Interview & Photos by Keira Zhou
How did you three meet? How did the band start?
Chris: Matt and I have been friends for about 20 years. We met as neighbors and school friends. We got into music around the same time, and we met Will in high school. The band didn’t form until we are already 10 years plus into our friendship.
Who are the influencers of the band?
Matt: We all have our individual inspirations, but obviously after spending so much time together and doing lots of 30 hour long drive, we listen to a lot of the same music. We like bands Radiohead or The National, or Grizzly Bear, Big Thief, all these types of bands. I think we all really draw inspirations from. There are also individual tastes within that.
You had an album released back in August. Could you tell us more about the album? What is it about? Where did you draw inspirations of the lyrics and music?
Will: The record is a lot about the past 3 years of our lives. In a lot of ways it’s about time, but within time it’s about moments. How we can hone in on different moments within our lives. I feel like, lots of time, in our present day, we pass by things that could’ve been special or could’ve been monumental, or could’ve been impactful in our lives, because we are always looking for the next thing that comes up. I think this album in a lot of ways lyrically, was about trying to focus on these moments and take them for what they were and appreciate them, sad moments, happy moments, whatever they are, and really trying to focus on these certain times in our lives that have impacted us or changed us. A lot of the theme around the record are nostalgic feelings, because I feel like lots of time we are not necessarily looking back on certain memories, we are always looking into the future, something better are always around the corner type of thing. This record is to challenge that.
What are some specific examples of those memories mentioned in the record?
Will: One song we wrote was called Half Past Nine. It’s about a festival that three of us were at. It’s in our home province. We’ve gone for a few years. One of our good friends puts on the music festival. So there was one night, we were watching an artist that had impacted us throughout high school and college, and our friends as well, who were also at the show. It was everything about the night, and people that were around, was like one of those moments we were talking about.
Matt: Same, for me, it’s about not necessarily just romanticizing about the future all the time and the grass is always greener, but celebrating all the little moments, good and bad, and just reflecting on what’s happened.
So this is your third album, do you feel like the music has changed overtime?
Will: Yea we definitely sound different. When we started the band, we were four-piece. We had a bass guitar player. And now we use more synth sounds to bring in the bass like sound. We definitely changed in that area. But also lyrically, when we started this band, we were 20 years old, and we were green in every sense. We had never been on tour, and we had never had a record deal, and we had never made an album, so lots of our lyrics were more about growing pain and excitement, and as we’ve progressed, I think with this record especially, it’s kind of like looking back.
Chris: I think our first album Flux had some very similar notes to what our new record “How Do We Stay Here?” is about. They are both records talking about time and going through changes. Flux is talking about immature, excitable sense, and this is more we figured things out a little bit more and our appreciating moments and going through those.
As a touring band, were there any moments you feel like things are getting hard?
Chris: Yea definitely. Those kinda happen everyday. It’s like highs and lows, everyday there’s always a big high, which is usually when we are playing. It kind of washes away everything else happened during the day. And then the next day, you wake up, you are tired and you have to drive for 8 hours. Physically and emotionally, just being away from home and there’s always those hard times. That’s kinda what is challenging day to day to be a touring band. But for whatever reason, we get our hour long show, and we forget about the hard times because it’s just so good.
What is your favorite city on the tours you’ve been on so far?
Will: My favorite city to play is Red Deer. It’s in Alberta. There’s this place call Bo’s Bar and Grill. It’s the best venue in North America. The people that run it care so much about live music and the bands that come in. They’ll treat you the same if you are the headlining band or the support the band.
Chris: I definitely echo Bo’s bar. I think just to expand on this question; on this last tour, we were in Europe. We’ve never been to Utrecht before in the Netherlands. I think there was something really special about that city. The venue we played there was the most pristine, best place ever. And the city itself had a lot of quality that Amsterdam has but more like my pace.
Matt: For me, nothing to do with the shows or the venues, but I really like the city Berlin. We’ve been fortunate enough, on a couple tours, we had a few days off in Berlin. And even me personally, I went to Berlin for couple days myself. It’s very arty and progressive.
