AWmusic

Once again at the Milton Hardball Café on Wednesday February 3rd I had another interview right after the last one with USS but this time around the interview came from none other than Alex of illScarlett. Another favorite band of mine that I got to interview and soon enough this night had transformed into one of the best times I’ve ever had at any show. For those of you who don’t know, Alex is the lead singer of now widely popular Canadian band illScarlett, and after the band had finished their sound check for that night, he sat down with me to answer some of my questions.

A- From your big break playing outside, in the parking lot of Warp Tour so many years ago to now, what would you name as some of your biggest accomplishments?

Alex- Well we were signed to a record deal, but that’s always questionable if it’s truly an accomplishment or not. I’d have to say some of our biggest accomplishments though would have to be that we’ve toured Japan, the UK, Western Europe, and the States. We’ve also been nominated for Juno and Much Music awards. I’d just have to say that probably the biggest accomplishment we have is that to this day we’re still having fun and still loving every second of it.

A- With so many different genres encompassing the band, what influenced so much diversification?

Alex- We all like different types of music, we listen to everything from metal, classic, jazz, to of course reggae. We just listen to all sorts of music which I’d have to say is one of the biggest contributing factors to that.

A- With all the songs under your belt now, what would you label as the most defining for illScarlett?

Alex- I’d have to say One-A, it’s just the roots of everything and looks back at our roots in Streetsville. If you look at all our songs you’ll find quite literally that they’re all about us, but overall if you had to pick just one, I’d have to say One-A.

A- What was it like working with Kardinal Offishall on “Milkshakes and Razorblades”? How did that union come about?

Alex- We didn’t work directly with him, but we had always wanted to work with him previously. We had reached out to his managers for quite a while and never really got anything back from them. It wasn’t until the last day of recording where we wrote some of the bridges that we got a call at the last minute saying Kardinal was interested in working with us. So we sent the whole track over and shortly afterwards, Kardinal had produced, mixed and added all his parts to the track and 5 hours later it was done.

A- How would you say the band’s music has changed over the last couple years if at all?

Alex- We kind of do a mix match of everything, but it’s really hard to tell how your bands music has changed when you’re actually part of the band. In the end you just figure everything out and it ends up being what it is.

A- What’s up next for the band this year and in the far off future?

Alex- We’re currently working on the “Milkshakes & Razorblades” video, while at the same time just doing some more touring in around the States and Canada. There’s also a couple other things we’re up to at the moment, but I won’t get into any of that at the moment.

A- What do the fans mean to you as a band?

Alex- They’re everything to us, and any band that says otherwise are stupid. They’re the gas in our van and we just couldn’t do it without them. There just wouldn’t be any point to anything we’re doing if it weren’t for the fans.

A- What’s been the lowest point the band has suffered thus far? How’d you end up recovering?

Alex- Nothing big really, like none of us have ended up in rehab or anything like that, well not yet anyways. There’s always just those bad shows where everything just seems to go wrong and then right after that you have to drive 5 hours to the next show, it just drains the life right out of you sometimes. Playing over in Winnipeg, our van was broken into just a little while ago with five thousand dollars worth of stuff stolen. Plus it was a thousand dollars to replace the window, so that set us back but you know you just have to keep going, you just can’t stop because of something like that.

A- As of today, what would you were the best and worst show you guys have played so far?

Alex- The worst show, which I don’t want to mention, but if I really have to I would say was the show we played in Regina. It just wasn’t promoted properly, nobody really ended up showing, and it was supposed to be one of the biggest nights for the Roughriders. It was just really awkward, because they were the team that could have been that year. We were also broken into the very next day in Winnipeg. Some of the best shows would just have to be all those basement shows we played, or playing with bands like Weezer or Blink 182. We may not have played the best, but they were still downright amazing shows.

A- If you could have any super power whatsoever, what would it be?

Alex- Flying would be pretty cool, but then again it would only be good if you had other powers to go along with it. You’d probably need invincibility to go along with it because if you’re flying above the clouds you’d probably end up freezing to death. I mean I guess you could always wear a coat, but invincibility would be an awesome addition. You’d also want to fly fast, because what would be the point if you could only fly slow. So flying fast, invincibility, actually I’d probably want all of them. A mixture of everything would be pretty cool, but if just one I’d definitely take flying.

A- What is it like to wake up some mornings and be like “I’m in illScarlett, I’m a Canadian music icon”?

Alex- Can’t say I’ve ever started my mornings off like that, I mean I wake up just like anybody else. There are good days and bad days, if you wake up sick one morning, there’s still a show to go play and you play it. We’re just honored and privileged to play shows and be where we are now. We like what we do and it’s just amazing that after so many years we’re still having fun doing what we love most.

A- Lastly if you weren’t in illScarlett, what do you think you’d be doing?

Alex- I’d probably be a racecar driver, and if not that, I think I would have probably joined the army or something along those lines.

With another successful interview done, Alex ended up ordering me some food and beer from the bar and invited me to chill with the band throughout dinner. Getting the time to chill with one of my favorite bands was simply amazing, a lot of drinking, laughing and just having fun. Getting to hear the set list beforehand, I knew the show was not going to disappoint. With songs like “One-A”, “Extra Extra”, “Life of a Soldier”, and “Mary Jane” saved for last, it was a show I was not going to soon forget. These guys are truly the best, they rock hard, they’re loyal to their fans, and they simply have fun with it. I congratulate these guys on everything they’ve accomplished so far and to everything they will do in the future and I’d like to thank illScarlett for helping to make this night one of the best nights I think I’ll ever have.

One-A by illScarlett
Milkshakes & Razorblades by illScarlett
Mary Jane by illScarlett

Photo courtsey of Winter Dance Party blog

It was fifty-one years ago this past Feb. 3rd that, according to Don McLean, “the music died”. Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson, all died on a snowy February day back in 1959 and took with them the talent and potential of a new generation. But what they left behind was a legacy that has influenced just about every musician to come after in one way or another, even if they aren’t aware of it – any musician who lists Bob Dylan, The Who, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, or The Beach Boys as influences have been indirectly influenced by Buddy Holly. Heck, anyone who lists The Beatles as an influence has been touched by Buddy Holly because they recorded at least six of Holly’s songs but also songs that he recorded, and made into hits, written by others. All this is a long-winded introduction to a show I had occasion to attend on Friday, February 5th at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga.

This show is a tribute to the last fateful concert tour that Holly took with Valens, Richardson and Dion and the Belmonts. They criss-crossed Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa in the dead of winter in a unreliable tour bus that had no heating (one passenger had to go home due to frostbitten toes). Holly growing tired with the misery chartered a plane to take him to the next tour stop but the inexperienced pilot and dodgy weather caused the plane to crash in a farmers field shortly after take off. John Mueller, who has played Holly in numerous productions both in film and on stage, put together this fine tribute show in 1999 and has been touring with it ever since. Although no one knows for sure what the set list was for that tour, or even if there was one, Mueller has pieced together a kind of “greatest hits” that combines Holly’s music with covers of other musicians of the time such as Chuck Berry, Paul Anka, and Little Richard. Having played with several members of Holly’s band (Tommy Allsup, Carl Bunch and Niki Sullivan) probably helped Mueller piece together a set list that bears some semblance to what would have been played then.

I don’t know what to say about this show except that you must see it when it comes around again. It was one of the best nights of music I’ve been to in a long while. It was so much fun that everyone who attended, both young and old, left with huge grins on their faces. Not only is Mueller bang on perfect as Holly (it helps that he has a striking resemblance to the real man), but Toronto’s Ray Anthony is definitely channelling Richie Valens. Although I’m too young to have seen these artists when they were alive, Mueller and Anthony sure bring Holly and Valens to life and I have to admit that it brought a tear to my eye when Anthony launched into “La Bamba”. Valens was just seventeen when he died and his popularity was based on basically two songs, “Donna” and “La Bamba”, and it was sad to think of what might have been if he had lived. Such talent to be snuffed out so young.

J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson was portrayed by his son, J.P. Richardson Jr. and I have to say it, he was the weakest link in this production. Of course, this probably is because of another one of my petty biases showing itself, I never really liked The Big Bopper to begin with. He is best known for his huge hit “Chantilly Lace” and a novelty hit, “The Big Boppers Wedding” but he also wrote “White Lightening” for George Jones, and “Running Bear” that was a number one hit for Johnny Preston. These four songs were basically the whole set for Richardson and were, on a whole, done well with great enthusiasm from both the performer and the crowd.

The whole show is less than two hours long but could easily have gone on longer if the crowd response was any indication. There was cheering. There was yelling. There was dancing in the aisles. There was clapping of hands. There were Canadians out in public having a jolly good time and not being afraid to show it. Even Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion was dancing up a storm in the aisles. It was actually quite shocking. But I jest, well, not about the dancing and cheering and stuff, just about Canadians having a demonstrably good time. Anthony, especially, had the crowd jumping with La Bamba.

Although Holly released only three official albums, he was a prolific writer and so many more songs were released after his death. Mueller only performed those songs that would have been released at the time so we were treated to such classics as It’s So Easy, True Love Ways, That’ll Be The Day, I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore, Peggy Sue, Not Fade Away, and Brown-Eyed Handsome Man. He also performed, as a closing, a song he wrote to Holly, Hey, Buddy, which takes the titles of some of Holly’s best known tunes and weaves them into a fine tribute to the man. He said he has amended it to add a couple of verses that include Valens and Richardson.

As I said earlier, if you see this show playing anywhere near you please go and see it even if you don’t know who Holly, Valens, or The Big Bopper are. There is just no denying the influence Holly had, and continues to have, on pop music. This is as close as you will ever come to the real thing and since that isn’t available Mueller et. al. are worth every penny.

You can visit the official Winter Dance Party blog here, although it hasn’t been updated in a while, or you can go to John Mueller’s website or MySpace page for more information, albums, and tour dates. There are a few dates on the east coast in March so if you live in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick look out for them. You can also find out more about Ray Anthony as Richie Valens here and here, and J.P. Richardson Jr. here, although this site is under construction. And as always, you can by the original music on iTunes,
Amazon, or, well, just about everywhere.

The album itself is not very easy to like. He attempts to try to be atomspheric more so straight up catchy. He uses a variety of pop elements. Definitely rivaling some of the best within the electronica industry it feels like CFCF has more of a future in producing or scoring movie soundtracks. The skill is there and for instrumentals alone CFCF needs to be commended. The thing is – I do have a tough time with these albums.

It’s not just short poppy instrumentals, there was a lot of time and effort put into each track giving a full 65 minutes. It’s rare to see albums that long let alone just purely instrumental.It has two important qualities you like to see of artists: creativity and boldness. It’s not easy to get people’s attention in an ADD world we live in and I think that’s where CFCF falters in this case. I’m not saying it’s boring because I don’t find it that way but it’s definitely not very accessible.

Personally I’d like to see him make use of vocals because he does seem so incredibly talented, giving more to work with likely would lead to better material.

All in all, it’s an average album. The album I feel like isn’t quite great but for Silver’s career it’s definitely leaves some promising prospects for the future.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Monolith by CFCF
Summerlong by CFCF
Half Dreaming by CFCF

The first time I had heard anything of HEALTH was a collaboration with Crystal Castles, (both being experimental, electronic-ish artists) and I was astounded by the merging of the two.

I recently downloaded HEALTH’s latest venture, Get Color, and to be honest, just found the album to be mediocre at best; all the songs sounded like one big track to me, but at the same time I appreciate what the band is doing.

The one song that really sticks out in my mind though is Glitter Pills (not on Get Color.) It’s one of the only songs where you can actually understand what the band is saying, and not to mention that the beat is just really ill.

I had read somewhere that the band purposely tried to keep their lyrics vague on purpose for the listener, so that it was them who could distinguish an attitude and a certain feeling. Personally I don’t think that is the right way to go; it’s the lyrics to most people which connect someone to a song in the first place, so to leave the words to your own song very opaque seems a little lazy and just makes the tracks sound like noise, something the band said they didn’t want to sound like.

Although the lyrics are minimal in Glitter Pills (their mostly just ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’,) the spurts of it are just plain great, and the echo to their voices is really enthralling.

It’s the passion that really makes HEALTH so interesting, no matter if you think so or not, and their fearlessness to create something so abstract.

Glitter Pills-HEALTH

I’m gonna keep this one short & (bitter) sweet:

Those that loved All Hours Cymbals are (really) going to hate Odd Blood.

Best track – “Ambling Alp”
Worst track – Everything but “Ambling Alp”
Overall rating – “F” for Fail

Ambling Alp-Yeasayer