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Let’s Chat: Green Go
April 30th, 2009 | By: Matthew Braga
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.
CD Review: Green Go – Borders
April 28th, 2009 | By: Matthew Braga
Green Go
I’m going to chalk this up to my morning commute downtown, but whenever I hear the name Green Go, I inevitably think of the train. The exception is that this particular train is filled with rampant dancing, a hat-heavy drumbeat, and enough synth to put your old Super Nintendo to shame.
Weird, I know.
But the fact remains that Green Go is probably one of my favourite bands to come out of the larger Toronto area in recent years. Having had my appetite whet with their self-titled EP – bought at the Singing Lamb’s launch party, no less – it was with eager anticipation that I forced a friend of mine to pick up an early copy ofBorders for me this past weekend.
The Guelph five-piece – composed of Ferenc Stenton, Jessica Tollefsen, Kyle Squance, Mark Andrade and Adam Scott – never fails to disappoint. And I’ll admit - Borders has been in my CD player ever since.
Following an intro reminiscent of some very ambient Sonic Youth, Borders explodes into “Put Your Specs on Boy”, one of my favourite tracks on the record, hands down. It demonstrates one of things I love most about Green Go – a layering of synth-infused melodies that are truly the driving force of each song. Lest I forget, there’s even a healthy dose of cowbell throughout as well.
“Brains for Breakfast”, “Cash Money Gremlins” and “Watch Your Step” make it clear, though, that the band is no slouch when it comes to traditional music making. Guitar player Mark Andrade’s riffs reminds me of the dance-groove rhythms of late 70s bands, like The Clash, a quality which prevents Green Go from simply becoming but another dance-pop throw-away.
A welcome surprise is the bands ability to slow things down, demonstrated with the softer rhythms of “Set Me Free” and “Fool Me Once”. While both give vocalist Jessica Tollefsen the chance to shine – and deservedly so – I feel “Set Me Free” in particular lacks the same sort of energy that’s so rampant throughout the rest of the album. It’s one of the few songs on the album that misses the mark, but it’s a folly that’s easily forgivable.
Yet, while the infectiously melodic synth is the album’s driving force, I can’t help the feeling that the band’s lyrics are often lost in the ether. Songs like “Danger Bay” and “Bang”, while catchy, never quite seem to match the lyrical depth of “Brains for Breakfast” or “Cash Money Gremlins” – two songs that appear to tell far more of a story, as opposed to just fragments.
Make no mistake, though, this is one of the strongest debut albums I’ve seen in a while, and there’s practically an included guarantee that Borders will force you to get up and dance until you can’t any longer. Or, in my case, until the weird stares start on my morning commute.
For more Green Go, check out:
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/greengomusic
Green Go’s CD release party for Borders goes down this Thursday, 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.
Let’s Chat: The Constantines
April 13th, 2009 | By: Matthew Braga
The Constantines
It’s been about a year since Kensington Heights was released. Do you feel the same about the album as you did when it first came out?
Steve Lambke: I mean, that always happens. I haven’t actually listened to it as a record in a long time. But now, those songs we play at each show, they seem to relate to the other songs, and the older songs, so they all play well together. But I mean, I am proud of the record. I think it came out really good. It’s sort of hard to think of as a thing now, you know?
What inspired the decision to make the album as Canadian-centric as it is, what with the titles like Kensington Heights, “Credit River,” etc?
I think it was Brian’s idea to sort of start writing and thinking about the idea of place, and trying to find a home, and relating it to places like that. So, that was the source of the name, because that’s an idea that’s in a bunch of the songs, like “Million Star Hotel” and “Trans-Canada”. They all sort of deal with that idea of being in a place. Kensington Market was our home for a few years, and essentially still is, so it’s sort of a name that is a tribute to that.
What are some of the more interesting or memorable experiences you’ve had touring in support of the album this past year?
We had a great tour last June with Ladyhawk across Canada, and down the west coast. It was just one of those tours, those magical tours, where we’re playing with a band that we love, and we have good weather the whole way. We were barbecuing ourselves dinner, and going swimming everyday, and it was just like, we kind of nailed it. We had that kind of tour that you always try to have. So that was a special moment – we love those guys, and we love their band, and that was great.
Did you tour heavily across Europe and overseas?
We went for a couple weeks in September, for about three weeks or so. And we were hoping to go back this past winter, but we sort of had to cancel the tour. But we have gone, and we’re hoping to go back at some point. But it’s just really expensive to do, you know, to take five or six guys over, and all your equipment, and rent equipment? But we’ll go back. We’ve gone a bunch of times now but we’d like to go a little more regularly.
How was the fan reaction to both the album, and the band itself overseas?
Some places its great, but I mean, it’s hit or miss. It’s like anywhere – it grows slowly. So yeah, there’s definitely places where people are really excited, and really enthusiastic about our stuff, and then there’s places where we’re pretty much unknown still.
This was your first record with Arts & Crafts after the demise of your last label, Three Gut. How has the transition been?
It’s been good. It’s been smooth. I mean, obviously we needed to do something different, with Three Gut nonexistent anymore. We’ve been working with Sub Pop in the states, and that relationship is still really good, but it was sort of the time to look at other options. The idea of working with someone in Toronto seemed really good, because Sub Pop is across the continent in Seattle, and you know, they are an American label, so there’s sort of different things involved with working in that scenario. So yeah, it just seemed like a good fit. Arts & Crafts started around the same time as our band started, so its like we’ve been on parallel paths all along, and we’ve known some of those people for years now. People like Broken Social Scene started at the same time as us. So we knew, it felt very natural, like, now we’re working together, because we all came from the same place, and started at the same time, and had the same sort of experiences. And obviously, they’re a great label.
How was working with Feist?
It was cool. We’ve been talking about that for a while, and it was cool to finally make it happen. I mean, she’s amazing, and it was just, one day in the studio. She’s a very cool lady.
And finally, if you could be any sort of singing animal, what would it be?
I go by Baby Eagle when I play solo, so I’d probably have to stick with that.
For more Constantines, check out their…
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/constantines
Website: http://www.arts-crafts.ca/constantines/
Let’s Chat: The Meligrove Band
April 9th, 2009 | By: Matthew Braga
The Meligrove Band
The last album, Planets Conspire, came out in 2006, I believe. What’s been happening since then, both with touring, and the new record?
Michael Small: I think we spent the last half of 2005-2006 touring. We did a little bit in 2007-2008, and in between, we were really just writing as many songs as we could, kind of making demos. Around the beginning of 2008 we actually started recording the new album, and we’ve been slowly working on that since. At one point the band didn’t really do anything for a few months at all. One band member had kind of a family tragedy, so the band actually shut down for a few months when that happened.
We’ve had some really good tours. We did a couple good dates with Tokyo Police Club. After we had decided not to play any shows, and just focus on the record, these two really really great tours came up that we did. And you know, a tour only takes a couple weeks, but it takes a lot of preparation ahead of time. I don’t want to use the word derailed because we’re glad we did them, but I feel like this answer is really bad.
[Laughter]
While that’s been going on too, I’ve always had this music project with an old roommate of mine. It’s this band Sports that I play in now, and we actually played the Singing Lamb launch party back in January. So I’ve been kind of busy with Sports – but not in a way that interferes with The Meligrove Band, which is my main project. We’re just releasing an EP now, so we’re trying to play a lot of show lately. Both bands actually went out to the Halifax Pop explosion this year together which was a lot of fun.
Has there been any touring overseas, and across Europe?
Overseas we’ve only gone to England; we spent a bit of time there in 2006. We [also] got invited to this festival in Portugal, which was a lot of fun. And really weird. I think we were the only English-speaking band there.
It’s kind of funny; when our last record came out, there was all this press on us, and someone from one of those shows on Omni television got in touch with the label going, “Hey! We can see Jason Nunes and Darcy! Those sound like Portuguese last names! So we’d love to have you on our Portuguese TV show!”
So they went on the show. It was in English, and it was kid of a funny interview, because it was just them two, and it was all normal band interview questions but with the phrase “growing up Portuguese” tacked on. You know, “Growing up Portuguese, what were your main songwriting influences?”
[Laughter]
And that show got broadcast in Portugal, and this festival programmer invited us, putting us up in this resort for like a whole week. And yeah, we were fed the whole time. I was drunk the whole time [laughs]. And all we had to do was play our normal 45 minute set in some public square one of those days. That’s it. It was great. I saw a lot more Robbie Williams videos on TV than I thought I ever would, though.
Speaking of the new record, when will it be finished? What’s the plan for release?
We’re halfway through mixing right now, so, well, everything always takes forever with us. I don’t even know if I should be telling people this, but our goal is to have it mastered before Spring is over, and then, if we can put it out in the fall we will. And if not, we’ll wait. We just got a new manager, so we’re kind of working out strategy with him. It’s an old friend of ours, Eric Warner; we parted ways with our last management just because Eric is doing management now, and it just made the most sense, I guess.
But basically, we’ve got to sit down with Eric, and sort of map out our plan for what to do about releasing and blah blah blah. I guess the short version of that is, maybe it will come out in the Fall, and the absolute latest, right after Christmas.
Will the band be playing any more dates over the next couple months, or will you be waiting closer to the album’s release?
I think until the run-up to the album, we’re not really going to tour at all. I mean, unless a really good tour comes up… a good example is both of those tours with Tokyo Police club out west and in the United States. Our plan at that time was just to record, and I mean, you can’t say no. Well, we couldn’t say no when they asked us to stay down with them. If something like that comes up then, we can wait to finish our record longer [Laughter]. But yeah, they’re a really great band – they have really awesome crowds to play to. I remember the Philadelphia show in particular was just one of my favourite shows I’ve ever played in my life, and I’ve played about 40 million shows.
What was it about the show that struck you most? The sheer amount of fans, the reaction…?
It was the only all ages show of the tour, and it was in this really massive church basement, which had this full on stage set up. I think there were about a 1000 people in there, 800 to 1000 or something. And people were kind of just losing there minds, and there was even moshing going on. Which is hilarious for either of our bands I think [laughter].
People were just really excited, and we sold a lot of stuff. Philadelphia is just such a nice city; everything about that night came together in a lot of great ways. I don’t know if you ever went to shows at the Masonic Lodge [in Mississauga], but that show, it was like a gigantic Masonic lodge. It was like 10 Masonic lodges, the size of the place. But it was pretty much the same sort of vibe, the merch table just a couple party tables lined up at the back, and that was really neat.
We had Smoosh with us on that tour too, I love Smoosh.
Can you give us a potential tracklisting or title for the album?
We tend not to have final titles for songs until we’re developing the artwork. There are a couple that we’ve been playing live for a couple years. I can tell you that it is 10 songs, and they’re all pretty fast. They’re all pretty short and fast. It’s not very much like our last record, and I mean, you hope people wouldn’t be very disappointed by that, but its kind of like, anyone who’s been following us for more than one album knows that we never do the same thing twice. What else can I say about it without giving too much away?
That’s always the last thing that gets decided. In fact, planets conspire got named the day the artwork was due to our label. We were sitting around with them tossing out title suggestions And yeah, kind of frantically. I think it’s a pretty great title, so I’m glad it came out.
Is it a shorter release than Planets Conspire?
It’s definitely shorter – I think its about 35 minutes long. We’re producing it in the same way in that Jose Contreras recorded the band live, and then we did overdubs on it later ourselves, and gave that to Jos� Contreras to mix it.
Andrew plays in his band, actually. I got an email from him, Andrew, who used to be in our band, and is now in Sebastien Grainger’s band, and said he just played in Phoenix, and somebody brought him our last record on vinyl to autograph – in Phoenix which is crazy. We’ve never been to Arizona. That’s pretty awesome.
Let it grow, planets conspire, old stuff before ever going to be released?
Well, there was a demo tape we recorded in high school. That’ll never see the light of day. We did an album called Stars and Guitars. There are about 10 copies of that left, and I think we pressed 1000, and I’ve got 10 in my house. As far as I know, those are the only ones around unless they turn up second hand somewhere. We might make it available for download at some point, with heavy disclaimers, like, we change a lot from album to album, but I mean, this is stuff we wrote as teenagers, and wanted to record basically every song we have, almost as a document of what we were, what we did every weekend back in high school. As something for me to handle, I think it might just be annoying. It’s really, really exuberant.
I guess the short version of that is, maybe download. It might be on Kazaa and stuff like that.
Speaking of Kazaa, what do you think filesharing and downloading music illegitimately?
I can only really speak for myself, and not the group, and I will admit that I’ve stolen a bit of music on the internet myself. I feel like things like that, in terms of our band, anyway, it’s helped us a lot more than impaired us. But people sharing our music and not necessarily always paying for it… in the end it translates into more people being familiar with your band, coming to see you play, and the money comes to you one way or another. I’m not bothered by it. I’m kind of glad. If people want our record, the people who are willing to pay for it will pay, and the people who aren’t, its like – I’d still rather them have our music than not have it.
Do you find it hard juggling the two bands? Moving between one or another, or is it one giant experience?
It’s hard in the sense that I get really busy. Sports has been really accommodating to my schedule with the Meligrove, band because this is really what I’ve been saying: I’m really into sports, but it’s sort of a thing where, if it comes down to a point where I need to choose, the choice is automatic. It’s the Meligrove Band. So, with that in mind, we’ve been able to schedule everything to have nothing overlap. Sports isn’t really a very busy band at all; we just put out an EP, and we want to go and do things that are really good. And the things that are good – that’s really not articulate. I’m not really sure what I’m trying to tell you, actually. [Laughs].
I mean, lately I’ve just played four or five shows with Sports – I think four in the last week, and we’ve still got one more coming up, and Two Meligrove shows this week. So my whole life has been eaten up with rehearsals. But, I kind of like it.
Is playing in The Meligrove Band currently your full-time job?
I do office temp stuff and I was working full time for a lot of this month, and I just haven’t really had time for anything. But, I’m doing what I want to do. I want to play music all the time.
I kind of get sent around to a lot of places. I happen to have a lot of good office skills, I type really super fast.
[Laughter]. How many words per minute?
I did tests for agencies when I signed up for it, and the highest I scored is 90 words per minute. That’s a word and a half per second. Wait, is it? [Laughs] Yeah, it is. It’s a special skill not many people know I have unless they internet chat with me, and they’re like, they see how quick my word count is.
Is the new album being recorded in a similar fashion to the old one? What’s the process you go through to create a Meligrove album?
Basically the way we record, the way we approach every song is, me and Darcy are playing bass and drums, and Jay will either be playing guitar or piano. This new done this way more than the last one, and basically the three of us will play our parts together live, and we’ll usually do two or three takes. And later, this is the sort of the way the beatles made recorrds; they would take a bunch of live tapes that are roughly the same speed, and if they need to, they can take chunks of each individual take and splice them together. Like, you’ll hear a whole section of the song that’s from one take, and you won’t be able to tell by listening to it that it’ll switch to the next part of the song is from a different take of it that we did.
Generally people do that to find the take with the least bit of mistakes, but we do that to find what we call the take with the best vibe. Like, the most, the best spirit. So once that’s all assembled, we record lead vocals, and then just take it all home and do all the overdubs, like all the strings and brass and we’ll generally just record that in our apartment or rehearsal space with whatever friends may be interested when we ask them to play. And then we bring all that stuff back to Jose, and he’ll, put it all on his system, and he’ll mix it. From there we all sit together; jose does a lot of work by himself, just getting everything pretty much read, and then we come in and tell him what to change, which is really not much, he’s got a really fantastic ear, and a really good sense of adventure and danger.
[Laughter]
The mixing on the drums and the piano were actually one of my favourite elements of the last album.
You know what’s funny about that, is that it was almost impossible to do. The way they sound is sort of the only way they could, because we did that in the house. Both the piano and dums were in there, and all the microphones on each were picking up both instruments. So we actually didn’t have that much freedom with it; I don’t want to say it’s luck, I’ts just, I don’t know what it is.
Its very unique sounding because we did a lot of things really wrong, and I don’t mean wrong as in stupid. Just wrong as in, not the way someone who went to school for recording would ever do it. [Laughter]
But we did it. It was what we could afford, and it was more fun. If you do everything right then you’re just going to make an album that sounds like every other album. It’s boring. There’s stuff on it like, Jose had a dog, and you can hear the dog barking throughout the first couple songs, pots clanking and stuff.
It’s those sounds that can add character to an album, no?
We kind of like accidental sounds, and there’s definitely a lot of them on the new record.
And finally, If you could be any sort of Singing animal, what would you be?
That’s an interesting question. I guess the whole point is I’m supposed to give an answer really fast. I’m ruining it. I’m going to say dolphin, But not underwater. It’s coming up out of the water, and making eye contact with you as its singing. Yeah. [Laughs]
For more Meligrove Band, check out their:
Official Site: http://www.meligroveband.com/index.html
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/meligroveband
The Happiness Project @ Music Gallery – March 11, 2009
March 22nd, 2009 | By: Matthew Braga
The Happiness Project
Back in December, when Broken Social Scene played the Sound Academy, the band demonstrated a strange, new segment to their show. Charles Spearin, long time guitar player, and leader of the band’s brass section, introduced what he dubbed “The Happiness Project.”
In a nutshell, Spearin would record people discussing the topic of happiness, grab an instrument, and play along with the natural melodies of the human voice. And the fans loved it.
It was definitely one of the highlights of Broken Social Scene’s visit to Toronto, and possessed a sense of intimacy one wouldn’t normally expect from a venue like The Sound Academy. But more importantly, it introduced fans to Spearin’s quirky, yet musically intriguing concept – all of which came together last week, for the first time since Spearin’s introduction over the Winter break.
Playing The Music Gallery on both March 11th and 12th, Spearin proved that this was not simply a project for the living rooms and kitchens of friends and families, but a full-blown musical experience, fully deserving of its own night and spotlight. Freed from the brief confines of BSS-bound performances, it was delightful to see how such a simple concept could be applied to an entire album, and in turn, its own live show.
Make no mistake, The Happiness Project very much adheres to the concept set out by Spearin with the original Mrs. Morris performance. And yet, it is executed in such a way that the musical styling varies from track to track, suggesting melodies and genres one would normally not expect from the human voice. The vocal complaints of Spearin’s daughter are somehow transformed into catchy, big band brass, while other speaker’s find their conversations move into distinctly jazzy territory.
What is important here is that Spearin has talent – talent that enables him to see the vocal melodies, style and tone unique to each and every individual.
Yet, much to the compliment of Spearin, this is an album that translates incredibly well into live performance. Considering that every song is based off of the pre-recorded conversations of his friends and neighbours, Spearin and his band managed to near-perfectly replicate the sound and atmosphere so prevalent on the record. The fact that the concert was held in the halls of an old church made this fact all the more relevant, as if Spearin had invited us into the very living room of which this project was born.
Overall, it was an amazing performance from Spearin and the other members of his band, and incredibly well received amongst fans who may have been more accustomed to Spearin’s previous musical collaborations. More so, it proved that Spearin possesses the musical genius to extend what many thought was an intriguing demo, into a full-fledged, intimate experience.
After all, for a project aimed at happiness, nothing could be better than capturing the raw, uncensored feelings of real people, and immortalizing that happiness through the melody of their voices for all to hear and enjoy.