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

The Burning Hell is not like any band you have ever heard. I can almost guarantee it. The collective, from anywhere between two and 12 members playing on any given song, centred around Mathias Kom and his ukulele… That’s right, you heard me. Mathias has engineered a sound that some have called folk-rock, some have called apocalypso and almost everyone is impressed. For a live audience the strongest impression they give is fun. The band members never look like they would rather be anywhere else, and watching a show is like being let in on the kitchen, backyard or living room jam session. iheartthemusic spoke with Mathias to find out a little bit more about the band and what they’ve been up to….

iheartthemusic: When did the band get together?

Mathias: Well, I guess it would have been 2000.

iheartthemusic: And the term “band” is pretty loosely applied here. There can be anywhere between two and 12 people playing with you at any given time. How do you decide who plays when?

Mathias: Well some of us have jobs, and most of us have other projects on the go and stuff like that, so it all depends on who’s available and when.

iheartthemusic: Have you had everyone with you since 2000?

Mathias: No. People come and go. A Lot of people have gone on to other things and we are getting new people all the time. So it’s a total varying cast. I think we have had over 40 people in and out of the band over the years.

iheartthemusic: Wow! So who do you consider to be the band?

Mathias: Whoever’s on stage.

iheartthemusic: Alright… so tell me a little bit about your new album, Baby.

Mathias: We ended up recording it in three sessions while we were on tour. We did that because we didn’t really have time to go into one studio for a long time. So we just decided we would make the best of it and record it all while we were on tour.

iheartthemusic: And do you find that made a difference in the album?

Mathias: Well, there were lots of surprises and definitely the environment that we recorded in affected the way it came out, but it all came together.

iheartthemusic: Totally… So, where were the three places you recorded?

Mathias: We recorded in Vancouver at Brian Barr’s house, just in his living room there. We recorded in Port Greville at the Quarantine, the studio of construction and destruction, a great band and great friends of The Burning Hell. And then in London we recorded at House of Miracles.

iheartthemusic: Do you think that this new record is a departure from your last album, Happy Birthday, or is it an extension on what you started there?

Mathias: It’s both a departure from the last album, sonically, and also an extension of the same themes. Lyrically the themes are similar, but in terms of the way the band sounds it’s very, very different.

iheartthemusic: Speaking of lyrics, there have been comparisons of you to Leonard Cohen… do you think that’s an apt description?

Mathias: [laughs] No, I don’t think so. Of course I am very flattered when I hear that. But I think that it usually comes from the fact that I sing in a baritone and so does he. But that is where the similarity ends, as far as I can see. I am no where near as talented at writing lyrics as Leonard Cohen.

iheartthemusic: Well, you both see the dark humour in the world.

Mathias: Yeah, that’s true, but you could say that about a lot of other songwriters. Leonard Cohen is the distinctive Canadian poet, first and foremost, and I am nothing like that.

iheartthemusic: You don’t think of yourself as a poet?

Mathias: No, not at all

iheartthemusic: Well, people who read your lyrics may beg to differ, but let’s move on. You just finished the album release tour for Baby. How’d that go?

Mathias: Mostly really well. We had a van break-in incident in Montreal that cost us a lot of money, but other than that dark spot it was pretty great. We only lost a laptop, but it was a rental van, and that really screwed us over… Other than that it was a lot of fun.

iheartthemusic: And you’re not done with being out on the road yet, you are headed back out to play at the Pohoda Festival in Slovakia!

Mathias: I am super excited about that, and not least because Patti Smith is headlining.

iheartthemusic: And you aren’t even done then! You keep touring through Canada this summer!It makes me wonder, when do you get to the songwriting? Do you need to be home and settled in order to write new stuff?

Mathias: Well, writing sort of just happens when it happens. And I’ve tried to sit down and write before but it usually never works. So it just happens when it happens, and when it’s on the road, it’s on the road. But usually it’s not, i’ts just a matter of time and stuff.

iheartthemusic: So who’s traveling with you this summer?

Mathias: There is gonna be six of us this summer. We’ve got our bass player, Nick Ferrio, Mike Duguay who plays keyboards, Adam DeMarsh our drummer, Jill Staveley our guitar player and our newest member Dave Hartley, who plays harmonica.

iheartthemusic: And that’s for the whole summer?

Mathias: No, that’s just for the Europe portion. When we get back it’s reverting back to whoever shows up.

iheartthemusic: Do YOU always know who’s coming, or have you ever been surprised?

Mathias: Sometimes it’s a surprise. Usually we know at least a day in advance, it’s fairly standard. There’s usually six or seven of us, with sometimes two or three others.

iheartthemusic: That must get crowded on some stages.

Mathias: It does. It depends on the stage, but we have definitely played some tight spots before.

iheartthemusic: One more question…. On iTunes, your genre classification is “singer/songwriter”, if you could make up a genre to add to the list that described The Burning Hell, what would it be?

Mathias: Hm… well, once we got classified as stoner cartoon rock. And I really like the sound of that, even though none of us are stoners. And I haven’t yet seen that in any record stores or on iTunes, but I really like it.

iheartthemusic: For sure.. I definitely see that taking off. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me! And good luck with the summer shows….

Check out The Burning Hell when they return to Toronto on July 25 and August 21, both shows at Sneaky Dee’s.

Written by Sam Banack

Photography by Justin Cutler