Q&A Sonic Diplomat

They don’t bite the heads off chickens or smash guitars on stage. For the members of sonic Diplomat, it’s all about the music.

With Max st-Hilaire on drums, Al Caissie on bass, Paul nye on rhythm guitar, Craig squires on lead guitar and Dave Elder belting out the lead vocals, sonic Diplomat is quickly becoming the rock band of choice in Airdrie. And with several gigs lined up for the summer, they’ll be busy. But that’s just how they like it.

The guys of sonic Diplomat are hoping to widen the scope of music in Airdrie and to promote young musicians who want to make a name for themselves.

Elder took some time recently to answer a few questions about the band.

How did you come up with the name Sonic Diplomat?

Paul suggested Atomic Diplomat. It sounded cool and had a hidden meaning but it was missing something. Changing it to sonic Diplomat had the power of sound and far more meaning for the band.

Is it difficult getting a band together?

Building a band is definitely one of the more difficult things you will end up going through as a musician. Trying to find five people with equal talent and drive and the same aspirations is challenging.

What are the band’s musical influences?

As a band, we gel the best with grunge and alternative rock like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Incubus and Alice in Chains. The good thing about our band is that we do every type of cover. Do you write your own music?

We do have a few original tunes that we work into our sets, so we aren’t entirely a cover band. We’ve worked on about five of them and have a couple that are to a point where we could record them. In the near future, we’re hoping to have about 10 songs ready so we can go out there and sell ourselves as an original band.

What’s the song-writing process like?

It’s very collaborative. Ideally, where you start writing a song from, for a rock band, is instrumental rather than with the words. Al is probably our most creative mind of late, but Craig has also been writing a lot too. Recently, Al came to us with the shell of a song. He had the guitar riffs, some of the structure built out, some of the lyrics and melody. From there, we took it, kind of pulled it apart and pieced it all together with some of our own influences.

How often do you rehearse?

Every weekend, we put together about a five-hour rehearsal. As we get closer to gigging, we will easily do two rehearsals a week. We have about four hours of continuous music we can play right now. Each week we put together another song or two that we’re able to put on the set list. Does it help that most of you are family guys?

Oh yeah. We’re all at the same place in our lives. We all have the same mindset regarding music. We have to be flexible with our schedule because we have children and families. Having a group that is in the same walk of life is ideal.

What was your best gig?

We had an excellent show last Halloween. We played at the Airdrie legion and the turnout was incredible. We played to a sold-out crowd, everyone was dressed up and the energy was incredible. By the end of the show, everyone was right up against the stage. We could have easily played for another six hours.

What’s in the future for Sonic Diplomat?

We would love to make a living doing what we’re doing. We know we have the talent to be gigging consistently. To have one or two gigs a week and to get our name out there would be great. To put out an album would be icing on the cake. But just being able to play and be together and make music without having to worry about finances or any other external stuff is all we’re aiming for. life

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