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

With a lineup that includes ex members of the band Jersey and The Full Blast, you know there are going to be some sweet tunes emanating from the stage. The Artist Life came to be not too long ago and have since been on an upwards spiral that has included an AP feature, a relationship with Underground Operations and being able to share the stage with the likes of The Flatliners and Andrew W.K. to name a few. Their pop-punk inspired sound is easy on the ears and will leave you either singing along or handbanging your way through the entire album. They are currently embarking on their first West-coast tour in support of their debut EP Let’s Start a Riot. This tour also  conveniently coincides with the release of their latest video for “Sleep So Sound”. iheartthemusic caught up with Ian Blackwood (vocals/guitar), Dean Richards (guitar/vocals), Chuck Leach (bass/vocals) and Jake Parsonson (drums) at Sunrise Records in Toronto literally right before they hit the highway.

iheartthemusic: Your band is made up of members of popular bands from the past, how hard was it to mold your own image as The Artist Life?

Ian: Music is something that I have been doing for a long time and it just took the right partner to work with and write with and when I met Dean it just kind of seemed natural. After that, fans and the band were secondary to the relationship that Dean and I have now. Finding Jake, and knowing Chuck from the past, it all just made sense. This band to me is just like four of the best friends. I find that it’s the easiest band to be in.

Dean: [Being in prior bands] helped us out too a little bit. As a new band and trying to get attention from people, it actually helped. If you’ve listened to Jersey or to The Full Blast before, you know you’ll like our band too. I think it was probably productive.

iheartthemusic: I guess that exposure’s been good leverage.

Dean: Exactly.

iheartthemusic: In September of last year AP magazine named you “Unsigned Band of the Month” and then a few short weeks later you were snatched up by Underground Operations. How did you form that relationship?

Dean: We’ve been friends with everyone over at Underground for a long time, but I think it took us a little while to build a band and get the song writing there. The Underground people were my first friends when I moved to the city, way back when. They were into the songs and it just went from there.

Chuck: We did an East Coast tour in June of 2008 and on the very last day we finally found an Internet connection and checked emails or messages and we had a message from the editor of AP saying they wanted to do a piece on us, which was amazing. It seemed like that tour was when we reached a point where the band was functioning as a cohesive unit, and from there it has just been a straight shot.

iheartthemusic: You have two videos out now and both seem to be very much band-focused, was this intentional?

Dean: I think it just kind of happened. I mean, it was the director who came up with the idea for “Sleep So Sound”. He came to us because he had an idea that he wanted to do and we just went with it. It was an awesome idea!

Ian: “Waiting Room” was different because it was a friend of mine who runs First Frame Media, and one day he was like, “we really want to do a video for your band”, and that video was just one of those videos that got thrown together by a bunch of buddies.

Dean: Much like the “Sleep So Sound” video, we are now friends with the director and we look forward to hopefully working with him again because we had a blast. It was the first time in front of a green screen for all of us. All the shots were actually shot on their own so that none of us were actually together. So it was really interesting for all of us not to be playing together.

iheartthemusic: And probably break each other’s concentration in the process with goofy faces, right?

Dean: [laughs] Yeah.

Chuck: It was a really interesting day because it was so opposite of what we were used to; performing as a unit, feeding off each other’s energy, things like that. It was literally a green screen, “go stand there”, “you stand on your mark”, and just before they say action its like, “ok rock out”. It was hard to warm up to at first, but then you just kind of start to have fun with it and embrace what it is.

iheartthemusic: So you guys seem like a fairly solid unit, I mean you mention that you are really close friends, which helps bleed over into your band. Do you find that there is a real sense of community between other Canadian bands?

Dean: Absolutely, just playing shows with friends for however long that we have, it’s been a lot of fun. Everyone is just bros.

Chuck: It’s really funny because we have our American friends that come to Canada that are in bands and stuff and there is this ongoing joke that every band in Canada knows each other. That’s a little bit of an overstatement, but at the same time there is an element of truth to that because I think at one time or another everyone kind of crosses paths up here. I don’t know if it has to do with the work ethic, and not to say that people in other places don’t work as hard because certainly they do, but it just seems like the bands that we know and are friends with are absolute work horses and always playing shows and living what they do.

Ian: I think we are sort of a generation of bands that have grown up together, and having played in other bands helps that too. Not being from even the same province, I mean Dean is from P.E.I. and I am from Ontario but now we are in a band together, we are in this generation with a lot of Southern Ontario sort of relic of other bands that have existed and I think we’ve carried that trend or trait. We like being friends with bands. It’s a lot more fun to go on tour with a band and be buddies and not be secluded to your van.

Chuck: There really is something to the ex-members thing in Canada, we just can’t seem to give it up. It’s like fragmenting, as soon as one band breaks up it turns into four bands and then one of those bands breaks up and it branches out into three more bands.

iheartthemusic: It’s a lot of band-on-band incest.

Chuck: Yup.

iheartthemusic: Let’s talk about the reason we are all here: International Record Store Day. With album sales slowly dwindling, how important was it for you to be here today?

Ian: It’s huge. I think it’s really important to spread awareness that bands are still making CDs and still selling records – holding something tangible is a wonderful thing. Seeing the artwork, reading the lyrics, it’s important to get people out and remind them that, yes these things are available on the Internet and we understand that, but vinyl is coming out again and getting huge. We are just proud to be here playing today! Friends of ours played last year and we were here supporting them and now it’s cool to be a part of it.

Chuck: I think it’s really important to remind people how important record stores are and that there’s a vibe here that doesn’t exist from online purchasing or downloading. I’m talking about the record store vibe, just being there and being around like-minded people. Everyone enters a record store for the same reason: because they love music. Even if you are in the rock section and someone is in the country section, it doesn’t matter because you are both there for the same reason. You are both there to explore music, and I think that is something that is lost on the Internet.

iheartthemusic: You are flying solo almost?

Chuck: Yeah exactly. There’s no room for building relationships [on the Internet. Whereas in a store], even if it is a pleasant glance across the store or finding this gem that hasn’t made it to iTunes yet, there is really something to be said for just hanging in the record store.

Ian: Jake liked to go to record stores before we were signed and would slide ours into one of the “A” spots. [laughs]

iheartthemusic: [laughs] That’s totally something that I would have done! How does that affect the way you approach writing?

Dean: Ian and I always talk about how we are such big fans of pop music. At the end of the day when we sit down we are thinking, “let’s try and write a really strong song, something that has a big chorus and has lyrics that are meaningful”. So it’s always going to be in the back in our minds to write something that people can grab on to and can get into. It’s very predominant when we write, totally.

Chuck: I think there would be problem if there was an absence of that thought. If you were writing and thinking that every time you wrote a song that this has to be good enough to be a single then you’re just writing fluff, filler. It should always be present in the back of your mind that this has to be good enough to carry the record. If you write 12 songs that are all good enough to carry the record, then you’ve got a great record.

iheartthemusic: I appreciate your honesty with that because I find that nowadays bands will say one thing, but clearly they want that hit as well because that’s what is going to get them noticed right away.

Ian: Back to the whole iTunes thing real quickly, a lot of bands have that problem where they are writing a couple of hits and the rest of the record is sort of dry. With us we want to write a record where every song is great and you feel good about every song. I think that’s really important, especially nowadays where you can just buy one song. So I’m not going to offer you one song, I’m going to offer you a whole album of great songs.

iheartthemusic: I think that’s a great mentality to have! After this showcase you guys are off on a little West Coast tour?

Dean: It’s the first time this band has gone out West, but we’ve driven the eastern run twice and been playing Toronto and Quebec like crazy. So this is the first time we’ll be going out West, it’s exciting and it’s great that it lines up really well with the release of the video so we can push that and we are looking forward to it!

iheartthemusic: After that what have you got planned?

Dean: I guess we are going to come home and keep writing. We are working on a full-length and that will take us right into the summer. We have another quick run in July throughout Ontario and also all the festivals.

iheartthemusic: Any ones in particular?

Dean: I don’t think we are on any at the moment but we will probably do S.C.E.N.E Fest – that’s usually the one that starts it all off – NXNE in June as well, and hopefully get on a few more.

iheartthemusic: Anything you want to add before you hit the stage?

Ian: Check out the new video on our MySpace and go to MuchMusic and vote for it as well!

photography provided by Carl Heindl

Toronto indie/new wave band The Framework made a huge impression on iheartthemusic with their witty banter and uber-cool look. Interviewing them was like talking to the coolest group of kids in high school. There was the quiet but mysterious one (Chris), the chick in school that all the boys liked but who was also so down to earth that all the girls liked her too (Rayanne), the super smart dude with wicked style that everyone in school tried to emulate (Ryan), the easy going guy who was friends with everyone (Scott), and the class clown (Tobias).  Put these five cool kids in a room with instruments and they are magic!  iheartthemusic sat down with the band to talk about their influences, traveling, their new album and everything in between.

iheartthemusic: I was reading your MySpace page and noticed that you are influenced by a lot of bands. If you could choose, what artist would you want saying that they were influenced by your music?

Ryan: That would be tough because I think a lot of people that we list are like, 30 years old or 20 years old. I think the reason why it’s so wide and there are so many influences listed is because it’s sort of who we are.  We all come from different musical backgrounds and what we like and dislike is also different, so I don’t think there is any way to fully answer that.  They’ve given us so much and we hope we’re going to inspire future bands.

Tobias: I still think we got a shot at The Beatles.

Ryan: Definitely The Beatles and the Stones.

iheartthemusic: You guys are also noticeably influenced by the UK scene.  Evidence to that logic would be having a song entitled “London”, which I’m sure is not about London, Ontario. What do you love about the UK and how does that love transcend into the music?

Chris: I don’t think we actually did it on purpose, it just so happens that a lot of the bands we like come from there. We have bands that we all listen to from Canada, but I think a lot of the UK music is really big sounding and really well written songs;  there’s a history there of that. You can even look at a band like Oasis, they are all about great songs and a big show.

iheartthemusic: What were you all doing before forming the band in 2006?

Tobias: Everyone was mostly doing the same thing when we started, all working various jobs and such, but we were all musicians.

Chris: I actually retired from music for about a day.  I had a solo career and I was like, “I think I’m going to take a break”, and the next day Ryan calls me up and he was like, “let’s do a band”.

Ryan: Yeah, we were all in various bands over the years and a couple of us were solo artists and it kind of came together through that;  the whole music community in Toronto. We had a direction and a sound we wanted to achieve and we knew a couple of guys in the rhythm section and we pieced it together from there. It was like magic right from the start for us.

Chris: If you talk to any singer/songwriter they love their band.  The reason for that is when you’re on your own, it’s nice with the acoustic guitar and stuff, but you’re always feeling like there is more to the song than just that. Now it’s like that all the time.  It’s a way more powerful feeling when you’re on stage and the songs are so much bigger.

iheartthemusic: Yeah, because wasn’t it like three months after you guys formed you got recognized?

Ryan: Yeah, pretty much right after.

Chris: We didn’t play our first show until nine months later.

Ryan: But the reality was that we did have careers before this band, we didn’t start from point zero. We already had a lot of people who knew about us and stuff like that.

iheartthemusic: Traveling is a huge part of being in a band.  Rayanne, how do you like being on the road with all these gentlemen?

Rayanne: It’s actually great.  I get along with these guys amazingly well and you know women are a little different than men in some ways, but we make it work and it’s fun. It’s also definitely cool to work with guys that closely because you really  learn about another perspective.

Chris: We treat her like one of the guys.

Rayanne: Exactly.

Tobias: One thing though, it’s really nice having her, but we just wish there were more women. She’s great and all, but the more the merrier so if you have any interest in coming on the road.

iheartthemusic: With my musical talent, absolutely nothing would really help out!

Tobias: Writing lyrics??

iheartthemusic: Perhaps…we’ll talk later! This is my first time seeing you perform live,  if you could review your show like us reporters do, what would you say about your live act?

Chris: A lot of things have been written about us already that we’re like, yeah that’s exactly what we think and what we want to project like, “ energetic frontman, really catchy songs”, everyone says that.

Tobais: We’ve been cut down for that as well: “catchiness”.

Rayanne: We want it to be really high energy, a show that the audience can engage in as well. We really try to do that.

Chris: And before our first show we played for like nine months to make sure that right from the get go we were hitting it and it was polished and I feel that right now we’re hitting our stride and every show feels good.

Ryan: And when it really comes down to it, we just put on a damn good rock show.

Chris: We are definitely not tree gazers.

iheartthemusic: In touring the world, what differs in the audience reactions from let’s say North America and Europe?

Tobias: We have not gone overseas yet, but we do have a tour booked overseas.  We’ve done several US shows and they have actually always been really good.

Rayanne: The audiences in New York are always pumped up and energetic and always ready to party, which is great because we totally feed off that.

Chris: In Cincinnati they like chili.

Tobias: And cinnamon.

iheartthemusic: I saw that on your YouTube video and thought what does that mean?  Is that what they eat there?

All: Yeah!

Chris: And they are very proud of the mechanical bull.

Tobias: Even the Republicans know how to party.

iheartthemusic: Well that’s a shock! So is there a new album in the works?

Ryan: You can expect a pretty good translation of what we do live and it’s called Before Tonight. It’s our debut full length record.  Up until now we’ve only released two EP’s. Before Tonight is what we’ve been working on for about a year and we’re super proud of it, it’s really a great translation of what we do.

Rayanne: We tried to keep it that way so that anyone who comes to see us perform can take home part of that experience with them.

iheartthemusic: When will that be out?

Rayanne: Mid-July.

Chris: The other thing that we’re proud of too is that we did it totally ourselves from start to finish.

Tobias: 130 bucks!

Rayanne: Everything we did ourselves even down to the artwork, which is done by Ryan,and the band and Chris did all the recording,  mixing and engineering.

iheartthemusic: Very impressive!

Tobias: I did all my own drumming!

Chris: It will feel good once we release it, we feel that it does stack up to other albums that are out there in terms of the quality and we know that we put it together ourselves.

iheartthemusic: Lastly, how do you want your fans to feel after they see you perform live?

Tobias: Elated.

Chris: That’s the only joke you could come up with?

Tobias: It’s not a joke!

Ryan: Definitely, like they had a good time. People like to dance at our shows.

Rayanne: We want them to feel tired, like they had such a great time at the show that they are  so tired afterward.

Chris: We really like the shows where when we play there is a DJ, because we do kind of promote that it is a party.  Generally, I think it’s a good night if you get home at like, four in the morning.

Tobias: And you go get pizza afterward.

iheartthemusic: What kind of pizza?

Tobias: I always enjoy the pepperoni, what do you like?

iheartthemusic: Anything if it is after three in the morning!

Tobias: We definitely want to keep the audience interested enough so that they stay for the entire set, we usually do 45 minute sets at this point, but in the future, as a headlining act, you envision yourself doing an hour and a half set. For me, when I go out to shows I want to see a band that I enjoy seeing for an hour and a half instead of looking at my watch five songs before the end, if I’m at that point saying to myself, “I really want to get out of here”, that’s not what we want people to think.

Chris: We do put pressure on ourselves in that we don’t want people to leave disappointed. I think all the way through our careers, in anything we’ve been doing, we feel like we want to give everything we can in every regard, in recording and the show. It’s kind of been built into us that you need to do a good job and you never half-ass anything that you’ve done.

interviewed by Kristen Tignanelli

photography provided by Carl Heindl

Tattoo Rock Parlor was the destination du jour on April 16th if what you were looking for was an exciting, fun night combined with stellar music.  AfterpartY, Senor Kasio and The Framework were the perfect line up, proving they are all great songwriters, musicians, and entertainers.

First out was AfterpartY, an up and coming pop rock quartet out of Toronto. Throughout the whole performance my eyes were peeled on lead singer Kristina who I feel is destined to become a pop rock icon with her confidence and stage presence. I can just picture it… instead of every little girl emulating Avril and Gwen Stefani, in a couple of years they will be singing AfterpartY songs at the top of their lungs, pretending they are Kristina. Not only did she have a great energy, she also had a powerful voice, not necessarily unique in any way, but boy could she belt out a ballad. The sound mirrored the punk/pop music of the moment – non pretentious, just catchy and fun. Everyone in the band looked like they were having a great time on stage, but hands down the lead singer stole the show for me. If the stars align, they will be the next Paramore in a couple of years.

What can I say about the next band that hit the stage? There are a lot of words to describe Senor Kasio, but I’m going to have to go with FUN, FUN and more FUN! This trio from Toronto was one of the most exciting bands I’ve seen… ever!  Their energetic stage show paired with their eccentric musical stylings made for a great time that transcended to the audience. I had one huge grin on my face throughout their whole set and I know I wasn’t the only one. Their music is indescribable – you cannot pinpoint or categorize it into a genre and there are no words to describe it other than it’s a little bit new wave, with a hint of musical theatre, mixed with a whole lotta love. Their groovalicious dance moves combined with their unique and sometimes outrageous tracks like “I love it,”  “I Wanna F,” and a song about Febreze that could make anyone fall in love with Senor Kasio.

Last, but certainly not least, was headlining band The Framework who finished off the night with an amazing, high-energy set. This band has major star quality, they looked the part and, more importantly, their songs are comparable to (and in some cases even better than), some mainstream music out there. It is definitely catchy with some major radio-friendly tracks, but don’t be fooled, they are not your average pop group – they have depth and substance, which is seen in their song “Wasted”, which is a personal favourite of mine.  The melody and lyrics combined with the mysterious yet soothing sound of Chris’ voice equals pop at its finest. If I had my way, it would be a single off their new album. Musically, they remind me of The Killers and Bloc Party with a little bit of ’80s Prince goodness. It’s the music I would put on at 3am on a Saturday night, inebriated with a bunch of friends to keep the party going and to dance like no one is watching. All in all, this band is a must see! Their high-energy performance and up-beat dance tracks will make you want to boogie down… I know I will next Saturday night!

reported by Kristen Tignanelli

photography provided by Carl Heindl

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