AN INTERVIEW WITH BBQ POPE ON THEIR SELF-TITLED LP
With an album cover reminiscent of a cleaned-up middle school graffiti doodle, BBQ Pope, a garage-psych-punk band of three from Toronto, Ontario, bring you their self-titled debut LP: BBQ Pope. Named after, you got it, the Butthole Surfers' song “Bar-B-Q Pope”, the band is comprised of Reid Millar on bass, Sean Hackl on guitar, and Duncan Briggs on drums. Both Reid and Sean contribute vocally, though Reid takes the lead in both singing and lyric writing. On opening track “Welcome to My Hell”, you can hear Green Day inspired guitar riffs, and drum licks bearing resemblance to that of Queens of the Stone Age. A few of their biggest influences include: together PANGEA, Fuzz, and Stone Temple Pilots.
This album helped me rediscover lost memories of the Santa Barbara Bowl; Duncan brings full-bodied and area rock-like drumming, which reminded me of sitting in the outdoor concert hall where I enjoyed some of my very first shows. Feelings channeled and messages related throughout the album are very much of a young peoples' honest experience. By my third listen of “Sad and Stoned”, I was hooked in - ready to sing along - anticipating the lyrics and even mistakenly a bit earlier than queued: "I'M SAAD ANND STOONED!!!". “Cry” is a total lullaby. Young adulthood and, well, life, can put you in a state of utter apathy - these guys get it - and they make it sound notsobad, too. Taking a short break from the more heavy and hearty lyrics, “All My Friends Smoke Cigarettes” conveys a straightforward message: "I LOVE MY FRIENDS!!" - whether or not they're smokin' stoges! “Make it Happen” is an ode to a lover or a friend with a twist; unconditional happiness under one circumstance. Closing out the album with “Blank Screen”, (which was stylized and improved upon tremendously since the first version on their Squid Vicious EP) I couldn't help but think that during the second half of the chorus, I was hearing a punk-rock version of Beck's “Broken Drum”. Anyone?
Sizzle on, BBQ Pope, and come visit us down here in America, too!!
What brought you guys together?
Sean and Reid have been friends since grade 4 and started their first band way back then. Duncan and Sean met at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts through the music program, in the summer of 2015 BBQ Pope started after Reid came to Sean with an idea for a new band with better songs. . . Sean brought on Duncan because he knew he was a cool guy.
Who are a few of your biggest influences? Is your name, which I assume so, derived from the Butthole Surfers’ song “Bar-B-Q Pope”?
A few of our biggest influences in terms of songwriting are bands like: Together PANGEA, The Meatbodies, FIDLAR, White Reaper, Fuzz, and classics like Nirvana, Greenday, and Stone Temple Pilots. Yaaa our name is from the Butthole Surfers song, we love when our grandparents ask how we got our name!
Who’s doing the lead singing?
Reid is doing the lead singing on all tracks except “Make it Happen”, which Sean sings.
What do you think influenced the distinct difference in/maturing of your sound in what we hear from the Squid Vicious EP, to what we hear now on your self-titled LP?
Early on we loved bands like No Parents and Pangea, so our first EP is very reminiscent of their styles and has a less serious tone because of that. We were excited by their themes of partying and that it was music that was also fast and fun, so we adopted those elements into songs like “I Wanna Soda” and “Star Crossed Stoners”. However by the time we recorded Squid Vicious, which was a year into our existence, we'd written “Blank Screen”, which is a song about online sexual predators. We realized with that song that we were capable of writing songs about more complex things, and we were also at that time experiencing more changes in our lives, such as relationships ending, starting at new schools and seeing our friends move away for university, so we had a broader range of experience to write about, which we realized could be therapeutic. We still write songs about partying too though, cause it's fun. It was really just a weird time in our lives when we wrote the songs.
Are you generally pleased with the Toronto music scene? Are you looking to relocate any time soon?
The Toronto music scene is something we're very pleased with. We have lots of amazing friends making awesome music. There's a super strong community of psychedelic bands revolving around acts like Possum, Kaleidoscope Horse and Hot Garbage. There's kickass hardcore/punk from Prom Nite, S.H.I.T., and The Boys. And of course there's awesome garage rock revolving around Fried Records from Goodbye Honolulu, Luna Li, Passport Radio, and The A-Listers. There's a lot of important work to create safe spaces happening from groups like Fried and Black Siren, as well as individuals like Zoe Smith who are all putting on great all Ages events in the city. The only bummer is how much alcohol sales go into how the scene works with a lot of big venues like The Horseshoe only doing 19+ shows. But there's great alternative venues like The Smiling Buddha and Faith/Void working against that. We're very happy here and don't want to relocate. Are any of you doing any solo or side projects, and might BBQ Pope have anything new in the works?
Sean and Duncan both play in a band called Fade Awaays, which is a garage rock band they formed with our good friend Reid MacMaster. Our singer Reid has started a hardcore band called Transit Cops recently. We as BBQ Pope are writing more songs currently, so perhaps an EP is on the horizon. Also every October Fried Records puts out a compilation of its artists for Halloween, so we'll be contributing a song to that most likely as well.
INTERVIEW + REVIEW by EVA MONTOYA
LISTEN TO BBQ POPE HERE
