Interviews

This Is My Suitcase is a pretty crazy band. You might remember a certain video featuring Patrick Stumph saying “see you in cat heaven”. Remember that awesome song in the background with the meows? That my friends is the genius work of This Is My Suitcase.

Joe of This Is My Suitcase answered some questions for Double Dance:

How did This Is My Suitcase become a band?

The musical cyclone of This Is My Suitcase was originally conceived because, throughout my many years spent heading up punk bands, I had grown tired from constantly relying on other band members who simply did not have the same level of concern for what we were doing. I care way too much- it’s like a sickness. I wanted to have somewhere that i could musically go to be alone and freak out as I saw fit; a place to care about my weird songs by my lonesome until the cows came home- and This Is My Suitcase was birthed. By the time I had released the first This Is My Suitcase full length album, Missent to Thailand, I had already enlisted three band members to play alongside me at shows, as I missed friendship and headbanging  aspects of band life too much to remain alone. Over the next couple of years, we had solidified our lineup to what it is now: myself, Nicholas Manos (on the electric guitar and percussion), Jeremy Skeen (a true drum mastermind), Joseph O’ Riordan (the bass guitar), and Mary Lynn Gloeckle (our pianist and pitch-wonderful female vocalist). Obviously, our band has become an actual “band” and no longer a “solo project”, if i must use such dreaded terms as these to describe our situation. LONG ANSWER SHORT: This Is My Suitcase was originally the product of my madness, but, since then, This Is My Suitcase has blossomed into a full band musical explosion that I love more than ever.

For those who haven’t heard music from This Is My Suitcase, how would you describe the band’s sound?

For the millions of unfortunate souls who, for whatever reason, choose to read about how music sounds rather than listen to how music sounds: the music of This Is My Suitcase does not sound like the music from any band I’ve heard to date. The simplest answer I can give to this mind-bending question is: the wily music of This Is My Suitcase sounds like the even-wilier music I constantly hear inside my brain as I try to live out my pathetic life as a sad-yet-optimistic cat-person who dies for fast music and writing love stories through sad metaphors. To be honest, This Is My Suitcase tends to accidentally sound 1% like everything I listen to: a little bit like The Beatles, a little bit like Elliott Smith, a little bit like Ben Folds, a little bit like Mozart, a little bit like Good Luck, a little bit like Ok Go, a little bit like Dr Dog, a little bit like Death Cab for Cutie, a little bit like The Zombies, a little bit like The Flaming Lips, etc, forever and ever; HOWEVER, this begs the question: if you sound a weensy-little bit like a boatload of very-different bands, then what do you actually sound like? EXACTLY! This Is My Suitcase sounds like nothing, and This Is My Suitcase sounds like everything. Confused? Good. Now go listen to something from THE KEYS TO CAT HEAVEN (our full length album, released in 2009 through Paper + Plastick records) way too loud, and decide for yourself how we sound!!! When asked how our record sounds, I usually say something along the lines of: THE KEYS TO CAT HEAVEN sounds like the Muppets as The Flaming Lips covering (The Beach Boy’s) Pet Sounds in Hell, produced by Ben Folds.

Where did the band’s name come from?

Justin Zrenner, a brilliant poet that I am lucky to call “friend”, thought up the band name, and I thought to myself “holy shit, that band name is so good that I need to make a band for it!”

What would you say are some of the band’s influences (musical or not)?

Although I pseudo-answered the musical half of this question in a previous answer, I will try to answer this doozie of a question as best as I can! Lyrically, more-often-than-not, I am influenced by what is going on with/around me. For example, “Goodbye Sky” from The Keys To Cat Heaven (a song about my looming and fast-approaching death, with an “oh well, let’s party!” overtone to it) was written as a completely open window to how I sadly felt when the song was created. Whereas other songs, such as “Mean Fish” (a song about two beta fish who are separated and willing die of total heartbreak), are less literal but still have parallels to my real life. Typically speaking, all of our lyrics are influenced by my actual life, and all of our music influenced by me being a maniac that never leaves the house and drinks 200 cups of coffee a day.

If you were given a chance to tour with any band, dead or alive, who would you choose to tour with?

Holy Shit, why would you even tease me with this question? Obviously, you opening up the “dead or” half of the question makes answering impossible. Obvious answer: THE BEATLES; however, i would ideally tour with them post Abbey Road (to see “Oh Darling” live) and they had stopped touring by this point, so my final “dead” answer is: ELLIOTT SMITH. I could write a book on why I believe Elliott and I were destined to be friends, so a tour would be a perfect chance to work my charm and befriend this genius. As far as living bands, that is easy: WE WANT TO TOUR WITH THE FLAMING LIPS EVERYDAY FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!

Who writes the songs in the band?

I (Joseph Anthony Camerlengo) write the music and lyrics for our band. Easy answer! hehe

What is your favorite color?

I am partially-colorblind, so I truthfully am not sure how to answer. The best answer is “blue”, although sometimes I think I am looking at blue and it is really purple, then everyone laughs at me and I tear up. My answer is either “blue”, “rainbow”, or “sad” (is sad a color?)

Would you say there is something (unique maybe) that sets This Is My Suitcase apart from other bands?

Let me answer that with an equally valid question, my dearest Kaitlin: Would you say that there is anything at all that This Is My Suitcase has in common with any other bands? Being in This Is My Suitcase is like being an albino squirrel in a park, no matter who sees us and no matter what we are compared to, we are always the craziest. Oh bother!

What are some of the band’s goals for the future?

We want to be able to survive, in general and financially; right now we are failing at both, it seems. With any luck at all, one day, enough people will be stoked on whatever it is that we do that I/we will be able to pay our rent and bills with it, HOPEFULLY leaving enough money for some Harry Nilsson records after life expenses are taken care of. That’s the goal, i suppose. Survival and/or Nilsson.

I’d say that was quite an interview, wouldn’t you? Now show some love to Joe and go purchase The Keys to Cat Heaven!

Boys will be Boys are an awesome powerpop/poprock band from Fairfax, Virginia. The four piece band includes: Mike (vocals/guitar), Lehi (vocals/bass), Mark (drums), and Joe (lead guitar). Boys Will Be Boys recently released their EP titled “The Release”, which you can download on iTunes!

I was lucky enough to get an interview with the band, so here goes…

First off, how did Boys will be Boys get started?

Mark and Lehi have been friends for a really long time. We met through playing in local bands during high school. One day we decided to finally get together and start a band. Mark met Joe at a party and they hit it off right away so we asked if he wanted to join as well. Mark also knew Mike through mutual friends. Now we’re all one big happy family.

What bands have had he most influence on the band?

Definitely coming from the Northern Virginia area has influenced us. The music scene around here is really awesome and making its impact on the music scene worldwide.

Who writes the songs in the band?

Lehi mostly writes the main ideas for the songs but then we get together and we all put in our two cents about what we think would produce the best final product.

How did the band come up with the name “Boys will be Boys”?

The name “Boys will be Boys” just really seemed to fit our style of music. Also, it applies directly to us because our parents have always, at some point or another, used that line for things that we have done growing up.

Does the band have a favorite venue that they have played at?

Jammin Java in Vienna, VA is always a really fun place for us to play because it’s our hometown venue.

What band dead or alive, would the band tour with?

BLINK-182! I know that this sounds really generic and like an answer that most people would give but they really inspired us all to start playing music and get into the type of music that we play.

What are some of the bands future goals?

We’d really love to keep playing music and meet as many people that would want to meet us. We love making new friends!

What sort of challenges does the band face?

Finding a place to stay on tour! The van seems to get smaller and smaller as the tour goes on. When we have to sleep in the van a bunch of nights in a row, you get really tired of it really fast.

Where does the band hope to be in a couple of years?

We really would love to be doing the same thing we’re doing now, still playing music, still meeting new people and doing what we love as a job.

Anything strange or unusual about the Boys will be Boys, that fans probably don’t know?

When we’re in the van we jam/rock out to Queen and sing it in four part harmony. haha

Favorite color?

Purple or Orange

Favorite animal?

Hmmmm… that’s a tough one. I like a lot of different ones… I really HATE and am petrified of snakes though. haha

As usual, thanks to the band for the interview, while you’re at it, why don’t you go download that awesome new EP on iTunes?

The Swellers are a four member band from Michigan. Band members are: Nick Diener (vocals/guitar), Jonathan Diener (Drums), Ryan Collins (Guitar), and Anto Boros (Bass).

The band is currently out on tour with Less Than Jake.

Mr. Nick Diener was kind enough to answer a few questions for Double Dance.

How did the band start?

In 2002, Jonathan (my brother and our drummer) decided that we wanted to start a band and write our own songs, on our own terms. Called up our buddy Nate to play bass, started as a 3-piece, and played locally for a few years.

Where did the name “The Swellers” come from?

We needed a band name, it sounded catchy, it means nothing, and the other guys gave me the OK. It really came out of nowhere!

What bands are The Swellers most influenced by?

When we started, we kind of vowed to stay true to our punk rock roots as well as delve into the 90’s radio rock we grew up listening to. That formula stuck around even till this day. So bands like NOFX, Lagwagon, Millencolin.. all the way to Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, etc.

Who writes the songs in the band?

Jonathan and I write the lyrics and the music together. The chemistry seems to get better and better with every record, too, since we know what we want to try next.

How did you guys end up getting to tour with Less Than Jake?

I met the LTJ guys when I was recruited in early 2006 to play bass on their tour for the band A Wilhelm Scream (our good friends and mentors). They were all really cool, and I told them about my REAL band, The Swellers, and they seemed interested. We stayed in touch, and as our band grew, they noticed, and wanted to help us out. Vinnie (LTJ’s drummer) puts out all of our vinyl on his label, Paper + Plastick.

Do you have a favorite venue to play shows at?

The Metro in Chicago is quickly becoming one of our favorites. We play there in a few days! Also, the Fillmore in Detroit is super gorgeous and really big.. so that was awesome to play.

After this Winter tour, what are the band’s future plans?

We’re touring the states with Motion City Soundtrack, Set Your Goals, and This Providence in Jan/Feb. Really excited about that. Maybe some Canadian dates are on that but I’m not sure. And after that, maybe some more in North America, then Europe hopefully in the Spring. Can’t wait!

What is something about the band, that most fans might not know?

I think what I’m about to say is actually true for a lot of bands… it’s that we spend most of our time driving. In a van. No chicks, no parties.. just driving. And after the shows, we’re so tired that we just sleep on our friends floors in our sleeping bags. That’s the rock and roll lifestyle we lead.

Where would you like to see the band in 2 years?

In 2 years, I’d like to have our next record out. Big plans for big tours. Big videos. Big radio. Everything big and awesome. We shall see!

Once again, a huge thank you to Nick for the interview, you can check out more information on The Swellers current tour with Less Than Jake here.

To Write a Riot! is a 5 piece powerpop band from Connecticut. Members of the band are: Zack Fulton (vocals), Adam Lopez (drums), Matt Alongi (guitar), Shaughn Adamski (bass), and Corey Martel (guitar).

Now to the interview!

How did To Write a Riot! get started?

To Write A Riot! started out with the idea of trying to do something different musically and also trying to send a positive message to kids. All 5 of us have always been good friends in different projects musically, but we finally wanted to come together and do something as a unit. We wanted to do something more serious then anything we’ve pursued in the past.

Where did the band name come from?

The band name came from the desire to write music much like our biggest influences (The Beatles, Michael Jackson) in the sense that we really wanted a name that helped portray the music we play. We write music in hopes to stir things up a bit. We’re not your normal poprock band and we feel that people can immediately tell upon first look at our name.

What bands have had the most influence on To Write a Riot! ?

Like I said before, we’re all into a lot of different music.  We like everything from hardcore to contemporary pop and we feel the list of bands that has influenced us is endless. Musically, we’re like a giant melting pot and we hope to convey that through our own sound.

Why did you decide to cover “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”?

We decided to cover “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” because there are a lot of bands out there doing contemporary covers. We just wanted to do something timeless and it was also a lot of fun to put the song together from a male perspective, with a little bit of an edge.

How would you describe the band’s music in one word?

“Refreshing”

Who writes the songs in the band?

Everyone has their hand in the process but it usually starts off with our guitarists (Corey and Matt) as well as our singer (Zack). When it comes time to put it all together, we all have our hands very deep in the final product.

What are some of the challenges that To Write a Riot! has had to deal with?

We deal with a lot financially as well as in our personal lives. However, we never lose sight of the task at hand, whether it’s something like writing new music or doing our best to reach out to establish new relationships with fans.  We stay very focused through it all.

If the band could tour with any band dead or alive, who would they choose?

The band that made music what it is today, “The Beatles.” We wouldn’t be here without them. We would also like to do some kind of tour package featuring Kanye West and Taylor Swift.

What are the bands future goals?

Our future goal is to simply make music as long as the fates will allow us to. It’s not about selling millions of records or riding around in a multi-million dollar tour bus, it’s about writing music that makes peoples lives better and instills emotion. The right song can brighten anyone’s day, and that’s our main goal.

Is there anything about the band that most fans don’t know?

We are very friendly guys, so please never hesitate to come say hello or give us a hug or even a hi-five. We play music for you guys and we’d love to meet every single one of you!

How can you not want to listen to To Write a Riot! after that interview?

Thanks again to the band for the interview!

So, the other day I wrote a short review about We Came as Romans‘ debut album, “To Plant a Seed“, and today I was fortunate enough to talk on the phone, all the way from Michigan, with Josh from the band! Once again, I really loved the album, and it was nice to find out about the message behind the album and band, and to dig a little deeper in to some song meanings and album production.

Who is We Came As Romans, where did you come from, and where did you get the band name?

Well, we started off like 4 and a half years ago, a lot different than we are right now. Our vocalist Dave and I are actually the only original members left; Dave had originally played guitar, so him and I were the first guitarists. We went to high school together. Dave was in a Christian pop punk band, was just kind of hanging out in the local music scene, and he wanted to start playing heavier music so he got some friends together and one of them was me and we just kind of started playing, went through tons of different member changes, ended up changing our name to We Came As Romans, and that’s just how we got to where we are now. So, it was kind of a long trip of different people in the band and styles of music that we played. All those things in the past 4 years have evolved in to what we are now.

So, you just released “To Plant a Seed” the other day (03/11); were you trying to get any messages or thoughts across when you were recording the album?

Yeah, the whole concept about the album, “To Plant a Seed”, is that when kids listen to us, or if they come to see us live, we try to be a band that’s all about loving each other and respecting each other and try to get kids to the show that, amongst their friends and random people they don’t even know, that’s just the overall message that we try to spread is, to try and love and respect each other. And so, maybe when a kid listens to us or comes to see us at shows, we try and plant that idea or that “seed” in their mind. You know, as I see it, a large majority of anyone who listens to us or sees us at a show, they’re not gonna go home and want to immediately change their lives and start acting differently; but, you know, just loving up to people when they’re not getting any love back or just respecting people they don’t even know. Not everyone, well, very few people, are going to immediately want to change their mind, but hopefully we’ve planted that seed, and hopefully it will grow and hopefully, one day, they’ll realize “Wow, that’s what We Came as Romans was talking about.”, like I should just be loving on everyone and, you know, it is about being friends, being peaceful, getting along, and co-existing. And so hopefully that seed that we plant with our lyrics or at our live show, hopefully it’ll grow. So that’s kinda just what the CD’s about.

So, I would assume that’s partly what the title track is about too?

It’s kind of funny, the actual song, the first track, it’s about the whole message and how we came to attain that message. A lot of that song is about how we started as band. Actually in the, like, second verse is “Four years ago we planted a seed,” and that’s kind of how our band came to be and how that message came to be and, once, our band was just like a seed that was planted and we’ve grown in to this band that’s trying to plant seeds of love, and, well, yeah I guess that would be pretty accurate. I hope that gives you a description. It kind of has two meanings that mean the same thing. I don’t know if I explained that really badly, but I hope it makes sense to you.

The album cover art;  Where did that come from?

Well basically, our bass player Andy, he does a lot of graphic design and stuff so he knows a lot of artists. Before we recorded he’s like, “I really want this guy, Paul Romano, to do our album art.” and so he had showed us some of Paul’s work, some the we’d already know; like, he did Mastadon and Chiodos, their album art, and so we told Equal Vision that that’s what we wanted to do, and Equal Vision had already released two of Chiodos two’ CDs so they were already familiar with Paul and we kind of just sent a few snippets of lyrics and told him what the album was about in general, gave him an idea, and he drew up a few sketches and we really liked it. So basically, that was just it.

So, you worked with Joey Sturgis on this album, same as your EPs; did he bring anything new to the table, anything you might not have thought of doing?

Not especially. A lot of the songs on the CD are almost identical to the demos we recorded before we went to Joey. I mean, Joey made everything sound so much better and of course Joey had added his personal touch on things. It wasn’t, I guess–I’ve seen it on the Internet and whatnot, how, well I guess a lot of people think that being produced by Joey Sturgis is like, that we go in there and he writes our songs for us and, you know, he write all these parts that make us who we are. But, no, Joey helped a ton on everything and we worked really well together, writing, and, I guess, fixing the songs. But, almost everything that’s on this full-length was written before we went in, and Joey just kind of helped us develop it more, like adding little things. Joey added some parts that he had written himself for Seed, and he was super cool about it. He was like, “Hey, dude, it’d be really cool if we put this in.” and I was like “Yeah, let’s put that in, that’s great! Like, I’m all for it. This is going to make album sound better.” The reason that we went back to Joey was because we worked so well together when we recorded our EP with him. We just get on the same track, and the same, I guess, direction of where things need to go with the songs; the whole big picture of the songs, and the whole big picture of the CD. And, so, it was just kind like, I don’t know; just really awesome working with Joey.

In terms of progression, how do you think your sound has evolved since the Demo and “Dreams” EP, or has it at all?

Well, if you take a in to our EPs through and through, a lot of it is just–take a look the song “Shapes” for example, a lot of it is just music, stop, goes in to sample part with strings and a drum machine, then it’s like more music then stop, strong and a drum machine, and music, stop, goes in to another drum machine with synth, and it was like an underdeveloped thing for us when we recorded it, because we didn’t know how we were going to do it live or anything, we were just “Oh, it would be really cool if we could add these parts.” And on the new CD we tried to make it a point that every song was really coherent and it had a really great continuity to it, and so all the strings, or the piano, or the drum machines on the new CD or more so part of a song. There’s never just like, well, I wouldn’t say never, but there’s very rarely just a drum machine playing with some strings. Like, it’s part of the song, a strings, guitar, a brass section. Like, we tried to make, I guess, the orchestra a second band, using strings, or using the brass section as well as using piano and drum machines, we tried to make it a whole part of the song, a whole ‘nother instrument to it, so it’ll still be playing but there’s also guitars and vocals and real drums at the same time. So I guess–aw, man, I’m gonna sound like an idiot, like, “What is this guy talking about?!”, but, I guess that our EP, compared to our full-length, it was really underdeveloped in terms of the song structure, and in terms of the way that we had previously used strings and samples, and I think that our full-length is more, I guess, more developed and more along the way to being a lot more coherent as a whole.

There was one song that stood out for me, and that was “Dreams”. What’s the meaning behind “Dreams”?

“Dreams” is actually the oldest on our full-length; it was on our EP, and was even the first song written for our EP, and back then, I had written the lyrics for “Dreams” myself. Andy and I were room-mates on college, a little precursor to this whole thing, we were room-mates in college in our first year, and we were both like “Man, we gotta drop out if we want to do this band. Like, we can’t do school and then try to tour full time. We can’t make it as real musicians in we gotta stay in college.” And so when Andy had had a talk about it with his dad, his dad had talked to him about how everyone has their dreams that they got to go for and Andy had told me how the talk had went, because I was pretty scared about talking to my parents, and I kind if write the song around how we, as a band, had felt. All of us had kind of taken a break from college. Our drummer could have went to U of M, I guess the best school in Michigan and he took a break from it, and so all of us had felt that music was our deepest dream, it was something that we always wanted to do, something that we were made to do. And so, that song is just kind of about how all of us always dreamed about being musicians and doing what it takes to be that, but at the same time, like, we weren’t just musicians, we were trying to spread a message too. We’re not just trying to go out and rock, and get attention, and get girls and party. We all felt that we need to be doing this, we need to be doing this thing, but for a better reason than all the typical reasons, I guess.

On a final note, where do you hope We Came as Romans is headed in the future?

Everywhere. And by that I mean, we just want to tour a lot, we’re trying to be on tour almost all of 2010. We’ve really tried to just stay on the road, and hang out with dudes ad play shows, like you know. That’s just kind of what we’ve always wanted to do, was be a full time touring band, and now that we’ve finally released a CD that we can finally support on the road and stuff, we’re gonna really try to stay on the road as much as possible.

Thanks a ton, Josh, for taking the time to do this interview! I know it must have been a long day doing all those interviews!

Earlier today I got the chance to talk on the phone with Ryan Rae from another one of my favourite local bands, the Armchair Cynics. Last week they released their sophomore album “Starting Today” from 604 Records, and we talk about putting the album together and the band’s personal lives.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name’s Ryan Rae and I play drums for Armchair Cynics.

So you just released your album, “Starting Today”, where did the title come from?

Yeah, you know, there’s a song on the album called “Starting Today” and, we tossed around a few names, we tossed around the idea of calling it “On” and, there was a few different names we threw around, and, you know, nothing really clicked. So we’re like “Why don’t we just call it ‘Starting Today’?” because it was kind of a bit of a relief for us after the old one. We already had the song “Starting Today” so we’re just like, “Let’s just call it ‘Starting Today’!”, it’s like “Yup, sounds great! Let’s do it!”

The album artwork, you’ve got a chair on fire, does that just go with the theme of “Ablaze”?

Well, yeah, basically. Again, we were tossing around all sorts of different ideas and were thinking, why don’t we just get literal with it and, get an old chair? We actually did an ad on The Zone and The Fox in Victoria and Vancouver about wanting fans to give us any old armchairs that they had kicking around. We actually had a guy give us and old armchair which we took out and burned. And that was the idea, get a fan to give us a chair, and that could be the album artwork.

Where did you record, Victoria?

Uh, nope, we recorded in Vancouver. We did the drums and the bass at the warehouse, Bryan Adams’ studio, and a lot of the guitars and overdubs at the Sonic studio, and it was mixed, also, at the warehouse.

How was the recording process. switching between the two places? Fun? Hectic?

I love it. It’s long days, you start around 10 in the morning and usually go until, around 1 or 2 in the morning, but, coming from a normal job to that, it’s what we love to do. I could do that for weeks on end, it’s almost like a vacation in the end. It’s like touring; a lot of people think “Aw, what a bunch of hard work.”, but it’s like, whatever, let’s just get in the studio and do what you love for hours and hours on end.

So, what made you choose “Ablaze” and “Kelly” for singles over other songs on the album?

It’s a collective decision between us and 604 Records and Universal Music, who distributes us. You kind of take a look at the album as a whole, and usually a band, especially a modern rock band, will try and put out a rocking song first, because there are other singles on the album that’ll be, sort of, ballads. But, we just try and hit ‘em up with a good, fast-paced, rock and roll song to get the energy going and get the ball rolling the attention up for the next singles to follow. So, yeah, we just put all the songs on the table, and, kind of, decide what fits and take a risk on it, because, at the end of the day, you never know what’d going to work and everybody just says “You know, what do we like?”, and it happened to be “Ablaze” and “Kelly”.

Diving in to the band, itself, how did the Armchair Cynics become the Armchair Cynics?

The Armchair Cynics were born with our singer Ken and the bass player Aran. They originally formed the band, I think in 2000 and there was two other players at the time; a different guitar play and a different drummer, and they went on for about two years. And it didn’t quite work out with the guitar player and drummer. I’m quite quite sure what happened there, but, myself and Adam Sutherland joined the band in 2002 and we’ve been strong ever since!

To someone who’s never heard of the Armchair Cynics, how would you describe your sound to them?

It’s modern rock. It’s along the same thing as other Canadian bands, like Our Lady Peace, Mathew Good, but with our own twist. I couldn’t quite pin it on to an exact sound. You’d have to listen to the album, I guess, and judge for yourself, and give us some feedback and tell us what it sounds like.

Where do you find the inspiration to write music?

A lot of people in the band – Ken’ll come in with, like, a guitar riff or line, Adam’ll come in with a vocal line or guitar riff, and we just sit there and jam on it. A lot of the writing and stuff doesn’t come to us without the band sitting there and hashing it out in the jam room. Maybe Ken will think of a guitar line, played all by itself, and have an idea for it, and then the band sits down and rehearses it, the song will come to life. It just sort of happens as a collective in the jam room, and away we go.

When you’re not writing, recording, or touring, what do you like to do in your off-time?

We do a variety of different stuff. Ken, he’s big in to, like, fashion and styling and cooking; I could see him owning his own restaurant, and being like, oh what’s that chef, um, err, chef Ramsay; Ken in the chef Ramsay of the band. I’m the type of guy that goes out in to the woods on the weekend and collects firewood and goes camping and jumps out of airplanes. Adam runs his recording studio — Adam, by the way, is not in the band anymore. He left the band about a month ago and we got a new guy, Brendan Walker, and, I don’t know what he does in his spare time because I’ve just met him a couple of times so I couldn’t tell you. It’s a mystery. And Aran builds stuff around his house, he’s always got, about 15 projects on the go, whether it’s building a deck or installing a hot-tub. He’s a family man, he lives at home and works on his house.

What do you like to listen to?

I like a little bit of everything. If it’s Friday night and I’m going out partying I might want something dancey, like some Metric or Maroon 5. And if I’m going to goof around in the forest, maybe crank up Metallica or Pantera. If we’re cruising down the road in the tour van, we might get only AM radio, and I’m happy to listen to classical music. So it completely depends on the mood, like I’ll listen to hip-hop, to rock, to classical, jazz; everything.

What does the future of the Armchair Cynics look like?

Obviously the goal is to make this a career. We’re making music that we love, and we’d love to just be able to do that and make a living at it and not have to work day jobs. “Kelly” just came out to radio recently, so we’ve starting looking at booking tours before Christmas, and probably head up to Ontario in March and just hit the road, try and make a success.

My greatest thanks to Ryan for aptly agreeing to the interview!

Click here to grab “Starting Today” on iTunes!

A few days ago I had the opportunity to chat with Antonia Freybe-Smith from one of my favourite local bands Jets Overhead. Read below to see how we delve in to their sounds, writing music, and their new album, “No Nations”.

How did Jets Overhead become Jets Overhead?

Oh jeez. Most of the band members had been in a previous incarnation called the Special Guests, and they’d been together since high school basically, and then they sort of changed a bit, and got a new member, and then I joined and formed Jets Overhead, I guess, about, 5 years ago. And that’s pretty much it; we just sort of kept the dream alive and started playing music together and our sounds kind of changed and we changed the name to Jets Overhead, and yeah.

How would you describe your sound?

Well, I had this quoted back to me when we were in Toronto last week, and said I had said this and I was like “Aw, sweet, I said that? That’s awesome.” I might have to re-quote myself here. Apparently I said “We’re like soft, heavy road-trip music.” and I thought it was awesome I said that, and I think we are kid of like that. It’s sort of heavy, but not in your face, and a lot of our friends end up listening to our album on road trips, we found out the last while, and we like that.

When in the studio, when writing your music, where do you usually find your inspiration?

That’s a good question. Well, with our last record, the one that’s come out this year, “No Nations”, it was really cool, actually. I mean, we all had day jobs and stuff – most of us do anyway – and we’re all pretty busy. We wrote the album together, as a band. We just sort of meet together in the evenings, in the Winter, we’d meet in the evenings in our basement jam space, and we would just start jamming. We’d be like “Hey, how’s it going?” and wouldn’t really talk to each other that much; we’d just plug in, turn our amps on, and just play. And we’d just jam for a few hours and these songs just kind of came out of that, but I think we all agree, when we were looking at the material, that there was a lot of similar themes in the songs and just a lot of things going on in the world and in our own lives and we’d just go down in the basement and it would come out that way. Themes about, like, “What the hell is life about?” and “What’s going on with the state of the world?” and, we’re helpless, but we aren’t, and that type of thing. That was a big inspiration to us, even though we didn’t sit down and be like, “We want to write songs about this and this”, it was just kind of an unspoken thing that just kind of happened; sort of therapeutic. So it was pretty organic the way the theme sort of presents itself after a long, long session of sort of jamming away.

What do you like to listen to? Your favourite?

Well, Adam, my other band mate, he’s also my husband, I think I really irritate him because I am just obsessively listening to jazz and classical music, and kind, of folk music. Over the last few years, much to my frustration, I can’t listen to any music vaguely in the genre of music we’re making; and there’s a lot of great music out there right now, indie rock, atmospheric rock, just incredible stuff out there now that I just can’t really put that on and chill out, I don’t know what it is. It’s like I need to listen to music that has nothing to do with the type of music we make or the the same sort of music our peers are making in the community. I don’t know, maybe it’s just work for me now, unfortunately, but I’m just crazy listening to a lot of jazz and a lot of world music and just, like Cuban music. I’ll irritate Adam, because he’ll put on, like, Sweet Foxes and I’ll just turn it off. So, hopefully he’ll get over that soon.

When you’re not recording or touring, what do you get up to in your off time?

The last couple of years, we’ve been, sort of, making the record in our off-time, because that was taking up a lot of time, but Adam would play with a few other friends and other types of bands, like fun cover bands, so that kind of takes up our time, and it’s a pretty sweet way to pay the bills, just with our friends, and in cover bands. We work for our band. Like, we released our album on our own label called MicroGroove so our, sort of, philosophy was that all our members work for our label. We’re really like to have a lot of great people our team now. We’ve hired some publicists and stuff like that. So most of the stuff that involves releasing an album, we did ourselves, and that takes up a lot of our time; it’s a job, basically. We can’t really, in this day and age, you don’t really have a huge team behind you, it’s like a record deal, where a lot a bands are doing it themselves, and it’s a lot of day-to-day work, applying for grants, and trying to get shows, publicity, interviews, so it’s great to do it for yourself, because you have this control and you’re really involved, but it’s a lot of work.

Talking about your new album, “No Nations”, what was the concept behind the cover artwork?

It was done by–the cover of the album, it’s actually a little sculpture done by a really talented local artist. He’s really neat, he does all sorts of neat things. He also shot a video for us, when we were in China in May, it’s the video for the title track, “No Nations”. Yeah, he’s super creative and he built that little sculpture and then photographed it on a black background. We had a bunch of different stuff, and when we saw that, we just fell in love with it and thought it was beautiful and interesting and eye-catching and somehow felt like it, kind of, abstractly said it all. It’s an interesting abstract concept and we all agreed, like, “Sweet, album cover!” and we all agreed immediately and that was great.

How does your previous album, “Bridges”, compare with “No Nations”? How have the sounds changed?

I think it’s changed quite a bit, I think it’s a but more sonically satisfying, that’s what I would say. We wrote a lot of songs for “No Nations”, and some of them were just snippets, and some were full songs and we had a lot of – we just, sort of, spewed out a lot of material for that album, and I think it’s just quite a much more soothing, but much more heavy sound. I think it’s a bit more realized, and a bit more of what we were going for before, but we took our sweet time this time, and I think you can kind of tell on there. We weren’t trying to be anything or be anybody, we just really made the conscious decision to just — we weren’t trying to get a radio hit, we weren’t trying be the coolest kids on the block, and just decided to forget all of that crap; let’s just take our time and write a sweet record that we liked, and that we would want to listen to. And you can sort of feel that on there. We were just so chill. And on the last one, I love “Bridges”, but we were just a bit more trying to meet goals, and we were under pressure, and had a short period of time and with this one we just took our sweet time and tried to make something that just sings. A lot of people don’t have that luxury, or they can’t get there that fast, they still feel a lot of pressure.

What does the future of Jets Overhead look like?

Well, hopefully, it looks like a lot of touring and playing a lot of shows, and we just want to, basically, get out there and play as many shows as we want at this point and that’s the best part about it, and we love it. And meeting people and other bands in the music community and stuff like that. And that’s the greatest part of it, in a way. Just doing as much as we can this album cycle and just hopefully, as Adam said, “Keep the dream alive,” and, well, we actually recorded enough songs for another record, so actually another handful of songs that we want to release. We’re not sure how we’ll do it, if we’ll do another album or put a few of them online or whatever. We’ve got another handful of songs, and some of my favourites are even held back. So, we’re just going to keep doing it as long as we can and as long as we’re still getting the same thing out of it, and feeling artistically satisfied, and we’ll definitely keep it for a while for sure. That’s what we hope to do anyways.

Get “No Nations” on iTunes!

A few days ago I had the opportunity to have a talk with Saosin’s front man Cove about their sophomore album, “In Search of Solid Ground”, which dropped September 8th from Virgin Records.

State who you are and what you do.

My name’s Cove Reber, and I sing in the band Soasin.

So let’s jump right in. You just released your latest album “In Search of Solid Ground”. What kinds of feelings or sounds or feelings were you trying to produce when you made this album?

I don’t think I don’t I was necessarily trying to do something, or say something. There wasn’t really a point I was trying to get across. I think, with this record, I kind of took the approach that the other guys took while writing the music, where we write the music first and the vocals second. So, you know, I think I kind of took the approach that they took, which was to just let it come from the heart, let it come natural, and let it come really organic, and just let the idea flow. And there was many things on this record, that were, in many ways, like a flow for me. It wasn’t like a flow for a rapper. It wasn’t well thought out. It was just like a flow, like on the spot, just winging it, and see what comes out. I think, at the very end of the day, when it’s back on the record, I’m proud of what we accomplished. I’m proud of what we did on this record with the band. Most bands go away for a month, after touring for a year, they go away for a month and then come back and tour again for another year off of another record. It’s like, they don’t really put a lot of effort in to the writing process; they just go in and record and they keep their fingers crossed that they’ve got a hit or that they’ve got a couple songs that can sustain them. But for us, we look at music as a, you know, something that can transcend time. Obviously the music we listen to; I personally think the music we listen to has transcended time, and it will always transcend time. I think that that’s the reason we take so long with writing and recording and that’s why, when we come out with something, all of us are extremely proud of it. And it’s not that we’re extremely cocky about it or anything, but it’s just more and more so that we’re extremely confident in ourselves as musicians, and it’s something that people can hear the growth in and appreciate where we are trying to take the band.

When you put this album together, what made you decide to to grab the three songs off of the “Grey” EP?

The “Grey” EP is just like the “Black” EP. On the first record, it had three songs on it as well that we pulled off. The “Grey” EP had another couple songs that we pulled off and put on this record. And I think the reason we do that is, most bands – like I said earlier – they go away for a month in to the studio and they come back out and go straight in to touring and there’s no real shot to let the song develop. And what we like to do is give our fans the opportunity to hear the song in growth and development. It was purely an accident that it happened the first time. Like, back in 2005 I think, a ton of songs got leaked, and it was my fault. It ended up being, kind of – I don’t know if it was necessarily a blessing, when it happened and when everybody was like “Damn it Cove, how could you let that happen?” But, at the end of the day, when everybody saw what happened and we got the feedback from the fans it was nice to have that feedback, to hear what they were saying. Not that necessarily we write for the fans, because we never write for somebody, we always write for our selves and try and make something that we, alone, appreciate. But, you know, at the end of the day, we’re not going to survive unless our fans are happy and unless we’re happy. So it was kind of nice to get that feedback off the “Grey” EP on what the fans liked and what they didn’t like. And when we did the record Butch Walker really liked the “Grey” EP, he really liked “Love Maker” which is now entitled “The Worst of Me”, and Chris really felt like, “Secrets”. which is now called “I Keep my Secrets Safe”, Chris really felt that the verses could have been better, so he took it upon himself to make it better. And I think, all three songs from the “Grey” EP are kind of highlights on the record because of what we managed to do with the songs. If you listened to the “Grey” EP songs back-to-back, those three songs, back-to-back with the songs on the record, you do hear a lot of growth. It is very recognizable that the songs are, well, better. And that’s something we like to give our stance on; to hear our songs grow… if that all makes sense.

So, you worked with multiple producers, like Butch Walker and John Fieldman; how was that? Fun? Hectic?

Recording with this band is like such a different world. It’s difficult. Because of the amount of time and effort we invest in to each song, we become very attached to it. So we need somebody on the outside, and from the outside perspective, that’s going to be as attached to that song as we are. So, the songs that Butch Walker did; he was very fascinated when he heard them, at first listen, so if we hadn’t recorded in Malibu with Butch Walker and we recorded in Seattle with Butch Walker, I think we would’ve been a little more soft we would have recorded more songs with him. And it was hectic, and an absolute crazy time. We were living in a house in Malibu, one the most beautiful places in the world, and up on this hill there was this huge mansion where, like, the Dalai Lama lived, or whatever, some Sikh lived, you know? And he had a helicopter pad on his roof. This area that we were in was more like a crazy trip, and it was like a place that we couldn’t buckle down. I would sit on the balcony and you could see, legitimately, everything. It just stretched for miles. You could see Catalina, you could see the ocean. So you kind of lost the focus, but when we came out of there we re-grouped about a week later and we finished our record. But working with Butch was definitely a learning experience for us all and I think we kind of needed that in order for us to come together and really work as a team and make “In Search of Solid Ground” and when we were in the studio with Butch, for the individual effort we needed and that time to come together when we were still working on the record and build the relationships that needed to be built within our mess. So it was pretty awesome to work with all the producers on this record. And I think everyone who worked on this album got the best out of me. That’s one of the reasons we hire producers, is for me. The guys in the band are really confident that they could record the record themselves, like they could record the music themselves, they don’t need anybody’s help. But I need somebody to help me out and give me guidance.

What’s the deal with the album artwork? Why the change? What was the big commotion?

The big commotion over it was, basically the first time we, I know four of us, saw the artwork when it was on absolutepunk.net or .com or whatever. When we first saw it, it was like “That’s not what I expected… that’s not the idea. Why didn’t I see this before?”, and Chris started saying “I sent it to you all, I didn’t know they were doing this.” and all this stuff. And it’s like, “Well, we gotta fix this! It has to be better than that. That’s crap.” You know, like, who’s idea was it to put it out? Our label had given the permission to put it out without us even, really, seeing it. And I don’t think they knew we didn’t see it – or four or five members of the band hadn’t seen it. And we just thought, “That’s ugly. That’s an ugly cover.” And with the feedback we’d gotten from it, everyone was like “What? That’s your cover?” and we kind of said the same thing, being that we’d never seen it. It was a crappy cover. Chris had a back-up cover for us and presented it within two days. And with the way graphic artists are these days, they’ll come out looking really digital, but we really wanted to come out more looking like a picture, and it’s really come like that. When we saw the clock, it was something that was believable. It’s something that we were like, “That could easily be a photograph.” And I think that the way the broken clock looks with the numbers, I think it kind of really works with the record. I think it’s pretty cool, it’s pretty dope.

I want to thank Cove for taking time out of his busy life to have a chat with me

Get “In Search of Solid Ground”!

This past weekend, I attended Victoria’s Rifflandia music festival (more here). And among enjoying some of Canada’s best indie music, taking photos, and enjoying roasted-pepper and goat cheese bunwiches, I got to have a chat with one of the headliner’s, The Dude’s, lead Dan Vacon.

State your name and what you do.

My name is Dan, and I am a semi-pro rock and roll musician.. for The Dudes!

So, how’d The Dudes become The Dudes?

I dunno; We were kind of all born dudes and, you know, the powers that lead specific people together, and were just met and it was like “Hey, man, do you like rock?” “As a matter of fact, I DO like rock!” and we’ve been rockin’ ever since.

“The Dudes”? Where’d the name come from?

I don’t know, man. We always thought that it was kind saying that you’re every man. Like, even broads can be dudes. Everyone’s a dude. It’s kind of like Oprah Winfrey, because she’s every woman.

To someone who’s never heard your sound, how would you describe it to them?

We’re trying to make rock music, and I hope we’re pulling it off. But it’s kind of heartfelt and some clapping and singing along. It’s supposed to be a party; and I think that’s what it is.

What’s the idea behind your album artwork? It’s got four dudes on it?

We actually just have a favorurite artist, and we said, “This is the name of it, ‘Blood. Guts. Bruises. Cuts.’. Go wild, man, do your art thing.” And he came up with Mexican wrestler.

So, when you’re not touring or recording, what do you do in your off-time?

I actually try not to work as best I can; and I’m pretty good at it now. You get a couple songs on the radio, and you get a little income, not a full income. So we just learn to live really cheap. So I drink really cheap beer, I live in a shitty house, I hang out with poor-ass friends, and you tend to get in that routine. But once in a while I’ll have to do odd jobs. If I’m really screwed I’ll go be a bike messenger for a while. Yeah, it’s good because it’s like a rebel’s job; you got no boss, no uniform. You wake up, turn your radio on; it’s a real kick-ass job if you’ve got a problem with authority.

So, when you’re sitting in your shitty house, drinking your shitty beer, where do you find the inspiration to make music?

Aw, dude, living. You, honestly, just gotta live hard, you gotta get out there and do all the things, you can’t just stay home. If anyone says “Let’s go do something”, you’ve got to go do it. And, like cool shit happens to you when you live, and it’s just so easy. Like, my life is just up and down, up and down, shitty then great, and it keeps you on that artistic edge.

What’re you doing after Rifflandia?

Well, we’re doing two shows immediately in Vancouver tomorrow, and we did Kelowna last night. So it’s just a little interior BC tour for however many weeks, and the last week of October he head out and do Canada and a little bit of the States for like six weeks, or something like that.

Where do you see The Dudes in five or ten years?

You know, it’s kind of part of my big philosophy not to have any goals. I’m just completely goal-less, and I just do whatever makes me happy, and rockin’ out. Hopefully I’m doing this, maybe making more money. And if I’m doing this, and I’m still feelin’ it, then that’s what I want. Actually you know what, I’ve thought about this. Maybe not in ten years, but in like thirty years, I see my future: I get hit by a car, by some rich old lady, and she lets me live in a trailer on her land, and I just try to milk it until the end of my days. But you gotta have dreams. I don’t have any goals, but I have one little tiny dream. That’s the thing: little tiny dreams that are see-able.

The Dudes went on to perform a wicked-awesome set at one of Rifflandia’s many venues, the Market Square, in Victoria that Friday night. I want to truly thank Dan for taking the time to chat with me, what with his busy schedule and all.

Recently I got the opportunity to chat with Jon Middleton of Victoria 3-piece Jon and Roy. Read on to see that we talked about their new album coming in the new year, their touring schedule, and the story behind the band.

How did Jon and Roy become Jon and Roy?

Well, we met in Victoria and just started playing music together, and over the years we’ve gone from playing in little pubs and bigger pubs, and now we’re trying to make a bigger push, you know? We’re playing bigger places now and being a little more serious about our music. And it’s kind of just naturally evolved from fun jams to more of a serious thing.

How would describe your sound? In one word, how would you describe Jon and Roy?

One word? Hmm.. In one word.. I would describe our music as… I don’t know man, it’s hard you know? We often, like, discover our music as folk, reggae kind of stuff, but there’s so many other elements going on. Like I’m a lover of music in general, and in that, I can incorporate all sorts of elements of different music like hip-hop, reggae, and folk, and rock, and African music all sorts of sounds. And that’s all just come out in the music we make and it’s so hard to really pinpoint. And that’s always the problem when trying to, like, describe our music, you know?

Where do you guys usually find your inspiration? How do you make your music?

Umm, I don’t know, it comes from different places sometimes. We’ll just be playing, having a little jam sesh in Victoria, and we just go there and sometimes we’ll just be in a certain mind state and something will just come out that we’ll wind up keeping. We’re inspired by different music for sure and playing music.

When you go on tour, who comes with?

Well, basically we’re a three piece now. We’ve got myself, Roy, an this other guy Ryan Tonelli who plays bass, and has been doing this for about a year. And sometimes we bring this guy that plays mandolin, his name’s Dougal. And, yeah, other than that, we’ll sometimes bring a rodie once in a while, his name’s Pat. We’re pretty low-key on that.

What do you listen to?

I listen to all sorts of music. It’s hard to say, I like all artists. Mostly Bob Dylan and Bob Marley… The two Bobs. The two Bobs usually come back to me. Those two always have meaning and I can return to those two. All the other music I listen to like hip hop, and a lot of African music. So, yeah a lot of select artists I can come back and listen to. But, yeah, the two Bobs.

So, you’re to Rifflandia this year; what are your plans after that?

You mean, like, right after? Well, we plan on touring Canada again at the end of November. So, we’re going across to, I think, Thunder Bay. And then we’re planning on going to the States. So those are the pretty much the two plans that are kind of in stone, but we’re doing a big show in Victoria on December 12th at the Alix Gooldan Theater. We played it last year, and there was no Christmas theme or anything, it was just a good chance for people to come and it was really great, so we’re doing that this year. Yeah, other than that, we’ve got a new album that’s going to be done in the new year.

A new album? Any new sounds coming out with this new album?

Well, it’s kind of similar music obviously, but it’s a bit more flushed out. We got a lot more time in the studio this time so it let us kind of think about things a but more and what we want to, actually, add to it.

I want to thank Jon Middleton for setting aside the time for me to chat him up.

Check out Jon and Roy.