Plants and Animals is probably a band you’ve heard of already – they’re long-time Montreal residents, Concordia alumni, 2008 Polaris Music Prize finalists, and their debut LP is named Parc Avenue after the street they live on. Despite popular acclaim from Pitchfork and PopMatters, and tours in Canada and the United States, Plants and Animals remain strikingly humble. The Concordian spoke with songwriter/lead singer Warren Spicer during a recent band rehearsal.
One of my favourite songs on the With/Avec EP was “Lola Who?,” but the songs on Parc Avenue seem very different, with more texture and instrumentation. Can you explain the difference?
The EP, that stuff was actually recorded after Parc Avenue. We had Parc Avenue finished, but the label wasn’t ready to release it until the new year and we were about to do all this touring. We were like “we need to get something going.” So we had one new song, and we just decided to go back into the studio. Even though With/Avec sounds like things have been removed texturally and musically, it’s just more distilled.
Do you think you have a fully realized sound? Or are you still trying to find it? I understand that making Parc Avenue was more or less a process of learning about yourselves, in a sense.
It was all happening together, it’s kind of like our coming of age story, not lyrically or metaphorically – our sound – we found a way to get what we were looking for. I think we have a fully realized sound, but I think it’s going to change. Our next record isn’t going to be an extension of Parc Avenue. I think the next one will be a little more controlled – I don’t know how – but it’s not going to be another Parc Avenue, that’s for sure.
Since it’s been almost three years from when you started making Parc Avenue, are there plans for a new LP soon? Have you recorded any new songs?
We’re working on stuff right now, there’s no real plan, we’d like to get something out in the fall – that would be really great. At the [upcoming] show in Montreal, we’re going to play new songs.
You guys have labelled yourselves “post-classic rock.” Can you describe this?
It’s a bit of a joke. We’re essentially coming from a rock background – we’re not really a folk or country band. It’s kind of a play on “post-rock.” It kind of works – there’s a classic rock element to what we’re doing. It sounds silly, but it explains itself well if you think about it.
Was studying music at Concordia beneficial in terms of teaching you discipline, or recording techniques and theory?
It was all sound design, sound art kind-of stuff. It was more like learning how to use my ears and how to understand music. Once I got out of university, I went back to the real reason I got into music, which was guitars – [I] started playing blues and folk – and then moved to writing basically pop music. I’d never really done that before.
What is the best part about being musicians and being able to support yourselves?
It’s all pretty new – we really didn’t have a choice, we had to all say “if we’re going to do this, we have to all quit our jobs and go into debt.” So at that point you kind of make a decision, and you start off, you keep going and going, and then at one point you realize: okay I’m doing alright, I can pay my bills, I can pay my rent. And it’s forever changing, who knows, there’s no steady paycheck. It’s encouraging to know it’s possible – to be able to do what you want to do – to be your own boss. What more could you ask for?
Plants and Animals were just nominated for CBC Radio 3’s 2008 “Bucky Music Awards,” and will play live at La Tulipe on Thursday, Nov. 27. www.myspace.com/plantsandanimals
