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

Saskatchewan is known for a few things; it’s where the term “the prairies” is used quite loosely, Saskatoon is there and it is also where that television show Corner Gas was filmed. One thing that is not readily associated with this Canadian province is great music and so you can imagine our surprise when iheartthemusic went to see Regina’s six-piece Rah Rah at the El Mocambo a few weeks ago and were very pleasantly surprised by what we discovered. This young band consists of friends Erin, Marshall, Joel, Kris, Samra and Leif, who all met in university where they decided to start a band. Their sound is indie Brit-pop, reminiscent of Arts and Crafts’ heavy-hitters Los Campesinos! in both their stage antics (they are constantly switching instruments), size and attitude. This band is young, fresh and incredible live, which is why they are the first on our radar for next week’s NXNE music festival here in Toronto.

Being a young band (they literally just finished their last semester of uni) they’ve already accomplished a fair amount including sharing the stage with such notable Canadian acts as Wintersleep, Holy Fuck and Mother Mother. But there seems to be no slowing the girls and guys in Rah Rah as they have decided to take on the feat of doing a cross-Canada tour (yes East Coast to West Coast and then back home) with a quick stop in Montreal to record their next record! No big deal right?! If their last album Going Steady (released in 2008 on Young Soul Records) is any indication of what is to come for this group, then you better catch them quick!

Rah Rah play a bunch of dates during NXNE:

Thursday, June 18th @ 2PM > NXPO day stage at Hyatt Regency

Thursday, June 18th @ 11PM > Rancho Relaxo

Sunday, June 21st @ 9PM > El Mocambo

Black Hat Brigade is an eclectic fivesome homegrown right here in the GTA. And homegrown they truly are, with audible influences of Canadian greats Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and an unnamed touch of East Coast sound that ties it all together. The band is made up of Rob Haughey (Keys/Guitar/Bass/Vocals), Justin Myler (Bass/Keys/Guitar/Vocals), Adam Peterson (Lead Guitar/Bass/Keys/Glockenspiel/Vocals), Dan Hurst (Drums) and Bryan Ward (Guitar/Percussion/Glockenspiel/Bass) – listing out the band members and the instruments they play appears a little confusing, but it all makes sense once you see them play live. To watch a BHB show is to witness a complicated yet fluid dance of instrument swapping, mixed vocals and old school rock ‘n’ roll. It’s the type of music both hipster kids and grizzled sea captains alike would enjoy stomping their feet and clinking their pint glasses to. iheartthemusic was able to talk with Justin and Bryan before BHB tookthe stage at the El Mocambo on the night of the release party for their sophomore EP, Fathers.

iheartthemusic: Where are you guys from, are you local Toronto boys?

Justin: Well, originally, I’m from Brampton, and so are Rob and Adam, who aren’t here right now.

Bryan: I’m from Pickering, that’s where I grew up. And Dan is from Burlington so we’re all kind of suburb kids.

iheartthemusic: You guys are from all over the place, how did you come together to form the band?

Justin: Myself, Rob and Adam played together in university. We all went to high school together, and I’ve known Adam since I was about five. Bryan and Adam were working at the CBC, and met over there. Bryan came out to one of our shows. We knew that he played a bunch of instruments so we invited him up on stage to play tambourine in one of our songs. We were all pretty inebriated and just asked him to join.

Bryan: …and I met Dan in College, a friend of a friend.

Justin: About a year after Bryan joined we had an amicable split with our old drummer. The next day Bryan bumped into Dan, and asked if he was still drumming. Dan said, “Ya, why…are you looking for a drummer?” He came to a practice and we hit it off.

iheartthemusic: So it seems like it was fate that brought you guys together.

Justin: That’s what we like to call it.

Bryan: It was written in the stars.

iheartthemusic: I like that a lot. So one thing that I thought was really interesting in reading your bio was this section here: “It could be said that the drug-induced children’s programming of the early 1980’s, overexposure to video game soundtracks, and the years spent partying in the bowels of dead end suburban cul-de-sacs might have had an influence on their song writing.” First of all, who wrote that?

Bryan: That’s the English Major, Rob.

Justin: Yeah, he threw together the bio, but we all sort of grew up in the ’80s playing video games, and you can see it in our music. We all have a little bit of ADD, which probably has to do with the video games. It’s why we have to switch up our instruments all the time. We get bored.

iheartthemusic: Any particular video games?

Justin: I was a Nintendo guy, Bryan’s a Nintendo guy.

Bryan: I still have a Nintendo hooked up to my TV. Normally after shows we all end up at my place and play Mario 3 at three o’clock in the morning. We’ll throw on other games, but it always goes back to Mario 3, that’s a staple.

Justin: We do have a song called “Castlevania”, which was not named after the video game, because I tried it, and I suck at it [laughs all around].

iheartthemusic: “Castlevania” is on your second record, the new one that’s out today.

Justin: Yeah, Fathers.

iheartthemusic: When was your first record released ?

Justin: It was almost exactly a year ago today. It was recorded at Sleepytown Sound in December, and it took six months to release. We were doing it all ourselves: artwork,  printing, mastering, and collecting money to be able to afford to do it.

iheartthemusic: Today is the CD release party for the new record, Fathers. How does this record feel different from the first?

Bryan: The new one is longer ['cause] it’s got more songs on it. A couple of songs on this album have been around since we wrote the last one. We felt that these songs all fit well together, and they all had a certain tone and feel to them, which is why we put them on this other EP. Also, I think the songs sound a lot fuller, and more thought out. When we recorded the last one, it was the first thing we’d ever recorded, and the first time we’d ever stepped into a studio. We just did it for ourselves. We thought, cool, now we’ll have something to listen to. With this record we know people other than ourselves and our parents are going to hear it. I think it’s also pretty true to our live sound.

iheartthemusic: Another cool aspect about the show tonight is that it’s part of the Pitter Patter Festival. How did BHB come to take part in it?

Justin: Keith Hamilton, who’s running Pitter Patter, we played show for him about a year ago, at the Boat [in Kensington], and kept in touch with him. We weren’t even supposed to be on Pitter Patter, because we were looking for a night to do our release. So Keith said if we wanted to put on our show as a part of the festival, then that would be great.

iheartthemusic: Let’s talk instruments, your bio lists the glockenspiel one of the instruments you play…

Bryan: Well a Glockenspiel is basically a metal xylophone. It’s got metal pieces instead of the wooden blocks. It’s a mallet instrument… Adam had a dream that he was Moon Walking across a glockenspiel and it played the craziest song he’d ever heard. The next day he came to practice with a glock. None of us had ever played it before.

iheartthemusic: So after this Pitter Patter tour you’re going to be playing NXNE.

Justin: We played it last year, but it was more lowkey. We didn’t have a lot of push behind our name at that point. We’re doing a show at The Drake with The Balconies, The Urban Aesthetics and a couple of others.

Bryan: That’s on June 18th. The next night we’re playing a free show at Yonge and Dundas Square, Mill Street Brewery is the sponsor. There’s going to be two stages, the Mill Street Stage and the main stage. Wintersleep, The Cliks and In-Flight Safety are on the main stage.

iheartthemusic: Do you have a current favourite Canadian band you want to tell our readers about?

Justin: Lots. I find what I’ve been listening to a lot lately is a lot of Canadian stuff, especially out of Toronto. Timber Tambre is someone that we’ve recently started listening to. Bryan actually turned me onto them.

Bryan: It was after one of our shows I think. I was like, “Justin, you need to hear this song.”  It was “Lay Down in the Tall Grass”.

Justin: Chad Vangaalen, Constantines, Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, Think About Life, Holy Fuck, The Besnard Lakes, Born Ruffians, Islands, Frog Eyes, Slim Twig, Women, Bruce Peninsula…Yeah, there’s lots of great bands out there right now.

iheartthemusic: Do you find that there’s a lot of support within the Canadian music industry? I’ve heard of it described as one big happy family, has that been your experience?

Bryan: We’re always helping each other out. Like if someone gets a gig, or a good slot at a show, we always try to get one of our friends’ bands on there. We’ll try to get younger bands (that aren’t as well known) really good opening slots. That’s kind of what’s pushing the scene right now; everyone’s helping each other out.

iheartthemusic:Do you have a favourite venue in the city, that you’ve played which holds a place in your heart?

Justin: I’d say for most of us, and for me anyway, Rancho Relaxo. We love playing there.

Bryan: We had our first sell out show at Rancho, which was the best thing ever.

iheartthemusic: And, as a final question, care to explain the Soylent Green comment from your bio? That your music is the “aural and visual equivalent to that final scene from the dystopian classic Soylent Green, when Charlton Heston’s character finally realizes that they’ve been eating each other all along”?

Bryan: Our music eats people.

Justin: At the end of one of our shows you realize your brain’s been eating itself the whole time.

Black Hat Brigade will be playing NXNE June 18th at the Drake hotel, and a free show at Yonge and Dundas Square on June 19th.

Interview by Nadia Elkharadly

Pictures by Omar Elkharadly

There have been some amazing acts hailing from Ireland that have passed through Toronto and knocked the Canadian talent out of the water. Well, Walter Mitty & The Realists are no exception. Having won Indie Week in Toronto in the Fall, these boys came back to showcase their talents once again during Canadian Music Week. The band consists of Niall MacTaidhg (vocals/guitar), Conor MacTaidhg (guitar), Colin Bartley (bass) and Paul O’Shaughnessy (drums). iheartthemusic caught up with them during their first show in Toronto at the Horseshoe and they explained why Canadian crowds rock.

iheartthemusic: Welcome back to Canada boys! You were here in the Fall and walked away winning Indie Week. How did you find out about that?

Niall: We knew someone who won it the previous year and so we applied and kind of got invited over and that was it. 

iheartthemusic: Did you get to explore the city at all?

Paul: We were here for five days and ended up playing six gigs so we didn’t get to see much that time.

Colin: We got up to the CN tower and that was about it.

iheartthemusic: That’s too bad that you couldn’t see more of 

Toronto!

Conor: We have a few days off this time so we are really looking forward to seeing a bit more of Toronto and Canada. Hopefully we will get to see Niagara Falls and all the tourist stuff.

iheatthemusic: Are there any bands that you are hoping to check out this week?

Niall: I want to see Holy Fuck and Bloc Party for sure.

Conor: We are looking forward to celebrating St. Patty’s day in Toronto as well. The parade is on Sunday and that should be good. I’ve already bought green skinny jeans for it!

iheartthemusic: You must have played at some amazing venues last time you were here. What was your favourite?

Niall: Probably Reverb or Rok Boutique.

Conor: We really enjoyed playing in Toronto the last time. Every single venue we played in the crowd was brilliant, which made it exciting to play and the crowds seemed to be really interested. It was very exciting to see everyone out and so we are really looking forward to playing again in Toronto.

 iheartthemusic: Is there anything that you notice about Canadian crowds that is different than back home?

Niall: They’ve got Canadian accents!

Colin: They enjoy it a lot more and it seems to be more full-on over here. You play a gig in Ireland and the crowd is sometimes tough but here everyone is really into it right away. I suppose it is a bigger city, so more people will come out and in Limerick there is only a select crowd that will come out.

iheartthemusic: How would you define your sound?

Colin: I don’t know how I would define our sound really. Some people say James Brown [laughs].

Niall: I listen to a lot of fucking rock and dance so it’s always varied.

iheartthemusic: You have an album coming out in the Spring as well, right?

Niall: When we go home we will be getting a fully mastered copy. We recorded it with Fergal Lawler from The Cranberries before we left. We got a call from them today, actually, so it will be ready when we come back. 

iheartthemusic: Have you come up with a title for it yet?

Niall: Green Light Go is what we are thinking at the moment because it’s our debut. There is going to be about 11 songs on the album.

iheartthemusic: After you release the album what’s next for you guys?

Niall: We are thinking of doing some more touring in Ireland and the UK and then we are back over here in October for Indie Week again.

Conor: We are headlining Indie Week as a part of what we did last year,  so will be happy to get back here and play for the crowds again!

If you didn’t get a chance to check these boys out while they were in Toronto, don’t worry they will be back and in the meantime check out their MySpace: www.myspace.com/waltermittyandtherealists

 Photography provided by Matt Vardy