Issue #19 | July-August 2014 ft. The Paper Kites by Into The Crowd Magazine

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

The Team founder & head of photography and design winnie surya managing editor & communications tiffany lam copy editors karmin yu savoula stylianou contributing writers and photographers marisa martel, hayley hasessian, daniel pryce, daniel hadfield, pauline nguyen, jasmine lee, chloe hoy, jennie tan, eman el-saied, gabriela mendoza, lilly nguyen, kelsey hall, kaleb hart, dan hogan, toni rose castillo, savoula stylianou, al downham, nicole busch, erin holdbeck INTO THE CROWD Magazine is a Toronto and US central online music magazine dedicated to showcasing the world of music, media, and pop culture. We strive to promote and share the beauty of music and help music artists, big or small, reach out to the bigger audience, old and new, and all around the world. stay connected. intothecrowdmagazine.com twitter.com/intothecrowdmag facebook.com/intothecrowdmagazine instagram.com/intothecrowdmag issuu.com/intothecrowd youtube.com/intothecrowdtv contact - info@intothecrowdmagazine.com

table of contents

we were heads the weeks young magic wild leaves tigers jaw dan croll the paper kites mikey wax magic man klingande a great big world thus owls brynn elliott tigerman woah! the box tiger highs

4 8 14 20 26 30 36 46 50 54 58 62 68 72 74 78

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

q&a: We Were Heads Say hello to Toronto’s alternative experimental pop trio, We Were Heads. Not only do they sound like Sonic Youth, but they’re also as Canadian as can be. This month, in addition to learning about the band history, we also discover what makes their hit “Great Canadian Rock Song” so great and Canadian and how the guys feel about Canada’s biggest city.

How did the band form? Peter: We’ve been playing together since high school. We started when we were 17/18. We’ve been playing music together since we were 13. So, we’ve known each other for a long time. Evan: For this project, since we were 17. So, it’s been a little over 6 years now. Dan: Just been hanging out. towards the 90s alternative, like Sonic Youth Peter: Grew up in a small town. That’s all there is and Pavement, but it’s taken all new shapes to do: it’s play music. ever since. So, it’s pretty much all over the map with all kinds of genres. What’s the reason behind your band name? Peter: Like I said, we formed in high school. So, it’s Evan: Punk, post-punk, alternative stuff… just something that made sense to us back then. Peter: Yeah, even hip hop and electronic! It all Evan: It was just kind of a name that was thrown finds its way into the mix [laughs]. out of the blue from a guy who used to play in What’s “Great Canadian Rock Song” about? our band. Then, we kind of just went with it. There’s a whole lot of meaning behind it; we kind Evan: [Jokes] It’s for Canadian Music Week! of made a meaning afterwards because people would always ask about it. It was mostly about Peter: I wrote the lyrics on that one. It was the projects that we were in before, where we basically just a song for my friends. It was were overthinking the style of music we wanted just a song about how good it is to belong in to play or wanted to sound like. So, when we a community of musicians, artists and stuff in started this band, we had the idea of just being Toronto. I wrote one for them. open to all kinds of influences and genres. Evan: The title is just because we thought it sounded Peter: Yeah! Using our souls, instead of our heads. like a Neil Young crazy horse riff or something! It’s pretty much just self-referential these days; it Peter: The riff is all these chunky chords and it doesn’t have much of a meaning. sounded like The Tragically Hip or Neil Young or Speaking of influences, who are your musical something – somewhere along the lineage. influences? Interview and photos by Winnie Surya Edit by Karmin Yu Peter: It’s all over the map! We started aiming

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 Yeah! The music video has a really cool concept with the VCR! Peter: Yeah! Our friends did that – in APN, which is Analog Preservation Network, and if anyone is looking to do videos, they should just go to them. They’re just all analog gear nerds and they do their own analog distortions on them. It’s all very cool stuff! Evan: It’s all filmed on a VHS camera and then they use video mixers. It was only digital once they sent us the final copies. It looks like those 90s MTV videos. Peter: it’s exciting because there’s a lot of good local Evan: It doesn’t translate so well on the internet energy going on in Toronto. It has a better music though because of YouTube’s encoding. It worked industry in general and a better music scene now pretty well and it kind of gave it a weird effect. than ever. So, the only thing I would like to see more How do you feel about the Toronto music scene of in the future is a more collective vibe between all of the little groups that are seen and spotted all over in general? the city. It’s what we’re pushing for. Dan: From what I’ve experienced, I haven’t had a lot of hardships from it, but it’s a very Evan: There are a lot of small communities and fast moving environment. It’s always changing. everyone keeps in their own area, but it’d be cool It is what it is. It’s a big city and it’s typical if people could collaborate more together. big city type things, as opposed to living in Dan: Have you ever heard of that website Hamilton. Going from one place to the other, called Stillepost? They don’t have it around it’s definitely a big change. Things are more fast anymore, but it was a really good website. It paced here and things are more flashier. It’s a was a message board type style and you can just big city and everything’s a big to-do. Because go and talk about shows and different bands we’ve been playing together for so long, it was who are coming through. It was just an online the only thing to do out there. So, when you community and it’d be really great if something come to a big city, there are more things like like that came back around. a manager and stuff like that. All these side things – besides going with the music, you can Peter: Well now, there’s stuff like Weird Canada definitely see that more in a big city. that carries that torch. Evan: With Toronto (because it’s a big city), there’s definitely a lot of that “becoming a big band” and making a career out of it. But it’s cool too because there are so many people in the city and so much music going on that you can always find a group of people who are doing something similar. Everyone can get together, work together and team up.

Describe your music in three words. Dan: Punch, nugget, rock. Peter: Spontaneous, fun and loud. Dan: Pyscho junk pop. Peter: Hardcore hockey rock.

the weeks Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

q&a: The Weeks Could you tell us a little bit about the upcoming EP, Buttons? Damien: Hopefully we can release it in a couple of weeks, has a couple old songs on it that we retracked and re-recorded, with a couple new songs that we tried to just get out of the way. What was the recording process like? Damien: It was pretty quick. Alex: Not like any other. It was: write the material, get in the studio, record it, within two or three days. Damien: We had some songs that we recorded in just one day, then we’d take another week or two to go on tour, and come back and do another song. We kind of built on it in the course of a month or two. Were there any particular influences or inspirations for the music on the new EP? Damien: Yeah, the two new songs I think was just trying to get away from what happened, or trying to get back to what we used to be doing. Trying to be more rock and roll… Alex: A lot more guitar happening. What’s it been like for the band to play multiple music festivals this year? Damien: I think it’s been great. I’ve also gotten to go to music festivals to see bands that I like. For free, I get to go and see all of them and hang out, meet them eventually, maybe, if I’m lucky. Alex: It’s sort of weird to catch all the bands that you like, because you’re always on the road. You don’t really have time for that. Have you been able to see any of your favourite bands? Damien: Dr. Dog, love Dr. Dog. So good. Alex: Was impressed with Phoenix, that was a really good show. Has there been a favourite or memorable show for the band to play this year? Alex: Our set at Bonnaroo was cool. Damien: Bonnaroo was fun.

Photos by Winnie Surya Interview and live photos by Marisa Martel You guys have played quite a few Canadian

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 shows, how has that been? Damien: It’s not too different... Alex: I couldn’t find beer for the life of me. Damien: Beer is more expensive.

“I think was just trying to get away from what happened, or trying to get back to what we used to be doing. Trying to be more rock and roll…” - Damien Bone 12

Have the crowds been receptive to your music? Damien: I think so! Alex: This time around. I think the first time we came here we did Montreal and Quebec City, and it was sort of like this - not necessarily a standoff sort of thing, but maybe we were too loud for them? I don’t really know. I couldn’t understand it. But they’re welcoming. If you encountered someone who was unaware of your music, how would you describe it in a couple words or a sentence? Damien: Southern grunge. Alex: Grunge-y Southern rock. Damien: Dirty… just dirty. Do you have any special plans for today, July 4th? Damien: Hang out at TURF fest! Alex: I’m excited about seeing Andrew Bird and Beirut. Do you have any current favourite songs or guilty pleasures? Alex: Guilty pleasures… Damien: I like all the songs that I like. I’ve been listening to that KISS song a lot… it’s so good, it’s so good. Alex: A guilty pleasure of mine would be, I mean, this is an old song. Kelly Clarkson, “Breakaway”. Any new artists that you think others should know about? Damien: Yeah, they should check out The Orwells, they’re good. What does the band have planned for the near future? Damien: Record the next record, and then tour. Play more shows, write more music, the cycle just continues. Alex: We’ll be back [in Canada].

q&a: the weeks

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

you

ung magic Ever miss Young Magic when they’re in town? Don’t worry, we’ve got them down for you. For those who are unacquainted with the New York duo, you’ll find your musical tastes satisfied with their electronic dream pop songs. This month, we chat with Melati Malay and Isaac Emmanuel about Breathing Statues, bucket lists and guilty pleasures. Interview by Tiffany Lam Edit by Karmin Yu Photos by Winnie Surya

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

q&a: young magic

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 You released your album, Breathing Statues, a few months ago, what makes this album so unique? Isaac: We had some different approaches in making it this time and the way we were recording was new for us. I also think we had a kind of vision of what we wanted to make this time. For us, it all sounded like it came from a similar period of time. Melati: Me too because it’s a unique thing; there’s no way it could happen again. The sequence of events that led to the finishing of the record was very unique and something we didn’t really have control over. We were travelling all over the world and when we get invited to places, it’s not really our decision to go somewhere, but we’re always happy to be there and take up the chance. So, the amount of influence that was coming from each country and place that we visited and people that we met – that’s all up to fate and chance. So, I think it’s unique in that way and you could never make the same record. What was the inspiration behind the album name and what influenced the making of it? Isaac: We were really interested in the idea of life in inanimate objects. So, the idea of a breathing statue was very interesting to us. It’s very easy to skim over and miss things in life and in awareness. So for us, it was about paying attention to the subtle things and to the little things that you might miss. That for us is what Breathing Statues represents.

Melati: Yeah Bjork! Isaac: That would be nice. What’s something from Young Magic’s list you would like to scratch off soon? Isaac: We’d like to tour in Japan; that’s something we haven’t – Melati: And Indonesia. Isaac: We really want to play some shows in Indonesia. Melati: We can do it! Isaac: This time, we’re going to Australia in… Melati: In January. We’ll be up there, so we can jump over it. Isaac: That’s what we’ve always wanted to do, but we’ve never quite made it work. Individually, what are your guilty pleasure songs? Melati: Oooh! We just talked about it today! They’re so embarrassing! Isaac: Well, is there such a thing as a guilty pleasure? Because if you love something, even if it’s… Melati: You don’t have to say it! Isaac: But sometimes, maybe you eat some candy and it’s so bad and horrible for you and you keep doing it – so what are some songs like that? Melati: I don’t feel guilty about anything these days because I enjoy all the music that I listen to, but when I was kid, I would listen to really weird stuff. For example, I had the soundtrack to Friends and that was pretty weird – I’m embarrassed about that, I’ll say that! But there was something about catchy pop songs that got stuck in my head. It was like candy. Definitely. Isaac: My mom used to listen to Deep Forest around the house. So, that’s my guilty pleasure.

How is it to record and travel to different places around the world? Isaac: We really love it! Melati: Very thankful! It’s a surprise every time! I’m still shocked by it even though we’ve been travelling for a long time now with this project. I What are your future plans? feel very lucky. Isaac: We are finishing this tour and then we’re Isaac: It’s a great experience – very grateful! going to Europe for a month. Then, we might do a little bit of recording and start something new. Is there anyone you would like to collaborate The last album, we finished it a long time ago. So, with? we’re really excited to record some new songs. Issac: I’ve always wanted to collaborate with Bjork. Then, we’ll hopefully go out to Indonesia!

q&a: young magic

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

wild leaves Interview and photos by Tiffany Lam

Artist Spotlight: Wild Leaves

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 Your new record, Hello Sunlight, is coming out soon, and your previous was the Wind & Rain EP last year. What inspired the overall seasonal nature theme? Adam: I think as a band we’re motivated by having moved away from where we all had family and everything, and that’s where the name came from, having left the tree, left our roots behind, etc. Joey: The way we write songs is kind of organically just writing the music and then wherever the music inspires us to write lyrics for, we go. So I guess the headspace we were in when we wrote it... that’s where we were. Being in NY, it’s all concrete. We kind of miss the nature.

it got at moments. I mean, we weren’t at each other’s throats. Joey: Internally and mentally we were all a little down. Gen: Defeated... Brett: It was like it was pouring rain on us inside the recording room.

Were there other songs that you had planned to have on this record, but decided afterwards it wouldn’t work? Gen: I think we leaned it down to 4, because we felt really strongly about those. There’s plenty of songs that we’ve all fallen in love with but for some reason, we didn’t feel that need to be put So I heard the recording process was done over a down to tape, at least now. Maybe one day. few days. Were there any difficulties, or perhaps Cole: Those were also all written in transitional an easiest, most natural song to record? periods. The next ones won’t sound like the first, Brett: There was one that was the hardest and it so they all fit together in that way. was called “Mystic Ocean”. The soul of that song has always been a weird in between [of] slow That being said, EP after EP, how is this Hello and fast, up tempo and down tempo. We tried Sunlight different than any previous work you to do it at a certain tempo and we would always guys have made? deviate from it; we would never click in. We had Joey: The transitions are kind of an evolution; Cole playing with the metronome to keep us tight the first one, Wind & Rain, was really kind of for the recording, and then at a certain point, the getting to know each other’s positions. Forever producer, our good friend Bob Mallory said, “Cut Moonlight was all of us being more comfortable off the metronome, the only way this will work is with each other. We were like, “We have these if you feel it and you completely just let it roll out”, four songs propelling us into new territory, so and so that’s what we did. That one was tough. let’s record them now because if we don’t, we Joey: We had to take a break, because we were may lose them. starting to get really... we almost broke up, Gen: We’re constantly just trying to find ways to [laughs]. No, we just got to a point where we had mend our musical styles. to just step away from it and come back. Brett: Also, I think as a band, after we put out Adam: And ultimately, as part of our organic Wind & Rain, we began to write songs which were process, we were trying to force it playing with clearly very different and not from that period of the metronome, but no song HAS to be done by time and I think collectively we embraced the metronome. We record everything live as a group fact that our sound is changing and evolving, to and if in the moment we’re driven and have high not buy into that and put our weight behind the energy, things start to accelerate. I think that’s evolution is almost for us something that would where you feel the songs. be dishonest. Hello Sunlight is just the next step Brett: In that way, I’m really proud of that song in where we were. and what it turned out to be, because of how low Adam: Everything I think in terms of our growth

Artist Spotlight: Wild Leaves

“Being in NY, it’s all concrete. We kind of miss the nature.” - Joey Deady

in this new city. So, first one is figuring out where the hell we are and what we’re doing. Second part is, “Hey, we’re here, we’ve been touring and playing hundreds of shows”. Now there’s just more urgency and opportunity of us getting out there and doing stuff. Joey: We’re really embracing all of our talented influences right now, which is a really cool thing. We all have a wide range of musical tastes that we are now deciding to harness this energy. Being longtime friends before becoming a band, what’s an outrageous place or memory you guys have shared together? Gen: We all met around 9 years ago, our freshman year in school. Joey: Skinny dipping night. Gen: That was good. Poor Brett was living in LA at the time, but we had this epic last summer right before we all finished school. This one special night, we were at our favourite bar with a bunch

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

of friends and somehow we all magically got into this country club pool, naked. The entire bar came with us. Joey: It wasn’t just our band. Gen: Another favourite is at this place Burnet Woods, beautiful park but awful place to be at night. Adam: Once we graduated school, there was a little bit of a push amongst our friends... you know, there wasn’t jobs for us and we just started having fun and realised, “Holy shit, this is so much more important than rushing into getting jobs”. We had a blast. The last summer that we were in Cincinnati was amazing. Then we moved to New York and it was back to work, but I think we bonded the most that summer. Joey: But that doesn’t answer the question of what’s the most outrageous place we’ve all been together. Adam: Oh wait, here we go. Washington, DC. Joey: Well, earlier before this Cole got locked into the bathroom so we almost didn’t make it

to this. Adam: Gen had towels hanging on the door and he pulled the door shut, and it was just stuck for like 10 minutes. If you guys weren’t making music together, what would you guys be doing? Do you think you’d still be close friends? Brett: Oh yeah, I think we definitely would. Joey: We’re kind of friends for life. Brett: Honestly, we’d probably be on Joey’s roof drinking Tecates right now if we weren’t a band. Joey: Or we’d be at the beach! Adam: The band just started to make our hangouts more productive, ultimately. We’re going to drink beer and get in trouble and play music no matter what, so might as well make it something that grows. Gen: We actually have this table that the guys built in our first apartment that we lived in together – we’d call it “The Table of Truth” – and we’d kind of always end the night at the table with a bottle

Artist Spotlight: Wild Leaves of whiskey. We’d finish the bottle and pick up the guitar; those were some great nights, those whiskey-driven nights. I think that helped fuel our excitement to keep playing together.

Brett: I’m with Joey, I think we’re not actually guilty about any of these things. We love these things, but society tells us we should feel this way... so my two would be 1) Kriss Kross. Kriss Kross’ “Totally Krossed Out” was my first CD I ever had and I still What is something on Wild Leaves’ bucket list love it. 2) Boston, I love Boston, [laughs]. that you guys hope to scratch off soon? Gen: West Coast tour. Coolest show you’ve ever played? [everyone agrees] Adam: Playing in front of everybody we knew our Gen: Yeah. I think we all think the most magical part whole life in Cincinnati at Midpoint Music Festival about playing music together is having an excuse last year was really cool. to also travel. Some of our best memories together Joey: That’s true. have been out on tour. I think it’d be nice to do it Gen: Our families were pretty sauced up in the on the beautiful west coast, saunter through some crowd. We actually got Adam’s younger brother lovely towns and drink a lot of wine. on stage with us; it was a great homecoming. Brett: The east coast is lovely too. I’m sure there’s Adam: Seriously, people from grade school through a coast in this province on Lake Ontario that we’d college, everybody who we’ve known, was there. love to see sometime, [laughs]. We just want to It was our first time back after having released all make sure the audience gets that... this material and working on stuff, so I can’t think Joey: What are the five Great Lakes, Brett? of a show that had more satisfaction. Brett: Um, I don’t want to talk about it. Brett: I feel like that was almost the culmination of Joey: Champlain? Is that one of them? the first phase of the band, it was like going through Brett: I really thought Lake Champlain in Vermont the finish line of the ‘Wind and Rain’ stuff. Now was one of the Great Lakes. And it was just a we’re looking forward to returning to Midpoint in terrible mistake. It’s a good lake. the fall and share a new batch of work. Individually, what are your biggest music guilty pleasure? Adam: I’ll dig into anything sixties popular country; George Jones, Glen Campbell, etc. Joey: I have a soft spot for a lot of different things. Whenever I hear this question, my go-to is always Blink-182. In my head, I don’t feel bad about listening to it, but I know that if I say it right now, in the band that I’m in, with all the other music I listen to, people will give me a look, [laughs]. So that’s mine I guess. Cole: Mine’s gotta be the Crazy Frog. Gen: I wasn’t guilty about this until they made fun of me, but I really dig SWV. Sisters of Voices. I think most people know them because they’re on the soundtrack for Free Willy; it’s a great soundtrack too, with Michael Jackson, but anyway.

Future plans for Wild Leaves? Any exciting tour stops? Brett: Right now we’re really just excited to play in a room in front of new faces and, you know, the west coast would be amazing obviously, but we’re open to everywhere in the world. Joey: We just bought our own recorder, a Tascam 388, and we have a lot of new songs we’re going to go record in the studio – or well, our ‘studio recording’ space – and just keep going, cause we’re writing machines right now. Cole: We’re going to do a lot of it ourselves this time. Every other time we had someone record for us, and it wasn’t... Brett: We’re all really into the recording process and we all care a lot about that identity, so we’re excited to play with it ourselves and have a little more time to experiment too.

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

TIGERS JAW

With a rapidly growing fanbase as a result of two successful albums, Scranton, Pennsylvania band Tigers Jaw released their newest album Charmer in June. We had the chance to talk to Brianna Collins, who does keyboards and vocals for the band, about their new record, her favourite bands, and Twin Peaks. Interview and photos by Marisa Martel

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 Could you talk about the recording and writing process of Charmer and working with Will Yip? We had a bunch of songs already with ideas fleshed out, and after the guys let us know that they weren’t going to do the band any more, we all agreed that we still really wanted to record the record. We already had the time booked with Will, and working with Will is awesome - he’s one of our best friends now and he’s a really great producer in the sense that he wasn’t overwhelming, and he didn’t bear down his ideas on us, it was a very collaborative process. We only recorded for about six days.

I don’t really write so much of the music, that’s something that going forward that Ben and I are really collaborative on, but as far as influences, that’s more of a Ben/Adam question.

There’ve been references to Twin Peaks on the album, is that just something the band likes and decided to incorporate into the music? It’s collectively our favourite show and I know at least for Ben, he wrote a song that was kind of the first time he ever wrote it as if he were a part of that, so “Frame You”, or “Nervous Kids”… like “Frame You” has a Twin Peaks reference, but “Nervous Kids”, I think, is written from the point How has this album differed from your other of view of one of the characters in Twin Peaks. We releases, such as Two Worlds or the self-titled? all just really enjoy the aesthetic of it, the themes They’re all really different from each other, I think in it, the relationships between characters in it, most obviously we get older with every release, it’s just a good show. like stuff happens to us in our lives, which kind of reflects what the records become about. I think Who are your favourite characters? that’s kind of the major difference, just as we go Audrey Horne, love her! about finding more of our sound. Which season did you like more? Why did you decide to re-master Distress I think season 2 because I like the ending, even Signal? though I wish there was so much more, but I just We completely re-recorded it, because the only like how it got so weird and twisty. time it had ever been out was on Run For Cover’s Mixed Signals compilation. We had the record What’s the significance behind the album title done last April - the whole process of putting out and artwork? a record takes so much longer than you’d ever Adam wrote the song “Charmer” and we were anticipate, the recordings have to be done, then trying to come up with ideas for what to name they have to be mixed, mastered, the artwork has the record and I thought, ‘Well, “Charmer” just to be done, you have to decide on what the songs seems to kind of stick.’ He didn’t have the song have to be called, you have to figure out the layout name “Charmer” yet, but it has that line, ‘Hey, of the record, so we weren’t sure exactly when it I need you, my new charmer’, and I feel like the was going to come out. But it was done in April, entire record is about relationships and duality, we knew we were playing at CMJ in October, so we like ‘charmer’ can either be a really positive thing wanted to put out a 7” or at least something, since or a negative thing. So I felt like it encompassed we were sitting on this thing that we really loved, everything, and we all agreed on it. As far as the and we wanted people to hear it. So we decided to artwork goes, I’ve done all the art for our LPs, so do the Hum 7” and then we talked to Adam about this one I wanted to be different, I didn’t want doing a B-side, and asked if he wanted to record it to be a photo because I did that with the self“Cool” as an acoustic song and he was totally into titled back in 2008, I think. It’s funny now, pizza it, and we did it. It’s on the record full band. has become “a thing”. I don’t even consider us a “pop-punk” band. For that record, the concept Were there any particular musical influences for was just going back and hanging out in spots Charmer? where we were while doing that record. When

q&a: tigers jaw we pressed that with Run For Cover, that was a re-press that had already come out with another record label before that, so that was what we always ate at Buona Pizza. It’s my favourite pizza in Scranton. For Charmer, I just wanted it to be really different, I just wanted to try embroidery, and that was another thing, why the record took so long to come out, ‘cause that takes a long time. That was my first time embroidering. I’m really happy with it, and I think it’s cool because I have the final, exact 12-inch, it’s to scale. The track listing on the back had to be a little bigger, because the text is very small, and it’s hard to cleaning embroider that. How has the reception for Charmer been? It’s been crazy. Very good, which is amazing because I love it, it’s my favourite record that we’ve done, so I’m super excited that people feel the same way about it that we do. It’s good to play new songs and we put it out a week, two weeks ago and people are already singing along, and that’s really cool! On your Twitter a couple days ago, you tweeted that fans are welcome to bring the band any mixtapes or cds for the drives while on tour. Have you discovered any new music from these mixtapes? We’ve only gotten two so far, it’s only the fourth show and we just announced it two days ago. As far as new bands, not really, but there have been some really funny ones. One of them was this really weird mix of songs, like I can’t even pinpoint what songs were on it. And I’ll be honest, the second one I fell asleep during - not because it wasn’t interesting, but because it was the night drive, and I fall asleep in the van, like a baby. But I think it’s really cool that people are making them, because it’s fun to see people’s different tastes in music and like you said, hearing stuff. Who are some new artists you think that people should check out or give a listen to this summer? I’ve been super obsessed with “Warpaints”, their new record, which is self-titled. I saw them at

Coachella, and they’re literally the sickest band. So great with their instruments, and they’re incredible live performers, you can tell that when they’re up there, that they love doing it. Luke, who’s playing bass for us, is really into “Haim” too, and I’m getting into them, they’re very cool. I also saw them at Coachella, and they were also a very sick band. Reminds of 80s music, but… I don’t know. Just the vocal melodies remind me of it. Check them out! He’ll [Luke] will definitely wear a Haim shirt while we play. What does the band have planned for the summer, and in the near future? The rest of this tour is pretty much the rest of our summer, and I work at a school, so I start in August, working, and we’re hoping to tour more. Ben and I, well I’m done finishing all my stuff at school and he’s almost done getting licensed as a speech pathologist, so when he’s done then we’ll be able to tour more consistently, but in the fall, in Scranton, it’s probably gonna be like real life, working.

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

dan croll 30

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

q&a: dan croll

lot can happen in 6 months. British singer/songwriter Dan Croll has made a splash this year with the release and success of his debut record Sweet Disarray, headlining festivals around the world, and getting double signed in the UK and U.S., there is no telling what Dan’s next move will be. The twenty three year old, folk/pop/acoustic artist has made a name for himself and will stop at nothing for his career. Interview and photos by Eman El-Saied

The last time I saw Dan Croll he was playing a small show in the basement of a synagogue. He was on tour promoting his EP, and tickets were about twelve bucks. It was a very small show, and I had been photographing him for the zine. Little did I know I was watching a star being born. Six months ago, Croll had only released a few singles “From Knowhere” and “Compliment Your Soul” in late 2012, which had skyrocketed on Billboard 100 List in early 2013. Within the past six months Croll has headlined tours with Bastille, main staged FireFly, Northside Festival and most recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel. He is currently touring and promoting his debut record Sweet Dissary, and album he had been working on for several years. Today it is June 23rd, 2014, we are sitting outside on the rooftop of Capitol Records in the middle Manhattan, NYC. In this brief moment of his extremely busy life, Dan discusses his journey into his career, love and what inspires him.

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 How are you? Any moment in the past few months you wish I am exhausted, and sick. I have been flying 46 you could relive? hours in this past week Sitting on the beach in Brazil. It was one of the few days I had off. Well it makes a lot sense, you can’t be everywhere at once without catching somethin! What are your views on love in this day and I’m just glad I was able to perform at NorthSide, age? I was really nervous I wasn’t going to be able to You know, I’ve been trying to get my band perform. members off “tinder”, and we’ve gotten into some heated debates in the van! That’s not how What was it like performing on Jimmy Kimmel? you should meet people! Its harder when they Thats a big deal! have all these apps now making it easier to meet It was actually quite frightening. people. Any after this? What is love to you? In July I will be doing a European tour. A few I will Love is unexpected. be at is gonna be: T in the Park Festival, Somersault Festival, AppleTree and Castlepalooza. Anything the fans can expect? U.S. tour in october and november What do you think about your record, and why do you think people have been able to connect to it so easily? Its really just honest and open ended. This record took me about four years to create and its about me just getting out of a really dark place. When I was 17 years old, I was on a semi-professional track to become a rugby player. When I broke my leg, I was in a cast for almost two years. It was my dream, and It went away. Music got me out that dark place. Even my first track, is about my grandmother developing dementia, and having to deal with that happening to her. Did not expect that coming at all! I am glad the world is working with you now. Is there any collaborations you’ve dreamed of having? I’ve already had my dream! LadySmith Mambazo! But if I had to choose right now, it would be Little Dragon, and I am in the process of putting something together with them! Anywhere you’ve traveled that you could see yourself potentially living at? Williamsburg, NYC

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

the paper kites Interview and photos by Winnie Surya | Edit by Karmin Yu

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

he Australian mates from The Paper Kites brought chills to our backs with their impressive performance at Toronto’s TURF festival. With that being said, we decided to get to learn more about this five-piece indie band. Fortunately, we met up with Sam Bentley and Josh Bentley a day after the festival at Alexandria Park in Toronto, where we also got to watch the rest of the band play with a Frisbee that was given by City and Colour’s Dallas Green under the summer sun. As much as we wanted to join the game of Frisbee, we were focused enough to talk about subjects that ranged from the group’s works in progress to the cold Canadian weather.

cover artist: the paper kites

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

cover artist: the paper kites Since you’ve only been in Toronto for a couple us: we came in and had to unfortunately rush back straight out to Lee’s Palace to play our own days, did you get to go out and see the city? show. So, we didn’t get to explore the festival that JB: Yeah! Only today actually… We’ve been much, but it was a great festival! wandering around the streets: up to Queen Street SB: We saw Ladies Of The Canyon and they were and Dundas Street. a psychedelic all-girls band. That was really cool SB: Kensington Market. – I liked them. JB: Yeah! That area, which is pretty cool! SB: I didn’t get to go there last time because I couldn’t find it. Everyone else went there and was telling me how cool it was. So, I was really determined to see it this time. It was great! I loved it. You guys are going to play some Canadian dates on this tour before heading back to the States. So, what should fans expect from this tour?

What are some differences between playing shows in North American and Australia? SB: It really depends on where you are. I know that even playing a show in Melbourne back home, where we’re from, is very different from playing a show in Sydney, which is up North. [It’s] sort of the same way that playing Toronto is very different than playing New York. Crowds in Canada are very respectful. They’re very excited as well, from what we’ve found. They’re really good people to play for. Sometimes in Melville, you might say something and the crowd doesn’t give you much because they’re very cool – they love their music and they’re very reserved, whereas people in Toronto are so excited to hear our music. They say: “We’ve been waiting to see you for so long!” They’re very lovely to talk to afterwards as well. No one’s been too cool or anything like that; everyone just wants to have a good time.

SB: We just finished a tour in Australia and we’re sort of taking the same show to the road. But I think it’s a little bit louder than the last time we were here. We’ve got a few more songs from States, the album we put out. We’ve been messing with the songs a little bit. When you’ve been playing them for so long, you want to do things to keep it interesting as a band. So, we’ve rewritten sections and stuff like that. Some people JB: I think being from Australia as well: like have been like: “Oh! I didn’t know that was how often do you get to come here from that song until you – “ Australia and back because that part is pretty cool. So, it’s pretty much rearrangements?

SB: Yeah! We’ve done a lot of rearranging and it’s You just released your debut album, States, been really fun to play the songs. People seem to last year. What was the inspiration behind it? be enjoying it, so it’s been cool! SB: A lot of people get the title confused. You guys played TURF the other day, did you get JB: They think it’s like America. to catch any other bands? SB: But no, it was more meant to be a “states JB: Not really, unfortunately. We saw Noah… of mind” kind of thing. So, every song is like a collection of memoirs and reflections – almost SB: Noah Gundersen. like you’re reading a journal, which is weird for JB: Yeah, we saw them play and they’re really someone because you’re putting something good. But after that, it was very in and out for so personal. We like to write based on weird

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

cover artist: the paper kites

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 experiences and things that happened for me. So, that’s where it all kind of came from. Most of the songs are actually written over a twoweek period, but we ended up having about forty demos. At the end of that, it felt like I got a little more writing than I needed to do. I went away for these two weeks and put those songs together. Most of the songs ended up being on the record and we were really happy with it. It’s great to have a full length record finally finished.

agent. That’s what bands need to focus on and they’re the people that help you break out of things that you can’t do yourself. Who are your musical inspirations?

SB: Yeah! A lot of people think that you need to keep writing as a writer, but I like to stop and refocus on what I want to do. It’s only just starting to come out, which is cool.

SB: It’s very broad; everyone is very different in the band, which is why when it comes to making a record, we have a lot of intense discussions about what we think is best because we all love different things. Even me myself, I’m a bit manic with the music I listen to; I can’t narrow down to one thing. I love a lot of singer-songwriter stuff; I love Nick Drake and I love Simon & Garfunkel, but even bands like The Cure, The Smiths and Radiohead. All those guys are pushing the envelope at their time of beautiful ambient music. Even composers like Brian Eno [who] just focus on mainly instrumental – like cinematic kind of stuff. I love all of that and I’m going to try and bring it into this one thing. Like I said, we’ve all got different ideas of what we like, but it’s all in the interest of writing a great song.

Are you guys focusing more on touring?

It’s good to listen to different genres!

Will you be releasing any new music soon? SB: I’m working on some at the moment. I’ve literally only started writing now. Since I’ve finished States, I actually didn’t write one song in like a year… So you’re taking a break from writing?

SB: Yeah, we’ve got a bit more touring to do this SB: It can be really hard because we’re all so year and I think next year, we’ll probably start passionate about writing great songs. It’s all to make the best music we can. with working on the next record. What is your guilty pleasure song? Do you have any tips for aspiring musicians? SB: We thought, when we started out – oh sorry, we didn’t think this, but we used to play in bands that thought this: you had to play shows all the time to get noticed, but it’s not really the case these days. I think you should play less and go about and try to do something. But a lot of bands get confused about the way to do things. They kind of get stuck in this little bubble in their hometown and they can’t break out of it. It’s a relatively simple formula just trying to create a good base in your hometown and then just finding people who can represent you better than you can represent yourself, like finding great management and finding a great booking

JB: We sing a lot of random songs in the van. What did we sing the other day? SB: We were trying to work out the theme from The Nanny. It was a big hit and we all loved that show. We were all trying to remember the words and we just broke into one big thing. There are a lot of great pop songs in the 80s and 90s. JB: Sam, you’re a Hanson fan! SB: Yeah! Hanson! I used to love Hanson growing up. But there’s this radio station in Melville called Smooth FM and they play a lot of 80s and 90s love songs. It’s just really

cover artist: the paper kites

“A lot of people think that you need to keep writing as a writer, but I like to stop and refocus on what I want to do.”

JB: It was like -40OC… SB: It was so cold! I needed something to wrap my face up! Other than that, I can’t really think of anything…Dave gets lost all the time – forgets things all the time. JB: We hate people who do that [chuckles].

SB: There’s always someone saying: “Where’s Dave?” He’s a beautiful, free-spirited man and he just wanders around and we can’t find him. There’s been numerous of times where we had to go on stage and Dave hasn’t been around because he’s been hanging out with these nice to turn on when you’re driving home. mates in a bar across the road. But other than They play Celine Dion and stuff like that – it’s that, we’re pretty tolerant people. hard to turn off! They’re really well written What’s next for you guys after this North American songs! tour?

- Sam Bentley

What are your pet peeves?

JB: A bit of a break. A few shows back home, SB: I actually don’t like being in crowds; crowds maybe one or two… really annoy me, which is weird playing in a SB: We actually never know until a month band. before, but there have been talks of doing more JB: I’m the opposite; I really enjoy a crowd. I’m a touring, maybe another tour in New Zealand or even an Asian tour, which would be great. We people-watcher – I love watching people! did the Philippines earlier this year and we’ve SB: I hate being in a stuffy room full of people. never been there before. It was fantastic! I can’t stand that. So, when I’m watching a There’s this emerging market there for indie band, I hate standing in the crowd with really bands, so we’d love to get back over there. But tall people in front of me. I can’t stand crowds, we’re not one hundred percent sure… I like to have a bit of stuff, which is why you’ll probably find me side stage sitting all by myself JB: There are even talks of another American date, but that’s still not really – somewhere. JB: I hate the cold, is that something? I hate SB: Yeah, we never really know… We have to get freezing cold weather. That’s not really a pet back really soon, fingers crossed! peeve though…

Just hoping not in the winter!

SB: No, you can’t really help that.

SB: Definitely not in the winter.

It’s a good thing you don’t live in Canada then!

JB: Hopefully, this time next year.

SB: Last time we were here, it was so cold! Maybe after your record! It wasn’t even the peak of winter; it was November. JB: Definitely.

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

Interview and photos by Karmin Yu

MIKEY WAX

rior to attending one of Tyler Ward’s shows, you may have never heard of Mikey Wax. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t made his way into the music world – his songs have actually been featured on many TV shows before, including Pretty Little Liars, So You Think You Can Dance and The Real World. This month, we get to catch up with this Long Island native to learn about the creative process behind his self-titled album, how he survives tour and what kinds of gifts melt his heart.

q&a: mikey wax Introduce yourself and give us a wacky fact about no one’s jumped up on stage. But craziest fan yourself. moment…I’ll have to get back to you about that. I am Mikey Wax and my last name is pretty wacky. What has been the most surprising thing about this tour? Is that your actual last name? Recently, I cut out having coffee and I’ve It is my actual last name! Growing up, I used to been okay getting place to place and staying hate my name because nobody would leave me awake and having the energy to do it without alone. I’m from Long Island, New York and a wacky coffee. So, I’m surprised of my ability to do fact about myself is that I can eat guacamole for that without caffeine – this is the no caffeine breakfast. tour! What pushed you to go into music?

Is this your first time in Canada?

I’ve been playing piano and writing songs since I was eight years old. So, it’s more or less that music found me. I’ve always tried to gravitate towards the piano, playing and writing – it was just a way for me to express myself as a kid and I just kept doing it.

No, I used to come to Canada often to play hockey growing up. Canada’s been amazing. We only got here two days ago and it feels like we’ve spent a lot of time playing shows and driving, but we love being here. The fans have been super supportive and amazing. It’s been You have many tours going on, how are you great! balancing everything out? You have a new self-titled album, can you tell us Days like today can be very stressful: you’re about the recording process? scrambling to get to the venue last minute, especially because we’re still driving ourselves (we’re in our car). So, we leave one venue, we sleep in the city, we wake up early and we drive the whole day to get to the next. It can take a toll on itself, but at the same time, we love being on the road! It’s a lot of fun and it’s freeing. It’s great to meet so many people and play different shows each night. So, it has its ups and downs like every job.

I recorded this one in Nashville, Tennessee and I went to college there. So, it was nice to be back in a city that I was familiar with. I recorded with two producers, Ed Cash and Scott Cash – these guys are amazing producers! Pretty much, we spent a couple months there, writing and recording the album and it was unbelievable! I only have the most amazing things to say about the whole experience. It was really incredible!

How have the interactions with fans been?

Sonically, how is this album different than your Amazing. This tour’s been incredible! Especially previous EPs and albums? opening for Tyler Ward, it’s been an amazing tour. It’s got a little more energy – it’s a little more Everyone’s been super supportive and friendly uplifting than some of my other stuff. I was and it’s been great. definitely in a happier mind state when I was What has been the craziest fan experience? Have writing it, just being a little more free and outgoing. you had anybody jump on stage yet? You know what’s funny? It’s that halfway during Your album takes on a variety of genres, from my set, I usually invite someone on stage, but pop to country. Which genre are you most

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 comfortable with? It’s funny because I’ve always considered myself a songwriter first. I never thought I’d be doing this: being a frontman kind of thing. So, I’ve always just enjoyed writing good melodies and good songs. To me, a good song is a good song. What genre it falls in or how the production ends up lying out – it’s what’s best for the song is how I look at it. So, I don’t gravitate towards one or the other. It’s just whatever is best for the song. What’s your favourite song off the album?

how I write. I love writing in a zipped up hoodie sweatshirt. What video game would you want to be stuck in? I would say the original Super Mario on Nintendo. If you were to be a food, what food would you be or what food would you eat for the rest of your life? Avocado. It gives you everything you need and it’s delicious!

That’s a tough question because a lot of What will you be up to after this tour? musicians tell you that every song is like your baby and then you spend a lot of time That’s a good question! After this tour, I’m investing – going to keep writing, practicing, more YouTube videos, but I plan to be on tour for most of this But there’s always a favourite baby! summer. That’s true. My favourite baby on the record Going back to the question about the craziest fan is probably the song “Bottle of Jack” or “You experience? Lift Me Up.” Those two are my favourite to play. I don’t know if this is crazy, but a fan of mine, who is so talented as a painter, brings me a What are they about? painting of something that’s significant to the “Bottle of Jack” is about when you are so show every time I see her at a show. It’s amazing hypnotized and attracted to someone that and that sticks out of my mind. To go out of they make you dizzy, as if you drank too your way like that and to really take the time to much Jack Daniels. “You Lift Me Up” is pretty draw that and to make it special – I would say much a song written for my fans. I’ve been an that it’s the most significant, not necessarily independent musician for so long and they craziest. were with me through the ups and downs. You know, being a musician is not an easy career path at all. So, it was my ode to them to thank you for your support. You’ve kept me above water when it was difficult and through tough times. Here’s a wackier question: if you were to describe your music with one piece of clothing, what would it be? A zipped up hooded sweatshirt. I love fall and when the weather gets cold enough, where you can sit outside with just a sweatshirt on and what used to be a cup of coffee. For some reason, that’s

q&a: mikey wax

“You know, being a musician is not an easy career path at all. So, it was my ode to [them] to thank you for your support.”

- Mikey Wax

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

MAGIC MAN Interview by Dan Hogan | Photo by Kaleb Hart

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 Now first of all, you three, I understand are actually from the area. So what’s it kinda like playing in a festival that’s right here in the heart of Boston? Sam: It was pretty surreal, I feel like, all my memories of like, the Government Center area are from like school field trips, or like you know, Mother’s Day when you come downtown with your family or something. So to play here to a crown of thousands of people, was - I mean it was awesome, it was great.

going for and we’re trying to hit the sweet spot with it. Now what the name of the album called, for the people at home? Gabe: It’s called “Before the Waves”. And what’s the origin of the name, any particular reason why it’s called that? Sam: It’s a lyric from our song, “Waves”.

That makes senses (laughs). What was your reaction when you first heard Alex: It’s sort of like the calm before the storm, that you were going to be playing at Boston or before the day, that in between night and day, Calling? in between happy and sad feeling. We’re trying Gabe: I was, so excited... (smiles) to hit it right in that middle spot. Before the Sam: He went like this, “wee ahooo!” (Laughs) craziness. just kidding, he didn’t do that. Gabe: (smiles) I didn’t do that, but I thought it! If you we’re to describe Magic Man to somebody, what would you say to them? I wouldn’t blame ya! Alright so, you guys, Joey: The words that Magic Man used to I know you guys have a CD coming out July describe Magic Man is “Triumphant Synth 8th, if that’s correct? Wanna tell me a little Rock”. Which is just that, it’s very triumphant bit about it, a little bit about what makes it at times, it’s dancy, syntch driven. Like he unique? (Alex) was just talking about, the lyrics have Joey: Uh, the album art, (laughs). I don’t know, a very like, the songs feel very happy, but a I’m obsessed with the album art right now. These lot of times the lyrics are about hardships and guys are the ones who put there heart and soul sadness, and things like that. So yeah, fun, into it. They could probably give you a little bit uplifting, and a little bit gassy? I don’t know more. (laughs). Alright, alright, I’ll get something from you though, you’re gonna give me some kind of answer. So what makes the album coming out, what makes it unique? Alex: Well, we tried to combine the raw rock n’ roll basement show, frenetic energy that we found when we first started playing concerts in college with more polished synth based, pop sound. So we try to find that middle ground between organic rock instrumentation and electronics. That doesn’t sound very exciting and a little technical, but that’s what we’re

So what’s next for you guys? Obviously you guys have the CD coming out, you have the album coming out in July. Do you have a tour coming to promote it, or what do you guys have going on right after this festival? Sam: The next big thing we’re doing is Firefly, but after that we have a little time off, which will be nice. Then, at the beginning of July we’re doing a headline tour of the West coast for about ten days or so and then we’re going on tour with Panic! At the Disco and Walk the Moon.

q&a: magic man So you guys are playing with all these huge acts, what’s it like playing with the likes of Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie? Gabe: It’s a dream come true. It’s still very surreal and hard to believe that like, that we’re eating the same hamburgers and chicken sandwiches that they’re eating backstage. It still really hasn’t hit me and it may never, but it’s pretty amazing. Alex: Yeah, Death Cab, Modest Mouse and The Decemberists were some of my favorite bands in high school, and I just can’t believe we’re on the same poster as them, honestly.

the future, I should be okay. We were also at Hangout Fest on Golf Shores, last week. We were very close to water, I did not get in the water... I was safe.

Good to hear (laughs). So where people find you guys? What’s your website, Facebook, Twitter? Where are you guys at on the internet? Alex: Our website is magicmanmusic.com, we’re also on Twitter @magicman, on Instagram you can follow us on tour @magicmanmusic. Facebook is Magic Man. All those social media is a great way to contact us. I’m pretty much on Twitter 24/7 so, Where do you guys draw your influences, you you gotta question, you wanna say hi, just hit us know, what bands have you listened to through up. your life that have kind of influenced you today? You guys just hit 30,000 “Likes” or something Joey: This band (Magic Man) in particular has a on Facebook, didn’t you? In 2014, that’s pretty lot of Passion Pit, The Killers, Coldplay, we’re all impressive, right? big fans. Matt and Kim, like, any friends’ bands Gabe: That’s a lot of “Likes” (Laughs). On my motivate us more than anything, just because, personal music page that I was keeping up a while like, they’re always pushing it and having such a ago, I had 300, so... it’s a vast departure from that great time, and we wanna do that and try to go amount. beyond them. So hopefully it’s like it constantly going up. What’s something kind of neat about the band that maybe a lot of people don’t know? Sam: I’m never good at anwering this question. There’s just nothing interesting about our band. Joey: Gabe can’t swim (Laughs). Gabe: I can’t swim. Has that ever affected the band? You guys ever drowning? Gabe: So before, I joined the band about three months ago and just before I Joined the band they did a session on a boat, which might have been problematic if I were a part of the band at that time. Luckily, I missed that, so as long as there are no further boat sessions in

“That doesn’t sound very exciting and a little technical, but that’s what we’re going for and we’re trying to hit the sweet spot with it.” - Alex Caplow

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

klingande Interview and photos by Tiffany Lam

q&a: klingande I saw you were able to visit Montreal a bit while in Canada, how did you enjoy that? Did you feel a little bit at home with people around you speaking French again? Yeah it was good, I’m not used to that because every time when I’m traveling I never speak French, so it was really comfortable. Also, I had my interviews in French – pretty cool. The city is awesome and I can’t wait to come back. So just to clear things up, from what I understand, Klingande started out with you and Edgar - but he’s no longer quite in the Klingande picture – why is that? At the beginning, I was a producer alone and I met up with my old friend Edgar and was like, “we should make some music together”, so we made two songs together. But after that, because he wasn’t really a DJ or producer it was very difficult to mix and make music with him, so now he’s focusing more on the piano and everything. When I finish a song, I send it to him and he takes a second look at it. Also, next year he may come with me on stage playing piano, which would be pretty cool. I want him to focus on that.

And then the sax player. Always the saxophone with me, haha.

arlier this summer, the Drake Hotel’s Underground concert venue welcomed France’s melodic deep house artist Klingande. Currently touring, Klingande is 20-something year old Cedric Steinmyller, accompanied by live sax and flute player Arnold Pol. We sat down with Steinmyller before his first Canadian show to find out who Klingande is and what his future plans are.

So Klingande was formed less than 2 years ago and things have been skyrocketing ever since. You’ll be touring on the road pretty much all summer, what plans are next after that? Yes, we’ll be on tour the whole summer, so I’ll be making some rough [stuff] on the fly, but in September I’ll take a month break to make music. I think I’m going to go to LA to work on it. At the To check out our show review of his Canadian debut, beginning, I’m a producer not really a DJ, so I miss a lot of producing. head over to: http://bit.ly/klingandeintoronto

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 What is something on your bucket list that you hope to scratch off soon (musically or personally)? My main goal is to make an album, because you can make different music together. I don’t want Klingande to just be saxophone and nothing else. I want to show everybody what I can do. I was at the hotel earlier tonight and I saw a video about Axwell and Swedish House Mafia... I was pretty impressed by that guy. What was the first or best concert you attended? Hmm, I can remember one - it was Justice when I was young. It was just crazy. I still have this night in my memories. Biggest music guilty pleasure? There was a song called “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen that I really liked. I didn’t know why but I loved this song. But that was a secret, haha. In a few words, what would your mom describe you as? I like being alone and solitary, and I’m a little bit shy. But also joy of life.

Who is someone you’d love to collaborate with one day? For a singer, I’m a huge fan of La Roux. For a producer, I’d love to work with Flume.

Would your friends describe you similarly? And last question, since you’ll be hopping Yeah, I think pretty the same. I’m not very open, from place to place touring all summer long, more reserved, but I’m friendly. where’s somewhere you’re most excited to travel to? Or somewhere you’d love to travel If you were ever found running from the police, next that’s not on your itinerary, either for what would it most likely be for? pleasure or touring? Probably going over to the swimming pool of the I’m looking forward to traveling overseas. At neighbours (pool hopping), haha. first, my main goal was to come here to the US and Canada, and now I’m here. When I was in What is something we’d be surprised to know LA, I really loved the city. It was very nice and I about you? Give us a fun or odd fact about can’t wait to go back there. This summer, I can’t yourself. wait to go to Tomorrowland... I’m very excited I was a bit of a magician when I was young... for that.

q&a: klingande

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

a great big world

Having been featured on America’s favourite musical television series, Glee, A Great Big World has reached another milestone: reaching over 100 million views on their video for their hit song, “Say Something.” The duo, consisting of Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino, took some time before their tour to talk to us about their current album, their new single and an upcoming project they’re working on. Interview by Karmin Yu | Photos by Marisa Martel

q&a: a great big world Is There Anybody Out There has been out for 6 Victoria Justice; that cover also blew my mind months now, how do you still feel about it? when I first saw that. Chad: It feels good! It feels like there was a very big difference in playing shows before the album was released and after. Now when we play shows, people know all the words to all the songs and that’s been a really heartwarming experience because it feels like they’re connecting to more than just “Say Something”, which is awesome! Speaking of your album, what inspired the name of the title? Ian: It’s the lyrics in one of our songs. The song is “Rockstar” and the verse is “There’s a girl in the tree top looking at the stars/Waiting for a touchdown coming in from Mars/Thinking ‘Is there anybody out there?’” It reminds us of just being a kid; it’s hopeful. In all of our songs, we’re always searching for something when we write them. We’re asking, we’re putting ourselves out there and we’re looking to connect to people; we’re hoping to find people out there that connect with us.

You have a new music video out for your single, “Already Home,” can you explain me the inspiration behind the video? Ian: Yeah, it’s a long distance relationship and the actors are Darren Criss and Jessica Szhor. Basically, they’re always not in the same place, but they’re together. It’s a split screen: they’re eating together, they’re walking in the park together, but they’re not actually in the same place. So, the place and the distance don’t matter, it’s just an allusion. What really brings people together is the love that they have for each other. At the end of the video, the split screen actually disappears. The idea is that love can be in any place. Why have Darren Criss and Jessica Szohr appear in the music video, as opposed to having unknown actors?

Ian: We were actually in a bind. We only had two days to find actors because of the way everything happened. We’re friends with both Do you get tired of questions on “Say Darren and Jessica. We reached out to Darren to Something”? see if he was available a few days in advance and he was like: “Yeah! Totally! I just called Jessica to Chad: No, I feel like people are going to ask as see if she can do it too!” So, they did us a huge long as we’re alive. That was an amazing moment favour! for us – that was an amazing moment in time. We understand that people want to know about it. Did you choose Darren because he’s on Glee and They just want to connect even more with the they covered a couple of your songs? song and how that experience happened for us. Chad: We’ve become friendly ever since they did There’s no hate. cover “This Is The New Year” on Glee. So, we’ve There are many covers of “Say Something” out been friendly with them and keeping in touch there, which is the best version you’ve seen or with them. He was the first guy that we had in heard so far? mind when we needed actors for the film. They’re amazing! Ian: It’s so hard because there really are a lot of mind blowing ones. My favourite is the Moving on to another popular song on the album, Pentatonix! I think it’s genius! The arrangement “Everyone is Gay”, which you say is a message to is so brilliant! I get that stuck in my head a people who are confused about their sexuality lot. and who are bullied because of that, which is something you, Chad, have gone through in Chad: I’m a huge fan of that one too! I also love middle school. So this next question is more for

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 Chad: what do you have to say to those bullies in middle school or what advice do you have for victims? Chad: Oh man! For me in my experience, I basically wanted to try and change everything about myself when I was being bullied. So, everything the bullies were teasing me for, I decided to change and make sure that no one could tease me about anything. I actually became best friends with my bully! I would say to do the exact opposite of what I did. You need to be who you are. You need to live in the skin that you’re in. It’s very easy to conform, to fit in and to feel like you need to please these bullies and whoever is making fun of you, but you don’t have to. This phase – whether it’s middle school or wherever you are in life, this phase is just that. It’s a phase and it will pass; this bullying will pass. You just have to be confident in exactly who you are because it’s beautiful.

“Everything’s going to work out and when you don’t know how, everything is going to work out.” - Ian Axel world. What is one thing fans would be surprised to know about you guys? Ian: I don’t know…Chad, what do you think?

Seeing how much success you’ve had over the Chad: Um… past year, what would you tell yourselves if we Ian: Probably that we’re boring. travelled back a year? Chad: Ian! Come on… Ian: I would still tell myself to calm down and stop stressing out about stuff. Everything’s going Ian: We’re big health fans. So, we focus a lot on to work out and when you don’t know how, eating right and eating raw and natural foods. everything is going to work out. It does. I would We’re really big on exercising; we both meditate; tell myself to have more fun with everything that’s we pry ourselves in what we eat. happening because these are the best times of What’s next for you guys? our lives. Chad: I would tell myself to hold tight because Chad: We’re on the road for the next two you’re about to experience experiences that you months. So, that is going to be taking up all of our time. We’re also working on a broadway could only dream of in your entire life. musical. What would you be doing if you weren’t A Great Can you give us some details on the musical? Big World? Ian: I would be some sort of mathematician/ Chad: It’s not actually announced yet, but we’re over halfway done. It’s a really heartfelt scientist, probably studying the universe. comedy. We have titles in mind and we’re just Chad: I’m a big health mutt, so I would do narrowing it down so that we can announce something in alternative medicine of some sort. I the thing. We’re super excited! It’s all music, don’t know what that means yet; I don’t know if but some songs are ten minutes long. So, it’s that can be an acupuncturist, a chiropractor or a all original and I think people are going to like nutritionist. I don’t know, something in the health it.

q&a: a great big world

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

thus owls

q&a: thus owls How did it feel to tour with such a big name band like Half Moon Run? Simon: [Chuckles] It’s funny to think of them as a big name. Erika: Well, I mean they opened up for Simon’s last band. Really? Simon: Yeah, I used to play with Patrick Watson back in the day and that’s how we got to know Half Moon Run. We had brought them on tour and they opened up for us. And during that tour, they became really big. So then, we stayed friends. They’re a little younger than us, so I felt like an old uncle hype with them on their first tour and then they totally took off. We became friends and that’s how it hooked up! It was super fun and we played a few shows with them in Montreal and outside of Quebec. Erika: I think for our band as Thus Owls, it’s obviously a huge and awesome thing to open up for someone who has a big and loving crowd like that. It’s really good for our music. Opening for big bands feels like we’ve been around and playing with big bands for a long time. So, that thing is more like you’re just musicians – you do your music together and it’s fun to just hang out like that. How has the transition of moving to Montreal from Sweden been?

Interview and photos by Winnie Surya Edit by Karmin Yu eet Thus Owls: a husband and wife duo, Erika and Simon Angell from Montreal. Their schedule, filled with plenty of shows down the road, didn’t stop them from taking a break to reveal to us their experience with Half Moon Run, the details behind the new album Turning Rocks and the making of their music video “How, In My Bones.”

Erika: It’s been a slow process in a way because first, we were a Swedish band with Simon being the only Canadian. Now, we’re a Canadian band with me only being Swede. So, all the things that happened between there is the transition and it’s been happening over a few years. First, we lived in Sweden, but we came here [Canada] a lot. I think the first show was in 2009 in Montreal. It’s always been welcoming for us and people have been really appreciative with our music. So, when we moved here, it felt like we could just start working from where we had already planned. It’s a really good environment for us (musically)

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 and Montreal has been open-hearted for who we the West coast, where I grew up in Sweden; it’s are. been in my family for a century. It stories around people that have lived in the house or around the This is obviously not your first show in house or in connection with it over the century. Toronto. So, what’s your favourite thing about So, it’s a generational diary. It was fun to get to Toronto? know all the stories. Erika: Well, this [NXNE] is pretty amazing! I haven’t One of your songs feature Taylor Kirk, how was been here much… working with him? Simon: I’ve been here a lot. Since I’m grown and Simon: Once again, it’s the same kind of answer born in Montreal, I came here for the first time at as the first one. Timber Timbre opened up for 6 years old. Patrick Watson with us a long time ago and we just became friends. Once again, mutual respect Erika: It’s always a culinary experience. musically and for each other’s crafts. Simon: Yes! Food-wise, it’s amazing! We love food – I mean, who doesn’t love food? It’s what we do Erika: He has an amazing voice and we had when we’re touring and if we’re not playing music, recorded the whole bass track of that tune before we’re talking about Game of Thrones. We look/ we decided to ask him. We just wanted something seek out good food. Whenever I come to Toronto, to embody that feeling of that track and he had I have lots of friends here who obviously say “Oh! the perfect voice for it. It was really fun because You got to go eat this! You have try this!” and it’s he said yes and he usually doesn’t do that much. always amazing. It’s a really cosmopolitan city; Simon: Listen to Timber Timbre. It’s very specific it’s definitely the most cosmopolitan in Canada what they do and it’s fucking amazing! The fact – it’s obvious stating that. You have people from that he said yes, that he was into the tune that everywhere here and then there are cuisines we did and the collaborating – I was supper happy that go along with it. We had Ethiopian last night about that. – there’s one Ethiopian restaurant in Montreal. It’s good, but there’s only one and it’s not really Is there any meaning behind the video of “How, much you can give me. In My Bones”? You guys just released a new album called Turning Erika: For sure! We sat down with the two girls, Rocks, do you mind telling us the production Rebecca Blackwood and Mylène Simard, who did process and the inspiration behind the record? it. We just talked about the record and what it means; I told them a lot about different memories. Erika: It started with me and Simon. We decided That particular song is about shame when you’re we wanted to collaborate more together in the a child. So, we talked a lot about that and what writing process. Earlier on, it was only me writing that could mean. We wanted it to be a surreal the songs. This time, we talked a lot about what memory – like memories from that far ago that we wanted to do and what we liked; we listened can change overtime because you add things or to music and tried things out. So, that was a fun take things away; You don’t know what’s really part of the whole process. One key thing that we true and what’s not anymore. It just becomes this wanted this record to have was that we wanted to surreal emotion and we wanted the video to feel challenge ourselves to be a little more direct and like that. simple in our expressions than before. It was also a new collaboration for us with Parker and Stef, Did it take long to make the video? who are new to the band. Their voices became important too. Lyrically, it’s about a house on Simon: Three days.

q&a: thus owls

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

q&a: thus owls Three days?! Simon: They prepared a lot for us; they did a week of preparation. It was insane how hard everybody worked! It was amazing! Erika: Lots of people just volunteered.

Ottawa and St-Vincent. Then, after that, we head out to the States! We’re going across the South in July with The Antlers. We’re opening up for them for twelve or thirteen shows. After that, I don’t know, maybe a bunch of other shows. We’re still in the process right now because we’re trying to create all the time and any downtime is trying to write more, whether it’d be for the next record or for something else.

Simon: Maybe I shouldn’t be giving the secret away – but it’s so cool! All the sets are done on one piece of cardboard. We do one shot, we paint over it, do it over and use the same one every Erika: Collecting little bits and pieces along the time. It wasn’t different sets, it was the same one way. that we kept recycling and reusing. Erika: The last one was with the teacup dress and the whole background is full of moss and papier mâché sticks – it took forever! Who are your musical influences? Simon: Her [Erika]! Erika: A lot of things over the years. Simon: It changes a lot as you get older; your tastes change. The things that you listened to a long time ago can disappear and come back into your life in different shapes and in different ways. As far as specifics, so many! Erika: When we were at home for Christmas at my parents’ place in Sweden, we put on my dad’s old 50s and 60s records. I just realized that a lot of the elements that I still work with are there, like weird harmonies and guitar songs. But in modern times, I like people that stretch a little extra and do something a little different. I love Portishead; I love Bjork, Talk Talk, Meredith Monk… Simon: The list could go on… Erika: Everything from electronic music, to contemporary or to pop. It’s wherever you find those colours that hit you in the heart. What’s next for you guys? Simon: This year, we’re doing the Montreal Jazz Festival. That’s our next show, so we’re preparing for that. We have a few shows around Sherbrooke,

“Opening for big bands feels like we’ve been around and playing with big bands for a long time.” -Erika Angell 67

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

n n t t y o b r elli

Interview and photos by Karmin Yu

q&a: brynn elliott Introduce yourself and give us a fun fact about yourself. My name is Brynn Elliott and my fun fact is that I have a brother who’s a doctor from Peru! Is he older or younger? He’s older; he’s 21 and I’m 19. How has tour been so far? Tour has been amazing and so much fun! I didn’t realize how much I would like playing live every night. It just gives you such energy and real fulfillment after working on a record for a year. Is it hard to be away from home for so long? It definitely is. I call my parents all the time and everyone on the bus is so annoyed because I’m the only one who calls their mom all the time. So, that’s been great and FaceTime has been amazing, but it’s definitely hard to be away.

ver miss those old Taylor Swift days when she didn’t just dedicate a full album to her celebrity exes? And those days when she actually sang country and her guitar was her best friend? Don’t worry, you won’t have to dig too far back to reminisce since we’ve got Brynn Elliot for you – a way better version of Taylor Swift. This nineteen year old singer-songwriter opened up for Tyler Ward’s Sincerely Yours Tour and gained the likings of fans with her lovely acoustic songs. Luckily for us, we also got a chance to talk to this young artist and found out the 101 behind her EP, her lyrical influences and much more.

When did you start getting into music? I started getting into music three years ago. My dad had a guitar in the basement and that was never touched. I had a really intense high school experience and at the end of the day, I wanted to do something that was restful, but I didn’t just want to go to bed. So, I picked up the guitar and started to learn covers on YouTube. Then, I began writing from different things that had happened in my life. Three years? That’s pretty fast! Yeah! I haven’t done any musical things before. So you just learned the guitar? Yeah! And I’m still learning. What inspires you? I really love school – I sound so nerdy, but it’s true! All of the songs that I wrote for my first EP were inspired when I was in high school. I read this book, Anna Karenina, and wrote my song, “Dear Anna” from that. My song “Gold Dust” was inspired when I was learning about the Gold Rush in America. School, for some reason, really helps me write songs.

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 Speaking of school, you’ll be heading to Harvard new about myself or something new about in the fall, are you excited about that? I am! I Anna, the character in the song. It’s a song that’s really am. always staying with me and one that I keep dwelling on. Do you think it’ll be hard to balance your school life and music life? I do. I think it will, Can you tell us about Anna in “Dear Anna”? but I also think that for me, it’s just who I am Anna is Anna Karenina. She’s the main and what I would do. It’s how I produce some character/heroine in Leo Tolstoy’s novel, Anna art. A lot of artists have to go somewhere Karenina. I was reading it and she had this quiet, but for me, I have to go and meet new crazy love life and she was in the middle of an people. So, I think it will work – we’ll see. I affair. As an onlooker, you’re reading this and don’t know if it will; I’m not to say that it will, you’re thinking: “Wow, Anna! You’re crazy!” but I really hope so! But then, as I started to read more of her and her life and as I started writing the song, I Can you tell us about your EP, Notions of Love? I realized that it was less about Anna and more wrote all the songs during high school. I was just about me. thinking about love; I was reading a lot about love; I was experiencing love, lost and all that To change it up, can you describe your music with stuff. It’s just that basically, my songs are like my one fruit? I don’t know! Fuzzy peaches. So, kind own notations of what I’ve come to understand of sweet and also, there’s a little bit of skin to go [of love]. through, hence the fuzz. Do you still feel the same way as you did in high school? No, I feel like my definition of love is changing all the time with the new experiences that I have on a daily basis. My song “Dear Anna” talks about this close connection between fear and love, which is living out of fear, which is living out of love. I think my goal in life, if I can do one thing, is to live. If there’s any blatant statement that comes from the Notions of Love EP, is that I would live. What would be the meaning behind the title? The meaning behind the title is my love for thinking and writing – so, the “notions” pertains to that aspect of me. “Love” is the theme throughout all the songs. I just released another EP a few days ago called Notions of Youth and all the songs have this weird theme of youth and trying to understand it. My songwriting has a trend; I write songs in a similar vein to try to come to a full understanding of what a particular concept means. So, there’s love and youth and who knows what else is next!

If you were stuck with one food for the rest of your life, which would it be? Spaghetti. I can eat spaghetti every day. I never get tired of it. If you were to play music in a deserted area, where would it be? Saint Lucia because I had a friend who was born and raised in Saint Lucia and she was the most amazing human being. She was so full of life and energy and she always talked about growing up in Saint Lucia. I don’t know if that’s deserted though. If you can play any character in a book, who would it be? Katniss [Everdeen], hands down. She’s so cool! What about a superhero? Batman because of what he wears: it’s black, sleek and cool. I feel like I would be cool if I wore that.

What will you be up to in the fall in addition to being in school? I will be recording and writing more albums. I will be performing and hopefully, I will be writing as much as I possibly can. I’m also collaborating with people, building Which song on your EP can you connect to the my YouTube channel and inviting people into most? My song “Dear Anna.” I learn something my life.

q&a: brynn elliott

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

q&a: tigerman woah!

tigerman woah! Interview by Dan Hogan | Photo by Kaleb Hart

Now guys, you have a very unique look. A couple of you guys are from Lynn, which of you guys are from Lynn? Kevin: Adam and I are from the North Shore, not Lynn specifically. I was born there but we grew up one town over. These two guys are the southerners (Kaz and Feinstorm), if that’s what you’re about to ask. Kaz: We moved to Lynn.

“Sweatabilly with a dash of cajun”. Because Kaz was sweatin’ all over everybody that night. Fuckin’ pouring. It is “Sweatabilly” man, we just rock out, we don’t describe anything, we don’t pigeonhole ourselves. We just do what we do and have passion. We have rock n’ roll in us and that’s what it is. It sounds like you guys don’t develop much of a plan, you just kinda go with the flow, so what’s next for you guys after this? Kaz: We’re doin’ another record this summer, and we’re gonna keep playing twice a week, three times a week like we have been. We got our booking guy here, Peter Boyd. You hit us up on our email, we’ll play pretty much anything. So, we’ll just keep doing that, follow the same model.

Alright, so you guys are from the south, you guys are from the North shore, so how did you kind of mold together and kind of create your look, both musically and visually? Feinstorm: It was through an open mic. We played at the right time with the right people and John Morris was a great drummer who was running that open mic. He hooked us up with Kevin, and we later got hooked up with Adam and we formed Where can people find you guys on the web? You what we have now. guys on Twitter, Facebook? Kevin: All of that stuff and you can go to How do you guys kind of describe to people what tigermanwoah.com and find everything. your sound is? Like, if somebody asked you what kind of music you play? Adam: The best description I’ve heard is

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

The Box Tiger Interview by Dan Hogan | Photos by Kaleb Hart

q&a: the box tiger Alright, we’re here at Boston Calling Festival 2014 with The Box Tiger here at City Hall Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts. Now guys, I’ve seen you play at AS for MS in Bangor as well as Kahbang in Bangor, so you guys seem to play a lot in New England. Is there anything in particular that draws you guys here? Sonia: Well, two of our members, Cam, right now, and Jordan are actually from Portland, Maine. So that was the initial connection, but I came here actually like four years ago, to the weekend, for the very first time ever and I legitimately fell in love with New England, with Portland, Maine. And then it’s adopted the band as really a hometown band, and so since then we’ve always just been playing here and do that, so. We love it here, so it’s great.

well, how would you describe your sound, what your music sounds like? Cam: We kinda just throw the indie rock thing out there, kinda like the catch all genre that people can be, ‘I kinda get that’. The female lead singer thing is also something that we throw out there, obviously. Just indie rock I guess. What’s next for you guys? Sonia: We’re gonna be touring, actually, a lot in New England for the upcoming months and the Summer. And then, essentially we’re just working on writing, currently, demoing, recording and getting our next release ready. Not sure when that’s gonna be, but just writing and being mindful of that and just playing a whole bunch. Talking about New England, we’re gonna throw a boat cruise, actually, in Portland, Maine, which is going to be a lot of fun. We’re just getting a few friends’ bands to come up and do that and like, hang out. That’s gonna be a fun time, it’s gonna be a good party.

Excellent, Excellent. So how did you guys get booked for Boston calling? Was it a contest or did they call you, or how did it happen? Jordan: We entered a contest through Sonicbids, it was basically, there was one spot that they do every festival for Boston Calling, that they leave open for submissions and they Fantastic, now, I’m going to go through you go through a process, and this year that was guys individually for this one, and then maybe us. collectively as a group, but what are some of your influences, like who do you draw your influences Now you guys aren’t playing until tomorrow from? Sunday afternoon. What do you make of the Jordan: Uh, can I go last? I’m totally drawing a scene around here with all these people? blank, for like, a reasonable answer. Lauren: It looks amazing, like, even before we got here we were checking online, the Boston I’ll go left to right for this one, how about that... Calling Facebook page, the Instagram, and it’s Cam: As bass playing goes, Manchester like ‘Hey, first band’s up!’ And it’s PACKED. So Orchestra we’re like, oh my god, this is gonna be amazing. Lauren: I always give this answer, I’m a big, As soon as you walk in, it looks incredible, like, pop punk guy, I never grew out of that sounds great. Tons a free food, lots of nice phase, so like, a lot of the bands I grew up people. So far, it’s super awesome, we’re really with I still listen to. Yellowcard, the Starting excited. Line... it’s just feel good, “young Lauren Chan” music that I’m like, ‘Yes! Love this So, for some people that might not you guys as stuff...’ Always listened to it. That’s the big

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014 thing, it’s not much of an influence on me stylistically, but it’s always what I’ve listened to. I guess it’s kinda snuck it’s way in there maybe. Sonia: For me, like, I love finding what’s current, like what’s right now, and for the most part, my favorite band changes all the time, because I’m always just like, ‘Ah, this band’s dope!’ And I get really stoked on them. Right now, I love this band called Haim. For the last maybe, four or five years, this band called Now Now are my favorite band. Warpaint’s friggin’ awesome, they’re playing right now, so that’s super dope. But straight up, anything that’s a good time. There are the classics, like I grew up listening to a lot of; Motown, and oldies, and shit like that. And then, you know, kinda came around when I was younger, found pop punk stuff, kinda grew out of that phase, got really into different types of music growing up. There’s so much, it’s too hard, so I’m gonna say whatever is current, whatever is new and fresh, and like good. That’s what I’m into.

Sonia: It’s awesome. It’s one of the bigger events we ever got in to play. We’re a fairly small band and you know, we’re really just trying to earn our dues and work our way up right now. So it’s just incredible, it’s really cool. We’re really excited to be at the festival watching as like, listeners and fans, just as much as we are to play it. It’s a gonna be a good time for sure.

Where can people find you? Facebook, Twitter, website, you know what ‘s a good place to find you guys? Lauren: All those things, we’re on Facebook, Facebook.com/theboxtiger, we’re on Twitter and Instagram @theboxtiger, we’ve got a Tumblr account, we’ve got the actual website, theboxtigermusic.com. We’re on Bandcamp, you can but the album there. And fun thing, we actually all run the Twitter and Facebook things, so you get weird kind of, posts sometimes. You’re like, ‘That one sounds like Sonia, hey Lauren there because there’s typos all over the place’. So fun Alright, Jordan - it’s all you. I’m putting you on things like that. the spot now. Jordan: Alright, so based on Cam’s answer, I’m going to go by instrument. So, for me, because I’m the guitar player for like, a lot of lead guitar stuff in the band, coincidentally, for this festival, it kinda lines up with a lot what my influences for guitar would be. Which would be like, Brand New and Modest Mouse. For my style of guitar playing that was very something I grew attached to. And then this band called Land of Talk. I’ve always played bass on the album, and my really big bass influence, it would be Phantom Planet. So that’s my ‘’excellent’’ answer. One last thing, you know, you guys are at this big festival, with Jack Johnson, Modest Mouse, Frank Turner... What’s it like playing at the same festival as these guys?

q&a: the box tiger

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014

highs

Interview by Karmin Yu | Photo provided by artist

q&a: highs To start off, can you introduce yourself and give Even though it’s only been a short tour with Hey Ocean and Rosie June, what have you learned us an interesting fact about yourself? from them that might affect your music? Joel: My name is Joel and I play guitar in the band, HIGHS. One interesting thing about me is that I Joel: They’re just real pros; they’ve been doing it was an all-star point guard for many years; I loved for a long time. They’re just really good at being playing basketball! That’s not that interesting… on tour. Obviously, the biggest thing is knowing I’m interested in carpentry – maybe I’m not an where to be. interesting guy; I thought I was! Doug: Also another thing that’s been interesting Doug: I’m Doug and I play guitar and do some on this tour is that we’ve been travelling with our singing occasionally in HIGHS. My interesting fact own gear and at each show, we play with our own is that when I was young, I used to be allergic to drum set, but they’re all set up. What we pretty being touched, but now I am no longer in that much have to do is really really quick changeovers. So, we’ve become very efficient and effective at predicament! quick changeovers. Joel: What? Your self-titled EP has almost been out for a year Doug: Dermatographia. If you scratched me, it now, what can we expect? would turn into a welt. I had to go to the doctors for it. My friends used to have fun slapping me Joel: There are a lot of plans in the works right because it would swell up. Dodge ball was a now. There’s a chance that we’ll release one song nightmare for me! I grew out of it when I was at the end of this summer with the hopes of releasing a full length album this spring. fifteen, but up to that point, it was cursing. What have you guys been up to ever since Doug: We’re working really hard on new material Canadian Music Week when we last spoke to and we’re getting ready for a full length! The goal, like Joel said, is to release a single before the end of you? the summer and then get that full length out there. Doug: Well, we did some writing and we got ready for this tour with Hey Ocean. We got all organized Joel: Yeah, if you’re ever at one of our live shows, for it, which actually takes a bit of effort and you’ll find that there are a lot of songs that aren’t on that EP that we play. preparation. Coming from Toronto, what is your impression of How would you guys describe your music? Montreal? Joel: Fun. Doug: Montreal’s awesome! I wish that I could spend more time here and not be so far away Doug: A lot of fun. from Toronto. We went to Schwartz’s for some Joel: A lot of fun for us. smoked meat. I also got a pickle and a sandwich. We’re going to get some bagels later tonight. Doug: We get told that often, people don’t see a band having as much fun playing together playing What about poutine? on stage as we do. We really do have a lot of fun! Doug: I don’t like poutine. Maybe it’s the fact that It’s just natural that we interact very positively with each other on stage. So, I think that kind I’m half Canadian, but I don’t like poutine. of adds the energy to our performance. I think Joel: I do like it on occasion, but I prefer the there’s a lot of energy that comes across and it’s just all-around good clean fun! bagels.

Into The Crowd Magazine | #19 Summer 2014