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

Passenger Action, an amalgamation of members from punk bands past, played a show at the Horseshoe that iheartthemusic happened to be at. So impressed were we, we bombarded the band after their set and requested an impromptu interview. Luckily for us they obliged. And so Clay Shea (bass) and Allan Harding (drums) entertained us with how the band came to be, where they’re going and mammary massages. [Ed note: other band members are Shawn Moncreiff (vocals and guitar) and Ryan Podlubny (guitar).]

iheartthemusic: How did you guys form?

Clay: Shawn and I played for 13 years in a band called Choke. In 2006 we did our final tour, no wait, 2007. Before we finished we started playing with Allan and Pod; Pod used to play in a band called Tee Fullblast.

Allan: I was also in a different band from Edmonton. I’ve been in almost 50 bands. I play a lot.

iheartthemusic: You slut!

Allan: I started playing when I was 12 in wedding bands and stuff. I’m from Saskatchewan, but I moved to Edmonton to go to music school. I went on the Fullblast tour and met Pod; he was from Edmonton but he was living [in Toronto] playing in a band and going a little bit crazy, so he left the band and moved back to Edmonton and we started hanging out. He was almost done with music but then we started playing in a fun band and jamming and then…wait, how the band actually got started was when Clay had a bass stolen.

Clay: I left my guitar in the back of my car and my wife was using the car to go to the lake. She took it out and put it down while she was cleaning, ran in the house to grab something, and in the time before she came out some kids stole my guitar.  I didn’t notice it was missing until a couple days later. Long story short I needed a new guitar so I went to the shop where Pod works. Choke was not finished but on hiatus, and me and Shawn were looking to start a new project. A mutual friend from Detroit had recommended Ryan, who we call Pod [note: they pronounce it Pud, but we guessed it was based on his last name so spelled it this way]. Pod worked in this shop and we got talking about practicing. I think at this point him and Shawn had talked about the idea as well, and he said he knew Allan, so we got together and practiced and it clicked right away. That was two years ago.

iheartthemusic: How would you define your sound?

Allan: We’re like the new Rush.

Clay: I don’t see us as a punk band, but we all came from punk band backgrounds and I think it’s apparent when you hear us. We try to keep things a lot more interesting than the average punk band.

iheartthemusic: You just released your first full-length album.

Clay: It came out on Feb 10, it’s self-titled.

Allan: It’s on Smallman Records. We released an EP of the first six songs we ever wrote together. We did that in a basement in a week. Then we sent it out to some people and we had a couple offers but ended up going with Smallman Records from Winnipeg.

Clay: It was the label Choke worked with for 10 years.

Allan: They signed us and then they re-released the EP we made on our own and then we spent all of June recording the record in Brampton. We recorded it in June and it’s just coming out now in February so it’s been a long wait. Torture.

Clay: But we’re excited to be on the road again. It’s tough cause we’re a band running on the reputation of previous bands we were in; sometimes people are showing up with expectations. They liked our old band and really want us to sound this way or that way. But at the same time it’s afforded us the luxury to be able to go out on our own and make it worthwhile.

Allan: We definitely have an advantage coming here with past reputations because we can come to the Horseshoe on a Sunday and play in front of 50 people or however many.

Clay: On the Horseshoe thing, my dad, he really does his best to try and take an interest in my music. He’s awesome, but I know he’s always faking it. But the thing he gets excited about every time is whenever we’re playing the Horseshoe. I always tell him and he’s like, “I saw Hank Snow there when I was 20 years old.” And it makes him so happy; it’s like that connection that’s just awesome.

iheartthemusic: So the Horseshoe is just one of many stops on your tour to promote the new record?

Allan: We had a crazy fucking mission to get out East. We started in Edmonton, we played in Regina and Thunder Bay then Montreal to Rimouski and then all the way to Halifax.

Clay: We went from Edmonton to Halifax in a week’s time. The country’s so big and there aren’t a ton of places to play in between Winnipeg and Ontario. Either way it seems you gotta drive pretty much for two days across the country either at the beginning or end of a tour…You drive 20 hours from Edmonton and you cross four provinces. And then you hit Thunder Bay and you drive 20 hours and you’re still in Ontario. It just doesn’t seem like the same place.

Allan: Ontario is halfway to Ontario.

Clay: You’re brilliant…Anyways, within a few days of the record coming out we would have super fans at every show. A number of them anyway, whether it be four guys singing every word or 15 or 20 or whatever. It’s been an enthusiastic crowd.

Allan: I will say this, we’ll probably play in Europe before we play in the States. It’s more exciting.

Clay: I spent a lot of time touring the US with Choke and never really enjoyed it that much, I found it really tough. The things we didn’t do, like go to Europe or Japan, which I know are feasible because we have friends who do it, I think that’s where we want to focus more for sure.

iheartthemusic: What made it hard and tough? Was it the crowd or the venues and bookings?

Clay: A little bit of both. For the most part Choke was lucky, we were pretty successful in the underground scene, in Canada anyway, so we would do well.

Allan: Who did you tour in the States with? AFI… When you dig into the history of the band you’ll see that we’ve all been playing for a looong time.

iheartthemusic: Any crazy fan experiences?

Allan: [very guilty laugh] Tell them the massage story.

Clay: [louder guilty laughter] Giver. This wasn’t a crazy fan, this was just crazy. We were unloading after a show at a bar when all of a sudden  we look up and this girl’s got her large breasts in her hands and drops them on a guy’s shoulders from behind. Huge boobs! Then boom, titty neck massages! It was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.

iheartthemusic: I’m envisioning those inflatable neck pillows for airplanes.

Clay: Exactly!

iheartthemusic: What’s next?

Allan: We’re hoping to do the Moneen CD release tour, we’re on Warped Tour for Western Canada and we have a Western Canadian tour in April. Then writing and we’re going to go back to work. So we’re trying to keep busy.

Photography by James Blake

They may share a name with Leonard Cohen’s second album, but the band Songs from a Room claim that though they’re fans of the great artistic Canadian, the name actually came from a friend’s suggestion and is not an homage. Before Songs from a Room took the stage at the Horseshoe Tavern, iheartthemusic got to chat with brothers Brayden and Dustin who help form the rocking hard pop, punkish quintet with David, Nicholas and Craig.

iheartthemusic: How did Songs from a Room form?

Brayden: Me and him [pointing beside him to his brother Dustin] have been playing together for forever. We played in lots of bands in Windsor and toured a lot in the States. After 9/11 hit we slowed right down on going over because of all the security reasons and things so we decided to move to Toronto; that was about two years ago. We met up with these guys [pointing across to the bench where the rest of the band was sitting], funnily enough, a lot of them were from Windsor originally. We never really hung out with them there but kind of fell into them along the way and the rest is history.

iheartthemusic: There was momentum building for you guys, and then tragedy struck…

Brayden: The weekend of Virgin Festival [where they were to be the first act on the Oh Henry! Stage] I decided to have myself offered up to the gods or something and was hit by a Sea-Doo which took me off my feet. It’s been six months now, so I’m glad to be back and playing and not in a wheelchair the rest of my life. I try to stay positive that way. It can be a little tricky with your mind when you go through something like that; to stay positive and keep your main goals in mind. When you become crippled and can’t work anymore all you think about is how to survive, so music sometimes was put on the back burner when you know you have to pay a bill. But luckily enough my wife makes enough money to keep me going.

iheartthemusic: You have a sugar mama!

Brayden: [Chuckles] Yah, I do. The tables have turned. It’s good that way, I’m lucky.

iheartthemusic: You have a second EP out now, did you record that before the accident?

Dustin: Yah, that was before the accident. It was actually supposed to just be demos but we ended up releasing it.

iheartthemusic: Can you tell us a little about the album?

Dustin: We did it all ourselves in our rehearsal space and recorded it ourselves. As far as sound goes it’s a collaboration of ideas, there was no real theme or vibe, we were just going with it.

iheartthemusic: I liked the quote on your MySpace, “it’s always been about writing a solid rhythm and melody.” Is that still the case?

Dustin: Exactly. We weren’t trying to nail a certain genre or a certain sound. Whatever worked we went with.

iheartthemusic: Do you have a favourite place in Toronto to play?

Brayden: You’re sitting in it right now. The sound is always great, it’s a good vibe and there’s parking out back, which is huge for a band with a massive van.

iheartthemusic: Hopefully it won’t get towed like The Waking Eyes‘ a few weeks back.

Brayden: Yah, I heard about that, that was a bummer.

iheartthemusic: Have you had any interesting stories or mishaps while touring?

Brayden: Probably our biggest one wasn’t even while touring. We’ve always had a studio, always recorded ourselves; we enjoy that whole experience of writing the music and having nobody over our head looking at their watch and charging by the hour. So anyways, we get back to the studio space and the doors are totally beat down. We had no insurance at the time so took a huge loss and bye-bye studio. It was one of the last major things for us before we left for Toronto. You tend to lose your spirit quite a bit. The last thing you want to do is steal from a starving band, you know? It’s like taking money from a homeless guy on the street, you just don’t do it!

iheartthemusic: Oh dear, you guys have certainly had your run of bad luck, but hopefully everything’s on the up and up.

Songs from a Room have two CMW shows so try to check them out either when they hit Tattoo Rock Parlour on March 11 with Inward Eye, Isle of Thieves and Bury the Bully or at the Bovine on March 14 with Ubelievers, Sinkin’ Ships, Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah, Farewell to Freeway and The Artist Life.

Photography by James Blake

While most other Torontonians were perched in front of their television sets waiting with bated breath to see whether or not Heath Ledger would win his posthumous Oscar (and I’m pleased to report that he did indeed win, notch), the iheartthemusic crew headed to the Horseshoe Tavern. We went with the intention of just covering Songs from a Room but ended up being won over by (almost) every other band on the roster.

First up were You Call Yourselves Soldiers who left us very pleasantly surprised and optimistic for what the rest of the night might hold. The lead singer (Charlie) sometimes danced spastically with possessed-like moves that would have made Martha Graham jealous. At one point he mentioned that the lack of people on the dance floor made the black and white checkered tiles more apparent and were subsequently giving him vertigo. However, the lack of audience could be choked up to a number of reasons, they were the first band (who is ever on time these days), it was a Sunday (and not just any Sunday, but Academy Award Sunday) and the band had only had about half a dozen performances prior to that evening. Probably best described as emo rock, elements of songs took a number of variations including some ’50s sounding riffs. Other highlights included an extended acoustic section where Charlie actually sat out to the side of the stage. He then had his turn to showoff his pipes with an a cappella intro. The band pushed hard right through to the last song of their set where some serious finger tapping took place.

Second to the stage were Songs from a Room (we chatted with two brothers from this group before the show, so be sure to stay tuned for that). This group was harder to report on because they were just awesome. They came out with great energy, played great songs and the audience seemed to have a great time. The songs possessed rock anthem-esque qualities that had staying power all over them.

Molten Lava (pictured to the left), a progressive punk duo from Saskatchewan, hit the stage next. This is where the “almost” mentioned in the opening comes into play. Though both band members clearly possessed musical talent, there just seemed to be something lacking. There was a lot of noise, yelling and an interesting rap entitled “Breakfast.” While some members of the crowd clearly seemed to be enjoying themselves, iheartthemusic unfortunately wasn’t feeling it.

Closing the night, and more than making up for the slight disappoint from the previous act, was Passenger Action (pictured on the left). This band picked the energy in the room up a few notches with songs that packed a punch. A full robust sound emanated from the stage and into the crowd that grew four-fold just for this band. Dirty in the good hard way yet clean in the technical way. They blew iheartthemusic away so much that we ended up doing an interview on the spot after they got off stage (stay tuned for that too).

Photography by James Blake

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