The Novaks Start Anew
"We're full of s**t. Our music is s**tless,” quips Mick Davis."S**tless?!" repeats Mark Neary from beside him. They both crack up.
A few moments earlier I had imprudently mentioned something along of the lines of them being a "no bulls**t" sort of band. The above had been their response. Never try to banter with The Novaks. They know the industry lingo and have no use for it.
It's an overcast and humid Saturday afternoon in June, and I'm standing with two of the three Novaks in a picture-perfect courtyard behind The Courthouse: Young green vines arch beside the ancient wood-and-steel door behind us; the beginnings of flower buds peek through the moist soil in the planter beds under silver and purple patched sky; and somewhere not too far away the 5'o'clock church bell starts to toll.
Neary points his finger upwards to alert us of the sound. Perfectly on cue, Davis begins to imitate the beginning riffs of AC/DC's "Hells Bells." It's amusing to get a first-hand, up-close impression of these musicians given their mysterious biography ("The Novaks are Mick Davis, Mark Neary, and Elliot Dicks. They are a Rock and Roll band from St. John's, NL, Canada"), but they make me work for my information, putting me through a few Bob Dylan-esque non-answers early on (eg: On their former-guitarist Chuck Tucker: "Old? He wasn't old; he was only in his 30's").
Once we finally become more comfortable with one another, talk turns to their infamous dislike of the business side of the industry. Their last album featured the sharp lyrics "Didn't want to make a video/ Is that the way to steer it/ Didn't enclose no photo/ Doesn't anybody hear it?" This time around they are perhaps more eager to put their faces and names out there, but only at their own discretion.
The Novaks amuse themselves by putting their own spin on promotion. Everything about their public face is just a little bit cheeky. "We tried to write something humorous [for our bio]," Davis explains after a hearty laugh over my quiet confusion of "Bama Lama Bama Loo" being listed under “Influences.” "That's just nonsense, that's all. It's avoiding putting anything in there. You can put as much bulls**t in [bios] as you want, but nobody cares if the music isn't any good. That's what it comes down to: If the music is good or not".
Things Fall Apart is the sophomore release from the St. John's trio, and while it's as balls-to-the-wall and stripped-down as their self-titled debut, there is a hint of some quiet wisdom tucked just under the surface of tracks such as "Rain, Rain, Rain" ("If I can't see out past my door/ How am I going to go out and win the war?") or "Sometimes I Gotta Go Down" ("I don't believe in the devil/ but I believe in evil/ It don't matter what you call it, but it sure is all around").
"[When we made] the first record, we didn't know we were going to make a record," confides Davis. "We still like the songs, but we don't think it's as good [a] recording." Neary agrees saying that "This one sounds - to my ears - it sounds a little more honest. It sounds like where we are now... like the band playing live."
"This record is definitely [from] a band that's been on the road, has matured a little, and maybe is a little pissed off 'cause we want success and satisfaction," suggests Davis. While several treks to Europe and the States have dotted the tour of their debut album, they have yet to make a dent in the Industry on either side of the Atlantic, and that can be understandably frustrating.
During the interview, Davis stands on the other side of his bandmate, his perpetually present sunglasses across his eyes, crossing and uncrossing his arms as the interview progresses. It seems less insolence than an effort to keep himself a bit distant from my questions. There is a quality of careful mystery to the vocalist, and while his songs speak loudly about the talents of his group, I am curious to trek his artistic map of inspirations and techniques. What he reveals, however, is mostly in measured answers.
One thing that strikes me about The Novaks is that they are a band that has "It," the talent and capability to go far together, but their need for personal privacy
makes it difficult for the media to latch onto and decipher them. Sometimes, this results in musical comparisons to everyone from Tom Petty or Chuck Berry, to The Rolling Stones and even fellow east-coaster Matt Mays. Online music peddler CD Baby has the best suggestion, however, by calling them "everything good about the past with a modern rock spin." Much as The Novaks appreciates the attention modern technology (ie. Internet blogging) has afforded them, Davis still has a simple request of any curious music fan: "Listen to it." Things Fall Apart is a 12-track ride through the minds and emotions of men who have experienced and confronted much, but admit to yearning for a yet elusive realization. With track names like "Cold and Lonely" and "Leave Me Alone" there is at first the impression of pessimism to the album. Realism, and even hope, seems to be the ultimate conclusions. The title track even features the line "Things fall apart/ but we start anew."
"Anytime I sound preachy or something, at the end of every song I'm saying, 'I don't have a clue what I'm talking about,'" Davis deliberates. "'Don't listen to me. This is what I'm thinking and what I feel, but I don't know anything and nobody does.'"
Moments earlier, he and Neary had been joking about plagiarizing Kermit the Frog's "It Ain't Easy Being Green" to create the opening track "Why Wonder," but underneath it is clear that sometimes the simplest explanations are often the most prudent.
"It's always been about music for me, even if [that means] you play by yourself a lot, [or else] blow your brains out," Davis mentions when we discuss time outside the band. "[It's like], Yeah, everything's gone to s**t, but what are you gonna do about it? You still gotta get up and carry on."
Davis glances over at me - I think - and smiles wryly. He is hard person to read, and that may be exactly what he wants.
