Elder: Ancient root, future seed

Elder: Ancient root, future seed

Elder are set to decimate the stage at Arlen’s annual stoner rock birthday bash!

By Christine Leonard
28 December 2015 

Bostonian heavy rock outfit Elder isn’t the type to shout “Fire!” in a crowded theatre, but the incendiary heat of their saturnine blues-rock meltdowns can be felt from the back of the room. Originally hailing from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Nick DiSalvo, drummer Matt Couto, and bassist Jack Donovan have been making stylistically-charged headbanging music since they were kids. That’s probably why DiSalvo bristles being questioned about when exactly Donovan joined the group, following the departure of Chas Mitchell.

“Jack has more or less been around since the inception,” says DiSalvo. “We’ve all been friends going back to childhood. This was almost not even the same band as before the other guy left. As far as this goes, Jack’s been in the band the entire time.”

The value of loyalty isn’t lost on Elder, and with three full-length albums to look back upon, the wise-beyond-their-years band can be proud of what they’ve accomplished together. From the nascent rumbles of Dead Roots Stirring (2011) to the lofty heights of Spires EP and their cataclysmic live albums, Elder is one group that has continued to redefine their sound time and time again. To accomplish this, DiSalvo and company delved deep into the thrum and thrall psyche of influencers like Swedish rock act Dungen, doom lords Sleep, the almighty Black Sabbath, fuzz worshippers Electric Wizard and, perhaps not surprisingly, Alberta’s own Chron Goblin.

“It’s weird to look back and see the progress we’ve made. To tell you the truth, we’ve been on the road so much none of us has had time to be introspective about all the changes we’ve been through. Thank God there’s been no trauma in our lives, other than the trauma of becoming adults. We started playing music when we were 17 years old. Growing up together the main factor shaping our development was playing with the bands around us. We learned what we liked and emulated it on our way to becoming musicians with our own music. All of those new experiences; seeing new things and traveling to new places had an impact on…. [who and what] we are today. We actually met Devin (Purdy) of Chron Goblin in 2013 while we were playing at the Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands. We enjoyed hanging out and have been talking about playing a joint show ever since. Finally, the timing worked out so we will have a chance to come up to Canada and perform with them.”

Released in February of 2015, Elder’s latest full-length release, Lore (Stickman), aspires to mount an intricate fretwork cathedral over the stone circle of their hard-rock foundation.

“I appreciate the 50-50 split of complexity and grooviness,” says DiSalvo.

“That balance is what really draws people into the music. I think we’ve aged and matured, but I think our ‘Dead Roots’ are even more evident in our songwriting. We wanted to surprise people with the new album. Not for the shock-factor, but as a signal that we are changing as musicians and our style is shifting with us.”

DiSalvo continues, “Lore was chiefly composed and written by me and was a true studio album. The question of paring the songs down to make the album performable live was a real challenge. It made us rethink the way we’re going to write albums in the future. I don’t have three hands, so I can’t replicate all of the layers on the album, but hopefully, the versions of the songs we present on stage are just as complex and vivid.”

While the more brutal aspects of their sludge-metal personality may serve to underscore the beauty of Elder’s symphonic compositions, they certainly don’t subscribe to the doctrine of brutalizing eardrums.

“There is a loudness war going on in production at the moment,” DiSalvo observes. “The actual decibels on recordings have been going up notably throughout time. The same thing is going on with doom bands. We’re not interested in being beyond loud. It doesn’t make sense. It’s been done a million times. Even if you have a PA system that can handle that volume it’s not going to sound as impressive as the simple, classic three-piece set up we use. We’re not a stadium band. Nothing insane. We just want everything to be heard.”

Elder will be performing at Arlen’s Bday Bash on January 9th, 2016 at The Palomino with Chron Goblin and Woodhawk.

Rocky Mountain high: Calgary New Music Festival's forward-thinking artistic director Mélanie Léonard

Rocky Mountain high: Calgary New Music Festival delivers a breath of fresh air

by Christine Leonard
11 May 2015

You don’t have to be Philip Glass to wrap your mind around the creative impetus at the core of the Calgary New Music Festival. Clear in her ambition to introduce Calgarians to a new breed of classical musicians, the festival’s forward-thinking artistic director Mélanie Léonard saw a unique opportunity to kick off the New Works Calgary 2014-2015 season with a blast of fresh air.

“The fantastic team of people behind me a NeWorks Calgary was having discussion music about the music scene in Calgary, and it was obvious that we were all passionate about new music. We felt there was a need to bring attention to local ensembles and individual musicians, who are devoted to that repertoire,” Léonard, who also performs with professional chamber music ensemble The Wild West New Music Ensemble, explains. “In partnering with other organizations and venues the city we have been able to come together and present a festival that taps into an established audience while covering a rich spectrum of music that is often difficult to describe.”

Encouraging the Classical Revolution to pass through its door, Café Koi will launch the stage-hopping series of concerts that comprise the two-week-long Calgary New Music Festival’s well-paced schedule. One of the Festival’s most popular acts, The Land’s End Ensemble will attune Festival Hall the following evening. Allowing a day, or two, off between artistic epiphanies, Spiritus Chamber Choir will roost in Knox United Church and the Kensington Sinfonia will illuminate Hope Lutheran Church. Avant-garde Flux Quartet and Evan Ziporyn are to collaborate at the Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall, while MRU’s Wyatt Recital Hall welcome’s the contemporary deconstruction of Neil Cockburn. Another reason to check out the National Music Centre, Luciane Caradassi goes it solo on May 13, and the whole thing rounds-up with the Wild West New Music Ensemble May 16 Inspiration Stage (TELUS Spark).

“I wanted to highlight composers and music more closely related to more traditional, romantic, and post-romantic styles, alongside more challenging forms. New harmonies, new sound and new musical material, these artists are utilizing extended techniques for a new musical era. It’s about presenting what’s being written today in the context of the past 100 years of modern composition since composers have started to break free and evolve.”

Given the vast and uncharted territory that is home to the new music genre, how does one go about making high art accessible to the curious and cultured who wish to glimpse behind the veil of philharmonic genius? The CPO’s former associate conductor, Léonard suggests that the most fundamental of human traits are the key to unlocking the unfathomable depths of the neo-classical movement.

“The important thing to remember is that the music, language, and technique are all just approaches that are used by the composer as carriers of emotion. You can apply that philosophy to all art in general,” she says. “For that reason, live performances are an important form of communication about the human experience. There’s a palpable energy and graceful synergy that comes from being in a shared space together; connecting through live art and live music in the presence of musicians, and sharing a common interest with an audience in those moments of grace. There is a synergy that happens when you leave yourself open to new experiences like that. I hope people surprise themselves by stepping out of the box and exploring the repertoires of these new composers.”

Go to neworkscalgary.com for more information.

AB, Alberta, New Works Calgary, New Works Music Festival

The Electric Revival get their freak on

Calgary rockers The Electric Revival get their freak on for their 4th album 

By Christine Leonard
20 February 2015

1930s film director Tod Browning probably never listened to much heavy music in his day, but he most certainly understood what it meant to stand apart from the crowd. Such was the cinematic bite of his black and white thriller Freaks.

While the three members of The Electric Revival may not have had that cult classic in mind when they named their new album, guitarist-vocalist Ian Dillon, drummer Dallas Lobb and bassist Dan Toews are no strangers to playing the role of disenfranchised misfits who thrive on performing before an awestruck crowd.

“We grew up in Innisfail, about an hour north of Calgary. You could only skateboard four months a year, so there was nothing to do but drink beer and play guitars. It also meant that the garage bands you had to choose from were into either country or metal,” says Dillon. “I met Dallas and Dan in junior high, at age 14, and like most small-town kids we left for the city as soon as we were out of school. We had always been in revolving metal bands over the years, so when we started the group, in 2009, we really wanted to get back to the basics, drums, guitars, amps. We tried to be as primitive as possible and focus on being a solid band.”

It would be three years before the nocturnal trio formally introduced themselves to their audience, raising the curtain on their debut album, Presenting: The Electric Revival, in 2012. The blues-soaked trio decided to keep the ball rolling by releasing a new single every week for 13 weeks that summer. Tightening their grip, The Electric Revival launched their glorious Pirate Radio LP in July of 2013 and followed it up with yet another album, 5 Songs by Electric Revival, four months later. No wonder the band was recently picked up by Cruzer Media. And, achieving international distribution was all the more incentive for Dillon, Dallas, and Dan to dive back into the studio and get their eponymous Freak on.

“The new album was recorded over the course of three weeks, during April of 2014, at Electric Park Studio in Calgary. I produced and engineered the record myself with assistant engineer Jonny Vincent and our pre-production engineer, Steven Lilly. Freaks was recorded live off the floor, together as a band, all in one room using very basic recording techniques… and the best modern digital recording equipment available. We were able to get our hands on a couple of cool synthesizers and used them and the organ a lot on this record, we really like the way it helped fill out the sound.”

Full is an understatement. Freaks kicks off with the explosive howler “My Molly My” a blow-your-hair-back and bury-the-needle joyride that slams into the cerebral cortex like a grasshopper hitting the windshield. Swerving out of the fast lane, the CB heartbreaker “Rolling Stone” postures up for a space truckin’ riff-off that would have Johnny Winter tipping his hat in respect. Southern swelter and soul are grist for the mill on “Wild Child” and “Baby Please (Come Home)”, while the two-edged sword of “Feed My Love” cuts to the drone, scratchin’ for an ‘80s punk fix. Did I just say punk? Yes, it’s in there too!

“The songs are about love, death, freedom, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, they explore a lot of territory while maintaining The Electric Revival sound. We never want to limit ourselves creatively. We wanted to the extra mile for the new album, so we threw a big party at the studio for about 30 friends. Just like the good old days!”

Available now, Freaks is fated to send epic ripples across The Electric Revival’s smoke-hazed horizons. 

See the Electric Revival on February 21st at the Nite Owl with Mammoth Grove, The Rumble and 7’s Wild.

Jon Dore’s all about the laughs - Just For Laughs

Capital One Just For Laughs Comedy Tour Preview

Jon Dore’s all about the laughs

November 2014By Christine Leonard

Known to many Canadians as the host of HBO’s popular Funny As Hell program and from his starring role in the ABC series How to Live with Your Parents, comedian Jon Dore is no stranger to high-pressure situations. Tapped by Variety Magazine as one of the “10 comics to watch,” the Ottawa-born Dore has grown accustomed to sweating out his frustrations in front of cameras and microphones across the country.

An unconventional and endearing character, Just For Laughs Festival veteran Dore’s simultaneously bold yet indifferent approach makes him the perfect foil for the chuckle-provoking constructs of his current pan-provincial tour mates.

BeatRoute recently caught up with Dore, who will certainly have his work cut out for him when it comes to keeping pace with The Daily Show and Late Night with Conan O’Brien contributor Demetri Martin, Loose Moose Theatre Company’s alt-comedy dynamo Levi MacDougall, and noted Comedy Central alum Todd Glass out of Philadelphia at the upcoming Capital One Just for Laughs Comedy Tour.

BeatRoute: I recall that during an appearance on Elvira Kurt’s television show, you recounted a travel tale that involved chugging a wok-full of deep-fried bat oil in Thailand. What other culinary marvels have you experienced since then?

Jon Dore: There’s zero truth to that story other than, my friend Matt told me his friend legitimately witnessed a man drinking wok-oil laced bat in Thailand. I never believed it, but he insisted. I try and bring it up in conversation whenever I can. Other than that, I ate a meat pie at a Footy match in Australia and when I asked the clerk what kind of meat is in the pie she replied, “It’s just meat.”

BR: You are coming up on your 40th year of on the planet. Can you share your thoughts on turning 39 and what you’ve accomplished thus far in your life and career?

JD: Good Lord! What a question. Turning 39 is terrible. I’m slowly being marginalized by the media’s narrow view of the world. Life is fleeting and I’ve never been more aware of this fact. I didn’t exist before and soon I won’t exist again. That’s how I feel about turning 39.

BR: How do you decide which material will be used on The Jon Dore Television Show and which jokes or anecdotes are better suited to your live stand-up routine?

JD: I don’t really start by looking at what’s funny like I’m looking at a piece of meat. “OK, time to start chopping up material for stand-up and television.” The Jon Dore TV Show required a room of people pitching ideas for different themes. We were able to construct jokes using other characters. A much more dynamic process. Stand-up jokes usually sneak up on me over the course of the day. Something strikes me as funny and I store it in my head until I can write it down.

BR: What’s your approach to writing jokes that are going to be presented during a massive comedy tour, as opposed to material that you might perform in a smaller more intimate venue?

JD: No differently, really. Theatre shows usually mean I’m towering above the audience below. Sometimes I’ll tell the audience, “I don’t know what you people are doing down there, but up here… we have a hole to dig.” That’s Bruce Willis from Armageddon.

BR: Nice. How do you ensure that you aren’t stepping on any toes, or repeating ideas that your fellow comedians may be using on a joint tour such as this one?

JD: As far as stepping on other comedians’ toes, I just try to look where I’m walking and keep a safe but comfortable distance from others. Repeating ideas… we’ll find out after night one.

BR: The Internet has given today’s audiences access to a plethora of so-called comedic niches and undiscovered pockets of talent. What podcasts, websites and Internet-based comedians are you enjoying or finding inspiration in these days?

JD: I’ve found my favourites and I like to check in on them once in a while. My favourite podcast is called The Big 3 Podcast. However, unless you’ve seen the film Windy City Heat, it’s impossible to describe. I also enjoy listening to and being a part of Stop Podcasting Yourself with Graham Clark and Dave Shumka. I’ll be stopping in to see the lads in Vancouver because I owe them a poetry reading.

BR: What classic motifs, techniques and comedians from the past do you find yourself returning to even as your methods evolve?

JD: Just about everyone. There are some Steve Martin gems online. He visited the Letterman show to show Dave his art collection only to have a herd of goats stampede through the studio. Mr. Show was the most influential comedy show. It changed the way I approached everything. Jim Carrey’s unnatural act is a good one. I will also watch anything Alan Partridge related about every four months.

BR: Can you tell us about your recent role in Blaine Thurier’s movie Teen Lust [released September 2014]?

JD: Teen Lust was a fun film to be a part of. Shot in Winnipeg, I play the father of a boy who is going to be sacrificed as an offering to Satan. My son realizes that he needs to lose his virginity before the morning. It becomes a race against time for him to do that before the church tracks him down.

BR: So, what does the future hold for JD? Will we witness the return of Amy Schumer’s boyfriend, Ted?

JD: I would hate to be the future. It’s always holding stuff. I would be Amy’s boyfriend whenever she needs me to. I’m currently writing a book of poetry called I Wish I Was A Meadow. Should be out early next year.

Jon Dore will be touring on the Western leg of the Capital One Just for Laughs Comedy Tour, which begins November 5. Catch him at the Red Deer Memorial Centre (Red Deer) November 7, Jack Singer Concert Hall (Calgary) November 8 the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (Edmonton) November 9, the Kelowna Community Theatre (Kelowna) November 12, the Orpheum (Vancouver) November 14, the McPherson Playhouse (Victoria) November 15, and the Bell Performing Arts Centre (Surrey) November 16. Also read our chat with fellow touring comedian Demetri Martin here.

High Ends: Yukon Blonde frontman Jeffrey Innes

High Ends: Yukon Blonde frontman Jeffrey Innes heads off on a quirky solo adventure

September 2014By Christine Leonard

CALGARY — FOMO (fear of missing out) has never been a concern for B.C. musician, Jeffrey Innes. The singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and his band, Yukon Blonde, are known for bringing the thunder and making the scene wherever they may roam. Footsore from a stint of tours and live performances, the Blondes took some much needed R’n’R late last year, leaving Innes to ponder the possibilities.

“The band decided to take a break over the winter,” confirms Innes. “During that period, I went a bit stir-crazy and wrote a bunch of music. We still had time booked and I had the idea of going into the studio to do a solo project. For some reason, I knew I could do it.”

Boldly stepping out of his role as ringleader of Kelowna’s indie-rock mainstay and into the velvet underground of a Vancouver Island recording facility, Innes fantasized about crafting a playful album that would put a friendly collaboration front and centre. While he did manage to wrangle the New Pornographers’ Kathryn Calder, Ladyhawk’s Darcy Hancock, Louise Burns and Gold & Youth drummer Jeff Mitchelmore into contributing to the lush yet eminently danceable tracks that comprise the resultant LP, Super Class, Innes was somewhat disillusioned to discover that many of his High Ends dream team was unavailable to come out and play.

“I wanted to get a bunch of friends in on the recording, but everybody was busy. So, I wound up just doing it myself,” says Innes. “It was really cool being so involved in the recording of an album, having conversations with producer Colin Stewart (Dan Mangan, New Pornographers) about the LP’s overall construction, committing to what sounded cool and cutting out what didn’t. It was a really fun quirky adventure at that time inside my brain.”

Faced with the task of generating his own feel-good vibes, Innes has pulled out a bevy of synth-soaked cocktails that are as intoxicating as they are artful. In the (High) end, his lonely Friday nights generated a suave and modern soundtrack to the death of isolation. A dazzling yet phlegmatic debut, Super Class is a glowing neon beacon holding back the grungy, grey-scale haze of anti-social networks.

“It’s funny because I don’t enjoy writing music with a crowd in mind,” he explains. “I didn’t want to Yukon Blonde’s audience to get the impression that this some fake project we’re using to get our minds out of a rut. This is a new thing with songs that started from scratch and came together in a short period of time from September to December. It’s an absolutely personal experience, as well as a fun outlet, inspired by solo/collaborative fusions, like Gorillaz.”

Catch High Ends this month at the Starlite (Edmonton) on September 24th and at Republik (Calgary) on October 1st.

Wet Secrets: Marching On To Glory

WET SECRETS

December 9, 2013 · by Christine Leonard

EVERYONE LOVES A PARADE!

Edmonton’s favourite imaginary friend the Wet Secrets is a band that wants to stick their tongue in your ear. And by tongue, they mean their sweeter-than-sin new album, Free Candy. Conceived as a cunning stunt in 2005 by bassist/vocalist Lyle Bell and drummer/vocalist Trevor Anderson, the Wet Secrets made their first appearance on stage at a reputable establishment called Seedy’s. Invigorated by the thrill they received from that initial act of exposure, the Wet Secrets swiftly assembled and issued their debut album, A Whale of a Cow, later that year.

By 2007, the Wet Secrets had found a rhythm to match their trumped-up, pop-rock methodology with their sophomoric release, the appropriately titled Rock Fantasy. Received with open arms, the catchy cache of Rock Fantasy was a magic bullet that shot the Wet Secrets to the top of the Canadian charts, where they lingered on well into 2008.

“Trevor and I were at a show and kind of made a pact/dare to start a band and write and record an album before the first show,” Bell recalls. “We took a show and promptly forgot about all of this until a week before our first gig. We did a crazy, no-sleep week of practice/recording and got it done literally five minutes before the show started. At the time, both Trevor and I were in bands and fairly accomplished and we mutually knew some people we thought would be fun to play with. We wanted to avoid guitar, for whatever reason, so it was horns and keys with everyone singing. It was thrown together pretty quickly without too much thought about anything further into the future than that one gig. Also, that first night we made our pact-dare, our friend Fish took a photo of us that looked like I was telling Trevor a wet secret. Can’t remember if Fish said that or Trevor, but it was the genesis of the name.”

Obviously accustomed to making a serious racket when performing as a part of his erstwhile bands, Shout Out Out Out Out and Whitey Houston, bassist and lead vocalist Lyle Bell has never shied away from making a scene in public. Pursuing his affection for the campiness and controversy, Bell and his long-time friend and collaborator drummer/vocalist Trevor Anderson have discovered like-minded musicians in trumpet player/vocalist Kim Rackel, trombonist/vocalist Emma Frazier and keyboardist/conga player like Paul Arnusch. Settling into their role within the dynamic group, Paul and the two majorettes are primed to deliver Bell and Anderson’s madcap musical mash-up.

“We sometimes spontaneously write jams during practices, make wonky demos and then refine them in the studio,” says Bell of the group’s evolving songwriting process. “Sometimes, I’ll get bombarded with an idea and work out most of the song in my head. I can generally hear how everything is going to go and then I’ll show it to Trevor, who often sends it spiraling into a different dimension. Everyone in this band is actually pretty fucking talented musically. Zero slouch. Kim and Emma are superstars!”

Now, you might be tempted to think that blasting out starry-eyed tunes like “Hot Hot Hotter than the Sun,” “The Chinball Wizard” and “The Ballad of El Doucho,” while being backed by a fulsome brass section, would be enough for any band on the march. But if you need to know one thing about the Wet Secrets, it’s that they love being the centre of your attention and will stop at nothing to get there. Plying their eminently danceable hooks whilst decked-out in tasseled red-and-white marching-band uniforms, Bell and company demonstrate that no loud outfit is complete without an equally loud outfit.

“The outfits were the old uniforms of the Red Deer Royals. Unlike Lorde, Trevor was once a Royal and we were able to buy about twenty complete marching band outfits in a sweet deal brokered by his mom.”

After five years of anticipation and planning, the Wet Secrets’ next great orchestral manoeuvre is finally ready to be unveiled. The musical counterpart of the cat hair-covered sweater in your closet (also Bell’s wardrobe of choice when he’s not in uniform), Free Candy comes across as fun, friendly and a little bit freaky. A return to the halcyon days of one’s cavity-filled youth, the gratuitously tasteful album came together during this past summer, guided by the hand of producer Nik Kozub (White Horse, Cadence Weapon, Shout Out Out Out Out).

“I learned a lot about the business in general from being in Shout Out Out Out Out: take the work involved seriously and have a plan,” Bell says. “In the four years (five?) since our last album, we went through some personnel changes and had general life bullshit drop down on us. We got older, wiser and slightly sadder. Rock Fantasy was kind of about sex and hedonism with a bit of whimsical bullshit. Free Candy is a more adult album, loosely about sex, death and humanity, supernatural claptrap, the untimely death of a friend, evangelicals banging on your doorway too early, people who sit in the green room and eat your deli tray while you play, dyin’ — the usual.”

Bell confesses that their predilection for stirring crowds into frenzies has led them down the yellow brick road to chaos on more than one occasion. He recalls a pie giveaway that resulted in an Animal House-calibre food fight. How does one get pie out of a trumpet? Marx Brothers-inspired tomfoolery aside, these festival veterans have a history of engaging audiences with a constant parade of well-composed and skillfully-executed aural pleasures. Indeed, the Wet Secrets strive to infuse their musical presentations with an intelligent and slightly warped sense of humour. In doing so, they seldom fail to elicit an appreciative response from their listeners.

“I am my own harshest critic and I am super-pumped that we had the stick-to-it-iveness to get Free Candy done,” Bell reports. “We are all totally proud of this one, our little breach baby. I’m already working hard on the next album. We have big plans. I want to take this as far as we can possibly can. We also want to reunite the Smugglers so we can do a split 7″.”

Tongue firmly planted in cheek, the Wet Secrets plan to exercise their right to party as they champion Free Candy across the land.

“It’s amazing how fast the years can slip by, but our mandate of having fun together hasn’t changed. Once we got rolling again everyone started to get excited about pushing this album through to completion. Lately, we’ve been playing some of our best shows ever. It does sound like the same band, but I think we’re also a band in transition. Maybe in the future, we won’t be quite as jokey… Of course, when you wear marching band outfits there’s a pretty fine line between being seen as a glib gimmick and being taken seriously. There are tons of weird art-rock bands out there that we love, like Devo and Ween. I think it’s possible to play completely ridiculous material really well. That’s when it’s the most entertaining.”

Catch Wet Secrets at the Palomino on December 13. Free Candy will be released on February 4, 2014.

By Christine Leonard

And So I Watch You From Afar interviewed by Christine Leonard

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR

UNREQUITED OBSESSION

Northern Ireland’s upstart gift to the post-rock era, And So I Watch You From Afar, has been making waves and garnering restraining orders since 2005. Formed in Belfast, the intrepid four-piece surprises and delights by interspersing their angular rock hooks with dissonant bursts of electronic fury. 

With two albums and two EPs to their credit, ASIWYFA has earned a reputation for creating powerful, multi-dimensional, instrumental pieces augmented by the occasional glockenspiel or human voice. Burning the candle at both ends, dual guitarists Rory Friers and Niall Kennedy juxtapose melody and cacophony with incendiary results. Each pulse of noise, every break in the action, provides an abrupt but mutually-adopted jumping-off point for the band’s next musical (mis)adventure. With bassist Johnny Adger and drummer Chris Wee laying down a solid foundation, ASIWYFA’s towering sonic spires threaten to scrape the very heavens. It’s a good thing that these math-rock druids have their feet firmly planted on good old terra firma.

BeatRoute: How would you describe the current musical scene in Ireland at this time and where does ASIWYFA fall into the scheme of things?

Chris Wee: The Irish scene is still really healthy in terms of the quality of music coming out. Unfortunately, gigs are definitely feeling the effects of the recession with less numbers. We were fortunate to be coming up the ranks in Belfast at a time when there was a lot of collectivism and passion in the scene. ASIWYFA curated a mini-festival back in 2008 in Belfast, called “A Little Solidarity,” which showcased a huge variety of local talent and was a real high point for us career-wise, as well as a marker for how good our local scene was. There was a great sense of bands helping each other out and that is still very much alive in the present day. Back then, we were only beginning to do small bits of touring and were very active in Belfast. But, nowadays with our touring schedule we don’t get to spend much time in Belfast as we would like to. It’s nice to come back and get down to local shows when we’re home.

BR: How do you intertwine disparate elements like melody and brute force to make a cohesive whole? You often use explosive bursts of electronic distortion to punctuate and underscore your more straight-forward rock and roll creations. Are your juxtapositions intended as to come across complimentary rather than clashing, or both?



CW: From the outset, we have always strived to make interesting music, not just to entertain an audience but to challenge and entertain ourselves as well. We have also been keen never to cover old ground in terms of our writing and that has continually pushed us into new territory. Our writing process has evolved quite a lot since our first jamming way back in 2005/6. Rory [Friers, guitar] has always been the brains in regards to bringing the initial ideas of melodies, riffs and rough structures. Then, we get into the rehearsal room and thrash around until we start to get an idea of the song. That’s where the dynamics come in and ideas for ridiculous changes in pace or mood come from. We can be quite ruthless with material in that if we’re getting bogged down with an idea it’s better to cut it loose and move on to make sure the momentum and the creativity is maintained.

BR: In what ways is All Hail Bright Futures a reflection of the depth and complexity you’ve continued to build into your songwriting style since the release of your award-winning album, Gangs?

CW: All Hail Bright Futures was written with a lot less of the boundaries and restrictions we had with earlier work. With this album we decided that we would try and make the guitars sound as little like guitars as possible to keep the sound fresh and guitar lines were transposed onto other instruments to create a rich variety of sounds. We went into the studio with a very small percentage of the album written and it allowed us to be more open to different instruments and sounds, less precious over the older conventions of just guitars and drums. We approached it with really open minds and a willingness to try all sorts of different instrumentation. There was also a much more collective contribution from the three of us during the recording, the three of us were in all day every day constantly discussing and contributing ideas of how the song was progressing, which was an immensely satisfying experience.

By Christine Leonard

Originally published October 7, 2013 in BEATROUTE MAGAZINE 

And So I Watch You From Afar - Big Things Do Remarkable Live 07.04.2013 | Strom München