends just to get a gig and hope that something will come of their efforts.

The Asexuals, a Montreal punk band, got their start in the mid eighties in exactly this fashion. They came into being during the time of do it yourself (DIY) and managed to climb above a sea of many other unknown basement bands and they became one of the best and most successful live bands of that era.

The Bovine Sex Club, a landmark Toronto institution that began in the ‘90s, are celebrating their 20^th anniversary with a series of shows showcasing both old and new bands. Some of the performers helped make the Bovine one of the few surviving Queen St. venues where two decades ago one could catch such acts as Carol Pope, Robert Gordon, Groovy Religion, the Sinsters and yes, the Asexuals.

Recounting the early days and the impending March reunion of this Montreal hardcore band was none other than John Kastner. He now resides in sunny LA, which may account for his bubbly and youthful voice over the phone. While Toronto was experiencing bone-chilling winter weather, Kastner was basking in warmth, and to twist the knife said, “It is sunny here, sorry!”

John Kastner was in the original line-up of the Asexuals as singer and bass player. Although he lasted for only two albums, he was the driving force in taking the Asexuals to a level never anticipated when they began in their West Island Montreal suburb. Kastner’s band were one of the first Montreal groups to put out a record at that time. The deal was done through Og Records, a label started by fellow-Montreal bandmates, Déjà Voodoo. The Asexuals put up their own money to pay for distribution of Featuring, their first vinyl release.

“Most of these guys [in other bands] were way more punk than we were, living the life in squats, no money, it was really rough. We were intimidated by it, to tell the truth, plus we were younger and couldn’t even get into bars. We would stand outside and listen to the bands. We were middle-class kids, the West Island guys, and everyone thought we were rich but we weren’t. We were one of the first bands to play [and] at the time there weren’t really many venues, we’d come downtown and ask to play at the diviest bars. Soon we had a following, some 300 people. This was usually the same people – some supporters, some competitors, the thing was everyone went to the same shows. We had an attitude and soon realized we were definitely on to something.” This something was the release of the debut EP Featuring.

Following this was the album Be What You Want, and a track on the punk compilation Primitive Air Raid on the Psyche Industry label. Kastner claims, it was the Psyche label that helped broaden the punk scene and take it outside of its small little clique.

The Asexuals took to the road and paved their way in what was at the time new territory. They drove in a van for a couple of months and played in many cities and many venues. They ended up at CBGB and would play many a matinee show with like-minded bands such as Agnostic Front and Adrenaline O.D, and honed their skills through playing every night.

“We became friends with Jello Biafra, we kept going back to the States to play these gigs. At the time, there were lots of ‘all ages’ shows and it was pretty exciting times. We were the only ones, I think, from Canada that ventured out like that. It’s a lot more competitive now, a lot more narrow-minded and there are a lot more bands. Now you have to tour before you can make a record. Before you could make a record and tour to promote it. You just have to get out and want to play; you can only get better with playing loads. I remember the first time we played in Miami, I thought ‘wow, we are so far away’.”

This raises the question if he misses Montreal. “I miss it in the summer, I don’t miss the cold! I do miss my friends and family but I had done everything I could do out there and to get the next level I think we had to leave.” Surviving on a bad diet, making their own posters and t-shirts was hard but allowed them to cross the continent many times and make a mark while doing so. They began to share the stage with the likes of DOA, Minutemen, Youth Brigade and SNFU.

‘I channeled all that energy into starting the Doughboys’

By 1987 the band was tiring out; all the non-stop touring had taken its toll. This raises the issue of Kastner leaving the band he helped start soon after the second record, Contemporary World. He asserts he was kicked out of the group. “I was a very driven kid; I think I drove them away. Back then I did more than everyone else – I did everything. I was the one who had all the information, postered everywhere, made the phone calls to organize gigs and collected the money. I guess I was overbearing, any little thing would set me off. Those guys drank more than I did, I guess I took it more seriously and was difficult to be around. I resented being given the boot at the time, it was hard to take. It was my band that I started in high school. I worked really hard to bring it to this level and all of a sudden they didn’t want me to be a part of it. We were like brothers and grew up together and now I was the guy on the outs. But I have to say I turned around and quickly channeled all that energy into starting the Doughboys so I didn’t have time to wallow. It was only eight or nine months before I made another record and was touring America again.”

Kastner had hooked up with fellow high school mate Brock Pytel. Pytel was in a metal band during this time and even got beat up by Kastner. “We had little in common when we met years later, the only thing uniting us was that we both liked Alice Cooper.” They obviously settled their differences and formed the Doughboys. The Asexuals continued without him but their sound had changed and they were closer to resembling the Replacements or Soul Asylum, straying from their punk roots.

Currently Kastner plays with Bran Van 3000 – he’s written some songs on the new LP and will be touring soon. Kastner also does film and TV scores and programs the music for NXNE. He teases that there is “something for everyone in this year’s [NXNE] lineup,” there are a couple of surprises in store but he won’t tell until April.”

Kastner offers some insight into how the music industry has changed since he was starting out. “It’s a different game now, there are no record stores anymore, it is really hard to get a record out. Sure there is the on-line digital thing but anyone put anything out that way and there is way more competition to be heard. We made videos back then so people saw them and got into your band that way. No one makes videos anymore. Nobody over fifteen has a record deal; if they do the deals are crazy. They want a piece of everything. In those days you just had to get out there and do it and then tour to become known.”

Does he have any desire to start up another band or reunite the Asexuals for more than just a few selective shows? “[The Asexuals] had offers to play in a few places around the world but we turned it down. If a deal interested me, I would consider it but I have a good life here, I’m a busy guy. The only reason I would do something now is because it is fun and it makes sense.”

‘Bovine is Toronto’s CBGB’

Why did they choose to do the two shows at the Bovine on March 4^th and 5^th? “Darryl Fine called us up and asked if we would play at the anniversary gig… we’re good friends and he gave us a place to play back then. He just really wanted us to do it, so we are. He still has the same spirit he had, I think that is pretty impressive. The Bovine is Toronto’s CBGB. We also recently played a reunion gig in Montreal and will be playing in London.”

Kastner is looking forward to playing here again and recalls fond memories of Toronto. “We played so many good venues, had good crowds. I remember I was fifteen and snuck into Larry’s Hideaway to see Stark Naked and the Fleshtones and we partied with BFG. They were the real punks and played at all the good venues. Those guys scared me but we really liked them!”

While all original members are living in different locations, they still have a bond and a special chemistry when the Asexuals do perform together; they had a natural energy on stage, even jumping in unison. The band will be playing material from the first two albums and Kastner says, “Anybody who loved the Asexuals should come out!” From the sincere excited tone of his voice, one can gather that playing with his original band after all these years will make him happy.

If you need another reason to see the Asexuals on March 4^th and 5^th at the Bovine Sex Club, you might want to check out Kastner’s long dreads – he says his long hair hasn’t changed much over the years, and neither has his animated spirit.

– Daria Essop-Lafontaine

The Assistants:
No Strangers to Fiction

Do you have a thing for pretty sounding 12-string guitars and 80s jangle-rock revival? Then here’s something for you.

Based out of Toronto, The Assistants are a quintet of happy-go-lucky rockers with an affinity for European sounds that are largely melody driven. Bands like Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smiths and The Go-Betweens come to mind while listening to their latest effort, Fiction, a four-track EP. Fiction is the band’s sophomore effort and comes on the heels of their 2007 self-titled debut. The band formed in 2004, but the only remaining original members are Kiley Meehan and Ciaran Megahey who head up Toronto’s preeminent jangle-rock band.

When asked what the band is up to these days, Megahey said,  “Right now we’re just focusing on getting the EP out there.”

This might be so, but it doesn’t mean that the pair of song-writers aren’t hard at work. Whether it’s on a laptop or with a guitar, Megahey and Meehan are always writing.

“Song writing is something that I just do,” Megahey said. And of The Assistants, “We’re really pretty prolific. There’s lots in the vault.”

This is good to know as the Fiction EP contains four dreamy tracks clocking in at a sparse 14 minutes and change. But from the opening riff of “Fiction” to the fade out on “The Ghost in Your Skin,” it’s a solid 14 minutes leaving the listener wanting more jangle-revival in their life.

It’s easy to label The Assistants as a band out of time and place. Their style is distinctively 1980s Britain.

Megahey freely admitted, “Bands I like tend to be British. Mostly melody-based bands. There’s just a different market over there. They’re more interested in melody. I like it because it’s pretty. Pretty sounds interest me.”

The EP is full of pretty guitar sounds and alluring vocal harmonies, so it’s easy to see why The Assistants have a certain affinity for European sounds.

The sound The Assistants are most comfortable with is called jangle-rock. It’s an American term, but encompasses everything that Meehan and Megahey strive for in their music.

“Jangle describes The Byrds,” Megahey stated as he began to give a definition of both a genre and his band. “The guitarist from The Byrds (Roger McGuinn) was like the godfather of the whole thing. Him and his 12-string guitar. The Smiths and some other 80s bands revived it. Stuff like Echo and the Bunnymen. More recently bands like Magnetic Fields and Galaxy 500. Again, it’s just pretty sounding.”

The word “pretty” kept coming up throughout the interview, and that’s exactly what you get throughout Fiction. The sound is warm, pleasing, dreamy, and most importantly never abrasive. To get a taste of what The Assistants are all about, check out their website where you can listen to the new EP, and of course keep your eyes peeled for upcoming shows.

- Joe Veroni

Austra’s Break

They say they produce “experimental left-field electronic pop music,” but Austra are themselves the product of their own hard work.

Katie Stelmanis, the lead singer and composer for Austra, followed the rock star example and bailed on college to go play music. Following such a potentially destructive recipe is what probably guaranteed her passage to indie success.

This isn’t to say she didn’t work for it.

At the age of ten, Stelmanis joined the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus and later learned the piano and viola. She had a strong musical background ripe tackling the challenges of post-secondary education.

But a week before heading to Montreal to study music, Stelmanis backed out. She couldn’t leave Toronto, as she was just discovering what Ontario’s capital had to offer her as a musician. What she found enticed her to stay.

“I think growing up in the city is really different than becoming part of a community in a city,” says the singer, when asked about her reasons behind staying in Toronto. “I think I was starting to discover other musicians and people I wanted to work with and be friends with. I was just really inspired and intrigued by all these people and communities I was meeting at the time.”

Undoubtedly, the musicians who played with her helped channel her operatic skills into what we know as Austra, the electro-poppy, operatic new wave group that peppers a bit of sexy sleaze into its compositions.

But it is Stelmanis’ own efforts which have helped channel her band to indie success.

Having booked her own tours, as part of her solo act and as part of Austra, the singer feels lucky to have done so much “D.I.Y. touring,” as she feels ready for the bigger things that come with being signed to a label like Domino Records.

Stelmanis doesn’t think she’s lost the “do-it-yourself” attitude when it comes to organizing shows or making music, though.

“I have the do-it-myself aspect in that I know what’s going on and that I understand what’s going on,” she says. “I understand how the whole process works and therefore I can add my input and control it, as opposed to some people who maybe don’t understand how these things happen but wouldn’t be able to take control, necessarily. I still feel very empowered by it.”

This can-do attitude comes from the naivety Stelmanis has when she was starting out, following the rock star disdain for higher education. Unknowing of how far away success was, she remained determined to push for greater things. For her, there is not one big obstacle. Rather, “It’s just been years of touring, years of playing, years of recording and years of developing as an artist but I don’t think there’s been one specific thing we’ve had to overcome at any point,” says Austra’s frontwoman. “In the past, I think I was really naïve and I think that naivety helps a lot because you… don’t really know how far you are from achieving things.”

And in mid-May 2011, Austra achieved a milestone: the release of their debut album on Domino Records. Feel It Break is a major key-averse, synth-laden suite of 11 tracks, all of them pleasantly dark and danceable. For the rest of the year, Austra will be touring extensively in Europe and North America as they promoted the widely-acclaimed record. Quite the change from when Katie Stelmanis decided to bail on college.

– Robert Vandrish

Band of Skulls:
Almost Famous

Talking to British alternative rock band Band of Skulls feels faintly like a scene out of Almost Famous. Perhaps it’s the shared name between vocalist/guitarist Russell Marsden and fictional guitarist Russell Hammond that initiates the association but it’s the band’s authentic mixture of 1970s grit within a more modern context that harkens back to the days when rock ’n’ roll, in its rawest form, dominated record players and airwaves around the world.

Marsden fits right into the rock ’n’ roll aesthetic, sporting long hair and a vintage-looking leather jacket. Any expected ego, however, is replaced with a humble and thankful demeanor throughout our conversation about Band of Skulls’ past, present, and future within the music industry. 

Born out of a childhood friendship between Marsden and drummer Matt Hayward, Band of Skulls has been developing since the boys first started playing instruments.

“My sister would always ask for stuff at Christmas; she wanted a guitar,” Marsden reminisces. “She played it for about five weeks and then it was just hanging around so I picked it up and started playing. She did it about three times, ‘I need this other guitar, the first one wasn’t right for me,’ so I ended up with these three acoustic guitars because of my sister, who actually gave up. I have her to thank, actually!”

After teaching himself how to play, the beginnings of the group began falling into place.

“Matt’s family were friends with our family and I think they just sort of put us together to keep us out of trouble,” Marsden says. “We had an agreement with the neighbourhood that we’d rehearse on Saturdays between 11 and one and the whole street used to go out and we would rehearse.”

It wasn’t until considerably later that bass player and vocalist Emma Richardson joined and brought the trio to its current membership.

“We started thinking that we were going to make a band. We wanted a bass player so we started auditioning people,” Marsden says. “In the end, Emma came along and she had brought her guitar and we were like ‘Can you just play the bass?!’ and (when she played it) we were like ‘Woah, that sounds amazing!’ She didn’t even play the bass.”

The group’s signature interplay of male and female vocals grew organically from rehearsing together and collectively writing songs. All three members equally contribute to the band’s well-oiled songwriting machine.

“The main thing we try to do is not finish the work that we do,” Marsden explains. “If we do finish it, it’s hard for others to be involved in it.”

While Marsden and Richardson write the majority of the lyrics to complement their vocal abilities, Hayward has contributed one of the group’s most memorable lyrical hooks. 

“’I Know What I Am’ is a phrase from this guy at a bar that Matt used to work in,” Marsden says, “and he would say the line: ‘I know what I am, they know what they are, so let me be.’”

Stories like this accentuate the realness and raw talent perpetuated through Band of Skulls’ music; a talent that has been spotted and exhibited by the likes of iTunes, KCRW and other music industry tastemakers before the band even had a fully formed record.

While recording the final tracks on debut album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, at Radiohead’s Courtyard Studios in the U.K., the band was approached by iTunes to have their first single, “I Know What I Am,” featured as the retailer’s famed “Single of the Week.”  The trio rushed to finish the album and get it up on iTunes this past April, resulting in overnight attention from the global music community. 

The months that followed have been a whirlwind for the band and have included a live performance on trendsetting Santa Monica radio station KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” program and an upcoming gig at music lovers’ paradise: Chicago’s Lollapalooza Music Festival. The overwhelmingly positive reaction to the band, their live show, and their yet-to-be-released album is more than the trio could have expected.

“When you’re 13, everyone thinks that (you’ll become famous),” Marsden says. “Then you get to 18 and actually do some shows and you realize how far you have to go. You have a lot of years of struggling and it just toughens you up.”

Marsden, Hayward and Richardson have been playing together for over four years, evolving from indie rock band Fleeing New York into who they are and the mature sound they portray today. 

“The greatest challenge in a band is not to break up,” Marsden says. “I have lots of friends’ bands that have come and gone, not because they’re better or worse than us, but it’s the staying power, the endurance of it. It’s kind of like being married.”    

Band of Skulls has mastered this creative relationship, merging each member’s best qualities to create a group with staying power. In addition to their musical talents, all album art was created by Richardson.

“Emma’s a painter, a bona fide artist. It just seemed right,” Marsden says. “To us, our music sounds like what her work looks like. It relieved me of a lot of guilt of ruining her painting career!”

The trio has also created a strong relationship with their fans, using social networking to communicate around the world, despite their busy schedules and slightly Ludditian attitudes.

“It’s definitely part of the job now, it’s kind of funny,” Marsden jokes. “You do meet some nice people; I got to meet some nice people in L.A. and they were like, ‘It’s me, from Twitter!’ 

“We’re a little bit of technophobes, especially with the iPhone.  I’ll probably send some letters to balance out my techno overload.  I think I’m going to do that; start a movement of mail.”

With Richardson’s career as an artist to fall back on, Marsden struggled when asked what he would be doing if it weren’t for Band of Skulls.

“I can’t do anything else, I’m useless,” he quips. 

He has no reason to worry, however.  Although Almost Famous’s portrayal of Lester Bangs claimed that rock and roll was dead, Band of Skulls continue to prove that it is very much alive in the musical landscape over thirty years later.       

“I think we’re just cut out to do this,” Marsden states.  “It chose us, really.”

Band of Skulls’ debut album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, will be released in Canada on Sept. 1 (though it is currently available through iTunes).  After two critically acclaimed performances at Toronto’s North by Northeast Music Festival, the band will be returning to Canadian stages this fall:

— Heather Adamo

Letting the Cat out of the Bag

The Spill takes a look at what it means to be a jazz musician in Toronto via acclaimed drummer Barry Romberg. We find that, even with big jazz festivals hitting the city every summer, it’s still not easy to play in a genre with such a small market.

OVER 30 YEARS AFTER he dropped out of high school to become a rock star, Barry Romberg sits behind the drum kit at Toronto’s Rex Hotel, a venue known for its hospitality to jazz music. A cornucopia of diners, drinkers and thinkers, many of them regulars to this show, are here to enjoy his band, Random Access.

Unlike the food being served, however, Random Access is not easily digestible — it must be actively metabolized. The group has only played two songs and already one middle-aged man, wearing yellow, noise-cancelling earmuffs and carrying a book, has checked out of the hotel. He cannot read in the environment Romberg is creating.

Due to the sheer weirdness of the music, Random Access can be alienating to some. But that’s also how it gets the regular listeners lounging in the hotel. It is also how he gets hype for playing summer events like the Toronto Jazz Festival.

But for all his acclaim and awards, Romberg plays in a city where jazz is only at the forefront during the Toronto Jazz Festival and the Beaches International Jazz Festival. It’s a novelty for many Torontonians, but it’s a large part of Romberg’s life. And even at the age of 51, things aren’t going smoothly. Barry Romberg still struggles in his bid to add to Toronto’s musical landscape.

LIKE A CONDUCTOR’S BATON, dictating the atmosphere of the music, Romberg’s drumsticks wave  in the air, descending with considerable force. So dramatic is his sound that most of the Rex’s patrons watching the show have their eyes on him. They see a man with short brown hair, stubble and wearing an expression suggesting he’s lifting a demandingly heavy object.

And in the jazz dialect, his music is heavy. But this Juno Award-winning drummer is carrying much more than just the weight of Random Access; while leading his own group, he is also backing many other distinguished bands, producing at his own Romhog Records and teaching music both at Humber College and York University.

Romberg is generally accepted as an authority on the local scene. “They are few and far between, those who get to the level Barry is at. He’s pushing the envelope,” says the Rex’s music manager, Tom Tytel. “He is one of the ‘first call’ drummers in Toronto.”

Naturally, Romberg is playing a few shows for the Toronto Jazz Festival, be it in his Random Access band, or with other renowned musicians he’s been called to support.

And he is not only called to do gigs; many musicians dial his number, looking for advice on earning project grants.

Because there isn’t a large commercial demand for jazz, funding is a vital life source to artists.

That’s why the drummer has often applied for the “specialized music sound recording” grant, a prize offered to support experienced artists creating music outside commercialized genres. In his musical lifetime, Romberg’s 20 grants are a testament to how established he is as a musician, but also a clue to how eccentric his music is.

One can imagine a bittersweet victory for his wallet, as he often gets the funding, but otherwise faces the difficulties of a profit in a city with a small market for his genre of music. Yet even that victory has worn out as, since April of last year, the specialized music grant (worth up to $20,000) he and his contemporaries have depended on most, is gone.

And this comes at a time when events like the Toronto Jazz Festival and the Beaches International Jazz Festival are the main outlets for artists to reach wider audiences. That’s because in the past decade, big jazz venues have been closing down.

So it’s no wonder that, in jazzy Toronto, it’s become harder to book gigs.

Al Henderson, bassist and leader of the Juno-nominated Al Henderson Septet (in which Romberg plays), laments the days when a band could book a week at a venue. “The clubs where you would play a week cut it down to half a week and then some of them closed. We’re in this down time for jazz,” he says. “In the ’70s and ’80s, there were three or four clubs at any given moment where a band would be in for a week and now there are none.”

After the closings of two of Toronto’s biggest jazz clubs, Top O’ the Senator and the Montreal Bistro in 2005 and 2006, respectively, Random Access is one of the fortunate groups to secure a regular slot in one of the Rex’s 76 monthly gigs (that’s two to three shows per day). Around 9:30, on the last Sunday of pretty much every month, Romberg takes the stage. And the Rex owes it to him.

“Barry is one of the guys who, about ten years ago, when we were club number three, behind the Bistro and the Senator — which we were happy to be — brought us his own interesting, unique, weird projects that involved lots of unbelievable artists who we could never have contacted on our own,” says the Rex’s Tytel, who feels indebted to Romberg.

This all said, Brownman Ali — a highly renowned and respected trumpeter — recently moved to Toronto. He’s hopeful he can challenge the city on what it knows about jazz.

“The potential for Toronto to be like New York is very high,” Brownman tells The Spill. “There's no shortage of monster players in the city, but there's a real shortage of understanding of what this art form's really about.

“People think jazz is Diana Krall and Michael Bublé, and there's a lot more going on in the scene than long-legged pianists and crooners,” he says. “I really believe that if people knew more about what's out there, there'd be more support.”

That’s part of what festivals like the Toronto Jazz Festival and the Beaches International Jazz Festival aim to do; showcase all the facets of jazz to the community, much to the benefit of eccentric acts like Barry Romberg’s Random Access.

THE MOMENT BEFORE I OPEN the doors to a Random Access concert — mid-song — I brace myself for a thunderstorm; Romberg’s lightning-quick cymbal strokes are rain hammering against the ground; his snare accents are the crackling tension within the clouds heralding the thunderous rolls he plays on the floor tom. Kelly Jefferson’s saxophone and Kevin Turcotte’s trumpet argue violently, like gods above the storm, over the groove laid down by Rich Brown’s bass.

Only a couple songs in, Romberg’s forehead already oozes with globules of sweat. The drummer’s hands move with ease around the kit, but the look on his face suggests it’s not so easy. With his lips puckered, his eyes bulging and his thick eyebrows quizzically raised, Romberg looks like he is straining. But as everything about the performance sounds precise, his looks must be deceiving.

This is generally the scene to most Random Access shows, though some of the supporting musicians may change.

At this concert, I overhear one man with a guitar case remark to his friends on how loud Romberg is playing. His tone is somewhat scornful. This is likely because most jazz drummers normally play more quietly.

But Romberg’s style is more than just jazz; the drummer also has a rock and roll side to him. On a list of suggested drummers he gives his students, he recommends rock stars like John Bonham of Led Zeppelin and Terry Bozzio of Frank Zappa, among jazz legends such as Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones.

He might have a wide jazz repertoire now, but what fuelled his teenage ambitions of becoming a rock star hasn’t burned up; in 1978, the 17-year-old Romberg dropped out of high school to tour in a band with his childhood  friend, Joe Rockman, who would later play bass in Jeff Healey’s renowned rock band.

The money was bad and the clubs were raunchy. Even worse were the areas where Romberg played; once, on a cigarette break in between sets, he found a stabbed man in the parking lot.

After discovering jazz while he working downtown at the iconic — and now closed — Sam the Record Man, he thought he would have to forget his rock roots to become a jazz musician. But instead, Romberg reconciled his styles into an eclectic blend of drumming. “I didn’t need to get rid of the John Bonham to add the Philly Joe Jones,”  he says. “Even to this day, Bonham’s probably one of the biggest influences on my playing.”

And this shows in his drumming. After a performance of his a couple of years ago, a spectator went so as far to inform Romberg that he lost the Philly Joe Jones quality to his playing. The new music, the man said, “sucked.”

ON A SUNNY AFTERNOON, I walk into Romberg’s Ikea kitchen, to see him standing with one foot on a chair, his long, baggy pinstriped pants slightly draping over it. He wears a contemplative expression as he takes a drag of his Du Maurier.

Exhaling, he introduces me to a man in his kitchen. It’s saxophonist Kelly Jefferson.

He and Jefferson are meeting to record the title track for Random Access’ latest record, The Gods Must Be Smiling. Jefferson will be playing “the Random Access way,” as the saxophonist put it. That is, he will improvise.

In his Romhog studio, Romberg, “The Producer,” shows Jefferson the track he has to work with. It starts with a guitar resonating through a digital delay effect pedal, giving the song a floating feeling. Like an abstract painting, it’s appropriate to describe it as heavenly or oceanic.

“Geoff [Young] and his box,” says Romberg, noting the effect characterizing the guitarist’s sound featured on a number of Random Access tunes.

Jefferson listens intently as the music matures through more dramatic and darker moods before it stops for a bass solo. The bass plays two notes and loops them, speeding them up. It sounds a little ridiculous. “Rich Brown,” Romberg laughs.

These are huge names he is mentioning. Like Romberg, many of his collaborators have been nominated for or have won National Jazz Awards and Juno Awards. So with backing musicians with such reputations, Random Access is essentially a supergroup. But even with an all-star band, the process of recording Romberg’s latest release was partially defined by its fiscal situation.

Instead of spending a hundred hours in the recording session like he’s done before, The Gods Must Be Smiling was recorded in just over three hours of improvisation. This, added with the fact that he’s had to finance all the album expenses himself, has lead the bandleader to pay the elite musicians he’s hired significantly less money than what is customary; only $500 each.

Nevertheless, the creative process wasn’t hampered by economics.

The album’s title track is playing through the speakers again, but this time, accompanied by a Jefferson’s saxophone. Romberg listens to the improvisation. As the song evolves through its darker mood, he gets more into it. Romberg gets up from his seat and dances on the spot, leaning back and forth, bobbing his head perfectly in time to the tune. He’s in a trance. That is, until he notices me.

He gives me an awkward look I try to avoid. It’s like walking in on someone undressing; we both feel a little embarrassed and never mention it again. Unable to resist, he soon sits back down and begins to subtly bob his head and tap his feet.

He finishes when the first take is over and declares: “That’s jazz for you.”

Jefferson returns to hear the playback. He listens, looking intently at the wall, but his eyes are glazed over; he isn’t seeing anything. He only hears. For almost seven minutes, he doesn’t shift his glaze.

Near the end of the song, the climax erupts. The drums get louder in what seems like an epic finale. Abruptly, they end with a piercing flam on the snare drum. The heavenly, oceanic music from the beginning of the song immediately follows. The two men chuckle at the placement of this denouement. “Exactly,” Romberg tells Jefferson.

The subtlety of this humour is prevalent in jazz, though less so in commercial genres. It has the perfect quality for the specialized music grant Romberg and other Canadian jazz talents can no longer receive.

“I think it’s time to have a smaller band,” says Romberg, referencing the cost to hire the elite players who regularly join him on stage and in studio. I ask him if he’s joking. He’s somewhat serious.

Since then, Random Access now features a new, condensed lineup; instead of the band that, at times, boasted 15 members, it now has four.

IN A CONCERT BEFORE the release of his latest album, Romberg is playing just as intensely as usual. As his sweat trails down his brown v-neck, he grabs a salmon-coloured towel from behind him and attempts to dry himself off as he walks to the microphone. With his gravelly voice, he explains to the audience that the music he is playing has an open harmonic structure. “There are no pitches,” he says. “Just rhythm. That said, we invite you to dance.”

You can almost tell how long Random Access has been playing just from the sweat trails on Romberg’s shirt. At this show, the trail, looking like a Rorschach inkblot on his brown v-neck, has reached his belly. This means the hour-long set is over.

“We have twelve records out,” he tells the crowd, after his last song. “Please buy one — my basement is full of them.”

He isn’t lying.

Tucked away in a corner of his unfinished basement lies what Romberg calls his “Wall of Shame.” Though technically, it is a Shelving Unit of Shame, holding up several boxes of various unsold Random Access CDs.

In fact, Romberg only pressed 500 copies of his new album. Normally he makes 1000 copies of each record, but to economize on space and money, he had to change his plan.

The one plan he won’t change, however, is his music.

“A couple of years ago, over 50 percent of albums sold in the West were country records. I thought to myself, ‘maybe I should start making country music,’” he says. “But I couldn’t make a commercial record.”

In contrast, Romberg’s wife, Nellie, suggests he hire a rapper to make his music more commercially successful.

“Music is either about art or about selling something,” counters Romberg. “But if you are out to sell, it’s not really art anymore. One thing about being a musician is that you have to be honest.

“There are two kinds of music,” he continues, quoting Duke Ellington, “good and bad.”

Whether or not his art sells is not really an issue for him. He may, however, need the sales considering he no longer has grant funding. But again, it isn’t stopping him from releasing his upcoming album. It never stops him.

“There's a running joke amongst the community that I release a CD every week," Romberg once said in an interview in 2007. Four years later, the situation hasn’t changed; he has put out one Random Access album every year since and has released two more albums through his Romhog label. Indeed, he still proves to be able to retain his place as the butt of the jazz scene’s running joke.

– Robert Vandrish

Oh Yes! It’s the Bicycles!

They’ve toured across Canada and even released an interactive DVD board game but now the Bicycles have a new album out, one that’s a little bit more mature than their debut.

Previously known for their light, quirky pop tunes, their new album, Oh No! It’s Love keeps to that formula but as the title suggests, love is in the air. The lyrics are a bit more serious this time around. Recording the album was also a change, said drummer Dana Snell.

“When we did the first album, we didn’t have that many tracks, we had to do them one at a time so I had to play a quick track and then everyone else had to fill in their parts on top of mine. But this time we went to Jose Contreras’ good friend David Young’s studio up in north Toronto and we got to do everything together,” Snell said. “The drums and the rhythm guitar even a bit of lead guitar altogether. So it was fun you know it felt more like a collaborative effort in which you can kind of like express a little bit more about the songs”.

While singer/guitarists Matt Beckett and Drew Smith wrote the bulk of the tunes on the album, multi-instrumentalist Andrew Scott contributed three songs and Snell wrote one herself as well, all part of their collaborative effort. Once their parts were complete, their songs were shipped off to their friends, not to hear but to beef up.

“One other thing we did differently was we picked some players we wanted to have on certain songs and we would give them the tracks and give them a month or a couple weeks to just add parts onto it,” Snell said.

Since their last album, the band released “The Good The Bad and The Cuddly: The Interactive DVD Board Game” in the summer of 2007. A new party trend was born, perhaps. 

“We did it just to have something in-between to put out so people remember us,” Snell said. “It was probably Matt’s idea, but we wanted some sort of game like a video game then we saw some copies of Nightmare and Party Mania at the house where we practice at, so we were playing those and decided an interactive board game hasn’t been put out in a while. It stopped with DVD so we’re bringing it back.”

With their new album now on store shelves, the band is gearing up for their CD release party on Nov. 8 at Lee’s Palace. With Laura Barrett and Henry Fletcher (both from Snell’s other band Henri Faberge and the Adorables) among others, the Bicycles performed songs from their new album, with their friends taking the stage in between tracks.

“We had a really good time with the first one and it really worked out. We wanted it to be something special and out of the ordinary and not just us playing our songs but involving the people who played on the record and the people who are around us and inspire us, like basically our favourite bands,” Snell said. “It worked out so we thought why not do it again.”

The Last Waltz-ish concept is nothing new to the Bicycles, who did the same thing for their first CD release party in 2006, but this time, having Fletcher on board was key.

“We had the Adorables the first time but Henry wasn’t there so he was really mad that he missed it,” Snell said with a laugh “He was like, ‘Why did you wait until after I was gone?’ As if we could plan it around him. So this time we made it a point of getting him on there.”

-Jon Brazeau

Black Mold: Chad VanGaalen’s Obscure Hidden Symphony

A 10 a.m. phone call from a music journalist isn’t the best wake up call you can get, but considering Chad VanGaalen is no stranger to The Spill, our chat isn’t at all awkward.

VanGaalen’s last show in Toronto was at the Harbourfront Festival on July 1, which he says was pretty fun but adds that he was a little scared when the crowd started singing the national anthem.

“There is just something really weird about group chants, especially when the song is so old that most people don’t even understand the full meaning of the words their singing,” he says. “I’d rather everyone just fucking sang ‘Happy Birthday’ or something.”

The last time I spoke to Chad VanGaalen, he was preparing for the release of his third record, Soft Airplane. VanGaalen’s melancholic, folk pop ballads meticulously illustrated his fears of the inevitable fate that is death. Arranged and produced in his studio, the record solidified the Calgary native’s musical talent and shocked a lot of music critics right off the bat.

“I really liked Soft Airplane but it’s not the type of record I would buy,” he explains. “I like to sing but the type of music I like isn’t very ‘sing-songy’ type stuff.” 

The birth of some of VanGaalen’s best work comes from a lot of experimenting. Years of late night experimentation are what have spawned VanGaalen’s electronic alter ago, Black Mold. With Black Mold, VanGaalen is free to dive into a wilder side of his instrumental work. A lot of his very early work stemmed from these experiments.

“I started with this stuff when I was 15. This was the first thing to come out my recordings,” he says. “The good thing about this project is that I know I’ll never play it live, so it gives me an opportunity to really fuck around with a lot of different elements of music and layering sounds.”

Fans can draw parallels between Black Mold and a lot of the electronic work used in VanGaalen’s other albums.

“‘J.C’s Head on a Cross’ had some house parts that were really cool,” he says. “Songs like ‘Red Hot Drop’ and ‘TMNT Mask’ are more up tempo and fun to dance too. A lot of the other Black Mold shit is stuff I was scared to sing over because it was so weird.” 

Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz, Black Mold’s debut (out now on Flemish Eye), is erratic and unpredictable but also very sparse and tamed. The recording was all done on a tape deck with no mastering.

“I pulled about 50 albums worth of stuff for this record,” VanGaalen says. “A lot of the songs dwell into early house, experimental noise, and electro, which is a lot of the stuff I listen to.”

From reworking modular synths to reprogramming Game Boys, Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz is a unique listen. Some songs start as erratic bursts of noise before settling into simple acoustic layering, while others dwell into more glitchy beats and early house.

“I wanted to make a really diverse electro record,” VanGaalen says. “It’s definitely a record I would buy, but I know not everyone would get. Like if there was a record that was primarily white noise, I would fucking buy that, but not everyone would get it.”

VanGaalen will also be in the director’s chair again as he plans to release a DVD that will feature animations and videos for four songs on the record. VanGaalen previously animated music videos for “Clinically Dead,” “Flower Gardens,” “Red Hot Drops,” and “Molten Light,” as well as the Love as Laughter song “Dirty Lives.”

Black Mold and Chad VanGaalen may never be one entity according to VanGaalen.

“I’ve tried in the past and like I said it’s just not going to work,” he explains. “I feel like if I try again, that shit has to go smoothly, no exceptions.”

VanGaalen shows no signs of slowing down. Soft Airplanes B-sides were just released and VanGaalen recently re-signed with Sub Pop after completing a three record deal.

“There are two more new records coming out in the next little while,” he says. “One of them is already pretty much finished, but it probably won’t be released for another year or two.”

With two Polaris-nominated records and now Black Mold, there is no telling what other musical concoctions VanGaalen has in store for us next.

— Max Mohenu

Black Moth Super Rainbow: Pot of Gold at the End of This Rainbow

Black Moth Super Rainbow; with a name like that, you know it has to be good.

Hailing from Pittsburgh, the band consists of Tobacco, The Seven Fields of Aphelion, Ryan Graveface, Iffernaut, Power Pill Fist and Father Hummingbird. You must be thinking, am I caught in a drug-induced children’s book daydream? Not quite but their fourth full-length album, Eating Us (out now on Graveface Records), will take you to a far away land. It’s multi-layered sound leaves so much room for imagination, where there’s a certain bitter-sweetness to the songs.

Tobacco definitely agrees, “I think it's pretty gray and moody but that's what I was going for.”

Way back in 1996 is when BMSR began with Tobacco performing independently. After additional members eventually joined, they went through many name changes – including satanstompingcaterpillars – until finally sticking with their current name in 2003. It makes one curious to think of the sort of musical influences each individual member must’ve contributed to the creative plate when writing the music.

“I can't really speak for anyone else, but in the beginning it was just me anyways,” explains Tobacco. “I was just listening to an unhealthy amount of vintage synth stuff, kind of like, so much at once that it's the only way you can think. Hopefully that's worked itself out though!”

On this album, Black Moth Super Rainbow were ready for something different and collaborated with Dave Fridmann, who’s worked with bands such as OK Go, The Flaming Lips (with whom BMSR toured with) and MGMT.

“He's the only person I've ever met who could understand what I was going for without me knowing exactly how to communicate what I want,” Tobacco shares. “I don't know anything about music or the technical terms and he probably knows all of them and I wouldn't expect people like us to be able to mix. But I think he's gotten to the point where he's wise enough to be able to even understand someone like me who was raised by wolves.”

The collaboration has worked out amazingly, considering they purposely tried to escape their comfort zones while writing the album, which can be a huge step to take.

“I think the next level was to stop experimenting and see what would happen if we did it like everyone else…go into a studio one time and see how it turns out the old fashioned way,” says Tobacco. “Just to see if this one time, the songs can hold   up when we take all the grossness away.”

There is an obvious rebirth to the band that can be heard on the new record; they all seem to have been in a more mature head space while writing the album with a whole new crew. Although they have a definite sound - which could only surely be theirs - Tobacco and his mates were more concerned with being satisfied than playing it safe.

“For the first time, I thought about what would actually be good for the album instead of just what would make me happy,” he says. “So I’m taking a less self-indulgent route with BMSR.”

And to think, at one point Tobacco was questioning his career in music!

“When we played at McCarren pool in Brooklyn last summer, the people running the show were the only good things about it,” he explains. “The crowd hated us, we just weren't in sync and there was such a weird air around the other bands and their managers that day that they just made me want to run far away from music and do something else with my life. It was like MGMT had convinced me that I should get a real job.”

Happy to say they aren’t flipping burgers! Eating Us is a sure summer hit for Tobacco and the Black Moth Super Rainbow kids and is a sure treat for the ears. Synthesizers, vocorders, bells and electric drum kits; could it get any better?

- Brittney Townson

Blue Peter – The ‘80s are Back To Bite You Pt. 2

Although the punk movement was short, its effects were none the less lasting. The Do-It-Yourself attitude survived and carried on into the next wave of music, often referred to as post-punk or new wave.

Music historians largely and shamefully neglect this period in musical history. There are numerous books on the punk period of 1975-‘77 and then… not much. The early eighties were especially stigmatized as a campy, silly time for music. The synth pop bands with black eyeliner and embarrassing short haircuts were just too much for the decade to overcome. However, the ‘80s were more than just that. Most of what is written features British bands as the decade’s dominant force. Sure there were many great British groups, but the Great White North also has its own little club; though obviously not as big and definitely under-documented.

This is a shame because many important Canadian bands came into being during this era. One band in particular stands out. And they didn’t get nearly the credit they deserved for their part in creating a Canadian indie scene.

Blue Peter formed in the late seventies when Paul Humphrey (lead vocals) and Chris Wardman (guitar) started collaborating before getting a solid band together. This included Jason Sniderman (keyboards), Rick Joudrey (bass) and Owen Tennyson (drums). They would play a vital role in paving the way for the ‘80s scene.

The five-piece band signed with Ready Records in 1979 and released the Test Patterns for Living EP. It was recorded in a day and was and seized the excitement of the time with its mood and lyrics. In 1980 the band put out a full-length album, Radio Silence, featuring a hit of the same name. The album included other thoughtful songs that reflected the politics of the era including “Video Verite” and “Take me to War.”

Blue Peter then took a break from Ready Records and started their own label, AWOL Records, putting out a popular EP titled Up to You, which featured the hit single “Chinese Graffiti” and won Blue Peter a CASBY award for best single in 1981.

When Blue Peter returned to Ready Records their sound had matured and their image was more sophisticated. This was reflected on their breakthrough album, Falling. Produced by Steve Nye (Japan, Roxy Music), who was a great fit with the band. Out of this project came the dance hit single “Don’t Walk Past.”

Then, just as the band was on the brink of international success, Blue Peter split up. They were worn out by their own gruelling schedule – but not without leaving an imprint on the Canadian indie scene with great music and fond memories.

Luckily, those fond of the Canadian new wave scene had the chance to relive Blue Peter’s music with a show at the Mod Club on January 21st. Before that show happened I had the chance to talk with Blue Peter’s own Chris Wardman.

-          Daria Essop-lafontaine
 

An Interview with Chris Wardman of Blue Peter

Spill: What stirred up the reunion show at the Horseshoe and the upcoming show at the Mod Club?

Chris Wardman: We’ve been playing off and on since 2006, when The Best of Ready Records was released. Before that, apart from a greatest hits CD release gig in 1997, we hadn’t played together since 1985. We were expecting the show to be a one-off but the demand kept coming, and we were having fun, so we just kept going.

Spill: What’s the relationship with Chalk Circle all about?  Your keyboardist is playing for them, why?

CW: Chalk Circle used to play with us when they were first starting out. I produced their first two releases, The Great Lake and Mending Wall. We were looking for a band to do a double bill with as that seems like more fun than just playing our own show. I met up with Chris Tait and sort of got the ball rolling. Our keyboard player, Jason Sniderman, contributed keyboard parts and programming to many of my production projects, including Chalk Circle, so it was only natural that he would fill in.

“We never felt like we were part of any scene”

Spill: You were called “New Wave” by the media, is that a fair label?

CW: We never thought so but looking back it makes sense. We never felt like we were part of any scene and we never aspired to be part of a trend. The original new wave and punk bands did blow a hole in the ‘70s that we were able to make an entrance through. Music was unbelievably boring in the mid-‘70s. We were being told that we had to do covers and go on the rock circuit. That was never going to work out. Once the dive bars started being punk and new wave bars a new world opened up for us.

Spill: I saw you opening up for the Boomtown Rats at the Elmo and even back then BP made a strong impression, particularly you!

CW: The Boomtown Rats gig was pretty crazy, we were stuck in a dressing room in the basement and escorted on stage, we were told we couldn’t see the show but we got smuggled in somehow. It was eye opening to see the sound check. The best band we never opened for was The Clash. We were called down to the Rex Theatre on the Danforth to open but we got pulled at the last minute. We did get to see the show though! That was life-changing.

Spill: Did you cultivate your own style or did the label give you guys an image? Did you find you had creative freedom or were you on a “forced march” to sell records for the labels?

CW: [Ready Records] was probably the first “Stiff Records”-style label in Canada. It was a true indie label – as far as you could possibly get from a major label. They basically facilitated the making of our records. We had control of the photography and design. Paul’s sister was a model in Milan and she would bring us back clothes and style us. That gave us a big kick down the path to our own style.

Spill: How did you feel opening for all those big international bands? Any good stories, any of them you really admired?

CW: We opened for The Jam and Simple Minds. Both bands were our favourites at the time. At The Jam show I lined up to speak to Paul Weller and I said something about liking his guitar and he said it was a cheap knockoff of mine. They watched us play from side stage.

We had a lot of fun hanging around with The Fixx at the Police Picnic. We were in a trailer with them when we were abruptly escorted out. It turned out that the Police took a tea break in that trailer as part of their set and it was being filmed for the audience to see.

We also got kicked out of our dressing room so that James Brown could use it!

Spill: It seems like you were really close to enjoying a wider, far-reaching success and you had a lot of hits, which is rare for a local band at the time, and then you just broke up. What happened?

CW: Paul [Humphrey] left and we didn’t want to look for a new singer.

Spill: What were you doing following the break up?

CW: I started producing bands. I worked with Chalk Circle, Rusty, Breeding Ground, Sons of Freedom, Art Bergmann, Leslie Spit Treeo, The Watchmen, Randy Bachman, Emm Gryner... After that I worked for BMG (now Sony) and Universal Music.

Spill: What do make of the state of the Canadian music scene today?

CW: I think it’s never been better, Canada has been fully accepted as a legitimate place to be from. The independent scene is exploding. Agencies like FACTOR and Radio Star Maker are certainly contributing to that, allowing Canadian artists to compete. Some of the artists I personally I like include Caribou, Tokyo Police Club, Final Fantasy, K-os, VitaminsForYou, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor.

“Creating music hasn’t changed”

Spill: You seemed ahead of the times and futuristic back in the ‘80s, do you think you could have been really big if you had access to all the modern toys and technology available to today’s bands?

CW: The technology to distribute and promote music has improved, but creating music with humans in a room together hasn’t changed. We were lucky as we had access to world class studios with two inch tape and all that now vintage gear. Watching our engineer, Kevin Doyle, doing edits on master tape with a razor blade at 4 in the morning is something that modern musicians are unlikely to experience. There was no undo.

Spill: Any regrets?

CW: I guess we regret not becoming as big as our heroes – but on the other hand we may not have survived it.

Spill: What’s next?

CW: We plan to just keep playing, for fun, as opportunities arise. We’re getting a lot better… if we just keep practicing…

A New Nation Rising: The Red, Yellow and Blue of the Born Ruffians

A low moan is sounded out against a loose and atmospheric guitar, while distant whistling announces a march. There is a rolling drum beat, and then a cry: “HEY! If I started my own country, for the flag what colours would I use? Such a myriad to choose from, I’d pick red yellow and blue”. These opening bars of the title track from the Born Ruffian debut album Red Yellow and Blue sounds almost like a revolutionary hymn. And though the boys of the Born Ruffians would likely never assume the role of activist—they’re far too grounded to attribute such lofty ambition to their album—there’s something pioneering about their style, and their sound. Lively but substantial, Red Yellow and Blue (released with US label Warp) is a collection of curiously upbeat and charged, eclectic, anthems. But if they do start a new country, I’m moving there.

A Born Ruffian in name only, lead singer and guitarist Luke LaLonde seems anything but a rough and tumble type. He’s timid, pensive, and painfully humble. His gaze is often downcast as he answers questions thoughtfully from behind his beer with disarming sincerity. He explains that much is often made of the band’s youthful appearance. Lalonde, bassist Mitch DeRosier and drummer Steve Hamelin all turn 22 in the coming year, and have been playing together since they were 16 in their hometown of Midland, Ontario. “If only I could grow a beard like Steve!” jokes LaLonde.

While he may still have a bashful and boyish manner, LaLonde is also particularly mature. The singer is still reeling from the Ruffians’ rapid rise since the release of their self-titled EP in 2006. “If you told ‘past me’ that this would be my life in two years, it would be like ‘Wow, that would be so fun’,” he explains with a light-hearted laugh, “but then it comes, and you find new things to worry about.” But on the eve of his European tour, LaLonde seems anything but agitated. He chattily recounts to me the book he’s reading on neuro-plasticity, and his growing need for routine and responsibility. “Youthful is something good, and we want to stay young, but we don’t want to be thought of as teenagers.” Surely, their new album will do much to convince critics that this band has come of age.

Stylistically, the Born Ruffians are a mixed breed. They borrow and blend elements of folk, punk, rock, and jazz among other genres. Their guitar-heavy compositions are laced with stirring bass lines and punchy staccato drum beats that demand participation. The new album features one song from the earlier EP—Hedonistic Me—which LaLonde describes as more characteristic of the Ruffians new and measurably matured style. He sees the record as a movement into a new direction characterized by a warm, up-tempo sound. “They’re better songs, for sure,” says the singer, “But some people might be disappointed too. The EP was different than the new album—the new album is more upbeat. People change a lot in two years.”

In classic indie style, the Born Ruffians take a DIY approach to music making. “I can’t study music,” says LaLonde, “It takes the fun out of it. I know a certain amount of music theory, but I don’t know what chords are in what keys, so I make a weird chord, I just kind of play until it sounds right to me.” Instead, the Ruffians relies on practice, and controlled chance, which result in up-beat off-tempo and occasionally a-tonal compositions. “We definitely like playing the drums in a different time signature than is right for the song,” explains LaLonde, “Steve will be like ‘Oh I fucked up’ and, and I’ll say no, that was so good, and it will happen by accident that we’ll end up playing in 6/4 and he’s playing in 4/4.” To these acoustic accidents, the Ruffians add whimsical instrumental touches like spoons-esque drumming, trombone, and accordion, as well as a distinctive vocal style.

LaLonde’s harmonic effects range from melodic to halting yelps and wails. As a child, he was trained as a choral singer and soloist. “I like someone who does something interesting with their voice,” he says, “When I first started playing I was still a guitar player who was singing at the same time and then I realized that the vocal melody was as important as the guitar part.” In addition, playful lyrics like “I’m a little garcon in my head,” or more serious statements such as “I don’t want to be me anymore,” make for an equally fitting complement or contrast to the ecstatic tone. “It’s funny, Mitch said that Hummingbird has this really happy feeling when you listen to it, but the lyrics are so sad,” explains LaLonde, “He said it was the happiest sad song he’d ever heard.” These amusing juxtapositions of tone and meaning make up the richness of the Ruffian repertoire, and are a mark of their idiosyncratic aesthetic. But the evolution is still underway. For LaLonde, “our goals are constantly changing, like what we want to achieve with our music. Like the next album, I want it take a bigger step forward, but I can’t really think about it now.” For now, the band sets off to blaze trails with new tracks before returning home in April.

- Davida Aronovitch

Brenda Earle: Venturing Into
New Territory

The concept of having your feet in a number of pots is nothing new to pianist Brenda Earle.

She has had a fruitful career as a composer and arranger in a wide variety of styles, performer and teacher. Earle continues to venture into new territory on her fifth album, Songs for a New Day, in which she incorporates singing into an already top notch recording with heavy hitting players.

The choice to start singing later in a musical career is not always an easy one. For Earle it was something that was in her all along waiting to be explored.

“I did a lot of singing in private,” she says. “I’d sometimes get frustrated when I was playing with a singer; I wanted to be up there.”

While attending workshops in Banff one year, Earle performed in vocal jazz concerts and received the encouragement she needed from some of North Americas jazz aficionados - including the multi-talented Don Thompson - to take her singing to another level.

When asked about the change in her playing once the transition into singing was made, Earle talks about the importance of separating the two.

“When I was studying with (saxophonist and legendary jazz gourou) Dave Liebman, he wouldn’t let me play piano while I was singing,” she says. “I needed to know what it was to (actually) stand up and be a singer.”

Her experience as an instrumentalist is evident on the album as many of her own compositions incorporate intricate jazz harmonies and atonal melodic lines. In some tunes, her voice would take on the feel of a horn playing the head of a bebop tune.

“People would say to me, ‘the instrumentalist in you obviously wrote this ’cause it’s extremely difficult to sing!’” she says.

Her experience in a wide variety of styles is clear on compositions like the title track, which almost has a music theatre feel to it, and covers like “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To,” which incorporates vocal jazz sounding solis.

Earle, who has a vast background in arranging everything from choirs to brass quintets to orchestras, takes it quite seriously, especially when it comes to her own album.

“I tend to look at a lot of different music, find songs that have meaning to me for whatever reason,” she says. “The Marc Anthony tune (‘Valio La Pena’) was an itch that I couldn’t scratch. I finally had to do it. I treat my arrangements as a deconstruction, taking the song apart and putting it back together incorporating music of different cultures and jazz theory.”

After a while of playing the same music, Earle “told all the stories she needed to tell” and simply needed new material, which helped in choosing her repertoire for Songs for a New Day.

Like many singers, Earle had to avoid the stereotype of being the “ditzy vocalist” who knew nothing about her charts, music, etc.

“People usually know that I do both piano and vocal so I manage to usually avoid that,” she says. “I always tell my students, ‘I don’t want you to have to marry a piano player to play music.’ It’s important to invest in your career as a musician and get your stuff together.”

She reminisces of a time when she certainly proved herself not to be a “ditzy vocalist.”

“I had been singing with a band on a cruise ship, but most of them didn’t know that I played the piano,” she recalls. “I sat down at the piano later in the show and played a blues and shred it….people were surprised.”

What pot shall she venture into next? Earle is currently working on a project called “Sacred Voices,” arranging psalms for SATB that will be accompanied by a jazz quartet on a 90-minute recording. She is currently studying the pipe organ for another challenge and will be debuting with the New York Philharmonic in June.

Songs for a New Day was is out now and features standards, original compositions, and covers of artists ranging from Crowded House to Marc Anthony.

- Melissa P.

Rocking out with Brent Grunow

He has opened for Kid Rock, Buckcherry, Collective Soul, O.A.R, Poison, and the Marshall Tucker Band; he’s been in magazines like Hot Ticket, Spin Magazine, and All Access Magazine; according to his bio, he is “Mick Jagger meets Jim Morrison in a back alley fist fight, with a style of his own.” He is Brent Grunow of Brent Grunow & the Bandits.

Growing up in Saginaw, Mich., Grunow was exposed to a lot of rad artists at a very young age. His parents would put on artists around the house such as, Marvin Gaye, Joe Cocker, and the Rolling Stones, just to name a few. His influences also consist of Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty.

“Tom Petty is a genius if you ask me,” he said.

As a young boy, he would sing in the car with his mom as she gave him tips on his vocal skills. Grunow started playing shows between the ages of 15 and 16 years old. He moved from Saginaw to New York City in 2003.

“Saginaw is so saturated with cover bands,” Grunow said. “Don’t get me wrong, there are a few great bands as well, but no one gets out of Michigan.”

He thought New York would be a great place for him to move to for the music scene. Grunow started working at record company, Everfine Records, and stayed there for about a year and a half but quit his job at Everfine because working there and constantly touring started to conflict with each other too much.

Grunow wrote all the music for his EP, Push and Pull, and also co-produced it along side the talented Bob Iadeluca. Brent Grunow & the Bandits started touring on the album after recording it at Pearl Sound Studios in Detroit, with Chuck Alkazian. Having all his songs written for a couple of years, he gave his friends acoustic copies of the album. They encouraged him to get into the studio and properly record the EP.  He is grateful for that push from his friends.

“I consider myself a songwriter,” Grunow said. “I want people to remember my songs.”

All of his songs were influenced by different times and moments in his life. Grunow plans to be in the studio for the next couple months to lay down more tracks for another album. He plans on touring in the New Year with hopes to stop off and play Toronto. He played Toronto about two years ago with his old band, the Flask, and had such a rad time here, he would like to rock out once again.

To read up more on Grunow, listen to music, look at pictures, and keep an eye out for tour dates, check out his website at www.brentgrunow.com .

-Danielle Cowie

Broken Social Scene’s Second Night –
Dec 10, 2010
Over two hours with the whole BSS family at The Sound Academy

December 9 was no December 10. For one, the opening band for the first show, Superchunk, wasn’t there. And the crowd of Broken Social Scene’s second Toronto night seemed to get   some extra headliner loving. Not only did this audience get an extra song, but an extra member too.

The Beauties, friends of BSS, happened to be the openers for this night, rocking a set with a variety of the headlining band’s members joining in on some songs. Core member Kevin Drew, a five-month pregnant Amy Millan and an accompanying Evan Cranley (the latter two also play in Stars) all gave the crowd a teaser for what was to come. Paying an extra $200 for an encore, Drew encouraged The Beauties to take the money, as well as take the crowd into the next set.

Then the red curtain went down. Excitement went stale as a long wait fermented boredom. But once the curtain was drawn, boredom turned to forgiveness and cheers.

“Pacific Theme” and “KC Accidental” were the first two tunes to treat longing ears as the beginning of the band’s 24 song-long set began. What followed was a wall of sound, filling the high ceilings of the Sound Academy with the group’s notorious ambient indie rock style.

Pleasing the audience, Feist made her debut song appearance by hiding behind a blazer-wearing Drew and jumping out from behind him, taking hold the mic as she stole the vocal lead. Next song played was a cover of her radio hit, “I Feel It All.” It sounded just like the recording off The Reminder – except for the orchestra of backing instruments, including a perspective-changing saxophone addition.

With John McEntire of Tortoise, Charles Spearin of Do Make Say Think and Andrew Whiteman, the “Apostle of Hustle himself” (as ­­­­Drew put it) among a dozen other players saturating the Sound Academy with sixteen songs, one person was left missing. Drew asks the crowd who the missing member was. They screamed what you’re probably thinking right now: “Emily Haines.”

The seventeenth track was, of course, “Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl.” A very frail Haines walked out, dressed in white. The crowd waited over half the set for her as if she were the only star in the band (they would have waited a full 24 hours had they arrived on the December 9 show; she never showed up that night). Perhaps this wait was because she looked so weak that performing a whole concert – and BSS played for over two and a half hours – could have ended in her collapsing. Such a fate prematurely ended the last Metric concert I watched.

Nearing the end of the show, another core band member, Brendan Canning, lit up a joint at the side of the stage, as Drew – alone on stage – talked to the crowd about the importance of following rules. It seemed like Canning may have known of the speech and sparked joint for the irony, but as he seemed genuinely disturbed by the infraction that interjected his speech, Drew may not have been in on it. They had a quick exchange before Canning reluctantly ashes his doobie on a speaker.

It only seemed more ironic as Drew, at another moment in the show, had chanted: “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me,” telling everyone to join in – and the crowd complied.

To the pleasure of fans, the concert seemed to have a few false encores. But after 21 songs, the group had three more tunes to donate. Finally closing with “Major Label Debut (Medium),” Broken Social Scene gave Toronto all it had, and – in the form of claps, screams and cheers – Toronto returned the sentiment.

Getting into the car to leave the remote Polson Street venue, the radio came on. I quickly turned it off. Not only because mainstream radio couldn’t follow the act I had just witnessed, but because nothing could. Broken Social Scene’s December 10, 2010 concert was physically and emotionally taxing, and, if the other members of the audience were anything like me, they were making their way home in silence, still metabolizing the event that night.

-Robert Vandrish

The Budos Band:
The Bearded Ones Tell All

Jared Tankel isn’t kidding when he says The Budos Band is “always teeming on the edge of chaos.”

The Staten Island-based 11-piece instrumental-afro-beat-soul-funk-everything band has been touring, and hopped over the border on May 23 to play an absolutely packed show at the Polish Legion Hall. Actually, it was much more of an ordeal than that, as assorted members explained backstage (that is, “backstage” in a legion hall, which carries only the most tenuous of connections to most “backstages”). 

Apparently, the “bearded ones” (as their original band name meant) were welcomed less-than-warmly by our customs officials—surprising (or maybe not so…), considering they’d barely been in town three hours and were already exclaiming over some prime Canadian goods backstage.

Tankel, baritone sax player and apparent mouthpiece for the band, also wasn’t kidding when he says being a Budos member, “has been a very good exercise in like ‘hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, and wait.’”

Backstage, the shifting kaleidoscope of instruments, drinks, sounds, faces and seemingly wandering vagrants (myself included) was overwhelming and easily as lively as their vibrant music. The Budos sound is as close to honey-flavoured, brightly-coloured music as you’ll get without popping an impressive number of pills. Their songs, “usually named by [the] drummer” with “a medieval/comic book/something really random inspiration,” are singularly designed (or so it seems) to make people happy, and then to make them dance. And it works.

In half-light (or half-shadow, depending on how you look at it), with people unassumingly streaming upstairs to see his band, Tankel says they’re “doing what [they] want, and really enjoy it.”

Mixing several genres that are lesser head in popular music makes their sound occasionally “hard to describe” but for the Budos Band, it “really just invokes an emotional and psychological and sometimes physical response.”

He says some of the best shows he can remember were at “this place in Brooklyn that shut down…this really small club—sweaty, dirty rock club, basically.”

He admits that the shows they played there “probably weren’t our tightest shows, cause we were probably drunker there than the audience, but for me that was the most alive of all the live shows.”

The Budos Band shares some of the flamboyant lifestyle of their influences (namely James Brown and Fela Kuti).

“People expect because we’re an afro-funk band we’re going to be these mellow dudes, but we like to party,” Tankel laughs, with dancing blue eyes. “There are a couple of guys that tend to take more leadership roles when necessary,” he explains, especially during the writing stages, “a lot of times it’s hard to do that with ten guys shooting ideas everywhere.”

Perhaps the fact that this “chaos” does not overwhelm the music is a testament to “the passion that [they] each have for those types of music.”

Although without lyrics, the Budos Band arguably contain less of the personal, direct connection that much popular music has, Tankel explains that “this music is very personal and meaningful to us, and so the pieces we take of each genre—a little bit of Afrobeat and a bit of American soul, and to some extent like especially with our newer stuff, just straight up rock music—speak to our personal experiences.”

Of course, most essentially, Tankel mentions that they “have a lot of fun.”

In many ways, the Budos Band embody the completely alive nature of music; blending styles fluidly, enjoying it, and always letting us enjoy it too.

- Sally Walker Hudecki

Castanets: Outlaws of folk

Since blindsiding listeners with the release of Cathedral in 2004, San Diego-based experimental phenomenon Castanets have set a new standard for the brand of unique experimental folk they’ve spear-headed.

The brainchild of Ray Raposa, the only permanent member in an ever-evolving lineup, the band has released their fifth album, Texas Rose, the Thaw and the Beasts, to further acclaim.

A departure from 2008’s City of Refuge which has been cited as “a minimalist desert opera” after seemingly exuding the tendencies of the hot, dry sand, the latest record seems to embrace the naturalistic and experimental, even gravitating toward elements of dance.

“I don’t think it’s that big of a move,” Raposa explains. “Maybe from Refuge, but every other record I’ve done has had drum machines/synths, etc. . . . But then the word ‘pop’ shows up in a one sheet and that’s the hook for the record. Happens. I didn’t feel the shift if it was there, though. 2.4 Richters.”

Regardless, with an approach to music that’s undoubtedly multi-faceted, Raposa has succeeded in creating albums that refuse to act as follow-ups or sequels, maintaining distinct presences with each release.

“[I achieve that] by not really thinking too hard one way or another on the maintenance,” he says. “There’s different people from record to record. I’m a different person from record to record. Different studios. Different s/o’s. Different presidents, etc.

“The record is not trying to say anything. The Beasts, however, never shut up. They’ll tell you anything you’d like to hear if you ask and a lot of harsh white noise otherwise.”

Following the acclaim of the Castanets’ early releases, the band was quickly labelled and categorized, being hailed as pioneers of psychedelic folk — a notion the front man fails to embrace.

“It depends whose saying it and what they mean when they do, I guess,” Raposa says. “But oh man — fuck freak-folk. I have no time for that shit. Inaccurate and insulting. I deal in the genres that outlaws can understand.”

In the spirit of creative freedom, the music of Castanets has been no stranger to remixes, with bands like Lucky Dragons and the Odawas having interpreted “Worn From the Fight (With Fireworks)” and “My Heart.”

“To be fair, I’ve only heard the LD remix once,” Raposa admits. “I should probably give it another listen soon. I think the Odawas one is incredible. One of the best things I’ve heard this year.”

— Anne T. Donahue

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Chad Vangaalen: Game Boy Guitars, Selling Out and One Big Barn Fire

If you ever visit Calgary, you best bet is to head up west to the mountains to avoid bodybuilders and random douchebags that live in the city. Upon your arrival, chances are you’ll find Chad Vangaalen doing one of the following things: working on his garden, skateboarding or taking care of his eight month old daughter, but more work than play seems to happen when it comes to Chad.

“ I have a room for my music and animation that I work in till about 6 a.m.,” Chad says. “I’ll wake up at noon, have a coffee, hang out with my girlfriend and my kid, go hiking, eat something at some point, and around 6p.m, I’ll go back to work again until 6a.m and that’s pretty much been my set schedule as of late”.

When Chad’s good friend Ian formed the label Flemish Eye in 2003, it was only a matter of time before the world would be exposed to the obscure folk pop sounds of Chad’s debut album, Infiniheart. The album’s strong presence garnered the Calgary native some serious attention in 2004, but it was in 2005, when it was picked up by Sub Pop that Chad’s whole life changed.

“It was a dream come true. I really didn’t expect it at all to blow up the way that it did,” says Chad. “Infiniheart was 8 years of written material, stuff that I wrote from when I was 18 to 25, so it’s kind of like sharing entries in my diary. I did a lot of travel over the years, 75% of the record was written while I was in Boston, New York, and Montreal. The rest of the album I wrote when I was at home in Calgary.”

His second album released in 2006, Skelliconnection was a definite test for Chad. The record put him on a higher plateau than Infiniheart, but Chad did not suffer the ‘sophomore jinx’.  Not only was the album nominated for a Polaris Prize, the buzz from this record was pretty insane for Chad. 

“Skelliconnection was weird because I had deadlines”, Chad says. “I had to realize that this time around I wasn’t writing for myself, which kind of freaked me out because I didn’t want to fake it.”

The Polaris Music Prize was a very tight race, but in the end, Patrick Watson’s Close To Paradise came out on top.

“It’s really hard to compete with people you respect over money,” says Chad. “Julie (Doiron) has been doing her thing for years and The Besnard Lakes’ record fucking rocked, so it was just awesome to be a part of the whole thing.”

Two years of living led Chad to Soft Airplane. His third release on Flemish Eye takes you through Chad’s dreams, fears and the ultimate unknown. Vangaalen meticulously depicts the morbid beauty in death; a new set of toys give the album its usual lo-fi swing, but with an early Neil Young folk-pop ego trip.

“I was able to re-record a lot of material this time around,” Chad says. “I programmed an old gameboy to an acoustic guitar for one of the songs and it turned out great, which is one of the good things about circuit bending.”

 “Willow Tree” is the current single sparking the hype for the new album. Chad was so happy with the track the first time around that it was recorded on the same day.

“It was a simple idea and I think it works well as the first single,” Chad says. “I try to come up with simple melodies because it’s hard to fit words together just right and I’m not one for poetry. I think that Devendra Banhart is the only man that can get away with really overdone flamboyant poetry, as far anyone else… the only other exception is Destroyer, if you’re not Destroyer, you can go fuck yourself.” 

Aside from Soft Airplane, Flemish Eye’s newest acquisition, Women, worked with Chad on their self-titled album during the winter months, but Chad has also been hard at work on a project that was first discussed during an interview with Exclaim! in 2006.

“I have a hip hop side project called The Invention Of Science. I pretty much get really baked and rap over some hip hop instrumentals and electro-beats, which is really fun,” Chad explains.

Chad Vangaalen describes his career as “eating the same soup”, which doesn’t taste that bad the third time around.

“I have a lot of close friends at both labels, I’m a pretty cheap artist, considering that I do my own videos and album artwork,” says Chad. “I’m not interested in going mainstream; I think there is a classy way of going mainstream, Feist is a good example of how to do it and still remain humble, but I think it would be way more stress than I’d want to handle.”

Chad seems to have it all planned out, except for how he’d go about depicting his life on a canvas if he were going to die.

“I’d probably want to get it done really fast depending on how much time I had, so I could spend some time with my girlfriend and kid,” Chad explains half jokingly. “I could just take a bunch of drugs and vomit on a canvas, I think the best way to go would be to start a great big barn fire, burn all the personal archives and then I’d just jump into the fire”.

www.flemisheye.com

www.myspace.com/chadvangaalen

- Maxwell Mohenu

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Chairlift Rises on a Steep Incline

Brooklyn three-piece synth-pop band Chairlift have just embarked on their huge 2009 tour. With stops at SXSW, Bonnaroo festival and most European capital cities, this is no small excursion for the band. Multi-instrumentalists Aaron Pfenning, Caroline Polacheck and Patrick Wimberly make up this Brooklyn group, who were recently signed by Columbia records.

 Chairlift’s album Does You Inspire You received huge success in 2008; including being named one of SPIN magazine’s top 40 records of the year. The band will be re-releasing the album, which has been remixed and re-mastered since they joined with Columbia, on April 21st. They have also added two new tracks to the record.

“The new tracks ‘Le Flying Saucer Hat’ and ‘Dixie Gyspy’ were intended to be on the original but we ran out of time in studio,” Pfenning says.

The track “Dixie Gypsy” was also produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear.

The re-mastered songs are promised to be of a noticeably better quality, something Pfenning likens to George Lucas’ re-mastering of the Star Wars trilogy: “George Lucas revisited Star Wars after new technologies were available in order to bring the films closer to his original vision – he did some colour correction and added a few key scenes that should have been in the original – that’s what we did too. We were happy with the first album but [after signing with Columbia] we were given some new options.”

Chairlift began with Pfenning and Polacheck playing and writing together in a backyard shed back in 2005. Pfenning convinced Polacheck to join him in Colorado when he went away to college. There they formed the band. They have since moved to Brooklyn, the place they now call home.

“In Brooklyn we found ourselves boring down musically. I was really into folk when I lived in Colorado, but moving to Brooklyn allowed us to explore music in different ways – like how it’s structured and produced,” Pfenning says. “Brooklyn is what lit the fire under the band.”

Now known as “the band from the iPod commercial,” Chairlift does owe a degree of their success to having the poppy track “Bruises” featured in an Apple commercial.

“I’d say about 33 percent?” Pfenning jokes. “I think the success comes from the work we put into our music. It’s like following a treasure map, you find ‘Bruises’ through the iPod commercial and that leads you to the album.”

Chairlift has a second album already in the works with a bunch of the writing already complete. Plans include recording the album in a warm climate (a recommendation from a psychic in Virginia during an impromptu band psychic reading), making a video for every song on the album (both Pfenning and Polacheck have some talent with video production), and opening up their music to a larger audience through their Columbia release.

 Chairlift will be performing in Toronto at The Phoenix on April 25th with Peter Bjorn & John.

- Allison Smith

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Cut Off your Hands: Fight-Pops Newest Contender

Cut Off Your Hands is a four-piece band from Aukland, New Zealand, ans have just released their first full length album, You & I (Frenchkiss Recordings) on Jan. 20.

The success of their EPs Cut Off Your Hands and Shaky Hands has given these young men the chance to play high profile international gigs like South by Southwest (SXSW) as well as a recent European tour with UK bands Foals and Friendly Fires. Stuck somewhere between post-punk and indie-pop, the band both struggles and succeeds when it comes to finding a neutral ground for their music.

“Fight-pop” is the term used to describe Cut Off Your Hands on their MySpace page. Lead singer and guitarist Nick Johnston said this description is most accurate of their performance style.

“We’re often confrontational in our performance,” Johnston said. “We've always felt kind of in a nether region, as we're too melodic and poppy to be part of a certain crowd, yet we're too aggressive and hard hitting - especially live - to be part of the other side of things.”

It is the band’s mixture of sounds that has made them accessible to a variety of listeners. Cut Off Your Hands’ songs range from poppy danceable tunes, like “Oh Girl,” a lighthearted song about a boy inviting his girl over to his house for the night, to more melodic and serious tunes, such as “Nostalgia, which has a fade-out, fade-in conclusion.

“I love ‘Nostalgia,’” Johnston said. “It's one that has a nice simple sentiment lyrically, and sonically is much closer to the kind of music that I would choose to put on for listening.”

Johnston’s vocals during his ballads convey the maturity of a man much older than his 24 years. Cut Off Your Hands’ ability to perform a range of songs with ease is the best gage of their talent. Their music never sounds forced and is played with an incredibly precise musicality.

“I think we have a real sincere appreciation of melodic or pop sensibilities in songs, as well as our love for noisier and more energetic music,” Johnston said. “Hopefully it’s the marriage of these elements that comes through.”

The album was recorded in London, England and shows a strong Britpop influence.

“I would’ve preferred it to have sounded a little more live and garage,” Johnston said. “I think British producers are a little safe at the moment.”

Safe or not, working with big name producer Bernard Butler, who produced The Libertines, Black Kids and many other successful acts, is no small honour, and is obvious in the quality of their album.

Johnston writes all of the band’s music and is currently hard at work on their second album.

“We are aiming to record it around the time of the South by Southwest festival,” he said, “So I am trying to finish [the writing] before we head to the States in mid February.”

As the band grows, it seems likely they will move away from their more juvenile pop-punk songs and towards a more contemplative, toned down sound. Until then, Cut Off Your Hands is set to even break further into the independent music scene and should be ready to expect success.

Although there is no set date yet, Cut Off Your Hands plans to play a Toronto show following their SXSW stop in March.

- Allison Smith

Chalk Circle – The 80’s Are
Back to Bite You

Look out the 80’s are back to bite you! Hold on; don’t take out that hot pink bandana and Dippidy Doo hair gel just yet. If you grew up during this turbulent decade you will know what I am talking about; even if you won’t publically admit to these fashion offenses.

Relax; there are some things that were good about that particular period in time. One of them being a Toronto post-punk indie band called Chalk Circle. They are reuniting with fellow band from the era, Blue Peter to perform at the Mod Club on Friday February 21.

Having already participated in a sold out 80’s anniversary show at the legendary Horseshoe a couple of weeks back; both bands are doing it again so if you didn’t make it out to the last event, don’t miss this opportunity to see these impressive groups who have made a significant contribution to Canadian culture.

Chalk Circle formed in the early 80s in New Castle, Ontario. After numerous name changes, they settled on Chalk Circle, the name in reference to a Bertolt Brecht play. The band included Chris Tate (singer and guitarist), Brad Hopkins (bass player), Tad Winklarz (keyboards) and Derrick Murphy (drums).

Their first demo single was recorded on cassette (Google that word, kiddies). CC received most promising non-recording group CASBY award in 1985. Following this was a 6-track EP called Great Lake. Two of the tracks, “April fool” and “Me, Myself and I,” made it to our top ten charts.

In 1987, they released an album titled Mending Walls (after a Robert Frost poem) where they scored another top ten hit with the song “Mourning,” an anti-Reagan protest. This was later re-released along with a cover of T Rex’s “20^th Century Boy,” which also made top ten.

1989 welcomed the incredible LP, As the Crow Flies and boasted two popular singles. It seemed as if Chalk Circle were finally on their way to the big times.

Then suddenly… they broke up…

Years later Chalk Circle is back and on behalf of Spill Magazine I had the occasion to talk to bassist, Brad Hopkins about the band’s past, present and future.

- Daria Essop_lafontaine

An Interview with Brad Hopkins of Chalk Circle

Spill: What prompted a reunion after all these years?

Brad Hopkins: Chris Tait and Chris Wardman got together over lunch last fall and came up with the idea of playing a show. The Juno 40^th anniversary gig opportunity came up afterwards and it was great icebreaker. We had a blast reconnecting and reuniting [after] almost five years and playing Lee’s Palace. I think that we all realize that we have great chemistry playing together.

Spill: What was it like for you playing the Horseshoe gig last week?

BH: It was overwhelming and almost surreal. I’ve never seen more people at the Horseshoe. The crowd was so warm and enthusiastic and it was great to hang out with some of the other bands. It was kind of like a high school reunion.

Spill: Your name Chalk Circle comes from the Brecht play and the song, “Mending Wall” from a Frost poem. Why these choices?

BH: They just seemed to fit. When we started as a trio our good friend Stani Veselinovic from our high school days suggested the name. Stani was actually the original singer for our pre-Chalk Circle punk band call The Casualties.

Spill: What happened (in relation to the band breaking up), you seemed to be on the verge of a bigger success that you enjoyed with a few Canadian chart hits and then you parted ways in ‘89?

BH: Chris decided to leave the group and started Big Faith. Chalk Circle was stuck in a bad record deal with Duke Street Records. The deal definitely handcuffed the band. Besides Canada, we had releases in Germany and Japan but could not get the elusive American deal.

Spill: Describe what the music scene was like back then? Was it easier to get live shows? Did you tour extensively?

BH: We were so naive coming from small towns, Newcastle and Bowmanville, Ontario. We came to Toronto not knowing what to expect, knocking on doors and looking for gigs. In the early 1980’s Queen Street West was a thriving live music scene. There were many great bands playing clubs from that time. Breeding Ground, L’etranger, Direktive 17, Blue Rodeo, Rheostatics Vital Sines, Sidewinders are a few bands that played the scene back then. After we released our first EP “The Great Lake” we all quit our day jobs at around the same time and toured Canada extensively and never looked back. We must have played 90% of the colleges and Universities during that time. From 1987 to 1990 we toured with Crowded House, Rush and Tears for Fears. We got to play East Berlin just months before the wall came down.

Spill: What’s different about playing live now compared to the 80s? Do you enjoy playing your hits or has it lost its luster for you?

BH: Playing live is probably more fun than ever. If we didn’t enjoy it, we wouldn’t do it. The songs stand up well over time.

Spill: Do you attract a younger audience or is it the old timers coming out to shows, listening to your music?

BH: So far the audience is a good mix, some younger and some older.

Spill: Any plans for new material?

BH: No plans as of yet, but I think that we are all open-minded enough to continue working together. Priorities change with families, kids and careers. We’ll see…

“Our Canadian record deal handcuffed the band”

Spill: CC seems under rated; you were successful in North America but didn’t manage to get noticed abroad (which is a shame). What do you think the reason for this is?

BH: As I said earlier, our Canadian record deal handcuffed the band and limited out opportunities outside the country. I think that some of the best bands are the ones that don’t make it. The Replacements are a good example of that. I think that bands today are much smarter when it comes to the business.

Spill: Would you have liked to more successful? Perhaps if we had all the technology available a few decades ago, it would have been to your advantage? What do you think of the modern music business?

BH: At this point we don’t dwell on the lack of success. We still have some great memories. There was a time when I was fairly bitter. Life is too short to get hung up on that stuff.

The modern day music business is interesting and definitely going through some challenging times. On the positive side I think that it is great that any artist can get their music available internally fairly easily on iTunes through digital distribution. People don’t seem to buy as much recorded music but at least people seem to still like going to shows. I still think the best way for a band starting out is to write good songs and tour as much as possible. Keep control of your music and hopefully it will pay off.

Sill: Did you ever benefit financially from your success?

BH: Nope… When the band was together we paid ourselves $250 per week. That was after achieving gold status in Canada. It’s a tough way to make a living and very few bands make a living out of Canadian success. I would say Blue Rodeo and the Tragically Hip are the exceptions.

Spill: What did everyone besides Chris Tait do in the years following CC’s demise?

BH: Derrick briefly formed another band called Neurotic Ensemble. I joined the band the Headstones but left just before the first album came out. I co-wrote the song “Absolutely” from that record. I played in another band Nothing in Particular in the mid-nineties. I released a solo album in 2003 called World’s Biggest Fan. It’s still available on iTunes.

Spill: What are your present goals (both as a band and as an individual)?

BH: Our goal as a band is to simply have fun. Personally, my goals are to be the best father that I can be to my seven year old daughter Clare. Be the best partner that I can be to my love Tracy. Do the best that can in my career as a digital and print account manager at The Globe and Mail. Enjoy every day and don’t take anything for granted. Do things that make you happy, play and write music, play sports such as hockey, and golf.

Spill: What are you (personally) listening to now, any type of music or bands that capture your heart?

BH: I’m listening to more music than ever on my iPhone. I find that I’m listening to more songs than albums.

Spill: Anything you want to add about the show this weekend coming or in general?

BH: We’ll have a very special guest joining us. We are pumped!

Closing The Distance
How Clothes Make The Man’s upcoming album yields a lot of promise, and not just for the music itself

When a Toronto-bound minivan arrives from the Maritimes on November 11, it won’t be soccer moms pulling up to the Horseshoe Tavern – it will be Clothes Make The Man.

At this venue, the rock quartet will celebrate the release of their new EP, Control, a teaser to their much anticipated full-length album, Distance, which is due in early 2011. All four tracks from Control, which became available to the public on November 2, offer a stronger intensity to the same sound that brought the band success. As they will be featured on the band’s later release, they act as the perfect foreshadowing for what fans can expect.

The day of the EP release was gloomy in Sydney. In this Nova Scotia town, lead singer Ryan McLennan is checking his Facebook, an activity that rarely finds room in a schedule filled with tour dates. The other thing that has no room in the tour: Phil Wilson’s drums. (While the band’s rental minivan may be a cost-efficient vehicle with space for the whole family, it does not have room for everyone and their instruments; the group has been borrowing a different drum kit every night.)

Asked about the highlight of the tour, McLennan answers jokingly that it is “not hitting a moose, so far.” It may not be that much of a joke, considering he witnessed a moose and car collision early on in the drive through Newfoundland.

Nevertheless, the highlight for fans may very well be the series of concerts – and the release of the teaser for Distance. McLennan happily describes the band’s new recordings as “intensified and a bit more perfected.”

Clothes Make The Man has already garnered critical acclaim for being a raw, energetic band floating between rock music’s sub-genres; they have shared the stage with heavy acts like Cancer Bats, Moneen and Attack in Black; they have played events such as NXNE, Virginfest and Edgefest; so what is there to be intensified, let alone perfected?“

Rush, Arkells and Prince have all recorded at Metalworks”

Well, recording at the renowned Metalworks Studios in Mississauga is a start. The studio houses some of the best recording equipment there is, including a fleet of high-end six-strings that guitarist Scott Henry got to use, and – what McLennan calls the highlight – DMX’s autograph on the wall. To put this all in perspective, Clothes Make The Man has joined acts like Rush, Arkells and Prince, who have all recorded at Metalworks.

Julius Butty, the band’s producer is, as McLennan curtly puts it, “meticulous.” This may be an adequate assessment as Butty had him sing every song off Distance an average of 30 times.

With the producer’s meticulousness comes patience; in McLennan’s approximate 360 renditions of the 12-track album, he had to learn to become a screamer who can scream in key, a feat which must have been time-consuming.

Butty, who has produced albums for Alexisonfire, City and Colour and Protest The Hero, brings something to the new album that other Clothes Make The Man works don’t have. When McLennan gets into talking about Distance, his voice perks up. On Butty’s input, he says: “He’d challenge me to sing quieter and then he would challenge me on sections where I could sing with a fucking blood-curdling scream.

“It was a treat because he understands that having fun is important,” McLennan continues. “You can actually hear the good times on an album, as opposed to recording it and being stressed out, being worried about business.”

There was some added business, however, when in August, the hit show Degrassi featured the band’s new tune, “Dreamless Nights,” which is available on Control, as well as for download on their Myspace account. McLennan and his band mates were even “geeks enough” (his words) to watch the episode over some beers, clinking their drinks as their song was displayed for a mass of viewers to hear.

As I chat with the singer, I get the impression that the new album is host to the band’s strongest musicality yet, but also a reach toward the band’s raison d’être.

There is excitement in his voice when he speaks of the recordings. He admits to some pressure to adhere to fan’s desires, but in the end, he feels he must be genuine.

“With a lot of the things I’ll say, I’m actually just talking to myself,” McLennan says to me. “I think anything someone says, you can relate to in some way. The only thing you can do is the whole cliché of ‘write about what you know.’”

And he followed through on that cliché as he wrote the soon-to-be released album. “Distance” was not chosen as the title only because it is a simple and compelling words; it is also the overarching theme of the work.

McLennan says it is about physical distance from others, as the band must be feeling during their tour, but also about emotional distance from others – and oneself.

“The distance between people is interesting”

“Sometimes you can feel very distant from other people, even your friends or loved ones. Sometimes you can be really close to people and just thinking about the distance between people is interesting,” McLennan says.

“People come and go in your life and it’s cool to think about how you’ve been changed by people and how distant they are to you – whether that’s near or far,” he continues. [It’s about] keeping things you love close and pushing negativity away – about figuring out what it is that makes you feel good and hanging on with your claws.”

This is where I had the impression that Clothes Make The Man is fulfilling exactly what it sets out to do. Funds might be tight aboard the vehicle McLennan and I joked to be the “soccer mom tour bus,” but the mood is positive. They are having fun on stage, inspiring fans to dance, and that is what Julius Butty captured on record.

Indeed, there is much more to celebrate on November 11, when the quartet has their CD release party at the Horseshoe Tavern; they will be celebrating their raison d’être.

by Robert Vandrish

An Interview with Daphne Darling

If you haven’t heard of Daphne Darling yet, perhaps it would be good to jot down a mental note. This Toronto songwriter is not only talented but a rising star in the Toronto indie music scene and the winner of a Toronto Indie Music Award.

She also jokingly pokes fun at herself when asked how it feels to perform at the Toronto Indie Music Awards this year.

“It will be my first time performing at an award show, unless you count that time I performed my number one hit song on the Grammys. Just kidding,” Darling laughed. 

“I'm guessing it will feel just as good to play for a crowd who appreciate what you do.”

Perhaps she will feel added confidence in her performance since her last trip to the Toronto Indie Music Awards last year, when she won Best Pop Artist of 2007.

“It was an honour because of all the great artists in musicians in this city. I seriously believe there is amazing talent in our city, and it was nice to be recognized and appreciated for my style of music,” Darling explained when asked how she felt about receiving the award.

Anyone who listens to Daphne Darling’s music or even visits her MySpace page can get the hint of a sunny happy girl who seems to like the colour pink. She has a very interesting and proud background. Daphne is a first generation Canadian with roots coming from Iran and Israel. She admits that her family is part of the reason she is the way she is.

“I learned from them that you have to work hard if you want something, and I adopted that attitude with all things I'm passionate about,” Darling explained.

She isn’t a trained musician, but makes music to brighten the spirits of her fans, and they don’t seem to mind her lack of formal training.

“I was self-taught, and I did everything I could to get better at it, and make music that people could connect to. I would call my music 'smile-out-loud' music. There are enough sad songs in the world, so I don't feel the need to add anymore at this time,” Darling said.   

Darling describes her music with enthusiasm. She makes it clear that she doesn’t want to restrict her music to any specific genre and would rather just write what she enjoys.

“I do variety pop, I don't like to limit myself to one genre or style, so I tried to create a sound that fused all my music interests, like basic pop, mixed with R&B and country,” Darling described.

“Lyrically I'm a literal writer and like to tell a story in some way. I do write less heartbreak and relationship songs, and more about the other parts of my life. But don't get me wrong, I am a hopeless romantic and stories like the one in my song "Eight" will definitely show that side of me.”

Her influences are a wide variety of different artists that aren’t all as happy-go-lucky as Darling is herself. Some of her influences include The Carpenters, Wham, Prince, Peggy Lee, TLC, The Cars, Kylie Minogue, Garbage and the Dixie Chicks.

“I am inspired by music that either says something, or makes me really feel different,” Darling said. “It's hard not to feel something when you listen to a song like Peggy Lee's ‘I'm A Woman’.” 

The Toronto music scene is thriving and this is something that Darling has noticed herself.

“As far as indie music scenes go, Toronto is alive and well,” Darling explained. 

“We don't always support the efforts of originality in the city, and sometimes it's hard for people to get it. You either do or you don't, not everyone will like you. We're tough critics here, and that’s a good thing, it's humbling.”

The Toronto indie scene has been blooming more and more internationally as years go by and Darling has her opinion for the reasons that our local artists are getting recognition further away.

“Any 'scene' that includes real music, fans who communicate their feelings on new bands and artists, will definitely make some kind of impact in the international market,” Darling said. “The cream does rise.”

As for Darling her self, she is going international soon and her plans for the future show her rising success.

“Right now the summer is booked with shows in NY, and an opening spot for Rascal Flatts at Sarnia's Bay Fest,” Darling said. “In the fall, I'm hoping to add some more touring to support The Darling Project my EP, including L.A. and Nashville.”

Daphne Darling may be one of Toronto’s rising stars, but she can still relate to the other indie artists.

“I tried out for the musical in high school, and never got any part,” Darling said. “I'd laugh if another indie artist could relate to that.”

So keep the name Daphne Darling on your mental notepads, she may be one of the popular Canadian names in the future.

- Ana Cristina da Silva

Trouble in Dreams: An Interview with Dan Bejar

Dan Bejar is a strange fellow. The sometimes New Pornographer and lead-man/creative impetus for the band Destroyer seems to feed off this eccentricity which has earned him a solid fanbase and an impressive, if not weird, catalogue of tunes.

Trouble In Dreams the latest album from Destroyer is an excellent, strange, impressive and at times annoying piece of work, not unlike the man himself. “I recorded this record where all the records have always been recorded - Vancouver, B.C. But I actually wrote most of it while living in Spain,” he explained. “I recommend that everyone go there to write their records. It’s like going home.”

Indeed the new album does feel like going home for old fans as many of the same themes of regret, nostalgia, loss and condemnation resonant through the songs. Rather than mine inspiration from his personal life, Bejar took a more creative approach for these new songs.

“I used my imagination to conjure up what those themes might sound like,which I tell you is a first for a Destroyer record.  I¹m sure all my experiences inspire each album, seeing as I’m generally not a very imaginative person.” When asked which songs personally spoke to him on Trouble in Dreams he quizzically responded: “The really resonant numbers for me are the spritely ones which take on some of [the album’s themes], though mostly the idea of

the getting or suppressing of information through torture or the threat of torture, but in a swingin’ manner.  I’m thinking of “The State” or “Plaza Trinidad”.  Or maybe some of the more wistful numbers, like the first song or the last song.”

Divining meaning from the words of Dan Bejar has long been a pasttime of his fans and critics. Bejar’s lyrics are often cryptic or at times just plain bizarre. This has led many to describe his wordplay as being Dylanesque. “I think both acts have a very set way of delivering words and melody, that some people see as imprecise. His bands stay pretty loose, we try to stay

loose. We both might have a couple songs that feel like just a controlled flow of images that you hope ends up somewhere.” On the strength of Dylan’s work he pretentiously added, “I like his last few records, not so crazy about the early ones.”

Whether his lyrics are comprehensible to everyone or not, one can’t deny that they are one of Destroyer’s strongest points, not to detract from the often gorgeous soundscapes painted by the band. Bejar’s lyrics are without a doubt, poems. “Until I publish my first poem, I will be forced to consider myself a songwriter first. Though really I am a singer first, rhythm guitar player second,” said Bejar in response to the idea of any poetic aspirations. Still despite his lack of published poetry he admitted his work is very much informed by poets and poems. Franz Wright, Rilke, Ana Enriqueta Teran, Albertti, Lorca, Aleixandre, Spanish surrealists, Mandelstam, Pasternak, Anne Sexton’s rock band, Lou Reed, Azita, Morrissey, and Mark E. Smith are just a short list of lyricists and poets Bejar names as inspirations for his writing.

Despite the strength of the words and music found on a Destroyer album, many would-be fans are turned off by Bejar’s peculiar vocal delivery. It is very different, and feels almost improvised and scatter-shot. “I¹m not attached to exact notes,”  he confessed, “I know where they’re supposed to land, there are actual notes, [but I’m] more into diction, cadence, style, styles.”

Trouble In Dreams even with its weirdness, has received quite a good response from critics and fans alike something Bejar definitely appreciates. “I’m beaming over the success of Destroyer, I feel incredibly lucky, even if we are the most overlooked band in the Americas,” he said.

With the record finished and released, Destroyer have been on a North American tour the past few months but wrap up at the end of May. Touring is something Bejar has mixed feelings about. “I don’t look forward to the lifestyle that accompanies touring,” he lamented. “I do enjoy playing live, depending on how many nights in a row of playing one is talking about. Like three. I try my hardest every night, but it is incredibly nerve-wracking, and I don’t enjoy being nerve-wracked.”

Destroyer, and subsequently Dan Bejar, may not be to everyone’s taste, however one can’t deny their music smacks of originality and talent. Trouble In Dreams  is available at a record store near you. To learn more about Dan and Destroyer and to stream the new album visit www.mergerecords.com.

- Sam Stilson

A Day in the Life of DD/MM/YYYY

Matt King and his four cronies, or more affectionately known as the band DD/MM/YYYY, are spending their Family Day holiday driving up the coast of Oregon in their 2005 Chevy Venture.  The van that barely fits the five young men is also loaded with equipment, forcing the guys in the backseat to have their feet squished up upon amplifiers. The cell phone reception is crummy and they have been driving since 1 am that morning, their destination, Portland, still hours away. What motivates this hard working Toronto act to spend months at time sleeping on stranger’s floors every night? The music, man.

“We all want to be musicians for the rest of our lives,” King says. “Right now we are trying to make the most of every opportunity we are given. As long as people keep asking us to come play we are going to do it!”

King describes a day-in-the-life of DD/MM/YYYY on the road as one of constant movement:  “We wake up, drive forever, set up, then play for half an hour,” he says.

The band is currently in the midst of a large-scale North American tour that will last until the end of April. In 2008 the band spent about four months on the road, including a month in Europe. This year they plan on doubling their time in Europe because they are releasing their newest album Black Square on both a Swedish label and a U.K. label. This could mean up to six months on the road for the band.

Constant movement has become synonymous with DD/MM/YYYY’s sound and live performances. Each member is capable of playing all of the band’s different instruments to some degree, and is likely to do so during a single set. For example, throughout the new album, King works his vocals, the synthesizer, drums and saxophone.

“If someone comes into practice with a part that needs playing we are all willing to contribute what skill we can to get it played,” King says.

Black Square is a more concise and complex record than their previous efforts. Instead of 20+ tracks, their newest album offers only 12.

“The cohesiveness of this album comes from the slow recording process,” King says. “We worked in a studio that we could only use at night for about three hours a week. This allowed for more review and introspection into each track.”

The songs are so condescend, with so much overlapping, that at any given time on the record each member could be playing something different, in a different time signature.

“Although the song are much different stylistically than on previous records, they are being performed in a way that is much more DD/MM/YYYY. As much as a band can want to change, the way your work together begins to solidify,” King says. “We have become very conscious of this.”

King describes their live show as pretty intense, but still light-hearted.

“We don’t want to be too staunch and serious, but also not too showy,” he says. “It’s about throwing down the songs to the best of our abilities.”

The band certainly has a lot of practice when it comes to live performances and have said in previous interviews that their live shows end up sounding much better than the recordings because of how often they play. DD/MM/YYYY’s motivation for non-stop touring may be unmatched among Toronto indie acts, so much so, that they haven’t played a Toronto show in almost six months.

When asked about any final thoughts on the album, King passes the phone to band mate Thomas Del Balso, who says, “Black Square is like turning off your TV, because once your TV’s off, all that’s left is a black square.” 

- Allison Smith

An Interview with Dimitri from Paris

Dimitri From Paris, has been nothing but consisent when it comes to bringing great house music to our city. With the April release of Return to the Playboy Mansion we were fortunate enough to experience the return of this veteran DJ, producer, remixer, and very stylish ‘French Ambassador of House Music’. He recently played at This Is London as part of the tour for RTPBM.  

“Return to the Playboy Mansion is part of a series, a continuation of where I left off with the last compilation, and also it is a way to showcase the new music and make it accessible to more people,” Dimitri said, when musing on its conception.

“It was a year-long project from thinking about it to actually contacting artists and working on the record. I was happy to leave it as a trilogy but Defected Records asked me to do another one.”

Despite the fact that the music industry has changed drastically in recent years, and the ever-increasing power of technology has changed how music reaches audiences, Dimitri doesn’t feel phased or afraid of the new methods of music.

“ I am actually working more as a DJ now than ever,” he said. “ It is good because it forces you to get out more to get noticed but also you have to be more creative and up to date with marketing and strategy. You don’t make as much money just producing a record anymore since the new generation hasn’t experienced really paying for a CD or vinyl.”

More so then the opportunity to tour more, Dimitri has truly embraced the internet as a marketing and networking tool, as he feels, “it is easier to reach out to people and track people down with the internet. Certainly it has made music available to more people, on the other hand, it takes time tracking people down, they may be dead or out of the scene completely.”

Having been around for a long time and having seen many changes in the world of dance music, it can be hard for veteran artists to fit in and perhaps more so, keep an enthusiasm for the industry. For Dimitri it’s a love of the music that keeps him going.

“Naturally I love performing, it gets my adrenaline going every time, every audience, every city is a little different when you play. I like to experiment, but I will ease the crowd into something new. I will play crowd pleasers if I have it and they want it and then drop something new in the mix so that they don’t feel like they are caught off guard. If they are passionate or curious about music they will investigate where it originated from and perhaps take it further and the chain grows on and on... I love being a part of all that!” he exclaimed.

“There is a new generation of music lovers, everything is more instant, in a way more competitive because they have access to so much now, and you have to weed out what is good in a sea of mostly mediocre stuff. You (the DJ) have to keep up with that generation.  Because it is complex and takes a lot of time to listen and sort through all the music that is out there, I have gone back to my old stuff, my retro roots. It is exciting to have the opportunity to introduce this music to a new generation and get them to explore the rich history of dance music. Out of that new and sometimes-wonderful music can be created.”

Having been honoured as a Knight of the Arts and Letters by the French government, it can be suggested that Dimitri from Paris is representative of the ‘French sound’. However, Dimitri is quick to dismiss this label, “I feel the French sound is broader than what people tend to think, I don’t like that Euro trash, French pop stuff and I don’t think Daft Punk represents us. There’s Bob Sinclair but he is more mainstream and you have Air, DJ Gregory etc., but I am more soulful and interested in the original disco so the “French” sound is much more diverse than people think.”

On top of his musical flair, Dimitri has also been known for his fashion sense. “I like to call it style, as I don’t really follow trends. My love for style came from old movies my mom used to take me to as a kid and I loved the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. I was into Frank Kafka, classical stuff and I would buy suits and put a modern touch to them. I started out at a radio station and  I was asked to produce the music for fashion shows and [so I] took what I liked from the trends and made [them] my own.”

From working on the radio, to fashion shows to becoming an internationally known DJ, the road to success has been a long one for Dimitri.

“This career fell on me really. I used to come home and listen to the “Mission Impossible” theme song at the beginning of the show just because I loved the music. I wasn’t into that electro Euro trash stuff when I started going to clubs so I got into house, which led me back to disco, and a variation of black American disco and soul.”

 “I remember the first time I went to a hip hop show and heard the group scratching, mixing with three turntables, it was an inventive way to interact with the audience and bring them into the music.  I was blown away, I went home and found all the turntables in the house, and started experimenting. I would spend hours doing edits of songs and making them my own. My success just came out of nowhere and I didn’t have time to think about it really.”

Having named his album Return to the Playboy Mansion, The Spill couldn’t help but wonder if Dimitri had in fact been to the mansion and met the legendary Hugh Heffner.

“Yes, in 2000. Hugh Heffner actually listens to CDs first and gives the final word if [they can be played at the mansion].  He liked the music and I was in. He is a very elegant and down to earth man, you know, he is a pioneer as well and he was brave with his politics and lived through exciting times.”

On his return to Toronto, Dimitry was excited to be back in town.

 “I love this city, like NYC, Montreal and Paris.  Toronto is very special and welcoming. I am excited about playing and Felix, Gani (MILK) and the gang are good to me. I look forward to playing here and I hope your city feels the same!”

- Daria Essop-Lafontaine

The Worlds Youngest Dinosaur Bones

Saturday, January 17th marked the first anniversary of Toronto band Dinosaur Bones. Although they are still a few eons behind most other famous dinosaur bones, it only took this band one short year to make a name for themselves on the Toronto scene.

Dinosaur Bones hosted their anniversary party at the Horseshoe Tavern, exactly one year after their first live show where they opened for Toronto band Arietta. Since their debut, Dinosaur Bones played shows about once a month around Toronto and released a four track self-titled EP.

Perhaps most surprising about Dinosaur Bones’ anniversary party was the blank check they were given for the night.

“Craig Laskey [owner and booker for the Horseshoe tavern] has been really good to our band and hooked us up immensely” says lead singer Ben Fox. “He gave us a blank check to assemble the lineup for the night.”

Most young bands would be thrilled at the chance to play a slot at the Horseshoe on a Saturday night, let alone book the whole evening. What has Dinosaur Bones done to deserve such prestige amongst so many more well-established Toronto acts?

For starters, Dinosaur Bones spent five months practicing and writing songs together before taking to the stage.

“We have all been in other bands before and know the importance of playing together as much as possible” Fox says.

Those five months helped form Dinosaur Bones’ musical identity.

“It all started to take shape once we started playing together,” says keyboardist Dave Wickland.

But it takes more than preparation and practice to make it in this town, it also takes connections.

“Lots of new bands struggle with making contacts,” Wickland says. “It can be one of the hardest battles. We are lucky to be a part of a really supportive group of bands in Toronto who have helped us book gigs and get hooked up with venues.”

This same group of bands is now helping Dinosaur Bones book shows in other cities across Ontario and Quebec.

“We are going to start touring as much as possible to promote the new album” Fox says.

Their full-length album is set to be released in summer 2009. The band is promoted by Audio Blood Media, who works with other successful Toronto acts Oh No Forest Fires and Fox Jaws among others.

The band’s sound is a mixture of pop-rock, heavy hitting bass and catchy lyrics. Frontman Fox is one of those guys who, when looking at, you can only assume is the lead singer of a band. Long brown ringlets, dark eyebrows and large, almost comical facial features make him quite the attention grabber onstage. There powerful stage presence is what has popularized their live shows and is a big part of their success thus far.

Dinosaur Bones have been featured on Toronto radio station 102.1 The Edge’s weekly Indie Hour and have six shows scheduled in the next six weeks, including one in Montreal and a hometown show during Canadian Music Week.

- Allison Smith

Diamond Rings Debut Shines

He's dancing in a basketball jersey. He's wearing blue and pink eye shadow. He's moonwalking across the Toronto skyline. You're amused and intrigued, maybe even a little confused. You're wondering, "Who is this guy?"

You probably already know him by the name of Johnny O, vocalist for the popular indie rock band D'Urbervilles – but his new alter ego, Diamond Rings, is certainly making a name in Toronto's music scene. Dancing through the streets of Toronto in zebra-patterned leggings and rainbow-coloured makeup, he has already become a hit on YouTube with videos like "All Yr Songs" and "Wait & See." Now, he's ready to take on the music scene at large with his full-length debut Special Affections.

After finishing his Visual Arts degree, John O'Regan found himself with some extra time on his hands to work on his own music. While creating music collaboratively with D'Urbervilles had sufficed for about five years, O’Regan wanted to work on his own, personal songwriting skills. Eventually, he ended up with a collection of songs that didn't quite seem to fit with the D'Urbervilles analog rock sound and he decided to see what he could make of them.

O’Regan began playing his songs acoustically, performing mostly for friends. It wasn't until he played his first gig at a large venue that he decided to pursue a more electronic sound. He wanted to create music that would work well in club and bar environments, which became the crucial decision that would prompt him to create Diamond Rings' signature, synthesized sound.

"The response was great," he says. "And, I just didn't look back from there."

With influences as diverse as Kylie Minogue, Kraftwerk and Prince, Diamond Rings manages to roll Special Affections into one cohesive musical unit reflecting his own personal point-of-view. It can be heard in the dream-like, daze-inducing ballads "Play by Heart" and "It's Not My Party" – or upbeat, 8-bit tunes like "You and Me." Syncopated rhythms and synthesized melodies are the musical basis for Special Affections, taking current industry trends and personalizing them into his own musical perspective.

Lyrically, also, Special Affections comes from a very personal place. The album is largely based on O’Regan’s experience as a new body in Toronto. The album represents his attempt to fit in as a newcomer to the city, a classic fish-out-of-water tale. The theme is universal, and he hopes that listeners will be able to identify with it.

"Although it's personal to me, I feel that it's one of those things that everyone has dealt with at some time in their own life. And, that was the goal," he says, "to do something that comes from within but can speak to anybody."

There's something about someone singing such honest lyrics with a face full of vibrant makeup that would seem to create a strange juxtaposition. However, Diamond Rings pulls the combination together effortlessly and naturally. He is the kid that struggles to fit in – but remains himself regardless, clad in clothes the cool kids would never be caught dead wearing and dancing like no one's watching.

"It's really easy to overthink things and worry about how things fit together," he says. "I don't try to think about it too much. I just want to look my best and sound my best."

It's the kind of honesty that the music scene seems to be lacking and Diamond Rings is a refreshing twist on an industry caught up in appearances. But, it is also the kind of candidness that has caused some critics to write Diamond Rings off as a 'novelty act.'

Although initially upset by this reaction, O’Regan understands where these comments are coming from. He believes that it is a common response for a person to write something off as a joke when he or she is presented with something different, something they can't fully wrap their head around. Now that he has completed a full body of work as Diamond Rings, however, he hopes that these opinions will change.

"I don't think it will be very hard for them to realize that what I'm doing is real and it's honest and sincere."

Injecting his work with so much personal emotion can be draining and it is the kind of music that should be taken seriously. Though the one word he would use to describe Special Affections is "pop", there is more to its purpose than getting people to dance; it's meant to reach out with its lyrics and feel around in the dark for someone who really understands. Unlike most pop artists today, Diamond Rings is more than a novelty act and O’Regan hopes to set himself apart as such.

"That's my job as an artist, though – to make people believe in me and believe in what I'm doing."

This fall, Diamonds Rings will be embarking on a tour with buddies P.S. I Love You. They will be hitting more than a dozen venues across North America before finishing up on December 7 in Washington DC.

- Bethany Hansraj

DJ /rupture: /rupture up!

Unlike most current electronic efforts, Brooklyn’s DJ /rupture (Jace Clayton) and Matt Shadetek used their collaborative debut album, Solar Life Raft, to showcase their musical backgrounds as well as their appreciation for New York, storytelling and science fiction.

“We were thinking kind of like a drowned New York, you know, music of the future, where water’s risen and . . . people are paddling around with solar panels in their strange plastic life rafts from burrow to burrow,” Clayton says. “There’s a kind of musical experience you get from living in New York City. It’s a very musical town, people are public with their music . . . and there’s a whole sort of visual sci-fi aspect, like imagining a future New York City under a couple layers of water, . . . sort of that bizarre, futuristic kind of like soft apocalypse feel to how we were thinking about things for the mix as well.”

A prominent fixture in the electronic scene, Clayton responded to the recession by utilizing his Brooklyn background by enlisting Brooklyn native Shadetek to co-produce the album and inviting local musicians, remixers and poets to actively contribute. The result was an undoubtedly original sound.

“I’m like, ‘Okay, I know these amazing poets, and they’re published poets . . . so why don’t we see what happens?’” Clayton says. “So that’s kind of what [I wanted] to do — taking sounds from one different context and putting it in a whole new light. Like Caroline Bergvall . . . it’s almost like sound poetry. It’s not mainstream at all, it’s not rap, but it’s not normal poetry. But add a beat to it, put on some effects, and all of a sudden . . . you’re hearing her in a very different way. I love doing stuff like that.”

Originality is important to Clayton, who uses his music to tell stories and convey emotion: “I’m always thinking in narrative terms. I want [my music] to have a beginning, a middle and an end; I want it to have peaks and I want it to tell a story, but not in a contrite way — to really have these peaks and highs and moments of intensity.

“I always think of DJing as being much more than just a sum of two songs, as more than one thing after another. So [I was] looking to do these types of mixes and blends that really kind of say something new, that can take [parts of] the . . . elements and try to push them into this new evocative state.”

In order to create a sound that straddled both the narrative and electronic, Clayton and Shadetek used their affinity for science fiction and diverse musical tastes to develop the concept of Solar Life Raft.

“That’s one of the great things about doing a mix,” Clayton explains. “I would have a tune I love and think, ‘Okay, this song is great, let’s build on it and work with this or look for a mix that will highlight what we think is so incredible about this song.’ 

“Matt and I are actually big science fiction fans and we’d often switch books back and forth and throughout the whole course of this mix CD, we’re probably reading the same books maybe once a week or something . . . so that was kind of like the same sort of strange headspace or something.”

Luckily, their shared mindset resulted in a solid foundation for a successful musical partnership.

“It’s really good and easy to work with Matt . . . and on [Solar Life Raft], a third of the songs on there are songs that we wrote or songs that we remixed . . . and that really helped us focus,” Clayton says. “We talked about the kind of vibe we were after, like, ‘let’s sit down and make something that will work along this vibe,’ so it became very specific in that sense.”

While Solar Life Raft has allowed Clayton to expand on the electronic genre’s pre-conceived notions, the DJ embraces the progression of sound as his career continues to evolve.

“I started off mixing drum and bass back in the day, but then I was like, ‘I want to say more,’ and it kind of came from me wanting more and more different types of dynamics and different types of moments into the DJ mixes,” he explains. “Music is always changing . . . and it’s not like I stick to any one genre; I’m always interested in the evolution of music. As types of sounds that I find most alive and invigorating shift from place to place, I kind of move around, dance around there, so the material in my sets is always changing.”

—  Anne T. Donahue

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The Dodos: Time to Fly

Logan Kroeber could be mistaken for a boxer. A white towel is wrapped around his neck like an albino python to Britney Spears as he rests on the brown cracked-leather couch in the pool room at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre, triumphant with his post-gig prize in hand — a bottle of Steam Whistle.

Kroeber is the drummer of San Francisco’s The Dodos, who began in 2005 as the brainchild of singer/guitarist Meric Long. Kroeber was Long’s old roommate’s cousin and with such few degrees of separation, he joined the band. Vibraphonist Keaton Snyder joined when the band recorded their latest release, after percussionist Joe Haener left to pursue work with other bands.

Time to Die, The Dodos’ third album, is a nine-track amalgamation of finger plucks and progressive percussion produced by Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, The Shins) at Bear Creek Studios in Seattle. The entire album is streaming at timetodie.net after leaking online in July by an unknown third party. Time to Die is available for digital purchase now but will not physically be released until September 15.

“Time to die” is a manic catch-phrase that Long uses when he gets nervous, but according to Kroeber, Long’s manic phrases are always stated using his “movie announcer” voice yet change according to circumstance. For example, when they’re about to eat, “time to dine” becomes the phrase of choice. The confetti drowned album art was inspired by a trip that Long took to a confetti-infested Mardi Gras-esque street festival in Switzerland.

“I think that the album title creates an interesting disparity because the art work is light-hearted and has a celebratory nature to it and we don’t take ourselves really that seriously,” Kroeber says. “A lot of people might see the title as some morbid, serious thing but it’s really not.”

Kroeber’s biggest challenge with writing and recording Time to Die was getting past his preconceived notions of what the album should sounds like. Because their previous album, Visiter, was released on French Kiss one year after being recorded, The Dodos had a lot of time to contemplate their next release. However, that extra time allowed for some extra experimentation in vocabulary.

“I definitely have noticed Meric branching out verbally with a lot of pretty decent vocabulary words in the lyrics,” says Kroeber, who enjoys seeing Long’s lyrics from a listener’s perspective. “It was pretty funny at first to hear these very long words put into a pop song and married to a beautiful melody . . . but after we recorded it and really got the rhythms down of it, he made it work.”

Before heavy touring for shows like this one, Kroeber revealed that Long gets acrylic manicures because his regular nails would become too brittle from constant finger plucking on the guitar.

“We’ll be in like Alabama and we’ve got to get his nails filed and we’ll pull into some strip mall and Meric will walk in and it’s just like somebody walked into the saloon in the old west,” Kroeber says. “Everybody goes silent and is like, ‘Uh, can we help you?’ and he’s like, ‘I need to get my nails done,’ and they’re like, ‘Your nails?’ I know that it’s sometimes a hindrance to him that he has giant claws, even though he probably enjoys it.”

In May, Long told Easy Street Online he had no intentions for future pressings of his first release (pre-Kroeber), the Dodo Bird EP. Upon hearing this, Kroeber responded “Not if I have anything to do about it” before dreaming up plans of releasing it on vinyl in the same breath, directing Greg the merch man to remind him to set that into motion. That EP happens to be what drew Kroeber to Long, who had just finished recording it when Kroeber joined the band.

“There’s a lot of great finger-picking on that record that isn’t necessarily as frenetic and crazy as how we do things now,” Kroeber says. “If we took some of those songs and put them together with the drums like we do now, they could have totally turned into more of these rocking songs, but as they are recorded they’re a little more introverted but still powerful.”

Before joining The Dodos, Kroeber was playing in metal bands and lending his talents to surf punk band, Spencey Dude & The Doodles. Until Kroeber, Long was a “folky singer-songwriter guy” but the energetic drummer enabled Long to push towards “folk metal” during their initial jam sessions until the happy medium that is Visiter and Time to Die was reached.

Kroeber took up the drums in junior high after teachers complained to his parents about him incessantly beating on his desk; a result of puberty making him frenzied. He also took up the guitar, vibraphone, and bass; all of which were at his disposal because his dad owned a music store. Kroeber took drum lessons on and off but admits he was not a focused student and did not retain anything stylistically.

“For a guy like Keaton who went to (the San Francisco Conservatory for Music), he knows the names of those rhythms and stuff,” Kroeber says. “For me, I’m more kind of like, faking it.”

Kroeber blames drug use during his formative years for cancelling out his ability to read music, which he’d picked up as a child. After a brief stint at Sonoma State University, Kroeber tried to study music at his hometown community college but quickly realized that going head to head with competitive music students was “too weird a scene.”  He eventually fulfilled a liberal arts education, which included courses in music production, silk screen printing and poetry.

But just because he doesn’t read music does not mean that he is not one for reading. For example, Kroeber had been reading up on Pitchfork Media since its early stages when his cousin began writing CD reviews for them.

“Back then (Pitchfork) was still a hub of indie music criticism but now it really is what Rolling Stone was in the ’60s and ’70s; it holds the most sway as far as our genre of music is concerned,” Kroeber says. “I don’t know where the future is headed for [music journalism] but it’s definitely like they almost have some strange monopoly over giving credibility to people but I’ve liked stuff that Pitchfork liked, so I can’t hate on them.”

Last year’s Visiter was so well-received at the Chicago-based webzine The Dodos were invited to play at that year’s Pitchfork Festival, even though Kroeber still does not understand what drew them to their music.

As positive reviews for Time to Die steadily trickle in, it looks like round three for this boxer has already been won. That is, after some extensive fall touring of Europe and North America but Kroeber isn’t fazed.

“Stretch before a show, and I’m ready to go,” he says.

The Dodos return to Toronto on October 17 at Lee’s Palace.

— Melissa Kim

DVAS, an Interview with Dietzche V.

With the abundance of music festivals, parties and new releases, summer is by far the most fun for dance music enthusiasts in Toronto. While, it may not be on par with clubbing in Ibiza or engaging in a European music festival, we do produce our fair share of equally compelling electronica and summer anthems unique to our culture and experience.

One such band shines in the light and stands as a testament to the Toronto experience, they are DVAS.  Society is their recently released electro-pop album and their summer tour includes performances in Montreal and Toronto’s Mod Club.

Here is an interview with Dietzche V prior to DVAS August 13^th show in Toronto.

Spill: You’ve been compared to some good French dance music stars such as Cassius and Air.  How do you feel about this, is it accurate or fitting?

Dietzche V: All that French stuff was a major influence going back to the 90’s. I remember hearing “Around the World” for the first time while traveling in England. Loved it. That first Phoenix record is also amazing. So if people think DVAS has a similar sound, then I’m flattered!

Spill: How would you define your sound?

Dietzche V: I would define it as pop music. Electronic pop music; maybe electronic pop music with a dance influence. To be honest, half the record is not dance music, so it’s hard to classify it as simply dance.

Spill: Is it a challenge to capture the feelings and sound of Society live?  How do you transform DJ dance music into something that works live on stage?

Dietzche V: Again, I think Society is taking the group in the pop direction, but definitely, it has been a challenge to get the live show together. It’s hard to strike a balance between electronic textures and real, human performance. I dunno, I don’t really think that just a laptop counts as a “live” show. We use one, but we also have live drums and bass, and I’m singing (without Auto-tune) and playing keyboards. Still, I’m not saying that all laptop-based performance is bad, I mean, the latest Plastikman stuff is insanity and there are lots of people that do it with aplomb.

Spill: Is it technically challenging?

Dietzche V: It is challenging because singing and playing major seventh chords, while triggering MIDI and trying not to look like a dork while doing it requires serious multi-tasking.

Spill: Did you set to make “poppy” happy electronic music or did it just evolve?

Dietzche V: This project started as a techno-influenced thing. But to be honest, I have a hard time making straight up dance music. I actually wish I were better at it. I feel every time I set out to make a club track, it ends up getting poppy and stuff. Now I’m embracing that aspect, because it makes DVAS unique.

Spill: Do you feel a band has to tour now in order to get any recognition or can you make it just by relying on MySpace, YouTube etc.?

Dietzche V: Nah, the MySpace days are done, I think. It’s a good way to start but it’s simply too easy. If you look at bands like Parallels, or us, both had significant exposure online, but it’s fleeting. They’ve got a live thing going on and so do we because I think hitting people with a real live show is important again.

Spill: Are videos still a necessity with new releases or are they becoming irrelevant? 

Dietzche V: Videos are still a great way to  promote. Not sure if they are necessary, but they definitely help. Just ask Gaga.

Spill: What has the reception been like so far for the record and “Society” video?

Dietzche V: You tell me!  Do you like it?  I do. It’s been pretty positive I think.

Spill: How does the song writing process work with your band?

Dietzche V: Usually the song starts with some chords. Then comes an arrangement and some vocal ideas. I usually mumble over the track and try to sketch out a melody, which sometimes magically turns into a few words. Then I spend five days smashing my head against the wall trying to come up with a steady lyric that isn’t trite and cheesy.

Spill: What music (other than your own) would you recommend for electronic dance music enthusiasts?  What are you listening to this summer?

Dietzche V: I have been listening to the Beach Boys all summer. Their LP Love You from the late 70’s actually has a ton of Moog synth on it. George Duke is another amazing artist. House fans will find out that a lot of samples come from his records. Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions is also amazing. Great synth work! I always love all the Lifelike stuff, obviously. My friend Hemingway makes incredible music, very smooth electronic stuff. Check him out for sure. There’s a German guy named David Borkmann that is really good, and Floating Points out of the U.K. are doing some of the coolest, most original stuff right now.

www.dvasmusique.com

- Daria Essop- Lafontaine

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Eamon McGrath: Whiskey on the Rocks

Eamon McGrath is the ultimate do-it-yourself story.

His latest album, 13 Songs of Whiskey and Light, is his first on Toronto’s White Whale Records but it is in no way his debut. At 20 years old, the Edmonton native has already accomplished more than many artists will in a lifetime, having self-recorded, self-released, and self-distributed 17 additional albums since 2006.

“I used the aesthetic or ethics or philosophy that I used playing in punk bands to record all that stuff when I was 17 or 18,” he recalls, describing the folk/punk sound of his material. “The thought of recording really lo-fi punk rock recordings in my basement never really seemed like it would be a career, you know? I kind of just would make really limited editions of each full-length and give them to friends and distribute them across Canada with tours that I booked myself, so I kind of thought that I was going to have to work as a cook or get a degree or something, a back up plan, and just do this for fun.”

But McGrath got noticed, gaining attention from outlets across the country and the blogosphere.

“I like being an independent artist; it’s kind of like representing yourself in court,” he says. “It’s a really gutsy and punk rock thing to do, but it’s really hard to be convincing for some reason. People are kind of skeptical of independent artists, they really have it really tough.”

He attributes his success and ability to break through this skepticism to good old hard work.

“I toured my ass off, that’s honestly the key,” McGrath explains. “Canada is so big. I mean, the only way you can really find some kind of attention even underground or something is if you play every Canadian city with the frequency that a local band in that city would play their town and that’s just impossible with Canada. You just have to be kind of strategic about the way that you operate when you’re an independent artist.”

His travels have repeatedly taken him across Canada and into the Midwestern United States, playing Toronto six times in the past year alone. These experiences, coupled with a self-induced “chaotic” style of living, have left him with countless tour stories.

“I lost a member of my band to the U.S. border because he had a little piece of weed in his coat and so we had to hitchhike that day from the U.S. border to North Dakota,” he says. “In the same tour, we hit a deer in Michigan and totaled our van; we hitchhiked to Toronto and bought a new van and then continued the tour. But in between buying the new van and totaling the old one, we actually had to make a Toronto radio spot. Some pretty crazy stuff. That was all like in three days.”  

McGrath also finds his inspiration from the adventures and interactions he has while on the road.

“Every tour is an eye opening story I find, every one’s this chapter and it’s got one main point to it; you come back from a tour and you have a really clear understanding on your position on something in the world,” he says. “We always try to have a real experience when we go somewhere. It’s totally part of that quest for something to write about. I think that’s how you fight writer’s block, is throwing yourself into life experiences. Do things you wouldn’t normally do. Throw yourself a curveball.”

His naturally poetic perception of everyday life doesn’t hurt, either; McGrath can turn your typical house party into a work of art.

“When you’re at a party and it’s 8 a.m. and the sun’s kind of rising and the light in the house turns blue, it’s kind of this weird moment where there’s this sort of sadness and happiness at the same time,” he says. “Whenever that happens, there’s a song in something that’s going on in that room, I think.”

His album 13 Songs of Whiskey and Light comes out of these experiences.

“It’s a punk rock record,” McGrath claims. “I think there’s some pretty quiet punk rock songs but I think it’s first and foremost a punk rock record. Everybody that I listen to in some way or another is a punk rock artist, whether it’s something that’s an attitude or an ethic they have, or they might not even know it.

“I went and saw Neil Young last week and I think that guy is unbelievably punk rock. What’s more punk rock than a 50-year-old that comes out on stage in front of 10,000 fans in a dirty plaid shirt, unshaven, uncombed hair, and rocks harder and louder and plays guitar and is breaking strings and throwing his guitar around? It’s crazy. It’s tough, and it’s gritty, but the songs are pretty, but it doesn’t matter because at the heart of it is this hard edge sort of artist that’s making music.”

It’s clear that McGrath’s work ethic, passion, and full embrace of the rock and roll lifestyle set him apart from the numerous independent artists struggling to make it in today’s music industry.

“I don’t know if I ever really made a concrete decision this is what I wanted to do, but it just sort of evolved to be what my life was revolving around; it sort of emerged out of thin air,” he says. “It’s kind of like waking up next to your true love after you’ve been with them for three years or something. You don’t really decide that you want to spend the rest of your life with them, you just kind of realize that you’ve already been spending your whole life with them.”

13 Songs of Whiskey and Light is available now on White Whale Records and McGrath is currently on tour across Canada and selected U.S. cities.

- Heather Adamo

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Elliott Brood: Mountain Meadows Mayhem

It may seem odd for a Toronto band to use an American tragedy as a springboard for creating an album, but that’s exactly what Elliott Brood did

The alternative country trio — consisting of Mark Sasso, Stephen Pitkin and Casey Laforet — have followed up their Juno nominated album Ambassador with the recently released Mountain Meadows. The new album is based on the massacre which took place in September 1857. About 120 men, women and children emigrating from Arkansas to California were killed by Mormon militiamen and Native American tribesmen in Mountain Meadows, Utah. Only a small group of children, believed to be too young to remember, were spared. The album isn’t a recount of the event — save that for the history textbooks — but the band used what happened to help form the songs on the album.

“It’s more of a jumping off point as opposed to describing in detail what everyone can find out for themselves,” Sasso said. “We kind of looked at the children that they let live, what happened to those kids who were assimilated, their stories and their descendants.”

Sasso and Laforet were high school friends from Windsor, Ont. But made separate journeys to Toronto a decade ago. The two eventually met up in the big city and had their first show at Holy Joe’s in 2002.

“I’d like to think we were always Elliott Brood even though we probably weren’t called that for the first show,” Sasso said with a laugh. “I knew this was it when were just practicing. It felt really good and the songs that I had written or that we were playing were working really well. So we got a good vibe right from the beginning.”

Pitkin later joined the pair and their first release was the 2004 EP Tin Type. Their first full-length album, Ambassador, was released in 2005 and was nominated for “Roots & Traditional Album of the Year (Group)” at the 2006 Juno Awards. Although they lost to the Duhks’ self-titled released, just being nominated was an honour.

“It was pretty amazing actually,” Sasso said. “You don’t create music to win awards, we don’t anyway. We write it and if it’s appreciated by enough critics to be nominated, it’s pretty great. It didn’t win but it was like, ‘Oh, it’s been nominated!’”

Elliott Brood also won Galaxie's Rising Star Award in 2006 and the band is currently in the running for XM Radio’s Verge Music Awards for artist of the year and album of the year for Mountain Meadows.

For a list of Elliott Brood’s upcoming shows, check out elliottbrood.ca. To vote for the Verge Music Awards, go to thevergexm52.com/musicawards.

- Jon Brazeau

English Beat: Interview with
Dave Wakeling

Lee’s Palace, Toronto May 18, 2010

I was in high school when the English Beat first played in Toronto. My friends and I went to see them three nights in a row; I’m not sure how we pulled that one off with our parents. We went to the top balcony of the venue (at the time it was called the Concert Hall) and danced ourselves silly and I remember the walls perspiring from all the sweaty bodies. What good fun! Now over 20 years later, the English Beat can still provoke the crowd and get them to start dancing!

The EB — known just as The Beat in their U.K. homeland — manage to work the room into a fury of skanking, sweat drenched bodies. The sold out Lee’s Palace show was no exception with perspiring walls and all, and it took me back to that same spot decades ago, only this time around I needed to take a puff on my asthma inhaler at the end of the show and the next day, although joyful as ever, I along with many of my peers suffered for it.

Prior to the adrenaline-fueled show, I sat down in the tour bus with singer/guitarist Dave Wakeling for a chat on music, politics and his philosophies of life (the man has many). There was much disparity in the pre-show Wakeling and the man who took the stage just a few hours later. He was very calm, relaxed and reflective but still witty, clever and brimming with verbose and very approachable and down to earth. Here are the best bits of what transpired on that tour bus.

When asked about the two previous nights shows in Waterloo, Wakeling stated they always get a good crowd out there, although this time they seemed as if the audience drank too much. He told me about the new material they plan on releasing and on playing a few tracks at the show later that night.

“We plan on releasing an EP this summer on our own more than likely as the record labels now seem to want to own everything and demand more rights yet give little support initially,” he said. 

He is still weighing the options and said he has no desire to take on the business side of the recording industry and ideally would like to concentrate efforts on the creative side of things. Why an EP, I ask (that takes me back)?

“I think there will be a return of the EP as attention spans are shorter now,” he said. “Who wants to listen to a full album anyway, and it seems like drudgery!

On questions about staying relevant and not falling into the class of just another sad retro act that won’t disappear gracefully, DW had this to say: “We use the media, all sources of technology are now at our fingertips such as MySpace, making it easier to get the word out and also stay in touch with what is going on. The present state of the world is not much different from when we were angst young men singing so I think today’s youth can relate to our music on that level. Of course, a little bit of irony, humor and history can take you a long way. Back then, there were so many rules, regulations and being told what to do in order to succeed, now you have more freedom because it’s all new to everyone and you can break rules and invent them, all in keeping things exciting.”

How have his views regarding music, politics been altered with time? “It’s become tempered, not as optimistic as in my younger days; with age I have witnessed many changes, most none for the better! I’ve had my heart and mind broken, it’s had a sobering effect,”  (sober not by choice) he said, half in jest.

Wakeling put to rest any rumors about reuniting with Ranking Roger for the next record or near future shows.

“I doubt it, I’m just a simple three cord folk singer who happens to love Motown, Roger, he’s into that trance trippy experimental stuff and the two shall never mesh!” he said. “When we split and we became General Public and the other two went on to become the Fine Young Cannibals, I took the blame for the splitting once Roger and me left but the other two wanted out and we just went on left to our own devices.”

He claimed to have made his peace since then with the old band fellow 2 Tone label mates, “alzeimers is really a blessing in disguise, it’s all forgotten and forgiven (Margaret Thatcher included?). Looking back, we over dramatized situations and decisions which is just behavior typical of youth.”

We got to talk about how the times have changed him and how he has changed with the times and some how the conversation turns to the phenomena of bi-polar disease.

“I much prefer to call it manic depressive as opposed to bi-polar, I wear that term like a badge of honor,” he said. “It means you still are able to feel things and be affected by them. If you aren’t depressed by the state of the world as it is then I think there is something wrong with you!”

Strong opinions are shared when we talk about the outcome of recent elections in England.

“I think things may have to get worse before they get better,” he said. “I think England has lost the script. They seemed to have gotten wrapped up in exotic investments when they should just be wrapping themselves up in exotic . . . . Women (my eyes are now rolling) the enormity of debt that greed got them into is only just about to hit Britons. I am glad I am not there to be part of it (he currently resides in California). It is no place for an old band to be playing, especially with arthritic knees and still singing, gonna die before I get old is just so sad!

I wondered where he sources his creative inspiration from nowadays and Wakeling replied, “I like to immerse myself in current events and absorbing new music from others.”

A lot of young people don’t have a full sense of history and what went on during those dark days of Thatcherism. This prompts the question of how they ever managed to get their anti-governmental musical views heard?

“By being the Monkees with Beatles lyrics,” he said. “The media would hear our pop -infused songs and think we were cheery and upbeat, we would get invited to be on TV shows and then we’d start talking and we knew once we voiced our views we would never get invited back but we didn’t care so we got on stage and let it all out! I think the younger generation takes the freedoms they have today for granted, the video stars haven’t really paid their dues and they are making it faster and with less sacrifice and hard work. There are many, however that are very mindful and respecting our generation’s efforts and they come to talk to me and address me as Mr. Wakeling! That’s change.

“I recall that last year when they did Stand Down Margaret, the young females beside me asked me who this Margaret chic is that they keep going on about! He laughs and shares a story about an interviewer (in Britain) who was very polite and enjoyed the band but asked why did they have to put down Princess Margaret, sure she may have had a bit too much of the drink but she was a lovely harmless member of the Royals!”

Inquiring if there are songs he absolutely can’t bear to play anymore and if there is any that still send chills down his spine when performing them DW replied, “No, I honestly still love performing them all! When we are on stage I access a place in me that brings on all those feelings playing the songs in the beginning gave me and I like to reflect it back to the audience and we feed off one another creating the good vibe and energy of our shows.”

“Save It For Later” (mine is “Can’t Get Used to Losing You”) still gives him chills and it can be felt in the delivery of the song.

Lastly does he ever get tired or depressed about touring or the music business?

“Hell no! I love it and how lucky am I to still be able to sing songs and have people respond?” he said. “Also of course, there are other incentives such as peeping down sweaty girls tops dancing near the front of the stage and being immerged in a steam bath of estrogen! What more could I ask for?”

On departing from the tour bus, I recall one of the many Dave Wakelingisms encountered during the interview — “the love you give lasts forever” — and that sums up the feelings that the English Beat’s music still stirs up, after all these years. I left feeling Dave Wakeling is a wise, thoughtful, playful soul who remains generous in talent and spirit. I will continue to look forward to seeing the English Beat live as long as my aging bones allow me.

— Daria Essop-Lafontaine

Everybody Was in the French Resistance...Now!: Fixin’ the charts...now!

Eddie Argos is moments away from his fourth gig on the North American tour of Everybody Was in the French Resistance…Now! when I speak to him from Portland, Oregon, “we just stayed in our first horrible motel last night. We’re just beginning to feel like a tour now.”

On the road with him are Dyan Valdes (the other half of EWFRN and keyboardist of The Blood Arm) and Ian Catskilkin (of Art Brut) lending guitar support. However, “due to the unpronounceable volcano,” Catskilkin had to forfeit the California shows to Nathaniel Fregoso, The Blood Arm’s lead singer.

Argos jokes, “it’s funny cause Nathaniel’s such a charismatic song man that when I was supposed to be singing all the songs I kept looking at him. He was playing the guitar and background vocals, climbing on chairs. I don’t want too much of that – I’m glad he’s gone.”

Argos and Valdes are definitely not shy of commanding attention with the release of the first album, Fixin’ the Charts, Vol. 1 - a compilation of cheeky response songs to pop music crimes - from their newest band Everybody Was in the French Resistance…Now! Argos recollects the seeds of this idea when he was driving with Valdes and “Jimmy Mack” came on the radio.

“I really like the music but it just kind of annoyed me for ages cause it’s such a mean sentiment – come back home I’m gonna cheat on you – I was getting really angry about that, telling Dyan how much I hated it and how someone should respond to it and he said, ‘Either you do it or shut up about it,’” he says. “So when we got home we wrote a response to that and it was just kind of fun, you know, playing around with people’s characters from songs. It’s a bit addictive. So it started from that one song – Jimmy Mack.”

The opening line of “Hey it’s Jimmy Mack” proclaims, “ya I heard your track/and if that’s your attitude/I’m never coming back.” It’s clear that Argos and Valdes are keen to take issue with pop songs which may be weak in substance despite their success.

Referencing the French Resistance, the movements that fought against the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War, leads one to question whether the pair aims to imply some kind of Nazi Germany element to pop music today.

Argos laughs at the suggestion, “A little bit. . . . . Dan studied history at UCLA and he used to have a lecturer who would refer to revisionist history as like, ‘Oh ya, everybody was in the French resistance…nooow.’ So what we’re doing really is like revisionist history. We’re rewriting how the story ended and stuff so it just kinda made sense.”

The first song of the album, “Creeque Allies”, specifically deals with this subject matter and Argos admits writing the track, “was good, it was kinda like studying.”

When the band played Paris, “all the kids were asking us about it and because we’d studied it through our song we knew a little bit about it so it was alright. We were a bit worried that maybe they’d be offended, the French, but they seemed to really like it. . . . We’re not taking the Mickey out of the French Resistance.”

This isn’t the first time that Argos has been able to educate his fans. Inspired by the lyrics of Art Brut, in 2007 a university in Berlin had a lecture called “The Depressive Dandy – the Lyrics of Eddie Argos.”

“The first time I read about the lecture in Berlin it kind of surprised me, I didn’t know I was an intellectual,” he says. “Maybe they’ll fit this one into an intellectual band too.”

Yet “Creeque Allies” seems to be the exception, rather than the rule of EWFRN. Although they most definitely take a more intellectual approach to parody than say, Weird Al, most other tracks substitute historical references for dry wit. This is most evident in their first single, “G.I.R.L.F.R.E.N. (You Know I’ve Got a)” which is an astute attack of Avril Lavigne’s “B.O.Y.F.R.I.E.N.D.” Even the video includes a brief, loosely choreographed dance sequence.

Perplexed, Argos stresses, “I don’t know how they managed to get that dance sequence in. I was dancing really badly and I was like, ‘this is bullshit I can’t do it’ and stopped so I thought there wouldn’t be any dancing in it but somehow . . . actually Nathaniel from The Blood Arm directed that video so I’m not sure how they did it, maybe it’s CGI.”

The outcome in this case is far less intellectual than humorous, perhaps to all but Avril.

When Argos was doing another recent interview, he recounts, “I was talking about how Avril Lavigne’s a bitch and the guy that was interviewing me knew her really well. That was embarrassing. He was like going, ‘oh she’s really not she’s really nice in real life.’ It was the first time I’d met a person that had met a person I was talking about you know what I mean? Ya that threw me - but I didn’t change my position!”

So far this is as close as Argos has come to a counter-response although the song “Think Twice It’s Not Alright,” has him dreaming of a day Bob Dylan might phone him up and say, “‘Ya, good job Eddie. I was gonna write that myself – just like that - but you saved me the trouble.’ That’s what I’d like to hear. I love Bob Dylan obviously, it became sort of an homage by the end. We ended up responding to songs we really like.”

B.O.Y.F.R.I.E.N.D. being the obvious exception.

Next to the lecture hall may be a Donovan song called Atlantis, “where Donovan sings about how the world began from Atlantis and all the poets and such. I really like the song but obviously I’m a scientist. You know, we were thinking of responding to it like in the same style as Donovan but saying it in a more scientific way. We’ve got a few ideas – volume two is already underway.”

— Chantelle Renee

_______________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________

Experimental Dental School: Better Than a Root Canal

It’s difficult to refrain from the overuse of oral hygiene puns when talking about Experimental Dental School.

The band describes their music as being both pretty and ugly, conjuring painful allusions of braces, pulling teeth, and even root canals. This, most certainly, would be the “ugly” and comes with the territory of the band’s lo-fi approach to music making.

“It is nice for us if music can met noise in some interesting way…hence the pretty and ugly,” says guitarist/vocalist Jesse Hall.

Their latest album, Forest Field, is certainly not “pretty” in the traditional sense, but is filled with raw, unbridled rock and roll. The album is available for free on their website and the band is forging forward in this digital world of file sharing and torrents.

“We were able to make the record cheaply,” Hall says. “I already had a computer, a basement and some mics…not so fancy, but good enough to make a decent sounding record that cost almost nothing. It’s nice that money is not a factor in someone being able to enjoy our music.”

Experimental Dental School is also taking full advantage of technology to promote themselves and connect with their fans. They’re active users of most social media outlets, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Despite their newfound ability to converse with others around the world, the band is finding itself allocating more time to talking and less time to rocking.

Through the magic of the world wide web, fans can now discover what the band is eating (dried mangoes), where they’re playing, and what they’re doing (recent tasks include “super gardening!!”).

“The thing that’s changed since we started to use this stuff is the exact reason I hate it: we are spending more time behind a computer,” Hall says.

Don’t stop your tweets just yet, however. Even with the added time commitment, Hall acknowledges that “it’s nice to hear from people who enjoy your music and also communicate with people whose work you also admire.”

These influences include bands like Deerhoof (Hall gushes that “they are genuinely kind people. This is such an inspiration for me”), and frequently changing obsessions with songs and videos on YouTube.

“I will become completely consumed with a random song and play it a thousand times in a row,” he says. “The last couple were Cab Caloway, Gang of Four, Johnny Cash live, Talking Heads live, Hovercraft, a Liars song, OOIOO and Chinese Stars.”

Hall’s diverse tastes come from his musical upbringing.

“My parents had an amazing record collection; I used to listen for hours as a kid,” he says. “I was obsessed with playing the guitar because it felt good, it seemed to be something I could not stop myself from doing.”

This feeling of inevitability led to Hall’s harmonious union with Shoko Horikawa (drums and vocals), and their array of subsequent releases.

After being featured on a number of global compilation albums, Experimental Dental School shared five split albums with artists from Italy, Japan and Germany. Although Forest Field is their fourth full-length album, the band has not strayed far from their international starting place. XDS undertook their first European tour in the spring of 2004 and have returned nearly annually. Currently touring the United States and Canada, they venture even further to Japan in the fall.

“It is very different touring in Europe,” Hall explains. “For one thing, you always have food, a place to stay, and everyone works very hard to make the show great; from the promoter to the sound person. In the U.S., of course, these things can be more challenging because there are so many bands. I think Japan will be great because Shoko loves Japanese food.”

The members of Experimental Dental School appreciate the value of their partnership, falling in line alongside the currently trendy rock duo.

The power of this formation, Hall suggests, comes from the fact that “practically speaking, a two-piece is light and compact…you only have to meet minds with one other person. Also, it makes you stretch your technical and creative skills, and allows for more space and dynamics. Also, there is more space in the car for snacks.”

Here’s hoping the band left their toffee, bubble gum and other sticky, tooth-rotting substances behind.

Experimental Dental School performs three times during North by Northeast: June 18 at Sneaky Dee’s (11:00 p.m.), June 19 at the NXPO Day Stage in the Hyatt Regency (3:00 p.m.), and later that night at Rancho Relaxo (2:00 a.m.)

- Heather Adamo