Monday 29 November 2010
QBiM Q&A with Henry and the Nightcrawlers
(photo: Jonathon Taggart)
A few weeks ago, we brought you the musical stylings of Henry and the Nightcrawlers, after which we asked head worm Henry Alcock-White if he’d be willing to subject himself to a round of our notorious questioning. He agreed, and enlisted the help of his band mates to make this one of the most memorable QBiM Q&As in recent times.
QBiM: State your name for the record, and mention your record while you’re at it.
Henry Alcock-White: For the record, my name is Henry Alcock-White, my band is called “Henry and the Nightcrawlers” and our record is named 100 Blows. It has just been released.
QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here, and where are you going next?
HAW: I was born and raised in an area called Yellow Point on the mid-eastern coast of Vancouver Island in the Pacific Northwest of Canada. I moved to Vancouver in 2004 to study music at Capilano College. I dropped out of this hellish school sometime later that year and have remained in Vancouver ever since with the exception of the year 2008 in which I lived primarily in the Republic of Ireland. I plan on residing in this region of the world for the rest of my life. But who knows?
QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you?
HAW: At the moment myself and the rest of the band are driving somewhere between Regina, SK and Lethbridge, AB where we’re headed for a show tonight. The bands lineup currently consists of Zachary Gray, Andy Huculiak, and Cayne McKenzie. They’ll be answering some questions here and there throughout this questionnaire.
QBiM: 100 Blows seems to be about a pretty dysfunctional boy-girl relationship; is it autobiographical? And if so, how has the girl in question reacted to it?
HAW: Yes. These songs are completely autobiographical and are taken from everyday events of my life. The relationship described throughout the record is tumultuous but I wouldn’t describe it as dysfunctional. It’s quite personal. It’s quite honest. It’s how I felt at the time. Myself and the woman who is discussed throughout the record and pictured on the cover are together today and are very happy.
QBiM: There’s definitely a sense that the songwriting wasn’t restricted to any particular genre or style; that you let the song itself determine what it would sound like. Was that the case while writing the album, or did you start out with a particular concept/idea in mind?
HAW: The writing and recording process of 100 Blows wound up being a bit of a study in the sound of Henry and the Nightcrawlers. Nothing was preconceived. There was a point in which I wanted to record an album that was sonically very consistent but I scrapped that for a number of reasons. I am poor at defining genres but I don’t think this record skips wildly from one to another.
QBiM: On “The Fucking” you say: “It’s better to be fucked than to do the fucking”. Care to explain?
HAW: This song might be the most self-explanatory song I have ever written. I was in a great deal of anguish at the time. I don’t really know if the message is accurate but I think it still remains an interesting query.
QBiM: What’s the greatest invention of all time?
Zach Gray: Guillotine.
Cayne McKenzie: Piano.
HAW: The sewing needle.
QBiM: When was the last time you got in a fight?
HAW: Grade three. I used to get in fights all the time in grades one to three. Then my mom made me change schools. Then I became a pacifist. Actually I think it would be more accurate to say I became a bit of a loser.
CM: The last time I got in a fight was in grade nine with Justin Leewaung. I just remember kicking him and then he pushed me into the mud and then jumped on me. Then my little brother, who is three years younger, jumped on his back and distracted him. What’s funny is that my brother and I used to dress the same, like twins. I ran to my mom, who is a supervisor, and she told me that wasn’t her section of the playground and that she couldn’t do anything about it.
QBiM: What’s the one song you wish you’d have written?
CM: “Stairway to Heaven”, man!
HAW: How about the theme song from Babar? Did you know that theme gets more royalties than any other piece of music in the world? I heard that from Andy.
Andy Huculiak: I didn’t say that. I don’t know where you got that information from.
QBiM: What’s the last good book/movie/record you read/saw/heard?
HAW: I’ve been reading The Foxfire Book (edited by Eliot Wigginton) It’s kind of an instructional manual about a lot of things: Hog dressing, log cabin building, mountain crafts and foods, planting by the signs, snake lore, hunting tales, faith healing, moonshining, and other affairs of plain living.
QBiM: Define “pain”.
CM: Have you ever had a broken heart? Have you ever had to break a heart? Have you ever had to kill? No, don’t actually write that.
QBiM: What was the first concert you went to see?
HAW: I think it was probably Fred Penner. I remember this one song he had that featured a 5 second guitar solo. I used to play this one part over and over on my walkman. I was pretty obsessed with the electric guitar at a very young age though I never actually got one until I was 17 or so. I think I’m going to give my kids Led Zeppelin to listen to.
QBiM: Is there anything left to explore?
ZG: Well, space is the final frontier.
CM: The lake on which I live, Okanagan Lake, is said to have unexplored portions of its depth. Apparently there’s a giant forest down there! Also, there’s a lake near Revelstoke that a train fell into sometime in the 60’s and they couldn’t find it, that’s how deep it was. So.
QBiM: If you didn’t make music what would you be doing with your life?
HAW: Architect.
ZG: Hank would make a great architect.
CM: He’s got the European eye.
ZG: Yeah, exactly.
QBiM: If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
CM: I would probably explore the restricted section of the library in Hogwarts.
ZG: I would actually use it to impose some vigilante justice on some people that I felt deserved it.
HAW: I’d team up with Zach.
AH: Me too! It would be like a superhero team.
ZG: I would poison Enbridge’s or Monsanto’s board of directors.
HAW: Maybe we shouldn’t mention murder.
ZG:Okay, let’s just put vigilante justice.
QBiM: What’s the one thing our world could with less of and why?
CM: The world could definitely have fewer humans.
ZG: Let’s just say less sexual inhibition. Am I right people? I don’t know if I mean that though.
QBiM: We’re embarking on a new decade: what major change would you like to see in the world by 2020?
ZG: Sharper vision by 2020.
CM: Sharper vision by 2020…that’s good. Forget what the world needs in the next decade, what the world needs now is love sweet love? How about that? C’mon guys, that’s a great song.
HAW: A new Dire Straits album. I’d really like to hear some new material from them.
QBiM: What’s playing on your iPod/record player/whatever-you-use-to-listen-to-music?
HAW: Right now (in the van) I’m making the band listen to a really strange but great record called “Eastern Sounds” by Yusef Lateef.
QBiM: What’s on the horizon for Henry and the Nightcrawlers for the next year?
HAW: I’m fairly determined to perform with the band in Europe and the United States of America. If anyone would like to help with this send me an email: henryandthenightcrawlers@hotmail.com
QBiM: Anything to declare?
HAW: I feel some need to clarify that this band is neither a side project nor a solo project. Here is how it happened: I spent time writing songs and recording them. Some friends helped out with this recording. Eventually these recordings wound up as the album named 100 Blows. In a live setting, the band (which is made up of more friends, though often different ones then on the record) attempts to loosely replicate these recordings. I am grateful to have such talented, charming and good-looking friends.
MP3: Henry and the Nightcrawlers “Amberly”
Myspace: Henry and the Nightcrawlers
Facebook: Henry and the Nightcrawlers
Twitter: Henry and the Nightcrawlers
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This entry was posted on Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 8:35 am and is filed under 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.
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