Zen and the art of rocking out
Calgary's A Team mix far-out philosophy with balls-out rock
According to Nietzsche, when you look long into an abyss, the
abyss also looks into you. Standing on the outer edge of the universe
and daring to gaze beyond its boundaries, Calgary-based hip
hop-meets-hard-rock dynamos A Team take paradoxical philosophizing to a
whole new level.
“There are five outer zones of existence,”
guitarist and vocalist Pat Downing explains. “Sphere, cube, pyramid,
blob and exit shell. Exit shell is where the edge of the universe
starts. It’s like we’re a bird inside a giant worm and we’re so happy to
be gorging on worm all around us that we don’t realize we’re being
digested. The same thing goes on between us and our audience. It’s
beautiful.”
After a lengthy absence from the local rock ’n’ roll
scene, a newly streamlined A Team emerged from their jam space (which
they amicably share with local punksters The Motherfuckers) in the
basement of the Castle Pub to reclaim their title as Calgary’s favourite
band named after a popular ’80s TV show. Stepping back in front of the
mic, Downing (ex The Dudes) and fellow founding team member Andy
Sparacino (Tron from Fubar) began a journey that would see a multi-EP
project originally known as the Pegasus Evolution series morph into a
full-length album appropriately titled The Rebirth of Rock Therapy. Not
only does their new album mark their first release in seven years, it
also showcases the duo’s eerily intuitive metaphysical connection. Even
more impressive than their ability to collaborate on a subliminal level
is the sheer audacity with which Downing and Sparacino face the
self-exposure that comes from stripping an ensemble cast down to a
skeleton crew of players.
“We trimmed the fat and did away with a
lot of the things we’d always relied on.” Downing says. “In live
performances, we are capable of operating as a two-man act. We work it
by filling in the sound with wacky drum machines and keyboards. Right
now, though, we’re performing as a four-piece with Peter Moersch on bass
and Visar Dukadjini on drums. When we work together, we’re a full-on
rock. As a band, you build yourself a paradigm and you don’t have to
speak. We just feel our way around, moving between temporal phases. It
all goes back to spheres in an infinitely large universe. We use the
finite to expand the infinite. It’s all rock and roll.”
Mixing up
moustaches and flowers, as they put it, the group that brought you the
infamous “Labatt, Labatt, Labatt Wildcat” song continues to employ the
same glee-versus-terror formula that has made them such a sensation.
Like their previous release, Non Merci: Situations in the Key of Sound
1994-1999, The Rebirth of Rock Therapy integrates seemingly divergent
aspects of rap and rock into one power primordial force. Silver-tongued
wordplay and raw guitar gallops pay tribute to the glory of early
Wu-Tang Clan and the ejaculatory rapture of Ween back in their God Ween
Satan days. Leaving heartaches and earaches in their wake, A Team are
accomplished experts at what they do; pumping out heavy-handed,
head-nodding rhythms laced with cathartic lyrics, all amplified and
enhanced by a magnanimous onstage presence.
“It’s all in the name
of entertainment,” says Downing. “Putting smiles on people’s faces and
getting them to think about hugs and high fives. Having been around
since 1994, we have a lot of original songs to choose from, so we’re
known for playing for three hours at a time without doing any covers.
Yeah, we get way out on the shell.”
Originally published in FFWD Magazine August 9, 2007
by Christine Leonard
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