The Most Serene Republic
The Arts and Crafts head office at 460 Richmond is a pretty unique place. Upon arrival, one is greeted personally by the staff and is asked to sit on what appears to be the back seat from someone’s minivan, complete with seatbelts. People rush back and forth through the small, open-concept workplace, yet there is no urgency in their faces. In fact, everyone seems very calm. Maybe too calm. One may wonder whether this is even an office, or just some elaborate ruse to distract from the wild parties and hippy love-ins that are surely taking place behind closed doors.
This was the perfect environment for an interview with The Most Serene Republic. It mirrored their music; somehow chaotic but altogether soothing at the same time. Moments later Adrien Jewett (Vocals, Trombone) and Ryan Lenssen (Keys, Vocals) appeared and we moved to a set of white leather couches in front of a cleverly hidden section of cubicles. So this was an office. Ryan and Adrien sat on one couch and we, the nervous interviewers, sat on the opposite couch. Seperating us was a small coffee table. People continued to flow by us at a steady pace as we began our interview, but the guys seemed totally focused on giving us sharp, hilarious answers to our questions. What follows is a mostly unedited, fully representational transcription of our conversation. Please forgive the extensive, stage-direction style notes I’ve made throughout. Believe me, without them, this interview would make considerably less sense and be much less fun. Enjoy!
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The Singing Lamb: So, your album is coming out tomorrow. Are you excited?
Adrien: Yes!
Adrien: Ah, you betcha. Got a big bottle of Bambino waiting for us…
Excellent.
Ryan: Yeah that’s a good idea…
Adrien: Like a [makes popping noise with mouth]
Ryan: [Also makes popping noise]
Adrien: Oh yeah.
Ryan: We actually do all our interviews with Onomatopoeia.
Adrien: [laughs]
[Also laughing] We’ll be sure to include that. Is the album a more positive effort in terms of the over feel?
Adrien: Oh goodness. Yeah, definitely. Definitely more wide…
Ryan: [Standing up] This feels a little “us versus them”, here, why don’t one of you switch.
Adrien: Yeah, so me and Ryan can exchange thoughts. [We switch seats so that Ryan and Adrien are sitting opposite each other.]
Ryan: There we go.
Adrien: Transference of thoughts. Ready Ryan?
Ryan: Yeah, see now it’s, we’re at a dinner party…
Adrien: Transference of thoughts.
Ryan: [Making antennae with his fingers and producing a sci-fi type sound effect]
So you guys just finished a short tour of the US–
Adrien: Yes, yes.
Was it fun?
Adrien: It was. We had very great and very appreciative audiences, and people coming up afterwards, which is always very flattering, and ego boosting.
Ryan: Oh that’s the best part, yeah.
Was it much different than playing in Canada?
Adrien: Playing in the States? Yeah. There’s more of a rustic feel to each of the venues, there’s a lot of rye and coke spilled on the floors. But there’s a history. A lot of bands that we really enjoyed have passed through the venues that we played. The small venues in Canada, not too many bands have been through there and left say, a sticker so when you go through you’re like “hey there’s a Sonic Youth sticker” kind of thing. The venue we played at in Boston was very small and it was uh…I think it was called the Fitzgerald’s, or F. Scott’s, or…
Ryan: Great Scott.
Adrien: Great Scott. And a lot of big bands in our–genre, I guess, have played there.
Ryan: We thought it was a Back to the Future reference but it was an F. Scott Fitzgerald reference. Either or, right?
Adrien: [Laughing] And then afterwards at Dr. Emmett Brown’s for a Soda and Rye.
Were audiences receptive to the new material?
Ryan: They don’t have a choice. We play it.
And they like it.
Ryan: [Laughing] They better be receptive…
Adrien: We play, and this is the era of manners so they clap, but what’re they gonna do right? Are they gonna stand there and glare?
Ryan: [Laughing some more] Yeah, it’s true.
Adrien: Although, that’d be a great thing, if we played a song, and it was just glaring. Not even one clap. But that doesn’t come up…
Ryan: No, that doesn’t come up.
Adrien: So we have to think, is it even genuine applause or is it just out of kindness?
Ryan: That’s probably why there are so many bands. Cause everyone’s so polite.
Adrien: Although there is that gutsy fan every now and again who comes up and goes “great show, but I think that you could have used more male/girl harmonies on this one or something.”
Ryan: Yeahhh.
Adrien: Another guy said, “You guys are far too much. Far too much sound. Like, it doesn’t have to be that much.” I went, “Thank you…”
Ryan: [Laughs loudly]
Adrien:”Oh okay I’ll take that. And do nothing with it.”
[Laughing] Yeah…
Adrien: “I’ll just remember it and bring it up later, out of contempt.”
Ryan: Remember there was that girl, I think it was on the west coast, she goes “Remember your ugly fans?” Do you remember that girl?
Adrien: Oh my goodness. She said “remember your ugly fans?” and I was like “uhhhhh” cause I was watching a hot fan while she was talking to me.
Ryan: Yeah you learned a valuable lesson that day didn’t you?
Adrien: Then I just [pretending to push someone] “Outta the way, you!”[Laughs] No, that’s not true. It was very real, it hit the core. That was in Calgary, I think.
So who drives the van when you guys are on tour?
Ryan: I drive the van a lot.
Adrien: He drives, I drive occasionally. Simon drives.
Do you spend a lot of time in it when you’re on the road?
Ryan: Oh yeah. Eight hours a day, about.
Adrien: Oh yes, the seats take on our musk. Yes.
Any good van stories?
Ryan: None for publishing.
Adrien: They’re all private.
Ryan: All very private.
Adrien: There was that one time with the dixie cup…
Ryan: [Laughing] Ooh..and that other time with the…
Adrien: We’ll just give out items, and you can decide where the story goes…that time with the pomegranate.
[Laughing] What’s the best thing you ever ate on the road?
Adrien: Oh man. I was in St. Louis once, and I had the best Reuben sandwich. It was great. It was the best Reuben sandwich I ever had in my life.
What does a Rueben have on it exactly?
Adrien: A Reuben sandwich is corned beef, sauerkraut, hot mustard…
Ryan: Toast.
Adrien: Rye Bread, [breathing loudly] and I forget which cheese but [corner of mouth twitches] I always do that when I’m excited…
Ryan: There’s also Pat’s Philly Cheesesteak in Philly, Rosario’s in New York.
Adrien: Rosario’s in New York City, Lasagna in Saskatoon…
Ryan: [Laughing]
Where was the first show you guys played as a band?
Ryan: As the Most Serene Republic? I think it would probably be the Rocket.
Adrien: It was at the Rocket.
The Rocket…where’s that?
Adrien: Ha. That used to be around.
Ryan: That’s funny. It used to be a really hot venue around here.
Adrien: But now it’s closed, I beleive it was near O’Flannigan’s, the Irish bar…I don’t know what street that was on.
Were you opening for someone or headlining?
Adrien: I think we were the last starting band.
Ryan: Wasn’t it part of a festival?
Adrien: Yeah…and boy were we different.
Ryan: We got signed that day.
Adrien: We were just buzzin’ off excitement.
What were some of the other bands?
Ryan: Wax Mannequinn played that day.
Adrien: Wax Mannequinn, yeah. From Hamilton.
Ryan: Very different. See we love the Rocket cause we saw Dismemberment Plan there. You guys know Dismemberment Plan right?
Actually, no…
Ryan: You guys gotta make a note of this. The Dismemberment Plan. The record to get is Change.
Adrien: I actually have to pick up Change while I’m here, because I lost my copy.
Ryan: A lot of people say we sound like a lot of different bands but check out the Dismemberment Plan. Seriously.
[A dog wanders into the couch area]
Adrien: Hey you! Aw, there’s a dog in the interview!
[Everyone stops and pets the dog for a minute]
Would you guys call yourselves dog or cat people?
Adrien: I’m a dog person.
Ryan: All in all, dog people. Noble husky for this guy.
Adrien: Newfoundland Sheepdog for the win. I like dogs that look like mops. [Laughs]
Ryan: I like dogs that look like heros.
Adrien: [Still petting the dog] He has a very chiseled jaw, kind of looks like Renoir. [Dog leaves abruptly] Off you go Renoir. Go…paint me something with arthritis.
In past interviews you’ve noted a dislike for the term “Indie Rock” being applied to your music…
Ryan: Really? Maybe. It could have been one of those things where they shape it to look like that. I don’t know, though.
Adrien: It always reminds me of the Nascar indie. Is it fast music that pushes it to the max, goes tight around the bends and then spins out of control?
Ryan: And is highly commercialized. [Laughing] Oh. Hit the vein there. When the term started being used, there was a particular mind-frame and particular sound, but then it veered left, and veered right…
So it’s kind of meaningless at this point?
Ryan: Absolutely. I don’t think it meant anything in the first place. It could have, it had potential, but it just doesn’t make any sense anymore. Genres are meant to encapsulate a movement or an era, but that one failed.
Why?
Ryan: Because of what happens with every new sound, new idea. As soon as someone realizes you can sell a lot of ipods or sell a lot of McDonalds hamburgers, then everyone gets on the bandwagon.
Very true. So what’s next for you guys? Another EP?
Ryan: Working on an EP, yes.
Adrien: It’s a secret. And then we tour in September.
Ryan: In Septem-bor.
Adrien: Septem-borg!. [Makes laser eye gesture]
Ryan: [Brief pause] Okay, hit me with a tough one. The one that you were like “Ohh I’m not sure if we can ask this…”
I…don’t think we have one of those…
[Everyone laughs]
What do you guys think about the Garbage Strike?
Adrien: I think they should get back together, they were great.
[Everyone laughs again]
Adrien: Oh but it’ll sort itself out. Although I do hope the garbage mutates into a large garbage creature, and it storms through the city. “Take this Lee’s Palace!” Crash! “Take this Sneeky Dees!” Crash!
Ryan: [Laughs]
What’s something everyone should be listening to?
Ryan: Well. Everybody should be listening to Classical music. How about Symphony 1 by Mahler. That one’s important.
Adrien: Ravel’s Bolero. Cause he was suffering from frontal lobal dimentia when he wrote it, and that’s why it’s so repetitive.
Ryan: I also really like the first two tracks off the new Grizzly Bear record, I think those are great great tracks. Also, the first two tracks off the new Phoenix record. Is there anything else? I’ve been listening to a lot of Bowie. That’s the next big thing. Cause Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear went back to this sixties, rootsy kind of feel, but you watch, the next big thing is gonna be the Bowie/Supertramp sound. The drums are gonna get real tight again. Because, this is what happens: they start using the reverb. Because the eighties just happened, and they go back and check out all the eighties tones, the 808, the 909. Kanye used the 909. And everyone’s infatuated with tone again, but it’s gonna be the same thing that happened in the eighties, the tone crash, and people are gonna discover reverb again. Just watch, it’s gonna come back around and it’s gonna be super dry tone, like Yes or King Crimson or Supertramp.
Who would you guys most like to hear cover one of your songs?
Ryan: Dismemberment Plan.
Adrien: Diana Krall.
Ryan: [Laughing] You know what, I want Elton John to do Solipsism Millionaires. Or You’re Not an Astronaut.
Adrien: [Does Elton John impression]
Ryan: [Laughing] No but I would love to see Dismemberment Plan do one.
Adrien: Jann Arden.
Ryan: Sure! Bjork.
Adrien: I would want people to go out of their Genre to cover one of our songs, cause that’d be fantastic. Bjork would be great.
Who would you guys most want to play with?
Ryan: It’d be Radiohead for me. No question.
Adrien: It’d be a blast to do Death Cab For Cutie.
Ryan: It’d be fun, but is that really the ultimate though?
Adrien: Not the ultimate but, man…
Ryan: Well, that was the question.
Adrien: We’d get to meet Ben though, he’s one of our childhood heros.
Ryan: Yes that’s true.
Unfortunately we’re coming to the end, so we’ll have to ask our trademark question. If you guys could be any singing animal, what would you be?
Ryan: Singing animal?
Yeah.
Adrien: Centipede.
Ryan: That’s really gross. I hate centipedes.
Adrien: Oh they are absolutely disgusting. They even have a smell, you know that? They have a certain scent that they give off.
Ryan: I want to be a singing Aye-Aye.
Adrien: What’s an Aye-Aye?
Yeah, what is an Aye-Aye?
Adrien: Is it from North Korea, or…where is this creature from?
Ryan: Look it up. They’re crazy, you’ll love it.
Anything we should add about the new album?
Adrien: Check it out!
Ryan: Also, we live in a downloading world, so that’s great, there’s nothing you can do about it. But I have to stress that if you download a person’s album and you really truly enjoy it, go and buy it. Because we’re dying. We’re dying. All musicians are dying. And whether or not it’s because of downloading is irrelevant at this point. The point is if you wanna hear music, just like if you wanna see a movie or if you want to be entertained in any way shape or form, support your artists.
Adrien: If you love peaches, and you keep picking the peaches off the tree…right?
Yeah?
Adrien: And you don’t take care of the tree…
Ryan: [Long pause]The tree dies.
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The Most Serene Republic are planning a tour for September. Their newest record is …And The Ever Expanding Universe and is available now. Go, buy it!
For more Most Serene Republic,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/themostserenerepublic
Be sure to catch the Most Serene Republic in Toronto on August 15th at the Secret Tara Sessions and again on October 15th when they return to town for a show at the Mod Club with Grand Analog!
Interview By Steve Brunton
