It's been only recently that indie music has hit it big in the music industry.
Aaron:
Totally.
Do you believe you were a major part in it, that you were there for the beginning?
Ian:
We've definitely helped the cause. But I think what's really hit is alternative music in general. You know, Canada was always known for it's Tom Cochranes, Celine Dions, and Bryan Adams, but there's groups that helped the cause way before us like Our Lady Peace, Finger 11 and Sum 41.
Was alternative music a precurser to indie rock?
Ian:
I think so. It all seemed to have started in the early 90's.
Aaron:
Indie to me is driving your van with your drums in it, lugging it up a set of stairs, and playing in front four people. Indie isn't about playing huge shows that cost twenty dollars to get into with lights and stuff.
Is there a definition for indie rock or is it just a feeling?
Aaron:
I don't know, I don't know what it is.
Ian:
I find indie is turning into more of a genre, rather than the actual aesthetic it once had. So bands will wanna be called indie for the genres sake now, which is kinda weird. Indie is a lot of things. The thing is, a lot of bands that are indie bands, or claim to be indie bands, are distributed by major labels. I think it's kind of cheating the public.
Aaron:
Yea, like Stomp records, out of Montreal, is an indie label, they've been around since we've been playing. They've got some ska and punk bands and put on great little shows. Now Beduin ended up winning a juno and thanking Stomp records, it was an awesome thing to see.
Do you think that's a positive step for indie music?
Ian:
Yea, I think it's great but at the end of the day good music is good music. It shouldn't need the term 'indie' to be good.
Aaron:
Yea who cares how it's distributed.
I guess there's a lot of people that hold dislikes or likes towards a certain label or genre name.
Ian:
Yea, just because we're on a major label we've had our share of haters, that say we're not cool because we're not indie anymore. But if they would have saw the ten years before we signed to our major label [they'd see] we were the most indie band you could get.
Aaron:
It's weird how people judge you on your label. Like if we we're signed to Epitaph records we would be way cooler.
*all laugh*
We would be, it's just really weird.
When the band was emerging did it come about naturally or did you think you were doing something different, that you would be noticed?
Ian:
I feel we always knew that right from the start, that we were different, and hoped to one day get noticed. I think though, we just started doing it because we wanted to play in front of our friends.
Were you well received right from the start?
Aaron:
Well, when we were "indie" we didn't fit into anything. We didn't fit into the punk scene, we didn't fit into the ska scene, we didn't fit into the hardcore scene; we'd always go over pretty well playing with them, but when we would send our tapes to these indie labels we never got anything from them, because all their bands were certain styles of music, we were always fighting for our own. So, we just stuck to our guns and ended up turning it around in the end i guess. But it was 10 years of never being part of any sort scene in toronto, just doing our own thing. But, we went over really well. We'd do hip hop shows, we'd do hardcore shows, we'd do ska shows.
How long was it before you got signed to a major label?
Aaron:
Ten years.
Ian:
Ten years.
Where do you draw inspiration from, and what bands interest you new and old?
Ian:
We draw inspiration from a lot of different things. Like, we all collectively love bands like Rage Against The Machine, The Clash, bands that had something to say.
Aaron:
The Police.
Ian:
The Police, Led Zepplin. I think those are collectively our influences. What was the second question?
Aaron:
Current music.
Ian:
Right.
Aaron:
God, it's so off the map with all of us.
There's a lot of good music out now, like Beduin Soundclash, we love Bedouin Soundclash, their amazing.
Are you guys friends with them?
Ian:
I met them a few times, their really nice guys. There's tons of bands out there. Alexis on Fire, Death from Above, Front Fiction; lot of great Canadian bands. Lots of American bands and world bands too, lots.
How do you feel about the state of Canadian rock music, as a world entity?
Ian:
I think right now it's at the best it's ever been.
Aaron:
Totally.
Ian:
A lot of the underdogs are getting recognized on an international level. Like before you would only hear about the international pop stars like Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Avril Lavigne, now you're hearing about the Arcade Fire in Japan or the middle of Europe; that's really cool for Canada.
How does it feel to be doing this right now, because it seems like it's just starting to break through only recently, Arcade Fire came out just recently, Beduin Soundclash, Broken Social Scene...
Aaron:
When we were just beginning, I Mother Earth was just ending, that was the scene that was going away. Then all these bands just popped up at the same time we released our record. It's fun to watch and see; taking Alexis on Fire and Death From Above on a cross Canada tour for the first time, watching Death From Above lugging their drum equipment around in golf bags, and, making fun of us for having sharpies in our pockets, now they all have sharpies in their pockets,
*all laugh*
You might have to sign something cause kids like your music.
You mentioned earlier about haters, about people dismissing your music, how do you feel about people saying your sell outs or saying your too mainstream, or that your pop-punk..
Aaron:
We don't get that much anymore.
Ian:
But at first we did, I guess because it's the automatic reaction within people. Like when a new band comes out, they automatically want to hate them because they don't know anything about them. I just think when people say that kind of shit they're very closed minded.
Aaron:
We actually had an apology from a writer who wrote a bad review on our first record. Then he actually wrote an apology; we read the news paper the next time we were coming around, his first thing was "I wanted to apologize for writing about the band, I didn't give them chance". He said he just gets so many CD's across his desk from Atlantic, from major record labels, that's just crap, he didn't think it was going to be any good, after he gave it a chance [though] he actually really liked it.
Do you put much emphasis on style or appearance, on stage or off stage?
Ian:
Well, we definitlely like to look and appear like a band, but not much emphasis on it, our music is the most important thing.
Did the style emerge from the music? Like Hip Hop music obviously has a certain clothing style along with it.
Ian:
Yea, you know what, I think we did. Because once we changed the name to Billy Talent the music was way more focused and was in one particular style, we've really refined our style and that was when we started acting and looking more like a band.
Aaron:
Yea, when we put on a show, we'd film every single show we did. We'd always look back and would be totally honest with each-other on what looks good, what doesn't look good, what note we should play more or differently, like the drums; your playing too fast there, slow that down. Then after critiquing ourselves for years we just figured out what looks good, what sounds good, what kids are gonna like, and what we like.
Is there a different atmosphere onstage than in the studio, do you try and recreate it or is it something totally different.
Aaron:
Totally different.
Ian:
Yea, totally different.
Aaron:
On-stage is just...madness. It really is. On stage you might get 18 stitches.
Not in the studio though.
Aaron:
no, not in the studio.
*laughs and sighs*
Ian:
No, Aaron got hit in the head with a flying mic stand-
Aaron:
Yea.
Ian
-A la Ben, in Edmonton one time.
Aaron:
The base of the mic stand.
Ian:
The base of a mic stand! Pretty much cracked his head, had to rush him to the hospital and cancel the rest of the show. *laughs*
That's horrible.
Aaron:
It is horrible. Funny now though.
Ian:
It's pretty crazy man.
You started answering this question actually but did the Billy Talent sound evolve naturally or did you, as a group, tear it apart and build it up again?
Ian:
We difinitly tore it apart. Well- [when on] Watush records, the label we were signed to when we were "indie", we had like 17 parts in one song and a whole bunch of different styles in one song.
Aaron:
It was pretty ridiculous.
Ian:
Yea, it was pretty ridiculous.
Aaron:
We needed to get it out of us though.
Ian:
That was kind of our amateur years. Then, after that, it was sitting down and taking the best moments of those parts and focusing it into one thing we all liked to do.
Did it take a while to boil it down?
Ian:
Yea, those eight years before the record came out.
Just wondering, is the sound rotating in your head; did you hear it before you made it or did it have to be physical, something you had to mold?
Ian:
I think it was kind of something that molded itself, along with the influences, like bands we were listening to at the time, like At The Drive In and Refused, we really loved those bands. We thought it was kinda the second coming of Nirvana, too bad both those bands broke up; we really loved that music when it came out in the late 90's. That's when things kind of changed for us.
How do you feel about venues like this, and celebrity in general? How has it changed your lives?
All that's changed for me is I'll order an appetizer with my meal, and I never do that with my wife.
*all laugh*
Why is that?
Aaron:
Because someone else is paying for it.
Ian:
Yea.
Aaron:
So you get that luxury.
Ian:
There's a lot of luxuries that are really nice. I don't get to eat fried food at home because my girlfriend doesn't like it, so now I just to order chicken wings and spring rolls.
Aaron:
We just have fun with each other in these situations, because the four of us have been doing this for so long and we've been through so much together. For all of us to be going to listening parties and being interviewed, having food bought for us, is really really funny. But we don't expect anything.
Ian:
No.
Aaron:
I got two free cokes too man, crazy *all laugh*
Ian:
I got a beer.
Aaron:
There you go.
I had a question, oh yea, I just went to the bathroom and I was thinking, do you use public bathrooms anymore?*laughs*
Ian:
Yea, we get used to it. We've been in some of the worst public bathrooms imaginable. Like on the Warped Tour?
Aaron:
What about Heebee-Jeebees?
Ian:
There was no stall or door. Just a room with a toilet.
Aaron:
you had to make friends with some random dude and just say "can you make sure someone doesn't come in" You don't want to be sitting there and say "hey what's up?" as someone comes in *laughs* What about the bathroom that had three toilets beside each other in germany? With no partitions in the middle.
Ian:
With no partitions!
Aaron:
What was that?
Ian:
It was like a hostel, but instead of beds beside each other; toilets.
Aaron:
Like me and you, don't even know each other, side by side, just like "hey what's up man."
What about toilet paper, was that communal?
Aaron:
We didn't even bother taking a crap there. We were just pointing and laughing at it.
Ian:
shitting facilities, Jonny's favorite.*laughs* Jonny's two favorite words are shitting facilities.
Alright...um, the sound of your music, or the sound that comes across; is it more about embracing being lost or is it about finding your way?
Ian:
That's a really good question. I think it's a combination of both. It's about embracing being lost and accepting things in life, but also having an inkling towards hope.
Once again about the sound, there's an urgency and a desperation that comes across; is this a purposeful reflection on society or just something that comes across naturally?
Ian:
I think it just comes out of the music naturally but we write the lyrics afterwards, so when we hear the music it evokes lyrics that are filled with urgency and hope. I think the music builds the lyrics.
Is there just one person that writes the lyrics?
Ian:
Ben and I.
Cool.Well, I think that's pretty much everything. Thanks a lot.
Ian:
Yea, thanks a lot, great interview.
