This is an interview with Kevin and Mark with some guy
from Fundy Cable. I dont know his name, so I'll just call
him "the Guy"! It was done on Feb.22, 1997 while they were
in the SUB, at UNB. If you want the video for it, email me
and maybe we could work something out.
Guy: How's the tour goin so far?
Kevin: So far it's been a really good tour, we finished up
with IME and Mud Girl in Toronto, and now we've been out with
Ginger for a couple of weeks.
Mark: Actually, its one of the longest tours we've ever done
across this country, and we're out for about 2 months total
and just going to a million cities we've never really been to
and just doing Canada in a really big way this time.
Guy: Well, I really like the new album Creature, now, how's
the reaction when you play it live?
Kevin: It's been very good so far, we've played probably all
the album to crowds at this point now, and each of the songs
reacts very well so we're happy in that way.
Guy: Now, last time you played here was in the fall at the Aitken
Center, quite a large sized area. How are you guys able to
make the transition from a large arena to a small club?
Do you guys find it difficult to do?
Mark: We've been doing alot of that in this tour, actually
depending on which city we've been in we've been in Vancouver
played 8000 people in a colliseum, we played at a city in
Ontario, called St.Catherine's to 500, just a little tiny place.
So, It's amazing how different the vibes are playing in an arena
there's a sense of thunder or size to the whole thing, cause
there's so many people there, and when you play at a club, you
feel people's sweat coming onto the stage! We always get both,
we get both when we got to United States as well, so it just
provides a little bit of variety for us.
Guy: Now what took it so long for you guys to make it to the
Maritimes?
Kevin: I think when we had been touring the first album, when
we were touring Silver, it was released internationally, at various
territories at the same time, everywhere in Canada, in United
States, and over to Britain. It just happened in Canada we didnt
make it to the Maritimes till late in the album.
Guy: Well you certainly have alot of fans around here in New
Brunswick!
Kevin: Yeah, we discovered that! (smiles)
Guy: Now why the long gap between last album and this album,
Creature?
Mark: It wasnt intentional really by the time we got going with
Silver and got into the touring thing, we discovered that it was
being released all over the world and we had touring, we did the
tour in America, we did the tour in places like Thailand, and Europe
so once we got finished touring in Canada we still had a lot of
touring to do. So, it's amazing how much, when it seemed like
the record was over here, it was still going strong in other places
it just took a long time to finish up with that record.
Guy: What was the crowd reaction to the band been like over in
Europe?
Kevin: Varies from place to place..some places we do very well,
we do very well in Britain, we played top of the pops of Britain,
top 20 single, we're lesser known in the rest of Europe, but we
still keep going back!
Guy: Were you surprised by the success of the song Push?
Kevin: We were surprised in the success of the album in general!
(laughs)
Mark: It wasnt meant to be a record right, it was intended to be
an indie record we were gonna sell off teh stage, we recorded it
in a matter of days, like in Vancouver, recording after midnight
and that kind of thing. It was, the whole thing was a surprise.
Guy: How big a hand did MuchMusic have in the pushing that making
you guys the success you had?
Kevin: We extrodinarily surprised that MuchMusic played the
video for Push as much as they did. We thought we'd get 4 or 5
plays, when they jumped on it and immediately put it into
medium, then heavy rotation. Ah, suddenly everyone seemed to know
who we were. They had a big role in our success.
Guy: Is making videos something you guys enjoy doing?
Kevin: It is something actually, up until Ressurection, we had
a very active role in the creation of the videos and concepts
for videos, and now we've just sort of let someone else handle it
for a change to see what they'll come up with.
Mark: We were very surprised with the directing, it was one of
those things where it was either going to work, or it wasnt going
to work. It was very technical, the way working out with alot of
math, figuring out how big the rooms had to be, how they were
going to fit with the song and seeing the finished product, it was
like, Oh my God! Is that what we did? You know, cause it was like
2 second takes, literally and then you'd be on to the next take!
Guy: How much of a hand did you guys have in the concept of the video?
Kevin: Uh, that was written by someone else, the concept completely.
We basically just stood there and said where do you want us? It
was nice for a change to have that kind of feel that if something
went wrong, it didnt all come down on us!
Mark: I think we were always prepared to work with someone creating
videos if somebody brought us a creative that we really liked, it
just so happened that this guy brought us a creative that was
better than anything we were thinking of, we just stepped aside and
went, Wow! This is very cool!
Guy: Now last time I seen you guys perform live, you played
Billy Jean by Michael Jackson. That was a great version of the
song, how did you guys come about doing that?
Kevin: Just jamming in rehearsal, playing different songs, and
that one sorta popped out and stuck there for a long time, so.
Mark: Anything we can do to keep it interesting, we're playing
so many shows, and over the course of this year we're probably gonna
do 200 shows, you gotta be always throwing things into the set,
trying new things just to keep yourself sane!
Kevin: Sometimes they work.
Mark: And sometimes they dont work! (laughing)
Kevin: We had a bit of a nightmare with a cover we were trying
last week. Didnt work out very well!
Mark: What was that song? "I Will Survive"?
Kevin: (nodding) We did "I Will Survive".
Mark: We're not doing it anymore! (laughing)
Kevin: It's done!
Mark: Dont need to worry.
Guy: Now, has the album taken off in States yet?
Kevin: It hasnt actually been released in the States or anywhere
else yet, we'll be heading off to Thailand at the end of this tour
in the end of March, and from there...who knows?
Guy: What advice do you guys give to a young and upcoming band?
Mark: There's no blueprint to making it work in your band, the
biggest thing that anyone in the industry is looking at is songs.
When you're sending in your demo tape, they're looking to see
what your image looks like, but at the end of the day its all
about songs, and just how the band sort of gels as a unit that way.
The biggest advice has to do with writing, just make sure that
you're, as musicians, always writing and always challenging
yourself and create as apposed to just learn the new lick off the
bush record.
Guy: So just concentrate on songwriting?
Kevin: Definately!
Guy: So you guys performed up in the Northwest Territories with
Metallica and Hole? How did you enjoy that?
Kevin: That was an interesting gig, we flew in, landed on a gravel
runway and were there for 36 hours, it was nice. We got a chance
to meet Metallica and go see their show, and see the Hole show,
it was an interesting time, definately.
Guy: Did you get a chance to meet Courtney Love?
Kevin: Uh, I dont think we actually met her..
Mark: I actually had a couple words with her.
Kevin: Did you?
Mark: (laughing) Yeah, she wasn't very nice!
(they are both laughing)
Guy: Ah, well you didnt get a black eye or anything.
Mark: Nah, I survived it! I wasnt a big Metallica fan before
I went up there, but seeing the show with 300 other people,
in a small place like that, it just blew me away!
Kevin: It was unbelievable! They're an unbelievable band live!
Guy: What do you think the biggest obstacles facing young
Canadian bands, like yourselves? Lack of airplay?
Mark: Distance.
Kevin: Distance can be a difficult thing, we set goals for ourselves
when we started this, we wanted to have a recording of some kind
almost immediately after our first couple of shows and some of the
recordings that we did very early on ended up on the record, Silver,
when it came out, and also touring. We wanted to tour, so we went
out and did whatever it took to get on the road. In our case that
meant borrowing money from our friends so we could buy a van so that
we could travel the night before we left and we were very lucky.
Mark: It's so easy for European or American bands, you travel for 2
hours and you're at another big city...Canada, you find yourself in
Vancouver, you gotta drive 10 hours till you get to Calgary, accross
trechorous highways in mountains. It's not designed for bands in
mind, this country!
Kevin: (laughing) Really??
Guy: I think people think when you get a gold record in Canada
you're automatically a millionaire. But it doesnt work that way. The
States, maybe it does, but not in this country. You pretty much
have to break it big in the States in order to make money?
Mark: Anyone who gets into the music business with the idea of
getting rich, is an idiot! You're in the music business because you
love playin music, and if you make some money on the side, well, that's
an excellent perk.
Kevin: If you can stay alive doing it, then anything else is a complete
bonus. We're just happy we can do this for a living and then
continue to do it.
Guy: Does this take a toll on personal life, constantly touring?
Kevin: It can!
Mark: It helps being in Montreal, you have to do little things
to make it so you have a balance in your life. In the last record,
there were times when we lost that sense of balance in there, were
times we were out for 6 or 7 months straight without getting home.
So we moved to Montreal, which helps us to get home. Tours are
always routed through Montreal.
Kevin: We're going home tomorrow for 12 hours. So it does help..
you get to go home.
Guy: So what's the near future hold for the band?
Kevin: We'll be playing the Juno's then make-up shows in South
Ontario, then off to Thailand, hopefully after that have a couple
weeks off.
Mark: And then a whole lot of America. If you've ever toured America,
its a big place!
Guy: Ok, well the great new album is Creature, if you have a chance do
pick it up. I wish you the best of luck with the tour.
Kevin & Mark: Thanks very much.
Guy: This is Kevin and Mark from Moist.
(
geocities.com/sunsetstrip)