(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

(photo: Nathan Burge)

I never know what I’m going to get when I send an artist the QBiM Q&A.  Sometimes it’s a curt, one word answer to most questions, other times, I get eloquent and well-crafted replies to my mundane questions.  Craig Schram of The Provincial Archive wins the prize for taking what I’ve often thought of as one of the sorriest excuses for an interview question in the Q&A and turns it into the launching pad for a mini school-yard drama about marking one’s place in society and not being afraid to take on the big guys.  Epic!

If you haven’t yet checked out The Provincial Archive’s excellent sophomore album, Maybe We Could Be Holy, here’s your chance to score a copy.  CONTEST DETAILS: Simply drop me an email at CONTESTS [at] QUICKBEFOREITMELTS [dot] COM with “Get me into The Provincial Archive” in the subject line, and tell me all about the last fight you got into in the email body.  One lucky storyteller will win a download code that will get you a digital copy of the record from Zunior.com.  Awesomeness!

If you’re in Edmonton on September 11, you can join The Provincial Archive at the Roxy Theatre, 124 St. for their hometown Record Release show.  You can get ticket information for the gig here. 

~~~

QBiM: State your name for the record, and mention your record while you’re at it.
Craig Schram: Name: The Provincial Archive.  Record: Maybe We Could Be Holy. Pleasure to be here!

QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here, and where are you going next?
CS: Sometimes we get in to heated debates about these sorts of things during long drives. Our answer to this question can best be summarized by considering the evolution of mankind: where our beginnings are marked by primordial grunts and primitive tools, and our ends marked by intelligent communication and rapidly improving technologies. The future is bright! If you know what I mean… We come from Edmonton, AB. (Currently driving to T.O.).

QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you (who else is in the band or working with you)?
CS: Right now the band consists of Bramwell Park (mostly playing drums), Ryan Podlubny (mostly playing bass), Nathan Burge (mostly playing some form of keyboard), and myself (banjo and guitar). We all try our hand at everything.

QBiM: There’s a clear growth and development between albums 1 and 2:  was that the master plan all along or is it just part of the band’s musical evolution?
CS: A little bit of both! I think each of us have a short attention span. Therefore, to minimize boredom, it’s best to try new things all the time. The writing for the first recording was pretty focused in one area – in fact, we put it together as a three piece. As we went through the recording process for Nameless Places, it became clear that we would be branching out as we continued to write together. In this way, it was just part of our musical evolution. On the other hand, we have all talked and agreed upon the idea of approaching each writing phase completely differently: no rules. Moreover, all of the bands that we admire frequently abandon their past as they record subsequent material. It’s a challenge in which we take delight! We call this the “loosely guided evolutionary master growth plan.”

QBiM: From listening to your music, I get the sense that you’ve been very influenced by growing up in central Canada.  Is that the case, and if so, in what ways specifically?
CS: I think you’re probably right, but mostly western Canada… I have a tendency to frame everything within the confines of my limited worldview, and maybe this is a weakness. I guess this involves all of the lyrical imagery I choose, and maybe the chord changes we run through. I like to re-interpret my history, and my history is set in prairie and parkland.

QBiM: What’s the worst bit of musical advice you’ve ever been given?
CS: Very recently, we were encouraged to play something happier. “Do you have anything more upbeat… you know, happier? You should play something… happier.” This definitely wasn’t the worst bit of musical advice, but it certainly was a funny one.

QBiM: What’s the best thing about being in The Provincial Archive?
CS: The best thing about being in The Provincial Archive is playing together. I suppose I could talk about the dedication these boys have to growth and how it makes writing something we look forward to, or how it’s nice to be accepted by a group of fellow nit-pickers – but playing together comes first.

QBiM: When was the last time you got in a fight?
CS: When I was 12, I had a ten-minute walk to school every morning. Often I would leave about 15 minutes early to hang out in the playground, or to meet up with my grade six girlfriend (we broke up that year – tragic, I know). One fateful morning I left early for the playground to hit up the swings. Unfortunately, a classmate had beaten me to the punch.
My swing was the middle swing of the left group of three. Of all the swings on the playground, this was the one that he had claimed? Our dialogue went something like this:

Craig: Hey! That’s my swing. Give it.
Classmate: Yeah?…

He slowed his pace to the tick of a clock.

Craig: That one’s mine. Come on! Give it!
Classmate: I don’t see your name on it! (It sounds made up! I know! But we were twelve, and I had heard that one before…)

For the record, he definitely knew that it was my swing and was being unnecessarily confrontational. Moreover, I had scrawled my name on the bottom of the swing with a knife earlier that year: grounds for a good scrap, if you ask me.
I approached the swing and pushed him backwards off of the rubber. He fell in to the sand. As he lay there, I lifted the rubber of the swing to show him the error in his ways.

Craig: C-R-A-I-G. Thanks.

As I began to take my seat on the throne, my opponent rose from the ground and pushed back. Although I would prefer to say that we faced off like the great heroes and villains of the movies, dashing and ducking the onslaught of fists, the truth of the matter is that we kicked and slapped quite a bit.
It was over seconds after it started, and resulted in two children with tears in our eyes, sand in our mouths, and dirty, stretched-out, white t-shirts.  School was starting soon. We walked in the front door together, removed our outdoor shoes, and tied the laces on our scuff-free runners. Friends forever!

QBiM: What traits or characteristics have you inherited from your parents?
CS: My nose! Curses! And… much like my father, I think I’m becoming obsessively organized.

QBiM: What would be the one moment in time you’d go back and relive or experience?
CS: All of the moments… in sequence… I’m unsatisfied with my youth. I’d like to trade in my defective youth for a new one, please.

QBiM: What was the first concert you went to see?
CS: I am very proud to boast that for my first rock concert, I went to see Neil Young. This has forever changed my life. Mr. Usher, and his comrades in Moist opened the show. Classic.

QBiM: If you didn’t make music what would you be doing with your life?
CS: Developing safe methods for travel through time, naturally.

QBiM: We’re embarking on a new decade: what major change would you like to see in the world by 2020?
CS: In the next 10 years it is imperative that time travel be invented, approved and commercialized. We, the archive, imagine a world in which it is commonplace to go to work via the time highway, and return from work just before you left, but with a day’s wage in your pocket. Imagine the possibilities! Or at least imagine the chalkboard diagram that Doc Brown drew for Marty: this is step one.

QBiM: If you had to play one instrument for the rest of you life what would it be and why?
CS: Banjo, because it is the best one.

QBiM: What’s on the horizon for The Provincial Archive for the next year?
CS: We’ve been busy putting together more material. We’re on our way to having this ready, and we’re pumped about where things are headed! So the coming year will probably be dominated by a lot of writing, pre-production, and recording. As well, as we finish up this tour we’re beginning the planning stages of a very special second adventure across the country. Busy. Must always keep busy.

QBiM: Anything to declare?
CS: I declare a modest victory!

~~~

MP3: The Provincial Archive “Guided by Sundogs”
Myspace: The Provincial Archive
Facebook: The Provincial Archive
Twitter: The Provincial Archive

(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

QBiM: State your name for the record (and mention your record while you’re at it).
DR: Daniel Romano, Workin’ for the Music Man?

QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here, and where are you going next?
DR: I’m from Welland Ontario, Joni Romano birthed me. and I’m going to get ice cream next.

QBiM: You’ve had a busy 2009 and 2010.  How did your collaboration with Daniel, Fred & Julie come about?  Is that just going to be a one-off project or will we be hearing more from the three of you?
DR: I’m not sure if its a one off project yet… I’m up for anything. It came about because I asked Fred to make a record with me. And then I took the train out there. I had some songs and some books. We worked it out. Julie joined us.

QBiM: Is your new solo album a reaction to being part of Attack In Black, or is it just an extension of the band, like another side of Daniel Romano?
DR: It really has nothing to do with the band… It’s its own thing. It reflects, I suppose the “other side of me” but this particular side has been there my whole life; long before le rock and roll.

QBiM: get the sense from Workin’ for The Music Man that you’re somewhat disenchanted with the whole record industry whirlwind?  Is that a valid assumption?
DR: Yes. but I’m also very happy about other stuff…

QBiM: There’s also a lot of romantic (dare I say love?) songs, in a singer-songwriter vein.  Does that have anything to do with the “other stuff” you’re happy about?
DR: Yes I am very much in love.

QBiM: Being from Welland myself I know that this working class town is somewhat lacking in a cultural/music scene.  Did you find growing up here provided enough inspiration for your music, or did you have to look beyond Welland for that?
DR: The less there is going on the more you can focus on whatever you need to. I find it perfect here. No one knows or cares. And I love that.

QBiM: What’s the one record you can go back to and listen to over and over again?
DR: ONE RECORD!? Impossible.

QBiM: I understand that the new record was recorded mainly at home in your own studio.  Is that a big change from the way Attack In Black work?  Was there less pressure on you working at home?
DR: There is never pressure recording a record for me. It is always as fast as possible so that I stay focused and don’t get sick of it before its finished.

QBiM: How has the rest of the band reacted to the solo album?
DR: They seem to be taking my lead. Spencer (Burton) made a record. (Ian) Kehoe is thinking about it I think. And my bro (Ian Romano) has been playing with my folks’ band and is starting to record and produce other bands a lot more. I think it’s good for everyone.

QBiM: Attack In Black is scheduled to play at NXNE this year, but will you be doing any solo shows in support of the record?
DR: There is a small tour yes, and some festivals in the summer.

QBiM: What’s the one sound that drives you crazy?
DR: Wet boots being rubbed or dried on carpet.

QBiM: When was the last time you got into a fight?
DR: Too long ago… You wanna go?

QBiM: What’s the worse bit of musical advice you’ve ever been given?
DR: “You should try to sound more like the E street band.”

QBiM: what’s the one thing our world could do with less of?
DR: The E street band. And everyone that copied them.

QBiM: Is there anything left to explore?
DR: The ocean!

QBiM: Who has been the most influential Canadian artist in your career?
DR: Neil.

QBiM: Anything to declare?
DR: I rarely wear underwear, and when I do it’s usually something unusual.

~~~

Underwear aside, there’s nothing unusual about Romano’s talent:  Workin’ For the Music Man is a bright, assured album of classic folk rock songs very much in the vein of his chief influence, Neil Young.  I’ll have a full review of the album in the next week or so, but don’t wait for me–go out and get it yourself now.

MP3: Daniel Romano “Workin’ for the Music Man”
Myspace: Daniel Romano

(Born Ruffians, l to r: Luke Lalonde, Mitch Derosier, Steven Hamelin)

June 1st may seem far off, but with Spring having sprung this past weekend, it won’t be long before Born Ruffians second LP, Say It, arrives on our doorsteps.  As a matter of fact, when I asked Luke Lalonde of the band if he would be interested in doing one of my infamous Q&As, I thought I may get the finished answers closer to release day, but Lalonde is no slouch, making quick work of my questions in short order.  Say It is being released on Paper Bag Records, and Lalonde and the rest of the band are eager for the world to hear it.  I’m sure they previewed the LP when they played the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on the 14th as part of CMW before heading south to do a series of shows in Austin this past week for SXSW.  So why wait to post the interview?  QBiM readers, meet a Ruffian who really loves his grandma!QBiM: State your name for the record, and mention your record while you’re at it.
LL: Luke Lalonde of Born Ruffians. Our new record entitled Say It will be released on my grandmother’s birthday, June 1st 2010. She will be 89 years old on this day.

QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here, and where are you going next?
LL: I am from a smallish town in Ontario called Midland. Right now I’m in Scranton, Pennsylvania – made semi-famous by the American version of the popular television series The Office which is set in said city. I am stopping here with the rest of Born Ruffians on the way to New York City to play out music.

QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you?
LL: Mitch DeRosier, Steve Hamelin and Andy Lloyd are here working, sleeping, eating and playing together with me.

QBiM: How was the recording Red Yellow & Blue (the Ruffians’ first album) different from Say It?  Did anything strike you as difficult the second time around?
LL: I think generally things were easier this time around. We were more focused on what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go with the songs. We decided not to demo a single song ahead of time and to reserve spontaneity for the recording studio. We were working with Rusty Santos again but in the two years between Red, Yellow & Blue and Say It we, as a band, and he, as a producer, had lots of time and experience to grow and get better at what we do.

QBiM: What has been the biggest change in your day-to-day life since Born Ruffians signed to a label and started releasing music?
LL: I suppose there’s a correlation between signing and quitting my job. I’ve been able to live off music since signing to a label. I don’t roll around in piles of money but I’m able to continue sustaining myself. Working with a label has been a great learning experience. Initially, and because of my general ignorance as a young man, I sort of assumed they would take care of everything. This related to most of my involvement in the “business” side of our music. In the past 3 or 4 years since being a “professional musician” I’ve learned to be both a professional and a musician. I’m still learning. The most valuable thing I’ve taken away from it is to not get lazy and to be very active in every aspect of what I’m doing in order to keep growing and eventually roll around in piles of money.

QBiM: What’s the one sound that drives you crazy?
LL: Ambulances/fire trucks. I know they save people’s lives but I just think they’re a bunch of assholes.

QBiM: What’s the greatest invention of all time?
LL: Fire trucks/ambulances. They transport people who risk their lives to save others (this is bullshit pandering to make up for the last question).

QBiM: Other than music or other artists, what influences you as a musician and songwriter?
LL: I would say everything, but that’d be a pretty gay answer. I really don’t seem to consciously draw too much influence from day-to-day stuff and I like to keep real life real, and songs more fantasy. I like the fantasies to be rooted in reality though, which is tricky. I draw a lot of inspiration from books. I read sporadically and I’ve discovered I write a lot more (lyrics) when I read more. The more you put in the more you get out. The last three books I read that were inspiring to me were Factotum by Charles Bukowski (any Bukowski I love), Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

QBiM: What’s the one song you wish you’d have written?
LL: “Happy Birthday.”

QBiM: Do you sing in the shower?
LL: I dance.

QBiM: Do you listen to your own music in the car?
LL: The car is my favourite place to listen to new mixes of songs after they’ve been completed. I don’t listen to my own music after it’s all said and done. I think I’ve now listened to the new record for the last time. It just becomes unbearable.

QBiM: What would be the one moment in time you’d go back and relive or experience?
LL: What’s the earliest time in the history of planet earth in which human life could be supported with the proper balance of molecules in the atmosphere and vegetation etc? That’s where I’d go. I’d rather go to deep outer space than back in time if I had the choice.

QBiM: Define “pain”.
LL: This question must be from when emo was really cool.

QBiM: Is there anything left to explore?
LL: Most of the universe.  Parts of the deep ocean.  Blue whales mating and travel patterns (could be included in ocean subject).  The future, specifically my future.

QBiM: When was the last time you cried?
LL: I was thinking about this the other day and I honestly couldn’t remember, so I started to cry then just so I’d know when the last time was. It was the other day.

QBiM: If you didn’t make music what would you be doing with your life?
LL: I would be a movie star like Tom Cruise and Meg Ryan.

QBiM: If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
LL: This is something I’ve given a great deal of thought to. I’d rob banks, but only under the assumption that anything I touch also becomes invisible (i.e. my clothes would be invisible if I were wearing them). I would also go to old folk’s homes and knock things off the shelves. Then do some really positive things for the old folks in the home, like wedgie the nurse they all hate. This would give them all hope in an afterlife.

QBiM: What’s the one thing our world could with less of and why?
LL: Cynicism, nobody likes a cynic. Also the ability to tell when someone is being a cynical asshole or just genuinely hating on something.

QBiM: We’re embarking on a new decade: what major change would you like to see in the world by 2020?
LL: I hope I am alive in 2020, this is selfishly the first thing I thought. I suppose in all sincerity I’d like to see the planet recovering from all of the shit we’ve thrown at and into it. I would like for there to be a 2030, 2040, 2050, 2060, 2070 & 2080. I hope I do not live into 2090 because statistics show an alarming rate of mental and physical degeneration after age 80 so by this time I will surely be, at the very least, completely incontinent. Happy birthday Grandma!

QBiM: What are your big plans for 2010?
LL: We’re releasing the record at the halfway point of the year. The summer isn’t really prime touring time because of all the festivals that happen. Unfortunately because of our timing we won’t be doing a ton of those. I will continue writing and recording music in my spare time as I have been. We’ll do a tour around the album release and continue thoroughly touring as much of the world as we’re willing and able to do in Autumn and Winter 2010.

QBiM: Anything to declare?
LL: Happy birthday June Walton and “Say It.” I wish you both many more years of success and well-being and may you both get plenty of wonderful reception from your fans and sell millions of copies worldwide.

MP3: Born Ruffians “Sole Brother”
Myspace: Born Ruffians

(photo: Marilis Cardinal)

QBiM: State your name for the record, and mention your record while you’re at it.
Nightwood: We are Nightwood and our new record is called Carta Marina, which means “map of the sea” in Latin. Fancy, non? It’s a nautical and ocean themed album that we released independently on vinyl and mp3.

QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here, and where are you going next?
Nightwood: We’re a three-piece rock band from Montreal and each of us were pretty much born and raised here. Jeremy grew up in the West Island part of Montreal, Erin grew up in the countryside just south of the city and Amber grew up for the first ten years of her life in Nassau, Bahamas. But her parents are from Montreal and she’s been here ever since so it counts. Amber and Erin met and started playing music together in high school. Later on, after Nightwood’s first drummer Eric left the band to become a father, Jeremy joined the cause in time to help create Carta Marina and has been an integral part of Nightwood ever since. We’re going places.

QBiM: What has been the highlight of 2009 musically speaking for Nightwood?
Nightwood: Definitely holding the Carta Marina vinyl record in our hands for the first time!

QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you (who else is in the band or working with you)?
Nightwood: Martin Horn (Cotton Mouth, Digital Bird Studios) has been a longtime friend and collaborator and recorded and helped produce both the band’s recordings, Big City E.P. and Carta Marina. We work closely with Mike Rollo (filmmaker/educator/photographer/member of Double Negative Collective), Martin Reisch/*safesolvent (video maker/photographer) as well as Lara Kaluza (costume designer/designer/stylist) quite often on visual aspects of the band. Marilis Cardinal has also taken photos of us in the past! Really, Montreal is a pretty neat place and we’re lucky to have roots here and we tap the city’s sweet ass/well of talent quite often. Rick Leong, a celebrated local painter, donated his artwork to Carta Marina, and the Ste. Emilie Skillshare (http://steemilieskillshare.com/ ) factors into our lives as well- we screen print our posters and t-shirts there quite often. Amber also founded the notorious Lickety Split smut zine and is part of the Double Negative Collective and Jeremy is part of the MTL bands Parlovr and Cotton Mouth. The gang we roll with is multi-faceted and well-rounded. Like a psychedelic tea pot.

QBiM: Montreal has a reputation of being the new heart of the Canadian music scene, but is it hard for new bands to get heard there?
Nightwood: I don’t think it’s any harder than any other city. People here are genuinely interested in hearing new music. Like any independent art, you just have to work to make it easy to find.

QBiM: Why did you decide to make a video document of the entire recording process for the album?
Nightwood: We’ve always documented the different aspects of being a band together. With respect to recording an album, we don’t hurtle blindly towards the end product of making a record; it’s too interesting and intense of a time not to mine for insight and to document for posterity. Perhaps these are habits we can’t shake from our other lives as diarists, zinemakers and filmmakers. Also, there’s an interesting tension between creating a tangible document of our music and the flickering, elusive time lapse video documentation of the work that went into it…the video hints at the changing ways the record will be remembered by each of us and how listeners will always have changing or differing experiences with it as well. So the video both undermines and reinforces the idea of a Record as an archival object.

QBiM: What’s the one sound that drives you crazy?
Jeremy: loud hi-hat at the same time as a snare drum back beat.

QBiM: What’s the greatest invention of all time?
Amber: wicked sick fire-y guitar finger tapping (see Marnie Stern).

QBiM: Other than music or other artists, what influences you as a musician and songwriter?
Nightwood: Dreams, pilgrims, the ocean, underwater deep sea sound phenomena (the Bloop, the Slow Down), feelings.

QBiM: When was the last time you got in a fight?
Nightwood: While attempting to answer this Q&A together.

QBiM: Favourite breakfast food?
Erin: all kinds of toast.

QBiM: What traits or characteristics have you inherited from your parents?
NIghtwood: Guilt and good looks.

QBiM: When was the last time you got in a fight?
Nightwood: While attempting to answer this Q&A together.

QBiM: Do you listen to your own music in the car?
Nightwood: We listen to Jeremy’s music (Parlovr, Cotton Mouth) when he’s not in the car.

QBiM: What’s the one song you wish you’d have written?
Nightwood:  “No Diggity” by Black Street.

QBiM: What’s the last good book/movie you read/saw?
Nightwood: Books: Salt Fish Girl by Larissa Lai and Sage Island by Savanna Mason; Film: Ghosts and Gravel Roads by Mike Rollo.

QBiM: What would be the one moment in time you’d go back and relive or experience?
Jeremy: 1994 Expos.

QBiM: Define “pain”.
Jeremy: Expos 1995 and beyond.

QBiM: What’s the worst bit of musical advice you’ve ever been given?
Nightwood: Um, to not play at all for fear of ruining one’s Future (capital F).

QBiM: Any vices?
Nightwood: Coffee, LainyGossip.com, beer, red wine, oversleeping, blogging, shopping for vintage clothing.

QBiM: What was the first concert you went to see?
Erin: Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie tour in 1996 and I wore a short corduroy skirt with combat boots and a lime green tank top.
Jeremy & Amber: Can’t remember.

QBiM: If you had to play one instrument for the rest of you life what would it be and why?
Amber: I would sing! I’d like to think that in anytime or era it would’ve been cool to have been the singer of the village or caravan.
Erin: Guitar.  I hope to continue getting better at it for the rest of my life!

QBiM: Is there anything left to explore?
Nightwood: Sure, there will always be real and imagined wildernesses in our lives, methinks. Peeps should also explore their own need for conquest and colonization, that wouldn’t be so bad. That and the deep sea, caves and arctic and antarctic landscapes…but those last two are melting more quickly than ever, so maybe we should get on it? Nah, folks should just focus on the global warming problem instead.

QBiM: When was the last time you cried?
Nightwood: Last night (sad commercial on TV).

QBiM: If you didn’t make music what would you be doing with your life
Nightwood: A film studies professor, an Olympic swimmer, a baseball player.

QBiM: If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
Nightwood: Ruin Chad Kroeger’s day.

QBiM: What is the one album you can go back and listen to over and over again, and what is it that brings you back to it?
Nightwood: The White Album. They were at the top of their game, but still sound like they were having fun. Perfect, but not uptight.

QBiM: What’s the one thing our world could with less of and why?
Nightwood: Cars.

QBiM: We’re embarking on a new decade: what major change would you like to see in the world by 2020?
Nightwood: We are too superstitious to answer this honestly.

QBiM: What are your big plans for 2010?
Nightwood: We’re excited to write more songs and tour out West and down through the U.S., make more music videos, that sort of thing!

QBiM: Anything to declare?
Nightwood: One silvery, pointy, Dimebag Darrell Dean guitar with a flowery guitar strap.

MP3: Nightwood “Johnny”
Mysapce: Nightwood

(photo: Owen Cherry)

QBiM: State your name for the record (and mention your record while you’re at it).

Scott Wilson: My name is Scott Willson. I play the piano/organ/violin, and I sing in The Racoon Wedding.
The Racoon Wedding just recently released their first full length record, called “gather gather bones rattle rattle truth”

QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here and where are you going next?
SW: I’m from Brantford, Ontario, I’ve been here since I was born, and I think I may die here.

QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you?
SW: Four other men are involved in this band: Tim Ford (guitar/vocals), Andrew Ayerhart (trumpet), Jesse Daniel Shanks (drums), and Tyler Springall (bass/vocals)

QBiM: Coming from small town Ontario, I have an affinity for working class places like Welland and Brantford.  What do you like best about your hometown?  What’s the worst thing about it?
SW: The best thing about Brantford has to be it’s history. Brantford lead Canada in the late 19th century with it’s potential as an industrial hub, competitively with Montreal, and Toronto. Brantford was wealthy, promising, innovative, and beautiful. The end of the century showed a halt in Brantford’s growth, and later made for the depictions it has today. The worst thing about Brantford, has to be it’s poor planning, and decision making skills. Poor planning and decision making caused Brantford’s downtown core to crumble, and gave reason for industry to move. Sad eh?

QBiM: What’s the story behind The Ford Plant?
SW: The Ford Plant, is a not for profit, all ages, independent music venue / art gallery in the core of Downtown Brantford. The Ford Plant is how The Racoon Wedding met, it houses The Racoon Wedding, and is why we sing about Brantford.

QBiM: What’s the one sound that drives you crazy?
SW: C#.

QBiM: What’s the greatest invention of all time?
SW: The Telephone.

QBiM: Other than music or other artists, what influences you as a musician and songwriter?
SW: Scenery.

QBiM: Favourite breakfast food?
SW: Bacon and Eggs.

QBiM: When was the last time you got in a fight?
SW: Physical 1992, Verbal 2010.

QBiM: What traits or characteristics have you inherited from your parents?
SW: Obsessiveness, and the lack of ability to finish answers to questions.

QBiM: Do you sing in the shower?
SW: Always.

QBiM: Do you listen to your own music in the car?
SW: Always.

QBiM: What’s the one song you wish you’d have written?
SW:  “Always.” – Blink 182

QBiM: What’s the last good book/movie/record you read/saw/heard?
SW: Book: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Johnathan Safran Foer; Movie: Clueless; Record: A Mountain is a Mouth, Bruce Peninsula.

QBiM: What would be the one moment in time you’d go back and relive or experience?
SW: First day of kindergarten.

QBiM: What’s the worst bit of musical advice you’ve ever been given?
SW: “Try using your feet.”

QBiM: Any vices?
SW: Fireball, and sweets.

QBiM: Is there anything left to explore?
SW: No. Well yes, but no.

QBiM: When was the last time you cried?
SW: 1992.

QBiM: If you didn’t make music what would you be doing with your life?
SW: Accounting.

QBiM: If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
SW: Make spooky sounds.

QBiM: If you had to play one instrument for the rest of you life what would it be and why?
SW: The kazoo, cause everyone loves the sound of those things.

QBiM: What was the highlight of 2009 for you and the band?
SW: The highlight of 2009 would be the release of our first full length record Gather Gather Bones Rattle Rattle Truth. It was a long awaited record for our listeners, and us.

QBiM: What does 201 have in store for The Racoon Wedding?
SW: The plan for 2010 is to tour all of Canada supporting our first record, and finish off the year with recording our second full length.

MP3: The Racoon Wedding “The Paper Boy”
Mysapce: The Racoon Wedding

QBiM: State your name for the record, and mention your record while you’re at it.
Jeffery Robert Sauder, but I also accept sodA, sodey, or just Sauder. Up to you. I have no convictions.

QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here, and where are you going next?
JS: I’m from Welland, Ontario,  Dr. Tompkins delivered me and the next stop is bed.

QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you?
JS: I get to share sweet pickled short cut pork backs and play fun songs with my boys Carson Manette, Eron Stroud, Joe Lapinski and S.D.W.  This tune is just me and SD, mastered by Joe. We felt bad about promising a record for so long that we haven’t finished, so we felt like ripping someone off, warts and all. So here you are. Don’t say I don’t ever do anything for you.

QBiM: I can take a lot of good-natured ribbing about living in Niagara, probably because I can rattle of a decent list of what I like about being here.  What’s your take on the scene in Niagara as opposed to the bigger cities?
JS: I like the coziness around here. Everyone pretty much knows each other and stuff, it’s tight. It’s a good scene we have here, and between S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival and the second installment of IN THE SOIL coming up, it’s definitely a good place to be.

QBiM: How did the band hook up with Joe Lapinski and Yummy Recordings?
JS: We were introduced to Joe by Eron, who Scotty and I knew for a long time. E-killah and Joe played in Palooka together. Tough Guy Clichés was already recorded when Joe got his hands on it and rescued it. We put it out on Yummy and asked Joe if he wanted to join. He did…and after a bit of a break we’re hummin’ along again, almost done the LP…I’m excited to have Joe and Carson play on this record. The songs are great and we’re playing real good right now. I’m amped. We’re pressing it up on limited vinyl and we’re calling it Real Punks Don’t Sing About Girls. I’d say were about 3/4 done. Get ready, it’s gonna be a great listen.

QBiM: What’s the greatest invention of all time?
JS: The turntable.

QBiM: What is the one album you can go back and listen to over and over again, and what is it that brings you back to it?
JS: I’ll say Revolver, but any Beatles album. I was introduced to them by my late Auntie and grew up in love with their sounds and simply in awe of what they accomplished. A lot of great memories come flooding back to me whenever I hear them.

QBiM: I always remember how big a Beatles fan you were in elementary school.  That was so weird and cool at the same time, because I knew that you appreciated them in a way that the rest of us kids didn’t get, something just beyond the latest pop band.  Speaking of way back when, what was the first concert you went to see?
JS: Howard Jones at Kingswood (Music Theatre, Canada’s Wonderland).  Muah.
QBiM: I so remember you going that that show!  Man I was jealous!  I loved Howard Jones.  I take it that his influence isn’t felt so strongly on Bronx Cheerleader songs, so other than music or other artists, what influences you as a musician and songwriter?
JS: Emotions.

QBiM: What’s the one sound that drives you crazy?
JS: Cutlery scraping on teeth.

QBiM: Favourite breakfast food?
JS: Coffee.

QBiM: Which of your songs do you feel is your best song and why?
JS: We have a new one called “Camelot” which I really, really like. Its pretty sonic and it feels good to be sonic. I really like “Racing Time” from Tough Guy Clichés. Very pretty.

QBiM: What’s the last good book/movie/record you read/saw/heard?
JS: I like the new Circulatory System record. Oh and I liked Inglourious Basterds. Brilliant.

QBiM: Any vices?
JS: Records.

QBiM: What’s the one song you wish you’d have written?
JS: Dylan’s “Forever Young.”

QBiM: When was the last time you got in a fight?
JS: I’m a lover, not a fighter.

QBiM: Do you sing in the shower?
JS: If I’m not busy…

QBiM: Do you listen to your own music in the car?
JS: SD’s demos, yeah. Or when my boys demand it.

QBiM: Define “pain”.
JS: For me, it’s looking in the empty rear-view during the long drive home after dropping my boys off.

QBiM: Where does the name Bronx Cheerleader come from?
JS: We wanted to call it Bronx Cheer (after a Mercury Rev tune cuz we really like them) but SD found out some UK band used that name. So he said “Bronx Cheerleader!” And so it was.

QBiM: What’s the one thing our world could with less of and why?
JS: CEOs and greedy capitalists.  The people who make up the wealthiest 5% of the human race are worth more than the rest of us combined. Not right.

QBiM: Anything to declare?
JS: Globalization will be the end of us all. http://act.ly/1es.  Eeeeeeeeek!

MP3: Bronx Cheerleader “In The Mouth A Desert”
Myspace: Bronx Cheerleader

(photo: myspace.com)

QBiM: State your name for the record, and mention your record while you’re at it.
Jamie Matechuck: James Bradley Matechuk, and the record is Battles On.

QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here, and where are you going next?
JM: Originally from Niagara Falls, now Toronto. I came to Toronto for a mixture of academia and childhood aspiration. I’m hopefully touring Finland soon.

QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you?
JM: Right now Kevin Corlis, Odie, Lesley and Krums are in the band. But Alt (from Digits) and Dave Kates helped us out with the last record.

QBiM: Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3 mentioned that the band is from Niagara Falls.  Being a Niagara region homeboy, too, tell me about your roots in The Falls
JM: It was really funny for us to hear Grant introduce us that way, because it’s been eight years since I lived there, and quite a few years for everybody else. Oh the N-Falls, what can you say about it that hasn’t already been said or inscribed on a wax mannequin of the Queen? The Falls will always be in our bones, no matter how much we felt betrayed by that city. All of our interests in art and ideas are purposely absent from Niagara, it’s just not what most people care about there. Unless you make movies.  Despite all of that, when I go home and get out of the van I smell the moist air and I miss it.

QBiM: How hard is it for new bands to make a name for themselves in a musical market as rich as Toronto?  Has it been a struggle to get The Ghost Is Dancing heard?
JM: The Toronto “market” bounces from welcoming to exclusive and back again every other month, really. I guess it is super-competitive,  I’ve never thought about that really. When you go to Halifax, for instance, there’s still a lot of bands fighting for good nights and good coverage. Maybe there’s some magical mathematical formula relating the amount of bands per the amount of people in a city. Either way, it’s been hard for us. Not only to get people to hear you, but also to change their perception of you after the first time they hear you. When we started we were really sloppy and huggy, now that we’re not we still find people tagging us with that. But people like Sarah Liss at CBC really give you faith that people will hear you and keep listening.

QBiM: What’s the one sound that drives you crazy?
JM: The sound of my computer crapping out. Sounds like an electric fart.

QBiM: Other than music or other artists, what influences you as a musician and songwriter?
JM: I see music in shapes and colours so painting is a big influence. Jack Chambers was a particular influence for me over the last two years. Frank O Hara’s poetry was huge too.

QBiM: You’ve been compared to great acts like Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire, but how would you describe your sound without using any musical metaphors or comparisons to other bands?
JM: We have two distinct musical sides in my head. One is the sound of friends trying to make the most out of a moment, be it melodically or with lots of shouting and noise.. The other side is on our darker “ballads”, which is more about the frustration of having joy taken away from you. What people don’t talk about (maybe because they don’t care) is how SO many different things affect your “sound”. Technological and economical things, like, for instance, the fact that I could only afford to get a cheap old KORG organ instead of something more elaborate. So then I sit down at the keyboard and the organ sound sucks on it’s own, but when I combine all the little patches together it sounds pretty big and lush but also kinda eerie. And that “sound” on that keyboard, with it’s little fluctuations and whatnot, resulted in a song like WALL OF SNOW being written the way it was written. Thing is, the KORG isn’t on Wall of Snow, well you can barely hear it. Guitar covers the whole thing. Because, late in the game, someone lent us a really great Overdrive pedal. Combine that with the fact that we were listening to a lot of Animal Collective and Russian Futurists at the time (which NO ONE has compared us to) and that’s what happened with that ONE song. I guess in the end those comparisons are just a funny game with a small amount of truth to us, but they’re not intended for us.

QBiM: What’s the greatest invention of all time?
JM: Fire.

QBiM: What would be the one moment in time you’d go back and relive or experience?
JM: Rez life at York.

QBiM: I have to ask:  where does the band name come from?
JM: Picking a band name is really hard. You either have one or you don’t and we didn’t have one. We knew we didn’t want a name that associated us with any musical movement. We liked long names like The Robot Ate Me or They Shoot Horses Don’t They? So we found The Ghost is Dancing on a list of horse names and choose it with a democratic vote. It was 4-3. Hardest thing we’ve ever done!

QBiM: When was the last time you got in a fight?
JM: Good question! Man I can’t remember. Oh, yeah. On Yonge St. a guy and his friend tried to rob me and Kev and Jim. We were the same size and defended ourselves and left.

QBiM: What’s the one song you wish you’d have written?
JM: “Hey Jude.”

QBiM: What’s the last good book/movie/record you read/saw/heard?
JM: Some Great Thing by Colin McAdam; Cache by Michael Haneke; Merriweather Post Pavillion by Animal Collective.

QBiM: I’m always intrigued when a band references Canadian history or culture.  What’s the song “Louis Riel” about?
JM: “Louis Riel”. . . like most songs it’s a bout a few things to me that might not be apparent in the lyrics but here we go: it’s about accepting your adult status in the world and doing something useful with it. The first set of lyrics are really personal memories for me, of Jim’s first car driving us around, of us playing pool together and trying to figure out what we wanted to be. Then there I was, 25, and I was what I couldn’t predict back then. When we went on our first tour of Canada we went through Winnipeg, and there’s the grave of Louis Riel there (it just happened to be down the street from the house we crashed at). It was a bright summer day and I remember looking at his statue and thinking how amazing it was that he was brave enough to fight for what he believed in. How are those connected? They are for me, that’s all I know.

QBiM: Any vices?
JM: Coffee right now. I’m a bit of a weirdo though, I was straight edge and vegetarian for a lotof my life so my vice has become art to be honest. It takes up all my time and costs me a lot of money.

QBiM: What was the first concert you went to see?
JM: Ben Folds Five at the Government.

QBiM: What’s the one thing our world could with less of and why?
JM: Banks. Not to get too political, but the banks are controlling everything right now and we have to stop them.

QBiM: What’s the worst bit of musical advice you’ve ever been given?
JM: Play quieter.

QBiM: Has downloading killed the album and song format for music?  What do you think the future will hold for the music industry?
JM: I think that the album as an entity can’t die.  Cassettes made the mixtape possible, just like dl’ng has made the playlist possible, but the album as an idea of a stretch of songs conveying a narrative existed even before recorded music existed. I am pretty excited about the opportunities with downloading and digital albums though. I have this idea about releasing everything off a website, where you can download multimedia files with acoustic songs with pictures and stories whatever we want to through in. Like mini-albums I guess.

QBiM: Is there anything left to explore?
JM: Definitely and always! I wanted to be an astronaut and still do. Musically, I’m excited about the democratization of technology and the portability of production. Folk bands can easily incorporate samples and beats, tweak and pitch shift and mash up their own songs and do it all on stage (Animal Collective). It reduced the clunky and restricting weight of traditional instruments. Makes touring and producing easier.

QBiM: Anything to declare?
JM: Declare? We have some fruit and nuts on board but we’re not telling the department of Homeland security.

MP3: The Ghost Is Dancing “This Thunder”
Video: The Ghost Is Dancing “This Thunder”
Myspace: The Ghost Is Dancing

(photo: Daryl Malone)

QBiM: State your name for the record, and mention your record while you’re at it.
Rae Spoon: Rae Spoon.  superioryouareinferior.

QBiM: Where are you from, how did you get here?
RS: I am from Calgary Alberta. I got to Montreal on thousands of greyhounds I am going to try to fly more often.

QBiM: Where have you been traveling to and how has that influenced your music?
RS: I have toured 12 times across Canada.  I’ve been up to the Yukon five times and to Newfoundland twice.  I feel like Canada has had a huge influence on my music because of how much time I’ve spent traveling here.  I write a lot about places I’ve been to or experiences I’ve had here.  I have also been in Europe a lot, but that shows more on my next album.

QBiM: From your perspective, travelling across country playing in all kinds of places, what’s the state of the Canadian music scene like at the end of 2009?
RS: I think the music scene in Canada is great right now.  Having a lot of support from College radio and CBC Radio 2 and 3 had really made a difference for indie music.  There are a lot of great acts still willing to go on the road and I think we have a lot going on as a country.

QBiM: Who’s hanging out with you (who else is in the band or working with you)?
RS: I made my record with Lorrie Matheson.  I just made a project in Germany with Alexandre Decoupigny.

QBiM: Tell us about your recent album with Alex Decoupigny.
RS: The album I made with Alex was actually and art project about a train line that was never built.  We wrote songs out of interviews he conducted on the U-bahn (subway) in Berlin as well as wrote songs with two people who worked on trains/buses in Berlin.  We performed the material in 6 U-bahn stations in 3 days and made a record out of it.  It was really interesting to make.  I felt like I was getting a lot more perspective on Berlin as a place.

QBiM: When was the last time you got in a fight?
RS: In St John’s, working the door of my show last month.

QBiM: What’s the one song you wish you’d have written?
RS:  “Single Ladies” (Beyoncé?? I wouldn’t have guessed! ed.)

QBiM: A Now Magazine review of the album said, “Morrissey would be proud” of the album.  Are you, or were you ever you a fan of his?  Who were your musical heroes growing up?
RS: I was a huge fan of Morrissey in high school.  I also loved Bob Dylan and Nirvana (and Hole).

QBiM: What’s the greatest invention of all time?
RS: The laptop.

QBiM: What was your best subject in school?
RS: English.

QBiM: I’ve read that superioryouareinferior was written and recorded around the theme “Canadian Gothic”.  What exactly does that mean to you?
RS: I based the theme Canadian Gothic on the literary theme American Gothic.  I connected the presence, haunted structures, the search for identity, elements of darkness and skepticism to my experiences touring in Canada.

QBiM: Do you sing in the shower?
RS: Sometimes.

QBiM: Do you listen to your own music in the car?
RS: No.

QBiM: Any vices?
RS: Energy drinks.

QBiM: What was the first concert you went to see?
RS: Billy Graham.

QBiM: Anything to declare?
RS: No.

MP3: Rae Spoon “Come on Forest Fire Burn the Disco Down”
Myspace: Rae Spoon