Spirit if… Analogue presents Kevin Drew

Broken Social Scene have been keeping a secret from the world. Since You Forgot It In People established the band as indie pop champions in 2002 they have appeared a decentralized band, a band with no real leader, no chief songwriter, nobody in the driving seat. Sure, that guy with the shaggy beard was always at the front singing, smiling, and spontaneously hugging audience members. However, the recent release of Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew- Spirit If has destroyed a myth; Kevin Drew has been the beating heart and driving force of the collective from the start.

This is your third time in Ireland , do you feel you get a good reception over here?

I think so… Stars were here, Feist was here, we all help each other out in getting press and whatever.

You once said “We want to affect audience’s hearts and minds with honesty”. Do you draw a line on what’s too personal in your lyrics?

I don’t. I never really have. I never really wanted to take any personae to protect myself from myself on stage. I really wanted to get the people who could relate and take it to their own lives. I never wanted to tell personal stories, it wasn’t really a goal of mine, but I also didn’t want to hide anything from anyone who was giving me the time of day. And I never really have.

So you find it pretty cathartic writing songs?

Yeah I don’t really “write”, I just speak my mind, and I did that especially with this album. I didn’t write any lyrics, except for a couple, just made it up as we went along, and then we ended up keeping them.

How did the idea of the Presents series come about?

It kinda came at the end. Bernard (Canning, co-founder of Broken Social Scene) was making his own record, and I made this record with Ohad and Charlie (Benchetrit and Spearin, also of Do Make Say Think). We were wondering what to do because I made it as a solo record, and over the space of a couple of years everybody came in eventually. Once you have certain people come in, well, you’re like “I have to get everybody in”. These are my friends, and these are the people I make music with. And then once we chose the selection of what was going to be on the record we saw that some of these were band-written songs, songs that Ohad and Charlie had written, like Big Love which I just sang on top off. I started to see that it wasn’t so much my solo record anymore, but my stream of consciousness solo record. So we thought we’d start this Presents series 1. because Bernard had made his record, and 2. we didn’t want to veer off all the work we had done already with Bren, and our friends and this family we’d built up with Social Scene. And also because we have so much fucking music that we never know what the fuck to do with! So if we had another system to put things out, everything was great then.

What I think you’ll see more is more soundtrack work, or maybe we pull together a whole bunch of B-sides from everybody’s records and (re-do those with a Broken Social Scene line-up). And also, maybe we find some old guy who no-one ever heard of and he had these 16-track recordings of him and a banjo and I don’t know… Just somehow take it to the next level. It’s right there above you! (He points to a Buena Vista Social Club poster). That’s it! That’s it, man!

Spiral Stairs and J Mascis (Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. members) are on the new record. Do you think they’ll contribute again?

Yeah! I love both those guys now. I became friends with those two guys over the last few years.

How did that come about?

Both relationships were good men coming together, boyfriend-boyfriend. Scott (Spiral Stairs) was sweet, because I heard he was playing some of the You Forgot It In People record. I got that phone call, you know, the “DUDE! THE GUY FROM FUCKIN’ PAVEMENT’S PLAYING YOUR SONGS!” one. Then he asked to open for us in Atlanta, because he was on tour with Preston School Of Industry. So we met the Preston guys, they were all sweet, sweet guys, and then I stayed in touch with him, and then we stayed in touch more and we hung out in Australia when I was over. And we pretty much stayed in touch since. J Mascis was the same- We played with him, we met him, we stayed in touch and we did some shows together.
They say don’t meet your heroes, but you know what if they’re fun and sweet…

Get them in your band!

Yeah! Exactly!

And do you think the roster’s going to keep expanding?

I think it’s going to expand, increase, implode. I don’t know. All I know is I’m in it for life, and I’m excited to see what happens.

Who would be your dream guest to get in then?

There’s a lot of people I’d have liked to play with on this record, but I didn’t know them, and I didn’t want to reach out and ask them to play on it, in terms of I wanted to make this a really personal record, and wanted to know everybody who was doing it. There was only one person I didn’t know, and that was Tom Cochrane, but at the same time I knew he was the right choice. I grew up listening to his music as a kid, he’s a Canadian rock icon. I wanted to bring him in because nobody would’ve been expecting me to, and I wanted to throw in a bit of juxtaposition.

When do you think the next record will be released? There was a big gap between Spirit If and Broken Social Scene.

It’s pretty quick, it’s Brendan’s and it’ll be out in Spring. Then I think we’ll have the soundtrack work. We have shit we haven’t listened to in two years, on a hard drive somewhere. But also, we don’t take things so seriously, we might just release digital and vinyl releases from now on.

During the gig later that night, it’s obvious that some of the legend status of his album’s guests have been rubbing off on him. Commanding the stage, the band, and the crowd, he echoes Bruce Springsteen spearheading an E Street onslaught. The band even manage to come out the right side of a tongue-in-cheek U2 cover. It’s a testament to Drew’s charm and charisma that the 1000-plus die-hard indie heads comprising the crowd all sing along with him. Broken Social Scene’s big secret is out.

Singledom- November 17th 2007

Brief encounters with bands, like with people, leave you with a first impression it’s often difficult to shake. With this in mind it’s elementary that you do not listen to These New Puritans newest offering Colours/Numbers if you have not yet met their Now Pluvial EP, featuring get-down-on-the-flo’ trademark tune “Elvis” from earlier this year. For if you do encounter the Colours/Numbers double A-side now, you will be left with a view of the band as a rather innocuous outfit. Where earlier songs “Chamber” and “C.16th” added some Throbbing Gristle to the foray of jaded post-punk influences and left them all the more compelling for it, both “Colours” and “Numbers” derive from a rather unforgivable source: Klaxons. This results in a mainly inconsequential release that will most likely be forgotten in a few months time. However the band’s addictive danceability is still intact, and the forthcoming album Beat Pyramid is still an exciting prospect.

 

 To fill the gap of clamorous dance-punk in the meantime check out Free Blood. “OH NO! NOT ANOTHER NEW YORK-BASED FUNK-INSPIRED DANCE BAND!” I hear you cry. Never fear, Free Blood’s debut EP (Functionably titled “EP 1″) is less Rapture, and more Timbaland- All stupidly kinetic bass-based drum beats and joint vocal duties that would not be out of place of Futuresex/Lovesounds. All the pleasure and none of the guilt then. Lead track from the EP “Quick and Painful” is the floor-filler. 3 and a half minutes of unrelenting feet-shuffling and some fucked up electronic mewing. “Never Hear Surf Music Again” then, is for the afterparty, a drugged-out 8 minute extension of it’s predecessor that’s just made for a DFA compilation. Hot Chip and ACTH’s remixes are playful and equally listenable appendages to the EP, proof that there’s a lot of content in Free Blood’s music to be played around with. Get it now so you have the pleasure of saying “Oh, I had so Free Blood’s first EP ages before they were on Kitsuné” later on.

And Now… Fight Like Apes!

Such is the impact of Fight Like Apes on the Irish blogosphere that I run the risk of repeating already-noted ideas in this blog, but it is no exaggeration to say that the quartet are the most exciting, and potentially most important Irish band of the century so far.

There has been a disturbing pattern for emerging 21st century Irish indie music to follow the genres du jour of British indie. The NME may be in much smaller circulation in Dublin than its home in London, but its effect on the development of music in both cities runs paralel. The bands of that have been touted with any chance of making a name for themselves (or at least a few quid) outside of Ireland have all been achingly unoriginal- Delorentoes, Humanzi, Director, and their bedfellows. One of the more exciting bands have been the Chalets, but they failed to capitalize on the brilliance of their EPs with a memorable album. And now they can be found working in various retail outlets around town, and whatever hope of them breaking out we had has diminished. The Immediate were another band with a chance of building on early promise, but their premature demise has ended that hope

Enter the Apes.

What is significant about FLApes is their ability to write great indie-pop that does not correspond with British indie trends. There was nothing altogether terrible about, say Director’s Reconnect, or Humanzi’s Out On A Wire, but such was their derivativeness that after 6 months they have become wholly unmemorable. “Lend Me Your Face” promises to be spun on the decks of Dorans, Whelans and Crawdaddy for a long time to come. This is not to say FLApes are original. They simply put an Irish spin on a North American sound. MayKays Dublin colloquialisms pack all the wit of BellX1’s Paul Noonan (a sadly maligned lyricist due to the failings of his band in aforementioned originality stakes) and none of the accent of Damo Dempsey.  She and synth-madman Pockets (nee Jamie) have a talent few Irish artists are blessed with: stage presence. The band are uncompromisingly fun, without being novelty. For every dodgy EP title there is a song compelling and well-crafted as Battlestations.

Fight Like Apes are by no means the best Dublin band going; That would be an insult to acts such as Si Schroeder and Jape who are creating some of the most artistically commendable music of the moment. It is FLApes potential to finally garner some international praise coupled with success that makes them stand out. Whelans gig of Friday bygone was a testament to this. They have sold out Whelans within a year of releasing their first EP, filling it with devotees chanting every lyric along with MayKay. To draw parallels to another recent musical phenomenon, it is the sort of reaction reported from Arctic Monkeys’ earlier gigs. In this case the local support and hype was enough to propel the band across the country, and very quickly, internationally.

 Another interesting factor of the Whelan’s gig was the support act. Grand Pocket Orchestra were similar to FLApes in a very important stake- attitude. There was little in their sound that echoed the headline act, other than a more American-centric sound and simple hooks. It was their unpredictability, their obvious desire to actually have a laugh on stage, and their somewhat mental frontman that was most similar to FLApes. Here the begginnings of the best type of scene might be coming through- one based on attitude, not on sound. Who have Arctic Monkeys inspired to follow in their footsteps other than cheap knock-offs like Milburn and Bromhead’s Jacket? On the other hand, Broken Social Scene have launched diverse sounding bands from Stars to Metric, and Feist to Do Make Say Think who all sprung from the same scene, bound by the same collective attitude.

 So here’s hoping that we don’t see MayKay behind the counter of Tower records in two years time, and Tom teaching karate to underpriveleged children in his local community centre. Here’s to the future, and here’s to Fight Like Apes.

An American Invasion

Pax Americana is no more. Righteously pissed about our dissent over that whole Shannon affair, our fair country’s capital was infiltrated this weekend by the forces of the US of A. Under what has been toted Operation Indie the North American Scum are setting out a campaign of brainwashing and re-education of music lovers across Dublin, in the hope of instigating an internal revolution against the country’s decrepit and backwards music scene. It’s a Matt Damon movie in the making.

PHASE I

Friday 2 November 2007

 

Handpicked from the heartland of President Bush himself, Voxtrot began the first wave of attack. Young men after a reputation and the light of the glory of war in their eyes, they stormed the stage of the hub of Irish evening activity, the…erm…Hub. Their youthful exuberance was obvious from their boundless stage energy, lead by general-in-the-making Ramesh Srivastava in their fey indie-pop manoeuvres. It was obvious these privates had been studying the victories of past troupes, echoing strategies employed by the great generals Morrissey and Marr and the early movements of the “New Order”. They set up a procedure of slow erosion, steadily consuming the hearts of the captive audience, before releasing their double whammy of secret weapons: Firecracker and The Start Of Something. The unassuming civilians who witnessed the Voxtrot band of brothers onslaught were left dazed and smiling like children. Their mission was complete: the minds of the Irish were cracked open for the next phases of the Operation to re-educate.

(Note: You Say Party! We Say Die! actually headlined this gig, and did a damn good job of it. However, they’re Canadian, so in the spirit of racial purity and for the sake of continuing this long and probably already jaded metaphor they’re being jilted. Sorry guys. You were class.)

PHASE II

Sunday 4 November 2007

For the second round of attacks in this tripartite assault the Americans sent in one of their most experienced corps of its army: the Animal Collective elite. However, this incursion was plagued with problems from the beginning. One member of the four-man party, Pvt. Deakin, was left at home for mysterious reasons. Misfortune continued as the army tank was attacked in travel through Manchester (i.e., some Mancunian knackbags put a brick through their tour van’s window, and didn’t even bother nicking any of their stuff). The most damaging malady though, was the sickness which befell Ltn. Avey Tare, leader of the squadron. His ailment prevented him from using his hypnotic vocals to mesmerize the larger captive audience in Tripod. As such some the strongest weapons in the Animal Collective arsenal were obsolete: Grass, Peacebone, Turn Into Something and The Purple Bottle. The brigade laboured on regardless, using mainly newly developed weapons. However after six rounds of attack, the Collective allowed Panda Bear to unleash some of his solo expertise on the crowd. Nevertheless, a majority of the crowd were left with a dull sense of the true powers of the experienced troop, and they did not capitalize on the strong position established by the earlier phase of the Operation.

Animal Collective in war-masks to frighten enemies.

PHASE III

Monday 5 November 2007

In a last ditch attempt to recover lost ground from the previous days misfires, the Americans sent over two of its most promising young acts who have already proved themselves in other missions; YACHT and Deerhunter. An unlikely pairing of regiments, it was a risky venture indeed. However, from the moment Cmd. Jona Bechtolt (a.k.a. YACHT, a.k.a. former member of the Blow) descended on the stage of the stronghold of the Irish muso (an elite, particularly fervent soldier of the Irish music scene, most difficult to brainwash to new ways due to their inherent mantra: “I prefer the first album.”). Codename YACHT initiated a multifaceted offense on the musos: beats that make the feet move inexorably, lyrical hooks that instantly reel the mind in and force the lips into repeating them, and the best goddamned dancing this side of black Michael Jackson. The musos resisted to their best of their ability, utilizing their well-worn defense of folded arms and beard strokes. However, by the last notes of the blitzkrieg that is See A Penny, Pick It Up there was undoubtedly some head-nodding, feet-shuffling and appreciative looks at the break-dancing invader. It is suspected that if the musos had hearts where their robotic nerve centre is they might even have start dancing along too.

Codename YACHT wielding weapon of war and feigning peace sign to disconcert enemy.

 

But Becholt did his job, and did it well. Deerhunter, the Portland, Oregon militia loaded their pedals and took aim with their instruments straight for the musos nerve centres. A rigorous attack of thoroughly compelling psychadelic shoegazing gothic post-rock (a conglomeration of many facets of the musos soft spots) forced the Irish to do what they had resisted for so long: move their feet, uncross their arms and, in some cases, indulge in some heavy head nodding. Octet and Cryptograms were particularly noteworthy forays, and will surely go on to earn them international recognition for their irresistable movements.

Deerhunter’s mass-hypnosis Cryptogram.

 

OUTCOME

The success of the programme will become obvious over the next few days as the Irish begin to be noticed sporting YACHT gold-anchor patterned t-shirts, and humming the national anthem (”Oh I don’t know, oh, where to begin, we are North Americans…”) as they go about their daily business. The atrocities of Iraq and Afghanistan hold no comparison to the the American Invasion of Ireland that may well go on to have far-reaching and sinister effects on the Irish music scene. The revolution has begun.

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