Green Go
One of my favourite bands in recent memory is most likely Guelph, Ontario’s Green Go, a dance-pop five-piece with enough synth to put your old Nintendo to shame. Band member Jessica Tollefsen took some time to speak to the Lamb, whilst dodging errant baseballs at an undetermined field.
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How and when did Green Go come together as a band?
Jessica Tollefsen: I think we’re three years old as a band, which started with Fez, or Ferenc Stenton. He came to the University of Guelph in 2006. He was starting his first year, and I had long finished, but I was still quite heavily involved in the music scene in Guelph. He happened to come to one of the shows I had played at with a Guelph band called Spy Machine 16, and I had a light up keyboard at the time. I think he was kind of drawn to that, and we ended up hanging out a bit, and started working together, and within a month we started writing three songs. It was just him and I at first, and then we fully recruited Kyle [Squance], who was also in Spy Machine, and then Mark [Andrade]. We were a four piece for a while, and then Adam [Scott] joined, and we became a five piece and it kind of went from there.
How long after was your first release?
Jessica: We had an EP that we recorded and kind of put together ourselves with the local label in Guelph called Burnt Oak. The fall of 2006 Fez and I started working, and then we released in April of 2007.
That’s not the same EP that was sold at the Singing Lamb launch party, was it?
Jessica: No, that was actually pulled from a few songs off this album [Borders], before it was re-mastered and everything. We recorded it last summer, and weren’t quite sure what to do with it – and well, we were going to Pop Montreal, and needed something to put out there about ourselves. We made a promo disc, which was the three-song release that we released across Canada, just to kind of get us out there, because we weren’t quite sure what was going to happen. And it really paid off to do that.
Why were you so unsure with what was going to happen?
Jessica: Well, we had spent all of our money recording with Ryan Mills, and Sleepytown Sound. And at that point, we didn’t have any money. We had some label stuff fall through, so we were kind of left back to our DIY roots, and didn’t really have any money to do a full album release. We had this specific idea that we did want to go with the label, we wanted it to look a certain way, but we didn’t want it to be silkscreened again – which is great, but we kind of wanted to step it up a bit, and we just really couldn’t afford to do it on our own. So we released the promo, for Pop Montreal, and we had just started working with Lauren Schreiber, and Bobby Kimberley, as sort of our team – our management/publicist team. And they were kind of like, that’s a good idea, we’ll get it out there and see how it goes, and it did really well for a little promo disc, and did exactly what we needed to get some attention to us, and eventually get us signed to a label.
How long have you been a part of Pheromone records?
Jessica: Not very long. We signed officially after our CMW show, which was in March. And I [was] going to this guy who wants to sign us and saying, you know, we want our release in April. It was quite a big push for him, but he understood our vision, and kind of felt the hype that we were getting from the remix project we were doing. So we kind of tried to continue with that steam, and he’s been awesome, and totally gets what we’re going for.
What was the recording process like for Borders compared to your first EP?
Jessica: The EP that we did, we did that with our own knowledge, with our computer, and really bad equipment. And this [Borders], like I said was in Ryan Mills’ studio, which was in Scarborough’s Sleepytown Sound. Ryan Mills is awesome to work with, and he got what we were going for – very raw sound recording-wise, even though the mastering makes it the crisp clean sound. But he was very easy to work with, and got our vision, and let us get our hands dirty, because we were very meticulous about mixing and how things should sound, and where they should be placed in the mix. He was very supportive and, you know, I’ve worked with people in other projects where “Oh, you messed up, start again.” Whereas this time, you say into the mic, “Oh, I think I messed up,” and he’s like, “No worries, do it again! Take your time, sounds good.” Just very encouraging, and I’m so happy that we worked with him.
The songs on Borders appear to be very beat-driven. Does the songwriting process start with a beat, and go from there, or are the lyrics written in tandem with the music?
Jessica: We’ve come with a few of Fez’s song before he came to the group. The few that he’s written on his own, like Brains for Breakfast, and some other ones too that we adapted and warped as time went on. We don’t usually start with a beat. We usually will write together, but it’s weird – we have different processes. Sometimes we’ll start a song and there’s just jamming. And then we’ll keep trying with that riff or that idea, and going with that, seeing where it goes.
Some of the other days there are two people, or one person will bring an idea forward, and then bring it to the group. So finalizing the writing usually happens as a five piece, and arranging and all that. So that’s uusually how it works, and everyone, whether it starts from an idea as a group, or as just one or two ideas, it really does change when we’re together in the basement. Everyone gets to put their own spin on it, and it often changes from the original idea. Similar, but something quite different. But we do write together. We all have different musical backgrounds so it is an interesting process. It is challenging, but very rewarding, because everyone has great ideas – different ideas – that come together to make some pretty cool songs, I think.
How has fan reaction been to some of the new songs, both in your hometown of Guelph, but also abroad?
Jessica: It’s interesting because we’ve been in Guelph for so long, and we came from Guelph, that it’s also our harshest critic. Because we’ve been so busy with trying to play shows, and get signed, and the album artwork, and all that stuff, we’ve been very busy. It’s not allowed us a lot of time to write new stuff, so that was something we worried about. But too, we are very creative and we do kind of tend to, in the last little while, tend to improvise live a little bit. And we actually adapted one of our songs to kind of have a different end to it that’s longer. But we are working on new stuff. We were able to play one new song for the Guelph CD release, and that went over pretty well. Kind of nervous, but it is important to us. We really do have to balance having a really good set, and keeping up with new material. We’ve had a really, really busy year personally, and a lot of us had hard times personally. You know, trying to manage and run a band and getting signed has been pretty tough for us, but we seem to be staying on track at our own pace.
You’ve also been getting a lot of really good press as well, which seems to me that you’re heading in the right direction.
Jessica: Seems to be, which is good. Again we’re all so close to the project in that I honestly didn’t know what the reaction was going to be like. Do we fit anywhere? Will people like it? You know, I seem to like it, but I don’t know if it’s actually any good.
[laughter]
The first impression has been fantastic, and everything we hoped for and more.
Do you have any plans with regards to US distribution of the album?
Jessica: We have had a few blogs in through the states pick up on our remixes, which is good, and our distribution is with Fontana North, and we can easily jump on Fontana South, because it’s the same company. I didn’t even realize, I was in the city yesterday, and I didn’t even think to go into a store, because our album came out yesterday. Kind of a big deal, and I wasn’t paying attention, because I was helping friend’s move. But, it’s in store across Canada as of yesterday, and of course it will be available on the internet. So, we’ll see how things go. It’ll be an exciting time for us for sure, to see where things lead, but we would like to see it released in the states, and also do some touring maybe later this year.
Speaking of touring plans, what do you have planned for the summer, and the next couple of months, if anything?
Jessica: We have to again see how that goes with the release of the album, see what kind of momentum we get. Hopefully finalize some things with booking agents. And…I am right in the middle of a baseball practice so I am going to move before I get hit in the head.
[Laughter]
Hopefully some festivals throughout the summer. I mean, we have a lot of friends. It’s a small community, the music community, and we have a lot of friends. My best friend plays with Gentlemen Reg, for example, and we’ve done a few shows with them, and they’re going on a huge tour. Just talked to Timmy with the D’Urbervilles and maybe hoping to do some buddy touring in the fall. So it’s all just a matter of time; we’re just waiting to see where things go, and hopefully we can meet up with the right kind of people. It’s always the best being able to tour with bands who are your friends – not to say people are mean in the music industry – but you just end up having that much more fun when you tour with great people. It does tire you out when you tour with people who don’t really want to socialize, or are kind of grumpy, or, you know, too cool for school. But thankfully we’ve made some great friends in the music scene, and there’s a lot of great bands out there that are so supportive of everything. So, I’m confident that things will work out.
And finally, if you were a singing animal, what would you be?
Jessica: I would be a singing turtle. I am always the slowest person.. last to do everything. Plus I am super shy. so I would definitely be a singing turtle!
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For more Green Go, check out:
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/greengomusic
Green Go’s CD release party for Borders goes down tonight, at The Wrongbar, along with The Magic, Everything All The Time, and OPOPO DJs. The show is $5.00 at the doors and it will be a 19+ show.
