The Satisfactory is a Montreal-based band composed of two Concordia students as well as an alumnus.
Montreal-based and early-rock-inspired band The Satisfactory joined The Longest Year and Tulipface in playing for Folio Magazine’s 30th-issue launch party at the Blue Dog Motel on Nov. 23.
Concordia University alumnus Salvador Vaughan, 20, is the singer, guitarist, songwriter, and harmonicist for the band. Alongside him are third-year studio arts major Viva Egoyan-Rokeby on bass and third-year journalism and electroacoustics major Max Moller on the drums.
“That’s D-R-U-M-S,” Moller quipped.
Vaughan laughed. “He’s the funny one, too.”
“You can tell by the one drum beat I know,” Moller responded while pretending to play the drums.
Sydney Rothstein, vice-president of events at Folio Magazine, invited them to play at the event.
“Folio is a beautiful art magazine from the school of McGill,” said Vaughan. He paused. “A beautiful magazine from a not-so-beautiful institution.”
According to Vaughan, the band has been around for a year and a half and has done over 25 shows.
The trio met while attending school in Montreal but are all originally from Toronto. Vaughan caught Moller’s attention when he played a show in a Concordia residence cafeteria.
“I came up afterwards and I was like, ‘Hey man, your songs are really good, but you don’t have a drummer,’” Moller said.
“I said, ‘I know!’” Vaughan recalled.
Egoyan-Rokeby joined the band around the same time when a mutual friend of Vaughan’s recommended them as a bassist.
“They were also my neighbour in residence, so they could hear me through the walls all the time and already knew what the vibe of the band was gonna be,” said Vaughan.
From Vaughan’s collared shirts and tie to his mop top, his style has an obvious Beatles influence. He also named The Kinks, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry as musicians that have shaped his work. At the end of the set, they even played the Little Richard song “Long Tall Sally.”
The band has a double single coming out on Dec. 28, featuring the songs “Heavy Clouds” and “Hibernation.”
James Pesklewis, a third-year painting and drawing major, and Griffy Greif, a third-year aerospace engineering major, are friends of the band and have attended almost every show.
“Since I’ve followed them, really since the beginning, I got to see all of their new songs,” said Greif. “It’s nice to see the [melding] of all the members now contributing to the music.”
Pesklewis mentioned that Moller likes The Cramps, and that the music had somewhat of a Rockabilly sound, which Greif agreed with.
Each band member writes the music for their instrument.
“He’s a lovely guitarist, but he’s a terrible drummer,” said Moller of Vaughan. “Every now and then, once or twice, he goes into the microphone and he says ‘I want you to do this,’ and he goes, ‘Boom-tsk, boom-tsk, boom-tsk.’ He’s a great beatboxer.”
“I was thinking of doing that before the band, actually, but it doesn’t pay as well,” Vaughan joked.
“The underground beatboxing arena is not what it used to be,” Moller agreed.
When asked about why he started the band, Vaughan replied more seriously.
“It’s been my dream since I was a kid,” he said. “There’s nothing else I want to do in this world but make and perform music.”
