STRFKR

My interview with STRFKR is in this week's WE.

Indie electronica-rock band Starfucker

Doing time with STRFKR

Posted By: Andrea Warner

It’s been a month of some serious highs and lows for Portland-based indie-electro dance-rock group Starfucker (STRFKR). They kicked off a North American tour in support of their second full-length release, Reptilians. Then there was the headline-making arrest of guitarist Ryan Biornstad in Austin, Texas, during South By Southwest, forcing the cancellation of two shows. A day later, the tour van broke down en route to their next gig. Now, thanks to fan support and sold-out shows, they’ve extended their tour — which brings them to the Biltmore this Friday — and just announced their first stint of festival gigs, including Calgary’s Sled Island in June. Drummer Keil Corcoran checked in with WE from a tour stop in Boston, offering his uncensored thoughts on the police, STRFKR lead singer Joshua Hodges, and cute kitties.

WE: What’s your background?
Keil Corcoran: Musically I started playing punk rock as a kid and then moved on to playing, like, thrash grind metal stuff when I was late-teens, like Napalm Death and shit like that. I kinda got sick of that. It’s fun to play, but I didn’t really enjoy listening to it, so I started getting into electronic stuff. I did a lot of programming for a few years, you know, writing, like, shitty techno music. Then I started playing drums again. I actually stopped for three years and started again and here we are!

Where does shitty techno music get played?
I’m pretty sure the shitty techno music I was making wasn’t getting played anywhere. It was really awful.

What’s it like to come on board to something that started as a solo project?
It’s good. It pretty much still operates similarly to how it did in the beginning. Just Josh has to show us all the shit instead of just learning it himself. I mean, we write our own parts somewhat, but Josh always has direction for it and is the mastermind behind the project. It’s fun. I respect the hell out of what Josh does, so I was really excited to play with the band. I think he’s a brilliant dude.

How’d you guys meet?
I was playing with another band in Portland and we went on tour with Starfucker through Washington and we just kind of hit it off as homies and he liked the way I played drums because I’m really into playing with a click track, so he needed a drum machine man and I fit the bill.

The music sounds like it has some complicated minds behind it.
Yeah, well, I wouldn’t say the music is complicated, it’s just executing all that shit on the record live is pretty complicated just because there’s so much of it and we have to figure out who plays what and what instrument should be used to play that. There’s just a lot of technical shit that I hate, because I usually end up helping with the technical aspect.

Is it Josh coming up with everything or are you guys contributing to the sound?
Live, definitely we all contribute, but on the record it’s for the most part Josh. Although, for the newest one, we all had a little bit of input, which is awesome.

How has that transition to a more collaborative process worked?
It’s been really good actually. I feel like the new record’s probably the best sounding record that we have. And, on that one, I helped Josh a little bit with structuring the songs, wrote a couple keyboard parts here and there, and Ryan recorded a bunch of stuff and so did Sean, everybody had a hand in it, and we also had a producer work on that one, which is a first. He was amazing and it helped a lot for sure.

You’ve had plenty of back and forth with the band’s name...I like the way STRFKR sounds.
Yeah, we’ve grown into it. I don’t hate it anymore, which I did initially. When I started playing with them, my girlfriend was like, ‘Are they all douchebags or something?’ and I’m like, ‘No, they’re really fucking cool guys.’

I’ve read that part of the inspiration for this album was the passing of Josh’s grandmother.
There’s a song pretty much about that, but more specifically I think it’s pretty much about death or whatever. Oh, wait, there’s a kitty out here and I’m trying to let it inside the house. I don’t even know if it’s the people’s we’re staying with but it looks really cute. All right, it’s walking away now. Never mind. Okay, so yeah, Josh is just kind of obsessed with death and dying, he’s kind of like a hypochondriac, he always thinks he has cancer and shit like that. (Sighs) So, yeah, all the songs are pretty much him obsessing over death and dying. Yeah, he’s a weirdo. (Laughs)

What happened at South By with Ryan’s arrest?
He has a court date now. Yeah, we really only managed to get him out of jail because Josh’s friend was dating a lawyer that lives in Austin and he knew the judge in charge of the case, so we got Ryan out about 10 hours after he got arrested, but we still missed two shows. It was really bizarre. Ryan was just standing in the street and a cop pulled up and told him to get out of the street and so he did and he put a piece of equipment down on the sidewalk and the cop’s like, ‘Okay, I’m giving you a ticket.’ And Ryan pulls his ID out and as soon as he does, another cop comes up and is like, ‘You’re fucking getting arrested!’ And he just puts him in cuffs and like, without reading him his rights, throws him in the fucking cop car. Like, all within the space of 30 seconds or so, maybe a minute.

That’s insane.
Yeah, it was the worst, weird, fucking fascist display I’ve ever seen in my life.

What happens now? He has to go back to Austin for the court date?
Yeah, we’re thinking that — well, the lawyer guy was saying there’s a pretty good possibility that he can get it thrown out... And then the next day, our fucking van broke down. And we got towed to our show. It’s been an interesting tour so far. Actually, after that it’s been good. Ryan fixed the van himself, like went and bought a new computer and had it programmed and put it in the van himself, and the van’s been working perfect ever since.

Does this make you feel more politically charged?
I’ve always hated the fucking police. Fuck those assholes. (Laughs) I think they’re all a bunch of fucking macho dickheads and they suck. Every kid I’ve ever grown up with who turned into a cop was initially a fucking a dick.

Starfucker plays Friday, Apr. 22 at the Biltmore (395 Kingsway) 8pm. $13 from Zulu Records, Red Cat Records, Highlife and TicketWeb.ca.

Patton Oswalt

My interview with Patton Oswalt is in this week's WE.

Patton Oswalt makes'em laugh

Credit: Supplied

Laughing out loud

Posted By: Andrea Warner

Making comedian Patton Oswalt laugh, even if for just a second, is like high-fiving a unicorn. There’s something magical about hearing the chuckle of a person who has made you laugh. And, frankly, Oswalt hasn’t just made me laugh. On countless occasions, either at his stand-up shows or on his comedy specials or via his new book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, he’s inspired me to erupt in rib-bruising, eyes-watering, disturbing-the-peace laughter.

Over the phone from his home-base in Los Angeles, the 42-year-old Oswalt is pleasant, polite and smart. He answers questions directly and efficiently. He’s not the type of person who feels obligated to fill silences, or who wants to analyze his own processes. His confidence and ease belie some of the characters he’s inhabited so memorably when wearing his actor hat: the schlubby nerd-sidekick Spence on King of Queens; the sad sack nurse in Magnolia. Oswalt the comedian is clever, edgy and insightful — a fairly stark contrast to the roles in which he’s most often cast.

But Oswalt dismisses suggestions that his stand-up is likely a bit of a jolt for audiences used to seeing him acting on screens small and big.

“For the most part, I hope people that watched me on King of Queens know that’s an acting role for hire and that’s probably not how he is, if we go see him in a night club it will probably be different,” Oswalt says. “But, it’s not my job to worry about that. I would hope people understand, but if they don’t, I just gotta go do what I do.”

This is the attitude that seems to have propelled Oswalt since his first stand-up at an open mic on a Tuesday in Washington, DC roughly two decades ago.

“It didn’t go very well, but it was fun and I wanted more,” Oswalt recalls. “Even though I wasn’t getting any real positive feedback, it was still really fun, so that’s why I kept going back.”

The years of rejection never deterred him, and Oswalt estimates that it took a long time before the audience was having as much fun as he was.

“[Probably] not until I was six or seven years into it, when I was more comfortable with my own voice and with myself on stage,” Oswalt says. “That’s when I was able to do what I wanted to do. Once you get comfortable with yourself, then people will be comfortable with you.”

By 1997, Oswalt had his own HBO comedy special. In 2004, he released his full-length comedy album, Feelin’ Kinda Patton, and co-ordinated his Comedians of Comedy tour which featured a slew of fellow stand-ups including Zach Galifinakis, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford. Over the years, Oswalt’s stand-up has become the stuff of legend, resulting in sold-out shows in almost every city he visits. This particular tour that brings him to Vancouver coincides with the publication of his first book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, a brilliant collection of everything from essays to comic panels to poetry. It’s like a goody bag from Oswalt’s brain, running the emotional gamut from bittersweet to joyful.

“I try to just sort of talk about what’s on my mind,” Oswalt says. “Not everything I think about is comedic all the time, so I was going along those lines.”

Oswalt describes the collection as different pieces of things he’d been mulling for years, but he didn’t dig in to the writing process until the book was sold. And, even then, it didn’t come naturally, per se.
“[Stand-up and the book are] different mediums,” Oswalt says. “Stand up I tend to write more on stage riffing, going on over and over again every show, kind of refining what I do. Writing, it all has to be edited and refined on the page.”

Now that the book is behind him and he’s in the midst of this stand-up tour, Oswalt’s mind is occupied by other things. He’s reluctant to discuss any one element of some of the topics he’ll be talking about on stage, insisting it’s impossible to take them out of context.

Instead, politics and social issues come bubbling up. Oswalt, an outspoken critic, says he was always more curious than critical. “Then, when your curiousity isn’t answered or engaged, that leads to frustration.” His frustrations are numerous.

“The Democrats fumbling on the majority and not acting on it and not getting the things done that they were elected to do, whereas the Republicans can seemingly just ram through the most unpopular stuff and not care about what the public thinks,” Oswalt sighs. “The Democrats, who actually have the public on their side and don’t go and push things through that would actually benefit people. I’m a big fan of like, dragging people kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I don’t know why the Democrats didn’t do it this time, but I guess that’s how it is right now. It’s frustrating.”

Legalizing gay marriage, which has also been a contentious issue in much of the US, is another thorn in his side.

“With gay marriage, I’m beyond even wanting – I don’t even care about gays being allowed to be married anymore. What I care about is that in 40 years, history’s going to look back on this time and it’s going to be so embarrassing that we even were debating it. That’s what’s going to seem embarrassing. It’s going to be like looking back at the time we were doing the first moon shot and finding out people were debating whether or not witchcraft was real. You’ve got to be kidding me! It’s crazy. Same with evolution, climate change, the fact that the debate is happening is going to be so mortifying.”

History tends to have a lot to apologize for, and often times it’s comedians that remind us of that, pointing out the ridiculous and the false and the hypocritical. Oswalt is one of those voices of reason, sometimes, when hysteria threatens to overtake the masses. He gives language to things that are sometimes indescribable, be it serious issues like civil rights or not-so-serious ones — like how I made him laugh at the beginning of our conversation.

“I have to thank you for a phrase you coined: nut fog. It’s perfect. It’s really helped in my life,” I tell him.There’s a second of stunned silence, then a chuckle.

“Oh wow. Ooh. I’m sorry? Cool, thank you.”

No, Patton. Thank you.

Patton Oswalt performs Saturday, Apr. 23 at the Vogue (918 Granville), 7pm. $24.99-$49.99 from VogueTheatre.com.

Randy and Evi Quaid

My new cover story for WE. 

 

 

Randy and Evi Quaid: The new odd couple

Posted By: Andrea Warner

Last October, actor Randy Quaid (Saturday Night Live, Kingpin) and his wife, Evi, arrived in Vancouver and promptly became the ringmasters of their very own media circus. After months of making headlines for a variety of offences in the USA — a dash ’n dine here, an unpaid hotel bill there — the pair fled California and made it across the border, seeking, at the time, refugee status right here. Yes, refugee status. The Quaids claimed they feared being killed as part of a Hollywood death conspiracy of “star whackers” that had already felled other celebrities, including Heath Ledger (who died of an accidental drug overdose) and Chris Penn (who died of a heart attack).

Since earlier this year, the Quaids have lived amongst us relatively quietly in an undisclosed location. They have dropped the refugee claim and are now seeking permanent resident status for Randy, who would be sponsored by Evi thanks to her Canadian citizenship. And now they’re quite literally bringing Hollywood north. In March, Randy debuted his music onstage at the Commodore and this Friday marks the debut of the Quaids' new, work-in-progress documentary/feature film Star Whackers — part of a double bill with Randy’s 2009 Canadian feature, Real Time. WE spoke with the notorious duo via email about their love affair, the film, and rumours that Randy will open for Charlie Sheen’s Vancouver show next month. (Ed’s note: In a mutual agreement, WE is printing the interview unchanged from the email transcription. It has been edited only for spelling.)

How did you two meet?
We met on a movie fell in love within 24 hours. AND THAT WAS 22 YEARS AGO

What was your first date like?
Chinese food and GREAT sex

Evi, what do you love most about Randy?
I love Randy’s talent and range. As a man he is tough and his talent is humongous. Love is not a strong enough word for my respect loyalty and admiration I have for my husband. I am his wife and he is my life, my man, and my master of ceremonies.

And, Randy, please answer the same questions about Evi.
Evi is Love. When I think of Evi I think of Love, I feel Love and I feel Loved.  Evi’s Love is like a thousand prisms refracting all colors, all colors of Love exploding like a kaleidoscope of Roman candles within my soul. Love is expressed in many ways, but Evi is all Love and all expression of Love.  She has no guile or deceit; her honesty can sometimes be brutal, but always she is truthful, as an artist, as a friend, as a spouse, as a Lover, she is the foundation of my universe.

Evi, please tell us a bit about your background. Have you always been a filmmaker?
My father worked for the RCMP and the FBI. I did not know this until I found out I was a Canadian. He is also a painter. I have, according to him, always been a visual artist. He has my drawings in a secret location and I have his paintings in a secret location.

What is Star Whackers about?
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People have made a lot of jokes about the two of you. Do you care?
YES. The Internet is a terror tool for the hunting of celebrities — entrapping and stalking and smearing. It’s beyond cruel. It’s frightening, horrifying and should be illegal. It’s only for corruption and I fear for my life every day when I see what people write and the way criminals use the Internet to terrorize and entrap their victims. I fear for others: not only famous but targeted by people who use the Internet as a terror tool.

Do you understand why some people might not believe you?
YES. UNEDUCATED UNINTELLIGENT PEOPLE ARE CRUEL

What do you have to say to those who are making fun of you and your situation?
It’s very painful that people have no empathy for others who are suffering just because they think it’s a joke when it’s not. I met some of the best people in the world who are refugees and I finally felt understood I ASKED AN INDIAN WOMAN WITH NO HAND IF IN HER COUNTRY’S WEALTHY PEOPLE HAD THEIR HOMES AND FORTUNES STOLEN AND THEN HAD PEOPLE TRY AND KILL THEM. SHE SAID ‘YES,’ THEN SHOWED ME HER MISSING HAND WHICH SHE HAD HIDDEN IN HER SHIRT. IT WAS BLOWN OFF IN A BOMB AND SHE SMILED AT ME AND I KNEW SHE BELIEVED ME WHEN SHE SHOWED ME HER PAIN. SHE HAD LEFT HER FAMILY BECAUSE SHE WAS SO FRIGHTENED OF THE CONDITION SHE LIVED IN. SHE HAD EMPATHY FOR ME AS I HAVE FOR HER.

Why Vancouver?
WE CAME HERE TO GET RANDY’S VANCOUVER CRITICS AWARD FOR REAL TIME AND THEN later LOOK FOR A NEW HOME.

Randy, what do you feel has been your greatest professional achievement?
MY PERFORMANCE IN REAL TIME AND MY new SONG WRITING

Randy, do you feel Hollywood has turned its back on you?
Hollywood has no Back and if it does it’s my back because I have been working in Hollywood longer than 99% of all Hollywoodians. It’s a misconception that Hollywood is other than the people who work IN IT. WE ALL STRUGGLE TO REMAIN RELEVANT WITH OUR WORK. AND ITS IMPORTANT NOT TO TURN YOUR OWN BACK ON YOUR OWN MUSE.

What’s the music like that you’ve been writing?
True rockabilly stories

How did your show at the Commodore go?
GREAT!!  GREAT!! SOUND GREAT LIGHTING GREAT PEOPLE GREAT BAND. JOHN, BRUCE, MARK AND RICH ARE GREAT. THE TOWN PANTS WERE VERY GENEROUS AND FUN. WE LOVE THEIR MANAGER ALSO.

Why should people come out and see this show at the Rio?
YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT, TRUST ME. REAL TIME IS A GREAT FILM WITH A GREAT CANADIAN DIRECTOR AND RANDY AND I WILL GIVE THE REST OUR ALL, LIKE WE DID AT THE COMMODORE. And the RIO IS A GREAT ART HOUSE!!!

What’s your day-to-day life like right now?
We love Canada. Our life is wonderful, we have a great team of lawyers who have become like family AND CARE ABOUT US.

What’s your plan if your permanent residency claim is granted?
TO LIVE IN THIS GREAT NATION AND GIVE BACK IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE AND HELP OTHER PEOPLE AND LOVE OUR DOJI DOG!!!

Randy, could you tell me a little bit about the news that you’re in talks to open for Charlie Sheen when he comes to Vancouver next month?
Someone from Live Nation had a conversation with Brian Watson about the idea of me doing it. It’s a good idea. I like Charlie and am happy to be supportive of his plight. If asked by him, [I’d say] “I am here for you Charlie, I understand what few others do!!” People should watch Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder to really understand what this nightmare is so they can send help. Movie Star 101, from Randy Quaid: Tom Cruise’s performance in Tropic Thunder, the Star Whackers performance I gave and Charlie’s tour should be required viewing for all actors who aspire to be Movie Stars.

An Evening with the Quaids, which will feature screenings of Star Whackers and Real Time, takes place Friday, Apr. 22 at the Rio (1660 E. Broadway), 7pm. Tickets $20-$25 from BrownPaperTickets.com. More information:RioTheatre.ca.

Daydream Nation

My review of Daydream Nation is in this week's WE.

Kat Dennings bewitches boys and men in Daydream Nation.

Credit: Supplied

DAYDREAM NATION
Starring Kat Dennings, Josh Lucas
Directed by Michael Goldbach

A serial killer is on the loose as an industrial fire burns perpetually in the background. Daydream Nation might not be your typical romantic teen comedy, but it is a quintessentially Canadian one: quirky, funny, strange, and bittersweet.

Seventeen-year-old Caroline (Kat Dennings) is the new girl in a small B.C. town, but she has little in common with her peers. She seeks solace in the only other sophisticate she can find — her teacher, Mr. Anderson (Josh Lucas). To deflect suspicion about their affair, Caroline agrees to date classmate Thurston (Reece Thompson), a sweet stoner who falls hard and enlists his mother, Enid (Andie McDowell) to cozy up to Caroline’s disapproving father, Mr. Wexler (Ted Whittall).

The cast executes their roles perfectly. Thompson, a native Vancouverite, is believably awkward and awed by Dennings’ Caroline, and does a wonderful job exhibiting Thurston’s anger and confusion when he finds out about her betrayal. Lucas, so often cast in good guy roles, tempers his typically sexy charm with a crazy-eyed edge. The unorthodox love triangle nicely mirrors Caroline’s own competing personae of savvy seductress and smart, sad adolescent, and Dennings skillfully moves between the two, conveying Caroline’s sardonic angst with aplomb.

Working from writer-director Michael Goldbach’s confident script, Nation plays up the absurdity of suburbia, artfully blending the line between wickedly funny and tragic. The stories, including that serial killer subplot which haunts the film like a dark shadow, culminate in a twisty, startling conclusion that’s satisfyingly, and fittingly, David Lynch-lite. —Andrea Warner

Neve Campbell and Scream 4

My exclusive interview with Neve Campbell is this week's WE cover story.

Neve Campbell (fourth from left) returns as ongoing victim Sidney Prescott in Scream 4 alongside fellow franchise originals Courtney Cox and David Arquette (fifth and sixth from left, respectively). Also included in the latest cast are (from left) Allison Brie, Marley Shelton, Adam Brody and Anthony Anderson.

Credit: supplied

Neve returns with a ‘Scream’

Posted By: Andrea Warner

04/13/2011 12:00 AM

"The first film was such a great time that it feels like going back to summer camp every time we see each other again.”

Neve Campbell’s version of summer camp is a little bit different than most: Gallons of fake blood, butcher knives, Courtney Cox and David Arquette, and, of course, a hell of a lot of screaming.
It’s been 15 years since she played tortured teen lead Sidney Prescott in Scream, a blockbuster horror-comedy that revitalized the genre and became the benchmark for self-referential pop culture skewering in movies and television. The film was such a success that Scream 2 followed just a year later in 1997, while Scream 3 landed as a bit of a dud in 2000.

But, in keeping with the Hollywood cliché that everything old is new again, 2011 finds 37-year-old Campbell leading a cast of familiar (Cox, Arquette) and fresh (Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere) faces in the highly anticipated Scream 4. It’s a reboot of a franchise that this writer didn’t even realize she missed until she saw the familiar opening scene of a pretty girl answering a ringing phone and ol’ creepy voice himself asking, ‘Do you like scary movies?’

Over the phone from Toronto, Campbell laughs. “It’s nostalgic, right?”

It is, and while that might be what the movie moguls are banking on, generational affection does not a movie make. Luckily, Scream 4 is a twisty, clever addition to the horror canon, picking up 10 years after Scream 3. Though there’s little flexibility in releasing the plot details, what we can offer is this: Sidney returns to Woodsboro on the anniversary of the original killings as part of a book tour promoting her memoir about survival. Gale, Cox’s ambitious investigative reporter turned best-selling author is suffering writer’s block and is feeling the small town stifles since marrying Arquette’s Dewey, who’s now the police chief. New bodies start piling up and Sidney is once again the fixation of a creepy copycat killer wearing the ‘Ghostface’ mask.

Campbell recalls reading writer Kevin Williamson’s original Scream script and realizing they were on to something “special.” She credits Williamson with convincing her that there was a new story worth telling.

“What I loved about Kevin’s pitch to me, and it was one of the reasons why I chose to do the film again, is that I did realize we were going to be able to make this up-to-date and keep up with pop culture and what’s going on today,” Campbell says. “This film now takes a look at not only being self-referential in the film industry but at kids today and what they’re dealing with and how their lives now are intertwined with social networking, the Internet, mobile. Also, reality television and quick fame and quick fortune and all of those kinds of influences that are around at the moment. I thought that kept it very fresh.”

Thanks to the re-teaming of Williamson and original director Wes Craven, Scream 4 might be the rare movie franchise that seems to have benefited from a decade-long break. But even Campbell admits she had some misgivings about revisiting the past.

“I was apprehensive at first,” Campbell admits. “I only wanted to be a part of it if it was going to be the whole team. I didn’t think there would be any point in making something if we weren’t going to be able to give the audiences what they loved, which is the characters. Gale and Dewey are great characters. I just saw the film a couple weeks ago and it was so fun to just see them again! Like, when I saw David on set the first day, it was just so fun to see him in his moustache and his costume again. It’s because we ended up having fun with these characters, they’re fun to revisit.”

A particular treat, Campbell says, is the rare opportunity for an actor to grow alongside a character. Campbell herself was just 21 when she made the first Scream film.

“I’m 37 now,” she laughs. “That’s a big gap! I was at the beginning of my career [then]. I’d been working in Canada for about five years as a dancer and an actor, and was on my second year of Party of Five and had done The Craft, but Scream was my first lead. Obviously it catapulted my career to a different level, which was lovely, but you know, I was young, I was in my 20s. They’re challenging as it is but when you add fame to that it can be very challenging. I think I’m at a place in my life now where I’m a lot more comfortable with myself now. I’m a lot more confident with my choices in my life and I enjoy where I live — I live in England — and I enjoy traveling and I enjoy some of the charity work I’m working on... I have more control over what I want my life to be and that feels very good.”

It’s not really a surprise that some of Campbell’s own self-confidence is reflected in Sidney now. Though the character is described as a “celebrity victim,” she does a significant amount of ass-kicking throughout, wielding a butcher knife with the kind of expertise that comes to the perpetually terrorized.

“For Sidney it’s 10 years later, she’s an adult, in no way is she really a victim,” Campbell says. “Obviously in the first film she was young and more of a victim and eventually found her legs, but in this one, you know, she’s grown up, she knows who she is. She’s very strong... She knows how to answer a phone, she knows how to respond, she knows how to run, she knows how to fight. Just a day in the life of Sidney.”

Fitz and the Tantrums

My feature on Fitz and the Tantrums is in the Charleston City Paper. 

Fitz and the Tantrums dig the retro vibe 

Piece by Piece

by Andrea Warner

Alicia Rose

Fitz and the Tantrums' Michael Fitzpatrick found his soul on the way to school

Michael Fitzpatrick is wowed by his indie rock 'n' soul band's whirlwind ascent from DIY upstarts in 2009 to South By Southwest's reigning fairy-tale royalty in 2011. If you haven't heard of L.A.'s Fitz and the Tantrums yet, you will. Judging by the retro-soul band's trajectory, mainstream success could be days away.

And, though it might be hard to get Los Angelenos excited about an old-school band, it's easy to understand how Fitz and the Tantrums managed to shake things up. Their modern twist on classic soul reflects Fitzpatrick's own affinity for Motown.

"I grew up with parents who were classical music freaks and opera freaks," Fitzpatrick recalls. "My dad's kind of a fascist, so when he's home, you can't listen to anything else in the house. The one concession I could get driving to school in the morning was I could talk my mom into putting the oldies station on. That's where I first got introduced to soul music."

Fitz admits he's living the dream, but even he can't believe his band's good fortune.

"When we started, our whole foundation was a do-it-yourself approach," Fitzpatrick says. "Nobody was really giving us the time of day in any shape or form. We just hoed our own road, started playing before we even had songs to play, and developed our own fan base organically."

A lifelong singer, Fitzpatrick says it was love at first listen and, obviously, an enduring one. Following four years studying experimental film in college, he returned to music after experiencing his first recording session with his college band. His love of soul music was fully realized in the studio.

"Once I got into being a studio nerd and being an engineer for a producer, I fell even more deeply in love with the way those records sounded," Fitzpatrick says. "To this day, hands down, it's my favorite period of production. As a student of songwriting, I'm obsessed with what makes a song great."
It's no accident that those ingredients have found their way into many of Fitz and the Tantrums' songs, which the band has effectively translated into live shows that have become the stuff of legend.

"There's something that's magical happening when you put the six of us together on stage or in a room or in a studio," Fitzpatrick says. "I think we had played 10 shows when Flogging Molly asked us to go out on the road with them. We had played 10 shows, and we were standing out on the stage at Red Rocks in Colorado, one of the most famous venues in all of America, in front of 10,000 people just going, 'How did this happen?'"

In late 2009, the band self-released its first EP, Songs for a Breakup, Vol. 1. Soon, they had an unlikely ally in Maroon 5's Adam Levine.

"He was going to get a tattoo in New York, and the guy had found out about us through our NPR station in L.A. and bought the record," Fitzpatrick recalls. "Adam hears it, and he flips out."
But the opportunities didn't come without costs. The band's DIY ethic went hand-in-hand with self-financing. By the time they became one of the major buzz bands at 2010's SXSW, Fitz and the Tantrums were running out of steam.

"Everyone was congratulating us and yet we were broke, outta money, outta resources ... sort of at the wit's end of what we could do on our own," Fitzpatrick admits.

But a major break awaited them. Their last SXSW gig was a show for Dangerbird Records. The following morning, the label's president called a meeting: She wanted to be in the business of Fitz and the Tantrums.

The band's first full-length, Pickin' Up the Pieces, came out a few months later. The single "MoneyGrabber" became an instant hit. It has a polished confidence, with soul flourishes that evoke the most exciting elements of pop. There aren't any guitars to be found, either. Brass, woodwinds, organ, and drums create wonderfully textured songs, equally at home on an old black-and-white variety show or at a hip dance club.

Pieces features an assortment of songs that feel at once familiar and freshly invigorating. The searing "News 4 U" would be at home in a Quentin Tarantino movie. The title track is stuffed with hand claps and flute, and offers a call-and-answer set up between Fitzpatrick and Noelle Scaggs.

The success of "MoneyGrabber" led to featured spots on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Conan O'Brien Show, as well as a sold-out tour earlier this year. The band made a return to SXSW a few weeks ago.
"We were sort of the fairy-tale story," Fitzpatrick says. "That was a really cool moment to come full circle and come back to the SXSW community and Austin, and people are so happy that that kind of story can still exist within the constructs of SXSW. It's just been a wild ride."

The Submarines

My interview with the Submarines in this week's WEVancouver.

MUSIC: The Submarines collaborate on a ‘Love Note’

Posted By: Andrea Warner

The Submarines’ origins is the stuff of indie-pop legend: boy (John Dragonetti) and girl (Blake Hazard) meet, play music and fall in love. They relocate from Boston to Los Angeles and then break up. But the sad songs they write about their broken hearts bring them together again and soon Dragonetti and Hazard are the living epitome of the soft-rock staple “Reunited and It Feels So Good.” Friends decided to master their break-up songs as a wedding present and the Submarines’ 2006 debut album, Declare a New State, was ready to go.

Since then, the duo has cultivated some high-profile gigs, including two songs that became instant classics thanks to prominent placement in Apple iPhone 3 (“You, Me and the Bourgeoisie”) and 3G (“Submarine Symphonika”) commercials. The Submarines’ third album, Love Notes/Letter Bombs, builds on the catchy indie-pop sound they have been perfecting over the last five years. WE spoke with the pair the day before the album dropped, and found out it might also be their most intimate creation yet: exploring themes of love and tension, and borrowing more than a little from their own challenges as spouses, bandmates, and musicians.

WE: The album’s out tomorrow. Is it still a nerve-racking experience waiting to see how it’s received?
Hazard: Yes!
Dragonetti: Hmm. Yeah, I guess there’s a lot of anticipation. But it seems like it’s kind of a slow process, too. Even though the album comes out tomorrow, for us there’s always been this build up. We’re just excited, finally, to have it out. There’s such a long wait after you deliver the record.
Hazard: It’s exciting to hear first responses, too. It just feels like more people are hearing this record than heard our previous ones, and that feels really good. It makes the work that’s gone into the band add up to something.

The album feels like a really natural progression, but also infinitely more confident.
Hazard: Cool! I’m glad we sound that way musically. (Laughs) That’s great. I think we went a little bit bigger sonically this time, so if it sounds a little more full that’s at least a little bit by design, so that’s good. I’m glad.

Obviously the process now probably couldn’t be more different than the first album.
Dragonetti: Right. It seems like we record songs and make records in so many different ways. We don’t really have a set flow that works for us. Sometimes Blake works on a song by herself and brings it in, and then I’ll start helping her produce the sounds and the tracks and stuff, and other times I’ll work on stuff on my own and bring it to her. This time we wanted to collaborate more and you know, sit in a room together and old-school style, hash a song out with a guitar and by hand. We wrote the lyrics together and tried a lot more of that on this record. I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. Blake, what do you think?
Hazard: I don’t think we set out necessarily to make the record more collaboratively, but by default we did because we ended up needing to do a lot of lyric writing together after working on the initial stages of the record separately. Basically we recorded the whole record instrumentally first and then went back and did like, oohs and aahs, melodies over that, and did the lyrics very last. Not on all the songs, so that was a wildly different process.
Dragonetti: We had this sort of Herb Alpert version of the album with oohs and aahs on it, which maybe we’ll release some day.
Hazard: On a few of the songs, it kind of allowed us to develop a story, or be inspired by the music itself instead of having a set idea before we went into it. Some of doing the writing that way captured this moment in time for us, where we were when we were writing as opposed to songs you write over a long period of time where you might think about one thing one day and another thing the next day. This was more concentrated... [Loud beeps start happening in the background] What is that? (Laughs)
Dragonetti: Sorry, I know. I’m multitasking but I’m very —
Hazard: Oh, John! Anyways, certain themes emerged that we weren’t even aware of until we’d almost finished the record and that sort of took us by surprise I think. To listen and realize, oh, this is what it’s about!
Dragonetti: Yeah, we wear our struggles on our sleeve for sure.
Hazard: Yeah, more than we intended! (Laughs)

The title of the album is fun and allows people to read into lots of stuff. Did that come after the fact, too?
Hazard: (Laughs) Yeah. It’s sort of a lyric lifted from the song “Tigers.” It’s very much like that’s what emerged later for us: the dichotomy of love and tenderness versus the conflict and tension in the relationship but also in the band and in the music. It became a theme that emerged after the fact. When we say Letter Bomb we don’t mean anything violent. We thought of like, a Wes Anderson movie and how there are all of these imminent perils... but it’s almost a sinister cuteness, you know? He plays on danger and safety and all that stuff.
Dragonetti: I think the title sums up the record pretty well.

The Submarines play Wednesday, Apr. 13 at Biltmore, 8pm. Tickets $13 from Red Cat Records, Zulu Records and TicketWeb.ca.

 
LINER NOTES

SUMMER FUN: Outdoor musical festival Live at Squamish is back for another summer, featuring headliners Weezer, Metric, Girl Talk and the John Butler Trio. Local acts Kyprios, The Zolas, and Bend Sinister will also be on hand to help round out the festivities. Aug. 20-21 in Squamish. Early bird tickets $79-$199 until May 15 from LiveAtSquamish.com.

WHOOOOO’S THERE?: Ever since beloved indie-dance band !!! (pronounced chk-chk-chk) announced its Vancouver show would take place at Electric Owl, concert-goers have been curious about this new, swathed-in-secrecy venue. Here’s what WE knows: The Electric Owl will be located in the former American Hotel space (928 Main), across from the Cobalt. Insiders say it’s “not part of a chain,” that it will be 8,000 square feet over two levels, and will open its doors in early May.

Send music tips to musiceditor@westender.com

Little Scream

My interview with Little Scream is in this month's Exclaim!

The Art of Little Scream

Interviews FROM THE MAGAZINE Apr 2011

By Andrea Warner

Montreal-based singer-songwriter Little Scream, aka Laurel Sprengelmeyer, has plenty to shout about. Set to receive her Canadian citizenship later this year, she's just a few weeks away from embarking on a North American tour, and finally, after four years in the making, Little Scream's debut album, The Golden Record, hits stores on April 12. Though it's not unusual to spend a lot of time crafting one's debut, Sprengelmeyer laughingly acknowledges she took her sweet time getting here. After following a boyfriend to Montreal, the Iowa-born musician found herself distracted by her new adopted hometown. She played in a band, but didn't record anything until she started working on Little Scream songs in 2007.

I was working two jobs and playing shows whenever I could, but it kind of took a while to get everything together to record an album," she says. "It's been a little bit slow, but I'm glad it's finally happening!" The wait was worth it. The Golden Record is a moody, bold, artful declaration that Sprengelmeyer admits borrows from a host of influences: Joni Mitchell, Cocteau Twins and Ricki Lee Jones all serve as inspirations. But, ultimately it's Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre's Richard Reed Parry, who serves as the album's co-producer, that Sprengelmeyer credits with helping her shape a recording aesthetic.

Aesthetic is a word that comes up often when discussing Little Scream. Sprengelmeyer, who also painted the album's cover illustration, admits that crafting an overall creative experience is part of what makes Little Scream a labour of love. "I want to have everything that comes out reflect part of that aesthetic, and I don't always have time," she laughs. "I'm looking forward to focusing on other aspects of the creative process: sonic landscapes that are coming out in live performances, the visuals in live performances. It's this cohesive picture in my mind. Whether or not that translates into reality..." Sprengelmeyer trails off, a Little Scream with no words left.

The Dodos

My feature on the Dodos is in this week's WEVancouver.

The Dodos are Logan Kroeber (left) and Meric Long.

Credit: Supplied

MUSIC: The Dodos ditch the acoustic and amp up

Posted By: Andrea Warner

03/30/2011 12:00 AM

 

Try as they might, even San Francisco-based duo the Dodos are hard-pressed to describe their sound. Lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Meric Long has a background in West African drumming, percussionist Logan Kroeber comes from metal, and together they’ve created a unique twist on indie-rock: a prominent percussive rhythm driven by both the guitar and drums. It’s a narrative that the Dodos’ pick up again with their newest album, No Color, their fourth full-length since 2005, which features supporting vocals from former honorary Vancouverite Neko Case. While driving between gigs on the Dodos’ North American tour, Long spoke with WE about spirit journeys, electric guitars, and Case’s new tattoos.

WE: Is the album title supposed to set a tone for the whole record?
Meric Long: Well, it comes from Logan. He kind of goes on these mystical spirit journeys in his mind when we’re playing the songs and sees these visions and stuff. Usually they’re associated with certain colours or images, and with the new batch of songs, he didn’t see anything really. Just kinda grey, ashy colours, and I think he was a little concerned when it first came to him, that it seemed kinda bleak. I think he said that it started changing recently, and just with playing the songs a little bit longer, some colour has started to appear.

I didn’t get anything bleak in listening to the album.
Nor should you.

There’s a driving pulse to the record, a lot of momentum.
That’s why he was kinda concerned. He was really digging the record, and me, too. We both really liked where it was going, and it was kind of a little strange that something we were both excited about had this other flip side that seemed bleak. We were like, ‘What? This doesn’t match up!’ You’re on the right track.

How did drums become so vital to the Dodo’s sound?
I have this very percussive style I play with. I like to use the drums to accentuate what I’m doing with the finger picking on the guitar. There’s a lot of crazy rhythms going on in there. It’s something that a lot of people lose maybe, or don’t notice, so we use big drums to accentuate the rhythms we use on the guitar and play off of them. It’s really fun and works really well, I think.

If people hadn’t heard your music and were just having it described to them, they wouldn’t understand how the influences gel together.
Yeah, we have a pretty hard time telling people what kind of music we play. Like if we’re in a restaurant or at a hotel and they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re in a band! What kind of music do you play?’ it’s kind of hard to just rattle it off.

You’ve gone electric. Is there any going back?
It’s so much more fun for me to play. The acoustic guitar sounds amazing, but on stage it’s always having to compete for volume. The new record has a lot of electric guitar as well... There’s probably no going back, unless I break a string.

We take a lot of pride in Vancouver, trying to claim Neko Case as one of our own. What does having her around for some of the songs bring to the album?
It was amazing. I understand wanting to claim her as your own. You should go ahead and do that. We got to share some studio time with her for a little while and it was just super fun. She came to town when we were recording in Portland and she was going to get a tattoo, her first tattoo, and then she did. She totally got these huge tattoos on her arms. And then also stopped in and sang on some tracks. She’s really something in the studio. She’s at her best when she’s doing her own thing. If we’d had all the parts figured out that we’d wanted her to sing on and tried to teach it to her, I don’t think it would have turned out half as good. She’s able to just knock it out when she’s improvising and making stuff up on her own and that’s exactly what she did for a lot of the songs. I mean, obviously I told her what the lyrics were, but after that it was just roll tape and let her see what she could do.

I’m glad you ponied up and gave her lyrics at least.
She was funny, so much so does she do her own thing, she was kind of like, changing the lyrics on a few of the songs. She would get in her zone and do her own thing and do a couple of takes and the lyrics would start mutating and I’d have to remind her, ‘Umm, Neko? Could you actually change that back to the lyric that I sing? Sounds great though!’ (Laughs).

The Dodos play Thursday, Mar. 31 at Rickshaw, 8pm. Tickets $16 from Red Cat Records, Zulu Records and Ticketmaster.

Emma Forrest

My interview with Emma Forrest is in this week's WEVancouver.

Emma Forrest, author of Your Voice in My Head.

Credit: Supplied

BOOKS: Emma Forrest looks back on a life less ordinary

Posted By: Andrea Warner

03/30/2011 12:00 AM

 

It’s disconcerting to sit across from someone whom you’ve just met, but feel you know intimately. Anyone who has read Emma Forrest’s remarkable new memoir, Your Voice In My Head, would be armed with the same facts: a wunderkid music journalist who began wracking up major bylines in her native London at 15; tried to kill herself at 22; wonderful parents, amazing therapist, bad luck with men; funny, sad, self-aware and bipolar. She was also tabloid fodder thanks to a high-profile romance with Hollywood bad boy Colin Farrell, who may or may not be the Gypsy Man who broke her heart and became a key plot point in the story of her life.

It’s a life that Forrest writes about with the kind of aching clarity and black comedy that belies her 33 years. Sitting across from her in the lobby bar of a Vancouver hotel, she smiles warmly and passes on the proper tea-serving technique she learned from her dad (milk in first, or “MIF,” as he says). She jokes easily, and the wit and gallows humour that permeates the memoir translates easily off the page.

I wept openly in my office when I started the book, and had to take it home. How are other journalists handling interviewing you?
Well, you know what’s interesting. Absolutely the opposite in England. Because I’ve been a journalist for a long time there... I’ve been in the public eye from 15, a lot of the people who wrote about it in London were not crying in public, they were like, cursing me in public. (Laughs) People who, in writing about the book, were basically saying that they didn’t like me. That I was a good writer, but they didn’t like me. I mean, you can see it online, you can Google, but there was a Times review, and Observer review, and both were just really focused on my past as a journalist and on what they knew about me... There was sort of a generational divide in the English take, whereas the younger writers, the ones who are either my age or younger than me loved it, but the ones who remember me from way back when, sort of couldn’t get past that.

I first found out about the book from a Vancouver-based blogger who runs the website called LaineyGossip.com
Holy fuck. She’s clearly fascinating. I was sent that piece and it was such good writing because literary criticism is hard, and it’s hard to explain why you like something as abstract as a book, especially a memoir. You know, from writing about music, it’s hard to describe why music moves you and it’s hard to describe why words move you. And, I just thought it was such a well-written piece and not just because she was nice about me. She must be one of those people like Jeanette Walls, who wrote The Glass Castle, who was a gossip columnist. And she wrote this amazing memoir, like serious, profoundly literary memoir about her family; and from the little bits I was getting from what Lainey was saying, I’m sure she’s got a big, serious literary memoir somewhere in her. It was a nice reminder that there really aren’t barriers anymore between high and low culture. Here is this Internet gossip blogger who, when she wants to, is writing in this very lofty and intellectual style. And when I looked at her site, the way she just writes about whatever she likes, but moves between the high and the low. And, I’m not saying whether I’m high or low culture, I think I’m both, whereas someone like Perez [Hilton] is just a grade-A moron. Terrible writer, horrific human being, downfall of the Western world...

It’s your memoir, but the book involves a lot of other people, which makes it their story as well.
I gave them the chance to read it before it went to press. Before I even started it, I contacted Dr. R’s widow and said, ‘I’m writing this book, is that okay?’ And she said, ‘Yes, but anonymise him.’ She read it before it was sent to press, but now that she’s read it as an actual book, she said can you put his real name back in for future editions, because she loved it so much. The boyfriends, there were like three boyfriends I gave it to to say if they wanted anything changed. One of them said that I had got stuff wrong, and I said, ‘Oh God, I’ll change it.’ And he said, ‘Don’t change it. You’re a writer, stick up for what you said.’ One of them loved it so much that he wanted me to put his real name in. I was like, no, over-ruling you. And, the other said, ‘You know what, I don’t need to read it, do what you like.’ Certainly if any of those people had said, ‘I hate it, you’re a terrible person,’ I wouldn’t be promoting it with such confidence.

The book is a fierce advocate for talking about mental health issues.
It’s a lot of responsibility because people want prescriptions. Some people do, anyways, or they want me to speak about this cause or that cause. It really is how I got better, and I’m not sure it would work — I mean I hope it would work for other people, but I don’t have a medical degree and I’m not a psychiatrist — so the best I can do is listen to people’s stories. A lot of the time I can only put people in touch with other people. I’m getting this letter from a mother and this letter from a kid, and I’m like, do you guys wanna talk to each other? There’s this great human connectivity, that’s the nicest part coming out of it. I’ll get amazing letter after amazing letter, and they’re usually really sad, but it’s all kinds of sadness across the spectrum, and weirdly I find that comforting, ’cause every one’s got some tragedy. That’s the gift of books when they work. It’s not even the specificity of what happened to me, but rather, again to come back to this idea of how hard it is to describe music, I think even having depression described with some clarity is comforting to people who suffer from depression.

Sharon Van Etten

My interview with Sharon Van Etten is this week's WEVancouver music feature.

Sharon Van Etten is on tour in support of her new album, Epic.

Credit: Supplied

MUSIC: Sharon Van Etten shelves softer side for ‘Epic’

Posted By: Andrea Warner

03/23/2011 12:00 AM

Sharon Van Etten’s first album, Because I Was In Love, explored the darkest time in the young singer/songwriter’s life: six years in an ever-escalating abusive relationship. The scars-and-all honesty, coupled with compelling arrangements, made for one of the most achingly beautiful albums of 2009. Two years later, she’s touring in support of her follow-up, Epic, a louder, electric affair. As she tells WE, she’s finally ready to rock out and melt some faces.

WE: How does it feel to have a full band?
Sharon Van Etten: It’s fun. They’re just fun to be around. It’s a different way of performing and it’s cathartic in a different way. I’m learning how to rock out a little more. There are some people who prefer my solo stuff, because it’s mellow and sad and not as loud, but it’s nice to do something different for a little while. You get bored when you sing the same way for years.

You can really change it up on stage, I’d imagine, too.
I’m learning the balance. People don’t want their faces melted the whole set — well, some people do, I guess — but it’s nice to have a dynamic throughout the set, peaks and valleys, so to speak.

So faces will actually be melting on this tour?
As much as I can do. (Laughs) Just seeing heads bob is a big thing for me. I’m starting to use my pedal, but it’s funny, I don’t really know how to use them properly yet, so I mess up half the time live, and it’s either too loud when I hit it or nothing happens at all. In my mind, it’s like a joke, like Amelia Bedelia trying to rock out or something. But it’s fun to start learning stuff I always wanted to do when I had a band.

You come from a choir background. That’s as different from what you’re doing now as can be.
(Laughs) Yeah, totally. I always loved singing with other people and I didn’t really write much music in high school, but it was really fun to sing harmonies and hear moving parts and hear a cappela versions with voices acting as different instruments. It was always really interesting to me, like you don’t need an instrument to actually perform a song... That was the beginning of using my choir background to start writing songs. You can have dynamics with just vocals.

You’ve been open about your first album’s source material: leaving an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, for many women, there’s still so much shame attached to abuse. Were you consciously trying to change that?
If I didn’t have music, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with it in a healthy way. A lot of it is therapy in hindsight... Even though I was hesitant at first to talk about being the girl in an unhealthy relationship, writing songs about it, it’s not as simple as that. I came to terms with knowing that it helps other people and that it is the core of the songs and I can’t deny that. I’ve grown from that experience and I don’t always write about my relationships now. I can talk about friends, or be general, or talk about an issue so it’s not so alienating to other people where they can’t relate to it. As cliché as it is, it’s helped me and I know it’s helped other people and it’s the only thing I know how to do. I’m not gonna skirt the issue, even though it is sensitive and it is personal.

Epic sounds like you’ve really layered your strengths. It feels resilient.
It’s definitely a more confident record for me... Feeling a lot more secure in my decisions and who I am. That’s what made me take up the electric guitar, and I just started writing differently. It was weird!

Did the electric guitar change your perspective as a songwriter?
Well, you know, playing the same chords on a classical guitar is going to sound a lot more mellow and a lot sadder. It’s really hard to bang on a classical — I mean, I tried. For years! (Laughs)
Sharon Van Etten plays with Little Scream, Mar. 29 at the Media Club, 8pm. $14 (RC, S, Z).

Spring concert picks

The 10 best concerts this spring.

Jenny and Johnny.

MUSIC: Spring shines fresh light on concert scene

Posted By: Andrea Warner

03/16/2011 12:00 AM

For concert goers, Vancouver’s winter season is a routinely barren wasteland, as grey and depressing as the weather outside. But, fellow music lovers rejoice! Spring is here, and with it comes a bevy of bands that will help us leave the SADs behind. Excluding everything that’s already sold out, including Fleet Foxes, Adele, and Twin Door Cinema Club, WE offers up the 10 shows we can’t wait to see.

ESBEN AND THE WITCH
It’s no surprise that this U.K. outfit’s name came from a dark Danish fairy tale. Their music is equal parts eerie charm and aching, crashing layers of melody and cacophony, exemplified by the band’s “Marching Song.” From personal experience, their live show is as riveting as it is confounding — the way noise pop should be. Mar. 26 at Waldorf, 8pm. $14 from Zulu, Red Cat Records, Scratch and TicketWeb.ca.

SHARON VAN ETTEN
The Brooklyn-based indie-folk singer/songwriter is known for her confessional, heartfelt songs — after all, her first album was literally a form of therapy following the end of a lengthy abusive relationship. Her new album, Epic, finds her trading her acoustic guitar for electric, adding a backing band and cranking up the volume. Mar. 29 at Media Club, 8pm. $14 from Zulu, Red Cat Records and TicketWeb.ca.

DJ SPOOKY IN TERRA NOVA: SINFONIA ANTARCTICA
World-renowned experimental electronic and hip-hop musician DJ Spooky presents his multimedia work, which promises a breathtaking, multi-sensory exploration of Antarctica’s landscape, fusing visual and sonic projections and live mixing on turntables with performances from string trio Infinitus, and piano music from Corey Hamm. Apr. 9 at Chan Centre, 8pm. $33 from Ticketmaster.

ELLIE GOULDING
At first, the British singer seemed pure pop confection, radiating sparkle and sass on her 2010 debut Lights. But, in keeping one foot firmly anchored in the indie-folk world, offering occasional acoustic performances featuring just her and her guitar, Goulding promises the rarest of evenings: a well-choreographed dance party with built-in breaks. Apr. 10 at Venue, 8pm. $20 from Zulu, Red Cat Records, Scratch and TicketWeb.ca.

THE CAVE SINGERS
For many people, indie-folk-roots acts are the musical equivalent of men’s fitted plaid shirts: ubiquitous, tired and indistinguishable. But this Seattle-based trio manages to stand out in a sea of sameness, thanks possibly to its members’ sonically diverse lineage: the art-punk of Pretty Girls Make Graves, post-grunge of Hint Hint, and Cobra High’s prog-punk, but now with harmonica! April 21 at Biltmore, 8pm. $15 Zulu, Red Cat Records, Scratch and TicketWeb.ca.

JUNIP
This Swedish indie-rock trio, featuring famed solo aritst José González, returned in 2010 after a five-year absence. They promptly became every body’s favourite live act. If you missed them last year, here’s a rare second chance. May 3 at Rio, 8pm. $20 from Zulu, Red Cat Records, Scratch and TicketWeb.ca.

LYKKE LI
The electro-pop singer-songwriter ditched her native Sweden in favour of the hot noir of Los Angeles to write her second album, Wounded Rhymes. Her unique voice perfectly navigates the strangely beautiful landscape she’s created, weaving between pounding, tribal beats and ’60s soul. We can’t wait to see how the rich production is recreated live. May 27 at Vogue Theatre, 8pm. $32.50 from Zulu, Red Cat Records, Scratch and VogueTheatre.com.

!!!
The Californian dance-punk band, generally pronounced chk-chk-chk eschewed the traditional trappings of a name composed of letters, but they are committed to one old-fashioned ideal: rocking out. The sprawling act throws a dance party like almost no other band, perfecting the craft since 1996. Plus, we’re a sucker for any outfit that has a permanent horn player. May 28 at Electric Owl, 8pm. $20 from Zulu, Red Cat Records and Scratch.

JENNY AND JOHNNY
Let’s face it: we’ll take Jenny Lewis any way we can. Her new side project with longtime boyfriend Johnathan Rice doesn’t pack the same punch as her indie-rock band Rilo Kiley, and shies away from the bittersweet laments of her solo efforts, but it does offer phenomenal harmonies between her and Rice, and rollicking Americana rock songs that have their own undeniable charm. May 29 at Venue 8pm. $18 from Zulu, Red Cat Records and Scratch.

FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS
Modern American soul can feel a little, well, soulless, but this Los Angeles-based seven-piece makes catchy, colourful music that lifts the spirits and gets one’s toes tapping. Their debut full-length Pickin’ Up the Pieces is the perfect kiss off to a failed love affair with enough sunshine and catchy hooks to help even the most weather-beaten among us segue into summer. May 30 at Venue 8pm. $17 from Ticketmaster.

Diamond Rings

 My interview with Diamond Rings (aka John O'Regan) is in this week's WE. 

MUSIC: The substance and sparkle of Diamond Rings

Posted By: Andrea Warner

03/09/2011 12:00 AM

 

Diamond Rings, also known as John O’Regan, takes WE’s call at a pit stop in Fredericksburg, Texas. He and his tour mates, Canadian indie-rockers PS I Love You, are stretching their legs outside a custom winery, en route, eventually, to their co-headlining Vancouver gig Friday, Mar. 11, at the Biltmore. “It’s hot,” he says. “Oh, with daily tastings! Maybe when we’re done, we’ll taste some wine.”

This life on the road is a far cry from O’Regan’s recent stint opening for pop star Robyn, and it’s an even bigger leap from where Diamond Rings got its start: as a collection of acoustic songs O’Regan, a founding member and the lead singer of post-punk outfit the D’ubervilles, wrote while hospitalized over the summer in 2008 for Crohn’s disease. Since then, O’Regan has transitioned into his Diamond Rings persona with the same glam-adrogynous fury that made David Bowie famous, and released his debut, Special Affections, to critical acclaim, fan fervour, and plenty of speculation about his personal life.

WE: I’m fairly sure this is the best art to have ever been made from a hospital bed.
John O’Regan: [Laughs] Thanks!

How did that experience help shape the sound?
It didn’t really. I mean, I wrote some of the songs, not the whole record, when I was in the hospital and they were all acoustic. Other than ‘All Yr Songs,” which, you know, I had a shitty keyboard and a shitty guitar and the drum sound on that album is from the keyboard, it’s Casio rapman, but like I didn’t even conceptualize the songs as being electronic pop songs until later when I was out and about, living in the city, and messing with Garage Band for fun.

Was there a part of you that had always wanted to make music that sounded like that?
It was more recent. I was really into post-punk and more straight-up indie-sounding rock music when I was younger, and this is the result of listening to more music and refining my palette a little, finding a certain sensibility that I’m drawn to and trying to achieve that sonically.

Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
Yeah. It wasn’t very good, but I remember every song I’ve ever written. Well, at least the ones I write down and record.

So the ones when you’re just singing about getting out of the shower...
Yeah, I don’t really... I’m always busy, I’m always working on stuff, but I’m not the kind of artist who’s churning out a track a day. I think maybe even from the background I come from, studying art formally in school, having a degree in fine art, and the program I was in in Guelph was really based in conceptual work, steeped in theory, and what we had to do as artists was learning how to critique and defend our own stuff. I have a very sensitive filter to my own ideas, and if I’m not feeling something, I generally try to cut my losses and work on something else. It’s really hard for me to finish a song and have it be a throw-away. If I get to the point where it’s all done, I’m usually really happy with it.

Your music videos support that as well. They’re DIY, but very adorable.
We’re going for what we can do, we’re having fun. I work with my friends and family, literally, and it’s just about being active and learning. Every video’s been a learning process and we’re constantly trying to critique it and refining that whole process. With Diamond Rings, we, and by we I mean myself and Colin Medley, who I live with and who’s directed a lot of my videos, we didn’t want to wait. Typically so many bands in Canada, it’s all about recording an EP and recording an album and maybe you’ll do a video if it does really well. We wanted to do the complete opposite and I think a lot of people responded to that. When the first video came out, no one even knew I’d been recording songs on my own, so it was a big surprise. [Laughs] I think that’s always awesome, especially now. You have to do a lot more in 2011 to stand out away from the pack.

You have a strong aesthetic. Would you call Diamond Rings part performance art?
I’m not going to kid myself into thinking I’m necessarily a performance artist. I am an artist, that’s what I know. I know how to mix my paints better than I know the fret board of a guitar, but I really believe in the power of music to connect people... Performance artist, that’s someone like Chris Burton nailing himself to the roof of a Volkswaggen with the engine running. [Laughs] I don’t think I’m necessarily in that realm... But, maybe now we’re seeing a delineation between a typical gallery space and the concert stage. Maybe they’re not separate entities as they were at one time. I’d like to keep putting more art into what I do, but for now I’m a pop artist.

The media seem obsessed with your identity, specifically who you do or don’t sleep with, which also lends itself to the label of performance art.
People are going to bring whatever they do or don’t want to the table. Because what I’m doing is so striking visually, it ends up being one of the talking points, like, this guy’s wearing makeup, what’s the deal? When we started, it was never really a big deal, it was just the aesthetic I wanted to cultivate. It’s important to what I do, it’s fun, it’s liberating, but that’s all.

Diamond Rings and PS I Love You perform Mar. 11 at the Biltmore, 8pm. Tickets $13 from Zulu, Red Cat Records and TicketWeb.ca.

Little Mountain stalemate

My story on the Little Mountain stalemate is online at OpenFile Vancouver.

Here's a preview:

Ingrid Steenhuisen has lived and breathed the Little Mountain public housing complex her entire life. Her parents, both new immigrants, moved into the complex in 1957 and Steenhuisen was born in 1958. It was the province’s first public housing, and went on to become one of Main Street’s identifying landmarks, stretching between 33rd and 37th Avenues. Its 224 units were home to a diverse range of dwellers, from war veterans to single parents, seniors and the disabled, to recent immigrants and low-income families.

Click here to read the rest...

Utopia Festival

My new cover story for this week's WE hits the streets tomorrow, but you can get a sneak peak online.

The Utopia Festival: Women in Digital Culture will "stage an intervention" for the male-dominated DJ and electronic music scene this Saturday, March 5 with performances by the likes of DJ She (pictured).

COVER STORY: Hey, Ms. DJ!

By Andrea Warner

 

In the darkness, quick bursts of coloured light flash over a writhing crowd. It’s more disorienting than laser tag, but the motley assortment of strangers-no-more keep bumping bits with a practiced chaos, paying little attention to what’s going on as long as the music moves them. It might be silly, but rhythm really is a dancer, and lo and behold, it’s a woman behind the turntables, pulling the puppet strings, spinning these club kids into a melting-hot frenzy.

When DJ Betti Forde (aka Maren Hancock) started spinning in Vancouver in 1998, women in the DJ and electronic music scene were an anomaly in a testosterone sea. Thirteen years later, precious little has changed, hence the need for Utopia Festival: Women in Digital Culture. It’s a unique day-long conference that promises to unfold like a stylized mullet — business up front, party in the back, with an assortment of practical discussions, skill-building workshops (DJ 101), a keynote address from Canada’s electronic music icon, Peaches, followed by a wild late-night party showcasing some of the best women music makers in the business.

Peaches, Betti Forde, and Vancouver’s own DJ She (aka Tara Reeves) spoke with WE about making it as DIY artists, breaking down barriers, and why a festival like Utopia is more relevant than ever.

YOUNG REBELS
Peaches: [I started] out of necessity, before everyone had a home computer or even were making all the music on computers and things like that. I was in bands and people went away and I had to express myself. I had a machine and I just decided I was going to make this music and produce it myself, because I had a vision of just making it really direct and I didn’t want somebody else to tell me it was wrong, so I just went ahead and did it myself.

Betti Forde: I got into DJing completely by accident. I grew up in Calgary and I was a club kid–as much as you can be in a shit town like that–hanging at the goth bar religiously, and I was a go-go dancer and always stood by the DJ and trainspotted him. It was always a him. I was also an obsessive music collector. Then I moved to Victoria to go to university, and... I was doing this big fundraiser called Groovefest. This was the mid-’90s when everyone was like, ‘I’m a drum ‘n bass DJ, I’m a trance DJ’ and I didn’t want that. I wanted someone who was going to play James Brown, Diggable Planets, maybe some Archers of Loaf, and I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’ll just do it.’

DJ She: I went to raves in my older teen years and early 20s. I was always captivated by how much power the DJ held over people’s emotions... how the DJ could build up the emotion of a song and capture an audience and make them feel a certain way. I was kind of envious of that power. I also really love music. I grew up in a really musical household. My mom always had a lot of funk and soul playing in the house, and then I got into more hip-hop in my teenage years, and then electronic music. I had that dream of rocking a big crowd on a big stage.

PAYING YOUR DUES
Betti Forde: I was working as a barista for $10 an hour, and I saw a sign that said, ‘DJ needed for nightclub,’ and everyone was standing around laughing their asses off, because it was at this horrible bar, Kits on Broadway, like date-rape central and douchebag central. I waited until no one was looking and wrote down the fucking info ’cause it was like, $20 an hour. It was like, 1998, and I was like, ‘Holy shit, I can make $20 an hour playing music?’ So I went into Kits and talked my way into the job and got it, and did really well there, and became good. Then I bought some turntables and a mixer and threw my first night at the Chameleon, which was all funk. It was the first time after two years of being a professional DJ that I got to play what I wanted.

DJ She: When I first started six years ago, no, [it wasn’t a viable career choice]. (Laughs) It was hard to get paid decently, because you know, if you’re not really well known for doing something, it’s hard to justify getting paid well. In the beginning I did a lot of things for free or for the exposure, which is fine. You can’t expect to be paid top dollar if you’re still learning and train-wrecking. (Laughs)

[Ed’s note: Even established musician Peaches needed to prove the naysayers wrong when she began DJing.]
Peaches: People who DJ who are in bands, they’re the celebrity DJs, but I’m there to kick people in the face with music. Like, give the hardest and latest electro bangers I can think of... To me [DJing] is like going back to how I started old school, when I used just one machine or a bit of a playback. Back in the clubs, close to the people, and immediate reactions... [My set] is about things sprayin’ all over the place, people jumpin’, falling, getting back up. (Laughs) A big mess, a big mess.

The trouble with Lotus land
Betti Forde: I don’t want to Vancouver-bash too much, because the city’s been good to me, and WE in particular has always been really good to me. But it was a difficult scene in Vancouver as a woman, especially as the decade closed, when you saw a bit of a monopoly with nightclubs being owned by one of two groups. That was difficult because most of the people in charge of those groups weren’t pro-feminists, it was a boys’ club. I don’t want to accuse them of anything conspiratorial, but it got harder and harder, and Vancouver got harder and more expensive to live in. A lot of us left, and it’s partly in reaction to the club scene. We just couldn’t work in it anymore.

State of the nation
Betti Forde: I was a go-go dancer and I threw parties, but it never occurred to me to DJ, because I never saw a woman do it... When I started, there were only three of us. I could have counted all the girl DJs in the late ’90s when I moved there on one hand. And now I can name 20 off the top of my head, and if I sat down and really thought about it, I could name 40, all from Vancouver, and that’s really cool.

DJ She: The music industry is run predominantly by males, but there are women involved across the board, whether it’s DJs or singers or executives in the boardroom, CEOs running companies. I don’t think those women have submitted that much to the double standard. By saying, well, guys get more gigs and get paid more, that’s kind of leading in that direction, you’re really creating that double standard for yourself. You can go out and rock it just as hard as a male DJ, get gigs, get radio play, tour, it’s just a matter of whether you want it... If we want something bad enough, there’s no reason we can’t go out there and get it.

Achieving Utopia
DJ She: A lot of things have happened in the last decade in terms of women coming to the forefront, but we can’t necessarily be like, ‘Okay, we’ve come this far, that’s all we need.’ We need to keep pushing for conferences like this and platforms to speak.

Betti Forde: As a DIY artist, my success all came from finding people who were sympatico with me, either music-wise or politics-wise, and we helped each other. I took (Vancouver-based) DJ Rhiannon on a little tour, she got me a gig in Mexico, and this is what Peaches and I were talking about. All these stories of these artists, they’re kind of the same story, and it sounds kind of cheesy, but being a good person that other people wanna work with, and giving back what you get from people so they keep giving. A really simple concept, but it’s the driving force of anyone’s success.

Utopia Festival: Women in Digital Culture happens Saturday, Mar. 5 at W2 Storyeum (151 W. Cordova), starting at 10am. Full schedule, tickets, and information: CreativeTechnology.org.

Hard Times Hit Parade

My cover story for this week's WEVancouver features the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret's Hard Times Hit Parade.

Hard Times Hit Parade cast members Chris Ross, David MacMurray Smith, and Jack Garton (from left) create a Depression-era carnival atmosphere set inside a dance-athon.

Credit: Courtesy Amanda Bullick

COVER STORY: Bohemian Rhapsody

Posted By: Andrea Warner

02/16/2011 12:00 AM

In a rehearsal studio overlooking Hastings Street in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, several people are watching performers move full-body puppets in exaggerated motions across the floor. In the back corner sits a man holding an accordion, waiting for his cue, while others manipulate a naked marionette whose dress won’t be ready for days yet.

“She’s more anatomically correct than I am,” one woman jokes.

Welcome to a Thursday night rehearsal with Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret (DFC), the East Vancouver performing arts collective. From its first show in 2007, The Valley of Ashes, to last year’s The Village, the volunteer-based DFC has achieved the near-impossible: transforming the scope of independent theatre through community engagement.

“The intention was to collaborate with various types of artists,” says Kat Single-Dain of DFC’s formation in 2006. “The idea of collaboration is really closely linked to community for us. The arts bringing people closer together was something we had experienced, and we wanted to bring other people together through our [own] productions.”

Since that first meeting five years ago, the collective has grown from 11 to over 35 members, attracted hundreds of volunteers, and has been commissioned to create shows for a variety of other local arts organizations like the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and Tremors Festival at The Cultch. DFC has also been tapped to help produce the Public Dreams Society’s Parade of Lost Souls. The colletive had done all this in addition to three original, large-scale productions — multimedia spectacles that involve everything from live music to puppetry, clowning to dance, and visual arts to storytelling.

DFC’s newest event, Hard Times Hit Parade (opening Feb. 24), is, in some ways, the group’s most ambitious project to date. Not only will it enjoy a one-month residency at the Russian Hall, but the DFC is turning it into a feature film in hopes of screening it at arts festivals around the world.

The cast and crew number about 35, all collective members, and boasts double that number of volunteers, bringing the total to over 100 people involved from start-to-finish. It’s a staggering number, particularly since the majority of the collective have spent the better part of the last five months working on Hard Times. September to December of last year was devoted to work-shopping the script, and intensive rehearsals started in early January. As with previous productions, the collective has a profit-sharing system in place to provide some compensation once the final curtain drops and the costs have been covered.

Hard Times marks the first DFC production to begin with a small budget. The collective received its first Canada Council grant ($23,500) last year to help further its mission of community engagement. Though this helps alleviate some of the fiscal burden of mounting such an ambitious production, no one involved will be fully compensated — at least financially — for their work. Call it blissfully bohemian or stubbornly passionate. Luckily for DFC, you don’t become an artist for the money.

“Everyone that’s involved is so artistically committed to the project, we don’t need to be funded necessarily with money,” Single-Dain says. “We have a really good organization taking care of people. We make sure everyone is fed. And, it’s a fun thing to be a part of so we don’t always feel the need to be paid.”

Alastair Knowles, a Hard Times cast member, agrees. A University of British Columbia commerce graduate, Knowles originally got involved in theatre and dance as an antidote to his staid academic pursuits. Since then, he says, the DFC has become a huge part of his social life.

“Going to rehearsal is like hanging out with my friends,” Knowles says. “And, it offers opportunities to workshop in a lot of different skills that I don’t get on my own. Before Dusty Flowerpot, I hadn’t really done any choreographed dancing, or worked with puppets or shadow-play, and those are all staples in our rehearsals. Our schedule is like, Monday night, play with puppets. Sunday, shadow jam!”

That atmosphere of joining in, building skills, and mentoring is a relatively open-door process. Everyone is welcome. David MacMurray Smith, a longtime professional artist and Hard Times cast member, has experienced firsthand the challenges facing the theatre community. He believes the future of live theatre belongs to the DFC and the “serious amateur”: independent companies that love theatre and bring it to the masses without attempting to commodify it.

“At a root level, Dusty Flowerpot has done very well to bring people in and involve them,” MacMurray Smith says. “Their approach is a process that includes the whole involvement of community from its creative beginning to those who buy tickets.”

MacMurray Smith points out that though aspects of the DFC’s operation are unique to the collective, their challenges and inspirations are similar to other independent arts groups.

“Young professionals do want to be compensated a little bit more, but they’re also in this teeter-totter of the balance between recognizing that they want to do their art and realizing they have to create their own vehicle for doing that,” he says. “That’s the way it is for a lot of companies now, as evidenced by the Electric Company and Radux Theatre. They have to create their own work.”

That’s what Hard Times is all about. Set in the early 1930s at an epic dance competition, its themes tackle identity, community, and the power of art during times of struggle — a purposeful parallel of our society’s current challenges. And, perhaps on a subconscious level, it’s also the story of DFC: the desire to tell its tale on its own terms — wildly inventive, puppet-wielding, marionette-dancing terms, of course.

Hard Times Hit Parade runs Thursday-Sunday, Feb. 24-Mar. 18 at Russian Hall (600 Campbell), 8pm. Tickets $20 in advance from Highlife, Zulu and DustyFlowerPot.org. $25 at the door.

Ryan Bingham

My Q&A with singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham is in this week's WEVancouver.

Ryan Bingham: “I had no idea anything would come of [Crazy Heart]... And then a lot happened.”

Credit: Supplied

Ryan Bingham a rising ‘Star’ with cross-country appeal

By Andrea Warner
 
Ryan Bingham’s life story has the makings of a country song: young, wild teen joins the rodeo circuit riding bulls, picks up a bit of guitar along the way, and goes on to become an Academy Award-winning songwriter for Crazy Heart’s “The Weary Kind,” all before his 29th birthday. A few months later, Bingham and his band, the Dead Horses, released their third album, Junky Star, a haunting collection that shows off the Texas-raised singer-songwriter’s bottom-of-the-bottle vocals and bruised-and-blues lyrics. Now, almost a year later, Bingham is getting ready to make his Vancouver debut, speaking with WE over the phone during a quick break on the road.

Please confirm my suspicions that there are similarities between the rodeo circuit and the record industry.
Ryan Bingham: Yeah, there are quite a few. The main thing is there’s a lotta bullshit. [Laughs]

Were you surprised by how many skills came in handy transitioning from one to another?
Yeah, I think I was. Kinda familiar territory... You spend hours and hours tryin’ to get to a place where the performance part of it is just 10 per cent of it, and the rest of it is just tryin’ to get there, you know?

Do you write from a personal perspective rather than telling stories about other people?
Yeah, I think so.

A lot of songwriters say “no,” it seems, just so people won’t analyze the subject matter too deeply.
Yeah, I mean I just think it’s a combination of a lot of different stuff. Just travelin’ across the country and goin’ overseas to Europe. The people you meet and the places you go and the stuff you see every day, you just take all of that into consideration.

Have there been a lot of ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is happening’ experiences?
Yeah, I think a lot of the stuff when we were tourin’ in Europe, goin’ through Italy and playin’ in these old castles and you know, some of the places you get to, it’s like, man, what are we doin’ here? [Laughs]

Did you have any idea at all what was in store for you when you met [Crazy Heart director] Scott Cooper?
No, not at all. I just had lunch with the guy and he told me a little bit about the film and the script and it was just kinda a real informal meeting and I had no idea anything would come of it... And then a lot happened. [Laughs]

Obviously it gave you more exposure, but does the award make any real difference in your day-to-day life?
No, not really at all. You know, still get up and put your pants on one leg at a time. [Laughs] That’s the biggest misconception: everyone thinks you win an award like that and you get a million dollars, but it doesn’t happen.

Still returning your empties to the store?Exactly.

Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses perform Feb. 20 at Venue, 8pm. Tickets $16 from TicketWeb.ca.