I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

The members of Gentlemen Husbands are as lovely as their name suggests. Don’t be fooled by their country sound, these guys know how to rock! iheartthemusic caught up with Derrick Ballard (vocals/guitar), Ryan Hutcheson (guitar), Jed Atkinson (bass) and Dan Farrell (drums) after a wicked set at The Horseshoe Tavern, where they brought their small town flavour and big time sound to centre stage. Whatever qualms you have with country music, or the country/rock combo, set them aside and start picking up what they’re throwing down.

iheartthemusic: I understand that your favourite Toronto venue is The Horseshoe. Since we’re here, what is it about this place that you love?

Derek: The Horseshoe definitely is amazing. It’s got an awesome reputation and it’s got good turnouts and an amazing sound.

iheartthemusic: I read that when you guys first started you wanted to appeal to the CMT crowd.

Jed: I think it was a misunderstanding because I didn’t want to.

Ryan: Everyone else in the band did except for him [Jed].

iheartthemusic: So how did you find this particular sound?

Jed: It was sort of a huge learning curve for us. It took almost a year and a half to get where we are now, mainly because it’s totally different to what we’re all used to playing.

Ryan: We had a really slow, slow start. We had a bunch of back and forths until we finally got going. We’ve been playing shows for just over a year now and as of January 1^st, we became a four-piece. So we had a fifth member for that whole time, his last show with us was New Year’s Eve.

iheartthemusic: That tends to happen in the music industry unfortunately. So this is your first venture as a four piece, how does it differ?

Dan: It’s substantially different. If you heard the country song, the slow one, that’s old. The last three songs we played were pretty new, so you can hear the evolution.

iheartthemusic: Tell me a bit about this new three song EP you are working on.

Ryan: It’s not done yet. The songs up on our MySpace are from our six song EP that we have no more copies of. The three song are supposed to be finished now, but they’re not. Jason Martin, who did the new Cold War Kids album, is mixing it for us.

iheartthemusic: When can people expect to be able to get a copy?

Ryan: It was supposed to be mid-March, then it switched to mid-April, and now we’re saying mid-May. It’s done, but we’re just adding some finishing touches and getting it mixed.

iheartthemusic: Can I ask about your band name?

Derek: It was just two words at first; I just kinda thought “gentlemen”, “husbands”. These guys didn’t really care much about names and I didn’t really care much. They all kinda sound stupid.

Jed: I think it was the punchline to a really racy joke Derek told us and we decided to go with that. It later wound up that it kinda suited Derek’s lifestyle.

Dan: It means something too.

Derek: Yeah I Googled it one time, and I’ve never been able to find this again, but it said it meant a farm father or a family man.

Ryan: Gentleman Husbandry.

Derek: Yeah, it’s like a lifestyle.

iheartthemusic: So not only does your name tell a story, but so do your songs. What’s the writing process like?

Ryan: He [Derek] used to be the main songwriter and we would just take what he wrote and turn it into whole band songs and structure them together. We quickly figured out that that didn’t work very well, so now we write how we used to write.

Dan: It’s very collaborative.

Jed: Derek is the sole lyricist though.

iheartthemusic: Where did you get “Tapanga” from?

Jed: “Tapanga” is about a collection of things, but the title is from Boy Meets World.

iheartthemusic: I had hoped it was a shout out to the show! Now, on your blog there was a very sincere attempt, by a former member, to encourage fans to become more interactive and get in touch with you guys. What was the response like from that and do you still encourage interaction with fans?

Ryan: There was definitely a response, mostly younger people. We are always surprised by how many teenagers like us. We don’t really play pop punk or the stuff that 14-year-old girls really like. We did recently have a little onslaught of young girls come up and get free shirts and everything.

Dan: Yeah, that was right next door to my house.

iheartthemusic: They found you?

Jed: They definitely found us!

Dan: Yeah, I think they lived in the neighbourhood and we were just standing outside with all our gear.

Jed: They definitely searched us out!

Dan: Well, we were waiting to go to a show and they kept yelling “Gentlemen Husbands” and running away.

iheartthemusic: For those who don’t live down the street, where can they get your stuff?

Jed: Coming to a show is the best way to get our stuff.

Ryan: We were giving out hard copies at every show and then we ran out. You were supposed to be able to download them on MySpace but for some reason that feature doesn’t work anymore. So we’re gonna figure that out. If you want to pay, you can get them on iTunes.

iheartthemusic: Is there anything you really wish I’d asked?

Jed: How many zeros do you want at the end of the cheque?

[all laugh]

interviewed by Leanne Plummer

photography by Kristin M.

Toronto indie band Make Your Exit are five high school friends who are doing what they love most: making music. These guys decided to start a band after pushing the nine-to-five grind and deciding that it was (literally) time to make their exit from the corporate ladder and follow their passion. The fivesome, which includes Jeff Buckley (vocals/guitar), Mike Dellios (bass), Mike Thomson (drums), Mike Denby (guitar) and Oliver Pauk (saxophonist), have been playing the Toronto music scene hard and are eager to branch out and let the rest of Canada hear their soulful sound. iheartthemusic spoke with Mike Dellios and Mike Thomsen about the band, their EP and recording a new album.

iheartthemusic: Explain the story behind your name: Make Your Exit?

Thomson: The story is pretty stupid really. We were all working in offices just doing the career thing and then Jeff, the lead singer, and I were talking over email one time and we were saying, “let’s make our exit,  let’s quit our fucking jobs and be a band”. It’s just about making your exit out of whatever bullshit you are doing and then doing something you are passionate about. Too many people are happy just sleepwalking through everything.

iheartthemusic: I think that’s a great mantra to live by. How did you all meet?

Thomson: I’ve known Jeff the longest because we met in elementary school and we have been playing music since we were 13. Then when Jeff went to high school he met Mike (T) and they kicked out their current drummer and we know Oliver from my high school. So we’ve all known each other for a few years and knew each other as friends before we knew each other as musicians.

iheartthemusic: Does it help to be friends first?

Dellios: It helps with the writing process for sure. We were just away for a week writing songs at a cottage and, I mean, five guys at a house for seven days and not wanting to kill each other is important. We all get along, we all can read each other like family.

Thomson: As much as it is supposed to be a job, even though it is way more fun than a true job, it’s still nice to get along with the people you are playing with.

iheartthemusic: So in terms of the writing process, is that collaborative?

Dellios: It’s an interesting process.

Thomson: It totally depends on the song. Jeff usually comes up with most of the songs and riffs. We usually jam around on it, but about 90% of what we start with never gets finished.

Dellios: We have some songs that are strictly from Jeff’s mind and then we also have music that has come from jams where we have been like, “that is wicked, that’s going to become a song”, and so in that sense it’s collaborative. We all work together with what Jeff originally comes up with and we try and keep it loyal to that.

Thomson: That’s why we call Jeff the tyrant and you can print that!

iheartthemusic: I will for sure!

Dellios: We all kind of pitch in, but it’s been interesting too because we’ve had Jeff for only about a year and a half as our lead singer.

Thomson: You need someone to take the reigns or else nothing will get done and especially because we are a five piece.

iheartthemusic: Your sound is definitely more developed than only having a lead singer for under two years – that’s amazing!

Thomson: Jeff has only been singing as our frontman for a year and a half, so that’s started to help define our sound and mature us. We are anxious to get back into the studio and record again and refine our sound to how we feel we want it to be now.

iheartthemusic: So are you looking to be signed to help fund the recording process, or are you comfortable doing your own thing?

Thomson: I think it’s important, but only if you can find the right fit. Too many times bands will jump into something that seems like a good idea at the time. Getting signed for a lot of bands feels like that’s the end, but to be honest, it’s not a big issue with us right now. We would be more willing to keep playing the way we are playing and to write at our pace and what we want to write rather then be constrained in any way. Not that record labels are by and large out there to take what you are doing and rip its heart out, but at the same time it’s like anything else; when you are signing a contract you are signing some part of yourself away. So we are a little weary of that, but that being said, getting signed is great for playing shows.

Dellios: I think the quality of shows is something that we have started to realize is really important, and in that sense a booking agent would be great. Getting in with someone who can help us get in with other bands that are on a similar commitment level to us. We want to play music with other people who like music and have a similar vibe.

iheartthemusic: You guys touch on the importance of live shows, especially today with not many people buying albums, do you try and push your live show as much as possible?

Thomson: We definitely pride ourselves on live being the most important facet of our whole band experience. What it comes down to, not having a lot of money to record and, like you said, not a lot of people really buying these days, it’s not like you are going to get your money back. Where people are discovering bands now is live, and unfortunately there is so much music out there now, that when people hear a band that they don’t know it’s not like they are going to go, “oh I’m going to go check them out”, it’s more like, “I’m not going to go to this band because I’ve never heard of them”. So if you try and treat every show like it’s the most important show, then hopefully eventually you will hit the right audience.

Dellios: We treat our shows like it’s a fun thing to do. We have a blast and I think that that really comes out when we are on stage. I think people have a good time.

iheartthemusic: What has been your favourite show that you have ever done?

Dellios: I think my favourite show I’ve ever played was probably our last show at Rancho [Relaxo] during Canadian Music Week, just because it was our first time playing CMW so we were very happy about that. It’s a stepping stone for us as musicians and it was great and lots of people were there.

iheartthemusic: What’s up next?

Thomson: We are looking to get into the studio hopefully in two months or so, we are literally just saving up funds to record. We pretty much have the tracks down and we are at the point now where we are playing and people will listen to the EP and be like, “where were the songs we heard?”. It’s almost like we have a responsibility to record. We are also hoping to get in NXNE. If it happens, it happens and if it doesn’t, we aren’t going to let that get us down.

Dellios: We’ve got our one year plan, I guess. We’ve thrown around the idea of doing maybe a bit of a tour – either do the whole cross Canada thing or stick to Ontario or Quebec. We are fortunate because we’ve got a lot of markets to hit in Ontario and close by. We are just trying to work through that. Also, playing with bands like tonight [The Paint Movement], it’s a great opportunity to line up other shows, maybe in Toronto or out of town with other bands.

Thomson: If we don’t blow it, they might ask us back!

iheartthemusic: So what would you want someone who has never heard of Make Your Exit to know about you?

Thomson: I can guarantee you that if you come to our show, if nothing else, you will leave with a smile on your face because smiles are infectious and that’s all we do on stage. This is what we want to do and we couldn’t be happier.

 photography provided by April Day

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