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

With tons of new releases set to explode onto the music scene this spring, it is hard to decipher what is listen-worthy and what is not. One way that artists are giving fans (and critics) a taste of what is to come is by sampling tracks off their future releases during their live shows. The Russian Futurists aka Matthew Adam Hart appear to be doing exactly that; showcasing a few songs off thier highly anticipated album The Weight’s On The Wheels during both CMW and SXSW. Matthew caught up with us right before he was set to take the stage during CMW.

iheartthemusic: So, you’re from just outside Toronto, and you’ve been doing shows all over Europe and the UK, does playing CMW feel like “coming home”?

Matthew: Well, we havent played now for a while. Our last real show was in Tokyo and that was a year and a half ago, so it feels great to be playing again and building up again. When you go away for a while, it’s not like you just jump right back to where you were in terms of popularity. We’re having to re-build our status in Toronto. It’s not like the old Toronto where we used to play every couple of weeks; it’s new, and it’s good and it’s humbling and you have to be good and work hard to succeed. We’re trying to do that.

iheartthemusic: Do have a venue or spot in Toronto where you like to play best?

Matthew: I really love the Mod Club in terms of sound. But we always seem to do really well in Victoria B.C for some reason. We always do really great shows there and the fans are so supportive. It’s the small shows that I think they’re really appreciative of.

iheartthemusic: I wanted to talk a little bit about your name. “Russian Futurism” was an artistic movement in early 20th-century Russia that dismissed the traditional, old, static forms of art in favour of those more representative of dynamic, forward-looking, urban, modern life. The parallels between this concept and your music cannot be a mere coincidence, can it?

Matt: Actually yeah! (laughs) My brother took a Russian History class in University, and we used to talk about shit he was learning, and I just really liked the sound of it. It’s funny cause now I get asked questions about the significance behind the name all the time, and I’ve had to do a little reverse engineering and be like, “Yeah, there are definitely parallels”. But originally it was just a name – it was like calling yourself “The Corvettes” – but I liked how it sounded phonetically.

iheartthemusic: How hard is it to pick a name?

Matt: Really hard

iheartthemusic: I mean, I spend at least ten minutes in the produce section of the grocery store trying to decide between red or yellow peppers! I can’t imagine trying to choose a name for my musical baby.

Matt: I say it’s at least as hard as being a doctor (laughs). No, but it’s hard to pick something you’ll like forever. You call yourself something really dated like when it was all “The Vines”, “The Shins”, “The Strokes”, “The this and that” – that seemed to be a real trend. Instead, I wanted to pick something that people would really remember. I’m glad I didn’t put any thought into it at all, it just kind of stuck.

iheartthemusic: In the beginning, The Russian Futurists was all you. It was your baby, a creation that you have developed from scratch. Recently that has changed, and you have added some band members – especially for the live shows. Other than in the literal sense, how has The Russian Futurists changed; how has it affected your sound?

Matt: I still write and record everything myself. It has changed in the sense that, for a lot of years I didn’t like playing live – at all. I was pretty reluctant and got really anxious, and didn’t want to be up there. I was just like, “let’s get this shit over with”. Now that I’ve got a live band that I’m really excited about, it’s cool being up there. It’s like in hockey: you play better in front of a goalie you trust, and it’s the same with the live band now. I really trust them and they’re really excited about it. It’s just a good bunch of new energy in the band, and it’s totally made me more into playing live, for sure.

iheartthemusic: First and foremost you’re a hip-hop fan, so who’s your favourite hip-hop producer? Premier?

Matt: Yeah! I mean I love Premier. Right now I love Alchemist, he’s like, my dude now. There’s so many. I really like early Rakim production, early Hieroglyphics stuff, Souls of Mischief…I mean I’m a really big east coast hip-hop fan, so lots of Premier, even early Mob Deep. I grew up doing that kinda music, makin’ beats like that. My first music gear was a sampler, and still, most of my songs are built around samples.

iheartthemusic: Do you have any plans to make an album more fully grounded in hip-hop?

Matt: You’re definitely not gonna get me to spit a verse (laughs)

iheartthemusic: That was my next question! How come you sing and don’t spit rhymes?

Matt: I do a little bit, but it’s with my little brother. He’s got a few different hip-hop crews, always centred around a theme. Like he’s got one about having the best gadgets, like cell phones and shit, and they’re called “The Mad Gadgets”. We just did a track together about fishing, and ONLY about fishing. So we do hip-hop, but it’s not about a big concept, but something really specific. It’s just-for-fun, but I do the beats for those guys.

iheartthemusic: Back to electro. A far as my knowledge goes, electro is a very studio-specific genre in terms of the heavy production involved, the layering techniques etc. It’s music meant for the album. Are there any aspects of your recordings that don’t carry over into the live performance?

Matt: Well, there’s just some stuff you cannot reproduce. It’s a lot of samples and stuff like that, and even if you have a band to reproduce it all, I’m not crazy about seeing people reproduce everything. We still use backing tracks and samples cause you kind of need to, and I don’t want to totally abandon that. You just need to resign yourself to the fact that you’re not going to create something live exactly like it is on the record. Once you get over that, it’s fine.

iheartthemusic: Well, you have been doing this for a long time now! I mean, you’ve gone from producing in your bedroom to the studio; from just recording to being thrown into the whirlwind of the music industry – with all international touring, the notoriety etc. What’s that transition been like for you?

Matt: I’ve been doing this for 10 years now! And I got lucky that my first record was picked up in Europe, and was over there right away. So, we were really lucky and didn’t really have to ‘pay our dues’ by driving out to like, Saskatoon. We got to go over to Spain pretty early on and do a lot of tours in Europe. It’s kind of been gradual. I take it for granted now because back then, it’s just the way it was for us, and I thought every band did it like that. (Our success) wasn’t out of nowhere, I really like that it’s built slowly as opposed to being really popular for two years and then no-one gives a shit about you after that.

iheartthemusic: Can artists separate the desire to make art from the desire to make it big?

Matt: Yeah, I think so. I’m always 10 steps ahead of what’s happening. It’s never like “this year my goal is to play here”, but you do have loose goals. Basically you just gotta check your email everyday and you get some weird shit, some cool opportunities, and just hope that they keep coming.

interviewed by Brittany Smith

photography provided by Aaron Alleyne

With the rapid success of their debut album, Say Us, Toronto rockers Zeus are quickly becoming the band to watch in 2010. We here at iheartthemusic were lucky enough to sit down with Mike O’Brien of Zeus during CMW to discuss the bands breakout success, new album release and their latest performance at SXSW.   Here is what we were able to learn from the Zeus front man:

iheartthemusic: First off, congrats on the Now Magazine cover, that must have been really amazing for you!

Mike: Yeah it was really exciting especially because we are from Toronto.  We have a really great publicity company, Canvas Media, that works at the label and they are just really on top of their shit.

iheartthemusic: Well it’s been a crazy time for you considering your album just dropped last month!

Mike: Yeah, actually on February 23rd. So it’s all been a bit of a whirlwind since then.

iheartthemusic: Fill us in on what your life has been like since the album was released.

Mike: Well we didn’t really get a chance to party that much because we were so busy, but it was really exciting for us.  We had been keeping the album to ourselves for so long that it felt great to put it out and hear feedback and share it with everyone.

iheartthemusic: We think it’s a really incredible album with a totally unique sound and we are interested to learn how you would describe your sound?

Mike: Basically its Rock and Roll or “Pop and Roll”. To me, Rock and Roll has always meant a synthesis of different music and that’s what we are trying to do: we are drawing from all of our different influences and trying to mix it up to make our own little stew.

iheartthemusic: Who are your influences?

Mike: When Carlin and I first met in high school we bonded over Nirvana from the beginning, along with NOFX and other Punk bands that were around at the time.  And then a little bit after that, we were really into the Halifax pop explosion like Sloan and all those bands we were super into as young teenagers. But throughout all that there are also some classic influences like the Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks and the Zombies that were our bread and butter.

iheartthemusic: We read on your website that you guys aim to make “timeless songs”, so what are the elements of a timeless song? How do you try to put that together?

Mike: A “timeless song” can be in any genre and presented in any way. I don’t know if we have succeeded in making timeless music but the main thing to focus on is the songwriting and that comes first. We take a lot of care in the arrangements and the construction of our songs. That’s our benchmark—to  make sure the song is solid—and then we add all of the frills.

iheartthemusic: What’s your favourite song off of the album?

Mike: All of them have been my favourite at different points in time. We recorded the album over the course of almost two years. They’re all so much fun to play and totally feel fresh every time we play them.  But a personal favourite of mine is “At the Risk of Repeating,” because I really love to perform it.

iheartthemusic: We have noticed that your album bears a strong connection to nature, especially the video for “Marching Through Your mind.” How does nature connect to your music?

Mike: Well the video came about through Adam Makarenko’s vision.  We had seen his photographs and found out that he makes little models like the ones in the video. He builds really realistic things from nature like a ribcage of a deer with birds feeding on it. He builds them out of all these different things like pill bottles. The video came about because we loved his work and thought the video would be great using his visual style. I had the idea to take our EP artwork (a picture of our boots) and envisioned that our boots would come to life and have a journey up the mountain.  We brought that to Adam and he fleshed that out and also introduced the nature sounds to the beginning of the video.  It was really fitting because we are from North of Toronto and grew up cottaging and camping so it really is an extension of our experiences.

iheartthemusic: What sets Zeus apart?

Mike: We are a band that has three songwriters, which is important to us.  I don’t think that’s an easy thing to pull off but I feel like we have the people within the band to be able to do that.  It’s tricky to balance, to incorporate three different artistic visions and make it cohesive at the same time.  But hopefully we are doing that and I feel that we have achieved that on the first album.

iheartthemusic: Rapid Fire Round, ok?

Mike: Ok (laughs)

iheartthemusic: What is your favourite Toronto venue to attend or perform at?

Mike: The Magpie.

iheartthemusic: Favourite Breakfast Cereal?

Mike: Um…Cinnamon Life

iheartthemusic: Favourite Romantic Comedy?

Mike: Before Sunrise and its sequel After Sunset. They were both really natural and realistic.

iheartthemusic: Favourite Woman?

Mike: My girlfriend Andrea Wilson

Enough said. Great band. Great sound. Go check them out now!

interviewed by Victoria Kuketz

photography provided by Aaron Alleyne

CMF Friday night at Lee’s Palace began in the freezing cold rain where beefed up, power-tripping-on-overdrive bouncers and door staff didn’t understand the idea of a media pass, refusing entry and re-entry to the people there to cover the show. Some disorganization, and a lot displeasurable attitude from the security and ticket staff, media people were held hostage within Lee’s Palace, unable to go outside unless they, in the words of ‘Ms. Door Staff Bitch’, “wanted to stay there”. Once the show began we were glad to have opted for the hostage route considering the powerhouse lineup that night delivered immeasurably wicked performances.

Although they served to set the tone perfectly, there’s no doubt Winter Gloves could have killed it by playing a later set, with a larger, warmer, more loosened up crowd. A much more keys-centred, textured sounding rock set than was maybe expected, Winter Gloves know how to demand your attention. Having twice as many instruments than band members on stage (coupled with the ability to play with both hands and feet) it is always a sign of good times to come. Strong vocals and an amazingly enthusiastic frontman didn’t hurt this post-rock/electro mix either; think of the best performance this musical hybrid could produce, and you have Winter Gloves live.

For how up-beat, interesting and wacky their music is, The Russian Futurists didn’t have the stage presence you’d expect. Frontman/creative mastermind behind the group, Matt Hart, not only neglected to touch an instrument or synth board, but was a marble statue at the mic all night. Oddly enough, he had more presence cracking jokes and just being natural in between songs than he did during their set. A couple of really fun orchestral choruses, a wicked drummer capturing the spotlight, a surprise duet with Ruth Minnikin, and some impressive Spector-inspired sounds were the highlights of this otherwise blah performance. Although their music is forward-looking, different and undeniably creative, the crowd also seemed unsure of what to make of their live show.

The Acorn live is way less sad and boring than I thought they’d be, which is always a welcomed surprise, especially from a band whose album better suits a good Sunday morning listen over a Friday night. Three or four guitars, a very personable frontman with a buttery soft voice, and a crowd quite obviously there to see them, The Acorn dazzled. Subtract a couple yawners, and a guitarist that randomly disappeared in the middle of the set, and this band of brothers can really carry a performance – confirmed conclusively after receiving a massive(ly good) response from the boisterous and heartening crowd.

What’s always forgotten is that Plants and Animals is a 3-piece band. They are so heavy and have so much depth, it’s a wonder that this transfers onto the stage so flawlessly. An exponential increase in intensity making their sound fucking explode off the stage, these guys know. how. to. rock. out. Contrast this with Spicer’s fantastical, yet solid voice that could carry over an ocean, and you’ve got one of the toughest acts to follow. Lengthening the bridges and jamming around arrangements; putting some echo effect on the mic and pulling the drum kit forward, all added so favourably to this hub of greatness. Complete with perma-smiles and dropping jaws, it only took one glance around the room to reveal the general verdict of this performance. Oh yeah, and they mostly played stuff off their yet-to-be-released album. Jesus. These guys are good.

As reviewed by Brittany Smith

photography provided by Aaron Alleyne

« Older Entries