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

One very packed evening in Times Square – not abnormal for the city that literally never sleeps – an up and coming band called Paper Zoo made their New York debut. They played to a sold out Nokia Theater, opening for the legendary Roger Daltrey of The Who. Paper Zoo, collectively and individually, had never travelled to New York City before, but while this was their first time in the Big Apple, they are accustomed to the big, bright city lights, coming from America’s sister city: L.A. Born and raised West Coaster’s, most of the band have been playing together since they were twelve years old. The trio of Billy (William Thomas Wesley II), Alex (Allister Izen), and Monte (Monte Dyaami Najera) were the original band members while Marty (Martin Lopez), is the newest edition to their composition. Even though Marty has only been playing with the band for the past 4 months, you would have thought him to be one of the original members with how well they mesh together both on and off stage. Altogether, their sound is a fresh take on, and inspired greatly by, The Beatles. iheartthemusic got to sit down and chat with the guys right before their New York debut…

iheartthemusic: So how has the tour been going?

Billy: The tour has been great. We actually kicked off the tour in Vancouver and then made our way over to New York. There are only a couple more stops and then we head home. New York is awesome though. It is everything we thought it would be and more.

iheartthemusic: Do you have any favorite places that you’ve played-on or off the tour?

Paper Zoo: Well, when we were younger we used to play on the boardwalk of Venice Beach, which was always a great time and entertaining to say the least. But we also loved playing The Viper Room in L.A. I think our favorite place that we played on tour was probably The Orpheum (also located in L.A.), or The Paramount in Denver, Colorado. Both of those were pretty sweet.

iheartthemusic: What is the music-making process like for the band? How has your music evolved since you have been together for such a long time?

Paper Zoo: There isn’t really a process that’s specific. Alex is the songwriter, for the most part, and we all contribute to the sound. Our influences come from The Beatles, King Crimson, Soft Machine… There has been SO much that has evolved throughout the years. Every day there’s an evolution.

ihearthemusic: What’s the ultimate goal for Paper Zoo?

Billy: Ultimately, we want to make an impression, become a legend [laughs]. I think that’s what every artist, no matter the medium, wants to do.

Alex: The ultimate goal for the music is to be stylistically polished.

iheartthemusic: So how can fans and fans to be access your music?

Paper Zoo: wearethepaperzoo[dot]com is the website where our music can be accessed and info about us is available.

iheartthemusic: Are there any acknowledgements or last words?

Billy: We would like to thank our moms and Linda Perry.

Alex: Goodbye and thank you so much!

Paper Zoo can definitely be identified with a more psychedelic sound/feeling and with Monte’s great beat and unexpected strength for the drums, the music can go from a lullaby’d, orchestral intermission to rocking out in a pleasantly new and unexpected way.  Check them out next time they are in your city!

Photography provided by Troy Paul

Written and reported by Cahdlah Forsythe

Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker (or USS) consists of one part vocalist/guitarist Ash Bucholz (“Ash Boo-Schultz”) and turntablist/hypeman Jason Parsons (“Human Kebab”). Don’t ask us where these names came from, just know that it IS an indication of how crazy and out there these two guys are! Having garnered acclaim through being “hearted” by Toronto radio station 102.1 the Edge, this duo have taken Toronto and Canada by storm. With the recent release of their album Questamation gaining more and more attention from music lovers alike, we felt like it was time to for us at iheartthemusic to delve deep into the minds of the duo and get serious about who they are…well as serious as we could get!

iheartthemusic: The past two years have been pretty nuts for you two eh?

Jason: Yeah, going from being left to obscurity, to how do you catch up, to how do you get bigger now.

iheartthemusic: That’s true. I mean you did win the CASBY awards last year!

Jason: Yeah it was amazing.

iheartthemusic: Can you pinpoint at all one defining moment for you in the past two years?

Ash: I was actually in Texas and that’s when I found out that our music was on the radio, but not even just on the radio but getting played like seven times a day!

Jason: Also the fact that he [Ash] was in a different place mentally doing some incredible things for himself and I was working in Alberta at the time; that in itself was a pinnacle! It is actually true that the little band that could, without major label support or any label for that matter, could actually still find its way into that realm. Most bands would think that you would have to sign with the four majors and spend all this money and stuff, but we just stayed positive.

Ash: We are in total alignment with the idea that if you truly love something, you let it go. You can push so hard and you can try so hard to make something work and at the time we both were just like “let’s just let this go man”. We were driving ourselves nuts.

iheartthemusic: I truly believe that if you are meant to do something or be somebody then you will and I feel like you guys are a true testament to that.

Jason: It’s like Ben Kowalewicz from Billy Talent has a tattoo on his collar that says never give up and when I saw that I was thinking that I didn’t know if I’d ever get that tattoo but he was basically saying  that no matter what happens, it’s going to happen- which is totally true.

Ash: I mean if we weren’t here having a good time and laughing and telling jokes, we’d be on a roof somewhere digging ditches and dirt.

iheartthemusic: But probably still having a good time and joking around!

Ash: That’s what just kicks our asses!  You know you can dream about something your whole life, but you have no clue what its going to be like until it actually happens. Its hilarious because I still wake up in the morning and my instinct is to put on my work boots but its actually like no, I get to put on these colourful shoes that don’t need to have a big hunk of steel in them because hopefully nothing is going to fall on my toes today!

iheartthemusic: And now you have the cash that if you ruin one pair you can get five more! [laughs]

Jason: [laughs] Exactly!

iheartthemusic: You have had such great success which, I’m assuming, meant that major labels were knocking on your door, so what made you decide to not go the major route?

Jason: We started  our own label basically. We realized that we had a good grip on a business model, but we also had a good manager and an excellent team behind us that we felt that we had found the pieces to start putting the puzzle together. Right now the puzzle is almost complete; we’ve taken it as far as we can take it now based on what we have currently. We financed the whole operation, made all the management and creative calls.

iheartthemusic: It must be nice to retain that control over what is ultimately your future success.

Jason: That’s the compromise you have to make. If that [signing to a major label] is your goal then that’s what is going to happen for you. Like Avril Lavigne signs with SONY in New York, but her only interest at seventeen years old was probably to be taken care of for the rest of her life and be an absolute superstar.

iheartthemusic: And where is she now? [laughs]

Ash: Actually I was listening to Avril Lavigne this morning in my kitchen on top of my fridge next to a sweet potato…I really should not have that sweet potato anymore. I’ve had it for a really long time and it’s got to go in the green bin. I have this habit where instead of putting stuff in the green bin, I just throw it out the window into my backyard. Like if I have a pit of an avocado, I’ll just think that that can just go in the bushes.

iheartthemusic: I feel like that is totally fine!

Ash: I don’t want to hit a squirrel!

Jason: I still have a problem that I can never number two outside. Even if I had to, I would just hold it until the next fifth wheel or something.

iheartthemusic: Far too much information for this interview! [laughs] So how has the process been from self-releasing your first album Welding the C://, to now having a label (your own) backing your recent release of Questamation?

Jason: Creatively, the process seems to work in Ash’s favour no matter how random it gets or how focused it is. The business side of it, which I’m more involved with and our manager, we just try to plug in as many resources and networks as possible for the three of us to make it all happen in sync. It is really hard to maintain deadlines when there is only three of you, but you are still trying to maintain that level of control and of course creativity while at the same time create future opportunities, play shows, do interviews, be places, try to live a normal life and be healthy. I mean it’s a balancing act!

iheartthemusic: And a lot of musicians definitely cannot do that.

Jason: No they can’t and its unfortunate that it happens, but we’ve been through enough emotionally already that this is kind of easy compared to that.

Ash: Yeah, when we were recording our EP, I was roofing for fifteen hours a day, six days a week and then bringing my laptop to work and I was on a roof covered in tar and dirt and it was like ninety degrees and I would have my headphones on thinking I’ve just got to finish this drum part because we have to get it done by tonight. So the process was a bit different because we were still under pressure with this album in terms of getting it out, but in totally different circumstances. It’s just one of those things where its like; life on the road is such a grind, but roofing seventy hours a week while trying to record an EP is a grind. So it makes us very greatful if anything.

iheartthemusic: I wanted to ask you about your “Laces Out” video. How did you guys come up with the concept for that?

Ash: I had been talking about the idea of this neo-vaudeville, so it kind of came out of that. There’s the circus thing, but then there is just randomness: question marks on parachutes falling from the ceiling, etc. Then we kind of put it into the hands of the production company after planting the seed and we showed up day-of and were just like “nice growth”.

iheartthemusic: So the dude in the video isn’t actually a guy that comes to all your shows?

Jason: Yeah we know him. The film company is called Brook Street Pictures and they are from Ottawa and they are incredible dudes. They did their first feature with the guy who played Freddy Krueger.

Ash: Because they mainly make horror movies.

Jason: But they were absolutely inlove with our sound and then came out for a bunch of shows and the director saw something that Ash was talking about and then through the phone between Toronto and Ottawa put together the storyboard and then we went to the Sound Academy and the production company hired like sixty people and it was a full-on production.

iheartthemusic: One thing that I found pretty cool with this new album was that you guys use something called a “z-card”. Can you explain why you decided to use it for your album?

Ash: The ironic thing about that is that I worked in a factory on a machine that made the z-card. I worked there when we [Jason] met during a time when I was not really that accessible or available to society. It’s okay though because Jay kind of helped guide me back to relating to the rest of the world which was really great. It was handy to meet a person to do that.

ihearthemusic: He’s a good husband eh? [laughs]

Jason: [laughs] Exactly!

Ash: Father, son, brother…

Jason: Idiot.

Ash: Yeah, whatever you want. Putz! That’s a good one.

Jason: I hate that word!

Ash: I know eh, who likes that word!? So when the album came along I was like “we should make something that is like a map” and then it kind of came back to where it started.

iheartthemusic: What’s on the horizon for you guys?

Jason: Hopefully we will see Canadians at their various post-secondary institutes in the fall!

Chicago, Illinois is known for many things: it is the third largest city in the US, it is often referred to as the “Windy City”, it is the place that Oprah Winfrey calls home, however one thing that it is not normally known for is its vast musical talent. Well that is about to change with the growing success and popularity of Chicago-based band Maps and Atlases. This foursome are known for their spazzy guitar riffs and voice-driven melodies that speak stories. However, it is their technical skill that truly impresses, as they finger tap at such a rate that it is hard to maintain where their fingers end and the strings begin. After catching their set at the El Mocambo in June, it was great to be able to chat with Dave (guitar/vocals) and Erin (guitar) for a bit about where this technicality comes from, what’s in store for the future and why their live show can’t be beat!

iheartthemusic: You guys are known to be more of a technical band, so when you are writing is that a major factor for you or is it more of an organic process?

Erin: It’s definitely an organic thing, I mean we all studied music theory but we are at a point now where when we are writing music, it’s not really  something we think about. It just kind of happens and we don’t think about it while it is going on.

iheartthemusic: From everything that I have read on you guys, it appears that your live show is where it’s at. Why do you think that is?

Dave: I think that really from our EPs there is definitely a certain amount of precision that came with the recording of them. We recorded relatively fast and since we did it ourselves, the emphasis was basically on being able to do it as good as possible. When you do hear the record version of the song that you haven’t heard in a very long time and it hasn’t sort of taken on that life, its like “oh yeah this is how it is supposed to sound” because we’ve been speeding it up or slowing it down live. I really appreciate that and I think that we all sort of emphasize the differences between the live show and the record.

Erin: It is always really funny to listen to a song that when we play it live, we play it a lot faster. I think it also has to do with the fact that we can be pretty loud sometimes.

Dave: Yesterday was really interesting because I feel like we played everything way slower than we had ever played it before. We played at this art gallery and it sounded crazy in there because it was such a small room. We also didn’t have a set list and just played whatever.

iheartthemusic: Describe the progression your band has taken musically from each album to the next.

Dave: It has been different for every album that we have done. For the first record and everything that sort of preceded that it was definitely a lot more of us just sort of stumbling upon things- which was a great process. We really never set out to be a technical band and never necessarily thought of ourselves as that at first. The last EP was sort of us acknowledging the things that we really liked doing and the things that we did well on the first EP and tried to do what we knew we did well and expand upon those layers. So songs started out as more simple ideas and then we worked in more layers here and there. With the newest album, its been a really interesting process but also really fun. Definitely the most experimental thing that we have done so far!

iheartthemusic: Really? How so?

Dave: We purposely started off with really simple ideas and then through the actual process of recording it was great to just see how it paned out.

Erin: It’s the first time we’ve left songs unfinished going into the recording process. I mean the song was done with all the melodies, but it was basically like we had bare guitar parts and all the lyrics and then left it up to the recording process to finish it. It’s also the first time we’ve ever had songs that are all strings or chords.

iheartthemusic: So when can we expect that album out?

Dave: It’s actually most of the way done so we are going to try and finish it as soon as possible.

Erin: It will hopefully be out late fall.

iheartthemusic: You recently played SXSW- what was that like?

Dave: It was really fun! We’ve played it the past three years and it has always been super crazy. I think that our perspective on it is that it gets consistenly more and more fun. The first year we sort of had a real serious perspective on the industry and then the past couple of years we’ve set out to have fun and do what we wanted to do.

Erin: We totally embraced the fact that it is the music industry’s spring break.

iheartthemusic: Were there any bands that stood out for you guys this year?

Erin: This year we were down there and then did a West-coast tour right after, so we pretty much got there and played a few shows and then left. We didn’t have enough time to actually go check anyone out unfortunately.

iheartthemusic: [at this point the boys have been discovered by fans who keep telling them how awesome they are] What was it like the first time someone came up and recognized you?

Erin: We are never really aware of that. I mean people find out about our music through like grassroots methods- which is amazing! We really enjoy that. Last fall we did some shows in the UK and we were surprised that people showed up to see us play. I mean we were thinking that that was really weird! We’re not even on a label over there so its all been through blogs and the internet.

iheartthemusic: What was the crowd like in the UK in relation to the US?

Erin: It was really crazy! We played with our friends who are maasive over there and so we played to about 2000 people! It was intense.

iheartthemusic: Since forming, what has really stood out for you as a milestone for the band?

Dave: There have been a lot of things that have been really crazy and fun, but I think the tour in the UK was the most surreal thing that we’ve done.

Erin: It was really crazy travelling like that where you wake up in another country. It was definitely was something that we never imagined that we would get to do.

Dave: Another thing was just getting to play with bands that we genuinely really enjoy which has been awesome. I’ve also never been to Toronto at all so we are looking forward to playing here too. We’ve heard that it’s a great city and thus far just being around this block for the past 45 minutes has been really great. I personally really get a feel for a city based on things to eat. If I came back a month from now I would immediately come here and wherever we go to eat I would be able to maneuver around the city based on that. Already, just driving into the city, it looks like there is just so much good food here.

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