Ten Second Epic is a band that hails from Edmonton, Alberta and have been creating a stir within the rock/punk scene for quite some time now. Together, Andrew Usenik (vocals), Dan Carriere (guitar), Craig Spellisey (guitar), Sandy Mackinnon (bass) and Patrick Birtles (drums) recently released their third album, Hometown. iheartthemusic decided to venture out to Kathedral during CMW to check out what all the hype was about. Here’s what they had to say:

iheartthemusic: So, Ten Second Epic?

Sandy: I actually had a weird dream where a naked Zeus was fixing me a grilled cheese sandwich and he said, “from this day forward you shall be known as the Ten Second Epic,” and I ate it in less than 10 seconds. Zeus was wearing kind of like a loin cloth; it was a very erotic dream.

Dan: Zeus had tie-dyed it, it was a like a psychedelic loin cloth.

Sandy: It was wonderful, and you know, I never forgot it, it was a really, really erotic dream.

iheartthemusic: Your style as a band is fairly eclectic. Do you feel that this is a reflection of your sound as well?

Dan: We don’t like to define our sound in relation to what we look like. It’s kind of like what you see is what you get. I could say one thing though; we don’t look like any kind of trend, before or after, we just kind of enjoy playing tunes and writing catchy songs.

Sandy: I mean I don’t look a thing like our singer. I think that’s something to embrace, we have a lot of fun with it. It’s not a costume it’s just our thing.

Dan: We aren’t that theatrical.

iheartthemusic: You recently released your third album, Hometown. Did you choose that title as a homage to Edmonton?

Dan: If you want to get into it, it’s kind of paying homage to where ever you are. The first track on the record is appropriately titled “Welcome To Wherever You Are” and a lot of times that becomes your home. We spent about nine or 10 months of last year in a van and even if we were in a place we didn’t like, at least we had the van there. So it’s just kind of whatever is comfortable for you. It’s a homage to having that.

Sandy: Having your rock.

iheartthemusic: So with all this touring, you must have shared the stage with some amazing bands?

Sandy: We did an American tour with a band called Cartel that was unbelievable. We were like the hick boys in big New York City, having a great time, getting wasted, riding the subway. In Canada, we did the Hedley tour and those guys are awesome dudes. We had a ball hanging out with them. It was a lot of fun.

Dan: A lot of these bands that people will naturally turn their nose up to, as I would when I was younger, can really surprise you. When we started touring with Hedley, they started covering rock songs and they were incredible musicians. That’s what people forget about. It sounds like simple pop music, but a lot of times these guys are top of their game for any song.

iheartthemusic: What has been your favourite place to play?

Sandy: I like playing just about anywhere in Canada. It’s up to the band to bring the party, when the party’s brought and everyone is getting wasted, slamming beers on their head, and kicking holes in the wall, you know it’s a success!

Dan: You know the worst is when you are at a show and there are people who are there who don’t know why they are at a show. So whenever you get the vibe that people like being there, then that’s the whole point of it all.

Sandy: Really, at the end of the day I still love getting on stage and I love in my heart knowing that we’ve got something to prove. Even if these people have seen us a million times, and they’ve probably seen us at our worst and seen us at our best, every night we’ve got something to prove.

iheartthemusic: You also have a video out for your single “Lifetimes”, which recieved heavy rotation on MuchMusic.

Dan: The idea of the song is kind of a cheesy point, but it is that you wait forever for that person to say I love you to you. So we decided to put a different spin on that concept and we thought what can’t say I love you? First we thought maybe we will have an animal, but that didn’t work, so we thought of having a baby and just went with that because they can’t talk. It was a blast hanging out with a baby all day.

Sandy: There are two babies, actually. The one baby was so pretty and the other one was, like, missing teeth and carrying a knife on its side and loved drinking and shit.

iheartthemusic: [laughs] That was the stunt baby right!? What’s been your favourite place in Toronto to play?

Sandy: I love The Opera House. I think The Opera House is, bar none, one of my favourite places.

Dan: I like playing Mod Club.

iheartthemusic: What did you love about them?

Sandy: What I liked about The Opera House was that it was just, like, in your face; you could interact with the crowd. It almost felt like someone could grab you. It’s just got that vibe to it.

iheartthemusic: Any crazy fan moments?

Dan: There is tons of weird stuff. One time I showed up at this show and this girl had gotten my face airbrushed on both the front and back of her cell phone, like on the casing.

Sandy: I don’t really find that fans do creepy stuff, I think it’s awesome. If I was meeting Iron Maiden I would probably be doing some weird shit too. I love it when kids are so into it.

iheartthemusic: What’s up next for you guys?

Sandy: We are going down to California to do Bamboozle where we will be playing with 50 Cent. Then we are going to announce some dates soon and rip shit across Canada for over a month and have a fucking ball.

iheartthemusic: Anything you want to add for your fans?

Sandy: We have a new video coming to MuchMusic right away for “Welcome to Wherever You Are,” which is the opening track off the record. It will be hitting MuchMusic pretty soon so request the living shit out of that!

Ten Second Epic has JUST announced their first headlining tour in support of their new record, Hometown. The “Welcome to Your Hometown” tour kicks off next month with a stop in Toronto on May 30th at The Mod Club. Check out their website for dates in your city!!

Photography provided by Matt Vardy