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

A few weeks ago iheartthemusic spoke with a VERY young band from Barrie, Ontario, and when we say young, we are referring to the fact that half the band is still in high school! Despite the age of these young gentlemen, Final Thought put on a show that left us feeling like they were industry veterans. Playing for a mixed crowd at a benefit concert, Punk 4 Parkinson’s, Dustin (vocals), Emmett (guitar), Brandon (bass) and Tom (drums) rocked the house and won us over with their honesty, innocence and sense of onstage presence. With the recent release of their EP, Take This Home, and a bunch of upcoming tour dates in Quebec, it appears that school may have to take the back seat for a while (sorry mom and dad).

iheartthemusic: Your band seems to be made up of a bunch of guys of different ages, so how did you all meet?

Dustin: We met just being friends really. Brandon and myself are the two original members and we are the youngest. We met pretty much from hanging out and going to shows together and then we ended up going to school together. We started being friends about a year and a half ago and then we found Tom, he’s the newest member, we recruited him in September from shows.

Tom: It was December, actually.

Dustin: November. Anyway, around then we were recruiting our new drummer.

Tom: Let’s just say late Fall!

iheartthemusic: Being so young, I was surprised to read that you’ve already shared the stage with Silverstein! How did that come about?

Dustin: Yeah, we did that a long time ago. We won a show and it was at The Playdium in Toronto; there was a bunch of bands there and we ended up getting to pretty much play with Silverstein. It was fun.

iheartthemusic: That’s awesome, and a huge claim to fame! Speaking of fame, how did Gene Simmons hear about you guys?

Tom: He called me up! [laughs]

Dustin: What happened was, basically, one of our friends has a friend who is Belinda Stronach’s son and they [Gene and Belinda] know each other. Belinda was working with Gene Simmons and the demo, in one way or another, got into his hands; he listened to it and liked it. He ended up staying an extra day in Canada because he wanted to see us play so we got this call that we had to play for Gene Simmons in Toronto. We were like, “OK.” That’s not a phone call you get everyday! He’s a good guy and talked to us for about 15 minutes after we played. It was neat and fun to do.

iheartthemusic: Well, he is trying to start a label here in Canada so maybe he will scoop you guys up!

Emmett: That’s what that show was for. He’s making like a reality TV show.

Dustin: I know he’s tried to restart that label more than once, so I don’t know where he is with it, we haven’t really heard back. We just take it as it comes and if we end up hearing from him one day then sweet!

iheartthemusic: Is getting signed the next step for you?

Dustin: Yeah! We are looking to tour this summer and trying to put that together and also work to getting a non-profit organization on board. We are just trying to do everything we can; playing town shows as much as possible. We’ve got our hometown covered.

Emmett: We don’t want to be a local band that just opens shows all the time. We want to take it as seriously as we can while still having fun and let as many people hear our music as we possibly can.

iheartthemusic: You mentioned that you would like to get a charity on board and tonight you guys are here supporting Punk 4 Parkinson’s, why did you want to play this show?

Dustin: I don’t think Parkinson’s has really affected us as a band, but any charity show we try and play as much as possible.

Dustin: You try and link yourself with good publicity as much as possible.

Tom: We do it because we are in a position where we have the power to help something so then we want to do.

Emmett: That’s a quote from Spider-Man, ”with great power comes great responsibility.” [laughs]

iheartthemusic: In terms of your stage performance, what do you hope the audience will get from it?

Dustin: Ideally, I want people to be really stoked about the songs and want to listen to them all the time. Obviously I would love for us to be everyone’s favourite band, but that’s not the case… I think our live show is where it’s at. We do love jamming in the studio, but live is where the most fun happens.

Emmett: I think, especially with a show like tonight where we aren’t necessarily playing to our crowd, if someone comes to the show and gives respect to us – that’s one of our main goals. Also, if you leave the club and have one of our songs stuck in your head I think we’ve done our job.

iheartthemusic: Who is your crowd?

Emmett: Twelve to 21-year-olds are our target market.

iheartthemusic: I don’t make it then, sorry guys! [laughs]

Dustin: [laughs] It tends to be a little bit of a younger crowd, even if it is gentlemen coming out to the show. I think that’s [what's happening] with all pop rock music.

iheartthemusic: Who are some musical influences for you?

Dustin: New Found Glory.

Emmett: Dustin and I are into U2 and The Police and stuff too. I listen to a bunch of different music. As a band, mainly pop rockish bands and even some older bands. We try and pull things from all different genres that influence us.

iheartthemusic: If you could share the stage with any Canadian band right now, who would it be?

Dustin: Ten Second Epic again, maybe. They are good guys.

Emmett: I would be stoked to play with either Living with Lions or if Daggermouth got back together and toured again. Actually, I would love to play with Sum 41 just because they were the reason that I started playing guitar and that was the first show that I ever went to. Not the lineup that it is now though, they would only play songs from their first four albums.

iheartthemusic: Now we are getting specific! [laughs] So you have an EP out now, when was that released?

Dustin: January 27^th of this year. We are now working on shooting a music video for “Take You Home” in June.

iheartthemusic: What’s the concept behind the video?

Dustin: Just a performance video. Us having fun with all our friends and it will be shot in Barrie.

iheartthemusic: That’s exciting! So what do we not know about you?

Brandon: We love McDonalds! Every interview we do we always talk about McDonalds!

iheartthemusic: What’s the typical order?

Emmett: Usually all of us get double cheeseburgers. Can we also talk about how they got rid of orange pop! What’s up with that? See he [Brandon] works at McDonalds and he has a 50% off card so he gave his old card to Tom to use, so we are now working on making fakes for everyone in the band so that when we go on tour we all get almost free food! The only thing that is kind of bullshit is you need a new sticker every month.

iheartthemusic: That’s how they get you!

Emmett: [laughs] We do love McDonalds!

Not only are they super nice guys, but they also lend a hand to charities whenever they can – you can’t beat that! You can check them out next week here in Toronto when they play The Edge Steam Whistle Indie Club on Saturday, May 23rd at 229 Yonge at 9pm!

photography provided by Carl Heindl

Melbourne-bred band Forgiven Rival were one of  few Australian bands that had the privilege of coming to Canada to play during CMW. These guys are not new to the music scene, they’ve already toured all over Australia and are now ready to conquer Canada with their new rock sound that covers everything from pop rock to hardcore. In 2006 they independently released their debut EP, The Symphony of Words, which got them heard by both music fans and labels alike. Now in their third year together, they have released their first full length album, shared the stage with some incredible acts, and are hoping to expand their fan base Canadian-style.

iheartthemusic: Welcome to Canada! Is this your first time here?

Simeon: It’s my first time overseas so I’m really excited to be out of Australia!

iheartthemusic: And into the cold!

Joel: It’s good though!

iheartthemusic: For those Canadians who have yet to hear about you, let’s go back to how you guys started.

Adrian: Simeon and Joel were playing in a punk band in high school and I always wanted to join but my parents would never let me, so I was kind of bummed out about that. Then when that band broke up we started jamming. We ended up snagging a bass player, who was a friend of a friend, and started doing some shows. Our bass player ended up leaving about two years ago to travel, so we picked up Pete and we’ve been traveling around and touring with the four of us ever since.

Joel: We did all go to high school together, so we’ve all known each other for 10 years.

iheartthemusic: Why the name Forgiven Rival?

Simeon: It wasn’t anything very original. We had a whole bunch of words that we liked the sound of and we just sort of went through them piece by piece. Forgiven Rival we all sort of agreed upon at the time and thought it was pretty sweet.

Joel: It is kind of a band name that you can make your own meaning out of. We don’t really have a meaning for it, we just thought it was cool at the time.

iheartthemusic: You guys have an independently released EP out and also recently released your debut album: This is a War. Tell us a little bit about the sound of this album.

Adrian: Probably a cross between Story of the Year and Underoath.

Joel: It’s also got influences from soft bands like Boys Like Girls and Cartel. They are more vocal and harmony influenced and we combine that along with the screaming and breakdowns and all that kind of stuff. It’s all chucked into one big mash of music.

iheartthemusic: You have also released a video for your single “Like The Effects of the Wind.” What’s the concept behind that video?

Adrian: We actually kind of threw around a few ideas, but we had to do it in a place that was cheap because we didn’t have much money. So Simeon’s uncle actually had a farm about 40 minutes from where we live with a bunch of land and that is what you see in the background. We did it with a film company called Room Three and they hiked all this gear up this insane hill that we could barely get up or down. It was really cool and turned out really well. We did it at about midnight until four in the morning and it was freezing.

Simeon: The concept behind the video is related to its title “Like The Effects of the Wind.” We thought it would be cool to have the wind and the leaves falling around and at the end it get a bit more intense. It gives it more meaning than just the lyrics themselves so that you can put a visual to it as well.

iheartthemusic: You have already done tons of touring in Australia including a stint with Canada’s own Silverstein!

Adrian: That was pretty early on. We got hooked up with a really cool booking agency from Australia called Destroy All  Lines and they were touring Silverstein at the same time so we got hooked up with them. They took us on a few shows which was really cool. We’ve been really lucky with some of the spots we’ve been able to do, like doing shows with Underoath, Story of the Year and Escape the Fate, stuff like that.

iheartthemusic: So who have been your favourites?

Simeon: My favourite band definitely has been Underoath. So much so that I got a tattoo of Underoath on my foot! Loved it!

iheartthemusic: Do they know about this tattoo?

Simeon: No they don’t, I got it a couple of week afterwards.

iheartthemusic: What was so cool about playing with them?

Simeon: I think because we all really dig their music and think it’s really good that it was great to be able to share the stage with them. They are also cool guys and because we were the only support on the show, it made us feel a bit special. It was a sold out venue so it was a great show to play and we got a great response from it.

Adrian: They were really cool dudes. They would actually chat with us for a bit, which was great because sometimes big bands won’t even be there until two minutes before they play. These guys actually took the time to introduce themselves and even watched us play.

iheartthemusic: Why did you choose to showcase during CMW?

Adrian: There’s a much bigger scene and market for our kind of music in Canada and the States. There are also a ton of label reps out at CMW, so our management has been working on getting a few of them along to the shows. Hopefully this showcasing will get us back over here for a more serious tour. We would love to do a straight month of touring or something like that so we can actually come back.

iheartthemusic: Is  that what you are hoping to get out of it then?

Joel: We can’t just want more exposure because we want to try and do a second album, and it would be great to have it all over the world instead of just in Australia. Hopefully by playing here a lot of people will see us and enable us to release a second album over here and get on a label or have someone help us and promote us in a different country, which would be sweet.

iheartthemusic: Canada is your first choice then?

Joel: I think a lot of the bands here are similar to what we do. I mean, if we can get anyone like Alexisonfire to tour with or even get people who listen to them listen to us, that would be awesome! That’s what we are hoping for!

iheartthemusic: What has been the biggest culture shock for you so far?

Peter: Definitely the cold weather was a bit of a culture shock because we just came from 40 degree weather for two weeks straight. We had bush fires and stuff everywhere. It does beat down on you so much, so it’s been good to get out and into the sub zero weather. I am kind of sick of it now though.

Simeon: The food is also totally different here. You go to McDonalds and there is maple syrup on your egg and bacon McMuffin and you don’t expect that. Everyone is so obsessed with coffee here as well! Tim Hortons is intense man, there are so many of them.

Joel: I’m excited about lots of different beers. In Australia there are not that many good beers.

iheartthemusic: You have Foster’s though!

Joel: It’s horrible stuff.

iheartthemusic: Apparently it’s number one in the UK!

Joel: Really? I feel sorry for them.

Peter: I have to give props to all the cab drivers here. They are rad. Back in Melbourne they suck, they won’t pick you up. You stand on the side of the street for a minute here and wave your hand and they pull over for you. Back in Melbourne you do that for an hour and they drive right by.

Simeon: We did walk past a place called The Jerk Spot and thought that was pretty funny.

iheartthemusic: How would you describe your live performance?

Peter: Amazing!

Adrian: Energetic and tight probably. All the bands we grew up listening to were super tight, both the Australian and international bands, and so if we want to compete with them we have to work really hard to keep our songs at album quality or better.

Joel: We also try and give people something to watch. So we move around, jump around and hopefully get the crowd involved as well, hence the word energetic. We don’t like to go see bands where they just stand there and play music.

Simeon: If there is nothing to watch then you might as well be at home listening to the CD. It’s the whole reason you go to a live show, to see a show.

iheartthemusic: Anything you want to add for your Canadian fans?

Peter: Canadians are the nicest people ever. They rock.

Simeon: They smoke more weed than we have ever come across! Thanks for being so nice, even people that we would never expect to know who we are and just see that we are tourist, they stop and ask us where we want to go and give us directions. A big thank you because you have been super nice.

Joel: Hopefully next time we come to Canada you can come watch us!

These guys put on a stellar show during CMW that had the whole house rocking out or handbanging along to their tunes. We wish them all the best and hope that we will see them soon back in Canada! Check them out on their MySpace!

photography provided by Matt Vardy