AWmusic

I think Ketch Harbour Wolves are one of the/the most underrated bands in Toronto, maybe in Canada…. hell, maybe in the entire world. I came across their album on Herohill’s top Canadian EPs of 2008, and it took me approximately 15 seconds to figure out that the guys at Herohill had really hit the nail on the head with KHW. They (KHWs) ended the year in a three way tie for BM‘s album of the year with Kanye West and Chad Van Gaaelen, so, pretty select company for a pretty impressive album.

When I went to go see them in January, I was a little underwhelmed for a variety of reasons which I discussed then (and we discuss in the emails), but after seeing a great deal of improvement in their live show I’m projecting a solid second half of 2009 and a break out year for 2010 when, presumably, they’ll have a new album out.

Also, and I realize I’m getting long-winded here, you should note that:

1/I’m kind of fine-tuning this ‘Exchanging emails with‘ segment, and am hoping to keep this a little more brief/readable.
2/Thanks to Jonathan, I think I’m now going to finish every series of emails with a LIGHTNING ROUND where I’ll ask a bunch of rapid fire, InsidetheActorsStudioesque questions…

Johnathan.

Thanks for agreeing to do this… and, like I said, I think what makes this interesting is if it turns more into a dialogue rather than just the standard – question, answer format. Also, if there’s something you want to ignore/don’t want to talk about feel free to just ignore any questions/comments.

First, that poster/photo(?) that you had up on your myspace for a while was spectacular. How/Where did that come from? It kind of looks like you’re playing in some sort of stadium… you guys aren’t secretly really big in Europe are you?

Second, what’s been going with you guys since you put out Dead Calm Horizon?

Third, what inspired you/how’d you come to the decision to give the album away for free?

Hopefully that’s a good start to get the ball rolling, and feel free if you want to ask/answer your own questions to do so… hope you’ve had/are having a good holiday weekend…

Rob

Hey Rob,

First off that was a pretty damned good dialog with Bryan from Black Hat Brigade so I realize I’ve got my work cut out for me!

On the poster – Sadly, we are not really big in Europe and despite the spectral haze surrounding the lights which is easily confused with the crimson smoke that wafted through Red Rocks in 1984 when U2 tore it a new one with their rendition of ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, … it is in fact, Toronto’s very own Mod Club with a wonderfully serendipitous alignment of lighting and camera angle.

On post-Dead Calm Horizon – Actually much of our energy since Dead Calm Horizon, or at least up until the beginning of this year was taken up with developing material for the next album. We had been taking inspiration from the prolific careers of the Bob Dylan’s of the world and figured that our DIY system of recording should be the perfect compliment to a hyper-productive band. In retrospect I think we were focusing on the new stuff to a fault. I think our performance at The Elmo in early January really revealed that and so we took a bit of a step back to focus on learning how to properly ‘deliver’ the songs. (hmm…. this little email confession booth turning public idea is kind of terrifying, but also really great!)

The free album – The decision to give the album away for free was pretty easy actually. Our philosophy was about maximum availability to the point of total redundancy (hence the ‘Catch 22′ – esque situation of having it simultaneously available for free and for a price on our website… all we would have to do now is sell it back to ourselves for twice the price!). The thinking is that most of those who tend to pay for music will pay for it, most of those who don’t tend to pay would either not get it or rip it from someone, but most importantly those who come across the band randomly, who might really enjoy coming back from the far places of the web with some obscure canuck band in hand would almost certainly not have paid and thus not have brought it back to places like – Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Australia, The Philippines etc.

It’s not a perfect system as evidenced by the fact that we’re still drowning in debt but what has been invaluable is the ‘barrier free’ way to connect with fine bloggers such as yourself who consistently mention (and most of the time link to) the free download page. If we drew a grand old pyramid scheme we would ideally have visions of Giza but you get the idea. Revenue, not so much….. generating interest…. hopefully! (here it would be prudent to throw in the link I think… www.ketchharbourwolves.ca).
(more…)

The Rest has released what I believe to be the top album of the year so far, it’s okay if you haven’t heard about of them yet. They played their record release show to a sold out show at The Tranzac Club. I got to meet Paul at Wolves, Hawks and Kites who I talked to for quite a bit and his musical project that he’s engulfed with, Dog Is Blue.

This was the first time I got to see the Tranzac from the inside, I always knew where it was – due to my time volunteering for The Fringe Fest. It was a cozy venue, with an 11pm curfew. which I wasn’t too ecstatic about (I was excited to see The Rest okay?). The set up was interesting with chairs in front of the stage and a stand up section in the back, kind of like a sports venue. Anyway onto the music.

The Rest got on stage with The 39 Steps by Alfred Hitchcock playing in the background. They had more of a post-rock ensemble with 4 guitarists but I knew that heading into the show, evidenced by their YouTube videos. Like their album, Everyone All At Once – The Rest were amazing live. First, Adam Bentley’s vocals are as advertised, every note is perfect and has an impeccable vocal range. He has serious skills and he isn’t afraid to let loose, erupting with an enormous amount of energy. Musically they were intricate as the album, adding in the subtle details that’s normally left behind with the typical band. While it was very album quality-esque it wasn’t a carbon copy of the album, they chose to experiment in the right moments – resulting in something truly epic without overdoing it. While I wasn’t a big fan of the crowd interaction (I think the setup and the CD being largely new has something to do with it), I think that comes with time. But based on pure quality of their music this concert has definitely been one of my favorites (yes I haven’t been to a lot). These guys are just so incredibly talented.

While I don’t think the press was on hand for this show, they missed out. They also have a Take Away Show which should be amazing, if their live performance is any indication.

The Close Western by The Rest

Ketch Habour Wolves, I’ve heard some mixed reaction to. I’ve heard good things from Rob as well as hearing how good the EP from both I(heart)Music and Herohill. Their live show got panned by Frank of Chromewaves. To me, while they weren’t bad, they weren’t impressive. They were plagued by some sound issues early, some buzzing but they adjusted. I kind of feel as if they give off a National feel to their music. I have hard time getting into the lead singers voice (not knocking it though) the music itself is decent. Being unknown, it’s hard to have a great performance without significant crowd interaction (I think their live performances in the future might be driven by this). Moving forward, they probably would fare much better but it’s not like they were bad or anything.

Words by Ketch Harbour Wolves

Amanda Zelina was great in the short time she was on stage. I’m not quite sure about her songs but she really has got a pair of lungs. (She’s also quite attractive which elicited more then a few whistles). I’m sure she could win Canadian Idol though that’s hardly saying much. She was quite impressive and can really hit the high notes with ease. She was applauded into giving a quick encore. I definitely need to check out some of her music as it was a very quick set.

Obsessed by Amanda Zelina

Pictures after the jump.
(more…)

1. Let me take the opportunity to tell you how great it feels to be a syndicated columnist… it feels great…. really really, great (it should be noted that any future reading of “great… really really, great” should be read as Toby from Seinfeld – the heckler who Jerry heckles back in “The Fire“).

2. You know what else is great… really really, great? Ketch Harbour Wolves and their debut EP Dead Calm Horizon.

3. They sound like, I think, a really cool combination between this year’s it band Fleet Foxes and the under appreciated Scottish band Frightened Rabbit (who you might note is one of Allan’s favs). The EP, which is a total of 7 songs, is incredibly solid from beginning to end, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find a wasted minute in the 28 minute (29 if you round up) recording… which, sadly, makes it a minute too short to be eligible for the Polaris Prize.

4. It was 1c on my Best Albums of ’08, but I’m definitely not alone in thinking they are… wait for it… great… really really, great. It was Herohill’s favourite EP of the year, i(heart)music’s favourite recording of the year, and Sean from Everything is Pop recently sent me a note thanking me for the recommendation. Basically, people who like music really like this album, and I think each of us had a different favourite song – or at least posted a different song.

5. I went to go see them live last Saturday and were good, not great, just a little messy in spots. And I felt terrible about writing that since: a) I really think the band is terrific; b) I typically feel really bad about saying bad things about small bands; c) I don’t want to discourage anyone from going to see them, because they are still worth seeing, and d) Jon (from the band) sent me an email after I posted the review thanking me for writing a fair and “even handed review”. That said, I now think: e) Jon and the guys are pretty chilled out and seem like really good dudes, and; f) are on their way to be a formidable live band, which, I suspect will be a chilling live experience once it all comes together.

6. The most insane thing? They’re giving their entire EP away for free.

7. At the show I bought a t-shirt and its really slick. American Apparel black with shiny-metallic gold lettering gold and logo (to the best of my knowledge they’re not available anywhere on-line). Awesome. Now all I need is metallic gold pants to wear it with.

8. My two favourites:

[mp3] Ketch Harbour Wolves – So Long to the Ground
[mp3] Ketch Harbour Wolves – Letters