Issue18

Issue 18 | May - June 2014
founder publisher
winnie surya
managing editor communications
tiffany lam
copy editors
savana ogburn
karmin yu
savoula stylianou
photo editors
winnie surya
tiffany lam
designers
winnie surya
seanzha kemal
promotions marketing
kelsey barnes
toni rose castillo
feli langlois
contributors
marisa martel, hayley hasessian, daniel pryce,
daniel hadfield, renee tran, pauline nguyen, chloe
hoy, lauren lyford, nathan cornell, kelsey hall, jennie
tan, eman el-saied, gabby mendoza, lilly nguyen,
kaleb hart, dan hogan
INTO THE CROWD Magazine is a Toronto and US
central online music magazine dedicated to
showcasing the world of music, media, and pop
culture. We strive to promote and share the beauty
of music and help music artists, big or small, reach
out to the bigger audience, old and new, and all
around the world.
stay connected.
intothecrowdmagazine.com
twitter.com/intothecrowdmag
facebook.com/intothecrowdmagazine
instagram.com/intothecrowdmag
issuu.com/intothecrowd
youtube.com/intothecrowdtv
contact - info@intothecrowdmagazine.com

Into The Crowd Magazine |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BREWS WILLIS 4
THE STRUMBELLAS 10
CRIS CAB 12
THE SEASONS 18
BORN RUFFIANS 24
HOLLERADO 30
ODESZA 34
3LAU 42
BESTIE 48
NECK DEEP 54
VIRGINIA TO VEGAS 64
TUPELO HONEY 70
4 COUNT 74
AUGUSTANA 82
SLAUGHTER BEACH 84

Brews Willis
Opening for SKATERS show in Toronto a couple months back, Brews Willis really caught in
our attention. With their interestingly unique name, pleasurable sense of humour and, of course,
high-energy music, they make a perfect summer jam. We had the chance to talk to vocalist Ross
Carvelli, bassist Sammy Vipond and drummer Pare Bruce about their upcoming third album, to
sinking their instrument in a pool.

Introduce yourselves and your roles in
the band!
Ross: Hi! I’m Ross Carvelli and I do lead vocals
and play guitar.
Sam: I’m Sam. I play bass and background
vocals.
Pare: I’m Pare. I play drums and do background
vocals.
You do background vocals too?
Pare: Yeah. And all the jokes. Brutal jokes.
Sam: He doesn’t even joke. He just freezes up
on stages.
Pare: Yeah, that was hilarious. She’s laughing.
That was good.
He’s good.
Pare: See!?
How did you guys actually came up with
the band name? I’m extremely curious
because it reminds me of the actor, Bruce
Willis.
Pare: On purpose.
Ross: Wait, who? We’re actually-
Pare: Tell the real story this time. That one time
in Mexico.
Ross: Which one’s that?
Pare: He went to Mexico and he looked over and
guess who sat next to him?
Bruce Willis?
Pare: Yeah, and they had a beer together, and
they both got so hammered that he was like
“you’re Bruce Willis” and Bruce said “you should
use that as a band name,” and so then we did.
Did he know?
Sam: No, he didn’t know about the band because
there’s no band existed at the time but he just
thought it’s a good band name, so we went with
it because we think he’s a pretty smart guy.
How do you feel about the music scene in
Toronto?
Sam: I think it’s amazing. There are so many
bands coming out from Toronto now. All sorts
of genres. I think people are pretty positive and
like to support each other a lot.
Who are some musical influences?
Pare: It’s all over the place.
Ross: I mean, I like bands like Harlem…
SKATERS – I’m really into it now. For the past
a couple of weeks I’ve been listening to that
[Manhattan] album non-stop.
Pare: Dave Matthews.
Ross: [laughs]
Pare: Do you think he really looks like Dave
Matthews?
Ross: Nah.
Pare: He does!
Ross: I don’t even know what Dave Matthews
looks like; I just know the voice.
Pare: Surfer Blood and another big ones. I listen
to a lot of Surfer Blood. I don’t know about these
guys.
Sam: Everything. Really.
Pare: That’s a good one.
Sam: All of it. For my personal taste and
influence, by like Mac Demarco that kind of
stuff and I really like soul-punk music, although
it really has nothing to do with our band, but
bassline wise, I like to do more groove stuff.
You’re going to record your next album in
Los Angeles. Are you guys all prepared for
ityet,oristheregoingtobeexperimenting
with different sounds on this next one?
Pare: Wants us to sing some of it?
Sam: I mean yeah it’s going to sound quite
different. It’s kind of a mix between our first and
second album, and it’s a little bit more mature.
Pare: It’s alt-country; with rap-country like Kid
Rock…

Sam: [laughs] It’ll be different. It’ll be about ten
songs and five solid days of recording so we’re
looking forward to it.
Only five days? Does this mean you guys
are going to be living and breathing in the
studio for five days?
Pare: Super crunch time. We’re actually sleeping
in there. To put it in perspective, we recorded
the first ten songs on the album in eight hours.
How long does it takes for you guys to
write it?
Sam: To write it? Not very long.
Pare: About the same. Within those eight
hours.
Sam: We had two five hours sessions booked,
and an hour of each of those days was setup,
lunch, goofing around, etc. So in about eight
hours, we did our ten songs. I think five days
will be okay for us.
Pare: It’s such a luxury for us to have that many
days to be in the studio, which I’m excited about,
because we get to mess around a little bit more.
But, like, not with sound… just goofing around
and stuff like that… drinking and whatnot.
Pare: I’ll sleep through most of it.
Sam: It just going to be fun, being there that
long.
Are you guys going to stick around L.A.
after the recording?
Pare: Yeah, we’re moving there. [laughs]
Sam: No. We’re only there five days then going
back home; going to the Kurt Vile show. That’s
it.
Pare: Kinda in and out but hopefully we’ll get to
go back and visit soon. It’s all business for this
trip so we have to buckle down and do what we
gotta do.
Ross: The guy who’s recording us also owns a
small record label so he’s going to put our album
through his label, so we may have to go back and
work out some things.
Is this album going to be released
sometime this year or next year?
Everyone: This summer.
Pare: What day do you want us to release it?
When’s your birthday?
July fifteen!
Pare: Boom! That’s our release date.
Ross: Is it a Tuesday?
I think so!
Ross: Perfect.
Pare: New music Tuesday!
I saw the music video for “Great Energy!”
– What’s the story behind the concept of
putting all the instruments underwater?
Sam: Talk to the director Pare here.
Pare: Yeah.
Sam: Who wrote it and directed it and built it
– total DIY.
Pare:Wediditprettywellbudgetandkindofjust
figured it out as we went along. I based it from
watching Waterworld. Learned how they shot
that movie underwater watching the director’s
cut and behind the scenes making from the
DVD. Took those learning, some inspiration
from Kevin Cosner, and did the video.
Did you guys actually ruined your entire
instrument?
Everyone: Yeah.
Sam: Everything that went down was ruined in
the end.
Pare: It was weird. We had this bet – are the
guitars going to float? or are they going to sink?
I said sink and they all floated, so we had to get
these big lead weights and screw them in the
back so that they’d sink when these guys are

Interview and photos by Winnie Surya

holding the guitars, and not floating up by their
faces.
Ross: But look how clean my laces came out
after that. They used to look so filthy. The perks
of chlorine. Fresh white laces now.
Pare: We sunk everything down the pool and
we shot it down there. We had scuba and those
breathing stuff. None of us knew how to do
scuba so we just had a friend who had a license
to rent all the gear and lie and say that we were
licensed… Then we just did it. It’s pretty scary
going down for your first time with scuba gear,
cause you just want to breathe through your
nose.
How long did it takes you guys to wrap up
that music video?
Sam: Three days.
Pare: We shot the pool scene in two or three
days. The basement scene, we shot that in one
other day, basically. All in all, pretty quick. I
guess it’s sort of a theme with us.
Ross: That video really fucked me up. It being
underwater, I couldn’t see for three days because
it was like, straight chlorine in your eyes.
Pare: We had to have our eyes open because
we didn’t want to wear masks or anything.
We wanted the exact same quality level as
Waterworld, and that’s what we got. That’s what
we did.
Ross: And the basement scene was really
messed up because I actually had to hit a bong
in that video, and I don’t normally hit bongs, so.
I think I hit it twice for the shot, so we could get
the right take. I was done after that. I had to go
splash cold water on my face. It was freezing but
it all worked out.
Sam: The pool was supposed to be us in the
bong. It’s like a metaphor.
Why did you guys decide to give out your
EP for free?
Ross: I think we gave a lot of copies and we did
our first album on CD and ended up giving all of
those away. I think it was more about getting it
in the people’s hands.
Sam: Not a lot of people but CDs anymore, and
on the download card there’s an option if to pay
if you want, and the option to pay is on iTunes
as well. I mean, if you don’t wanna pay, you’re
just gonna rip it off anyway. Here’s a card and
go for it.
People these days seem to prefer
buying vinyls over CDs and electronic
downloads.
Pare: Yeah exactly. We’ve been thinking about
doing that for our next album but I don’t know.
We do a lot of contests – like give away shirts. I
don’t know; it’s just fun because people get so
stoked when they get something for free, or in
the mail. We love mailing stuff to people. We’ll
write a note and mail, and you’ll get so stoked
when it shows up at your door because people
don’t really get mail anymore. A phone bill is the
most exciting piece of mail that you get. I just
feel that if I enjoy it, and I’m this old jaded guy,
someone else is going to enjoy it too.

Into The Crowd Magazine | 11
The Strumbellas
You guys recently just won a Juno? How
does it feel? What were you expecting at
the Junos?
It feels great! It’s a similar feeling to when you are
a kid and the radio announces that it’s a snow day
and school’s cancelled. Pure Bliss. I was expecting
to lose, frankly.
You play all across Canada; can you tell us
about the different vibes from the crowds
of each city?
AllIwillsayisthatSaskatoonknowshowtoparty;
Edmonton cares a lot about music; Calgary has
the best looking people I’ve ever seen; and B.C is
paradise.
What are the pros and cons of playing
festivals and playing more intimate
shows?
Both are awesomely different. Festivals are fun
because you get to see the big crowd and get to
spend the weekend with fellow music lovers in
sandals and plaid shirts while intimate venues
are great because I get to play my slow songs.
You guys are really in touch with your
Canadian side, what’s the reason behind
that? What does it mean to be Canadian?
Being Canadian is saying sorry for everything,
even if it’s not your fault. And i think our music
sounds that way because we are genuinely small
town folks who were bred Canadian. We often
hear our Canadian accents slide in later on in the
night. We just try to be as nice and kind to people
as possible and carry the name of our Country
well in our travels. (oh, and a large regular Tim
Horton’s in the morning doesn’t hurt).
How does being from Lindsay, Ontario
help you craft your music? Who inspires
your music?
Not to be a downer, but my demons are mostly
what I talk about in my music. Death, God, my
Dad. The mind can be a powerful monster, good
and bad. Oh, and Sailor’s- because everyone likes
Sailor’s.
Tell us about the meaning behind the title
of your album We Still Move on Dance
Floors ? What is the link between the title
and the album art?
I’ve been sworn to secrecy forever. But I can tell
you that it’s not actually about dancing. And I
wanted to album that way because while writing
this album I had just seen the Western Mountains
for the first time and I wanted to capture that
time of my life. And surprisingly, in no way does
the B.C. mountains look like North Toronto.
We are so hooked on to each song of the
album! Which one do you feel the best
encapsulates the album?
First, thank you for saying that. And second,
they’re all my babies and that would be like telling
one of your kids you love him or her more than
his or her brother. That being said, I’m sure my
mom loves me more than my brothers because
they swear a lot.
Interview by Karmin Yu, Photos by Winnie Surya

Back in Toronto from Miami to play Canadian Music Week’s CHUMfm FanFest was none other
than pop-reggae-soul artist Cris Cab. Mentored by Pharell and Wyclef Jean, the young
musician has gained much recognition within the last few years across North America, as well
as Europe. We met up with Cris and chatted about food, Europe, cover songs and his upcoming
album release, Where I Belong.
Cris’ success was surely not defined by his age. Though he may only be 21 years young, it was
quite clear he is years ahead with maturity, wisdom and knowledge for music. He still manages
to stay grounded despite his early and continuous success, fame and traveling around the world.
A young-hearted gentlemen, Cris was nothing but a pleasure to converse with and we have no
doubt his future will continue to shine brightly.
Interview by Tiffany Lam
Cris Cab

Rewinding back a couple years, there
was the Foreword EP, then you had a
couple more, and now you finally have
your full length debut album, Where I
Belong. How have they all progressed
since the beginning?
You know the whole time I’ve just been growing,
you know, I started so young - playing guitar
since I was 10, started recording when I was 15
so, just from then until now there;s just been a
lot of growth. Working with so many amazing
producers and songwriters... The process is
getting more intricate, but the music is staying
the same; I’ve always stayed true to what I
started doing, which is like positive and reggae.
I’ve stayed true to core things that I started
making my music with.
Do you think you’ve settled into your
sound and songwriting yet?
Nah, I’m still settling. I’m definitely really happy
with how the album came out, but the way I am
is like, as soon as I’m finished something, I’m
onto the next. My favourite song is always my
next song. It’s my favourite for the moment, and
then I’m ready for something better. I think I’ve
just started to [settle].
Difference between releasing mixtapes
and EPs and the full length album?
While we were making the EPs, we were putting
aside some of the best tracks, and when we were
putting together the album, we had something
like 40 or 50 tracks to look at. For this, some
of it is older music. It was hard because a lot of
them were with great producers - had so many
tracks with wyclef, had so many tracks with
pharell. So we released the mixtapes to get some
of those tracks [out] and keep everything going.
All the while, I was working on my first album,
but at the same time I wanted to stay in touch
with my fans and play shows. From when I was
16 to now, I’ve been on 10-11 tours so the whole
time I’ve just been growing and growing and
growing... kind of working out to this point of
[the] first album.
I know you like to do a lot of covers. I
remember years ago you did an amazing
versionofWizKhalifa’s“BlackandYellow”
in which you got a lot of recognition for.
Do you have any songs in mind you think
you might want to cover next?
Hmm, I’m not really sure, I mean I guess it’s
going to be a little bit before I cover something
[again].Duringtheliveshow,wealwayspickcool
songs to cover, but as far as a full production like
what I did for those other covers, it’ll probably
be some time until I do that. For me, covers are
so cool because you learn what the other artists
were thinking when they created it... each little
piece to the puzzle. It’s so cool just to get inside
someone else’s shoes and where they place
certain instruments. Doing covers is such a
great learning experience, you know, especially
when you’re looking at some of the bigger songs.
It helps get you familiar with that catchy sticky
formula and you can throw it into your own
music. For the covers during live shows, I have a
bunch of Bob Marley songs we always do live...
we do the Slightly Stoopid, Shaggy cover of “It
Wasn’t Me”, etc. We just started doing “Return
of the Mack” by Marc Morrison, so that’s a really
old one. We’re always throwing covers in that
any given night, we have so many in our pocket
So you grew up in Miami, born to Cuban
parents, picked up music really young.
What do you think would have happened if
say you never picked up that guitar... If you
couldn’t be doing music for the rest of your
life what do you think you’d be doing?
I think right now I’d be heavily involved in art
cause I’m a pretty good artist as well. That was
one of the paths I had, I was always drawing but
you know, once music came into my life, I kind
of dropped a lot of what I was doing to spend
hours and hours of doing that. I think I’d either

Photo by Tiffany Lam

be into art, or movies. I really like movies and I
really like writing.
What is something you’re really looking
forward to within the next year?
Continue touring, continue staying on the road,
promoting this album... It’s just the beginning
of this album. It started in Europe first very
naturally and now it’s kind of working its way
to North America. Europe picked it up so fast
and the growth was so quick over there that we
kind of had to release it there first. The songs
have already lived a long time over there, a few
months. The single “Liar Liar” with Pharell is
something like #1 in France and #2 in Germany
already, so once that single started going,
we were like, ‘We gotta put out the album!’.
The single is just starting over here in North
America, actually Canada’s first to pick it up, so
what’s going to happen is it’s going to come here
and while that’s happening, the second single is
going to start in Europe, which is a song called
“Loves Me Not”. We just filmed the video for
it too. It’s kind of weird, it’s like two separate
things going on in two different worlds, haha.

So you post fairly often to your Instagram
and I noticed over time there’s a lot
of cameos with your dog, Frankie,
who also has an Instagram account
(kingfranklin26). Is there a special story
between you two?
Oh, you know, it’s actually an interesting story.
Well, sad story. I got that dog with my ex-
girlfriend, and when we split up she took the dog
because she took care of it a lot. I’m traveling a
lot and I live with my brother, and honestly I
really don’t trust him with the dog as much as
I love him, haha. She’s with her and takes such
great care so it’s the best thing for the dog.
Now since this isn’t your first time in
Toronto, have you gotten to explore
around the city yet and what have been
your favourite spots so far, if any?
I really love King St. I usually always end up
staying around King St. just because it’s centrally
located to what I’m doing. I haven’t really found a
favourite little bar or anything yet, but I’ve eaten
at so many of these amazing restaurants on King
St.,likeWeslodge-It’snewer,Ithinkit’sliketapas
mixed with barbecue. So many good places.
Biggest music guilty pleasure?
I listen to a lot of Norah Jones, I love her.
Stuff like that, I guess that’s a guilty pleasure.
I wouldn’t listen to that riding around with my
friends, but if I’m chilling having some wine or
something, I’ll listen to Norah Jones, haha.
Biggest pet peeve?
I guess, my biggest pet peeve is people who
are selfish, you know what I mean. People who
act superior. I hate that. Cause it’s like, we all
have different roles in this world, regardless
everybody’s a human being. Seeing people treat
people poorly, that’s my biggest pet peeve.

Last book you read?
Oh man, that was probably in high school. I read
a lot of magazines and the news and stuff, but as
school. One I really enjoyed was Catcher in the Rye.
It’skindofastandardoneIguess.Ireadabookthat
my mom suggested called The Road when I was in
high school; I’m not going to say it’s my favourite
but it’s pretty intense. It was a good book.
Best meal you’ve had this year?
Hmm, I’ve been all over Europe in the last 3-4
months... I’m a huge Italian food guy so when I
was in Italy, the food was so fresh and they don’t
use any of the pesticides and stuff they use in
the states or elsewhere.
Do any of you have any secret talents, or
a random surprising past?
Well, I was a meterologist in high school, for fun.
I didn’t really tell accurate weather, it was just
funny and I kind of just did whatever I wanted,
you know. Sometimes I wouldn’t even say the
weather, haha.
And last question, any fun plans lined up
for the summer?
I think I’m coming back to Canada to play some
festivals out here. I’ll be in Europe playing
festivals as well, playing the World Music
Awards in Monte Carlo, and then we’re also
going to Cannes Film Festival next weekend. It’s
festival time.

The Seasons
Hailing from Quebec City, Quebec, The Seasons is brothers Julien and Hubert Chiasson, Samuel
Renaud, and Remy Belanger; a folk-indie band that started a few years ago The band been out
on the road promoting their debut album, Pulp, that’s released back in April and we got the
chance to sit and talk with them about the album, their pet peeves, secret talent and many more.

So there’s not too much information (in
English) about The Seasons available
online. Would you care to tell us the story
of how the seasons came together?
Julien: It started with me and Remy, the
drummer - we knew one another played music
and decided one night to play music together for
fun. Remy came over to my house, and Hubert
wasn’t too far since he’s my brother. We ended
up playing the three of us together and it was
good. We decided we needed a bass player and
then Sam, who was one of Remy’s friends that
we knew a bit too, joined us. Something came
out of this, the four of us playing music together
and having fun. We liked the sound we had, so
we decided to go further with that.
Now before we talk about your latest
album release Pulp, let’s rewind a
couple months back. So the seasons
independently released an EP entitled
Velvet! and it was pretty successful. Can
you explain a bit about how things kind of
kicked off from this point on?
Hubert: Yeah, we released that a bit less than a
year ago.
Julien: When the EP came out, we did it
independently, so it wasn’t distributed anywhere
exceptforafewstoresthatwebroughtourcopiesto.
Everything really started with the people, friends
listening through friends, people telling other
people. That’s when things started going for us.
Hubert: And then after that, we got attention
from the music industry and got signed with a
record label after that.
So of course, you guys are from Quebec,
Quebec and are still based there. I went
to the Festival d’Ete de Quebec last year
and noticed the majority spoke French
and not very many spoke English. Have
you thought about writing any music
in French, or do you prefer writing and
singing in English?
Julien: We’re still based in Quebec, but we spend
a lot of time in Toronto and Montreal too, just
because we have a couple gigs here and there.
Hubert: French is our language, but I don’t think
we’ll be writing in french with the seasons. It’s
an english band, but we love the french music
and the music that comes from quebec. It’s
really nice, but I don’t think The Seasons will be
making anything in French.
And you guys are playing le Festival D’ete
de Quebec this year! Being natives to the
city, have you been to the festival in the
past?
Hubert: We’ve been to FEQ a lot. We’ve grown
with that. We’ve seen a lot of bands there and
we’re really excited to play there.
Julien: We learned a lot going to FEQ; you see so
many shows and that’s how you can be inspired to
do a show of your own. It’s great to be part of that.
What are some musical inspirations
or bands/artists you look up to when
creating for The Seasons?
Hubert: We listen to a lot of music so we can’t
put a finger on something or one genre of music
that we typically like. We’ve been compared a
lot to the 60s pop. With that, we listen to Simon
Garfunkel, Beatles, The Monkees, etc. I would
say our sound comes from music and bands of
the sixties. Also, artists like Beck and modern
artists like Vampire Weekend, MGMT, etc.

Interview by Tiffany Lam, Photos by Winnie Surya
Music guilty pleasures?
Hubert: He listens to Adele.
Remy: That’s not a guilty pleasure.
Sam:Yeah, it is.
Remy: It’s guilty?
Everyone: Yes.
Julien: We don’t feel guilty at all but it’s a guilty
pleasure.
Hubert: I would say Cyndi Lauper... Time After
Time
Sam: Bruno Mars
Julien: Oh I know which one’s mine! I’m a big
fan of Limp Bizkit. That’s a guilty pleasure. It’s
actually the first band I bought the CD, and I
still love them today. Even if they’re jerks, they
still have great music.
What are your biggest pet peeves?
Sam: Traffic.
Hubert: People standing on the escalators when
they’re supposed to be walking.
Remy: People in front of you asking too many
questionswhenyou’relininguptobuysomething
quick and you have one thing expecting it to be
fast.
Hubert: Mean people. We don’t like mean
people.
What has been the best meal on tour
together this year?
Hubert: Ooh, good question. I think the last
time we were in Toronto, we had Indian food
near our hotel. I can’t remember the place, but
it was really good.
Someone you’ve been listening to a lot
and would love to see live?
Sam: Simon Garfunkel. I would like to see
them live, but I can’t because they’re pretty
much dead right now.
Hubert: David Bowie.
Any of you have secret talents?
Julien: Hubert’s good at singing.
Hubert: I can ski quite a lot.
Remy: Sam knows a lot about chemistry and
stuff.
Sam: In my other life, I used to be a chemical
engineer. You know, a few decades ago.

Thank you so much, and maybe we’ll see
you at FEQ!

Watch The Seasons performing an exclusive acoustic version of their single “Apples” from
their debut album Pulp at Canadian Music Week 2014 in Toronto, ON
on youtube.com/user/IntoTheCrowdTV

Born Ruffians
The four-piece, Toronto-based, indie rock band, Born Ruffians, was nominated for “Group of
the Year” and “Must-Follow Artist of the Year” at the IndiesXM Awards during Canadian Music
Week2014.VocalistLukeLalondeandbassistMitchDerosierchattedwithusabouttheirexpanded
deluxe edition of Birthmarks, recording a new album, twitter, karaoke and much more.

I was wondering which member is the
one behind your Twitter account...
Luke: This guy. [pointing at Mitch]
My thought exactly!
Mitch: Yeah, everybody seems to just know or
remember.
Luke: The younger people just know; like at
shows, they say, “Where’s Mitch? Mitch!”. A lot
of people want to know that; “Who does your
twitter? Where’s that guy?” [laughs].
You guys are funny on Twitter. No wonder
you’re nominated for Must Follow Artist
of the Year.
Luke: It’s crazy because we’re up against people
who have millions of followers [on Twitter] and
we have about 13,000.
Maybe you guys could reveal who’s been
behind your Twitter account after the
awards!
Mitch: Definitely going to take order to do that
one.
Luke: Yeah! It’s not our label just doing it for us.
Mitch: Unless we lose- then you run the Twitter.
Luke: That’s right.
Is the set tonight at the Indies going to be
any different than usual?
Luke: Yeah! It’s a half an hour set so we’ll do it a
little tighter - play only the hits.
What made you decide to release a deluxe
edition of Birthmarks?
Luke: We had this song, “Oh Cecilia”, and all
thesealternate,sortofacoustic,versionsofsongs
from Birthmarks. We had a few b-sides as well,
so we had this collection of songs that we liked,
and we weren’t going to hang on and put them on
the next record because it didn’t make sense. We
also didn’t want them to go into obscurity and
never be heard. It was either to put together an
EP or do a re-release of the record with a bonus
disc with all of this stuff on it, so we decided to
do that. We thought it would be cool to kind of
re-release and give it a new life. We just want to
show the b-sides in some way; the alternate stuff
that didn’t make it to the record.
Speaking of alternate acoustic versions,
can you tell us about the Acoustic EP on
your website?
Luke: That’s kind of synced up with three
release, which was this free online streaming
thing with five songs from the record that we
did acoustically, and four other songs that I had
demoed within past four or five years. We just
put all of that into a digital-only Acoustic EP
which I think we’ll make free, so that anybody
can download it. We’ll do that soon. I think
what we wanted to do is to have the record out
and then [re-release it] a little later, mostly for
fans, like, “here’s another side of the record and
here’s some songs that you might like”, and it’s
nice to give things away for free too.
I heard that you guys have been demo-ing
stuff at Hollerado’s studio. Can we expect
new music soon?
Luke: Well, hopefully. I mean, the plan is just to
do a record and have it finished by the middle of
the year. The end of summer is our goal which
means that it won’t be able to come out until
early next year. Our goal basically is to have
a new record out as soon as possible without

Interview and Photos by Winnie Surya

being rushed...we want to make a good record
and have it out as soon as we can so that we can
tour again [with] more new songs and all that
exciting stuff. That’s the most exciting part for
me, working on new things. The Hollerado
guys have this studio right by where we rehearse,
and while they were in Europe, Menno was
like, “hey, you guys want to go in and do some
songs?” and I was like, “yeah as a matter of fact
I have a lot of songs right now that are just in
my head, and it’ll great to go in there and do
something with them!” We went in and just said,
“here’s a song, here’s the guitar and vocal; sing
it”. I actually sang about five songs, and the guys
who runs it was like, “okay let’s do that one, just
let it come out”; we did a couple songs that way
and it was great. We’re in that phase right now,
the creative phase [in regards to] how they are
going to sound- it’s so exciting.
Are you planning on bringing the karaoke
machine to any of your shows in the future?
Luke: Yeah [laughs]. We are actually...maybe
we should announce this officially, but we don’t
have a tour coming up. We thought that that
show was really fun, and it worked really well-
it was a tester. I just had this idea - wouldn’t it
be awesome if instead of an opening band, the
audience opens the show and does just regular
karaokeonabigstage.Whodoesn’tlovekaraoke?
Everybody loves to laugh at the train wreck and
be like, “yeah that guy is killing it!”. It’s just a
fun time, so why not try to do it? [The last time],
Mitch had to run a Twitter contest where people
had to sign up, and it worked out really well.
Mitch: I was more nervous for that than I was for
the show. I was so nervous for the people who
were going up, [I wanted them to] do well and for
everything to go well, and for people like it.
ForLuke:You’redoingasoloproject-how
do you balance that with Born Ruffians?
Luke: I did the solo record before Birthmarks
came out and that was kind of it. I just did those
songs, and Paperbag [Records] asked if I want
to release it, and they were nice enough to put
the record out for me. I wasn’t able to go on tour
or anything because the timing didn’t work out,
but after that I was kind of like, “well, [maybe]
I’ll do another record but right now it’s not a
focus anymore; my focus is entirely on the next
[Born] Ruffians record, so I’m not going to think
about another solo record”. I’m entirely focused
on the band right now.

H O L L E R A D O
Triple IndiesXM Award 2014 nominees, Hollerado, just spent some time playing music in
Europe, and on their journey home they stopped to tell us some stories ranging from their amazing
experience performing on Liberation Day in Holland, to people proposing during their shows.
Check out what guitarist Nixon Boyd and drummer Jake Boyd had to say about these priceless
memories.

You guys are nominated for three awards
tonight.
Nixon: I think so.
Jake: I’m curious about what the awards are
like; what they physically look like.
Nixon Yeah, what do you get? I think we won an
IndiesXM Award years ago.
Jake: Was it a guitar? Sometimes they do guitars.
Nixon: Do we get a sweet guitar? I think we
might get an epic guitar.
Jake: Like an acoustic or something. I think the
acoustic guitar that I have in my apartment is
an Indie.
How was the European tour that you
recently finished?
Nixon: It was great. We toured in Germany and
then played some festivals in Holland- they have
Liberation Day on May 5th to commemorate
getting free from the Nazis, and they throw huge
festivals in every city in the country. We got to
play at two of those, which is cool.
Jake: Yeah, we did a week in Germany before
that, which was a lot of fun, and then we ended
the tour in Amsterdam and then flew back to
Toronto.
So you came straight from Holland to
play a show in Toronto tonight?
Jake: We actually played Kingston last night.
This must be a busy week for you guys!
How do the crowds differ between
hometown and European shows?
Jake: We try to talk a lot to the crowds at shows,
but we quickly realized that that wasn’t going to
work [in Europe].
Nixon:Theydon’tunderstandwhatwe’resaying,
so we talk less when we’re on stage in Germany,
for example.
Jake: The crowd interaction is definitely
different. In Holland, everybody was going
crazy, and it was fun. Everybody wants to hear
something that they’ve never heard before when
we’re there- sometimes I think that people aren’t
that receptive to what seems new to them; they
are a bit snobby sometimes, a bit picky.
Or they just talk during the set.
Jake: Yeah or they just stand with their arms
folded or whatever. In [Toronto] it seems like
people just want to be loud and just have fun;
drink beer or whatever.
I really love the concept of your latest
music video, “Desire 126.” I was actually
at the Horseshoe Tavern for the taping!
Nixon Really? Thanks for coming!
No problem! I saw a couple of dressed up
people go on stage and dance, but they

didn’t end up in the video.
Nixon: I think they cut that.
How was the experience working with
the legend, Dave Foley, for the “Desire
126” video?
Nixon: He’s great!
Jake: He’s a pleasure!
Nixon: Such a good guy! He works really hard and
can get into a character so quickly. He’s so funny.
Jake: All he wants to do is just to make people
laugh and be nice. He has no bad intentions
whatsoever. He is the nicest, funniest guy. It’s
awesome. He’s a pleasure to be around.
Nixon: We’re lucky to have gotten to work with
him.
The concept of the video is really cool and
hilarious, but it’s really long; not like a
typical music video.
Nixon: I’m glad you liked it!
I saw you guys at Osheaga last year and
I’m excited to see you guys to play more
this year!
Jake: That was crazy shit! A guy proposed to
his girlfriend [at Osheaga], and recently, in a
place called Den Bosch, a festival we played in
Holland, a guy tried to propose to his girlfriend
but it didn’t work.
Nixon: He was too drunk and she had to go to
the bathroom. [laughs]
Jake: It was the end of the night, and we were
the last band on the smaller stage- it was so
hilarious and awkward. The crowd was just
walking away, and then there’s this super drunk
Dutch guy proposing to his girlfriend. We were
turning to the people who spoke English and
asking, “What’s going on? What is he saying?”.
They were like, “Uh oh, he was trying to propose
to his girlfriend, but his friends are saying his
girlfriend’s not here.” It was hilarious. I felt bad
for the guy, but you know, it was kind of funny.

Nixon: It was priceless.
Itmustbespecialtohavepeopleproposing
during your set!
Jake: I guess; or they just drank too much.
[laughs]
Are you guys planning on releasing new
music anytime soon?
Nixon: We’re actually going to record some new
songs in the summer that we hope to release
soon afterward, and then we’ll hopefully put out
a full album next year some time.
That’s exciting!
Nixon: Yeah, we’re pretty psyched!
Have you guys gotten to trade in your van
for Vespas or anything cool, yet?
Jake: We haven’t traded it yet, but someone
offered us a Ronald McDonald costume, so we
might as well get that.
What’s your favorite guilty pleasure
song?
Jake: Katy Perry.
Nixon: We were just talking about how much we
love video game music. In particular, the Koji
Kondo composition that scores Mario, Zelda,
and all the classic Nintendo games- his music is
really sweet.
Jake: Barry Manilow; we talked about how
good Barry Manilow songs are on the drive last
night.
Nixon: Then we were listening to Sheryl Crow
and admitting how much we like her.
Jake: You know, pop music and Nintendo
music.
Interview and Photos by Winnie Surya

Part Clayton Knight, part Harrison Mills. This Washington-based duo put out a number of
unique releases in the past few years, all free and downloadable via their website, with tracks
constantly topping the Hype Machine charts. The collection of releases include NO SLEEP mixes,
a remix of Pretty Lights’ “Lost and Found”, album Summer’s Gone, My Friends Never Die EP and
recently, a quickly successful single called “Sun Models”.
Amidst their continuous March through July touring, the electronic duo dropped by Toronto’s
Tattoo in May for a wildy vibey visual Canadian Music Week set. Leading up to the show, Tiffany
spoke with Harrison about ODESZA, along with some not-so-typical topics. Read onwards!
ODESZA

So I know this probably gets mentioned a
lot, but I hear you and Clay met in college
back at Western Washington University.
What exactly did you guys study, and how
do you, if you do, use that knowledge
today for ODESZA?
HM: Clay studied Physics, and I studied Graphic
Design. I get to do a lot of the artwork for us,
whetherfort-shirtsorflyersorsomethingwepost
online. Clay did physics and math, he definitely
still finds ways to use his talents when we’re
using gear and stuff; everything is mathematical,
so still he still uses those skills for sure.
You both previously had separate music
projects before ODESZA came together,
which were Catacombkid (Harrison) and
BeachesBeaches (Clayton). Are those still
active or is it mostly just ODESZA stuff
now?
HM: Nowadays, we kind of just focus on
ODESZA right now cause we don’t want to
spread ourselves too thin, we want to make sure
we put everything into what we’re doing.
So ODESZA was just on tour with
electronic producer, Emancipator, for
the second time around. I’m a huge fan of
him. His music is a bit softer and mellow
with the beats, though. Do you find people
that come to shows for him, and who
maybe haven’t heard of ODESZA before,
do they still manage to get into your music
before he comes on?
HM: I’d like to think that we bridge the gap
between those worlds, from more down tempo to
a lot of energy. We’re fans of both worlds. We try to
incorporate a lot of those things when we play live.
I really like how your music is not really
EDM either, you know, it’s nice and fun
but not too crazy so you can listen to it
whenever.
HM: Thank you for saying that! Haha.
So after Friday’s show in Toronto, the
next time you guys will be back in east
coast Canada is for Montreal’s Osheaga in
August. That’s a pretty big festival here.
Do you guys ever get to stick around for
the weekend at festivals and catch some
shows, or do you have to take off right
after?
HM:Iwishwecould.Ithinkwe’replayinganother
show or festival the next day [after Osheaga], so
we’ll have to leave unfortunately. I’ve heard so
many amazing things about Montreal in general
and that festival separately. I think that’s going
to end up being one of our top favourite shows.

Favourite aspect of being on the road?
HM: Being able to continuously make personal
connections with fans at shows and and play
musicthatwehaven’tputoutyetandseeingtheir
initial reactions, immediate things like that. A
lot of times we put up something online and we
don’t really know how to gauge the reaction. It’s
nice to see it first hand.
Do you guys have a current favourite song
to play at shows?
HM: It’s weird. Every crowd is different. I would
say that Sun Models, our newest track, has a
really big crowd reaction when we play it live,
which is always really fun.
Biggest music guilty pleasure? Maybe an

artist you’ve been listening to or a really
goodsongthatmightbeabitembarrassing
or surprising.
HM: Haha, I have to say I’ve always been a huge
fan of Coldplay.
A lot of people seem to mention Coldplay
as their music guilty pleasure! I guess
because they’re huge and mainstream, I
don’t know.
HM: What! They have awesome producers. They
have people like Brian Eno and John Hopkins.
Proudest or most memorable moment so
far?
HM: I always go back to this as one of our
favourite moments... We played Sasquatch, just
before Toro Y Moi and Disclosure. That was a
huge moment for us. When we went on stage, it
started raining so everyone came to the dance
tent where we were playing. It was a massive
party. I think half the people had no idea who
we were. Some people come up to us saying
they remember that set cause had a lot of fun
and that that was how they found out about us.
Sasquatch was a huge moment for us.
Most common misconception about
ODESZA?
HM: People think there’s only one person in
ODESZA, haha. We’ve had several interviewers
will come and meet us in person, and think one
of us is the tour manager or something and
only talk to one of us. Then halfway through
we have to be like, ‘We’re... we’re both in the
band’, which is really uncomfortable. I’m kind
of confused why people do. I guess there’s not a
lot of pictures of us online.
Favourite artist/producer right now, or
underrated artist we should know about?
HM: I really like Sylvan Esso. It’s a guy and a
girl. She’s a folk singer and he’s a producer. He
remixed one of her songs and made it a pop-
electronic, darker weird song. She liked it so
much they made a whole album together and
it’s really good.
Biggest pet peeve?
HM: I don’t like when someone meets you
and they obviously aren’t listening to anything
you’re saying, haha. I’ve definitely met people
where, as we’re talking, they’re looking around
the room [replying] ‘Yeah. Yeah’. Ah, that drives
me crazy.
Last book you read?
HM: I read The Wolf of Wall Street recently.
Best meal on tour this year?
HM: We played The Georgia Amphitheatre and
they brought us homestyle cooked barbacue and
it was absolutely insane.
If you could pick 3 artists to create your
dream concert lineup, who would they be?
HM: Ooh, that’s so hard. Electronic? I think a
cool lineup would be Slow Magic, Sylan Esso
and Flume.
Now I would normally ask both of you
this separately and compare each other’s
answers, but since Clay isn’t here, I
guess I can only ask you... So, what
would your mother describe you as?
HM: Hahaha, that’s a great question. I love this
interview already. My mom is such a sweetheart,

she probably has the best opinion of me. I don’t
know if I agree with all of it, but she definitely
sees me as a polite nice young man... something
along those lines, haha.
That’s nice. Now what would your friends
describe you?
I think they’d say I’m a nice funny guy, probably.
So basically, you’re a nice guy.
Yeah, haha.
What’s a surprising fact or hidden talent
about yourself that people would be
surprised to know?
I wanted to be a cartoonist up until I was about
20. I was going to school and doing illustration
andstuff,andthenIswitchedtothedesignworld.
But I don’t really use those chops anymore.
You could totally do some cartooning for
the next EP.
Throw in a little comic in the there, maybe,
haha.
If you ever found yourself running from
the cops, it would most likely be for...
Well, I’ve definitely run from the cops before...
It would probably be something dumb like
smoking weed, BUT it’s legal in Washington
where I’m from.
And last question, any interesting plans
for the rest of summer, besides the
festivals?
HM: I think we don’t have time to do anything
else, haha. I really want to go to Hawaii. I’ve
never been and everyone I know has been
to Hawaii. I grew up with every kid going on
vacation to Mexico or Hawaii or something,
and I was always like, ‘I’ll be here’. I’ve always
dreamed of going there so I’ll probably find a
way to get down there for a couple days.
ODESZA - Interview and Photos by Tiffany Lam

3Lau
On May 2nd, we caught up with 23-year-old DJ/producer Justin Blau, or better known as
3LAU (pronounced Blau, not three lau) just before his set at UNIUN Nightclub in Toronto. We
chatted about college, cars, Katy Perry and more. Read the full interview below!
Q A W I T H :

T: So Justin, you’ve been around in
music for quite a few years. When did
things really start kicking off for you... in
college?
F: Well it started out with basically just me
making mashups, and then I came out with my
first big track, “Escape”, and that was about a
year and a half ago. And then since then I’ve
been working on a bunch of new stuff that I’m
rolling out right now. So for two years I kind of
did the college mashup thing, and during that
time, I was learning how to do my own thing
and then I finally came out with my first one and
then it took a year to finish the rest, and now I’m
coming out with a ton of new originals.
T: I saw a throwback photo you posted
yesterday, which was your high school
yearbook grad photo, and your “life goal”
caption was “To revolutionize the music
industry”. Would you care to elaborate
on how and what you mean by this?
J: Yeah, so it’s interesting, I’ve always loved all
kinds of music, but didn’t really like dance music
back in the day... kind of just fell into it and now
I’vecometoabsolutelyloveit.Forme,I’vealways
wanted to revolutionize music and revolutionize
the industry behind music. My personal goal
was to revolutionize the industry first, and then
start making music on my own when I was 40
or something and I could do whatever I want.
Luckily, it didn’t have to work out that way. I’ve
always had lots of different ideas, I think there
are lots of problems on the industry side of
music, I was a finance major, I was a business
student, so having that background I wanted to
spearhead some project to turn it on its head; I
think Spotify’s in the process of doing a little bit
of that right now. But it turned out to work the
opposite way and I get to do music before the
industry stuff.
T: Recently you did something like a
massive college tour, and I heard the
shows and everything got really crazy
wild. What are a couple things that were
absolutely ridiculous that you couldn’t
believe would ever happen?
J: Well, absolutely ridiculous were cliff jumping
and monkey suits, and crowd surfing from
a second story. We picked up some random
girls along the way to film for the music video
– yeah, my girlfriend didn’t like that – but we
were traveling by car everywhere constantly
doing different things in monkey suits. It was
exhausting because we were playing shows and
filming all at once; we barely slept at all but it was
a phenomenal experience and totally worth it.
T: And the filming was all of this was for
a music video?
J: Right, it’s the music video for the bootleg
version of one of my new singles.
T: So lately, what has been the average
3LAU kind of day?
J: Lately it’s hotel to airport, airport to airport
somewhere else, to hotel, to work at the desk for a
couple hours, to playing a show, and then repeat.
T: No sleep?
J: Ehh, a couple hours in there. I sleep as much
as I can. My average is 5-6 hours, which is really
not bad, but when you do 5 and a half hours day
after day after day...
T: And basically playing a high energy
show every night.
J: Exactly, and doing that day after day, you’re

not getting your 8, and you do that for three
weeks... you miss those few hours every day and
you start to feel it. And then there’s some nights
where there’s little [sleep], if any.
T: Now, on more of a serious/softer
note... Your involvement with Pencils of
Promise. I saw there was a video where
you went to Guatemala a while back for
the completion of the school classroom
you helped fundraise for. Can you tell us
a bit more about that?
J: Yeah, so I’ve been working with Pencils of
Promise for almost two years now. We built the
first school, it was a phenomenal success, I kind
of wanted to wait until I got a bit bigger as an
artist to start doing more work with them, and
now we have so many big plans with them for the
future. We’re almost done with the fundraising
for the second school, but it’s my goal to have
5 schools by the end of 2015, so that’s the goal!
We’ll see if it happens.
T: So how exactly does the fundraising
come together?
J: So one school is 25,000$, and fundraising
can come from a lot of different directions. We
sell bracelets with Electric Family, I’ll donate
a portion of proceeds from music sometimes,
we’re going to be doing more show stuff. We
haven’t done that much yet, cause when you
do philanthropy with shows, to make it really
effective you have to bring in a lot of sponsorship
and then you can raise hundreds of thousands if
you do it the right way, so I’d rather do it right
and wait until I’m big enough to execute it and
for it to be well done.
T: Alright now for a couple general
questions. What’s your favourite track to
play right now, or really fun to drop?
J: My new single “How You Love Me” is always
really fun to drop, there’s a new remix that I
just got back that I’ve been playing. Otherwise,
“Mammoth” by Moguai is still to this day one of
the biggest songs you can play live. It’s old but
everyone knows it and sings along to it.
T: Favourite aspect of being on the road?
J: My favourite thing is also my least favourite
thing. Being on the road forces you to be a
minimalist, which sometimes is really taxing
because you don’t have everything available,
but it also can enable you to focus more on
your immediate surroundings cause you only
have the stuff that’s with you and you can be a
little bit more task-oriented. If there are things
internet-wise, you can just sit on the computer
cause you don’t have to clean around you or do
anything else, you just have to eat and work. So
it’s the best and worst part about touring, just
being a minimalist.
T: What’s your proudest moment so far
as 3LAU?
J: I think that’ll be happening this June. This
June will be my proudest moment as 3LAU. So
far it’s been the release of HYLM, a project I’ve
been working on for a year and a half, but this
June I’m playing my dream festival and on the
mainstage; I’m really pumped.
*Update: 3LAU will be playing EDC Las Vegas
happening June 21-23!!

Interview and Photos by Tiffany Lam
T: Favourite artist right now, or an
underrated artist we should know about?
J: I’d have to say Botnek, who I just released a
track with called “Vikings”, and they just make
some crazy stuff, very unique. No one’s doing
stuff like they are, they’ll be really big soon.
T: Biggest music guilty pleasure?
J: I love Katy Perry, she kills it.
T: Yeah, I’d have to agree, she’s great.
J: Yeah, exactly! I mean, is it really a guilty
pleasure?
T:Iguessit’scauseshe’sreallymainstream
pop so we tend to categorize her in
something like that.
J: Yeah, but she’s one of the most respectable
mainstream artists. I mean, I wouldn’t tell you
Taylor Swift is a guilty pleasure cause I don’t
listen to T-Swift, but Katy Perry kills it!
T: Biggest Pet Peeve?
J: When people tell you they can help you in
some way, shape or form, when they really can’t.
So if someone’s like, “Oh yeah, this is such a great
opportunity for you working with us...” That’s
not what you want to tell me, haha, I don’t want
to hear that, sorry.
T: What’s a private thing you’ll admit
about yourself, or something that people
would be surprised to know about you?
J: I most recently told the world I can sing, and
I’m singing on one of my future records, so I’m
really excited for that.
T: What would your mom describe you
as?
J: Probably really hard working, because she hates
the fact that I give her no time. I also don’t do
anything but this. I don’t watch television, I don’t
really drink that much anymore, I don’t really
hang out with my friends that much. Literally,
girlfriend... music... family... music... that’s it.
T: Well that’s good you can make time for
your girlfriend too at least! And so how
would your friends describe you as? Any
differently?
J: Probably the same. Everyone would probably
say I don’t really leave my desk and I’m always
constantly doing something – even when you
came, you know, busy with a makeshift meeting
right before.
T:Ifyoueverfoundyourselfrunningfrom
the cops, it would most likely be for...
J: Drugs. Nah. Hmm, tax evasion... who knows.
Nah, that’s a stupid answer. If I was running
from the cops... it would be for stealing a car.
Hell yeah, that’s what I would definitely do.
T: And last question, any interesting
plans for the rest of summer – besides
that huge festival you’re playing at?
J: Basically working on finishing my album in
June and July. It’s an EP so not a full album, but
a 5-track album that I’m really excited about.
T: Awesome. Well thank you so much for
chatting!

BESTiE started in Spring 2012 in East Vancouver when friends Andrew Janczewski, Tristan
Orchard, Daniel Ruiz and Rob Cameron started jamming with the goal of making a fun accessible
pop band. Soon after discovering their array of world and pop music influences, they started
crafting their unique sound.
Amidst a cross-Canada and US spring tour, this quartet gave Toronto an amicable visit on May
9th 10th for Canadian Music Week. On what couldn’t have been a more perfect sunny Saturday,
we sat down with the band and sought find out all about BESTiE and their recent album,
No Bad Days.
BESTiE

So just to start off, in five words or
one word each, can you guys describe
BESTiE?
Rob: Fun
Tristan: Jangly
Andrew: Danceable
Daniel: Friendly
In your eyes, what do you think makes No
Bad Days unique?
Daniel: There’s many things. One thing I
would say is the cover of it, it is quite unique.
Tristan: The collection of influences that are
at play in the music; there’s everything from
African music to reggae to Johnny Marr to post-
punk... soukous music, champeda, Colombian
music, pop, and even RB maybe.
How long did it take to record and create
this album?
Andrew: It was a long process. Two of the songs
– Pineapple and Asleep on the bus – we recorded
first with Digory Smallz and that was a pretty
quick process. We started those on Boxing Day
of 2012, we recorded the bass lines right before
Rob had to take a flight the next morning, and
then we were done in about two weeks. Then we
waited and recorded the other six songs with
Howard Redekopp in Vancouver in blocks of
3 songs each. Then we both got busy so we did
some live off-the-floor sessions, overdubbing,
mixing... it was a very long run out process with
going away and playing shows [too]. Took way
too long, but we finished in February/March. It
was over a year from start to finish, but broken
up with time in between.
Did you find your expectations vastly
changed from going in to coming out with
the end product?
Rob: In terms of the timeline I’d say yes; we had
initially anticipated to have it done fairly quick,
but it was kind of nice to have that time between
– maybe not that much time, but it did give us a
lot of opportunities to sit on the recordings and
re-evaluate them. We basically went over every
song with a fine toothed comb to make sure we
were happy with every part of it. I think the end
result benefited from us being able to do that.
Tristan: Personally, I hate when things take too
long. I’m just gonna say that.
Which song was the hardest most work/
most difficult to finish?
Tristan: Afraid of the Dark. Sometimes you just
start with the bare bones and then you take a
listen, ‘does it need anything else?’, and then
maybe you’ll add the other things or subtract
just to get the right amount. Sometimes when
you record it, it translates a bit different and
editing it down for flow and timing makes a
huge difference.
Which was the easiest and most natural
to create?
Rob: It’s interesting how it changes as you’re
going through the process. When we did the bed
tracks, which was all live off the floor – Andrew

will attest to this – the song Kelly Kapowski...
We did it last and by the end of the session which
went pretty late, I think we all left thinking that
it sucked.
Andrew:Ithoughtwe’dhavetoredothatsession.
I thought it was the worst.
Rob: Yeah I was on the fence about whether
we’d even be able to use it, and we ended up
using the live off the floor recording without any
editing, so in the end that ended up being the
easiest song.
Andrew: Yeah, it was the most natural. Basically,
what you hear is what we played in the room.
Well I’m glad you kept it that way, it’s a
great song! A big fear or struggle faced
as a band so far? And how did you guys
overcome it?
Tristan: We got our first bad review about a week
ago. I was waiting for that, but it’s done now
and life goes on. Opinions are like buttholes;
everyone has one. So now we’re through that
hurdle and what doesn’t kill you just makes
you stronger. Maybe it made us bond more as
a band because it’s like, “nahh, that’s not right”
and we’re just going to keep doing our thing and
play even better.
What are your thoughts on collaborating
and who would you like to collaborate
with?
Tristan: I think collaboration is great, music
itself is collaboration. If you look at Kanye
West, who brings in so many collaborators to
his album and makes such an amazing album;
I love collaborating and the more absurd the
collaboration,thebetter.MikeWill,theproducer
for Miley Cyrus and Juicy J... I think he’s the
best producer out there right now for that sort
of music. I would love to hear what something
would turn out with him. There’s Chin Injeti
also from Vancouver who’s won a few Grammy
Awards; we’ve both expressed interest to work
together. I don’t know, I’d love to collaborate
with everyone!
What is something on BESTIE’s bucket
list that you guys hope to scratch off
soon?
Andrew: Touring South America.
Tristan: We were just in Colombia shooting
a music video for our song Sirracha. Daniel’s
from Colombia and I just feel there’s a certain
response that we’ve been getting from people
in South America. I guess our music is sort of
influenced by there, and to have it reflected to us
and then come back there is a very interesting
thing. I think that would be an amazing bucket
list thing to do. Tour Europe as well.
Rob: I’ve been crossing stuff off my bucket list
recently. We were in the middle of our first
Canadian tour and it’s always been a personal
dream to drive across the country so, this month
is just one big check mark for me. I’m excited to
have some vinyl too, hopefully. I love records.

Did you guys learn anything in general or
about yourselves while making the new
album?
Rob: I think our roles in the band, personality
wise, were maybe a bit more solidified. There’s
more caution in certain parts of our band and
then more ‘let’s just go do it’ – [making the
album] allowed us to find a happy medium in
between those two things.
Daniel: Working hard is very important. We
kind of knew that, but it was kind of like a
reinforcement.
Rob: We learned that we can do what we set out
to do if we put in that hard work.
Tristan: I think you always kind of reinforce
that you should go with your gut and listen to
yourself a lot. Everyone’s going to say all sorts
of things and you have to just do what you think
is best.
And last question, what are your biggest
music guilty pleasures?
Tristan: I love Justin Bieber. I played the new
album in the car twice; everyone hates Bieber,
and they don’t even listen to what I’m saying
because he’s just a 20-year-old kid going around
and acting like a jack***, which I personally also
probably did. His album Journals is amazing. I
also work as a DJ and I played it out at places
like the Commodore in Vancouver, and I’ve had
grown men come up to me and ask like, “What
is this? Omg, what is this??”, and I’m like, “It’s
Justin Bieber!”. So, listen to an artist’s music
and don’t write them off just because their
personality, because artists are supposed to be
weird and have huge personalities that get under
your skin. Listen to their music.
Daniel: Well, when I was a teenager, I used to
love Blink 182. And I still like Blink 182 for some
reason,andsometimesIfeellikeIshouldn’tshare
that with many people, but I love Travis Barker’s
drumming. He’s amazing and he influenced me
a lot when I started playing drums, so that’s a
guilty pleasure.
Andrew: There’s this Sting song called Desert
Rose. I haven’t listened to it in years but when
it came out. I thought it was great. It’s kind of a
dance song with an Arabic influence. I think it’s
probably a really bad song but I remember really
liking it at the time and having my girlfriend
making fun of me for it. I’ll have to dig it up and
listen to it again.
Rob: I’m going to stay away from music, but
I recently fell into The Real World on MTV. I
don’t really have good things to say about it,
but it shames me to say I watched the entire
season. It’s the lowest form of entertainment
but it’s enjoyable and made me feel better about
myself.
Tristan: Noo, MTV is the best. We just had a
song licensed to a MTV’s show called Awkward.
Speaking of bucket lists, getting our music on
MTV and being associated with MTV greatness...
yeaah.
Interview and Photos by Tiffany Lam

Neck DeepHailing from the UK, Neck Deep is a band that exploded with popularity following their first
release in 2012, Rain in July. Since then, the band has put out a second EP, A History of Bad
Decisions, as well as their first full-length earlier this year, titled Wishful Thinking. We got to sit
down with Ben and Fil from the band on the Toronto stop of their spring tour, who talked to us
about the new album, signing to Hopeless Records, poutine and more.
C O V E R A R T I S T :

How excited are you guys to play in
Toronto?
Fil: So excited.
Ben: Yeah, it’s gonna be cool, it’s the last day of
our US tour, we’ve got this little Canadian bit
at the end, so yeah, it’s cool to take a little dip
into Canada and get a taste for it. I’m sure we’ll
be back in doing real tour at some point, but
yeah, it’s cool. It’s always good to play sold out
shows.
It’s your first time playing here right?
Fil: Yeah! None of us have even been to Canada
before!
Ben: It’s our first time in Canada, none of us
have been to Canada, yeah.
Fil: It’s out first time in the US as well.
Ben: Before the US tour, the only time we’d ever
come over here was to play in Florida.
Fil: We’ve been here as like, kids, on holiday and
things like that, but we never - today’s our first
ever day in Canada.
Ben: It’s good to be here.
Fil: Yeah, exciting!
How’s the tour so far?
Fil: It’s been amazing. Most of the days have
been sold out, which is always a bonus. Yeah,
the response has been awesome, all the kids
have been amazing, just really-
Ben: Met some really cool people, made some
friends-
Fil: It’s just been everyone having a great time.
Ben: Yeah, there hasn’t really been a bad show,
so it’s been sick.
Any embarrassing memories so far?
Ben: [laughs] Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Fil: On stage, or like, in general?
Ben: In general - oh yeah, oh yeah.
Fil: [laughing] Oh no... you can’t say that.
Ben: Yeah, we can’t say that. [laughs]
Fil: Yeah, we can’t say that on TV.
Ben: Someone was late to the toilet. Let’s put it
that way.
Fil: More than one person, more than one
occasion.
Ben: Yeah, late to the toilet, so...
Fil: We’re pretty bad for that.
Ben: But nah, I mean, not really embarrassing
moments, it’s been a lot just hanging out, really.
Some funny stuff has happened but-
Fil: We’re all such fucking idiots around each
other that we don’t really have embarrassing
moments ‘cause it’s like - if something stupid
happens, it’s just like “Oh yeah-’”
Ben: It’s just funny, because we don’t find it
embarrassing.
Fil: Yeah, we can’t really get embarrassed
between each other’s, it’s just like, stupid all
the time. I don’t know, it’s been more funny
moments.
Ben: Yeah, it’s been fun.
What’s a regular “day off” for you guys?
Fil: Depends really-
Ben: Depends where you are.
Fil: Yeah, depends where you are, that changes
everything. ‘Cause if you’re in somewhere really
crap and boring, we’d all just rather get a really
good day’s sleep and stuff like that. Like, if
we’re somewhere awesome, we’ll go and hang
out, walk around, see the area. We like to look
around.
Ben: We had a day off in Cali and we went to
Hollywood-
Fil: All the touristy stuff.
Ben: Where else have we had days off?
Fil: Florida, went to Universal - no, that was on
the show day-
Ben: What did we do on the Florida day off? Did
we drive... so we didn’t go to Disney?
Fil: We went to Disney in California.
Ben: I can’t remember - most of the time, it’s

just like a day off for us is mostly the same as
just like, a day on tour except, I guess, probably
more dicking around.
Have you guys gotten a chance to check
around Toronto yet?
Fil: Not really, we only got here a couple of
hours ago, we’ve just been sort of loading in and
setting up, we haven’t really had a chance to sort
of, groove around and see anything yet.
Ben: Yeah, I’m gonna go and check out Tim
Hortons.
[comment] You guys should also check
out Sneaky Dee’s, they have the best
nachos!
Fil: Sneaky Dee’s, oh man, if it’s got nachos I’m
down, let’s do it. You’re like, the first person
who’s not told us to eat that ‘poutine’ stuff.
Ben: What is poutine?
[comment] It’s fries with cheese and
gravy.
Ben: Yeah, we get that, but we just call it chips
and gravy. But I’m gonna sample it and see what
it’s like, see how it adds up.
You guys just released your debut album;
what makes that album different from
your previous EPs?
Ben: Well, Rain in July was pretty successful,
people still really like that, we still play most of
that live. Play all of it live, actually. It’s definitely
stepped up a notch since then, and I think that
we’vedefinitelygainedalotoffansfromthat,and
there are still our fans who have heard us from
Wishful Thinking onwards, is always good. It’s
just proved that we can do something different
as well, and I mean, it’s just shown another area
of our game.
Fil: I think it’s a bit more of a “professional”
product, and it’s a bit more like, ”Ok, this is like
a real band now, this is a real record that we’re
gonna put out, it’s not like, an EP and all the
tracks are gonna be like, different vibes, and a
bit up in the air. Not that the others ones were
that” but, it’s here’s us saying “Yeah, we’re doing
this shit for real now. Here’s the fucking record,
we’re fucking trying on this and meaning it.”
Ben: And then we’ll do the same next time, and
we’ll come back and make another solid album.
It’s just that, Wishful Thinking is literally a real
start.
Fil: Yeah, Wishful Thinking is like us going,
“Yeah, we’re gonna do this now, this is the
starter course.”
Ben: Like, everything before that was like,
obviously really good for us, and it did good
things and people still loved what we did before
Wishful Thinking, but yeah, Wishful Thinking is
us going, “Right; this is us taking this seriously,
and we’re gonna fucking, yeah, this is us being
a real band.”
So what’s the recording process been like?
Fil: It was quite a weird one, really.
Ben: Yeah, it was quite weird.
Fil: ‘Cause both our, both EPs were recorded
with Ben’s brother, just in his bedroom, and
then when it came through to the full-length it
was like, we really like the process we have with
him-
Ben: Where we can write and, it’s a comfortable
environment with him.
Fil: He doesn’t just record us like, he is part
of our little writing team-thing that we have
going on, and it was like, ‘Well, we don’t wanna
like, break that ‘cause it’s kinda like who we
are, sorta thing.” So we did a lot of the writing
and pre-production and all the tracking with
him, and then all the mixing and mastering,
and re-amping and stuff; recorded the drums
somewhere else.
Ben: But we still managed to keep it fairly similar

to how we-
Fil: How we write, pretty much the same as the
EPs for the writing process. Apart from stepping
up the professionalism and things like that,
instead of just mixing it ourselves and putting
it out we’re gonna send it there for re-amps and
send it there for mixing, there for mastering;
when it’s all done and it’s like-
Ben: That writing process for us has always
been what we’ve been used to, so we try to keep
it as - this being our first album, we wanted to
show what we could do, so yeah, I think it will
probably always be done, at least the writing
element, it will always be done in my bedroom
- my brother’s bedroom.
HowdoesitfeeltobesignedwithHopeless
Records?
Ben: That was a big turning point.
Fil: It’s something that it’s like now, yeah, signed
with Hopeless Records-
Ben: Yeah, that’s what we do now-
Fil: We’d already started the process of the full-
length before labels even came in, and our plan
with our manager from the start was always
like, “We’re gonna do a full-length now, we’re
not gonna worry about getting signed, we’re
gonna do it ourselves - but if someone come
knocking, we’ll see what happens, take it as it
comes.” And then it came around to it, and there
was a few offers on the table for us, and he spoke
to us one day and was like, “We got a call from
Hopeless”, and we were just like okay, yes. That
was kinda like - we had even said before, that if
there was dream label that we could get on for
this, it would be Hopeless, and then it came to
that, and we ended up Skyping with them to talk
to them and introduce ourselves and there was a
few backwards and forwards, a real natural kind
of-
Ben: Yeah, it seemed like it fit, really.
Fil: Yeah, it just seemed like it fit. We spoke to
them a lot and they told us what they’re doing
and how they want to with us, and how they felt
about us, and what they liked, and what they
didn’t, and we said the same to them, and it was
just like, it seems to feel really good.
Ben: It all coincided, and it’s great to just be a
part of a label that is there for our best interests
and wants to help us develop as a band, so yeah,
it’s great. It made this tour possible, it made
putting the record out possible, so it’s opened a
lot of doors and we’re really happy with it.
Who are your musical influences?
Ben: Mine, I would straight up say, anyone
would say this but legit, Blink-182, New Found
Glory, but anything from that like, early 2000s-
era pop-punk is when we all grew up and when
we really started getting into music, so all of that
is a big influence. Bands like Blink [182], New
Found [Glory], Sum 41... who else, I’m slacking
here... Jimmy Eat World-
Fil: Good Charlotte, Simple Plan; just all the
classics. I mean, in terms of Neck Deep, it’s
kinda like that, but all of us listen to all sorts of
music outside there.
Ben: Yeah, you could ask each member who
their favourite band is, and we would probably
all say different ones.
Fil: Yeah, we all vary... like Dani, he doesn’t even
like pop-punk, he actually hates it, it’s hilarious.
[laughs]
Ben: Yeah, he’s a metalhead.
Fil: When we sit in the van we’ll like, put on New
Found Glory and we’re all like [singing lyrics],
he’s just like”...Who’s this, never heard of it.”
Ben: He’s getting into it, slowly.
Phil: “Is it Blink-182?” It’s like “Dude!” [shaking
head]
Ben: There’s a couple of pop-punk things he’ll
listen to, like he’ll get into himself.
Fil: He’s more into like, the new-wave things.
Ben: I don’t think he really got into it back then…

Interview by Seanzha Kemal Winnie Surya, Photos by Daniel Hadfield, Words by Marisa Martel

we were all into the whole new-metal by then, like Slipknot, Papa Roach...
Fil: Oh yeah, Slipknot, Linkin Park...
Ben: That’s kind of where the heavy element comes from; we’re all into heavy music as well, but
that’s where our heavy music tastes kind of started, so that’s more Dani’s area. West likes his
heavy music, but West also like very fucking obscure bands as well, he’s a weirdo. Llloyd, one of
his favourite bands is Funeral for a Friend... me and Fil are pretty similar, actually. Yeah, we’re all
different, but I think that’s a good thing because when it comes to writing new stuff, we can all pitch
in and have all these different elements going on in our music, which is always cool; it would suck if
we all just said, “Oh yeah, let’s-we all listen to the same shit.” So then everything would always just
sound the same and every idea that got thrown into the mix would just be the same idea.

Virginia in Vegas
Fresh from Toronto, ON, Derik Baker instantly stole the attention of many people; including
those at Canadian indie label, Wax Records. With only one top single and an upcoming debut
album, Virginia to Vegas started their career nicely; from a collaboration with fellow singer-
songwriter, Alyssa Reid, to opening for Canadian rock band, Hedley, on their arena tour.
Check out Into the Crowd’s exclusive interview with Virginia To Vegas to learn more about
their new album, inspirations, and touring plans for this summer.

How excited are you to play at Canadian
Music Week?
So excited! We did the soundcheck yesterday
and it was amazing. We’ve never really done any
club shows before- the first show that we ever
did was in an arena.
With Hedley right?
Yeah! So to do this is really cool. It’s a small
room and I know the people that are going to be
here, so I’m excited for this!
How did that tour [with Hedley] go, by
the way?
It was amazing. We did about twenty-six dates
across the country, and I got to meet a lot of new
people. The guys in Hedley are amazing and I
got to see the country, which was pretty wild!
I saw the music video for “We Are Stars”
and it looks like it was shot in Vegas too! Did
you guys shoot it during the tour as well?
We did half of it in Vegas! The other half is live
footage.
It looks pretty sick! Did you pick Vegas as
the location because of your band name?
[laughs] It’s just something that we thought of.
Would you mind telling us a little bit
about the single?
I wrote that song when I decided to do music
full time, and in order to be an artist I really had
to focus on things that are positive because it’s
really difficult. The important message of that
song is that it doesn’t really matter how big an
obstacle is; you can overcome it as long as you
have a positive mental attitude. I also think
that it’s kind of a love song, but “We Are Stars”
doesn’t mean that we are celebrities, it means
that we’re all made from the same stuff.
It’s like you are the star of your own life!
Yeah! To me, it’s like we’re made from the same
things and we could do whatever we want as
long we’re being positive about it.
Alyssa Reid is featured on the song. What
was it like working with her?
Working with [Alyssa] is amazing. I mean,
I’ve known her for a couple of years and our
relationship has been great. We’re good friends,
so working with her is always so easy, because
she’s so talented. Writing with her is super easy
because she’s such a great writer, so it’s very fast
[laughs].
I heard that you’ll be releasing a debut
album this summer, is that correct?
Yep! I’m pretty excited! Right now we’re in the
process of selecting songs, and I think that most
of all, I want the album to feel like a unified body
of work from start to finish; when you start off
listening to the album and you finish listening to
it, it feels connected. I feel like a lot of time, with
pop albums, people don’t really listen to full
albums, they listen to singles, and I hope that
our fans are going to be interested and want to
listen to the record from the start to finish. I used
to love doing that when I was a kid - I remember
listening to The White Stripes and Fleetwood
Mac from start to finish, their full albums.

I understand! It gives you this special
feeling!
Exactly! You listen to those albums and it’s such
a cool collection. I hope [our record] gives that
feeling to people, but I’m really proud of the
songs on it for sure!
Who are some of your musical influences?
I think I draw influence from all over. When I
was a kid, I used to listen to a lot of blues music
and old school rock n’ roll; so I drew a lot of
inspiration from Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline
and some of those artists that wrote beautiful
classic songs. I also listen to bands like The 1975
and Coldplay a little bit; pop that has substance
to it. I also love Top 40 pop music, like Katy
Perry.
What made you decide that you wanted
to be a musician?
I don’t think it’s a decision; it’s more like
something that I just always wanted to do. When
I had a job, I was always thinking about what
would I be doing once I got home from work. I
couldn’t wait to get home and write and work on
the next thing. It wasn’t a conscious decision; it’s
just something that I’ve always wanted to do.
What’s next for you?
There’s talk about fall tour with Alyssa [Reid]
- that’s just a rumor but it’s probably going
to happen. I’m just playing as many shows
as possible; “We Are Stars” took me on a tour
across the country, then to the Canadian Music
Week, then to Scene Fest this summer with six
more songs.
Are you considering playing more local
shows?
I’m thinking of traveling the country and playing
to large audiences, but Toronto is my home so
I’ll play a lot of shows around here.

T U P E L O H O N E Y
Edmonton rock band Tupelo Honey is Steve Vincent, Daniel Davidson, Tyler Dianocky, Greg
Williamson and Brad Simons. In support of their new album at Canadian Music Week, Tupelo
Honey joined us in Toronto for chats about touring, writing, recording and performing.

SoTupeloHoneyjustrecentlyreleasedBrave
New World. How has the recording process
been? I heard a bit of it was done in Toronto.
Yeah, part of it. We recorded it all over the place,
actually. We did some in our rehearsal space just
outside Edmonton, Alberta. Then we did some
at a cabin on a lake in the middle of the woods
somewhere in Northern Alberta. Did vocals
in Toronto. Our house, our producer’s house,
our private studios and rehearsal places. It was
everywhere. But not on purpose. It was all very
spread apart with months in between sometimes.
In addition to that, the music video for
“These Walls” was just put out too – can you
tell us a bit about the song and the video?
That was one of the really cool songs on our
record because it sort of came out of nowhere.
We were all in Greg’s basement and just decided
to write from the ground up by starting to play
instruments. A lot of the writing Dan added living
lyrical ideas overtop of melodies just there, and
this really cool concept came out. We just kept
working with it, and then when our video director
heard the song, he created this really great idea
to incorporate with this story line about personal
struggle and breaking through obstacles.
Using 5 words, describe who Tupelo
Honey is.
Greg, Steve, Dan, Tyler, Brad... [laughs]
Nintendo, nerds, coffee, meat, beer. And burgers.
You guys have performed with big names
like Bon Jovi, Three Days Grace, and Papa
Roach before. How was the experience of
being able to tour and open for such acts?
Over the years, it’s been a big learning curve.
When we started doing those shows, we were
kind of starstruck and in awe. We were just a little
bit giddy and maybe not quite as professional as I
thinkwe’vebecomeinthosescenarios,butthey’re
still really exciting. I love playing on a big stage in
front of other people’s fans, especially if there’s
tons of them. Part of the fun of playing live is
trying to win people over. I think we also learned
a lot about humility. A lot of those big artists...
it’s so great to open for them, but what you really
see is that even if they’re hugely famous, they’re
working very hard themselves. It’s just as hard
for them and even they very much appreciate it,
so at no point did we... you know, I think our egos
even got lower opening for them.
Years ago, when we played with Bon Jovi, that
set the bar pretty high, but I remember they were
jumping in a plane to play Brazil the next day and
we were hoping in a van to go back to Cold Lake,
Alberta. We were kind of bummed for a moment,
butsometimesthoseareonceinalifetimesituations
and we’re pretty lucky to have something like that.
We’ve been really fortunate over the years, even
recently we’ve had pretty great shows.
So this isn’t exactly the first time you guys
are at CMW at all, is it? How do you think
this time will be different from the last?
We’ve probably been here about 8 times or so.
A lot of the times we were recording while CMW
was happening. Last time we were here was two
years ago, and that was Brad’s first time with us.
We played one of our favourite shows to date
on that CMW. It was an impromptu unofficial
showcase, but it was really just a party at some
guy’s basement. There was 75 or 80 people
maybe,allcrammedinthisbasement,allindustry
people. But the basement could probably hold

about 25 people, and there was one speaker that
worked. We were playing right in people’s faces.
It was mental. An old school punk show.
What has been a really rewarding or
memorable moment for Tupelo Honey?
A fond memory was in 2005, we won Canadian
Music Week’s Xtreme Bandslam competition,
which was a national competition. We came in
and we were lucky enough to take the prize that
year, against State of Shock.
What is your favourite part about being
on the road?
Now we’re playing a little bit more strategically
with generally taking more of the big money
gigs or the big people gigs, which has been
an interesting shift for us – from being in our
early 20s and just jumping in the van and doing
whatever.Ithinkmyfavouritepartaboutplaying
shows now is that we are trying to have a plan
instead of just doing them. We’ve been getting
lots of grants to try and support ourselves with
content and marketing plans. We’re being more
selective and trying to pick our spots wisely.
Quality over quantity, basically.
Whenyouguysareblockedonsongwriting,
how do you guys get inspired?
It’saprettydynamicprocess.Idon’tthinkthere’s
necessarily one set way that you can approach
it. Sometimes, for example like “These Walls”,
we just got in the basement, had one riff going,
and just started playing. That was one approach
that kind of helps. I think changing locations
is really helpful too, we went all over the place.
Sometimes you can’t force it so find a new
environment.Thesongsturnoutdifferentlythan
you ever thought. When we were first working
on These Walls, the original demo of the song
sounds significantly different than what ended
up on the record. It’s neat to see that process.
It’s cool to see something start from somewhere
small and build when you add production to it.
Individually, what are your biggest music
guiltypleasures?Maybesomeartistsyouguys
listen to that might not exactly be expected.
Brad: I just downloaded Krewella, which is
totally different from our music.
Dan: I love 90s hip-hop. LOVE. A lot.
Steve: Recently I was listening to a lot of 80s metal.
Greg: I’m totally guilty of listening to some 80s
stuff, more like Frozen Ghost or something.
80s power rock songs. I’ve also been known to
put on some girl pop... like Michelle Branch.
Tyler’s ipod is the soundtrack to the most bizarre
horror movies / circus. Everything from crazy
death metal to ripping banjo solos to the Muppet
theme song. It’s full of theme songs.
Where do you guys hope to travel and
tour next?
We met with a bunch of Germans today, a couple
good meetings with some German promoters.
Maybe next summer we’ll look at shows over there
orsomething.Definitelyalwayswantedtomakeour
way overseas, so that would be a huge goal for us.
Lastquestion,alittlesimilartothelast,what
are some Future plans for Tupelo Honey?
Well, we gotta put out another single soon so
we’re trying to figure out what video we want
to shoot. We also received another grant to do
some more recording, so maybe we’ll get some
writing on the road a little bit.

Interview by Tiffany Lam, Photos by Winnie Surya

4 COUNT
Move on over Big Time Rush, there’s a new boyband in town! 4 Count started out as a project
of Nick Cannon’s, but has expanded beyond that. Albeit their youth, it is only the beginning for
this four-piece boy band. This issue, we sit down with Kieran, Adam, Ben and Aaron to talk about
the band’s history, their love for Canada, the details behind their upcoming album and much
more.

How did the band form?
Adam: The band actually started with Kerian
and I – we’re brothers. We did a previous
project with Nick Cannon a couple of years ago.
So, when he was starting the boy band, he got in
contact with us. We went and met with him, and
he told us about his idea of a boy band. We were
super stoked. About a week later, we had a closed
audition, and that’s where we found Aaron and
Ben. The rest is history in the making.
How did you guys come up with the name
“4Count”?
Ben: Nick actually came up with the name.
4Count is a really cool name because it’s used
around the world – it’s a universal tempo. No
matterwhatgenreofmusic,therearefourcounts
in a beat. It’s a rhythm too, it’s a heartbeat, it’s
soul, and that’s what we’re all about. And it
sounds cool!
For Adam and Kieran- you guys are
brothers. What are the pros and cons of
being in a band together?
Adam: I mean of course there are going to be
pros and cons; of course we all clash heads.
Kieran: Don’t say anything bad about me!
Adam: Yeah I know… We all clash heads a little
bit and we all have our little arguments and stuff
like that. But we’re all man enough to come up
and talk to one another, or go take each other
somewhere and talk about it.
Kieran: Beat each other up. Take someone to a
dark alley.
Adam: Yeah, take him to a back room and beat
his butt. We’re very good at that. If we ever have
a problem about something, I’ll just go up to
Kieran and be like: “Hey Kieran, blah blah blah”
and make sure that we just squash it there. Even
though he’s my brother, I consider the [other]
guys as brothers as well. So, I’ll treat everyone
with the same amount of respect. They’re my
brothers; if I have a problem with my brother,
I’ll just go up and talk to him. I’m not gonna
keep animosity built up.
You’re originally moved here from
California. How does it feel being in
Canada?
Aaron: It’s definitely a transition for all of us,
coming from being close to our families, in our
comfort zones, and living in LA together for a
year. It was crazy to transition and hop into the
snow without having any warm clothes. It’s been
so eye-opening, and it’s part of the growing up
process- being on your own and figuring it out.
So, it’s been a great process. The people here are
amazing – we love Canadians! It’s going great!
What do you love about Toronto so far?
Band: The poutine!
Adam: No I’m serious, I really do love poutine.
I’m obsessed with it, it’s amazing! I never
thought cheese, gravy, and fries would go so
well together!

Aaron: There are also other things that are great
about Canada! I like the culture, like how the old
buildings are mixed with the new buildings.
Adam: The scenery is so beautiful.
Ben: The countryside is really nice too.
Adam: It reminds me of a mix between London
and New York.
Adam: There’s a nice, refreshing feel about it,
coming from an industrial area like LA.
Ben: The people are really kind, too! We’ve gone
to sessions where we’re in the car and we’ll hit
a little intersection and one guy will say, “You
go!”, and the other guy says, “No, you go!”.
We’re waiting and we’re just like, “Someone
please go!”
Adam: Anywhere else, you’ll just see fingers
coming out of the car.
Ben: But yeah, people are really nice, and there
are a lot of people from around the world here.
It’s really cool!
You guys are pretty young, how did you
convince your parents to allow you to be
in a band? Are you in school?
Kieran:Yeah,I’mtheyoungest,andIjustfinished
up school about a year ago. They’re all really
supportive of what we’re doing and of what we
have invested our time in. Even for Ben- he was
already invested in music. He actually went to
a music school and stuff like that. Aaron comes
from a strong musical background, and me and
Adam do as well.
Adam: All our families know this is our dream,
so they’re all very supportive. They just want to
see us succeed in our dreams.
Ben: We’re the types who want to take care of
our families. We do it for ourselves first because
it’s our dream, but after that, it’s our family. We
don’t want them to have to worry about a single
thing; we want to take care of them. That’s how
much we love them, and that’s why they back us
up so much.
What is your song “Epic” about?
Ben: It’s about making something that’s small in
your life big – turn it around. If you have a bad
day, make it epic. Try to look at it from a positive
point of view. We just want to inspire people.
That’s what we’re trying to do. You’re gonna
hear that – not only in “Epic,” but in the whole
album. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go
with one of our good friends to two schools to
perform and surprise these young kids for anti-
bullying. We’re trying to send out a message and
that’s what “Epic” is about.
I really loved the video! The concept was
really cool!
Ben: At the same time, you can dance to it and
have a good time!
Kieran: Yeah, in the video, we’re all having a
good time- it’s just a good feeling song!
Adam: We wanted to make sure that the video
was very fun, and it was epic! When we’re
playing mini-golf, laser tag, and bowling, we
weren’t acting at all! We were just reacting and
being us!
I heard you’ll release an album this
summer, are you recording it now?
Kieran: We have! We just finished up the whole
album! There’s still a lot more production to
go into it, but on our part, yeah, we’re all done.
We finish up this week, and it’ll come out late
summer.
Do you mind sharing a little bit about the
album?
Aaron: It takes you through a lot of different
emotions. There are some breakup songs on
there; there are songs about missing your
significant other in California; there are a lot of
dance and upbeat songs – there’s something for
everybody and a lot of different genres.
How many tracks will there be?
Band: 10-11.

Ben: We talk about it in interviews, but we are
so excited! Our first album together, signed to a
major label – Ncredible Entertainment with Nick
Cannon. The feeling still hasn’t really hit us yet!
Adam: It was so surreal this week! I remember
us all looking at each other like, “Wow! So, we’re
officially done with our album!” We can’t wait
for the world to see what we’ve been working
this hard on.
Kieran: And just listening back to all the songs-
there’s literally not a song on there that any of us
dislike. For every song we’re just like, “Aw man,
that could be a potential single!”
Aaron: We’re very hard on ourselves too. We’re
like our worst critics. It’s only because we strive
for greatness. It’s cool because we were in the
studio the other day, and we cut some songs and
we were like “That one’s pretty cool! It’s not my
favourite, but we like it!” Then, we went back to
the studio, and have been upgrading it to make it
a little better, and throwing in some more flare on
it. We were like, “That’s the same song?” That’s
been our whole reaction throughout the album.
Speaking of singles, how do you pick a
single?
Adam: We just knew that “Epic” was such a great
song and the message was so great, powerful,
and motivating that we thought it would be a
perfect song to start with. There wasn’t much
thought behind it- this one’s perfect and epic.
Like Ben was saying earlier, “Epic” is a life style
for us. We want to inspire and motivate people-
that’s what we’re all about.
Kieran: We wanted to give people that first
impression of us, which is being epic and us
having a good time.
Who are some of your musical
influences?
Aaron: We have so many and we all have a lot of
the same ones. It goes from The Temptations to
Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Beach Boys, Bob
Marley, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Bruno
Mars…
After this album, what’s in store for you?
Are you guys going to head on tour?
Adam: Definitely this summer when the album
is gonna come out. We don’t have any set dates
yet, but definitely the tour is going to happen all
around Canada. We have a TV show coming out
on YTV. We can’t speak too much about it, but
it’s gonna really show our personalities, some
crazy things we’ve never done before, and follow
the true life of 4Count.

Interview and Photos by Winnie Surya, Words by Karmin Yu

Issue18

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (17)

Destaque

Destaque (20)

Semelhante a Issue18

Semelhante a Issue18 (20)

Issue18