Tag: Interviews

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The Flatliners find their pulse on their latest record

Loud, aggressive and energetic—these are the three pillars of punk rock and Toronto’s The Flatliners have mastered these. Placing a particular importance on their live shows, this hard-hitting four-piece has toured extensively over the past decade. With the recent release of the band’s fourth studio album, Dead Language, these vets prove that there certainly is no rest for the wicked.

While many bands routinely see changes in their line-up, The Flatliners have remained undivided since their formation, a feature that has allowed them to become a tightly knit musical unit. Chris Cresswell, vocalist and guitarist for the group, recently spoke to The Concordian and discussed the band’s journey from the suburbs to center stage.

The Flatliners’ story is that of a group of tight knit, lifelong friends coming together to play the music that they love. These four musicians, so close that they share multiple tattoos including a beer can and Autobahn sign, rose through the ranks and ultimately came to share the stage with the very bands that inspired them in the first place. The band officially formed in 2002, but as Cresswell pointed out, the seeds of the group were sown years earlier. Cresswell’s mother introduced him to Scott Brigham, the band’s future lead guitarist, at a young age.

“This is Scott, he’s your new friend,” Cresswell recollected.

The duo met Jon Darbey, the group’s bassist, while in second grade and later percussionist Paul Ramirez. Cresswell grew up listening to a variety of music including Weezer, The Foo Fighters and Oasis, but he attributes his punk education to his older brother.

“He got me into grunge. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and punk like NOFX and No Use For a Name. One of the first bands I got into was Rancid,” the frontman recalled, “I got my mom to drive me into town to get [Rancid’s 1995 platinum album]… And Out Come The Wolves. I got it on cassette, I still have it somewhere.”

Darbey, previously a guitarist, was forced to play bass because as Cresswell stated “we already had two of them.”  With the release of the band’s second album, The Great Awake in 2007, The Flatliners joined their heroes Rancid, No Use For a Name and NOFX as label mates, at Fat Wreck Chords.

“ We’re proud to have been able to tour with some of the bands that we have,” he said.

Their most recent album’s name is a nod to both the fact that the band “released [their] first album in 2003 on CD and the format was already pretty dead,” as well as a connection to the lyrical themes of the album.

“A lot of songs on the album are about screwing up and starting over,” Cresswell stated.“Its like Latin, it’s a dead language but a lot of other languages use it as a base. They used the parts of it that worked and they made the parts that didn’t work, better.”

This long awaited album, the follow-up to the group’s highest charting album to date, 2010’s Cavalcade, was recorded in two large sessions.

“We recorded all the instruments for the album at the same time live in studio, with no click track, and did the vocals last,” said Cresswell. “We felt that we tour and play together enough to do that, we’re more of a live band than a studio band anyways.”

The band also recently contributed to The Songs of Tony Sly: A Tribute. This compilation album was released Oct.29 in dedication to the former frontman of No Use For a Name, Tony Sly, who passed away unexpectedly in August of 2012.

The album has songs by a variety of punk stars such as NOFX, Bad Religion and Rise Against, among others, covering the songs of Tony Sly with profits going to the Tony Sly Memorial fund.

“We’ve been at Fat Wreck Chords for a long time so when Fat Mike (owner of Fat Wreck Chords and NOFX frontman) asked us to play we wanted to do it” said Cresswell.  “We narrowed it down to “Fireball” because it was the one song we all agreed to.”

Cresswell added that while it was a terrible event, he was glad to have been a part of the album and was happy that the funds were going to a good cause.

The Flatliners will be playing at Cabaret Underworld on Dec.21.

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Music

Examining Montreal’s electronic scene

Photo by Keith Race
Photo by Keith Race

The Concordian sat down with 20-year-old journalism student Joel Abrahams who has, since his first year at Concordia, been regularly involved at the university’s radio station, CJLO, DJing around campus, as well creating his own music and producing albums.

The Concordian: So how did you get started at CJLO?

Abrahams: I started in [the] winter of my first year, in 2011. When I first started out, I was playing more mainstream electronic music and now I have moved into music that is, still electronic, but more closer to what I like to listen to.

C: What’s the atmosphere like there?

It’s a lot of fun. It’s cool ‘cause, for a university radio station, it’s well known and reputable. CJLO is highly regarded, yet it’s also very relaxed. You can more or less play whatever you want, in terms of music.

C: You were the DJ for the CSU’s Orientation BBQ event last year and you have the gig again this week. How did this come about?

The first time, they just put out a message [calling for DJ’s] and I responded to it. They came over and listened to my mix. And that’s it. This time, a person that I was in residence with is involved with them and put my name in, and I got it, since they knew me from last year.

 C: How did you get started in DJing and making music in the first place?

I think people probably underestimate how difficult it is to make electronic music. I have been working on it for three years. It was a good full year before I made an actual song. Not a song you’d wanna listen to but a song nonetheless with all of the parts, sounding proper. I was definitely not enjoying that. But after a year and a half or two, it became really fun. Like, I woke up at 8 a.m. and worked on this song right up until you came here.

 C: Whoa. I arrived at 5 p.m..

I know.

C: What kind of music do you make?

You know house music, right? House is 128 bpms. What I make is like 160 bpms. So it’s like a drum pattern but at a lot faster rhythm. It’s not as fast as drum bass but a little slower. It’s called footwork or juke. It started a long time ago, 20 or 30 years back, and it predates a lot of the electronic music that started to become a lot more popular. Yet it hasn’t hit the point at which people caught on to producing it to the level that it becomes sold and commercialized. What I think happened with dubstep and house music is that people were just so entrenched and focused in the one or two genres and all other ideas just completely got flushed out. For footwork and juke, it was local in its native city, Chicago, up until the ‘90s and then it spread out to other random pockets in the world. It became really popular in Japan and in parts of Eastern Europe and then, especially in the last few years, it started growing again exponentially.

C: What’s the scene for footwork and for juke in Montreal?

If you wanna focus in on that specific niche genre, Montreal is missing out, I guess. But in terms of electronic music, in Montreal or elsewhere, this is not an issue. The music I listen to, and the people listen to, tends to get passed around much more than other genres because it’s such a niche. So the scene right now is made up of people that are into the same kind of music and closely connected with the music they make, sharing it and giving me feedback on music I’ve produced. And I have become more open about giving others feedback on theirs. I think there are avenues that haven’t been tapped as well as they could have. I mean, there is one other person here [Montreal] who I was really inspired by to start focusing on this kind of music. His name is Hesk. But I think he moved to Toronto now. Nobody here really produces it and plays it live anymore.

 C: That’s disheartening. Have you tried reaching out to other students on campus to collaborate?

I haven’t’ found that many people [at Concordia]. I haven’t seen anybody that makes this kind of music. Not even Trap, [which is] hip hop beats made into electronic music, which is closely related to my music but much more popular. I’m sure I am wrong, though. But hopefully [if there is] someone reading this and wants to work together, [they] can reach me.

 C: For the curious, what kind of equipment are you using?

I use a digital DJ controller, right now. It’s a Numark NS6. I also use a Native Instruments Maschine. My keyboard that controls most of this stuff is the Akai Pro MPK49. And this Korg FX Pad is for effects and stuff.

C: And when you are not making your own music, where do you like to go in the city to hear music?

There are not that many places that I would like, really. If there is one place I would go to, it’s the Belmont.

C: So you are essentially saying that the best place for you to hear music, is your own home.

Yeah. I’ve got a pretty good set-up here [laughs].

Be sure to catch Joel Abrahams every Friday at 3 p.m., hosting the Death Metal Disco Show, starting next week on CJLO. You can also watch him DJing live at the CSU BBQ, Sept. 4 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Loyola Campus.

 https://soundcloud.com/emaciatebeats/trill-murray-tilt-emaciate

https://soundcloud.com/emaciatebeats/nicky-lucy

https://soundcloud.com/emaciatebeats/z-trap-shit-v16-emaciate-beats

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Music

Jonas Bonnetta talks Evening Hymns and inner light

Evening Hymns. Press photo

The Concordian spoke with Jonas Bonnetta, the folk singer-songwriter at the heart of Evening Hymns, ahead of his show at Le Cagibi on Saturday.

Evening Hymns. Press photo

The Concordian: What does Evening Hymns mean?

Jonas: When I chose that band name it was meant to create a quiet place.

 

C: When did you start working with Sylvie Smith on Evening Hymns?

J: I knew her from her old band, Habitat. We met three or four years ago when I was recording the song “Western Roads” as a solo artist, and I asked her to sing on it because I knew she had a nice country voice. It sounded really good, and we realized we should write more music together.

 

C: Your father recently passed, what kind of relationship did you have with him?

J: It was great, he was an awesome dad, couldn’t ask for anything more. After I graduated high school he bought a trucking company and I worked with him there for 6 years. We were business partners. And then he bought a sawmill, and I worked there for years. I didn’t go away to university. I drove to work with him every day. I took care of him. We were really close.

 

C: What does your latest album, Spectral Dusk, mean to you?

J: First of all, it was for me, my mum, my two brothers and sister. We are all really pleased with it. It’s a snapshot of my dad. That’s really all that I was concerned with. But every show we play, someone comes up to me saying that they really connected to it because they’d lost somebody. It’s 50 minutes of something peaceful and gentle to think about; to cherish the people you’re close to that are still alive and think about the people you’ve lost. I don’t think of it as dark, it’s more light. It’s a 50 minute reflection, more so on life than death.

 

C: Evening Hymns has toured more in Europe than at home, in Canada. Why? 

J: We released a record in France. This really great magazine there, Magic Magazine, reviewed our first album and a label heard it, liked it and asked us to re-release it there. We then toured in France, all through Europe. There’s a bit of a ‘thing’ for Canadian music over there. I think we got in at the right time there. The right people heard us, we got lucky. The more you tour physically, the more your audience grows. But now we’re focusing on Canada. This is only our second full tour across Canada.

 

C: What hole, if any, does music fill for you in life?

J: It’s my main creative outlet. I don’t necessarily want it to be my 100 per cent job. It would be nice if I could make enough money for me to take long chunks of time off to write and record, but I like working. I like having jobs to do. I probably will for the rest of my life, even if music does start paying a little bit more. I think working is important. I love working with wood. If I find work for a couple months doing that in between tours, it’s not a bad thing. It’s good; it helps me grow as a person aside from music.

 

C: What is it you like about working with wood?

J: I think it’s nice having something tangible to work with. I grew up in the woods and I have a nice connection to the woods. The smell of it and the way it works is amazing. It always makes me feel comfortable.

 

C: Why has Evening Hymns remained, at its core, a duo?

J: It just makes sense logistically to keep it stripped down. Can’t afford to bring a full seven piece band across Canada. We are touring as a four piece band when we come to Montreal. I don’t really have an interest in recreating the record live, as a full band, we already recorded it that way. I want to continue to change it and keep it interesting for us. If I have to perform for two thirds of the year, the last thing I want to do is play the same thing every night. Its nice for us to try and reinvent the songs. Its fun and challenging.

 

Trial track: “Arrows”

Evening Hymns play Le Cagibi on Saturday, Nov. 24.

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Music

Clement Jacques on language, passion and life

Jacques Clement album.

The video for Clement Jacques’ “Femme invisible ” was shot on the road from Montreal to Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, his hometown.

Jacques Clement album.

“Maybe I should go back and drive up to the north/Far from all that I’ve been trying to flee […] Came here to find some truth not easy to believe […] I’m afraid it is too late.” He wrote these lyrics after the move from his native home to Montreal a couple of years ago, uncertain about this shift.

“I wondered at that moment if it would have been better to have stayed in Saguenay and get a normal job,” said Jacques. “I didn’t know if I had made the right choice.”

Apparently he did.

After releasing his first album in English, Consumed and Guilty, the folk singer-songwriter launched Le Maréographe in 2011, his first French record. With this second album, Jacques dipped into the francophone scene and gained radio airplay. He was also part of the D’une île à l’autre artist series, which was launched in promotion of the French language and emerging francophone artists. His decision to shift from English to French was not a conscious one, nor was it something he took the time to think out rationally. It came naturally.

“In French, I sing more intellectually,” said Jacques. “I sing with my heart and guts. It’s not that I don’t do that in English, it’s different.”

Music may be his primary passion, but he also works at a bike shop to make ends meet, and for the diversity.

“I don’t think I’m meant for a steady job. I love to try my hand at different things,” said Jacques. “It clears my head. I have the impression of self-accomplishment, of thriving.”

Music gives him the opportunity to communicate differently than in words. Music ‘speaks’ for him, and allows him to reach out and touch people. Jacques’ main goal is to continue composing music and to be as proud of it as possible, independently of the amount of people it attracts.

“An album is meant to stay for life. Even when you’re dead, it is something that will stay on earth,” said Jacques. “It was recorded in a certain way, you can’t backtrack. Your goal is to be proud of it so you’ll never regret it.”

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Music

The Concordian sits down with Andrew W.K., the self-proclaimed king of partying

Last Friday, musician, motivational speaker and self-proclaimed king of partying Andrew W.K. visited Concordia for an unconventional lecture that flew between topics like the detailed intricacies of an amazing sandwich, the festival of the Juggalos and depressing literature. The talk, presented by the Fine Arts Students Alliance, saw the man in white explain why he wanted to smash his bus driver into a brick wall, it saw him momentarily break into a solo hardcore dance, and one audience member wiping his own blood onto the speaker’s shirt. We doubt such antics have ever occurred in the walls of H-110 before. W.K. was also in town to perform a DJ set later that night as FASA’s contribution to the Art Matters Festival. But before either of those escapades took place, the Concordian sat down for a quick, but surprisingly insightful interview with him: 

Concordian: You’ve been interviewed by everyone from Narduar, to Fox News, to a young kid, so what’s your take on doing interviews?

Andrew W.K.: I like it and I’ve liked it always. I remember the first interview I did as Andrew WK and I couldn’t believe this person really just wants to talk to me. And even if they don’t, they’re being paid to talk to me. They have their questions, they’ve looked up things about me, I mean it’s a huge ego boost. So of course in that way I like it. But after that you wonder what can you do with this. Now that you have this chance to talk with someone what can you say. I’ve tried to keep it not only entertaining for the readers and for the writers but also for myself as well,, to find new answers. It’s like psychoanalysm or something, it really is. I’ve learned more about myself from doing interviews than any amount of psychotherapy ever could have done. And I guess it’s because you’re trying to come up with reasons for like ‘why did you write this song?’ Well I’ve never thought about it. It’s interesting, it’s very self-indulgent but I think it’s fun, it’s healthy. A long as you’re aware while you’re doing it that it’s completely absurd that anyone would want to talk to me to this degree, then everything’s okay. If you get too swept away with interviews you can enjoy them too much or grow to hate them like many people do. But to me it’s just a pleasure that you want to talk to me at all.

So you’ve been keeping busy, between your music, motivational speaking, your television show Destroy Build Destroy, the club that you own, you’re working on a breast cancer awareness campaign right now, etc. So how do you balance all of those things and which is your favourite?

My favourite is entertainment, show business, performing, or however you want to define this realm. As much as I am doing different things, they all fit under the same umbrella very, very clearly. I mean it’s easy for me, I’m not doing mathematics on one hand, social studies on the other hand; it’s pretty much partying and entertainment, all the good stuff. I grew up as someone who was into drawing, and painting, and music, and theatre and it just became very obvious that the entertainment industry would allow me to do all of those things. They are all justified, they all fit […] Anything I could ever think to do, not only has a place here, but is valuable here. So that’s what I love about it, I feel like I was born to work in this field.

So I noticed you tweeted this week that every day you write a to-do list, and the one you posted was : 1)party 2) party 3) party hard 4) call mom and dad 5) party harder. So where does work fit in?

Work is an interesting word. I used to kind of think you weren’t supposed to want to do work, and work isn’t a good thing and the whole goal of life was to work so hard that you wouldn’t have to work or something. But work, of course, is what life is all about. You’re working at all times at least just to survive. The only time you don’t work is when you’re going to sleep, but for me even that sometimes takes some work. But for me, if you enjoy the work that is like the greatest thing because putting energy and effort into something that you love and then seeing results from that, that may be one of the meanings of life. To have something to do and to do it well. To me that is partying hard. […] Work is different than a job. I don’t really ever want to have a job. I’ve had jobs and they sucked because that’s the type of work that is not fun. But work doesn’t have to be a job, it’s something I’ve just been realizing now. I work harder now than I actually did when I had regular jobs. But it’s a work that is so full of joy that I would never call it a job. A job is not good vibes.

What about the Arts Matters event drew you in?

Well for one I’m a big fan of Canada, so that was the easy part about it. And two, a fan of Montreal, I’ve spent quite a bit of time here. I also worked with some of the organizers for this event at a Canadian festival called Sled Island that I enjoyed very much. But at the same time this is my first university lecture anywhere in Canada, so I was very pleased. I mean I just can’t believe that I get invited to do this stuff so part of it is just embracing it before they change their mind and uninvited me.

What can one expect from an Andrew WK lecture?

That I will show up. That’s about the only thing that you can expect […] I have arrived, I’m here. And expectations beyond that? We’re just going to party hard.

What do you hope students get tout of all this?

That it puts them either further in touch or back in touch  or amplifies with whatever excitement or will they already have to party, enjoy themselves and to do what makes them happy. I’m just here to facilitate more of that feeling, to be a spokesperson for joy.

As someone who uses the word party extensively in songs, what’s your best party story?

Well it’s going to be a party story that we write tonight, I imagine, at this event. I leave it open. The greatest party is always ahead of me, the time of your life that you’ll remember forever is always in front of you and ideally every day is the best day you’ve ever had.

Let’s play the word association game:

Canada: St. Hubert

Destroy: Build

Fox News: Screaming face

Party: hard

Charlie Sheen: Winning, I guess. Bi-winning.

This week FASA will also be posting a full podcast of Andrew W.K.’s lecture on their website, fineartsstudentalliance.ca.

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