Thursday 29 July 2010
QBiM Q&A with Young Galaxy’s Stephen Ramsay
(photo: Joe Yarmush)
Mondays have traditionally been QBiM Q&A days around here, but through the summer that space is being taken up by our 10 Polaris Prize short listed album posts, but I’m not going to let that stop me from cross examining great Canadian talent. So when the opportunity to ask Stephen Ramsay of Young Galaxy came up recently, I jumped at the chance to ask a few questions about making music with your significant other and where to grab a good meal in Montreal.
QBiM: State your name for the record, and mention your record while you’re at it.
Stephen Ramsay: My name is Stephen Ramsay. I play in Young Galaxy, whose current record is called Invisible Republic. (Young Galaxy also have a digital EP available right now called the YG No Art EP–see my post about it here. -JD)
QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here, and where are you going next?
SR: I’m from Nanaimo, B.C. Canada. I took a ferry from there to Vancouver and then a plane from there to Montreal, where I currently live. Also, I went from my bedroom to my living room in order to convey these messages to you. I am thinking about going to Le Depanneur Pick-Up in Little Italy to have a veggie pulled pork sandwich for lunch.
QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you (who else is in the band or working with you)?
SR: I hang with Max Henry, Stephen Kamp and Catherine McCandless, primarily, because they are in the band with me. Max conveniently fits into the pocket of my jeans so he’s easy to cart around. Catherine has the unenviable task of also being my significant other. Kampy is the smart one. He got engaged, so now has
an excuse to avoid me. There is also a dog named Monsieur who lives next door who I enjoy spending time with. Sometimes I call D. Lissvik of the band Studio in Sweden on Skype too. He’s making album three with us.
QBiM: How has being partners with Catherine in your private life affected your partnership in the band and /or vice versa?
SR: It has made some things easier and some things harder. We have a kind of telepathic musical connection. We don’t need to explain much to each other musically, it just happens a lot of the time. We also relate to each other’s struggles in it. On the other hand, we have to share the ups and downs of being in a band at a time when the music industry is falling apart, which sucks when you just want to drink tea and watch a movie,
you know?
QBiM: Was there any difference to your approach working on Invisible Republic to the way that Young Galaxy (the band’s eponymous debut album) came together?
SR: Yes, there was an entirely different approach for Invisible Republic. For Young Galaxy, we weren’t even a band – we didn’t even know if it would come out when we started making it. It was kind of cobbled together in the studio over time. Having toured and played the first album as a band after we signed, we decided to approach Invisible Republic as a band, using proper pre-production and rehearsing the songs live, etc. We wanted it to have a more immediate feel than it’s predecessor – which was pretty sleepy.
QBiM: Did you know early on in the process (of making Invisible Republic) that the band would be moving on from Arts & Crafts (the label Young Galaxy signed to for their first release)?
SR: We had no idea we would leave A&C at that time.. I don’t think many people know what is happening from day to day in the industry, so you don’t really plan things like that in advance. We followed our hearts on that one – which I hope would be a suitable epitaph for the band at the end of the day.
QBiM: Congratulations on your recent Polaris Music Prize nomination. What’s your take on awards like Polaris, whose purpose is to recognize Canadian talent at home?
SR: Thanks! I think it’s great that Canada has a Mercury Prize equivalent – it’s a great way for the Canadian music industry and Canada to promote itself. But the world is in such an advanced state of information overdrive, that this kind of stuff is on everyone’s mind for a hot minute, then it’s gone.. I mean, is anyone talking about the Olympics now? Or the earthquake in Haiti? It’s insane how are attention spans are influenced by the media. As a band, we want to find ways to endure. We want to be looked back on as a band with a stellar career and a great body of work, not just some band that got nominated for something once. Our focus is on something altogether bigger and more undeniable. World domination!
QBiM: What’s the one sound that drives you crazy?
SR: Baby crows being fed by their mother a foot from your bedroom window is pretty annoying. Especially when it starts at 5:30 am everyday.
QBiM: What’s the greatest invention of all time?
SR: Smoke machines.
QBiM: Other than music or other artists, what influences you as a musician and songwriter?
SR: Smoke machines.
QBiM: What traits or characteristics have you inherited from your parents?
SR: My compound eyes.
QBiM: Do you sing in the shower?
SR: Yes. This morning it was “Borderline” by Madonna.
QBiM: That would make an intersting cover, maybe Young Galaxy should consider recording a version of it. Do you listen to your own music in the car?
SR: No. I listen to it on the treadmill at the gym. In my estimation, it is the mark of a good song if you can work out to it.
QBiM: What’s the worst bit of musical advice you’ve ever been given?
SR: “That bass part would sound better fretless”.
QBiM: Any vices?
SR: Fresh cherries in season. Expensive single malt scotch. Expensive jeans and sneakers. Uncut magazine (it’s $14!).
QBiM: When was the last time you cried?
QBiM: Coming down off speed while watching The Shawshank Redemption on an airplane. I think I had been up for 50 hours straight, and the part where they let Ernie’s crow go was just a little too much for me.
QBiM: If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
SR: Shag the Queen, obviously.
QBiM: What’s the one thing our world could with less of and why?
SR: Capitalism. Need I say more?
QBiM: What is an “Invisible Republic” and who lives there?
SR: Call it the quiet part of yourself that you and you alone relate to. The part that is privy to your deepest, unshared thoughts and informs your perspective of the visible, tangible world. It’s the blue green layer of cold water that sits 8 feet below the surface. You gotta dive to get there and it isn’t as easy as staying on the surface bobbing around aimlessly, but there is so much to learn there… it’s also a place where you can ‘I Dream Of
Jeannie’ blink an ice cream sundae into your hands should you want one. It’s the engine room of your imagination.
QBiM: If you had to play one instrument for the rest of you life what would it be and why?
SR: Probably an Ondes Martenot, though I have never played one. It seems so psychedelic. It sounds… incredible. It is an early electronic instrument from the 20’s that sounds a bit like God playing a theremin, but has additional timbral controls and switchable loudspeakers. It has a keyboard that you can move to
create vibrato with too.
QBiM: What’s your favourite place to grab a meal and what should we have when we go there?
SR: Go have brunch at The Sparrow when you’re in Montreal. Have the eggs benedict royale and an allonge.
QBiM: Anything to declare?
SR: “You get to decide what to worship” – David Foster Wallace.
~~~
Stephen was a great sport for our Q&A, and you can check out the full interview on Quick Before It Melts’ Facebook Page under our Notes tab. Young Galaxy have just released Invisible Republic in the U.S. and have been asked by Arcade Fire to open their U.S. shows for them starting Sunday, August 1 in Boston, MA at the Bank of America Pavilion. You can check out this blog entry on their Myspace site for more concert details. They’ll also be holding court at Toronto’s venerable Massey Hall on October 23 with Ramsay’s old pals, Stars.
MP3: Young Galaxy “Queen Drum (Graham Lessard remix)”
MP3: Young Galaxy “Long Live The Fallen World”
Myspace: Young Galaxy
Facebook: Young Galaxy
Twitter: Young Galaxy
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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 8:35 am and is filed under iNTERViEW, MP3, QBiM Q&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Young Galaxy
