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

A while ago iheartthemusic featured a Calgary based band called The Fast Romantics that we discovered during Canadian Music Week. They blew our minds with their old school rock sound and we were left with batted breathe for their return to Toronto. Well, these boys are back to showcase their sweet stylings for all you Torontonians once again! Since we last met with them they have garnered HUGE press and were also recently chosen as one of the top four finalists for the SPIN Earth/Varvatos Contest to showcase during New York Fashion week next week!

This is a contest to find the next great rock’n'roll group and judging The Fast Romantics are a panel of rock star judges including fashion designer John Varvatos, Perry Farrell, and Antonio “LA” Reid who will select the winner. And what are they vying for?  The winning band will receive a development deal with Island Records, become the face of the first John Varvatos Star USA ad campaign, and get continued promotion online with SPIN Earth.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for these guys and you should too, or better yet, come out to their show Thursday, September 10th at The Rivoli and see for yourselves what all the hype is about!

Check out our interview with The Fast Romantics here.

It’s always nice to discover some amazing raw talent, and during CMW it came in the form of Calgary band The Fast Romantics. These boys combine Brit-pop influences with a sound all of their own to make sweet, sweet music. They have already released their self-titled debut album, showcased during both Virgin Festival and CMW, and are now about to embark on a West Coast tour. Did we forget to mention that these boys aren’t even signed to a label yet? When we got the opportunity to speak with lead vocalist Matthew Angus and lead guitarist Matthew (Matt) Kliewer, we were more than thrilled. Here’s how that chat went down:

iheartthemusic: For those of us out there who don’t yet know, why don’t you share with us how you all came together.

Matt: We actually tracked each other down through a classified ad. We were looking for lovers of the musical caliber and we ended up not loving each other but we both liked each other’s music!

Matthew: You’re a dick.

Matt: Somehow it all worked out in the end.

iheartthemusic: That’s crazy! I have yet to hear of a band that is as talented as you guys and who have started out that way!

Matt: It was music personals.

iheartthemusic: Since you formed you got to be a part of V-Fest. Any highlights from that?

Matthew: There were so many people that we liked. We met Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots that Matt had an altercation with I believe.

Matt: When Scott Weiland came on to the main stage to watch Flaming Lips play, he wouldn’t talk to anybody but for some reason he wanted to talk to me. So I put my arm around him and chatted and got a photo. The whole time we chatted he had these crusty white things on the corners of his mouth and we talked for about four minutes and I still don’t know what he said. After that we went to the Gibson guitar booth where you can play new products, so a few of us were jamming out and Scott came down and got a massage while he listened to us try to do covers of Stone Temple Pilots songs.

iheartthemusic: Was he impressed at all?

Matt: No.

iheartthemusic: [laughs] You just released a debut album and were able to work with some big names in the industry such as Mike Fraser. What was it like working with him?

Matthew: It was really an amazing time. We actually got to go out there and spend time with him. During that time he was mixing an AC/DC record and a Franz Ferdinand album in between ours! He was the nicest guy and he genuinely liked what we were doing, which made us feel really good. He becomes a buddy when he is working with your project and he is so talented at the same time. I don’t think our record would sound the same without him.

iheartthemusic: How would you define your sound?

Matt: I think a lot of the bands that we follow you can of hear it in the music. We aren’t going to limit ourselves and say we’ve got a Brit pop vibe or an indie rock vibe, we just play what comes out of us and it just happens to be what it is. It’s our own thing and it’s happy.

iheartthemusic: So is it a collaborative effort when you write?

Matthew: It’s collaborative, but generally things start with Matt and I. We see something and work on it for a bit and then the whole band takes a crack at it and makes it good.

iheartthemusic: The opening track on the album, “Spooning the Gorilla”, please explain how you came up with that name? There’s got to be a great story behind it!

Matt: I don’t know if we can reveal that!

Matthew: Who is spooning who?

Matt: You were totally spooning me and I had no idea! You drugged me up and spooned me!

Matthew: That’s pretty much it, I drugged Matt up and spooned him the end.

iheartthemusic: I guess we could say that you are a very “close” band! When can we expect this album to come out?

Matthew: I guess we could say it’s out right now on iTunes. The hard copy is going to be released probably in June. It will be available on MySpace, the website, shows and I guess probably through stores.

Matt: We are shooting for June.

iheartthemusic: After doing a cross Canada tour, including a stop in Toronto for CMW, do you have any crazy tour stories from the trip?

Matthew: A lot of spooning going on.

iheartthemusic: Well that’s a given! Where was the best crowd for you?

Matthew: Believe it or not I would have to say Brantford.

Matt: We have to give a shout out to Brantford because they promoted the crap out of the show and they came out to see us play in Toronto as well. The opening band and the bar owner in Brantford came to Toronto and knew the words to our songs and stuff and were really into it. When we got there it was plastered with posters for our show. So it was a sold out crowd, packed wall-to-wall with people and they were right in your face. It was really cool.

iheartthemusic: Do you find it a lot easier to play when the crowd is really loving you and you can feed of each other?

Matt: Oh yeah. We’ve played shows where it hasn’t been promoted properly and there aren’t as many people there. We still put on a good show no matter what because we are just really happy to be doing it, but it certainly helps when the crowd is truly dancing and doing whatever they need to do, enjoying the music. We can feel that energy and it helps us.

iheartthemusic: You played at two venues in Toronto while you were here, what did you like about each?

Matt: We played Kathedral and Cadillac Lounge. Cadillac Lounge was on St. Paddy’s day so that was pretty easy to get everyone drunk and green. That was a lot of fun. Kathedral was fun for different reasons. It was kind of an industry night for CMW,where we met some really nice media, people like iheartthemusic!

iheartthemusic: Flattery WILL get you everywhere! Anything else you want to add?

Matthew: Poutine!

iheartthemusic: What is this obsession with poutine that your band seems to have?

Matt: Well, we are from Calgary and so everything there is beef and when we headed East and got past Saskatchewan, every menu had poutine on it. In fact, when we hit Sault Saint Marie there was an entire menu of different kinds of poutine. We had a guy with us from Wales, who is our sound technician, and he had never heard of it before so we had to try every different kind of poutine and each of us came home with a poutine belly. So we are going to spend the next few weeks working that off. It is tasty stuff!

iheartthemusic: That stuff is amazing when you are hungover or drunk for sure!

Matt: We were hungover and drunk throughout the entire tour so poutine was a welcome addition.

iheartthemusic: So what’s the plan for the future?

Matt: We are going to do a Western Canadian tour in June. We are doing a show with The Von Bondies and then we are going to head out to B.C. and do three days out there and then we are going to do a big tour, like Southern Canada/Northern US, in September.

iheartthemusic: Back to Toronto again?

Matt: Oh yah, we love it [in Toronto]!