From Bartender to Headliner: Montreal's Alix Fernz Turns Heads with Debut Album "Bizou" (Mothland)

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Alix Fernz by Antoine Giroux

Alix Fernz is the beloved enfant terrible lighting a match on Montreal’s music scene. Formerly performing as Blood Skin Atopic, Alix Fernz is the moniker of 24-year-old singer-songwriter Alexandre Fournier. Arriving April 19th via hometown label Mothland, Bizou is Fournier’s debut album under this new alias. 

On Bizou, Fernz leads us down a drainpipe into an unabashed, palpitating reverie of studded leather, troublemaking and lipstick-stained dive bar mirrors. Produced in the bedrooms of three different apartments, with vocals tracked on Fernz’s iPhone mic, Bizou fearlessly criss-crosses remnants of bratty 70s-punk with new wave romanticism in a blistering 32-minutes.

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Bizou album artwork, credit: Alix Fernz & Nora Mejdouli

Mixed by Emmanuel Éthier (Choses Sauvages, Corridor, P’tit Belliveau, Population II), Bizou is Fernz’s first studio effort. After parsing over Bizou for nearly three years, Fernz is anxious for its unveiling at his album listening party this Thursday at Montreal nightclub Le Système.

“I got signed to Mothland after the album was done, but it's been worth the wait to release it for real,” says Fernz. “Teasing things out single by single has worked well, I saw the [streaming] numbers and I was like ‘holy crap!’” he laughs. 

Beyond its subversive aesthetics, Bizou is a coming-of-age record for Fernz, expanding on his experiences and growing pains as a suburban outcast.  

“Bizou has helped me a lot, as a period of self-learning,” explains Fernz. “A lot of the songs are angry and bring up a lot of unsavoury old feelings. I don’t like writing from the first-person, so I’ve created other versions of myself—personas—to write about the tough stuff and disconnect from my teenage years—trying to figure things out, feeling out of place in private school, doing drugs and shit. When I’m onstage singing these songs, I feel like another person, like someone else.”

The characters of Bizou come to life in the album’s accompanying music videos, where Fernz takes cues from latex magazines and 80s fashion to shapeshift from a nightmarish, botox-injected fiend to a lace-clad pierrot clown. 

With the adoption of his new stage name, Fernz has already encountered significant milestones as he aims to take his musical career to the next level.

“I moved to Montreal when I was 17, and started making music shortly after as Blood Skin Atopic. Switching to this solo project has helped me evolve out of a little DIY guy, now that I actually have [a label] backing me up,” explains Fernz. 

Fernz's it-factor has been established by his electric live sets attracting festival audiences, despite previously only having one single online. Since sharing “Wax”—the inaugural single from Bizou—in late 2023, Fernz has played POP Montreal, M For Montreal, Le Phoque OFF and Taverne Tour. In between, he’s gripped show-goers across Montreal’s signature stages and recently toured outside of Quebec for the first time.

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Alix Fernz by Antoine Giroux

Along with his musical forays, Fernz is a tattoo artist by day and a bartender at Montreal venue L’Esco. 

“I tell my boss [at l’Esco] all the time that I owe him my career,” says Fernz. “Meeting all these artists night after night is one of the main reasons that I can say that I am where I am. It’s priceless. I recently stayed after my shift to see Model/Actriz from New York after hearing their soundcheck and my mouth was like, watering the entire time,” he laughs. 

With all the buzz surrounding Bizou’s arrival, Fernz has started to perceive a shift in his reputation from local bartender to micro-celebrity. “I still don’t know how to react when people recognize me from my shows at work,” he smiles. “Working at L’Esco is like the epitome of ‘Oh! I know you… but I don’t know from where?’”  he adds. “I’m finding more and more people recognize me on the street from music than tattooing—I see my clients at the bar all the time. It’s definitely weird, but I enjoy it.” 

Despite this, Fernz remains humble and committed to his creative growth. When talking about what’s next, he reveals he’s already got a new project in the works. Hinting at what the future holds, Fernz describes his new songs having more of a pop direction, but maintaining his signature oddball edge. “I have ten demos already. Bizou has been a huge learning opportunity for me in being able to work on music with other people and introduce [the project], but I can’t wait to work on something else!” he exclaims. 

Catch Alix Fernz on tour this spring and pre-save / pre-order Bizou before its release this Friday!

April 28th - Toronto @ The Baby G 

May 10th - Sainte-Thérèse @ Santa Teresa  

May 16th - Montreal @ POW POW (album release show)

May 23rd - Chicoutimi @ Bar à Pitons 

May 24th - Québec @ Le Pantoum 

May 25th - Rimouski @ Bains Publics  

Alix Fernz

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | Youtube

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Dizzy's Katie Munshaw on Growing Up and Getting Vulnerable Behind a Mask in New Self-Titled Album

Katie Munshaw of Dizzy by Boy Wonder

“They come into my head and rattle around in my brain until they become something bigger,” says Katie Munshaw, vocalist of Dizzy, of the lyrics she writes for the band. “I’ve always been like that. I'm really lucky [that,] growing up, I went to an elementary school with a songwriting program, so I’ve been writing songs since grade 5 or 6,” she adds. “It’s always been a big part of my life and how I express my emotions.”

Hailing from Oshawa, the indie pop band includes Munshaw as the lead vocalist and main songwriter, and three brothers, Alex Spencer (guitar), Mackenzie Spencer (bass, vocals) and Charlie Spencer (drums, synthesizer, guitar, vocals), who’ve been playing together since high school. Their first album Baby Teeth was released to JUNO acclaim, including nominations for Breakthrough Group of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year. They are back with their third album, the self-titled Dizzy, released this summer.

Soft, sparkling, and devastating, Dizzy is a retrospective album reflecting on the heartbreaks of the past and gnawing on fears for the future. Their music blends dreamy melodies and soft vocals with some 90s influence, a sound reminiscent of bands like Soccer Mommy, fittingly referenced in the opening track, “Birthmark”.

Katie first started writing the album in 2021 (“What else was there to do then?”, she jokes), following the band’s sophomore release (The Sun and Her Scorch) a year before. Katie’s own life— her trials, tribulations, and collaborations with her band—influence her writing. Each song is a burst of stories and memories: the only thing tying them together is that they’re hers. 

“So much of our second record was about getting old and dying—something weighing on my mind a lot at that time. I’d just turned 23 or 24 and was thinking ‘Oh god, my life is over.’ When it was time for this record, I thought I couldn't keep writing about getting older and death,” Katie says. The resulting Dizzy mostly reflects on the past and the present – heartbreak, disappointment, nostalgia, self-reflection, moving on, and ultimately acceptance. “It's about being in my late twenties and finally getting to know myself a little more,” she adds.

Part of this involves recognizing external pressures and how they impact her. “I turned 25 and people started asking me about getting married and having a baby,” Katie says. “Jaws” is a faster-paced change in the middle of the record, and the one song where Katie allows herself to “get that anxiety out.” To an upbeat, Lorde-esque cadence, Katie sings, “I don’t remember getting older, but somehow I’m here / falling for the same tropes as my mother dear.” 

While its name was inspired by a night out with her “movie geek friend” talking about the 1975 film, the lyrics to “Jaws” explore societal expectations and grappling with the choices that come with it. “Are these things we actually want or tropes we feel pressure to take part in?” Katie muses. 

While the band’s first two albums were self-produced, this one involved collaboration with famed writer and producer David Pramik, known for his work with artists including Selena Gomez, Oliver Tree, and Chloe Moriondo, whose recent album Katie was a fan of. 

“We wanted to be very precise about every decision made. That clean production was what we were looking for,” Katie says on working with David for this record. “We made a big list of people we wanted to work with, whittled it down, and reached out to him, emailing him “Barking Dog” and maybe “Starlings” and saying we loved his work.” 

Katie notes how his sound is very different from their own, which is what they liked about him, despite initial hesitations about bringing in a producer for the first time. “It’s always hard to let someone in and have someone critique your baby,” she says, “...but he’s the perfect person because we’re all so introverted and he's this extroverted ray of light when we can be downers.”

It wasn’t until the end of the recording process that the band collectively decided to self-title the album, though it’s an idea Katie liked from the beginning. She references an interview fellow Canadian musician Haley Blais did with Coup De Main Magazine, where she says of her own album, “If I could erase everything I’ve done before and have this represent me wholly, I’d be okay with that,” highlighting how, in many ways, she considers this her first album. “That’s how I feel about this record,” Katie says. 

While the album lays bare parts of her life and anxieties, physically, she does the opposite. Katie dons a painted mask on the cover of the album, shielding her face from the cover and any of its visual material. “The mask came in pretty late,” Katie says. “I was working with my friend Ryan on visual stuff and being a baby about having my photo taken. After a few years of isolation, I did not want to be on camera.”

She recalls that he joked “Well, if it's so hard Katie, why don't you wear a mask?” And that’s what they did. “It was hard to convince everyone,” she said, but they fought for it, and then spent weeks trying to find the right mask for the job. “We went down a rabbit hole,” Katie says. “We ended up narrowing in on this one vintage brass mask we loved, [but we] didn’t look at the dimensions, so it showed up the size of my palm,” she laughs. “And we were shooting videos a week later so we panicked. Ordered a paper mache mask and begged my friend to help paint a mask.” 

The resulting mask, with green-painted lips, black-rimmed eyes and swirls of pink, blue and purple makes an appearance across the band’s music videos and promotional material for the record. In a world that scrutinizes how people look, her choice to shield her face challenges expectations and brings the focus squarely on the music, its message and the people who relate to it. “I think it’s interesting for a person, particularly a woman, to make the decision for herself to take her physical appearance out of the question,” Katie says. 

In the video for “Knock the Wind”, you see a masked Katie looking wistfully out the car window, as the song’s lyrics ruminate on making choices and taking action. It’s a song she has said is about “...how you can live somewhere your whole life and never really feel at home,” demonstrating one of the biggest appeals of this record. Dizzy’s vulnerable, melancholic and hopeful; a masked voice anyone could find themselves behind. 

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Dizzy

released August 15, 2023 via Royal Mountain Records

1. Birthmark

2. Close

3. Open Up Wide

4. Starlings

5. Knock The Wind

6. My Girl

7. Jaws

8. Salmon Season

9. Barking Dog

10. Cell Division

11. Stupid 4 U

12. Are You Sick Of Me Yet?

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Dizzy

Instagram | Spotify | Bandcamp

Valerie Boucher is a writer based in Ottawa, Canada. You can follow her on Instagram and learn more at valerieboucher.ca.

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Interview: The Return of Montreal's Suoni Per Il Popolo is an Intergenerational Celebration of Musical Escape

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Suoni Per Il Popolo 2023 poster

Montreal’s world-renowned experimental music and art festival, Suoni Per Il Popolo, returns from June 1st to 23rd, 2023. The 23rd edition of the festival plans to animate the city’s beloved venues as a homecoming for music-makers, composers and the sonically curious. From the festival’s Plateau-bound nebulous and beyond, festival goers can expect a profusion of over fifty intimate concerts from local, national and international artists, and genre-defying programming spanning free jazz, avant-rock, noise/post-punk, avant-folk, afro-futurism and more. Along with concerts, the festival features sonic meditations, exhibitions, screenings, comedy shows, parties and a street fair. 

In anticipation of this year’s festival launch, we caught up with Kiva Stimac, Suoni Per Il Popolo’s co-founder and co-owner of Casa del Popolo and Sala Rossa. 

On this year’s edition, Stimac reiterates the significance of Suoni’s avant-garde programming as a means of community restoration: 

“With regards to anything in arts presentation right now, we have to consider the power and importance of music and creativity in healing from the turmoil of this global pandemic. What I’ve always looked for in experimentation and play is the questioning and liberation that you get from not only being a musician, but an audience member as well.”

Along with fellow festival co-founder and business partner Mauro Pezzente (Godspeed You! Black Emperor), Stimac established Casa del Popolo and Sala Rossa, two pillar venues in Montreal’s music scene. Acting as the festival’s homebase since its foundation, Stimac says their atmosphere brings Suoni’s values to life.

“As venues and as places, it has always been really important that we serve food and drink that is delicious and that when artists come, we provide them with a good stage and good lighting…and somewhere to stay in a really familial way! [Pezzente] is a musician and I’m a chef and a visual artist, so our model is based on both of us being artists and wanting to invite artists that we love to our home to celebrate and create with us.” 

While Suoni has expanded since its humble beginnings of “beer sales and selling sandwiches,” its DIY ‘til death mentality remains, with all of the festival operations continuing to happen behind the scenes at Casa and Sala on St Laurent boulevard. Likewise, the project continues to be funded by grants and unique collaborations, which Stimac feels fuels, rather than limits, Suoni’s spirit year after year.

“Though we have a limited budget, it forces us to look for money in other ways for special projects to do with artists. Like grants to fund local and international artists coming together to create a project,” identifies Stimac. “For example, this year we’re doing a deep listening sound walk with Pauline Oliveros’ life partner, IONE. It’ll be led by Ayelet Gottlieb, an Israeli-Canadian deep listening practitioner and vocalist,” she adds. “This makes it so there’s a multitude of ways you can experience the festival: You could go to a free meditation, a film screening, or a deep listening mountain walk, and then come to a performance.”

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Suoni Per Il Popolo 2023 poster

Of course, Suoni’s “by artists, for artists” grit has also willed its vibrant and off-beat curation. This has set the festival apart since day one, making it the premiere event for testing boundaries through music. At the same time, Stimac and her team’s willingness to take creative risks with their programming set an interesting precedent for Montreal, which hasn’t always been the hub for out-of-town acts we know today. 

“When Casa del Popolo opened in 2000, a lot of artists were actually skipping Montreal on their tour routes,” she articulates. “So, people would play Toronto… and they would play Boston… And eventually, [my partner] Pezzente reached out to his agent, who was managing a bunch of cool artists at the time, and was like, ‘Why aren’t these bands coming to Montreal? Why don’t we try having them come to Montreal?’”  

From this phone call, Stimac and Pezzente went on to put together their first show with Scottish indie rock group Arab Strap at the newly opened Casa del Popolo. To their surprise, it sold out in 10 minutes.

“From that show and eventually starting to program at Sala Rossa across the street, we realized there was a demand for international touring artists here. Another major incentive [to book these acts], especially in the experimental and avant-garde worlds, was to invite them to Montreal in the first place.”

This effort has remained integral to Suoni’s raison d’être, and a way for communities, both local and international, to work together and “transgress the physical space” through creative innovation, according to Stimac. 

While the definitions of experimental and avant-garde have evolved throughout the years, Stimac maintains that Suoni attendees can still anticipate generations coming together to appreciate underground and outsider art.

“The size of our rooms limit you to new and up-and-coming artists, or unheralded elders at the end of their careers. This year, we have three different groups performing who are in their eighties—and on the other end of the spectrum—local groups in their twenties performing and a piano recital for young kids who are just starting out. Inviting all ages has always been important to me because you can see the trajectory of their career, and that is impactful to so many.”

Likewise, the intergenerational aspect of the festival remains integral for Stimac, due to the universally transformative power of music. 

“The release of listening to or making music can really heal trauma, and that’s the music I’m drawn towards. Whether it be the free jazz of my dad’s generation or the punk rock music of my generation… Music is made for liberation,” she explains. “My vision for the festival has always been challenging revolutionary good times.” 

Expand your listening palette and attend this year’s edition of Suoni Per Il Popolo. The festival kicks off June 1st at Casa del Popolo. Tickets are available online below. Follow Also Cool on socials for more festival updates and coverage in the coming weeks. 

Festival Information

Artists | Schedule | Tickets

Suoni Per Il Popolo

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Chicago Post-Punk Duo Oddysseys Talks Friendship, DIY Happenings and New Single "Enough"

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Oddysseys: Paul DiRico, (left) and Christian Treon (right)

Hot off the heels of their 2022 LP Softcore, Chicago-based post-punk duo and DIY collective Oddysseys shake off the bleak ache of winter with their new single “Enough”, arriving April 1st, 2023. Setting a promising tone for future music from the band, “Enough” cuts through its narrator’s uncertain inner-monologue with poignant, grungy rhythms and an undefeated aftertaste.

On “Enough”, Oddysseys’ Christian Treon shares:

“(‘Enough’) was written in the middle of the pandemic, when I started seeing less and less people; reaching out to less and less people. I was in a state of feeling very isolated, lonely and insecure. It progresses and gets louder and louder, following how I was feeling. It’s kind of like that build that comes from a while of being dissatisfied with how you handle situations—how you want to grow beyond (them)—and see how you can be enough not only for other people, but above all for yourself.”

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“Enough” single artwork by Oddysseys

While we can’t say much more about the track until its release, listen to our audio interview with Oddysseys’ leading members, Christian Treon and Paul DiRico, below. Within, they discuss their latest arrival, learnings from their last album Softcore, as well as the admirable work ethic and camaraderie nurturing their creative vision.

Also Cool Mag · Chicago Post-Punk Duo Oddysseys Talks Friendship, DIY Happenings and New Single "Enough"

Oddysseys

Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | Bandcamp

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Paying To Play: fanclubwallet on the Price of Touring the United States as an International Artist

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Hannah Judge AKA fanclubwallet via Bandcamp

Editor’s note: The following interview originally aired on First Crush on CKCU 93.1 FM (Ottawa, Canada) on Friday, February 24th, 2023 and was produced by the author of this article.

Editor’s note (March 4th, 2023): Since the release of this article, the deadline to submit feedback to the Federal Register regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed increase to visa rates has been extended to March 13th, 2023.

While the concept of "paying to play" is unfortunately nothing new in the music industry, especially for emerging artists, its harsh reality has risen to a whole new level.

In early February, the United States Department of Homeland Security announced proposed increases to performer visa fees that would make touring in the United States significantly more expensive, if not completely inaccessible, for international musicians.

In order to legally enter and tour the United States, international musicians are required to obtain P-type and O-type visas. Should the new rates come into effect, musicians will have to pay at least 250% more for the mandatory paperwork. As cited in Stereogum, P-type visa costs would skyrocket from $460 to $1,615, and the O-type visa from $460 to $1,655 (this is USD, by the way).

Not only will musicians be further inundated with the debilitating financial burden of touring, but the state of the North American music industry at large—and the hundreds of thousands of creative workers it employs—is under threat.

This news has driven musicians to take to social media to recruit supporters in lobbying the Department of Homeland Security to keep touring in the United States possible for international acts.

Also Cool had the chance to speak with Hannah Judge, AKA fanclubwallet, an Ottawa-based indie artist, on the issues facing Canadian musicians in the current cultural climate and how the community can show up to help keep touring possible for artists from our own music scene and beyond.

Listen to our conversation below. Supporters have until March 6th to oppose the move by leaving a comment on the Federal Register website here!

Also Cool Mag · Paying To Play: fanclubwallet on the Price of Touring the United States as an International Artist

fanclubwallet

Instagram | Website | Bandcamp | Spotify

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Surf Curse Talks DIY Music Scenes, Friendship and TikTok Algorithms

Surf Curse by Julien Sage

When I think of 2013, I think of Buds, the debut album from Los Angeles indie-rock band Surf Curse. At the time, I was just discovering the music and film that would impact my teenage life in an identity-shaping way. I was stoked to hear those same points of inspiration in the band’s collaborative songs and independent projects (Current Joys and Gap Girls), and couldn’t get enough of their garage-rock sound that was re-emerging at the time. 

Surf Curse has come a long way since then, and have been touring their new album Magic Hour this past year following the viral success of “Freaks,” which came off their first album. 

I’ve been lucky enough to get to know Nick and Jacob over the years, in both Los Angeles and at home in Montreal, and was happy to catch up with them before their recent show at Club Soda. We spoke about the all-ages venue in Reno that changed their lives, their friendship over the years, and the impact of TikTok algorithm’s on DIY music scenes.

 Malaika Astorga for Also Cool: Can you describe the scene you came up in Reno and what it was like when you moved to L.A.?

Nick Rattigan: I feel like there's like three parts: Vegas, Reno and L.A.

Also Cool: I went to Vegas for the first time recently and was wondering how people live there full-time. 

Nick: Yes, we do that every time we come back.

Jacob Rubeck: Especially when you're young, it's like you're musically depressed, you know? It would take forever just to go see a band that you actually like. When we got to Reno, there was finally an all-ages space,The Holland Project, where bands that Nick and I loved would actually play.

Nick: It was kind of shocking.

Jacob: The very first night we were in Reno, we got invited to a show that was on the college campus by this guy handing out flyers. It was for a band called The Babies, and it was Kevin Morby and Cass Ramone from Vivian Girls. I had literally gotten the seven-inch record that day in the mail and loved it. Then this guy's handing out flyers for a show that they're playing in like two weeks, and I was like, “Where have you been my whole life?”

Nick: That guy booked our first show.

Also Cool: Not to say that Vegas is a small place, but I understand that there's not much going on music scene wise, and I’m also from a place where there was not much going on. This made it so that any show at all was really exciting and special. It was better than nothing, and I so desperately needed that.

 Nick: We went from a little bit of something to a lot, because L.A. is a lot. When we first visited, it was always the extreme of what we experienced at The Holland Project. There were so many all-ages shows, so many event spaces and places for people to play. So that was very exciting and exhilarating. Now I don't have my ear to the ground at all. I'm like, “Where’s the new stuff in LA? What's going on with the scene?

Jacob: Yeah, it's funny; it’s a lot of touring bands. What's great about being able to live in Los Angeles is that everyone comes to play here. So, you're reunited with old friends, bands that you always wanted to see; they’re all going to land here at some point. I got to see Duster this year and have been stoked on that. I got to see two nights of Pavement, which was incredible, and Danny Elfman for Halloween at the Hollywood Bowl, which was absolute lunacy. The one thing that I do like about L.A. is that you have access to so much.

I will say that I do miss being in smaller venues, like seeing a show at The Holland Project back in Reno. I miss being in that room and on the stage and figuring out what to do at the end of the night. With all these LA shows, I tend to leave immediately afterwards and go home, you know? Like an old guy. 

AC: Yeah. I mean, one of my questions was, and I know politics with The Smell are a bit complicated, but it obviously had a huge impact on your lives, so much so that you wrote a song about it. I'm wondering what other venues or spaces have been impactful for you in that way? Often when I talk to musicians, they often have “this one venue that was the only spot where everyone went to, and where that's how they met everyone in their lives.”

 Nick: Yeah, I feel like that was mainly The Holland Project for us in Reno because it was the only all-ages space we'd ever experienced before. It's where we played all our shows and where the bands that came through hopefully would play.

 Also Cool: And bands don't really tour through Reno?

 Nick: And bands don't really tour through Reno. They do sometimes. They did a pretty good job of lassoing some pretty big bands. I remember Future Islands came through, and that was like the biggest deal of the year. 

But then in LA, my favourite was Pehrspace. It's actually the new cover of our first album because the other cover was so bad, I was like, “We have to change this.”

 Also Cool: Why do you think it was bad?

Nick: It's just like us sitting on a couch with some waves behind it.

Jacob: It was a little beachy.

 Nick: It's a little beachy. We already suffered the “surf curse,” which is that everybody just seems to think that we’re a surf rock band.

Jacob: Which you know–-

Nick: It's the surf curse.

Jacob: It's a curse.

Nick: You get what you know, two beachy dudes from LA.

 Jacob: We love eating pizza.

 Nick: Yeah, yeah. We love movies and pizza.

Also Cool: Movies and pizza, great.

Nick: Movies and pizza, yeah, we still like movies. I've actually been eating a ton of pizza the last few days, but Pehrspace was just this really cool DIY venue in L.A.

Jacob: It's supposed to be coming back.

Nick: It's supposed to be coming back for years.

Jacob: It disappeared because they got kicked out of their location. I'm pretty sure it got replaced with a big chain coffee shop, if I'm not mistaken, but they're moving somewhere else. We opened up for Omni there.

 Nick: The Bootleg, Pehrspace is moving into the Bootleg.

Jacob: Bootleg was a good spot, Non Plus Ultra was also a great spot.

Surf Curse Magic Hour

Also Cool: So, I like to ask people who've been in bands together for a long time: What have you learned about friendship from each other?

Nick: It's complicated.

 Jacob: It is complicated. I like to look back on us. The cool thing about us is that we didn't drive each other crazy so fast because we had too much time in between everything.

Nick: Yeah, we didn't like, blow up, right away.

Jacob: When we first started, Nick moved to New York and worked as a PA, and I was working as a dishwasher.

We had a lot of time to take space from each other and then reunite again, work on music and show each other stuff whenever we did have the time. So it wasn't like we were young, and then our egos got to our heads and were like, “ I fucking hate you,” or nothing like that. It was like, “It's good to see you again. Let's go back into it.”

The more we’ve toured and added members and worked on new music, you know, not gonna lie, it has been tough and hard, but we've been able to communicate with each other.

 Nick: Yeah, communication is key. That's the glue.

Jacob: When we added Henry and Noah, we wanted people that we one; totally respect musically, and two; who are just like really great people. It’s balanced a lot of things out between all of us.

It feels good, creatively. When we do Magic Hour, and we are writing new stuff, I have it in my head that it’s intentionally for someone, you know? Like something that's going to be appealing to them. So when I pitched them like, “You like this, do you like this?”

 Also Cool: You both have your independent projects too. I'm sure you separate: “Okay, I'm writing for Surf Curse, and maybe this one is just more for me.”

Nick: I think this year has been a good learning curve to this year because it's the busiest year of our lives, and we're kind of figuring out how to make it all work.

Jacob: When we did figure it out, being as a DIY, independent band or whatever, I think, you know, we mastered it. But then when the major label thing came about, it was a whole other learning curve of trying to figure out what makes sense and what feels good.

Also Cool: I know that film has hugely influenced your music to the point of having song titles on Buds named after movies. What visual media in the last few years has had a similar impact on your creative process?

Nick: We're All Going to do the World's Fair (2021). That's one of the best modern movies I've seen, and is forward in its storytelling techniques. It's a horror movie about this kid that starts playing this online horror game… and that's really all I can tell you about it. You just gotta watch it. It's so good. Alex G does the soundtrack, and I came for the soundtrack, but stayed for the movie.

Also Cool: This is the only TikTok-related question, but I see a lot of kids on TikTok the Internet void, “How do I get involved? Where is the scene? How do I get invited to the party? Where is the secret DIY venue?” Which is really funny but also sweet. They're just like: “I don't know!” So, I'm going to ask the algorithm until it gives me what I want. 

I think the pandemic affected this sort of integral experience of being a teenager that starts going to shows. When I was like 16 to 18-ish and was like figuring it out, I had older people showing me how to act at shows and where to find them. That was completely gone for this generation, where they went from being a teenager to being a sort of adult wondering, “How the fuck do I find friends?”

Nick & Jacob: Yeah.

Also Cool: I'm interested in what your advice is for those people who would like to get involved in things in a meaningful way and have a scene again in real life and not on the internet. 

Jacob: It's a great question. I think the best way is to pick the shows that you like going to, if you do have that music scene and just start noticing who's there and who are the recurring suspects. Those are potentially going to be the people that you can find in all your music, love and trust in.

 Nick: Yeah, that's funny, as soon as you said that, it kind of reminded me of the Facebook question of when people would post their status like: “Hey, what's everybody up to tonight?”At least that's like, my equivalent of it.

When I was 19, we were looking for that too, you know? I think everybody's looking for that. And you sort of stumble into it. I think just life just happens, and you find your people.

Jacob: One thing that I do like about TikTok is that there's no gatekeeping. I see this one girl always posting slowcore stuff. I don't know her name, but she's like: “If you like this, you like Alex G. Here's another five bands,” and then there's discourse that's happening in that comment section. It's like a good way of connecting with people. That's how, you know, I was back in the day on Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram, just trying to find some sort of sense of a community. It still exists, it’s just changing.

Despite our conversation about searching for community through the algorithmic void, there weren’t as many phones out as expected during Surf Curse’s set that night. The crowd was energetic, respectful to each other (from what I experienced in the mosh pit), but most importantly, just really happy to be there.

Stream Magic Hour on all platforms, and keep an eye out for future shows via Surf Curse’s socials. 

This interview was transcribed by Cyril Harvin Musngi.

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Montreal Surf-Punk Trio NO WAVES Talks All Ages Shows, Artistic Influences and New Music

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NO WAVES by Daniel Takacs

The soundtrack for most teens' early years is moaning vocals and distant pop icons from another decade, but some of us are lucky enough to have NO WAVES. The smell of sweat and Twisted Tea fills each venue; pink hair and neatly pressed dress shirts swarm together as the crowd swells. At their shows, young Montrealers experience the special feeling that comes as you start to uncover the ecosystem of music around you. Whether it be your first mosh-pit-induced black-eye, or wringing out a t-shirt soaked with sweat, NO WAVES is the breeding ground of Montreal's next-gen in music.

The band has a look you can't define… Maybe a kaleidoscope of indie sleaze, where Blink-182 and Surf Curse intersect? They all sit in the limbo zone before adulthood, with boyish smiles and CEGEP classes packed between shows. Their sets radiate a joyousness and respect that's rare in the industry. They want to be there as much as the audience does, and it shows. 

In the aftermath of the pandemic, NO WAVES is the light at the end of the tunnel for many, with their underpass show of August 2021 acting as a green light for commotion. They lit a fire, and the scene couldn't resist dancing around it. 

As someone who began the pandemic starry-eyed and unknowing of the music world,  NO WAVES has been a gateway into Montreal's music scene. NO WAVES is for the people who go to shows every night, and those who've never entered a venue before. They are an instant family of sorts; one that pulls you in for a hug and never lets go. 

I had the chance to catch up with the surf punk three-piece about their early beginnings, where they’re headed now, and everything in-between.

Uma Nardone for Also Cool Mag: Let's start off easy! Tell me about your first gig?

Sam: Our first show was at one of the Climate Demos, a protest in the middle of winter. Cy wasn't even there, so it was early early days. It was during our March Break and held outside. It was crazy! It was the coldest I've ever been.

Angel: Later on, we did shows in a dance studio. We weren't supposed to be there, and everyone had to take their shoes off. It was very hot and small, with like 50 kids crammed into a room. 

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Also Cool: You've begun your second stint of recording. What has it been like working on the first EP versus your second?

Cy: Very, very different.

Sam: The songs are more fleshed out.

Angel: During our first EP, we had this frustration: We really wanted to just release our music, have it out there, and start playing shows as soon as possible. It was done with this mentality of recording as soon as possible. Now that we're recording again, we're in no rush. We're revisiting old songs and reworking them. 

AC: How has the music you're listening to impacted your new music? Have you discovered anything recently that has completely changed your creative process?

C: It's ever-changing, and I don't think it will ever stop, or at least I hope not. 

A: I've gotten into more hardcore punk, but everything feels new. Lots of Bad Brains, TURNSTILE, Dying Fetus, and very Midwest emo shit.

S: It's all over the place for all of us, everything from breakcore and punk to pop. 

AC: Do guys consider NO WAVES as falling within a specific genre? How do you typically describe your music to others?

S: I call it pop. It's all pop, just pop.

A: I've come to terms that with everything we do, it comes out trashy or punk. I used to struggle a lot, ‘cause I would try to write stuff that was soft, but no matter what, it would end up noisy and loud.

C: Noisy pop!

AC: That's perfect, though, because I consider you guys—and I mean this in the best way—the greatest gateway band in the city. After COVID-19 lockdowns, you started that revival of live music, especially for a younger crowd. 

A: That's kind of our goal, to be accessible to everyone. There are a lot of bands that feel hard to get into because of the crowd, and places sometimes feel snobby or unsafe, and that sucks.

S: Right, that's what I love about us. If you go to one of our shows, every kind of person is in the crowd. If you go to different venues, there's all these different cliques or groups, and at our shows, they're all there together.

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Angel from NO WAVES with audience members, photo by the author

AC: That's so true. At your summer bummer show, I met these girls from the Laurentians who had taken the train in. It was their first time moshing, seeing a gig in a small venue. You guys help people feel safe enough to experience these things for the first time.

C: That feeling is something we prioritize. We want an environment where people can hang out without worrying and have good vibes. 

S: It's not that deep either. Shows should be safe for everyone. That's how it should be.

A: There's this thing I learned when I was really young, that has stuck with me. I was told at 15 or 16 that music is sharing. Ever since, that's been how I see music. You're sharing with the crowd, the staff and the musicians. We all share this common love, you know?

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Crowd at a NO WAVES show, photo by the author

AC: That's evident in the crowd, as well. You've grown up with the people who come to your shows, and they keep showing up for a reason. It's like a big family that keeps growing. 

S: I think it’s so beautiful. 

A: It's super sick because I see people who were at our shows five years ago, who went to our launch party, pull up to our shows now. They are the OGs of NO WAVES. 

S: People we've known since they were 13 and playing at school, and now they're grown up and still coming. It's amazing. 

AC: I can attest to that. I was maybe 12 or 13 when I went to my first show, and now I'm here. I consider you guys integral to my childhood, and many others feel the same way. NO WAVES is the soundtrack to teenagedom here! My first black eyes were at your show, and my friends' first kiss happened at your show. You guys are part of all that. 

A: I think it's so cool. We've been able to play our music and grow up with them. After the outdoor show, this dude slid into our DMs and told us about his first experience with LSD. It was so crazy cause what band gets to experience that so closely. 

S: Right, I was like, man, you're a stronger person than I am. 

AC: Tell me more about the underpass show. How was that experience for you all? 

S: Oh man, I loved that show. It was my favorite show we've ever played because of how close we were to the crowd. There was no stage, so people surrounded us. At one point, this dude slapped me on the back and complimented me from behind the drum kit. He was a complete stranger; it was so cool. The formality of a show was gone, and we were immersed in the crowd.

C: We go against that formality. We play better when not on a real stage. 

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NO WAVES by Daniel Takacs

AC: Do you guys channel certain people in terms of stage presence? Like when I was kid, I wanted to embody Sid Vicious or maybe even Zappa. Who is it for you? 

A: I would say Blink-182 for all of us. To me, they are the standard of what a trio band is capable of. Whenever I'm on stage and feel stuck, I have a guitar, and I can't move or whatever; I look up to them. 

S: Same; I channel my inner Travis.

A: I think at most shows, we're just daydreaming that we're Blink. That's our secret.

AC: Would it be a dream to open for them? Is there anyone else that you want to play with in the future? 

A: Surf Curse, too; we just have to do that. We've been thinking about it for so long. 

S: I just want to go on tour and go as far as possible with this.

A: We want to expand our horizons and explore new places. I really want to go to Mexico. The whole scene that inspired me to do everything I'm doing now all comes from there. Those kids inspired me. 

C: I remember hearing my first songs from Angel in Spanish, Los Blenders and Senor Kino; they influenced me so much. They taught me how to put on a show. He showed us all this world we didn't know about. 

AC: What's the songwriting process look like for NO WAVES?

S: It's really all of us. Every song is a collaborative effort.

A: I'll come in with a guitar riff or a single verse - these very unrefined songs. Then we'll all write over it and work on it over time. We all just pile on ideas until something comes out of it. Some songs take thirty minutes, and others take years.

S: We have songs we've been working on for more than four years. 

AC: Has playing in NO WAVES changed your social life at all? 

S: We all have the same mentality when it comes to playing: We don't feel better than anyone because of it. So many people have helped us come to where we are today, and we're really grateful.

A: People made fun of us in high school. We didn't feel cool then.

S: I just hate the mentality that people have. No one is better because they are on stage. It doesn't change who you are.

C: It's also not what music is supposed to be. Music is not a hierarchy. No one is better than anyone else. Our shows are for people who love music the way we do, that's all. 

NO WAVES holds a place in my heart that I can’t quite explain, I feel oddly devoted to the music, to the crowds and the all encompassing joy it brings. They are the band that sings to a choir of misfits, welcoming old punks and scene kids alike. 

They keep growing and as more and more people come to love them as I do, the excitement of experiencing a small history being made is thrilling. NO WAVES is ever-moving and might change, as young bands do, but no one will forget them. Everyone who's been in a crowded room with damp floors and broken stereos singing along with NO WAVES knows their systems have been shocked and their brain chemistry never be quite the same. The NO WAVES phenomena, explicable in their talent, is band who will forever be ingrained in my brain, and hopefully yours as well!

Don’t miss NO WAVES’ free Taverne Tour pizza party at Le Ministère on February 11th at 11:59PM!

NO WAVES

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

Uma Nardone 

Instagram

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Lesser Evil Summon Everything That is Evoked Without Being Said on Debut LP "Subterranean"

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Lesser Evil (from left to right: Ariane M. and Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux) by Ebru Yildiz

Lesser Evil are done interpreting their own sound. After nearly four years of tireless music-making, the Montreal-based electronic duo consisting of Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux and Ariane M. are excited to promote Subterranean and hear from the listeners themselves. The reception, according to Lesser Evil, is the second-most exciting part of being an artist; apart from the production stage itself.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Lamarche-Ledoux and Ariane on a sunny Saturday morning in late-September, where we had the opportunity to chat about their artistic process, how Lesser Evil came into existence, and what it took to create Subterranean — their debut album releasing on October 14th.

When talking about the formation of Lesser Evil, Lamarche-Ledoux describes the experience as natural, yet long-overdue. “We’ve known each other for a very long time,” says Lamarche-Ledoux, “because we were actually neighbours in a small town called Sherbrooke [Quebec].” 

Despite this, Lamarche-Ledoux explains that it took around eighteen years before the duo found themselves together in a studio, and that this actually happened after they respectively decided to relocate. “We both moved to Montreal, still not being friends. [But] we met in Montreal because we have a lot of friends in common from Sherbrooke, and [we had both been] doing music for a long time.”

Lamarche-Ledoux notes that when the two creatives and hometown neighbours finally collaborated on music production, the results were like nothing they had ever heard before. “While we were working on [Ariane’s] songs, the music became something else. It didn’t entirely sound like Ariane’s work, and it didn’t exactly sound like mine either… It kind of became this whole new thing.” He says that after hearing their strange and magical concoctions resulting from shared studio time, the formation of Lesser Evil occurred naturally. “At some point I just looked over and said, ‘Ariane, we should start a band.’ And that’s when the new [project] was formed.”

The results of this formation included an initial, self-titled EP in 2018, which produced much success upon its release; songs off the EP like “V.W” and “Cobra Effect” garnered thousands of streams on Spotify, and their track “Sight Of” has accumulated nearly 60,000 streams on the platform ever since. Still reeling from the initial hype generated by their first project, Lamarche-Ledoux and Ariane decided to hunker down and focus their energy towards something more nuanced and time-consuming. Nearly four years later, Subterranean came into existence.

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Lesser Evil by Ebru Yildiz

Speaking on the creative process that went into making Subterranean, Ariane is quick to point out that the duo intended to create a piece of art that is intentionally ambiguous, allowing it to be left for interpretation by its listeners. “When it comes to the ‘bones’ of a song, it always needs to come from [us] initially,” Ariane says. “I’m an emotionally-driven person, and it dictates my life.” 

She goes on to say that the songs initially capture “a moment in time, where there’s something in me that [fixates] me.” She says that this is something that remains constant throughout the album, “As you start working on [the songs] it can pretty much go anywhere.”

Yet this incentive of having songs “go anywhere,” as Ariane puts it, is not without intention. Instead of giving clear direction, Lesser Evil instead opts to leave enough space in their songs to allow listeners to become lost in them, forcing them to find their own final destination. “I’m obsessed with everything that’s hidden; everything that’s tacit,” Ariane says. She explains that she has been doing psychoanalysis for five years now, and that this process translates directly into Lesser Evil’s music production. “When I try to write songs and capture that initial spark, I am also trying to tap into everything that’s hidden.” 

This process also inspired the album’s title, which refers to the “subterranean” elements of the human psyche. When our conversation transitions from focusing on the album’s production process to its title, Ariane describes the decision to name their project “Subterranean” as a “no-brainer.”

The controlled level of ambiguity that Lesser Evil conveys on Subterranean is clear on the singles that have been released leading up to the album. The song “Fiction” feels like an underwater voyage through subdued synths, with Ariane’s voice guiding listeners to their own conclusions as she softly sings about yearning, isolation and mystic love. Although quite different sonically, the bass-heavy dance track “Contemplate” is a surreal voyage through an underground tunnel, and Ariane’s distorted vocals equally shine on the song’s darkest and most upbeat moments. The instrumentation on these songs might change, but all have one thing in common: they are intended to resonate directly with the listener. 

Commenting on how they decide which sounds to keep while producing their music, Lamarche-Ledoux explains: “It could just be a synth sound, or the perfect amount of reverb on the [vocals]. It just has to be something that interests us, and that we can actually feel.” He elaborates by saying that while this process might “seem simple… it is actually very subtle,” and that it takes a lot of time to finalize.

Through this process, the duo aspires to create an auditory experience that listeners truly yearn for. “It has to resonate enough,” Ariane explains. “Christophe has to hear that little backbone, and be like ‘yeah, let’s spend [countless] hours on this.’” The music is intended as “a hybrid of classical songwriting” layered over “all the modern ways of treating sound,” Ariane says with a smile. The songs, as they explain, must emanate that “subterranean” reaction in thought as well as feeling. After all, nobody spends time in the studio isolating sounds and fine-tuning them if they never elicited an emotional response in the first place. 

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Lesser Evil by Ebru Yildiz

Asking the duo about their creative traditions before hitting the studio, Ariane says that their music typically forms itself through improvisation: “[B]asically, we show up and see what happens.” But at a certain point in the day, Ariane and Lamarche-Ledoux do in fact have an unspoken ritual to uplift one another’s spirits. “We’re looking for high-fives,” Ariane says. “We never know what we’re going to do when we arrive; we just show up and do a session. But then, we always say that we’re looking for that ‘high-five’ moment, when we’re so enthused by our work that we begin screaming and high-fiving.”

Ariane notes that they have an additional, unorthodox tradition while making music: belting out lyrics from 90s hits like Jock Jams’ “Are You Ready For This” during their more successful moments during production. “I’m usually in the back and Christophe is in the studio,” Ariane says, “so sometimes we don’t really see each other for hours. And then he’ll just say, ‘Are you ready for this?’ and I [start singing] in the back.”

Wrapping up our interview, I ask Ariane and Lamarche-Ledoux what Lesser Evil fans can expect in the months following the release of Subterranean. “Will you guys be touring at all?” I wonder, “or will you be looking to make some music videos? Or are you guys just going to be taking a break because your album is out and you’re tired,” I muse. Lamarche-Ledoux chimes in by saying. “Are you crazy? That’s not how it works!” We all share a good laugh.

“We’ve worked for years on this record,” Lamarche-Ledoux says. “We’re really proud of it, and we want to make it [have] a life. We’re getting into some activities — some shows here and there, including a Montreal show and a Quebec show. We’re probably going to play in New York at some point next year as well.” He elaborates by saying that because Lesser Evil is a DIY project: “It’s really insane, and we’re having trouble doing all these things at once. It’s also all out-of-pocket money, so it’s pretty fucking crazy,” he jokes. “We’re really just smashing this project into the world as hard as we can.” 

The band notes that music videos and visualizers are not something that they are willing to take-on themselves, but that they are not opposed to having creatives try to visualize their work. This has been done twice already for songs off of Subterranean, including collaborator Joël Morin-Ben Abdallah’s otherworldly visuals for “Fiction” as well as Abdallah’s recent, psychedelic visualization for the track “Haze,” which uses images from the 1981 Hungarian movie Son of the White Mare.

As a final question, I ask the duo whether there is anything else they would like to chat about. Ariane replies promptly, saying that more than anything, “...I just want people to listen to the album… for us, we worked so many years on this. I just want other people’s judgment on [Subterranean]. I’m tired of listening to my own analysis.”

Lamarche-Ledoux echoes this sentiment in his answer, but also notes that bringing the world’s artistic community together is the primary response he wants to elicit. “Now the most fun part of doing art is over, which to me is making music. We’re getting into touring, and doing promotional stuff… this is kind of less fun to do. Moving forward, I want to meet more people who are interested and genuine about art, and our music. That’s all I want: I don’t necessarily want an ‘enemy interview,’ or a TV spot. I just want it to be about the love of music, and being true. Not about success.”

Subterranean comes out on October 14th, but in the meantime you can listen to Lesser Evil’s ethereal new singles on their Spotify or other streaming platforms. They also have two upcoming shows you’ll want to check out – catch them on November 4th in Quebec City at Le Pantoum, or November 5th in Montreal at La Sotterranea.

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Lesser Evil in Montreal post-interview; photo by the author

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SUBTERRANEAN

Out October 14, 2022

1. New/Same

2. Fiction

3. Subterranean

4. Heights

5. Wandering

6. Contemplate

7. Haze

8. Heavenly

9. Hot-Blooded

10. Reincarnation

Engineered, composed and produced by Lesser Evil

Mixed by Mark Lawson

Mastered by Brian Lucey at Magic Garden Mastering

Artwork by Caroline Robert

Source photo of the diver by Odile Gamache

Logo by Florian Petigny

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Lesser Evil

Website | Instagram | Bandcamp

Facebook | Spotify | Apple Music

Spencer Nafekh is a tireless reader, writer, editor, and advocate for the written word. With an undergraduate degree in Concordia's English and Creative Writing program imminent, he plans to pursue a Master's specialization in journalism so that he can fully realize his career path. When Spencer is not working away, he is probably listening to experimental music while lost in the world of a science fiction novel.

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La Sécurité and Hot Garbage Talk Influences, Experimentation, and DISTORSION PSYCH FEST (Mothland)

DISTORSION PSYCH FEST poster by Tiny Little Hammers

Before plugging in the synths and warming up the fog machines, we were able to chat with two bands on the bill at this year’s DISTORSION PSYCH FEST leading up to their rollicking sets in July.

La Sécurité by Marc-Antoine Barbier

The first group we had our eyes on was La Sécurité, a newly formed art-punk supergroup featuring members from iconic Montreal bands such as Choses Sauvages and Jesuslesfilles. In the spring, they treated audiences to a delightfully frantic and groovy dual single release – “Suspens/Try Again” via Mothland. DISTORSION was the band’s first live show together, and it was a gig for the books. 

Sofie Milito of Also Cool: I'd love to hear a bit about your group's beginnings. How did La Sécurité come together?

Éliane Viens-Synnott of La Sécurité: The band initially started with Félix [Bélisle] and I noodling around during the pandemic to pass the time. We had fun mixing up all our influences — him having more of an electro/disco background, whereas I'm more into punk and new wave myself. We then invited three friends to join. I met Melissa [Di Menna] in Vanille, this other band we played in together. We realized quite quickly that we were very compatible creatively. Laurence-Anne [last name unknown] is a good friend and has collaborated with Félix a couple times on other projects, so it kind of seemed like a no-brainer. We met Kenny [Smith] in the past couple years in and around the music scene, and we clicked really quickly as well. He has lots of natural taste and talent. Long story short, we all came together in a pretty organic way. 

Also Cool: With members from a multitude of different bands and musical projects, is there anything you were (or still are) curious about experimenting with as a group?

Éliane: It's fun to switch up who is composing which part and to take in everyone's ideas. The first few songs were mostly written by Félix and I, but the more we go along, it's more of a collaborative effort. I guess that's the direction we are interested in experimenting with. It's kind of fun to be kept on our toes and it's a good project for that purpose.

AC: What was inspiring the band in the making of your first pair of singles (“Suspens / Try Again”)?

Éliane: I wrote those singles during the pandemic, so there are allusions to that for sure. We found our groove arranging the musical aspects of the songs together and they helped us to figure out our work dynamic.

AC: There's a voltaic energy to those songs that seems like great fun for a live setting. What's most exciting to you about playing this first live show at Distortion?

Éliane: I'm excited to break in our live performance in general, and to present news songs that were composed in a more collaborative way. You can't really know what it's going tobe like until you do it!

AC: If La Sécurité were stranded on a desert island, what would be your top media picks?

Éliane: See The Whirl by Delta 5, [Miyazaki's] Howl's Moving Castle, and Please Kill Me [by Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil].

AC: On the heels of your first studio recording, is there anything on the horizon for the band that you can tell us about?

Éliane: We’ve got a couple more shows planned before the end of the year. An album is in the works as well…

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Hot Garbage by Alex Carre

Combining krautrock and psychedelia, Hot Garbage has been releasing spell-binding tunes since 2017, coming out with their first full-length album RIDE via Mothland in 2021. Hailing from Toronto, they trekked over to play DISTORSION amid a series of US gigs. Catch them on their fall tour this November!

Sofie Milito of Also Cool: How did Hot Garbage come to be?

Julianna Carkevaris of Hot Garbage: Alex [Carlevaris] and Mark [Henein] had been playing in bands together since their early high school days. I joined in on bass when this project was getting going—around 2014—then Dylan [Gamble] joined on keys shortly after. 

Also Cool: What are you experimenting with these days?

Julianna: We're currently working on a new record, and for the past couple of years we've been exploring new approaches to the songwriting process. The pandemic forced us to work on things while being apart from each other, which had advantages and disadvantages. I think now, we're finding a new balance between that and the synergy and spontaneity of getting ideas out by playing together in an improvised way.

AC: RIDE takes us on a scorching, swirling journey from minute one to its trippy finish. Can you tell us a little about the album’s world and what was inspiring you in the making-of?

Julianna: I think the inspiration is quite varied throughout the record, but generally, we draw a lot of ideas and moods from imagery and photos, cinema, books, mysterious phenomena — both worldly and otherworldly ["RIDE is all at once dread, beauty, wonder, horror and mystery"]. 

AC: As a band, what’s your favourite part about a live gig?

Julianna: The give and take, and the exchanging of energy.

AC: If Hot Garbage were stranded on a desert island, what would be your top media picks? 

Julianna: [The film] Goodfellas. It is a marvel of cinema with a great soundtrack. RIP, Ray Liotta.

AC: What’s the hottest garbage you’ve come across?

Julianna: It's pretty hot right now actually, so I probably walked by some today… and it will probably just keep getting hotter. Enjoy it while you can.

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La Sécurité

Bandcamp | Instagram 

Hot Garbage

Bandcamp | Instagram

Sofie Milito

Bandcamp

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OMBIIGIZI Incites Change Through Embracing Musicianship as Cultural Responsibility on Debut "Sewn Back Together"

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OMBIIGIZI (from left to right: Daniel Monkman, Adam Sturgeon) by Rima Sater

For moccasin-gaze band OMBIIGIZI, musicianship is about more than self-expression, it’s about cultural responsibility. 

“If we’re going to be Indigenous artists, we also have a responsibility to share parts of ourselves that not a lot of musicians necessarily have to wear. Being able to experience that struggle together is what helps us to overcome its challenges,” shares Adam Sturgeon, one half of OMBIIGIZI.

Composed of Anishinaabe musicians Daniel Monkman (Zoon) and Adam Sturgeon (Status/Non-Status), Toronto/London band OMBIIGIZI formed in 2021 and shortly thereafter composed their Polaris-Prize-nominated debut Sewn Back Together–released this past February on Toronto label Arts & Crafts. 

Produced by Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene, Sewn Back Together drew both Sturgeon and Monkman out of their comfort zones to combine their complimentary styles into an expansive listening journey that is both meandering and thunderous. Awash with grungy, whammy guitar and pop-punk vocals, intertwined with crystalline moods and open hearts, Sewn Back Together manifests honouring the reclamation of heritage and a mutual commitment to healing. 

“The spirit in me is my family / The past and the future / Together it’s nearer / To our prophecy / This resurgency / I’m hearing you calling / So I make this offering”

- “Spirit In Me” (Sewn Back Together) 

Through its exploration of both individual and collective identity, Sewn Back Together reckons with the realities of generational trauma, guided by familial teachings and a connection between Monkman and Sturgeon that transcends their collaborative brilliance. 

In a fortunate opportunity to speak with the band before their set at FME, we discuss how they hold space for each other’s vulnerability in their craft. 

“We put ourselves together in a safe way, so that we can understand eachother,” says Sturgeon. “Touring can be difficult because we go from our studio–a really safe environment–to the road, where we encounter the struggles of the music industry. It’s the reality of what we do, but we always have each other to actively remind ourselves why we’re doing what we’re doing,” he adds. 

On the notion of touring insecurities, Monkman chimes in: “Venturing into unknown territory can be scary. Most people we meet are really kind, but you never know when the convoy freedom flags will fly up… [Being in Quebec], I get caught up in the French language stuff and it’s making me think more and more about how we’re all trying to exist on Turtle Island. Ultimately we have to come together…” 

In a way that almost seems like Sturgeon can read Monkman’s mind, he continues: “Differences between us are our strengths. The more that we collectively acknowledge ourselves, the more we can collectively see each other. Our traditional teachings remind us of that.” 

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OMBIIGIZI by Rima Sater

Through embodying a creative mindset that uplifts their shared backgrounds, OMBIIGIZI incite change for future generations. One important aspect of the duo’s shared path is nurturing artists’ sobriety within the music industry, something that often comes as an afterthought when introducing safer space practices. 

“Looking back, how do you feel you set an example for a younger version of yourselves?” 

“Sobriety has been a big inspiration and is a movement within our band,” nods Monkman. “Our families are so important to us and addiction has been a part of our histories.”

“It’s really tough in the music industry,” says Sturgeon. “It’s hard not to want to partake in…desirable things? I suppose. But we keep each other humble and stay grounded.” 

“We don’t have alcohol in our greenroom or on our rider. When I first talked to my dad about sobriety, he couldn’t understand. But now looking back. I’m glad to be in the present with other people who have continued to build a strong foundation for themselves,” concludes Monkman.

It’s through informing the present by looking at the past that OMBIIGIZI cultivates their motivation to inspire themselves and future generations. With a sound, energy and outlook that comes to life on stage, OMBIIGIZI and their aspirations to make change sets them apart from the status-quo. With their first release stirring thoughtful conversation in less than a year of rotation, they’ve set in motion a notable artistic trajectory to keep a pulse on.

Don’t miss OMBIIGIZI at POP Montreal on Saturday, October 1st at L’Entrepôt77 at 7:00pm.

OMBIIGIZI  

Instagram | Bandcamp | Twitter

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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NO WAVES Talk FME, Gatekeeping Hats in Chinatown and Getting into Metal

NO WAVES with Malaika Astorga for Also Cool

At the tail-end of our FME weekend, we were able to catch up with surf garage rock band NO WAVES from Montreal. We covered their show at Bar L'Escogriffe, where they had played alongside Jess X, Piss for Pumpkin, and TVOD earlier this year, and were excited to catch up.

By far the youngest band at the festival, we chatted about their gratitude for the opportunity, who they were looking forward to seeing, as well as their personal style influences.

Malaika Astorga for Also Cool: How are you all feeling about playing your first festival in rural Quebec with Animal Collective?

Sam for NO WAVES: It's really crazy; it's crazy as fuck. I never realized that getting to something like this was actually possible. I feel kind of freaked out.

Also Cool: In a good way?

Sam: Yeah, definitely.

Angel: I don't think it's fully sunk in that we're here, that we're doing this. I feel very excited and grateful to be super far away from home just to play music; I think it's so sick. It felt super silly seeing our name with all these huge artists. It gives me a lot of hope.

Cy: I'm on par with everyone else. It's not freaking out, but it's like, we're really out here, 8 hours away (from Montreal). Especially shows like the one we’re going to play at MTELUS. That is crazy; I can't wrap my head around it. It's a shock.

Sam from NO WAVES

Also Cool: What goes into the outfits you wear, and what's the difference between dressing for a Montreal show and dressing for rural Quebec? What influences your personal sense of style?

Sam: I just really like these shorts, but I was scared of wearing them because of how cold it is here.

Angel: I base my personality around Mick Jones from the Clash. I saw him when I was 16, and I thought it was cool how he was tidy, so I usually try to go for a clean-ish look. 

Sam: Angel's business casual every day. Cy is the one who's the most consistent with his style, though.

Cy: Honestly, I love doing this; I love dressing well. It makes me happy. 

Sam: Cy used to have a school uniform, so on a Friday, when we had a show, we would go straight from school to our show, and he would stay in his uniform.

Cy: Yeah, it started that way, but I realized that I also really liked it. I'm a big fan of uniforms, I'm not great in terms of creative outfits, so this was the most uniform thing I could put on. I can't do t-shirts, but that's me 

Also Cool: The people who go to your shows really dress up.

Angel: Yeah, it's so cool!

Sam: I don't really wear t-shirts anymore because it gets too hot when I'm drumming.

Also Cool: What is the story of your hat? Where did you find it? You wear it all the time.

Cy: He's gatekeeping it, guys.

Sam: I can't remember the store's name, but they're sold out. I even asked the lady at the store to order more for me, but they haven't yet.

Sam gatekeeping his hat

AC: Who are you excited to see at the festival?

Sam: I want to see Hubert Lenoir because that's, like, the homie.

Angel: I would say Hubert, as well as Choses Sauvages and La Sécurité.

Cy: I'm also excited about Hubert, but I think all the metal bands here are really cool too. Metal is cool; I wanna explore it more. I would definitely see Dying Fetus.

Angel: I've been getting into heavier groups like that, and even their soundcheck was amazing.

AC: Anything else you want to touch on?

Angel: I just want to highlight that the scene in Montreal has been flourishing, especially since last summer. I've been interested in this group called YouTube to MP3, who are more hyerpop, and I'm just really excited for what's to come.

Catch NO WAVES this weekend at MTELUS and Entrepot 77 on Friday and Saturday, and stay tuned for another full-length interview with the band coming very soon.

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Between Frankness and Cheekiness is Eliza Niemi's "Staying Mellow Blows" (Vain Mina / Tin Angel Records)

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Eliza Niemi by Ben Mike

Alt-folk raconteur Eliza Niemi’s knack for sincerity and surrealism make her masterfully endearing. The Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist and singer first found her footing in so-called Canadian indie circles with her former band Mauno and since disbandment, has established a solo-venture defined by striking idiosyncrasy and collaborations. Now, Niemi finds herself with two EPs under her belt and operates an independent record label, Vain Mina, on the side.

Niemi’s deft and illustrious approach is refined on her to-be-released LP Staying Mellow Blows, out August 5th, 2022 on Vain Mina and Tin Angel Records. Between cello musings, folk experimentations and modular synth flirtations is Niemi’s most bountiful collaboration to date—a testament to her talent and creative kinship. Staying Mellow Blows features contributions from 19 confidantes within Niemi’s web and charts a back-and-forth intrinsic to community ties; transcending its pandemic-bound gestation period.

In our conversation with Niemi, we had the chance to discuss how Staying Mellow Blows evolved in passing through many hands, the way she is sustained by innovative relationships, and the experience of getting a tramp stamp of her album name.

Read the full interview below!

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Eliza Niemi by Ben Mike

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter for Also Cool: You are a prolific world-builder when it comes to your collaborations. How has your creative process transformed from the solitary practice captured on your first EP, Vinegar, to that being realized on your to-be-released Staying Mellow Blows?

Eliza Niemi: With Staying Mellow Blows, I wanted to preserve the solitude and intimacy of my older EPs in the core of the songs, but make the arrangements a joint effort with the other players on the album. I basically wrote a bunch of songs on cello, guitar and keys, and then sent them around to my friends all over North America to build on. Some were a bit more collaborative in earlier stages, like how "Walking Feels Slow" was co-written from the start with Will Statler, or "Sushi California" and "Trust Me" were co-produced by Mike Fong.

This record was my first time fully recording and producing my own vocals, cello, keys, and guitar. That part of the process was quite solitary. It created a cool dichotomy with the deeply collaborative process of all my friends writing and layering their own parts overtop. It was like I leaned even further into the intimacy and introspection of my previous releases—which were recorded by Louie Short in a small studio here in Toronto—and then turned that on its head by completely opening it up to other musicians' perspectives. I think in this way, my creative process has expanded both inwards and outwards. Making this record has been an exercise in understanding myself and in letting go—trusting the people around me.

Also Cool: Branching off of that: Did working with your friends bring about anything of the album that you hadn't initially expected? 

Eliza Niemi: Sending these vulnerable, raw songs to my far-away friends and having them interact with them so honestly was a beautiful way to feel close to them. It was an emotional process receiving everyone's stems over the pandemic. I put a lot of careful thought into whom I asked to play on which songs, but didn't give anyone specific direction. Each friend blew me away with their sensitive and brilliant playing and singing. The odd time when I would send two players the beds of a song simultaneously, they would send back parts that serendipitously worked perfectly with one another. It was pretty magical. Each player expanded their song(s) in ways that I never would have been able to. The album is almost like a web of emotional and musical conversations. 

AC: You and your hive are close-knit in more ways than one. Can you tell me about how these relationships contribute to your label Vain Mina? 

EN: I started Vain Mina as an imprint for my first solo release, mostly to seem more legit to press and industry people, while still being able to own all the rights to my music. "Vain Mina" is adapted from the Finnish vain minä which means "only me,” with a sort of childish inflection. I called it that somewhat ironically because I was setting out to do everything myself, but it ended up being birthed from the efforts of many members of my community.

Mark Grundy (Heaven For Real, Quaker Parents) had been involved in DIY labels back in Halifax, and had been self-releasing music for a decade. He helped me a ton at the beginning. I'd say we basically started the label together. Our second release was Quaker Parents' Our Drawing Club in 2019. Louie Short has been our resident engineer from the beginning and has worked on all of mine and others’ releases to-date.

We all play on each other's recordings as well. I guess we're a collective… Bolstering each other and aiding one another in self-releasing under the label name. We're trying to organically build something with like-minded people and facilitate transparency, artists owning the rights to their music and knowing exactly what's going on at all times. The evolution of the label has felt natural in this sense... We’ve continued to link up with people who share this vision and have gone from there. 

AC: Going back to Staying Mellow Blows: Your leading singles are accompanied by music videos with an uncanny undertone in commonality. What informs your visual and online identity? 

EN: In line with the collaborative nature of this album, I brought songs to friends who make visuals and gave them free reign to interpret them. I've had certain people I like to work with since Vinegar, and they made videos for this album too, like Ryan Al-Hage and Ali Vanderkruyk, as well as some new collaborators like Gart Darley and an exciting to-be-announced artist. 

In terms of my visual and online identity, I gravitate towards things that I find interesting and inspiring. I have an affinity for miniatures, puppets, figurines and outsider-art, which has been present in a lot of the visuals throughout my solo career. I think these things represent how I feel about my music and expressing myself in general. I find making art to always be a sort of clunky, funny, sad, and overall odd representation of the self. Weird little puppets, stained glass, and sculptures convey that well for me.

AC: Speaking of your music videos; can we talk about the extremely rock n’ roll moment of getting your album title tattooed on camera? What inspired this adventure? 

EN: Back in the winter, my friend June was driving me around NYC. At golden hour in Manhattan, we passed a sprinter van with a fun little decal on it. I said, "It looks like a tramp stamp," and we laughed. I then said, "I should get it," and he said "staying mellow blows”—in reference to the title of my unreleased album, which he'd heard every version of for the past two years. We laughed and then I got serious again and said, "That's a great idea!” Over the course of that trip, I conceptualized the music video. I wasn't sure if I was serious about it until it was actually happening. Honestly, I mostly did it to make June laugh and think I was cool, I think it worked. I don't regret anything. It also perfectly encapsulates the sentiment of “staying mellow” being dumb.

AC: In closing, what would you tell your younger self from this moment looking back on your musical career so far? 

EN: What a nice question. I would say: "Don't get the tattoo!" Just kidding! 

It's a hard question because I don't wish anything had gone differently… It’s all led me to where I am now, which is a good place, I think. But yeah, I guess I would tell my younger self to trust your gut, to not be afraid to change gears, and that everything is gonna work out, kinda.

Don’t miss Eliza Niemi on tour!

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Staying Mellow Blows

Out August 5, 2022 via Vain Mina / Tin Angel Records

1. MPF (Movies)

2. Sushi California

3. Tea On A Plate

4. Murphy’s

5. Trust Me

6. Walking Feels Slow

7. Don’t Think

8. Not Killing Bad Energy

9. Leave Me

10. Death I

11. Death II

12. Rolling

13. Staying Mellow Blows

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Eliza Niemi

Instagram | Bandcamp

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Take a Sip of Cola's Post-Punk Debut "Deep In View" (Fire Talk)

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Cola’s Tim Darcy (left), Evan Cartwright (middle) and Ben Stidworthy (right) by Colin Medley

Amidst our post-truth media landscape ablaze with sensationalism, bound by the tirelessness of superficial consumer culture, arrives Deep In View, the debut LP from Canadian three-piece Cola, out this Friday via New York label Fire Talk Records.

Composed of long-time collaborators Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy —formally of beloved Montreal band Ought— and Evan Cartwright of U.S. Girls/The Weather Station, the locally-star studded post-punk outfit is void of artificiality, despite its name.

Rather, Deep In View relishes in poetic revelations in a era of lukewarm takes. With an observational tone akin to David Byrne’s commanding Talking Heads personas, coupled with direct, yet animated, guitar-bass-drum arrangements reminiscent of early works by The Strokes, Cola strikes political conversation on modern life with refreshing sincerity.

Chatting with Cola, lead singer and guitarist Tim Darcy attributes the band’s “triumphant honesty” as an outcome of working as a three piece.

“The writing process for this record was pretty nimble and we could workshop things readily,” explains Darcy. “Ben and I have been writing together for a long time, and though there were elements that we wanted to bring into this new project, there were major structural differences; like working with Evan who has such a singular touch, and writing songs separately during periods of on and off isolation,” he adds. “We wanted to keep the band a three piece and see what we could do melodically with sparse instrumentation.”

Since 2019, the trio draws inspiration from each other, whether through in-person sessions or building upon demos sent back and forth during the creation of Deep In View. Drummer Evan Cartwright says the nature of Cola’s experimentation is a welcomed change.

“There is a level of trust in this project that I don’t have in most creative situations. We all give each other so much agency to be able to redirect and change what we’re working on, which doesn’t happen in every band,” he shares.

“I don’t feel an impulse to control. I actually want [Tim and Evan] to change what I’ve written!” adds Stidworthy.

“Mechanically, it’s part of the definition of a band; a chemical reaction that happens when people bring their own idiosyncrasies to the table. What makes Cola Cola is everyone’s individual contributions resulting in this record,” elaborates Darcy.

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Cola by Colin Medley

Sonically, Cola’s collaborative patterns aim to compose “worlds or moods that are difficult to pin down emotionally,” explains Stidworthy. Part of guiding audiences through an intentionally off-kilter listening experience is largely driven by Cola’s lyrics, which are often introspective, unfettered and sometimes irritable – yet always graceful.

“I did lean into a personal lens much more on this record than with Ought,” says Darcy. “I tapped into lyrical mindsets and characters as vehicles for my perspective as a writer.”  

Darcy’s arresting performance on Deep In View comes from adopting a more traditional “front-man” personality - quintessential to the band’s post-punk roots.

 “[The vocals] do have a more singer-songwriter, post-punk clunky-ness to them, (laughs). While the sound isn’t totally shocking, to us or people familiar with our past projects, listening to our songs feels different… Much more personal,” notes Darcy.

Rounding off our interview, Cola speaks of keenly of returning to touring and bringing their meditations to life.

“I’m excited to just get up and play our asses off!” beams Cartwright.

“We’re a guitar band and I think, we’ve made a good album of guitar songs. Hopefully people will experience joy and our songs will make someone feel something and experience a pivotal moment,” muses Stidworthy.

“Even when we played our first returning shows, they were amazing. It’s a lot to ask an audience to sit through a whole set of songs they’ve never heard before, but everyone who came out was great! So far we’ve been getting back into the flow and it’s like no time has passed. I hope that everyone gets to experience that very soon if they haven’t already,” adds Darcy.

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Deep In View

Out May 20, 2022 via Fire Talk Records

Pre-order here

1. Blank Curtain

2. So Excited

3. At Pace

4. Met Resistance

5. Degree

6. Water Table

7. Gossamer

8. Mint

9. Fulton Park

10. Landers

Written by Tim Darcy & Ben Stidworthy

Supercollider, Guitar (“Blank Curtain”) & Drums by Evan Cartwright

Guitar, Vocals and Lyrics by Tim Darcy

Bass, Guitar & Keys by Ben Stidworthy

Recorded by Valentin Ignat

Mixed by Gabe Wax

Mastered By Harris Newman

Artwork by Katrijn Oelbrandt

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Cola

Instagram | Bandcamp

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, radio host & DJ, and a musician.

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Interzone’s "Transcendental Cuisine" Marks an Exciting Comeback in the Electronic Scene

via Interzone

Translations of interviews in this article were done by its author.

The Transcending Experience of "Transcendental Cuisine"

After entering through a door located near the lively intersection of St. Laurent and St. Joseph, the participants descended a few short steps before arriving at the basement venue of La Sotterenea. They were greeted at the door for tickets in a small hallway lined with two doors that made up the space: the chill room on the right and the noise room on the left.

The April 29th show, titled "Transcendental Cuisine," was Interzone's first show back since the start of the pandemic – and it was remarkable. The show, which began at 8PM and finished at 3AM, featured six local artist sets ranging from live noise to techno and electro DJ sets. Throughout the night, you could go between listening to Kore, Wormhole of Doubt, Stan K, Nixtrove, Myfanwy, Neo Edo, and Matthew Raymond, and spending time in the chill room across the hallway where a bar, pool table, comfy sofas, warm light, and a merch table could be found.

The show hosted somewhere between 100-120 attendees, and both rooms were filled throughout the night. I spoke with several of the participants, organizers, and artists at the event to hear their thoughts on both the show itself and the broader collective. 

Playing for Interzone

I spoke with Jessy Myfanwy, who played her first-ever official DJ set at the Interzone show. As she explained, she had often played with her friends, but this was her first time having a curated set.

Jessy became involved in the electronic music scene in Vancouver at 18, attending underground disco and tropical house shows. She then oriented herself towards more experimental, "hard and weird" genres five years ago. 

When I asked Jessy if she had any specific musical intentions in her mixing. She explained that she liked to play "Very chaotic mixes that still have some sort of accessibility to the general population."

"I really like playing electro remixes of bangers and a lot of industrial music. [I'm] getting a bit more into techno now. I've always been really into industrial music and industrial kinds of techno. I want to experiment with genres like opera… I'm really into contemporary opera."

Jessy loved her experience playing her first show at Interzone. "They did such an excellent job organizing it," she explained. "I love when there's a mix of live sets and DJing.

[It was] my first time being to Sotterenea since before the pandemic, and I forgot how much I loved the space. Having a chill room is really important, outside of the music, because it gives space. You can be involved in different layers of participation which I really like." 

Along with the space's disposition, Jessy was happy with the turnout, which she described as a "mixed crowd" of participants coming from different scenes.

Who is Interzone – What is Interzone?

With no fixed origin, Interzone emerged out of inspirations tracing back to the European industrial scene and Tunisian upbringings. I got the chance to speak with Ghazi Bena, one of the co-creators of the collective, who described the collective – active since 2018 – as being a product of the kind of musical and artistic drives he and co-creator Habib Bardi experienced prior to their arrival in Montreal. 

Interzone also grew out of a desire to break out of the increasingly commodified rave and electronic music scene of Europe, explained Ghazi. The European electronic scene had, at that point, reached a kind of "saturation," a nearly "unreachability in which you could no longer do anything innocent and pure," he said. "It was like a structure already made, too deep-seated, too commodified."

Upon arriving in Montreal, Ghazi and Habib grew to appreciate the "kinds of territories which weren't devoured by the 'business' side we now see in the scene."

Fluid, in movement, spontaneous, explosive, absolute chaos – Interzone seeks to embody a space in which artistic expression may emerge without being submitted to the rigidity of capitalism. The very structure – or perhaps, lack thereof – of the collective illustrates its philosophical underpinnings. 

One of Interzone's significant motives is, as described by Ghazi, a kind of "effective urgency," an urgency to "organize, to create that kind of space, that space of existence." He wanted to clarify that this motive did not stem merely from the organizers. "The core of the artistic drive does not come from us; it comes from the artists' performances [who] are doing incredible things. It's the people who attend and who have a particular interest in music and performance in general…it is those who make art and music live."

The organizers were pleased with the event, agreeing that it was their most successful one. "The party was a great pleasure, [to get to] see this energy which emanates from the people and the artists…to see that people are still excited, still here." 

Ghazi noted the fun they had organizing and experiencing the event, which is crucial to what they seek to create. Although they maintain some level of artistic exigency, they seek to minimize the 'seriousness' of their collective. "There is some form of seriousness to have, but at the same time…[we aim to] not transform the serious aspect into something hermeneutic and opaque which does not accept difference.

We had so much fun…it is something which makes us live, not materially speaking…but in an existential sense."

Playing with Interzone

I also spoke with Willliam Humphrey, who describes himself as "a filmmaker and an editor" who likes "helping out wherever needed." 

William attended the event and has been involved with Interzone for several years. He described the fluid structure of Interzone: "There's this ability for everyone to take a small role or even just be present." For William, the event reinvigorated a sense of excitement regarding the artistic scene after two years of pandemic-ridden slumber.

With the impressive number of new collectives emerging into the scene, I asked William what he thought made Interzone unique. "I think what makes each one unique is their sensibility," he explained, "They're willing to take risks and incorporate local musicians with international musicians."

One example he cited was an event they organized in 2019 when they invited the England-based Giant Swan to play at a loft rave. William explained that the collective thought to themselves, "Giant Swan has never played in Montreal. Let's book them. Let's get them from the U.K. to Montreal and have them play a show with a ton of great local acts."

"It's not an easy one to do," he continued. "Financially, it's hell. But it's the exhibitions and events that they host that are so worth it."

William is equally excited for what's to come – parties, shows, and events all summer in the hot Montreal weather. As these things come back to life, I wanted to know what William would like to see change or happen in the electronic scene. "More windows [and] air circulation," he noted. "But I think more than anything, utilizing the outdoors as a space to hold events, whether it be on the mountain or in the bushes or maybe off the islands."

Photo by Eva Miette Giard

Interzone, the Scene, and What's to Come

As pandemic restrictions diminish and the Montreal artistic and electronic music scene comes back buzzing, there is a new horizon of possibilities to create new kinds of spaces, movements, and collectives. Interzone is coming back strong: alongside this past show, the collective officially launched their label in March, and with it released three tapes by Habib, Stan K, and a live set of Lier Lier. 

"Other than the shows that allow these brilliant people to express themselves on stage, this label has been the crystallization aspect of those expressions."

For Ghazi, it is essential for the collective to not project too much into the future. By seeking to create new existential territories of artistic expression, he explained, the spontaneity which comes with not over-projecting is vital to maintain. 

That being said, there are projects in the works, and Interzone will have more events and artistic productions for those who missed the last event. They are looking to sustain the same energy from the last event. "It is an energy that should not end."

Ghazi expressed some worry about the increased competition and business model absorbed by the Montreal techno scene. The kinds of artistic spaces or sites of expression Interzone seeks to create, strive to exist "outside of the entire system of capitalist value in which we live," explained Ghazi. "Many movements around go against this vision of art and artistic expression. They are more in a business kind of mood…they put their intentions in there."

"We are just striving to do things as…innocent as possible, without wanting to walk on the feet of others, [or] on other collectives who are doing excellent work, [with] many people who are truly brilliant and do incredible work."

 "It is in the most uncontrollable chaos and the least tangibility possible, there are things which leave their frame, which leave our conceptions, our system of values, our ways to see things, and this is what drives us, that is the drive we are looking for."

Soline Van de Moortele is a Philosophy student at Concordia/insatiable feminist, raver, and writer. 

Instagram | Wordpress

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Enter Panther Modern: NFTs, Community-Building & Half-Life (Sextile / HEAT)

LA2022 cover by Panther Modern

Picture yourself in a dark room, lasers filtering through the smoke machines. The bass cuts through the noise of the crowd and you see a group of people you think you know dancing across the room. Your body is filled with warm static, and the sensory dream of dancing with strangers takes over.

This is the world of Panther Modern, the electronic project of Brady Keehn, an NFT-savvy artist from LA. You know we love community-oriented musicians who make us feel like we’re in a dark room dancing the night away, so we reached out. 

We spoke with Brady about the elusive world of NFTs, his creative career and how he’s been building virtual communities since the 90s. 

Press photo via Panther Modern by Nedda Afsari

Brady is a singer-songwriter in the band Sextile and Panther Modern, his solo project. He explains it as, “experimental in the way that [the project] tests the algorithms of Facebook and Instagram by creating virtual avatars to see how far I can push them. I make dance music, and in the same way, it’s an experiment to see what people will dance to.”

After touring and performing on a stage extensively with Sextile, Brady became frustrated with the power dynamics that exist between audiences and performers, which is partially what led to the creation of his online avatars, JA and JB. Wanting to break that barrier, Brady now only brings a sampler with him to live shows and immerses himself within the crowd so that everyone can sing and dance with him. “It’s way more fun than being on a stage by myself. It freaks me out, it makes me feel like a monkey on a stage saying, ‘Look at me dance!’ I don’t like that vibe, I’d rather be with everyone else.”

Artwork by Panther Modern

These avatars allow Brady to access alternate identities in the virtual world. JB, for example, doesn’t sing, but he might make techno music; while JA does sing and acts more like Brady. Both are trained with all of his movements using MOCAP (motion-capture) technology. According to Brady, it’s all an experiment, while trying to disrupt the status quo. (He’s also been doing some very cool MOCAP work with Reggie Watts -- check it out here.)

To consciously push the algorithm is refreshing, especially when we can easily feel so helpless; trying to appease the robot overlords so that our followers are actually able to see the content they signed up for.

On that note, Brady expands, “The more we appease the robot, the more eyes we get, all to hopefully sell vinyl or a t-shirt. It’s exhausting and unsustainable.” And so the question remains: How can I be myself on the Internet in a way that will work for the algorithm, and won’t burn me out?

Los Angeles 2020 Artwork by Panther Modern

Going back to Brady’s roots, he has always been searching for different ways to expand his reality and to find community via the World Wide Web. Growing up in the suburban farmlands of Virginia, Brady got his first taste of escapism via online chat rooms, and through a video game called Half-Life. Already a fan of sci-fi, Brady started designing his own levels and avatars in the game, gaining interest in 3D animation and world-building. However, Brady’s futuristic escapism was cut short when he was sent to military school, and then Catholic school, and worst of all… art school. (Just kidding, but not really) 

Despite these suffocating environments, Brady looked for alternative ways of being every step of the way. It was difficult for him to accept his reality, which he says made him a big futurist, and developed his appreciation of other people who question systems of value, commerce, and power. 

And so began our conversation around NFTs. We established that the world of crypto is dominated by tech bros and financial experts, who aren’t always willing to share their knowledge with anyone outside their Bitcoin and Ethereum-fuelled worlds. The hoarding of resources and information allows a select few to control this emerging digital space, a practice which Brady is adamantly working against. 

He believes that with any new tech sphere, it’s important for artists and marginalized peoples to get in early to be able to shape their future. Brady has been sharing resources on his Twitter, giving talks with other NFT-savvy artists, as well as his process of creating and minting his own NFTs. 

Drawing from his personal experience with labels, contracts, and their meager trickle-down of funding models, Brady knows firsthand that Spotify cheques are not paying anyone’s rent. This is why he decided to release his music independently with Panther Modern, selling each track individually as an NFT. 

While he’s only recently been selling his songs as NFTs, it’s already proven to be a more viable source of income, rather than waiting for Spotify streams to roll in. Along with his collaborator Cameron Michel, the two have been able to use their income from NFTs to lease a large warehouse space that will act as a home for upcoming Panther Modern, Sextile, and other projects, including an NFT dance-centric company called HEAT. 

When I ask Brady what exactly could be an NFT, he explains that any original work can be an NFT and that you don’t need to be a huge artist to start making them. 

“It doesn't even have to just be digital. For example, say you make a painting. Take a picture of that painting, and then turn that into an NFT. Then, when that NFT is purchased, you could send the painting to the buyer.” 

The NFT market is still largely experimental, and Brady has been working with HEAT to turn dance moves and other unique sets of motion data into NFTs with the help of his MOCAP technology. This could be one way that viral dance moves (on TikTok for example) could be attributed to the original creator, and could secure income for them when those dance moves are replicated by huge artists in their music videos. The examples that come to mind, of course, are the countless Black artists who created viral dances on TikTok, only to rarely receive the credit they deserve. The technology would also allow these dances to be licensed to major video games and uploaded to your avatar there, all while still paying the original creator.

Another NFT avenue could be video game music. According to Brady, video game companies often don’t want to pay for music licenses because it’s too expensive, so they end up making their music in-house, leaving musicians completely out of that market. So, how do musicians get in? One idea he had was to mint loops to video game companies. They would then be able to use the loop (a drum beat, for example) to create their own music, and then mint that music. That way, everyone’s getting paid, and everyone samples each other. 

Then comes the potentiality of buying digital land with Ethereum. Brady actually has his own digital venue that people can explore, and when you click on his merch or NFTs, it takes you directly to his Bandcamp or NFT platform to buy that work. Big brands like Nike have begun to create their own metaverses, while other artists like Skawennati have used the ability to buy digital land in games like Second Life to reclaim stolen land and tell Indigenous histories through that platform. 

Brady got into making NFTs shortly after he started making video flyers for his shows on Instagram. Understanding that the algorithm pushes short video content, Brady took his knowledge of 3D rendering and ran with it, teaching himself everything off of YouTube tutorials. He now uses tools such as OctaneRender, Blender, Marvelous Designer, Substance Painter, After Effects, and his MOCAP suit to bring his creations to life. 

If you’re looking for an entry point to the world of NFTs, he suggested checking out Zora, Rarible, and Foundation. Brady explained that a majority of the crypto-convos happen on Twitter and Discord. He also wanted to emphasize that although the space can be intimidating, the best way to get into NFTs is to start making them yourself, especially if you’re not seeing the representation that you want to see in those spaces. While tech bros unfortunately dominate the news cycle surrounding NFTs, it doesn’t mean that communities that prioritize artists and marginalized groups don’t exist.  

“Start following the people who are creating NFTs, educate yourself, get involved in the communities. Zora requires an invite via an artist (like Clubhouse), so it's not like OpenSea, which is like a whenever, wherever, Walmart of NFTs. It’s not curated at all, which makes it hard to find good work. Marketplaces like Zora and Foundation incentivize members via invites, which then builds the community around the platform. It also reduces the cash grab schemes from investors.” 

And so, in a strange digital cycle, Brady has once again returned to the online community-gathering and world building he thought he had left behind for military school in the 90s. 

If you’re not in the NFT world, you can support Panther Modern by buying one of his very limited-run vinyl, t-shirts, or posters. He has also just released LA2022, a remix EP of his 2019 release Los Angeles 2020, which is available on all streaming platforms.

Panther Modern

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Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Mitch Davis Ditches Hibernation on Sunny Debut LP "The Haunt" (Arbutus Records)

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Mitch Davis by Richmond Lam

A trip around the sun has passed since we last touched base with Montreal multi-instrumentalist and do-it-yourself aficionado Mitch Davis.  In the meantime, Davis has tied a bow on his debut LP The Haunt and returned to the stage, in both in Montreal and at Austin, Texas’ SXSW music festival. Out April 29th, 2022 via Arbutus Records, The Haunt manifests a spectrum of mediations in both sound and spirit.

Realizing some compositions that predate Davis’ relocation to Montreal, The Haunt celebrates Davis stepping into his own with an entirely solo production: writing all the songs and playing all the instruments on the album, as well as recording much of the work on self-built equipment in his home studio. The result is a soulful and playful blend of jazz, funk and beaming pop; adorned with rhodes, clavinet, synth and drum machines. An album-long ode to themes of isolation and loneliness, as well as looking for love in the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic.The Haunt achieves both breeziness and brevity for a class-act spring listening experience.

Speaking with Davis leading up to his album release, I asked him how the final product came to be, knowing that The Haunt has been years in the making. We started first by chatting about how Davis knows when a song is complete.

“It’s a feeling that comes over me once I’ve obsessed over a song. Eventually, I won’t have anything else to add or take away. When I don’t know what to do next [in production], I try to keep at it. I have a lot of friends who will move on to another song in the meantime, but more often I’m obsessively working on one song for like, a month straight, and never putting it down; never stopping, listening to it day and night. Once it starts to lose its novelty and sound like mush, I’ll take a break for usually one day or so.”

“Do you have any rituals that you do to get back on track when this happens?” I wonder.

“Hmm, I don’t know about rituals,” smiles Davis. “But, once I get sick of a song and I’ve heard it too many times, to the point where it sounds like nothing, I’ll adjust the pitch, up or down. It triggers something in part of my brain —hearing my song in a different key— and that helps me to look at it fresh again.”

With self-reliance being at the core of The Haunt, I wanted to know where Davis finds inspiration when working alone. Unsurprisingly, he is moved by other jacks of all trades.

“I’m inspired by people who, like me, play all the instruments, record themselves, things like that,” he brims. “Though I try to not have influences be a conscious thing and act on creativity in the moment, there are important, multifaceted soloists throughout music history that influence me, like Stevie Wonder, Todd Rudgren and Sly Stone.”

On the note of his debut being entirely self-directed, Davis then told me about the narrative structure of The Haunt.

“It’s funny, years ago I was trying to get myself to create an album and nothing was working. I imagined having a set of literal hats, or characters in my mind, to embody and portray the thoughts and ideas I was trying to put into music. Nowadays, I don’t have to do that as much and I’m able to just be me. That said, I do feel inspired by holding and interacting with different instruments. Even if there are just drums down on a track, or some scratch guitar. Or, I’ll play bass for 12 hours until I get it just perfect… and then I’m done being the ‘bass player’ forever, and can move on to being someone else.”

“Do you have a particular relationship with any of your instruments?”

“I have the closest relationship with the piano, one of my first instruments. I never used to be much of a bass player, but now I feel really connected to it. I do feel the most inspired by piano because it’s where I can most easily express chords and experiment.”

With the unveiling of The Haunt, Davis looks forward to sharing his music in a live context. To conclude our conversation, he told me about rediscovering the energy of playing with a band and the direction he plans on taking with the project.

“Playing with a band opens up the door to a lot of improvisation and extending my songs in a natural way, which is something I can’t do alone. There are really nice surprises that come with a live setting because everyone brings their own tastes to it. I’m looking forward to bringing these experiences into my writing process. I only just started caring about recording… Normally, when I’m writing , half of the inspiration will come from going to shows and connecting with people, like the other bands I play with, like Marci and Sorry Girls. [The Haunt] is a weird record because it was spent in isolation, but I’m grateful that it kept me busy and got me through the tough, curfew-ridden Montreal winter.”  

The Haunt is out on April 29th via Arbutus Records and can be pre-ordered on their website.

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Poster by Amery Sandford

Montreal: Don’t miss Mitch Davis’ album-release show at Brasserie Beaubien on April 29th at 9PM with local supporters Night Lunch and Alicia Clara. Pre-sale tickets are available here.

Mitch Davis

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Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Morning Silk Talks NYC's Indie Pop Scene, "Skin," and Starting Their Own Studio

Lately, we've been spending our free time daydreaming about summer and curating soundtracks for our forthcoming main character moments. NYC-based alt indie-pop group Morning Silk fit the bill perfectly, with soft vocals and upbeat synthy instrumentals. 

Morning Silk's sound evokes the 2017-era indie pop/rock scene à la Clairo, Rex Orange County, & Her's. We chatted with the band about their experience with the scene in NYC, musical inspiration, and how they went from architecture school to indie pop.

Malaika for Also Cool: Hi! Nice to e-meet you. I'm curious what led you to music while in school for architecture. Do you think anything you learned in school affected your taste in music and aesthetics?

Frank Corr for Morning Silk: Hi! I never had much recording equipment growing up, but I was listening to a lot of bands that used DIY recording methods. Those bands helped me finish school, but then I thought, why can't I do what they did? So I began collecting some small recording gear with internship money I made. 

I was around a lot of painters, and used to be in painting myself. We were always tightly intertwined with listening to new music or just going to gallery shows/events where there was already some sort of music scene. A lot of punk bands played in Providence, so we were drawn to the idea of playing live and performing before we even had anything recorded.

Also Cool: What has your experience been like with the music scene in NYC? It seems like things have started to (slowly) open up again, and I'm interested to hear what you're looking forward to. 

Morning Silk: We are pretty new to the New York scene. I feel like I didn't really connect with a lot of music here or musicians until recently. Matt was saying that there are so many sub-scenes going on that you discover through playing shows here and whatnot. I recently started producing for a few artists, and now I finally feel like I've found my place in the city. We are finishing up our first record, so we are so hyped to play it for people! We just started playing shows with our friends and some of the artists I produce for, so we have created a little place for ourselves.

AC: How did you start your own studio? What was that process like, and what inspired it?

MS: Rob, Matt, and I would use this place called "The Tap Room" in Providence to rehearse/write and record. It wasn't really a studio at all, so we would have to lug Rob's drums from our apartment and set them up and break them down every single rehearsal. It was really exhausting, so we always dreamed of a place where we could leave things set up so we could record whatever we had on our minds right away. 

I started collecting some higher-end gear with a friend who was already in New York and just stored it with them. We would go to New York on weekends and record at a little practice space in Dan Bro. As Matt was saying, we eventually got tired of that, and Rob had found a new space. It was like a living room with a kitchen, but we could see a control room where the sink was, so we decided to try to make this the dream studio. 

We didn't have a lot of experience recording, but I was trained as an Architect, and Rob was an excellent builder, so we figured we would just figure it out as we go. Eventually, we partnered up with an audio engineer and made the space what it is today! It's very special, and we are so lucky we can record in our own self-funded/built space.  

AC: You've quoted MGMT as musical inspiration, but I'm curious if there are any local artists or friends who have helped inspire/influence your music as well.

MS: Matt was saying ever since we all started recording music, we mainly just listen to each other's demos now. Hearing what Rob and Matt are making is one of the most surprising and interesting things to hear. 

Same thing with our friends doing other things, like I am always inspired by whatever Sur Back is doing production-wise or what Richie Quake or Middle Part are working on. We are always working on each other's music now too. I guess that is a really nice way to learn/inspire each other. If I'm working a lot with a particular artist, it might bleed a little bit into the songwriting. For instance, my friend Michael is really into French House, so I might pick up a few jumping bass lines from that style here and there. 

Also, our friends Anna and Kristos are always putting us onto new things happening. In the end, I always run my ideas by Caroline (Sur Back) just to make sure I'm not making something completely insane or silly, haha. I am probably leaving out a lot of other people, but those are just some artists and producers, to name a few that we have been around as of lately.

AC: What can we look forward to from Morning Silk in 2022?

MS: I've been doing a lot of production for other people lately, so I am really looking forward to finishing and releasing our self-titled debut album. I've already started writing and recording the next album, so we plan to put out more than a few projects this year! Working on other people's projects has taught me to move faster and be more open to collaboration. We hope to make an EP this year between the two records I started recording, which will be a whole different vibe.  

Watch “Skin” by Morning Silk below

Morning Silk

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Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Hannah Lew Shares Inspiration for Cold Beat's Album "War Garden" (via Like LTD)

Driving late at night, blasting your obscurely named Spotify playlist to fit the mood, Cold Beat's new album "War Garden" makes the perfect soundtrack. Hannah Lew's poignant lyrics float about airy synths as she contemplates grief, the afterlife, and rebirth.

The album (released via Like LTD) was made over the pandemic via Zoom calls. "Exploiting the technology for how it could connect us" is how Lew describes Cold Beat's collective embrace of technologies that could potentially alienate otherwise.

We spoke to Hannah about the album, finding closure in dreams, and gardening.

Malaika Astorga for Also Cool: Can you tell us a bit about who you are and where you're from?

Hannah for Cold Beat: Half of us live in the Bay Area, half in LA. The project started back in 2013 with Kyle & I, but when Sean and Luciano joined a few years back, the band really became what it is today, a more collaborative practice with more varying songwriting and less a glorified solo project.

Also Cool: What was it like growing up there? Was there a creative/DIY scene, or is music something that you were drawn to independently?

Hannah: I grew up in a very different SF than the one that stands today. The cost of living was a lot lower, and it was just more accessible. Because of that, there were a lot of people making art and music. 

We all more or less met through the DIY scene in the Bay Area. We had all played shows together before Cold Beat formed. Sean actually played on the Cold Beat demos back in 2012 before it was even called Cold Beat. We've always been music buds, even though he didn't officially join the band until later. Kyle and I had played a few shows together with our respective bands before I asked him to play with me. Luciano worked at Amoeba SF with my husband, Andrew. I kind of eyeballed him for years before approaching him to play synths in the band. 

Though we definitely all came from a scene here, I don't really feel like the band has ever necessarily been part of a community here. We've always been doing our own thing kind of. 

AC: Now that the regular PR questions are out of the way, we can get a bit weirder. 

One of your lyrics, "In a dream, I don't like you," made me think a lot about how dreams are spaces for closure when it's not possible IRL, especially after this year or so in isolation. What's your experience with processing emotions while dreaming? Can you tell us about a favourite dream you've had?

Hannah: I think that dreams definitely offer a place to work out things that might be unattainable within the confines of the conscious mind. I think songs can serve that same purpose. 

For example, that song Weeds you're referencing was a song that Sean had sent as a demo, and I basically wrote the lyrics immediately upon hearing it. I think I sent vocals back 45 minutes after he sent the music. 

Sometimes you tap into this automatic writing where you're channelling directly from your subconscious. Melodies and sounds have a way of describing emotion in a post-lingual way that is often way more expressive and accurate than anything literal explanations can offer. Language just falls short, whereas a song can completely take you over and make you feel less alone. 

My favourite dream is one where I knew I was dreaming, so I decided to fly. It's only happened for me once or twice, but it felt really amazing.

AC: Throughout your music, there's a theme of both accepting and initiating change. What has your experience been like in this cycle of change and rebirth, and how does it tie into processing grief?

Hannah: Songs have always been a format where I like to work out narratives to help me cope with the inexplicable. We've all gone through many changes and dealt with deaths, births, breakups, all the stuff. Music-making has definitely saved my lifetime and time again by giving me a tool to process these things. 

AC: One thing I've learned from the pandemic is the ability to be highly intentional with who I give my energy to, especially in times of deep loneliness. I'm curious to know how you were able to maintain and nurture your friendships (and this album) over the pandemic and what you've learned from it. 

In other words, what have you learned about friendship over the past year and a half or so?

Hannah: Yeah, I hear that. I think many people have had a reckoning with their work and interpersonal worlds, hopefully reaching higher ground going forward. 

Sometimes, when I'm going through periods of heavier depression, I tend to retreat. Sadly, I think I did a lot of that during the pandemic and lost touch with many people. Thankfully we as a band maintained a songwriting practice that had us Zooming once a week and sending song files pretty constantly. That connection has been so vital for me. It kept me synthesizing my feelings and maintaining a close bond with people I love, regardless of how deep in despair I might have been any given day. 

One of the hardest parts of my isolation was losing access to my people, and thus a part of myself nurtured by those friendships. I was in a bubble with my family and only getting to experience myself within my family dynamic. At the same time, the part of my identity I've been fostering for the past 20 years or so since I started playing music was a bit starved. 

I think I really took stock of how important a collaborative process is to who I am as a person. It's been such a relief to be together again, practicing for our upcoming shows. Lots of PCR tests, but so worth it.

AC: What have you learned from gardening? What have the plants taught you that you practice in other areas of your life?

Hannah: Gardening has been such a humbling experience during this time. Watering dirt day after day and not seeing immediate results, yet still pushing on. It's also a somewhat private endeavour, not tied to any social validation. I'm not a naturally patient person, so it's humbled me quite a bit. 

It took almost a whole year to grow this one cauliflower, and I just harvested it and shared it with the band after practice last week. It was very satisfying.

It's optimistic to focus on plants. They lean toward the light and definitely forced me outside a lot, and kept me grounded.

AC: You've spoken a bit about rituals and the practice of being immediately present. Do you have any rituals or practices that you could share with us? 

Hannah: I think the only time I'm truly happy is when I'm in a flow state. Not thinking about the future or past, not looking at my phone while in company, not fractured in my attention span. 

Music-making, gardening, cooking are all things that keep my hands busy and in that flow state. I've been working with ceramics lately, too. It's similar to gardening in that there's a lot of room for error, humility. It requires your body to be in the moment, totally present. I like doing things I'm 'bad' at for that reason. I like to try new things and maintain a beginner's mind.

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Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Amsterdam Indie Quintet The Klittens Talk Humble Beginnings and Growing Closer with New Single "Canned Air"

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The Klittens by Megan Bruinen

Indie Amsterdammers The Klittens have won us over with their latest single “Canned Air.” Premiering October 15th on So Young Magazine, “Canned Air” and its accompanying music video is the quintet’s first release since their 2020 debut Pigeonhole. “Canned Air” was written by the band’s lead guitarist and backing vocalist Winnie Conradi after a heavy breakup in search of catharsis through the comfort of friends. In her own words on the track, Conradi explains:

“The song builds up around a single note and gets more and more dramatic as the song progresses. The vocals fight for a moment in the spotlight and find togetherness in the choir, only to get distorted by a raw and loud break. In a way it follows some kind of 6-stage plot structure, as it ends in completion; an aftermath.”

Charmed by the outfit’s knack for frankness and writing our new favourite breakup song, we chatted with 3/5 Klittens —Kat, Laurie and Michelle—about growing closer together through the realization of “Canned Air.”

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter for Also Cool: To start, can I ask about the origin story of your band?

Kat: Yaël and Winnie were sitting on a bench after school. I wasn’t there, but I can picture it. I’ve heard this story so many times; it’s almost like an old family tale. They came up with a band name, “The Klittens,” yet they didn’t have a band to name. I remember getting a call from them around that moment: Hello, we are starting a band and you are in it. We’re called The Klittens. And so it began.

Laurie: I bumped into Winnie at a concert and she knew through her roommate that I used to take drum classes in the past. After the concert, she walked up to me and asked if I wanted to join her not-yet-existing band for a few jam sessions. I was like, Sure, we’ll do some jam sessions and then awkwardly let our early friendship fade away. But, it turned out to be so much fun to play music together! These jam sessions got a little bit out of hand though.

Michelle: Winnie and I go way back because our parents are friends. She had told me about The Klittens and I remember thinking how cool it was that she had started a band. I’d always wanted to be in one, but it never really found people at the same level. Most of my friends who were in bands had been doing that since secondary school so they were much more skilled and comfortable jamming. When Winnie told me The Klittens were looking for a bass player, I had just started picking up guitar lessons again and thought to give the bass a try. Playing with them —as musicians at a similar level, but also and most of all as friends— has always been great fun and we grew a lot together.

AC: You've just released your brand new single "Canned Air,” congratulations! In your own words, what significance does this track hold for the band?

M: For me it’s a very emotional song, for several reasons, but partly because I think it was the first song we wrote that features all five of us singing. Developing it into the song it finally became was a process that has brought us closer together, especially through the way we explored combining our vocals.

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“Canned Air” stil by Kilian Kayser

AC: Can you describe your band dynamic and creative process when it came to writing "Canned Air"? 

L: Winnie wrote this song at home. After finishing the song, she sent the demo to us and it was our turn to adjust and complete the song. Although the structure and melody of the song already were something that we all really liked, I had to spice up the GarageBand drum sample and Yaël tweaked the lead vocals. Every time we write a song it’s a different process; sometimes someone makes a demo, sometimes we just jam. 

M: In the original song, Winnie imagined the main vocals to be more spoken-word-like, but that developed into a melodic singing with Yaëls input. The two styles created a different atmosphere. When we were recording the song in the studio, we got Winnie to speak the lyrics and Yaël to sing them at the same time. So it became more layered in the process.

Also Cool: I’d love to know more about the music scene in Amsterdam! Are there any particular venues or local bands that you love?
L: There are loads of cool bands and there is a very dense and supportive indie scene in Amsterdam, but also in the rest of the Netherlands. A band we love is Personal Trainer, a project by Willem Smit, who has supported us as a band since the beginning. I think my favourite venue is Cinetol. It’s a beautiful building and the programming is very diverse. It’s really accessible to play Cinetol as an emerging artist, which makes it a very interesting breeding ground for talent. 

M: And then there are a couple of cool emerging post-punk/art rock bands, like Global Charming and a fungus. Venues that are worth paying a visit if you’re in town would be Garage Noord, Skatecafé, De Nieuwe Anita, and the former church Paradiso.

“Canned Air” still by Marc Elisabeth

AC: On a more present note: What does the future look like for The Klittens? How can we keep up the momentum surrounding this release and support you going forward?

L: We hope we have a bright future. We are trying to get back on track after not being able to play live shows and going abroad due to the obvious reason. It would be great to go back on tour in Europe or the UK again and play shows, meet new people and discover new cool places. We would love to go back to the UK, but it’s going to be tough due to Brexit. The best way to support us is by ending Brexit! In all seriousness, though, I think the best way to support us is listening to our music and recommending us cool record shops, radio stations, magazines, venues and festivals throughout Europe, and maybe even worldwide, so we can reach the audience we want to reach. 

M: What Laurie said, and… If you’re looking for a cool t-shirt, we have merch too! 

Watch the music video for “Canned Air” below!

The Klittens

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Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Ada Lea's "one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden" Chronicles Montreal with Folk-Pop Ballads (Saddle Creek)

Standing on Parc and Bernard, wondering whether you should move back home for a while, Ada Lea's one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden becomes the perfect soundtrack for your trying-to-make-it-work-in-Montreal life crisis. The introspective folk/pop songs walk with you through the process of finding your identity and losing it again to someone who's not worth it, daydreaming about life in other cities, and wondering when to go home again. 

Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, Ada Lea's lyrics center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy's vignettes of city life. Her prose wanders through St. Denis in Montreal, conjuring memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. 

We spoke with Ada Lea about her new album, favourite memories, and of course, Montreal.

Ada Lea by Kristina Pedersen

Malaika Astorga for Also Cool: Your songs chronicle your life in Montreal and the city itself. How has your relationship with the city changed over the years? Can you tell us about a favourite memory or two?

Ada Lea: It's definitely sad to see many of the spots shut down over the years, and hideous buildings take their place, rent increasing, friends moving out of Montreal. Having lived some time in the States, I've come to appreciate the higher standard of living, accessibility to medical services, and overall feasibility of Montreal. 

It's hard to name a favourite memory, but the ice storm of '98 was quite memorable. I was pretty young, and the images of that time are fragmented and magical. 

Also Cool: How have you felt the music/art scene in Montreal shift over the years? What has your experience navigating the scene been like?

AD: Either the DIY scene has dissolved, or I am just not aware of what the scene looks like now - I'm not totally sure - all I know is that all the venues that were important to us back in the day have shut down, and I haven't heard of anything new popping up to replace them. Those spots were instrumental to my musical development and the growth of my peers and bands newly forming around that time. It felt like a really strong community of musicians that had the time and space to explore new sounds and the ability to afford these experiences.

AC: Your lyrics tell the stories of your memories, but almost like you're reminding yourself of what happened so that you don't forget. How has your relationship changed with the art of storytelling? 

I know you were inspired by Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, and I'm wondering how that impacted your writing.

AD: It feels like I have a better sense of what I'm after, what matters in a story, or maybe I'm quicker at identifying when I'm not touching on anything. There's also less of a desire to be awkwardly "poetic." When I was just starting out, I felt like I needed to embellish everything, to make it more abstract, or how I thought things ought to be said in a poem. These days I feel more confident in reaching for the concrete, adopting a conversational tone, or being open to the change of direction in a story. There is a whole range of different song types, too, and I'm just starting to explore which ones interest me most. 

I wrote the album as I was finishing the Neapolitan Quartet. I think her writing is something that I'll never grow tired of investigating. I became inspired by her character development, which will likely be explored in my third album, more so than this second one. 

“Hurt” Artwork by Monse Muro

AC: In your songs, you go through many cycles of change, acceptance, and release. What have you learned about this perpetual cycle of release in relationship with your own personal growth?

AD: Acceptance is everything! I feel most resistant to change when I'm not willing to accept it. Only in the past few months have I applied this to my own life, but what a difference it has made.

AC: What would your advice be to someone who had just moved to Montreal?

AD: Work at a cafe. Start a punk band. Be in an open relationship. 

Listen to one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden below

Ada Lea

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Malaika Astorga is the co-founder of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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