Sitting in the office of Electric Circus, out of breath after following the impossibly quick John Paul Mason (owner of the venue and friend of the band) up the stairs, I’m not ashamed to say, I was nervous. Needlessly, as it turns out. James, all smiles and skinny jeans, polite as you like, is refreshingly every bit as nice in the flesh as he and the band are on twitter.

He laughs when I mention this. “But I sound like a bastard in my music?” he asks jokingly, “I think it’s just one of those things. People say it about comedians; they’re so funny on stage but they’re the most depressing people in real life. It’s kind of the opposite for us. What we do is quite depressing and we get that side of us out [in the music]. Apart from that we’re actually quite normal and enjoy what we do. I’m appreciative as well, I mean, I don’t like to think I’m a dickhead. But aye, I like the fact I come across nice.”

The band’s presence on Twitter is their main link to their fans. Unlike others who have followed a more corporate musical route The Twilight Sad actually interact with their followers; “We’re not a massive band so if anyone likes our music, if they write to us, even just something stupid, I think it’s pretty nice to write back and say cheers or whatever, y’know?”

Last year saw the release of the band’s newest studio album, “No One Can Ever Know,” prompting a British tour which ended at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom on December 15^th. The band was lauded for the performance, which saw fans and industry veterans alike flock to the homecoming. “I don;t know how many were there,” says James. “The rule now is not to ask how it’s sold, it just matters whether it’s a good gig or not. And there are some gigs you don’t want to ask about because you’re scared no one’s actually bought a ticket. It was a weird one, we’ve done tours in the past where one night we could be playing to a packed venue, and the next it’d be to fuck all. We were on an American tour recently and some of those gigs were the most depressing I’ve ever done in my life. Hurricane Sandy hit in New York when we were playing around there, and then the elections were on another night. The New York gig was actually pretty busy, but it would’ve been sold out if that hadn’t happened. People really shouldn’t have tried to come anyway, it was pretty bad.

“Since the last album came out we’ve been to places we’ve never been to before. We played Poland at Off Festival, and we didn’t know what to expect, but there were like, three thousand people in the tent there to see us, singer our songs back to us. I mean, fucking hell, how come no one told us people in Poland liked us! We went to Slovakia, then Turkey, and we played in Greece recently. It’s weird; Eastern Europe has really taken to our band for some reason. Greece was good. We were there for six days, it was like a lad’s holiday. The Athens show was the best, because half of the Greek population live there anyway, so the other two were smaller, but good as well. We were treated really well, and I fell off stage…”

Obviously, James thinks he’s going to get away with just dropping that in there, but he has to explain; “Basically, I had my eyes closed, took one step too far and bang, straight onto the floor. Luckily I landed on my thigh, if I’d landed on anything else I’d probably have broken something. But I lay on the floor, head in hands, thinking “aw naw, as soon as I look up the rest of the band are going to be laughing and pointing at me.” And they were.”

The closed-eyes dancing hasn’t gone unnoticed by the press, many people likening his mannerisms to Ian Curtis. “I suppose you could say it’s a compliment, but it’s a weird one. I don’t want to be compared to someone like that because they were so massively influential and people might think I’m trying to rip him off. I just do what comes naturally, and maybe we look similar, because he felt the same way about what he was doing as I do about it. I hope nobody would think I was trying to be a shite version, if you know what I mean. It’s obviously a compliment; they’re one of my favourite bands ever, so I am influenced by him, but I’m not trying to rip him off when I do all that mad stuff.”

The similarities between The Twilight Sad and Joy Division don’t end there though, No One Can Ever Know is a departure from the past albums, and is more synth based. “The sound of the album isn’t really anything to do with me because I only write the lyrics and vocal melodies. We start really basic, where the songs don’t have any production, we just make sure we have a strong song there to begin with, then Andy layers it up. Andy was obviously influenced by that sort of thing, Joy Division and other bands from that time. We said at the time the album sounded the ay it did because the songs were leaning towards that kind of production, they deserved more space than previous songs did, more room to breathe. We didn’t want to repeat ourselves.”

There’s a self-deprecating humbleness about James that is incredibly endearing. He seems constantly surprised by the turnout at gigs, and the response the band gets from fans. Not only that but he doesn’t listen back to himself on record.  “Once they’re done, they’re done. The only time I listen to it back is if I forget the lyrics or totally how the song goes. The remix EP is different though. I’ll listen to them, there’s hardly any vocals and if there are they’re totally messed about, so it doesn’t even sound like me. I think it was a good thing to do for us to get it out of our system. We were pleased with what came back, and surprised by the calibre of the people that wanted to remix us, so it was kind of cool.

“This is the first time we’ve done a gig like this,” he tells me, “It’s got drum samples and organs and stuff, so it’s not just acoustic because we didn’t want to do that again. It won’t be like Bloc. We’ll be a lot soberer.” According to James they do an acoustic set at Electric Circus almost every year, because of the relationship between the band and John Paul, the club’s owner.  This time though, nobody really knows what they’re getting. “That’s why we were so surprised when [Sleazy’s] sold out so quickly. Maybe it’s because we’ve done the stripped back thing in Edinburgh before a few times. And, because we’re from near Glasgow, people we know come for gigs there.”

One of the things that really fascinates me about Twilight Sad’s gigs are the crowds. This was especially clear at the over 14s Barrowlands concert, I’m almost positive I was standing next to somebodies mum. “It was probably mine! That’s the weird thing about us, I don’t really know what kind of people listen to us. I mean, there’s an older crowd but also, I posted this everywhere, a wee six-year-old lassie wrote to me. She lives on my street actually and I’ve never met her in my life, but her mum obviously knew I was in a band and got the music and now she’s like a big fan. I was like, “Fucking hell! That’s crazy!”” And on top of that, Arab Strap’s singer Aidan Moffat is a fan, and friend of the band. “To begin with, meeting Aidan and Malcolm, because they were the people I listened to, was like meeting your heroes, but after a while I realised they’re just like me. It’s amazing to think that the guy who inspired me to do what I do likes our music. I think that’s the biggest compliment, when people that have influenced you turn round and say, “you’re alright.” Hopefully one day we can do something with him… well… we might’ve already, so there you go, exclusive!”

One thing that had been frustrating me through the entire interview was James’ accent. When I explain that I thought he would sound like he did on record in person, much more Glaswegian, he seems surprised, “Do I not? I just do what comes naturally. My dad’s from Kilsyth and my mum’s from Aberdeen, and I grew up in Kilsyth. But my dad has always discouraged the whole harsh Glasgow sound because he was always like that, “You’re going to go around the world, and speak to nice people, they have to understand you!” And when we go away, I’m the only one people can understand. Andy and Devine? I mean, sometimes I can’t understand them!. I think maybe I’m trying to be articulate right now. It’s like you said earlier, we’re nice, but on record we’re not nice. It’s that bitter twisted side coming out.”

“The miserable Glaswegian side?”

“Aye! Exactly!”

Set for the release of her debut album ‘The Diary Of Me’, written and produced over the last twelve months, Cardiff based artist and musician Jo Whitby , aka Laurence Made Me Cry, has been busy.  On a wet and windy afternoon in the Welsh capital, we found her with close friend and collaborator Celine Lecompte and grabbed a coffee to talk music, stalking and social networking…

Hello Jo! For those who don’t know, could you give us a quick round up of your musical background?

J: Well I grew up in Bristol and have always been into music- I started off as a drummer at first in a few bands in Bristol and then I wanted to work on some solo acoustic stuff… I recorded a few songs then but it took me until 2011 to actually release them! [The Rain Song EP] I decided then that I needed to hurry up and do an album and so I forced myself into a timeline and got it together.

You wrote and recorded the album in Wales…

J:The majority of it was in Wales, but I hijacked my parent’s house in Bristol when they were on holiday to get some quiet… when you live in a flat sometimes it’s just too loud.

And have you noticed an impact on your music having moved over the bridge?

J:Yeah I have actually. I’ve felt very relaxed here, more so than back home, because I’ve found that people are a lot more supportive. You know, If people are telling you that they can’t wait to hear what you record next then it gives you the motivation to actually do it.

And did the positive response help the record take shape so quickly?

J: Yes, because I was 100% focused on doing it. Also, I’m nearly thirty now and you know sometimes you think ‘ I’m gonna get out of date soon’?…That was also part of it.

The first line of the opening track is a question, “Is this all that patience brings?”Is the album a way of you searching for something through the self reflection of a diary?

J: I guess it comes from sort of a dark space. It’s about waiting really, waiting to see what life can bring you and if it’s worth it. I mean if you can’t sleep and you’re getting a bit down because of it, at least you’ll see the dawn come up. Obviously it is all worth it… for the dawn to sing.

You’ve  collaborated with artists in and outside Wales. ‘Bientot a Moi’, written with Celine, is in French. The title translates as… soon to be me?

Celine:  Soon to be mine!

Ah, A-Level French not quite up to scratch!

Celine: Well we actually call it the stalker song…Jo had this little melody but she didn’t know where to take it, and we had this line “soon to be mine”. I thought maybe I could translate it into French,”bientot a moi”, which Jo thought had a real ring to it.  I then decided to write something a bit darker…

The melody itself is very upbeat…

Celine: That’ the twist of the track… if you think that a stalker can seem very friendly initially then they take you under and get into your head.

Not unlike the melody of the song itself…I also wanted to pick up on the really interesting track ‘This Evening’, which features Astrid?

J: Yeah, Astrid wrote the words and my friend Dianne in Illinois did the speaking. I first discovered her [Astrid ] on youtube building a tardis…  and we became friends through that and I asked her if she wanted to contribute something. She actually regularly writes a diary and she translated some from German to English.

There does seem to be a strong influence of travel in the album’s sound.

J: I enjoy travelling, it’s a space where I can put the headphones in and be in my own world. ‘Between Destinations’ is basically about doing the trip between Bristol and Cardiff, although actually the lyrics were inspired by going to Port Talbot and seeing the most amazing clouds in the sky. I remember thinking why isn’t anyone else paying attention, these are awesome!

You have described yourself as a “social media geek”.  What impact has the internet had on your music?

J:I needed to raise some funds to do the album so I thought I’d give the Crowdfunding thing a go and was amazed at the response to it. If it hadn’t been for social media I don’t think I would have raised the amount of money that I did to make the record.  Facebook and twitter can be really time consuming, but if you’re an up and coming artist, you’ve got to take the time. It makes a big difference.

You also kept a blog here on IAreYeti to keep fans up to date with the recording process. Was that a challenge or something you enjoyed?

J: Initially it was a challenge…when you have to focus on yourself and tell people what you’ve done and try and make it at least a little interesting, it can be a bit tricky.

‘Twas a diary of a diary if you like.

J: Yeah , exactly!

Finally, if I were to ask you to describe your music in three words, which I am, what would you say…

J: Haha, well there was one time when I put something like acid grind core jazz as my sound on facebook and somebody actually said that about my music in a review! No, maybe it was Christian acid grind core jazz…

Even better. But that’s five words.

J: Hmm. It should be lo-fi, folk, pop. Lo-fi… Is that one word?

The Diary Of Me is released on 11 March.

y- So the new album is just out, is it doing well?

R- Yes, well, there weren’t any expectations for it, apart from the fact we worked hard on it for quite a few months, so finishing it was a relief.

And every gig of the tour has been really wonderful, all of the response I have had for the album and for the gigs have all been quite positive, so on that level it has been a very good start.

Y- What’s the favourite place you have played so far?

R- Erm, well.. . What has been quite shocking is that most of every gig has been a very attentive crowd, they have been very very quiet, listening to every word and they appear to appreciate it. Ireland was amazing; Belfast has probably been the highlight of the tour so far. Well that was until we went to play up a mountain in the Cairngorms, on Saturday, it was sort of a party.

y- You went up the Cairngorms!?

r – Yeah there was a restaurant up the very top

y- Ah, so it wasn’t outdoors, that might have been a bit chilly.

r – Yeah, it would be very cold. So yeah we got the two girl fiddlers from the band and my friend Declan on the piano. A lot of people came, we sold out, and we were on top of a mountain! It was pretty magic, and when we finished off we had a big session down at the pub in Avimore. So that has been a great highlight.

Y – How much of the tour do you have left to do?

R – Tonight is the last night of the UK tour, in Edinburgh, and then i have a few days off, then my tour manager and i are off to our first gig in Frankfurt. And then from Frankfurt we cover a lot of ground in Germany, then… I’m not too sure on the order but we have Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, No! Belgium, Holland. NO NO Belgium is the last show.

Y- Have you got quite a following over there then?

r- In certain places. It’s interesting because in Europe people have a huge appreciation for music in very many places. I am very struck by Holland, they are really enthusiastic, Germany also. I have always had very good experiences there. I went to France last month to do promotion and stuff like that. Paris and Amsterdam, they were both really exciting places because they seemed to be, well not like a massive buzz or anything, but in Italy as well they have one of my songs playing on their Radio 2.

Y- That’s quite exciting.

R – Yeah we will wait and see, the gigs are all very small, like they have been here, small and intimate. Next year there will be a lot of me discovering new places, and hopefully a lot of people discovering my singing!

Y – So when did you start performing?

R – Well I started gigging in the later years of school; i would gig in the pubs and stuff like that. I have always played music. And I started writing, sorry performing my own songs at a later stage in school. I didn’t go to university, I just gigged from the get go. I went down to Glasgow and basically started to do open mic nights, went over to Dublin to do open mic nights, then from small moments managed to get down to London and do open mic nights and just tried to set up a foundation. Very, very, very quickly people will remember you and will pull you along. Like In Dublin I ended up doing 3 gigs in 1 night just because someone was like ‘oh, come and do this one and that one.” And with the investment each year started to get busier and busier.

y- So you think it has started to pay off then?

R – erm, i never think of it like that, I don’t think it’s a good healthy way to think about it.

Y – Not so much in money, but in terms of your hard work starting to pay off, with more interest from people?

R – Yeah, I am really happy with where I am right now; I fell like people get it, like they really understand it. I really like to try and feel like it’s a piece of art that has been created and something creative has been created, and something people can feel creative and excited about! There are a lot of things in this album and attached to this album that I feel are representatives of that, like each song is kind of deeply thought about, and the guys that worked on it I made sure that they deeply thought about it as well. (laughs) Go in the corner over there and think about this song! (laughs)

Then to top it all off the artist that did the artwork for, she is great it is amazing, I sat with her and she understood that she had a lot of work to do.

Y- Who was it?

R- A girl called Sophie Milner. If you look at the artwork you will see it is so beautiful, and she knew that I liked dreams, and we were both on the same sort of level when it came to liking darkness and surrealism and stuff like that, and she understood that actually I liked most things that she did, so she had quite a lot of freedom.

Y – Did you have input as well or did she just know that you like that kind of stuff?

R – Well she has worked with me on the past few EPs. She started off, well not timidly, but she gave very sort of abstract stuff that could be taken as many things. And then I sat with her down in London, on a huge heap of grass and we just sat there and chatted about the album and she understood me more because we had that experience. She was like ‘what colours?’ and I was like hmmm i don’t know I just like symbolism and stuff like that, so when I got it back i was like WOW! I hate drawing over it If anyone asks me to sign it, I always try and sign the inside, because the outside is just so beautiful.

y- Don’t deface the beautiful artwork!

r- Yeah I know, I’m a vandal. A VANDLE!

Also another really wonderful artistic mind that got involved right at the end was Lorn Macdonald (Quintana Films) who did the music video for ‘Waltz’. He didn’t have too much care for the technical stuff, even though he was really good at it, he was more worried about the emotional aspect of it, and he thought in a really quirky way and he thought it would be cool just to do these short video clips for each song.

I think he has released almost all of them, you can find them all on my tumbler blog; I have posted them all up. They are all so full of colourful images and weird concepts. They are between 30 (seconds??) and 2 minutes long.

So that was a nice sort of overall entity, it feels like it has just covered all the tracks.

Gary: So, are you excited for tonight?

Neil: Yeah, kind of like nervous excitement.  It’s quite a big undertaking, quite a big band, so there’s not many times you put six weeks worth of preparation into one gig.

Gary:  I saw a lot of violinists coming and going earlier.

Neil: Yeah, there are a lot of violinists, violas and a lot of cellos as well.  There’s a nine-piece string section for tonight.  It’s been fun trying to rehearse that many people, but it’s been worthwhile.  I walked through to the Green Room earlier on, with the rider under my arms, and was faced with nine string players all in a big circle.  Nine people can look like a lot more people, and it just slowly dawned on me that they are playing my music and I was almost like embarrassed, it was a really strange feeling.

Gary:  You were bringing them booze at that point though, definitely get you on their good side.

Neil: Absolutely.

Gary:  The new album comes out on the 16th of July, how do you think it differs from your previous two records?

Neil:  More dense, more orchestration, we’ve moved away from the more electronic sounding stuff.  I felt like I’d sort of reached a point where I’d done as much as I could do with the set-up that I had and it just felt like time for something new and a bit more – I keep using these exact same words in every interview – but more direct, a bit more human.  If that makes sense?  Don’t know if it does or not.

The words that I was writing were a lot more direct, more personal, a lot less metaphorical.  It made sense that the music should mirror that.  Instead of the more kind of exotic sounds, electronic instrument, I wanted something that was a bit more familiar, still trying to push that as much as we can so it is a bit odd and different.  The appeal was there, definitely, in terms of working with guitars, and drums, strings have been a big part of this as well.

Working with Pete, who is our cellist and also our string arranger as well.  He’s the one to blame for tonight.  He asked me, ‘It would be nice if we could represent the album as it sounds on the record live.  Am I ok to draft in a some string players?’  So I said, ‘Of course.’  Thinking it would be an extra cello and an extra violin, not quite a nine-piece orchestra.  But, that’s been a big part of shaping the character of this record, working with Pete on the arrangements and also working with the rest of the band.  Because, whenever we’ve made albums before it’s kind of been this process where I lock myself in a room with a bunch of instruments and the guys come in occasionally to play a part.  But, on the whole it’s just me being quite isolated, I don’t know if that maybe tapped into the way I was writing at the time or what the songs were about.  This time certainly it was a lot more organic, there was a lot more input.

Gary:  More of a complete band?

Neil:  Yeah, it was a lot more collaborative.  That felt ace, having never done that before, that was such a revelation.  I think part of me, in the past, thought that would be too much of an undertaking.  I was struggling too much in my own head with what I wanted the songs to sound like and I thought introducing this whole other cast of people it would just become really complicated, but in actual fact it simplified it.  Massively, made it more streamlined.

Also, the end product is something you’ve worked on with all your friends.  I think that’s why this record seems to mean more to me.  Not that the other ones don’t mean a lot.  But, at this point with other records I’d have stopped listening to them, just never want to hear it again.  This one, listening to it, is a bit like looking through old photos, if that’s not too corny.  I listen to it and I hear the guitar that Calum’s written and the arrangement that Pete’s made.

Gary:  Listening to the songs reminds you of everyone who had a part in making them?

Neil:  I guess so, and also before where I was writing philosophically about ideas, feelings, emotions, whereas this time I’m actually writing very specifically about events or about people, things that have happened in my life.  Felt good just to write, not worry about a theme, and the theme just became, my life.

Gary:  A lot of the songs on this new album are ones that will be well known to people who’ve seen you play live, was their a conscious decision to familiarise the audience with them?

Neil:  I don’t think there was, because the structure of the band has changed a lot between the last record and this one we’ve had a lot more time to write for it and because of that, you know, your playing gigs all the time and your always more excited about the new songs.  ‘All Creatures Will Make Merry’, we played those songs constantly for two years, we played tours, festivals and by the end of the two years if felt like we were done with that and we really wanted to move on.  But, it took us a year to make this album, so in the process we’ve demoed them in front of audiences and they’ve grown and evolved.  I think, you do get, a more rounded idea of what the songs is by playing it in front of people.  So it has informed it but not fully intentionally.

Gary: What’s the plans for touring?

Neil:  We’ve got things lined up, but we’ve not got anything to announce yet.  Don’t want to spoil it, but we have got extensive UK and Europe dates.  We’re doing select festivals, but we’re not doing very many, that was very much a conscious decision.  Not in a snobby way, but the kind of music we make because it’s quite dense and you’ve got all the orchestration playing in a field in that festival environment is not particularly suited.  The next record might be totally different.  We might think we could play this in front of festival goers and it will work really well, but this time round it’s more about playing nice venues, indoors.  That was a really long-winded way of answering that question, sorry.

Gary: It’s ok.  It seems a good venue here, at the Queen’s Hall, for your kind of sound then?

Neil:  Yeah, growing up in Penicuik this venue is the first port of call on the bus route so a lot of my favourite bands I saw play at the Queen’s Hall, so it’s became this thing in my head that the Queen’s Hall is the…

Gary: best venue in Edinburgh?

Neil:  Maybe, just in my mind.  It’s been like a kind of goal in terms of what I’ve wanted to do.  With the album coming out, Matthew – the label boss – asked, ‘Where do you want to do the record launch?’  The Queen’s Hall was the obvious choice.

Gary:  Final question, where’s the most unusual place you’ve ever played?

Neil:  Christ almighty, there’s some wild ones, some really wild ones.  I find it’s always fun to play in front of people when they are eating.  That is the pits, that is the worst thing you can do.  Our first European tour, on our first Italian date, we played in front of like five people sitting eating pasta and they couldn’t care less about any music we were playing.  I think the venue it normally had ACDC cover bands coming in.  Like, why is this bald Scottish man shouting at me while I’m trying to eat.  That’s the strangest one definitely.

James: How’s the tour going so far?

Newton: Ridiculously good, in terms of crowd response and especially with the new stuff. I’ve been so happy with it, it’s actually better than I thought it could be. Because when I was writing set lists really on I thought “I’ll put in quite a lot of new stuff then I’ll chisel away at it until I got a good balance.” I haven’t taken any of it out. It’s stayed exactly the same, there’s literally 90% of the new album, there’s only two songs that I don’t play from it, and people are really getting into it, it all seems to work with the old stuff.

J: Yeah, it does sound good within the set.

N: Yeah, the main difference is that all of the songs on this album are to be played live. The songs on the second were written to be recorded, but that’s because of the success of the first album, it felt that I really had to try and rise to the challenge. There’s a lot of stuff from it that I love playing but just the general thing made it much harder to integrate it into the set but this album you can just sit and play.

J: So, you do a lot of shows, but where is the strangest place you have played a gig?

N: Yeah this one has been like a 32 date tour. I’ve played in disused slate mines, I’ve done hot air balloons, and I’ve done a whole manner of really bizarre places.

J: The new album is out on the 9^th July, how does it compare to the last two?

N: It’s got a different vibe, especially writing wise. It’s weird I’ve just finished the track listing for it just before I went on. It was like, “that goes there, that fades into that, and then that fades into that, that goes there and THAT’S THE ALBUM DONE!”, another thing is that because I’m working with a guy over in America, when I come off stage, I’ve had to come back off stage, put my headphones on and do some mixing for it, then pack up my stuff, then go home. Then when I’m home I have to do some more mixing because we’re in two different time zones.

J: I saw you at Edinburgh Festival last summer and you did a song called ‘Professional Dog Food Taster’, will it be on the album?

N: I really tried fighting to get that on the album, it’s not a good fight. I think what I will do in terms of getting it out is, I will try and make a video and just put it up on YouTube. Two people at the record label said it was the worst thing I have ever written.

J: If you could work with anybody dead or alive who would it be?

N: Oh, I don’t know! I did my first on stage, full interaction; I got a guy called Ryan Keen up on stage with me, which was really interesting because I hadn’t really done it before, not to that degree anyway. That’s a tough one…Dead or alive…Maybe someone who I could get right out of my genre, maybe play guitar and do the beaty thing maybe like Cee-Lo green or something, that would be amazing!

J: You do a lot of covers, have you heard any really good covers of your songs?

N: Lots of people have done lots of nice, relatively true covers which are pretty good. Oh there was an a capella choir cover which was amazing!

J: Yeah there are a lot of those out there. A lot of great ukulele covers as well!

Who would win in a fight? A giant robot meerkat or a Bark?

N: A bark?!

J: Yeah, it has the body of a bear and the head of a shark.

N: Oh that would win! That sounds fearsome!

J: Can you elaborate more on why?

N: Well it’s a cross between a bear and a shark; it’s the most bitey thing ever! And as far as I am aware of meerkat are not violent.

J: It’s a giant robot meerkat though …

N: How giant? We talking like Godzille size? Like the size of a building?

J: Naa more like…9ft

N: Still the bark!

Newton Faulkner’s third album ‘Write It On Your Skin’ will be out on 9th July and the first single from the album ‘Clouds’ will be released on 1st July.

Your debut album ‘Many Fish to Fry’ is out now, where did the title come from?

I was writing this rubbish song called ‘Those Penguins Never Fly’ which was actually very serious
but was a bit shit apart from the last line which I liked ‘Every life is a new way to die’.

In the end I ditched the song but kept that line and wrote a new song around it, with each verse
being a different possible future life and ending in a different death.

I love that there are so many different possible paths to go down, and how that can feel
sometimes inspiring but also totally paralysing. What the bloody hell am I meant to do with this
time I have?! The threat of death makes our choices mean something, so really it’s about life and
all the cool things it might have to offer. The song, and then the album, became called Many Fish
To Fry.

What artists influence you?

They all do really, because even the rubbish ones influence me not to be rubbish and the boring
ones influence me to not be boring.

The ones that I admire most are ones who mess with my sense of scale – they make the world
feel a bit smaller by showing how similar we are, or a bit bigger by showing us what can be
imagined. The Roots and Roots Manuva, Talking Heads, Lemonheads and Radioheads, Beach
House and Beach Boys… I dunno. Anything good.

You are about to embark on quite a large UK tour, I take it you like to play live?

Love it and the tour’s not large enough. I love the mixture of familiar things like the songs, my
band mates, and the routine with the total unfamiliarity of new places, new people, new gigs and
new experiences.
I think that’s gotta be one of the tricks to life – make everything feel new. Playing live definitely
helps me do that.

What is your favourite place to play?

Honestly it doesn’t matter how big or small the room is if everyone is charged and up for it. Some
people think that coming to a gig is a really passive experience but it’s not. You have to be active.
That doesn’t mean you have to be screaming and cheering, but if you’re going to stand, stand
active. Be present and give like it’s a conversation.

Also it doesn’t always have to be a happy one, cos sometimes the room might all be in a low
mood. That’s cool as long as it’s acknowledged and honest and it feels like we’re communicating.
Those gigs can actually be the best ones.

Basically what I’m saying is good crowds make good gigs, so if you see me and it’s rubbish then
it’s your fault.

With less people buying albums these days do you think it’s important to go all out in live
shows and make it extra special?

That might sound like a tempting idea, but it’s not a very good one. If you’re doing anything and
you’re not treating it as extra special, you’ve got to ask what the hell is going on. Yes go all out in
live shows and make it extra special, but you should do that anyway, and do it for albums even if
less people are buying them. There’s really only one question – are you going to do a thing? If it’s
yes then do it well, if not then cool don’t bother.

Who is the best band you have ever seen live?

Ah man that’s hard. Mogwai, Rage Against The Machine, The Prodigy, Daft Punk, Freddie
Stevenson… they’ve all given me moments I’ll never forget.

Humour seems to be something that appears a lot in your songs, can you tell us a joke?

Hmmm I don’t really do jokes. Some people can find some of the lyrics funny, but they’re not
exactly jokes or anything they’re just me telling a story. I want your tears every bit as much as
your laughs.

You’ve been compared to Ed Sheeran and Newton Faulkner, so my question to you is, who
would win in a fight, Ed Sheeran or Newton Faulkner?

Haha the battle of the haircut-defined singer-songwriters! I think the dreadlocks shade it, but let’s
be honest, as a genre we’re wetter than a lump of wet paper bags. It’d make for a rubbish fight.

How was your gig in Aberdeen on Wednesday?

Gav: Sloppy

Jordan: Sloppy but fun.

Why was it sloppy?

Jordan: We’re always sloppy.

Gav: We never really practice before it cause I live down in Carlisle and he lives in Aberdeen.

Jordan: We live in two different countries so it makes being good really hard. But it was fun – it was still fairly chaotic and stuff.

Were the crowd ok?

Jordan: Yeah, well they were really drunk cause it was like at 12 o’clock and there were University societies upstairs and they came down with like weird hats on and stuff.

It was at Snafu wasn’t it?

Gav: Yeah, I don’t really like playing there.

Oh really, why not?

Jordan: Nah it’s cool, I like it.

Gav: Well it’s alright, it’s just the hassle of..

Jordan: I guess I’m used to going to all my friends’ club nights, which are like bass music and stuff.

Gav: The club nights are good, it’s just when you play a gig there you have to bring your own drum kit, which is a bit of a hassle.

So this is your first night of your tour with Slowcoaches – how long are you away for?

Jordan: Two weeks – twelve dates in two weeks. We’ve got two days off in London.

Where about are you playing?

Jordan: Edinburgh tonight, Glasgow tomorrow, Preston the next day then I’m not sure what order but: Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield, Cardiff, Bristol, Brighton and 3 shows in London.

Is there anywhere you’re looking forward to playing?

Jordan: I think we’re playing above Clinton Cards in Sheffield, which will be fun. But London – Power Lunches is the last show in Dalston. That was the last date of our last tour as well and that’s where we met Slowcoaches. It’s pretty cool, it’s like a tiny little place.

So are you playing three nights there or other places as well?

Jordan: No, we’re playing Brixton Windmill, Wilmington Arms and Power Lunches.

Are you doing any recording after the tour?

Jordan: We just recorded two new songs in a bit of time we had before the tour, which are slightly different. Well, not different, just better produced because most of our shit was really scrappy and we don’t usually take a lot of care doing it. I find recording pretty boring so I like to just get it out of the way but these are a bit different.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard you?

Jordan: Girls at my work ask me that, like what type of music it is, and I try to like not look like a loser.

Gav: It’s just like noisy pop music.

Jordan: Yeah, it’s just like pop music really – kind of noisy, messy with like little care to attention, just fun, fast stuff I guess.

So when did you start playing together, since you live in different places?

Gav: Well, when we started jamming about, I was still in Aberdeen – well Stonehaven.

Jordan: Yeah, he moved from Stonehaven just before we started touring. Last summer, we started recording but we weren’t really recording for anything. We didn’t think of ourselves as a band really, we were just doing it for fun. Then, I guess August was the first tour so yeah, August 2011.

Are there any bands that you really like at the moment that you would recommend?

Gav: Old or New.

Jordan: Slowcoaches obviously, Sex Hands, Waiters, PAWS – we’re doing a split 12” with them, which should be out in June. They’re all really good – PAWS are one of my favourite bands, from Scotland anyway. They’re my favourite Scottish band.

Gav: Best Friends.

Jordan: Yeah, Best Friends are really good. Joanna Gruesome, Playlounge, Youth, Yours – they’re all good.

Gav: Fantasy Rainbow.

On your Facebook page, you’ve listed Melvins, The Unicorns and The Crystals as your influences. Why did you choose those three in particular because they’re all very different?

Jordan: They’re just like a choice three and they just represent the three different sides.

Gav: I think Melvins and stuff is where we get the kind of fuzzy aspect.

Jordan: Yeah, with The Crystals that’s like the poppy side. When we first started, we were more in to like garage music and a lot of new garage music is influenced by girl bands. And The Unicorns are just…

Gav: They’re awesome.

Jordan: They’re kind of silly as well. One of our new songs sounds a bit like them. We’ve got a song called ‘Yeah, Alright’ that we’ve just recorded, which is kind of Unicorns-esque.

Is there anything else you want to say – anything coming up for you?

Jordan: Just the tour really for now. But keep an eye out, we’re doing stuff all the time.

We caught up with Chris and Barrie from Glaswegian four piece Kassidy, just before their show at Oxford’s Jericho Tavern. We got a nice insight into the new album and their views of Jackie Bird and Jackie Chan.  Enjoy!

James: So, the new album ‘One Man Army’ comes out on the 30th April. It’s only been 10 months since you released Hope St, and you had the three Rubbergum EP’s before then. They were like practice runs for most of the songs that were on the album. So how have you found just going straight into ‘One Man Army’, a brand new album without doing anything first this time?

Barry: Well we all work together in a studio home in Glasgow. Throughout the day we are showing each other new ideas and trying to get each other inspired. We started this differently in terms of playing, we wanted this album to be more of a live sounding one, because we sound pretty big live. We wanted it to capture that kind of feel we have live. So we started off like every band used to, doing the garage rock band thing. I was on the drums, Chris was on the guitar, because we all play different instruments.

Fi: What instruments do you both play?

C: He’s the drummer guitarist and pianist.

B: I’m not a pianist. (laughs)

C: We dabble in anything we can get our fingers on.

B: We all chip in different parts. But for this album we all just started jamming, to see what would come out that is different to normal, because we all write songs. Everything that came in from anyone were all very fully fledged ideas. Someone would come in with a verse and chorus, then someone would say ‘why don’t you take it in this direction?’. Then someone else would turn round and say ‘I think this direction would be better’. Well this direction is better so, no. You always think you have the better idea, but then sometimes your wrong. We recorded the new album at a studio called Rockfield in Wales. We did it all live in seven or eight days, then went back up to Glasgow and overdubbed the necessary bits. This album is literally just live, it’s different to the last album which is all track.

J: So is it going to be a rawer sound than the first album then?

C: Yeah. As a band we aren’t very polished. So the first album effectively was brought out in a state that it was almost covered up. Because we had lived with it for about a year, before we first recorded it back in 2009. It was the predecessor to the Rubbergum EP’s, it was a trial run, and we expected it to come out very boom boom boom, very fast and unfortunately it didn’t work out that way.

C: To go back to your first question, this is such a refreshing thing. This album is actually like back to basics. We even thought about putting in the title ‘Kassidy: We Are Back To Being Who We Were, And Who We Actually Wanted To Start Out To Be’. So This is year zero for us basically.

Fi: We caught your set at new year, and the new tracks were sounding great.

C: Oh, thank you. Edinburgh was it?

Fi: Yeah. Did you have a good time?

B: Aye it was great man. A weird thing happened before. It was really cold and pelting with rain, It just came out of nowhere, which is Scottish weather for you. But before we went onstage we waited by the stairs as someone was announcing us. I literally got frost bite on both my hands because it was that cold. So I was sitting with my guitar, and just realized, you know what, I can’t feel my left hand. So for the first 4 or 5 songs I was just playing by instinct.

Fi: You had a good crowd.

B: Yeah massive. The weirdest narrow shape crowd, they went all the way up to Princes Street.

Fi: It was a nightmare trying to get closer up. You had all the tourists standing there having a good time. They love it.

J: So you have made quite a name for yourself in Scotland now, selling out the Barrowlands is pretty big. So how does it compare to playing gigs down in England?

C: Well we have done a few rounds, maybe about 6 or 7. We have toured several parts of England. This tour was intended to be a radio tour, it wasn’t meant to be shows, but we just thought that if we are going down there anyway to do the radio shows, we might as well play places we haven’t had the opportunity to visit yet.

Fi: It’s nice that bands come down and play for fans that might not necessarily get to see them very often.

B: We’ve just come to places where we’ve never been for. A lot of people are quite shocked that we’ve never been to places like Liverpool before. It’s funny because we mixed the album in Liverpool but never played there. We’re just trying to get out to as many places we’ve never been before, we like to try and get out to as many people as we can.

J:It’s what you need to do though isn’t it?

B:Exactly, were doing it the old fashioned way, very DIY. Making our own logos and all that.

J:Where’s the best and the worst place that you’ve ever played?

C: I wouldn’t say bad but the most interesting I think would have to be Wick.

B: I said that the other day.

C: It was Halloween and it was a bad taste party that they were having, it was right at the start of our tour around Scotland and after about a six hour drive we got there and were greeted by a Michael Hutchence look-a-like, with a rope around his neck and a big boner. And Steve Irwin with a sting ray through his heart, I was like “oh man”. Then to knock it all off when the show actually began the acoustic act that was on, we knew him at the time, and he got so pished and said to us ” ugh good luck”.

B: They didn’t turn off the jukebox, actually, they turned it off for the first song and then just as we were about to start the second they put it back on again.

C: And the pool table in front of the stage!

B: I was chatting to one of the barmaids, I was asking what kind of crowds do you get in here kind of thing, what kind of night is this? As i was chatting away to her this guy comes up and tries to start a fight with me because he thought i was chatting up his girl.

J: How about the best place you’ve played?

B: Oh the best place has to be undoubtfully the Glasgow Barrowlands. That’s one of the experiences that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

C: That stands out, and there has been a few more like Latitude.

B: Yeah that was incredible, we were the first band on, on the main stage and we walked out to so many people. It was like something from the 60s. People crouched down for miles.

C: It was like “why is Woodstock in colour!?”

B: When we did Glasgow Barrowlands, because it was right next to Christmas we thought the punters would like Christmas stuff. So we thought, right, put ‘White Christmas’ before we come on and we turned all the lights off to see if we could get the crowd singing in the darkness. Everyone was singing, then they started the chants, we thought ‘fuck’ it’s up for us to deliver this, you know.

J: It’s an amazing venue as well.

C: It is, it’s like it’s alive.

B: Yeah it’s got an aurora about it, not many venues have that.

J: How did being brought up in Glasgow influence making music?

C: Glasgow itself as a city, it’s very gritty and aggressive so I guess the way we’ve handled being labelled, not as in music but as what people call us, whatever we are, we just take it on the chin and go with the flow. Like, we never set out to be indie, folk rock. For me I think wherever you’re from, it’s what you grow up listening too.

B: For us we get a lot of “why are you singing in an American accent? Why do you not sing in a Scottish accent?” But what we listened to as we were growing up were all these American bands and all these great bands. When we did this interview a couple of years back in Belfast or Dublin I think it was, I was waiting for that question and he said ” Your songs sound very American but you come from Scotland? How does that work?”; “you’re basically saying just because we’re from Scotland we need to sound Scottish is that what you’re saying?”. Eric Clapton didn’t sound like he was from London, Robert Plant didn’t sound like he was from London. All these big bands they don’t sound like where they’re from and the contradiction is that no one really sings in their own accent, the only people that can really sing in their own accent is Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen. Apart from that you can’t really sing in your own accent, you can put on an accent but your still just putting on an accent.

J: If you could work with anybody dead or alive who would it be?

B: We got asked this question the other day actually.

J: Oh really? Damn!

B: No, no it’s a good question though. I would like a 2 week, non stop jam with Robert Johnson, Jeff Buckley, Kurt Cobain, just all of Nirvana actually and umm Jim Morrison.

C: I’ll probs just knock on your door, crash the party, tell Jeff ‘n’ that to get out, bring Robert over, and have my man Paul Kossoff. No one takes the biscuit on guitar more than Paul Kossoff for me, then Hendrix and Peter Green .We’ll sit out and jam for a bit.

J: Sound like a party! So, what’s your favourite song to play live?

C: I’d go for ‘The Betrayal’ man! I get to be a bit mischievous and rock out!

B: Umm I don’t know i like them all, I have a psychological problem on tour with some of the songs, I don’t think I’m singing them as good as I should. On this tour I really like playing a song from the new album, ‘This Life Is An Ocean’. It’s kinda a ballady one, it’s kinda like a country love song, bit like Johnny Cash. I also like playing That Old Song’.

Fi: You usually play T in the Park, how do you think Rockness will differ, because you’ve never played it before have you?

B: Yeah this is our first time, we’ve heard some good things about it. We’ve played some of the other smaller ones like Loopallu and Belladrum, they are like the little sisters of Rockness. Just in terms of crowd up the north of Scotland, they are really into their music, I think it’s just going to be very similar to T in the Park. But maybe i dunno, a little more close knit since it’s a smaller festival.

C: I think the more festivals you go to the more you get a taste of what you like. You were talking about Belladrum, I think it’s a great festival. It’s got a really different vibe about it, the main stage has got that kinda wall surrounding it, with that section you can sit at the back and watch a band, you get an absolutely amazing view of the mainstage, not many festivals can offer that, I mean, not many I have been too.

Fi: Do you have any more UK festivals planned?

B: Well there isn’t anything booked yet, we are hoping there will be more. Oh yeah Celt Fest up in Stornoway, we are playing that. We are in limbo right now.

J: Do you have any new Glasgow or Scottish bands that you love at the moment?

B: There’s a couple, but they’re mainly just our friends, there’s a band called ‘We Are The Physics’ they’re one of these bands who just blows your heed aff, and they make you laugh, they are just so tight. They supported us at the Barras, and we’re sitting there at the side of the stage watching them, and they’re really glitchy. They started playing for twenty seconds then they start playing one of our songs, the crowd went mental! We were like, ‘What the hell is going on!? This is awesome’.

Also a guy called Davie Horn. The Imagineers as well and another band called the Blind Folds.

J: Yeah I’ve heard a few of their tracks, they’re really good! They sound a little like Admiral Fallow!

B: Aye, they do a bit yeah, they’re all really young as well. The lead singer can sound similar to Jim Morrison. I envy that, no one can do him! He does him well though.

C: Admiral Fallow are getting pretty big as well.

J: Ok final question, who would win a fight? Jackie Bird or Jackie Chan?

C+B: [Laughter]

Fi: I personally would go with Jackie Bird, she could be quite feisty, gives as good as she gets!

B: I don’t know, I think Jackie Chan would go into it kinda thinking, she is a girl, I wouldn’t want to hit her.

C: But then you’d have all the out takes of Jackie Chan doing things wrong and you’ll have Jackie Bird who would be like “come on… We gotta fight.”I am more inclined to go with Jackie Bird now.

B: I think they would just start making out. And then when he puts his penis in her, she will be just like “this just in…”. Maybe, I don’t know who would win that one.

C: They’d just both go down fighting.

[End]

Are you looking forward to releasing your EP on Monday?

Yeah, of course. We recorded it in July so it’s been a long time coming. We’re just looking forward to having this gig tonight and enjoying that and moving on to the next thing.

So are you planning to release an album or anything?

Well the next thing we’ve got is a single that’s coming out on an independent label in Glasgow, called Strange Fish. I think it’ll come out at the end of May, hopefully, on 7 inch and download. Then, the plan is to somehow get the facilities to do an album and sort that out financially.

So are you signed yet?

No, we’re not signed. We’ve just kind of done all the stuff off our own backs. We’re sort of progressing gradually but it’s quite nice to be in control in some ways. I don’t really like being told what to do but, at the same time, I’m sure there’s big advantages of having a label I suppose but it’s still nice being in control of your own music and how it’s portrayed.

It said on the promo that you self-released the EP, is that right?

Yeah, that’s right. We basically just put it online to download ourselves and print up our own CD’s so it’s quite easy but tonight is all about the recoup.

Yeah, was it not quite expensive?

Yeah, but I never really think about that too much unless it’s obviously like thousands of pounds but it’s just cause we enjoy doing it so it’s not really a chore, it’s kind of just a pleasure. It would be nice to, one day, be more financially comfortable but, at the moment, it’s just because we enjoy doing it.

Have you been playing around Edinburgh for quite a while or anywhere else?

Yeah, we’ve only really played in Scotland and we’ve been playing in Edinburgh for the past couple of years. We’ve had some quite good support slots for the likes of Twin Sister and Ghostpoet and stuff like that but we’ve played in Inverness, Glasgow and Dundee as well. Obviously, one of the main things we want to be doing is getting to different towns really. It would be nice to go on a tour at some point but there’s a lot of organization that goes in to that.

Have you always been playing in the same band or were you in any others before?

Yeah, I’ve been in other bands but…(pauses)

Did they not go so well?

(laughs) No, well I don’t know. Previously I’ve played in a couple of bands but that was never really my kind of direction. I learnt a lot from it; I just realized that I wanted to be making the kind of music that I like, which is why we started this band.

So do you write the songs for this band?

Yeah, I record the demos on my laptop, and then we go and flesh it out in a rehearsal room, and then go in to a professional studio and record it there. That’s kind of the process involved in The Machine Room.

So how do you write them? Because some people say they write the lyrics first then put music to them or is it the other way around?

It’s quite fragmented the way I do it, sometimes I just put down like a drum beat first. Normally, I’d say about 95% of the time, music comes first and then I’ll just listen to a chord sequence on repeat in my headphones and come up with lyrics, or maybe I’ve written something down before and I’ll look at that and I just piece it together from there so it’s just quite instinctual. I’ve never tried to fit a song around a set of lyrics or vice versa, it wouldn’t really work for me. I think that’s just a bit too rigid so I just take it as it comes really – make it up as I go along really.

Do you find it quite difficult getting noticed locally and building up a fan base?

I don’t really know how noticed we are or aren’t but I think if your music’s good people will notice. I think when you start to realize that it’s not just your friends who are coming to see you and there’s people you don’t know then that’s a good sign and you realize you’re doing something good. Then it doesn’t really matter if your friends or family are there or not because other people still tend to be there – that’s a sign you’re doing well I think.

What are the main influences in the band, musically?

Probably when I was a lot younger, I remember when I first got in to The Smiths and Nirvana and early Manic Street Preachers and New Order – that was kind of the stuff I was listening to when I was a lot younger and it sort of stayed the same really, I still revisit them. But there are loads of new bands that I really like, like Captured Tracks label in America. I like loads of modern bands like LCD Soundsystem, Lykke Li and Bat for Lashes.

Yeah, I love Lykke Li.

Yeah, I quite like all the sort of female songstress’s out there. There’s a band called Blyss that I really like at the moment from America, they’re really good.

When I was listening to the EP, I noticed there are a lot of people using that kind of dreamy sound at the moment, like Foals did it on their last album and on The Maccabees new album – there’s a lot of reverb.

Yeah, I suppose there is quite a lot of reverb.

I like it though, so it’s fine for me.

But yeah, that’s the problem, I think some people like it and some people don’t so that’s quite cool. I think we’re kind of an acquired taste in a way, which is fine. I’d rather be sort of like Marmite.

Yeah, well it’s better than people just like jumping on it because everyone else is.

Yeah, I’d rather be kind of decisive than just on the fence but that’s not really my intention, it’s just the way it’s come about. But anyway, it’s not really up to me what it sounds like or what people think it sounds like.

Are you doing any touring or festivals this summer?

We’ve been booked for the Wickerman but I’m hoping we’ll get a couple of other ones as well. We’re sort of in the stage of waiting to hear back so I’m hoping we’ll have like two or three festivals to do. But I’m not really a festival person myself, I used to really like them but I just always end up sort of drunk, lost and soaking wet on a Sunday night or something like that.

Yeah, I think they can either go one way or another – they can either be really good or really bad.

Are there any other local bands you would recommend?

Yeah, there’s a band called Pet, who are probably my favorite – they’re a 3-piece and they’re quite experimental but they’re really pop-y at the same time. They’re a bit like Elliott Smith and The Beach Boys with a bit of aggression. Ryan in our band plays in My Tiny Robots and they’re really good – I think he’s just trying not to keep his eggs in the one basket. And there’s a band coming out called Magic Eye who are really good. They, again, fit that sort of dream-scape music.

We caught up with Erin  Passmore, female drummer of Canadian indie rock band Rah Rah. Erin is just about to release her debut EP titled ‘Downtown EP’ and she was kind enough to talk to us about it all.

James: So your solo EP is out next week? Is this the first time you’ve released any solo material?

Ewin: Yes it is! I’ve released records with Rah Rah before, but never on my own

J: Are you looking forward to it?

E: Absolutely, it’s pretty exciting. It’s nerve wracking being on my own without my band, but it’s also way too exciting!

J: What made you decide to do a solo record? It seems a lot more personal than your stuff with Rah Rah?

E: Well I had these songs written (some for about four years, and some a lot more recently) and my fellow band mates in Rah Rah encouraged me to explore doing a solo record. I always take my songs to the band first before deciding if it’s going to fit or not with them (since we always switch who takes the song writing lead)

But since I got to explore my songs a little deeper on my own, maybe that’s what made them a little more personal, you know?

J: That must have been a completely different experience for you then?

E: It definitely was! I felt a little like I was put in the spotlight, like I had to have the opinions that mattered and I couldn’t hide behind my drums anymore.

J: Is this just a one off for now or are there any plans for full length album?

E: It was really just an experiment, so no definite plans yet, but this does feel like a rough draft for something I might try to accomplish in the future for sure.

I would love to record again; it’s always an amazing experience

J: Can you tell us a bit about your writing process? Do you generally just pen some lyrics and put music to it after or do you do it the other way round?

E: Normally I’ll have a melody in my head that I’ll try to figure out on guitar, I’ll try to expand on the idea with some chords or whatever, but the lyrics don’t usually come until after. It’s a pretty stream of consciousness thing for me, as lame as that sounds

J: So have you got any plans to tour with the EP?

E: Well i have this release show on Friday here in my home town, and the I’m going to spend some time in Vancouver, sort of testing out the waters out there and getting in touch with some musical friends and I’m going to try and see if I can play shows while I’m there. I don’t want to get too burned out for upcoming Rah Rah tours in the summer and fall, though. I want to keep my priorities with the momentum of the band; I still really enjoy it with those guys. But who knows, when we tour I could play some of my solo material on those tours!

J: Any plans to come over to the UK at all?

E: We’re definitely trying our best to get out there. We’ve toured Europe, but I really can’t wait to cover some UK ground

J: Also Canada has been kicking out some great bands in the past couple of years. Arcade Fire, Tegan and Sara and City & Colour are a few of the big household Canadian bands who are pretty big worldwide now. Who do you think will be the next big Canadian band?

E: Oh man! There are so many good ones! Yukon Blonde has been doing amazing stuff, and they’re so amazingly nice, I think they’re on their way for sure. They’ve been on tour for the longest time, Canada, the US, Australia, Europe. Also, our home town friends, Library Voices are definitely making a name for themselves and our east coast pals Wintersleep (of whom I stole a couple of members to play on my solo record) they’re so, so, so incredibly talented! Canada has a ton of great acts, without a doubt!

J: There is a lot of talk about the only money in music these days is from live shows. Do you think that bands really do have to step it up a notch when it comes to their live shows?

E: Definitely. It can’t just be what’s on the record, you know? We have to step it up in order to get people out to our shows. The $70 cheque I get from radio royalties isn’t going to pay my rent, you know?

And live shows should be a spectacle! Speaking as a touring musician, I’ve seen so many acts, but the ones that stand out are the ones that take it a step (or many steps!) further

J: What was the best live show you have ever been to?

E:  When my brother and I toured with Minus the Bear from Seattle they would always throw out these giant balloons filled with confetti to the audience. When the balloons would eventually pop, there would be a giant explosion of confetti which always hyped the crowd up

Then there was TV on the Radio in Austin TX for SXSW, they are so incredibly energetic, you can’t help but feed off of that, sometimes they play songs from their older albums in a completely different way, say for instance the song “Wrong Way”, they play it so fast live, it’s incredible. And I really think it’s important for artists to go that extra mile. Then again, I get bored easily.

J: Yeah I love it when bands do those kinds of things at a live show! There is something about a crowd and confetti and balloons. It’s like a cat with a ball of string. Just makes ‘em go wild!

E: Seriously, I know! Rah Rah does that a lot, my brother (who’s also in the band) has now become the executive Party Store Guy who scopes out different crazy things we can do on stage, pinatas, confetti canons, the lot!

J: So if you could give three tips to a band just starting out, what would they be?

E: 1) Practice together (even if it gets boring or difficult!) and really listen to what each one of you is playing and try to gauge how your part relates to theirs

2) Play lots of shows, play lots of shows out of town, keep doing it even if you play to three people each night, and one of them happens to be the sound guy or bartender

3) When you tour (and tour you shall!) bring more socks and underwear then you think you’ll need. You just never know.

Also, have fun with it, relax and be your dorky selves!