Said the Whale

I’m on the phone with Said the Whale’s Tyler Bancroft, and through the muffled sounds of leaving, he apologetically explains that he’s heading out to get a tattoo finished. In true STW fashion, Bancroft’s body art doesn’t tread in cliche territory; no faux barbed wire or skulls aflame here. Rather, this singin’, guitarin’ musician type has chosen to embrace his Vancouver roots by branding his abdomen with what he describes as, “kinda, like, a nature scene.” And given that the band’s sound resonates with the trademark geography and weather patterns of Canada’s West coast, Bancroft’s perma-tribute makes sense.

Roughly a year after the 2008 re-release of Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia, the group has put together a four song EP. The Magician EP is somewhat of an in-the-meantime gift for loyal Said the Whale fansters: “We wanted to have new music to be able to give to people coming to our shows in the summer, since our record (Islands Disappear) won’t be coming out ’till October.” However, Bancroft says that the album shouldn’t be thought of as a “musical paraphrase” of the upcoming release. He also recognizes that the format of The Magician – limited edition 7″ vinyl – will likely affect the EP’s mass appeal. Said the Whale are by no means leaving behind the world of CDs and mp3s, but the choice to circulate the album exclusively on vinyl was a deliberate one, as made obvious by the cheeky proclamation “put away your iPods” on the band’s website when they announced The Magician‘s arrival.

Bancroft attributes this potentially exclusionary format decision to a recent vinyl insurgency in his life: “I just love hearing music with the crackle of a dirty needle,” he says. Since buying a record player along with his housemates, the past year or so has been a throwback project of collecting old records from parents in conjuction with the labour – and dollar – intensive process of tracking down vinyl editions of already-owned CD’s. Alongside his rapidly-expanding vinyl collection that includes Hall & Oates, “some pretty solid Beatles”, Feist and Fleet Foxes, Bancroft can now listen to Said the Whale on his beloved record player, which offers a unique sonic experience. “For the past ten months with my little vinyl kick, I’ve been listening to so much incredible music or old music or classic music, and only being able to listen to it on this record player. And then to hear my own music coming through the same speakers is really cool. It’s bizarre actually.”

Ultimately, Bancroft does admit that the ripple effects of his current love affair with vinyl could prove to isolate some Said the Whale fans. “Let’s be honest. Not a whole lot of people have record players,” he says. By indulging a personal preference, the band isn’t attempting to leave anyone out, but have instead created an EP not necessarily intended for casual Said the Whale listeners. “People who are going to be buying this are people who are interested in our band and just want to hear songs. It’s a bit of something for the people who have supported us.”

One such supporter is none other than legendary CBC Radio announcer Grant Lawrence. A long-time cheerleader of Said the Whale’s up-tempo, road-worthy offerings, Lawrence excitedly and exclusively debuted the EP’s most single-esque song, “The Magician (Camilo)” on a recent Radio 3 podcast. Lawrence praised the song, which will appear on the band’s upcoming full-length release, as being “the potential song of the summer” and went on to say that “The Magician (Camilo)” shows the band “at their poppiest and at their best.” Who wouldn’t blush with all that unabashed kudos from a cred-laden champion of Canada’s indie scene? “It’s an insane honour to have a guy like Grant Lawrence give us some compliments,” says Bancroft. “I respect him so much.”

But the Said the Whale-r is quick to comment on the irony of “The Magician (Camilo)” as a summer anthem, given its creation story.

“It’s funny because I wrote that song in the desolation of an abandoned summer camp in the winter with, like, three feet of snow all around me. I went there by myself for three days and just hung out in one of the cabins.” Bancroft acted as a short term counsellor at Evans Lake camp where he used to work. He used a chunk of the month-long lull before Said the Whale began recording their album to get some alone time with the wintry beauty of BC… and season 4 of LOST, “which was both relaxing and absolutely fucking terrifying,” he says of the odd combination. “It was horrifying! I was sleeping with the lights on. Plus it kinda started warming up just a tiny bit so there were icicles that would be dropping off the side off this building which is a sound that, as a West coaster, I’m not familiar with at all.” Bancroft is as surprised as anyone about the “summa jam” quality that “The Magician (Camilo)” took on in such an eerie, frigid setting. That being said, he didn’t hunker down in a cabin with the intention of writing a song about a real-life person, either. Camilo is a mutual friend of all the whales, and a modern day magician who would perform silence-inducing tricks at house parties. And while they were never besties with Camilo, Bancroft jokes that relations have been strengthened by the fact that he’s, you know, written a song about the guy.

No offence to Camilo, but it didn’t take an unintended summa jam for Said the Whale to cozy up to fellow Vancouverite Hannah Georgas (pronounced George-us, just in case you wondering. I was.) The two musical entities came into friendhood thanks to a shared manager, and as a result, played shows together and became “super tight.” Georgas’ gorgeous vox appears on The Magician EP and will also be featured on Islands Disappear, most prominently so on the track “B.C. Orienteering.” “She’s phenomenal,” gushes Bancroft. “She’s absolutely gonna skyrocket into the stratosphere and we’re gonna be so lucky if we get to open up for her one day.”

How fortuitous, then, that Said the Whale will be sharing a stage with Hannah this Canada Day on Parliament Hill. And if you’ve got other plans for the evening, don’t fret, because the Whales and Georgas snagged not one but two sets on July first – one in the afternoon and in the evening. “I don’t know who pulled the strings in the background. We just got the call from our manager that we get to do both of these shows and it’s gonna be totally thrilling and awesome.” This gig also offers a fantastic but rare opportunity for Said the Whale in terms of sheer audience size: “This is definitely going to be the biggest crowd we have ever played to, and possibly the biggest crowd that we will ever play to in our careers.” But Bancroft seems excited about the change of scenery. “In the past, Canada Days usually involved a porch and a lot of beer, so this is gonna be something different.” Bancroft is still clearly thinking in terms of numbers when I reply that this year will most certainly involve a lot of beer. “And maybe forty thousand more people than normal,” he laughs.

Before I can let Bancroft head off to finish the third and final session of his inking, I ask the traditional Singing Lamb interview ender. I decide to add a bit of unnecessary drama to the situation, explaining that there are two potential routes he could go down; one of understandable predictability, and one of refreshing originality. The question of course being that if Said the Whale were a singing animal, what would they be and why?

Bancroft, nice guy that he is, plays along and takes the overly-dramatized bait.

“…A whale?” he says/asks, “That’s so obvious!”

I back pedal a bit and offer that a whale is a completely logical and acceptable answer, but he seems unsatisfied with taking the easy route.

“Well I only said that because – I don’t know know why I said that. If we were a singing animal what would we be…” he ponders aloud. “Honestly, probably not a whale… because we don’t really have super high voices? So…maybe something a little more middle-ground?”

Bancroft is being a tremendously a good sport. Even if he is just humouring me. He finally settles on an answer:

“I’m gonna say a grizzly bear.”

So as I say my farewells and hang up, wishing him luck with the the summer tour, with the release of Islands Disappearand of course with the tattoo, I take stock of what I’ve learned in the past half hour. First, that needles seem to make a lot of cameos in the life of Tyler Bancroft (the tattoo and record player kind of needles, you dirty-minded naysayer!). Second, that if members of charming, immensely talented indie bands can be shameless LOST-ies, then so can I. And the third, most important bit of knowledge I’ve taken away from my chat with Tyler Bancroft of Said the Whale? That grizzly bears are apparently “middle ground” in terms of vocal range.

Who knew?

For more Said the Whale,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/saidthewhale
Website: http://www.saidthewhale.com/

Make sure to catch Said the Whale at NXNE this year! They will be performing at Criminal Records for a free in-store performance on June 19th (6:00pm) and at the Reverb on June 20th! Also, if you would like to win a copy of The Magician EP, click here and enter now!