#liveonelgin

[sometimesalwaysmusic]

SWIM TEAM

Swim Team has really hit the ground running. Having formed only recently, the band has already released a fantastic single, their debut EP, and were featured earlier this month by Alternative Press as one of eleven Canadian bands to keep an eye on. We caught up with members Marco Ferraris (MF,  above far left ) and Will Lepine (WL, above second from right) to learn more about the band.

VITALS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swimteam.music/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swimteam.band/

Web: https://swimteam613.bandcamp.com/

Latest Release: Swim Team (EP, May 2017)

Upcoming shows: Stay tuned!

SA: How did Swim Team first start playing music together? MF: Honestly I think Will, Nick and I joked about a band on twitter to the point that we all had a free night and actually jammed. Cam had talked about a band for a while and he has a lovely voice so he was a good fit from the get go. So basically we were born from a joke. 

SA: I've seen clips of you performing covers of acts as diverse as LCD Soundsystem and Deafheaven at live shows. What bands or musicians would you cite as the biggest influences on your sound? MF: We all really enjoy LCD Soundsystem and “All My Friends” translated nicely to a cover. We started playing that from the start as our infamous 7 minute cover. Deafheaven was a hilarious one off but maybe we’ll bring that back (we will definitely bring that back). The National have been a big influence lately. They sing about the saddest stuff. WL: Bruce Springsteen is also probably a big one. We covered Born to Run once and dads moshed so that was cool.

SA: Thus far in your career, what has been the band’s biggest success? MF: Power dropping our EP within 5 minutes of arriving in Hamilton with literally no hype up was hilariously fun and oddly successful (oh my god thank you for this interview and asking us about it later)

SA: Conversely, what is the biggest challenge you have faced, and how have you dealt with it? WL: I don’t really think we’ve faced any real challenges with this band. Aside from the usual peoples lives things getting in the way, Swim Team was formed to be a project we could all have fun with. Taking that approach has made it so that the band never gets too stressful for anyone which has been really cool. SA: How do you guys approach the song-writing process? MF: We normally whip up the music first and them Cameron and/or I bring in some lyrics. He’s normally got some story he’s written about a sad man trying to make it work in New Hampshire, or something. Always a safe bet! WL: Its a very jam oriented process, someone comes in with a riff or a chord progression and we just jam it out and feel it out until its something we like.

SA: What are your thoughts on the Ottawa music scene? MF: I think there is a lot of talent here. Bands are taking a lot of tour leaps from Ottawa which is exciting, and smaller venues are starting to host some pretty sweet acts (like Black Squirrel Books). WL: Recently a few large-ish venues have shut down which has sucked but its forced people in the music scene to find interesting spots to host events and that has given the Ottawa music scene a very different twist. The venues Ottawa does have (House of Targ, LIVE on Elgin) are very cool spots but then there’s also stuff like Black Squirrel Books that Marco mentioned thats a really cool spot to have events. I’ve seen Marco’s band, The Stringers, play an olive oil bar so like, that’s Ottawa in a nutshell.

SA: You guys just finished off a run with Castlefield and Grass Dancers. Any highlights from this tour? MF: Playing that many shows back to back was a first for us, and let us tighten up live. Oshawa was a bit of an awkward start since the venue we were scheduled at decided to shut down the entire show because of a few underage kids in a band...but we ended up crashing an open mic night elsewhere. It was all pretty silly. Hamilton is a gorgeous city and was personally my favourite night of the tour as it was the one night we all hung out until the wee hours all getting to know one another. WL: It was definitely a good time, we got to see some friends and make new ones. A lot of the people we played to seemed really into it which is always nice to see. Definitely something we’d like to do again.

SA: Your EP was released in late May 2017. As a band, do you have a favourite track off the release, and why? MF: Snowbirds is my personal favourite...just the most fun to jam on and it sounds rather pleasant even though it’s kind of sad. That’s kind of Swim Team, though…

SA: If you had to choose, what three records would you cite as most impactful on your sound in this band? MF: Oh man I am horrible with album names. For me: that Bon Iver one...The National’s Alligator aaaaaaand The Alvvays record. WL: And any Bruce record. SA: What comes next for you guys in 2017? Good luck this coming year! MF: We are aiming to record 2 more tracks at Will’s up and coming studio. We’re getting a little more jolly sounding with the summer months. One of that has a nice beach spring to it and I think we’ll get a video going for that one. I’m sure we’ll think up another silly song title for it, too. WL: SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION: hit me up on facebook for details, Scoreboard Studios, as we’re calling it is hoping to launch fully within the next few months. Very excited to pump out some new Swim Team tunes as well as some other local acts. Aside from that, I’m sure Swim Team we’ll be hitting the road again for a bit whenever we can find some time.

[sometimesalwaysmusic]

POINTLESS AESTHETICS 

We caught up with Pointless Aesthetics (PA) band member Jesse Seheult (vocals, guitar) to talk about the band’s influences, singing in Danish, Ottawa, and favourite shows.

VITALS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PointlessAesthetics/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jesse-seheult-880379192

BandCamp: https://pointlessaesthetics.bandcamp.com/releases

Latest Release: Eleutheromania (LP, June 2019)  https://pointlessaesthetics.bandcamp.com/releases

Upcoming Shows: Stay tuned! 

SA: How did Pointless Aesthetics start as a band? PA: When I first came to Carleton University in Ottawa I had recently left my previous band from high school and wanted to start with something fresh. Mutual friends introduced me to a few guys that I would jam with and they introduced me to Mitch. Then when those other guys left it was just Mitch and I for a while and then we slowly grew back finding Jeff and then later Declan to fill out the rest of the bands roster.

SA: Who are your biggest influences, musically or otherwise? PA: Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard inspired me to be a songwriter, the way that he tells stories within his songs helped me develop my lyricism. Musically I look to bands such as This Town Needs Guns and Delta Sleep in the way that they play intricate melodies within interesting rhythms. There are also many other different influences, not all of us are into the same type of music. Mitch is actually more into Avicii and stuff like that than modern rock bands, Declan is really into blues style bands like The Arctics Monkeys, and Jeff has different tastes as well, but nonetheless we take all of those outside influences and use them to create our own unique sound, our own unique voice.

SA: Thus far in your career, what has been your biggest success? PA: I would say finishing this record. We have played sold out shows in smaller venues throughout Ottawa and we have had success bringing people out and providing them with a good time, but there is nothing more gratifying than taking all the work that we have accumulated over the past four years and grinding it out in the studio for the world to hear.

SA: On the other hand, what is the biggest challenge you've faced, and how have you dealt with it? PA: One of the biggest challenges that we faced was when Mitch went away on exchange to The Netherlands. We were happy for him of course, but taking a semester to try and find a replacement to still be able to play live shows was a chore and when we did find a guy he could barely keep up with what we were doing. So, after that failed experiment we did take some time to focus on school and I ended up writing a bunch of other material for when he got back, songs such as The Sun Reaches and Atlas.

SA: How do you approach the songwriting process? PA: For me every song is different in the way it gets finished. For the most part it always starts with a guitar line and I take a long time to keep refining it until it is exactly how I want it to be. Then the lyrics come and I guess I always either write what I am thinking about in the moment or I take a line from a song I like and recontextualize it into something I want to say, because usually a line like “creating a substance while you get high” just resonated with how I was feeling in the moment I was writing Atlas. I guess subconsciously I ended up writing a cohesive story as well. With Eleutheromania the entire album’s lyrical themes all revolve around the idea of introspection. From “Headphones (A Leitmotif)” to “Hygge” everything that I went through an amalgamation of my inner turmoil and failed past relationships are all looked back upon to show where I have been and where I got to. 

Another little inside look the lake that I refer to throughout the album was actually a poster of a dock that I had in my bedroom and when re-working Pass On Passion thought that it would be cool if the character was a songwriter as well who went “to the lake to fantasize” and I thought that from Headphones which was already finished at that time I could create a location for the narrative to take place.

SA: What are your thoughts on the Ottawa music scene? PA: Ottawa was absolutely one of the best things I could have asked for as a member of an indie band trying to get his music out there. There is a comradery between all of the other acts that you play with, unlike when I spent time mostly in Toronto with my other band. Everyone genuinely loves music here and the sounds of the city are exemplified through a diverse cast of bands such as Lost at Sea, XiL, Lessons in Crime or Siberian Breaks, just to name a few. And honestly we noticed that our age demographic, the university students, were always looking for something to do and loved supporting the growing Ottawa music scene. 

SA: If you had to choose, what is your favourite moment off of Eleutheromania and why? PA: I am super biased about my favourite moment on the record because obviously I wrote it to be my favourite moment. But for me, it would have to be when I attempt to sing in a poorly google translated Danish towards the end of Hygge. When I was writing it I thought it was so clever to write maybe the most depressing lyrics in another language to embody what the whole song was about. Hygge translating to comfort / comfortability, I wanted to make the listener comfortable with what I am saying but not understanding a word of it. I guess it came from listening to a band like Sigur Ros and not knowing the language but obsessively translating the lyrics to discover their deeper meaning. However, people have been reaching out to me about the album and saying a bunch of different things, most people like songs that I wouldn’t expect them to like and each answer is different, so Pierce which is yours?

SA: What is your favourite show that the band has played, and why? PA: My favourite show would have to be the first one that we played with Declan, mostly because we were kind of throwing him into the wolves, he had only just learned how to play Headphones, Pass On Passion, and other songs that didn’t make the cut of the record like Memento Mori, Skyline and Sad Songs in Sadder Tones. It was also the first show we ever sold out at Live On Elgin, opening for an amazing Canadian band from Kingston called Kasador. The other one would have to be our album release show where almost 2 and a half years later we sold out Live On Elgin again. 

SA: What comes next for you guys in 2019? All the best this year! PA: Honestly, there is nothing planned yet. Three of us have just graduated from Carleton University and are moving on with our lives. We are spreading around the record and there have been murmurs amongst the band members that we may do a reunion show sometime next year but I think that we have accomplished so much in a short time. I have been sending the album around to some local radio stations and I am constantly writing music, and I know the other guys are not done playing either, so maybe there are some future projects you may see us in the future. But for now Pointless Aesthetics lives on through Eleutheromania.

[cupidoago]

Who Shot First - the signature drink for tonight's Star Wars improv show #OuttakeImprov #liveonelgin #drinks #maytheforcebewithyou #maythe7thbewithyou

[sometimesalwaysmusic]

VALOIS

For this edition of Sometimes Always, we were lucky to speak to Charles Hoppner (CH) of Ottawa band Valois. After an incredibly eventful first year for the band, including dates at Megaphono and Marvest, the group is already setting up for new recordings. We discussed lyrics, inspiration and the fantastic album cover of Love Dies But You Won’t.

VITALS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Valoismusic/

Web: http://www.valoismusic.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/valoismusic

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valoismusic/

Latest release: Love Dies But You Won’t (Album, November 2015)

Upcoming shows: Stay tuned! 

SA: How did you guys get your start as a band? CH:  Valois started as a recording project. Don was actually on the first two records (we played together in a band called Hester in high school) but he was in Halifax and I was in Toronto at that time. Recording “Love Dies” I was working with Megan and Shannon, and one day Shannon brought her friend Dan to practice and we started playing live. Dan had to leave the band, but by that time Don was back in Toronto and joined the band.

SA: What bands would you say are the biggest influences on your sound? CH:  For me, I got into music after hearing Changes on the radio and borrowing my parents' copy of Changesonebowie. I've kept listening to him all through Blackstar, but also got into artists like Brian Eno and Nine Inch Nails through him. I got really into Prince in high school. Lately it's been Kanye West for me – he is one of the only artists who really takes me by surprise with each project. Hollerado's Record in a Bag is something I tried to emulate a lot even if the style is way different.

I think And The Kids has had a massive influence on us too, one that is hard to separate from collaboration since Megan is also in that band and Hannah sings on the record. For me, seeing them at their first show as a trio and then seeing them grow over the years has been inspiring. Hannah is a great songwriter and an amazing singer and guitarist. I think knowing a band personally and seeing them a lot live has a very profound effect compared to hearing bands on the record – I learned a lot from Lucius too back when I used to meet and see them a lot.

SA: Thus far in your career, what has been your biggest success? CH: On one level, doing Megaphono and Marvest in our first year of existing as a band has been rad. The most amazing part is meeting all these people who enjoy our music and getting to share it with more and more of them – Marvest was a great show full of new and old fans and it was super fun. On a personal level, I will always feel very strongly about the record Girls. It was the first time I really worked hard at creating a distinct style. I holed up for a whole summer completely sober – not even drinking alcohol - and spent night after night laying down my wildest ideas. It's a very amateur record but it laid the groundwork for my entire musical language.

SA: Conversely, what is the biggest challenge you have faced, and how have you dealt with it? CH: Logistically it's been hard at times with members living in different cities, but I think the biggest challenge honestly has been balancing my mental health with being in a discipline that requires ephemeral physical presence. It's not talked about enough, but I think a lot of musicians struggle with that to some extent. I don't get anxious onstage ever, thankfully, but I can get some pretty extreme anxiety around basic stuff like loading in gear and driving. It's nice having supportive bandmates who understand the gravity of stuff like that.

SA: How do you guys approach the song-writing process? CH:  Love Dies But You Won't stems from a bunch of basic tracks I wrote the first drafts of. With the latter, Megan came in and played and rearranged a lot of it. She also wrote some key parts like the countermelody in Lone Wolf. Everyone who played on the record had some degree of input into the final drafts.

SA: What are your thoughts on the Ottawa music scene? CH: I feel the most excited about it that I have in years. I spent some time in Western Mass which is a really emerging music scene what with Lake Street Dive and And The Kids and Lux Deluxe and stuff. It was really amazing to be there – there is just a vibe to a healthy music community that's hard to quantify, but Marvest was the first time Ottawa really felt like that to me. Having so many great local bands in these unusual venues, spending the day hanging around with friends hopping from one place to the next – it was fun and loose and unpretentious. Music should be fun – above all else. Ottawa wasn't always the most fun place, but there's so many great shows now and such a better representation of different ideas and people and identities. Representation is important – I took my partner to a Debaser show and she was absolutely energized and inspired after seeing these great rock bands that prominently featured women. I have friends joining Babely Shades who are getting active in promoting and discussing QTPOC in music. I have POC or QPOC friends who aren't involved with them making killer music or joining bands. It's also great that we have good sized rock rooms like Live On Elgin, Pressed, Avant Garde, etc. who dedicate so much time to music and art. And of course artists like Fet.Nat and YAO and the Peptides inspire me hard.

SA: Love Dies But You Won't. That title instantly evokes a response from the reader. Is this meant to be a positive or negative statement? It's hard to tell from reading the lyrics of the song, which I think are interestingly ambiguous. CH: Yeah, the whole thing is supposed to be ambiguous. I was going through a pretty rough breakup – 2 years of a very intense relationship with a very intense ending. Both readings of that phrase are intended. You feel a lot of conflict having really loved someone but fallen out with them really badly. It's like splitting the difference between Rollercoaster and Lone Wolf. Love Dies, but don't worry you won't for now / love dies but, oh my god, you're still around and haunting me, for now.

SA: Could you give us a bit of a backstory to the lyrics for the song "Ottawa Love Song"? There seems to be some interesting references to (former) Ottawa bands, Jetplanes of Abraham and The Balconies. CH: Glad you caught that! It's a literal reference to the fact that we don't have Jetplanes of Abraham anymore, but Balconies is a thing now. I was sitting in Live On Elgin when it opened, watching the Balconies put on a really killer set. It was so packed in there that I could just see Jacquie Neville's head across a sea of hair. I wrote that line at the show. Megan, Don, and I were huge Jetplanes fans in high school. We had this intense music-loving friend who took it upon himself to draft a bunch of us into a Jetplanes Of Abraham tribute band. They really represented an era for me of Ottawa music and it's a shame they only had that one album because it was a killer album. Ottawa Love Song is about loving and kind of hating Ottawa at once – it's also partly from the perspective of trying to explain to someone who hates the city why I like it. It's a mix of nostalgia, bitterness, and real honest love for my hometown.

SA: I really love the artwork for Love Dies. Can you tell us a bit more about who put that together, and perhaps the inspiration for the image? CH: I really wanted an image of what could be construed as a couple but with one of the faces obscured by a mirror. The mirror face is cribbed off an old Maya Derren film, Meshes of the Afternoon and I was trying to make some cynical point about us only seeing what we like about ourselves reflected in others. In Meshes, you have this recurring dream in which Maya's character sees this mirror-faced character which I read as being a reference to the insularity of dreams and how the other figures come directly from our psyche. Megan and I had some discussions about the imagery and if it was an appropriate gesture to cover a woman's face when mine was visible. The idea morphed a bit into an image of a couple with both their faces obscured by smoke and mirrors, which I think is a stronger image. The visual style is inspired by the photographers Arnold Frolics and Sophia Ajram. We set up in a big park in Nepean with a thrift store blanket with me and our friend Surraya as the models and a big shisha pipe which made the smoke. I was spinning dizzy at times during the shoot. Shannon shot the front cover, I shot the back cover.

SA: Lastly, what comes next for Valois towards the end of 2016 and onwards? All the best!! CH: More shows, a bit of break time for everyone, and a new record tentatively titled “We're All In This Together But You” which should come sometime in the new year!

[screaming-at-distortion]

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