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Interviews on this page:
Knacker (Canadian Noise Pop-Punk with melody!)
Beta Band (
A Talk with the elusive Robin Jones)
The CooperTemple Clause
(Rockin’ from Reading,
UK)
Ben Jelen (
Young Maverick on a Roll !)
My Morning Jacket
(It Gets Hairy!)
Chris Ryan and The
Noise (Loud Rock n Groove from NYC)
Beauty
School Dropouts (NYC PunkCore)
The Hypertonics
( NYC Indie Rock with a Conscience)
PlasticEaters (NY
by way of Philly Techno Punk)
KNACKER: From Snapshot to Picture Show
Poised for a Close-Up and Ready to Rock!
Interview by Roxanne Blanford
Okay, for all those uninformed souls out there who were sleeping off the ‘90s like some bad hangover and missed the
boat when Knacker first hit the indie rock scene (as well as for those who missed this reviewer’s stellar Knacker critiques
and Ontario ‘zine interview), Pete Marino and Dean Marino (yeah, they’re brothers) will now bring you up to date
on this hook-heavy, noise-infused, melodic and compellingly enjoyable pop-rock Canadian band. They’ll even discuss the
brand-spanking new release, picture | show - a release with a sound so modern, it’s retro; with a sound
so retro, it’s positively ahead of its time.
But first, some brief history on the rise of Knacker. And if you
already know most of this, just think of it as a refresher course. There will be a quiz later.
Knacker the band originated
in a suburb of Ontario – Oakville, to be precise– in the late 1990s. Pete and Dean Marino (late of a local
quintet by the name of Atomic) put on the Knacker moniker and they, along with other former Atomic members, recorded a self-titled
six-song demo debut. That disc, KNACKER, was produced by Rob Sanzo (RadioBlaster), promoted at live gigs and sold at Sam
the Record Man on Yonge Street in Toronto (holding a spot on its Top Ten Sellers List for many weeks).
Between
a steady stream of showcase and festival performances (Vans Warped Tour, CMJ Music Marathon, Pop Montreal Festival, CMW, NXNE),
and being featured on Edge 102 radio’s New Rock Search, Knacker independently released the full-length SNAPSHOT
in 2002 under the tutelage of Krisjan Leslie (The Weekend, Zuckerbaby). The disc was critically acclaimed for its originality
and lively spirit. It innovatively combined the arena rock ethic of the 70s with bold, forward-looking indie rock dynamics
(think Cheap Trick meets Sloan meets Weezer).
Songs were licensed out to television and motion
picture soundtracks, while the album charted nationally in Exclaim! and found itself in the Top-30 of more than ten Canadian
campus radio stations.
Now, two years later, Knacker unveils the all-new picture | show, and looks ahead with a sideways
glance back.
MUSIC EMISSIONS:
Inasmuch as the two of you are blood brothers, it could be argued that Knacker was founded in the womb and nurtured in
the playpen. But, exactly when and how did your musical screwing around turn into a bona fide stab at becoming a real flesh
‘n blood performing and recording band?
PETE: All of us (we’re a [true] four-piece band now)
were in bands that we thought were the “next big thing.” Jefrey With 1 F Nedza (guitar) and Chris Edelman(drums)
played in a band that had success opening for international artists, and Dean and I had bands that got us on the Ontario radar.
But we really got serious and started to think more long term after the release of ‘Snapshot’. That was the first
time we really committed a whole album’s worth of material to tape. We had a great deal of success with that album in
the sense that we got radio play and pretty much every track made it into either a TV show or onto a film soundtrack.
We became more motivated as we started to place a number of unreleased tracks on TV shows. Most of those new tracks
are on our sophomore album “picture | show.”
MUSIC EMISSIONS:
How does KNACKER, in its current evolutionary state, differ from previous incarnations?
DEAN: Aside from the fact
that we are a four piece collective now, and have been for quite some time, this band has become a much more fluent and experienced
live act. We’ve reached a level of confidence where our four personalities interact, and I think our audience
really enjoys that. Also, we have become much more efficient in the studio. Everyone plays an important and unique
roll in this band, both in studio and on stage, and that helps facilitate everything we do.
MUSIC EMISSIONS:
Describe the "early days", if you will, when Knacker was playing those initial local showcases, performing live for the
first time, and getting the industry to actually take notice. What was that like, especially thinking back to yourselves as
a nascent, green, wet-behind-the-ears band, just out there having fun?
DEAN: True, back then we were just having fun.
It was music for music’s sake. We had no real adult pressures. In that way, the early days were no different
for us than for a lot of other bands out there. The only difference is that we’ve stuck to it. A lot has changed
now. Though it’s still business as usual, we’re doing a lot more of it now. We still have a lot of fun, but it’s
a career now, and we take it more seriously. I guess we measure our success differently these days. Still, I couldn’t
imagine doing anything else.
PETE: We paid our dues as a band and worked hard to get to where we are. Everything
is a stepping-stone. Playing festivals was a big step for us and at the time, one of my goals. It was amazing
playing in front of thousands of people and right next to some of our idols. But we have learned that you have to constantly
elevate in order to succeed. The same goes for media, radio. We’ve learned you have to grow in this industry
and grow we have. We’ve probably had more success getting our music on TV then a lot of international bands have.
And it was all achieved by breaking one door down at a time.
MUSIC EMISSIONS:
Speaking of breaking down doors…you’ve broken into the Big Time of sorts, haven’t you? This year,
you’ve acquired the services of Paul Tuchscherer and AMP (Artist Management & Promotion) to essentially, steer the
band. How did that come about and how’s it going?
DEAN: We put some bait out there and were talking to
a few agencies when Paul approached us. We decided to go with Paul because he seemed more down-to-earth and could devote
more time to us than the average manager. He’s a great guy and is not afraid to twist arms for us, plus he listens
very seriously to our input. In fact, Jef and Paul co-manage Knacker. Now, we can focus more on being a band and less
on balancing books or booking shows and interviews – which is good.
PETE: Managing a band is a hard
task. We work as a democracy but kept having too many stalemates so we decided to bring in a tie breaking 5th
vote. Having Paul gives us an extra voice promoting the band and removes some of the stress from Chris and Jef, who exclusively
handled all those things before. Paul's also a really good guy and it’s nice to have someone outside of the band
to rant to.
MUSIC EMISSIONS:
Discuss the music scene in Ontario as you perceive it, and how that bodes for Knacker going forward.
PETE:
Ontario, and more specifically Toronto, is a strong music market. It’s easy to fall under the radar. That’s
why we’ve had to work hard to get noticed. The competition is huge and we’ve made a name for ourselves.
DEAN:
Living in Toronto it’s hard to walk down Queen St. without hearing people talk about their band or seeing a thousand
posters for shows featuring local acts. It seems everyone and their brother has a band and many of them are really good
and innovative. It’s a vibrant scene and the challenge is cutting through and making it to the next level.
I feel confident that we’ll go forward because we’re always finding ways to raise the bar or up the ante.
At the same time, it’s good that there are so many bands out there because we like to get out there and find new people,
meet other bands and spread our goodwill (not to mention the music).
Hmm…No, let’s DO mention the
MUSIC.
Knacker’s 2004, all new release, picture | show, is an exciting, full-on outpouring of happy creativity
and freewheeling artistry. It all sounds too easy, almost too natural. Yet, in every note sung and every chord strung, there
exist palpable strains of maturing musicianship.
What makes picture | show even more amazing (and truly, worth listening
to!) is the fact that although it took only about two to three months to complete, the disc’s concept and content changed
so much during the making, Knacker scrapped about 3 full albums’ worth of material before deciding on the final product.
Additionally, a faulty hard drive within their own studio rig resulted in a loss of almost all of the initial recordings.
On the up side, the hard drive disaster compelled the band to return to Chemical Sound studios for recording, thereby imbuing
the disc with a sense of urgency (when you’re in someone else’s studio, with the meter ticking away, you tend
to waste less time) and with a greater focus.
Among some of the standouts on this flawless disc is the lyrically reflective
“Perfect Mile”, about which Dean says, “This song relates a story a friend of mine told me about what it's
like working in Hollywood with all those Hollywood types. Everybody’s nice to everybody else on the surface, and
try to project happiness, but in reality most people are either really bitter or hurting inside”). There’s
“Amnesia” (powerfully biting, sharp, and honestly sarcastic, with edgy emotions right there on the surface).
This is a typical Knacker arrangement displaying the band’s finesse for energetic harmonies and vibrant chord structures.
Then, there’s “In The Picture”.
DEAN: I like the fuzz guitar sounds in the intro of “In the
Picture” (don’t they sound synth-like? I was totally listening to the Car's first record while writing that song!
I think Rick Ocasek really knows how to write a good solid pop tune.) I also love Chris’ drum performance on that track.
“Amnesia” has a fragile-yet-confident feel to it. It’s just really human, just one of those “I’m
pissed off and I’m not going to take your shit anymore” type relationship songs with a real sing-along quality
to it.
PETE: I like “Tired” and “Shoegazer Daze”. “Tired”, because lyrically
it’s an emotional song for me, and musically it brings me back to my lo-fi indie rock roots. “Shoegazer
Daze”, because it’s just an amazing song with a lot of texture. Every time I listen to it,
I hear a new sound I never noticed before.
And, last, but certainly not least, is picture | show’s hidden track:
A brilliant cover of a Neil Young composition, done up in a dreamy and unique, yet familiar, style.
DEAN: Jef got the
idea to cover it and had [specific ideas] on how he wanted it to sound. His best friend was getting married and it would
be a gift to the newlyweds, for their first dance. We spent a happy day noodling over that song in the studio.
I remember hearing it over the PA at the wedding. It sent shivers up my spine, and at that moment I realized we had
to include it on the record.
(You gotta get the picture | show disc to find out what this one is! It’s
a true gem,!
Go to- http://knacker.net/)
Needless to say, it’s been an intriguing journey for this up and coming band. When this reviewer first interviewed
Knacker after the release of their debut EP, both Dean and Pete mused about becoming Rock Stars and playing music as a career.
Funny, not much has changed since then, except, perhaps, the way time changes all things.
PETE: When you first start
a band you’re mostly trying to impress girls and come across as a being cool. You don’t take into account
all the little things that have to come together in order to be a real success. As time moves on and if you decide that
you want to make music a career, you quickly realize that it involves a lot of hard work and structure. I think we all
will agree that sometimes when you look back it seemed like we had more fun. Now there’s always so much work involved.
But once you hit the stage, hit that first chord, all the fun comes back. It’s all worth it!
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Beta Band - Heroes to Zeros: The Beta Band Rises to the OccasionInterview
By Roxanne Blanford
Calling in from his SoHo Grand Hotel room in lower Manhattan – after what was admittedly a night of total inebriation
at the hands of record company executives paying the tab (“…with a free bar problems are sure to arise, especially
when in Manhattan…”) -- Robin Jones reveals he is no stranger to the ways of this “seductive” city
(“I’ve been here many times, in many guises”).
And though he chooses not to elaborate, the spacey Scottish popster (raised in a hillside community just 10 miles or so
outside of Edinburgh) lets it be known that he and everyone in the Beta Band (John Maclean, Steve Mason, Richard Greentree)
is anticipating positive things for 2004, with a full-fledged European tour in support of the band’s full-length, self-produced
HEROES TO ZEROS (Regal/Astralwerks/EMI).
Jones explains how Rich plays the harmonica and has ‘a special way with words’ though Steve is the main songwriter,
handling most of the bass lines, and that John is the chief beat programmer.
But when asked about his own unique talent, about that with which he has a special way, Jones eloquently appraises himself
as a “jack of all trades, master of none.” (He can write, he says, adding, “I don’t like to
commit myself to words”).
While they are all versed in singing, songwriting, instruments and programming, interestingly enough neither Jones nor
his band mates can be classified as professional musicians, per se.
“None of us are exactly proficient with any one instrument in particular.
We don’t exactly ‘play’ our instruments, not in the way that Miles Davis has a trumpet growing out of
his lip. We just sort of pick them up. Everyone does everything. Computers have enabled us to be that way, so we’re
all capable of having a go at everything put in front of us. It’s just pure instinct”.
As a whole, they all go back a bit. Robin Jones has known John the longest (since college), then, met Steve, and then Rich.
Friends first, the group did not initially come to be from the germination of some grand idea to start a band.
“We never really thought of what we did as forming a real band …it just happened. We were just bored. John
had just finished college, Steve didn’t have a job, and I had just quit my job. We had a wealth of ideas, living in
the same flat in London during one lazy summer...so, rather than sit around talking about things we could do, we sat around
and actually did something, which was to make a demo, (CHAMPION VERSIONS, 1997)--our first EP.
“It was all quite natural. It wasn’t something like, ‘..here’s what we’re gonna do: we’re
gonna make a band, sign up for a five-album deal, then after seven years, we’ll be releasing our 3rd album,
and by that time we’ll be so mature and so enlightened…’..hah….none of that.
“It was more like ‘what are you doing today?, well, I got ..uh..a 4- track,
and ..uh..this song…so..uh, why don’t you do that, then?…Take it to a record company and see if they
like it…..or don’t….uh, if they don’t…we could release it ourselves …’ and then
it all just spirals out of control and you realize this is actually your life and…..”
And, then, you find yourselves with a couple of impressive and original recordings on the market, producing your own ambient,
dub-inflected/alt-electronic music, creating the definitive Beta Band sound (“it’s like a
colorful painting”), and eschewing AOR rock producers to unearth the precise sounds and considered qualities that
bespeak a one-of-a-kind artistic essence.
Says Jones, “Self-producing is probably something we always should have done, and probably always have been capable
of [doing]. But the go ahead needs to come from the record company. That’s how it is.
If we had said to them,…’here’s what we’re gonna do..we’re gonna produce it ourselves’,…
then, they’d start panicking…and going…’,..oh my God..
no.. no. ..this is just going to be a money pit---…’
”We were intending to use a producer on this album at the onset, and we met with a few guys, tried working with some…but
we didn’t find the right mix of talent and vision…it was all the wrong sort of sound for us…. nothing came
together that made the disc a Beta Band recording. So…uh…we were at a meeting with the record company and we played
our old demos, you know…they start going, “yeah, this is what we’re talking about, this is the sound!’,
and they said, “why don’t you produce it yourselves?’ so, our response was, ‘Yes!’ haha….It’s
all good”.
“Anytime you can keep your creativity to yourself and control every stage and be imaginative, you’ll be pleased
that you managed to bring your brain and soul together to create something that you’re proud of. Getting to produce
it ourselves is just another way that makes it closer to ourselves. So, yeah, the way we put it all together was really satisfying”.
With the advent of Pro Tools and such like over the last few years, music making has become a less organic enterprise.
But, with HEROES TO ZEROS each Beta Band member, for the first time, worked it a different way, providing more personal, individual
contributions.
“We’d take demos from work Steve had done, for instance, and then the remaining three of us would go
home and sit in our own separate caves, hunched over the computer, working out full versions over each of the demos, separately”.
“See, on your own, you’ve got all the time in the world to try every idea you might have entertained, no matter
how daft. And, when you get back together with everyone, it’s like,… you know… we’d get this
blackboard, right?, and start, well, okay, … ‘alright!, what have you got for this part?, and you play a
version, and then everyone sits around and goes, ‘… hmm…yes, I really like the chorus there, but the verse
isn’t working…’,
so we go through someone else’s version, and say, ‘yeah, that verse is really good’, so we’ll bolt
that one on, and take the drumbeat from Rich, and ..uh…like that.
“It’s just really difficult when you’re in a studio, and you’re a BAND, ..and you’re sort
of not quite all prepared, and it’s costing you X amount of money, and someone’s staring at you through a pane
of glass, shouting,..’ right!, play the drums now!..do something really creative, really imaginative…do it now!’....and,
well, you can’t do it. So, it’s just good to always be armed to the teeth going in with all the ammo you need”.
Working everyday on the album ( working independently on versions, then a few months together tossing ideas around in rehearsal
rooms, working out how the songs would go together, searching for the right producer, then six or so weeks actually recording
and mixing and re-mixing) the entire process for completing HEROES TO ZEROS was wrapped up in mid-2003. Various factors
delayed the release till spring 2004.
According to Jones, this disc, (recalling every sound from Radiohead and Badly Drawn Boy to the California/surf-rock sound
of the Beach Boys, and The Mamas and the Papas, through psychedelic shades of the Doors) is “more Beta Band, if that
makes sense…more than any other release of ours. It’s drawing on all that wisdom, if I can be so pompous
to say..so, yeah. This is the record we’ve always been trying to make. It’s really…realized. The actual
sound is slightly livelier (than previous releases), more organic, with a bit more soul and R&B type feel to it. Every
song in it is quite cohesive to the whole”.
An intriguing backdrop to the disc is the war against Iraq, which was being waged and raging on while the Beta Band were
writing songs and music. When asked if the war played any role in the overall feel of the release, Jones’ response is
careful and contemplative:
“There’s nothing truly specific in the album itself referencing the war, no. But no doubt it subconsciously
played a part. It’s this huge thing, it’s a sign of the time. So, maybe there is a slight aggression in the album’s
sound, you know, silent anger. Obviously it has filtered down to the finest part of all things…whether you’re
buying coca-cola from the local shop, or whether some government has decided to steal a whole country.
“You can’t go through life not being affected by everything that’s going on around you…it all seeps
in to everything you do. You reflect everything, and everything influences you. All these things go on around you and contribute
to form the person you are in this world”.
Politics and missing your loved ones aside (“…you get a bit tired when you’re off on the road, touring,
wishing you had a wife, or could see your old friends..”), and despite the routine and occasional frustrations along
the way, Jones admits there was nothing particularly difficult in putting this new release together. The coming together
of their unified efforts and innate abilities has given all members an generalized good feeling about the future and
what’s to come.
“This is an exciting time for us. We feel really strong, really positive. It’s been a pretty long walk to get
here, but, it’s a neat position to be in”.
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The Cooper Temple Clause: When Madness Is MethodInterview by
ROXANNE BLANFORD
It’s got me going insane/ I think it’s happening again
I think there’s gonna be some
action
Cuz it’s got me goin’ insane……..
That it’s still difficult to put a definable label on The Cooper Temple Clause after two major releases (2002’s
SEE THROUGH THIS AND LEAVE, and 2004’s KICK UP THE FIRE AND LET THE FLAMES BREAK LOOSE) may end up being
both the band’s strength and its undoing.
A cursory listen to the searingly edgy and tumultuous rock orchestrations emanating from this Reading, UK band might lead
one to easily dismiss the music of The Cooper Temple Clause as simplistic macho rage against everything
in general and nothing in particular.
Conversely, TCTC can also be esteemed as a profound band struggling to strike a lyrical balance between sincere sentiment
and prurient decadence. Q Magazine calls the band “defiantly unorthodox..”, Kerrang! chimes in with
“..genre-defying sound…uniquely their own…” and NME points out how TCTC “…laughs
in the face of genre…” by releasing “the most brilliantly ambitious record of the year…” And
yet, no one can precisely “get” The Cooper Temple Clause
Didz Hammond, bass player for the band, is aware of this dichotomy as well.
“[It’s been said] our music is quite dark and that we focus on the bad aspects of things…but, [lyrically]
there’s always something optimistic as well in the end…..”
Didz went on to more fully explain the nuances of The Cooper Temple Clause to MusicEmissions while in New York City during
a brief break from touring North America and promoting the new release. Sitting in the Times Square offices of RCA records
(with whom the band signed in 2000), the Boys From Reading were low key, yet excited and in good spirits, slightly overwhelmed
with a fascination for New York City, America, eating real pizza and having a smoke atop the corporate roof. There was nary
a hint of the brooding disaffection with their humble beginnings about which the band has not made a secret.
“Reading (ironically, the home of one of Europe’s longest-standing rock festivals), in itself, is an average
satellite town with few artistic outlets. There’s no real art scene there at all…which can eventually become stifling
and oppressive…it’s a place where people go to school, university and get a job in an insurance company. Those
are the recommended steps which none of us in the band chose to follow and that’s a big part of what first brought us
together”.
In the late 90s, six misfits found themselves out of step with the maddening crowd and hearkening to a drummer of a different
beat. They put this band together -- forged out of shared disdain for the local climate and bad music on the radio.
Since that time, Ben Gautrey (vocals), Tom Bellamy (guitar, synthesizer, bass), Dan Fisher (bass, guitar), Kieran Mahon (keyboards),
Jon Harper (drums) and Didz have committed The Cooper Temple Clause to the creation of music unlike anything and anyone
else.
Says Didz, “We’ve always respected bands that change from album to album, and try to do different things
with their songs. For us, the most important thing is that we don’t have a specific style…unlike the Strokes
and Oasis, who have a specific sound and stick to it. Certainly, our sound has developed and grown in the time between
our two releases. If you chart our progress, as it were, from the first album..that one being sort of schizophrenic
with a lot of different sounds in the mix, and where all the sounds could have been played by different bands. We liked that,
actually…it was right for the time, ..growing up different in Reading, being under fire… but we’ve been
away from that for some time now. Much of what was on the previous release is no longer relevant …[KICK UP THE FIRE]
is more introspective, exploring personal situations, relationships and what causes conflict in situations. It’s about
learning and developing, and using the music to tell the story”.
“On this disc, there’s a real natural progression in sound. We seemed to have simply happened upon those
ways to make it all work .. And when you make it work, ..I don’t know know..but, you just keep going and keep
going and try different things. If it doesn’t work, then you kind of go back to the start and put it together a different
way.
“A lot of times, it does happen quite naturally, quite subconsciously, maybe. Sometimes we have to go back and work
on it, but it’s not often. Most of the building blocks are actually kind of right there at the start”.
Combining palpable strains of Pink Floyd, Primal Scream, and even Radiohead in the mix, The Cooper Temple Clause have managed
to create a schizoid fusion of rock, punk, techno, synthpop and sheer phantasmagoric abandon. There are hints of The
Cure, U2, The Psychedelic Furs and the psychedelic Beatles , Depeche Mode, Finger Eleven, Beck, Virgos Merlot and……..well,
the list just goes on and on.
The songs on KICK UP THE FIRE run the gamut from psychedelic reverie (Into My Arms), turbo-charged
( Promises, Promises) to techno pop poetry (New Toys). It’s all one sweeping maelstrom of succulent
synth rock sensualness from beginning to end, propelled by the raspy romantic ruminations and thrusting vocal
presence of lead singer Ben Gautry who forcefully embodies the more earthy aspects of Liam Gallagher melded with the
cock-swagger of Richard Butler. This is all top loaded with a highly developed sexual intensity that is
unmatched by most bands today.
“This disc took about 10 months, from start to finish”, Didz comments. “From going through the
phase of not having any songs really written to going to great lengths to make the disc cohesive, so it makes sense in that
order. You see, we’ve been in ‘big money’ studios where we didn’t really enjoy it…we found if
difficult to translate our sound in a place we felt uncomfortable…the only real place we felt comfortable and sounded
like ourselves was inside our practice room ( a converted pig farm just outside Reading) and we basically recorded the disc
there”.
Far from the pig farm, The Cooper Temple Clause sets its sights on North America for several weeks in Spring 2004.
“It’s a long time to be away, but it’s a great adventure.”
Different from the band’s previous tour (which started in the UK, took the boys to Japan, then back through
Europe) this particular spring 2004 tour will see them navigating through North America—by far the most extensive CTC
tour to date. Yet, from the way Didz tells it, they have few, if any, preconceived expectations about what’s to come.
“I’m fully prepared to play in small pubs before three dogs and a blind man.”
But that is hardly the case set before a young thriving band who has seen its popularity steadily rise and grow as more
and more music lovers get turned on to the brash, yet emotionally powerful sound.
And as The Cooper Temple Clause, in turn, get turned on by life across the Big Pond.
“I’m quite looking forward to being in like a stereotypical kind of deliverance kind of town”, Didz says.
“I’m looking to experience what we haven’t experienced before…to take in all the subcultures in this
country. In this city alone (New York) we’ve been making quite a lot of recordings of sounds and things…of
traffic, building work, the sirens of ambulances (..my big favorite at the moment), and of people just walking down
the street and saying mutha fucker in a different way or accent than we’ve been used to hearing…
Last night, we saw this woman tap dancing on the street, I think she was waiting to meet her husband for the evening, and
there she was...quietly tap dancing down the street. Where would you get to see a tap dancing woman going to dinner
with her husband? And here we are, just documenting all this experience,..not laughing at it, really,
not with a circus mentality,… you don’t have to look at it that way….its just kind of experiencing stuff
that we haven’t yet experienced…it doesn’t have to be a freak show, …it can just be kind of….experienced”.
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