BeatRoute Magazine Alberta print e-edition - Feb. 2016

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THE CJS scrapping their way into your hearts The latest by The CJs is the sound of ‘three pumping hearts in a room.’ The face of rock and roll music has changed many times in its lifespan in the Calgary scene. After a while, veterans may get the feeling that they’ve seen every incarnation and re-imagining of what music can look like. For those who yawn and say there are no surprises left, there’s another tasty offering up on the city’s menu. This one is a scrappy trio of caveman rockers who want to yelp and riff their way into your hearts and souls. The band we’re talking of call themselves the CJs and they want to take you back into FAKE WEREWOLVES warm blanket of sadness do you write a melancholy song about unrequited love? You could “How say, ‘I really want you but I can’t have you,’ and leave it at that. Or you could say, ‘If you were cold, I would set myself on fire, just to keep you warm.’” So muses Alonso Melgar, principal songwriter for Calgary emo band Fake Werewolves. “The songs may sound pretty sad, but they’re also melodic and endearing,” he continues. “Part of it is me drawing from my own experience, but this is true for all emo lyrics; it’s just hyperbole.” Citing influences like Into It. Over It., Dads, and Tiny Moving Parts, Melgar and vocalist/bassist Gavin Howard set out to pay homage to the Midwestern emo scene that they both connected with while growing up. “It’s my first time being the lead singer of a band,” says Howard. “And it feels like the most solid music I’ve ever been a part of writing.” “When we started this project, we realized there was no one in Calgary writing emo callbacks that are more pop sounding. More catchy like The Promise Ring or early Jimmy Eat World,” adds Melgar. “So it’s something new for people, but it’s also for people who grew up with those kinds of bands [to revisit].” When Melgar and Howard saw the overflowing, rambunctious shows of the ever-growing scene festival, The Fest, in Florida last fall, the duo realized that there may once again be a hunger for this certain breed of heart rending rawness. “It was so crazy to see these crowds of hundreds of people losing their shit and screaming along to every single song that I’d never heard of...at 4 p.m. on a Saturday,” Howard recalls. “This scene IS that.” “Going to that festival was a kick in the pants to get recording and start playing more shows,” Melgar reinforces. While the Calgary scene is decidedly smaller for now, Fake Werewolves are enjoying the ride immensely by making music primarily for themselves. However, they have a four-song, self-titled EP of delightfully sad, undeniably catchy songs ready to share with the rest of us too. Melgar explains, “We thought, ‘Let’s just stick with our pals and stick to writing the music we wanna write. If people like it they will show up regardless of whether it’s called emo or not.’ “This is just the most fun to play music. It’s pop music. Anyone who doesn’t have fun playing pop music is probably a communist,” Melgar laughs. “You can’t not have fun.” Catch Fake Werewolves at The Ship and Anchor alongside The Ativans and Old Wives February, 24th, 2016. The will be releasing their debut EP online through bandcamp.com in early February. photo: Arif Ansari the stone age with them where you’ll thank them for the privilege. Forming about a year ago, these three musicians united with a singular mission: to captivate the world with their own unique brand of savagery. In a stark contrast to much of the overtly polished and shiny radio friendly music populating the airwaves, Jesse Powell, CJ Parsons and Seth Leon banded together to create a musical project that combines wild, primitive drumming, heavily distorted riffs and yelping vocals in a cacophony of chaos. Stressing that this is a fully by Max Maxwell collaborative project, these three veterans of the Calgary scene create a force to be reckoned with. This summer, they were tapped to make an offering for the Rock Against Harper compilation and teamed up in the studio with Ryan Lottermoser (of fuzz-psych group The Pygmies) to create “Sick of the Death Star,” the song being an explicit anthem denouncing Canada’s now-former leader. Learning that they meshed well together and impressed with how smoothly the process went, the band asked to record a few more tracks with Lottermoser, putting together a jagged record that matches the band’s aesthetic quite fittingly. The result was the band’s first release, a ragged little collection of songs dubbed FYZ 66. According to Powell: “I like rock and roll that is not super careful and overly cultivated. I like it to be that ragged burst of joy that comes out of someone. On this album, it’s actually us excited to be there. This was us really excited to be in a studio with Ryan and him recording it. Kind of almost going off the rails all the time because we were so excited.” If you pick up a copy of the soon to be released tape, don’t expect a carefully curated masterwork that has been slaved over until flawless; that’s not the way this group likes to operate. Powell tells us “I think that the idea of a ‘field recording’ is almost more important now. I’ve been through the two years to record an album thing, making everything just so. This was three pumping hearts in a room excited about what they’re doing and this is a document of it.” It’s this manifesto that shows through on the recordings that give you a live-off-the-floor-feeling that will have you ducking imaginary flying beer cans in your living room as you feel like you’re really in the middle of one of their shows. For those brave souls that want to experience the mishigas first hand, The CJs be playing a double album release with their heroes, The Ex-Boyfriends, in mid-February. If you can’t make it, don’t fret: The band plans to play a number of shows around the city in the coming months, as well as taking their motley act on the road to shake up cities and small towns across Western Canada. Stay tuned, if for no other reason, than to watch what these crazies will get up to next. Catch The CJs in action with The Ex-Boyfriends, February 12th at Broken City in Calgary. Fake Werewolves lean towards the poppier side of emo on new self-titled EP. by Willow Grier photo: Gavin Howard 28 | FEBRUARY 2016 • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE
THE 427S surf noir, say what? by B. Simm BR: You gave your first release, Surf Noir, an interesting title. What did you have in mind or envision by calling it that? CvK: Our music has a dark edge to it, giving it a moody, smoldering vibe. And we draw from the film noir aesthetic, which is sexy and stylish, with a sense of mystery lying just beneath the surface. We like to explore that mystery. BR: Mavericks sounds much smoother, slinkier and fuller than Noir, which has a rough-aroundthe-edges garage tone. Were you deliberately aiming to switch up the production and make it bit more ‘chill’? CvK: Absolutely. There was a very deliberate decision to spend a lot more time and effort recording Mavericks. Surf Noir was our preamble; Mavericks is our first chapter. A 427, if you don’t already know, is a “big block” engine that was favoured by hot-rodders in the ’60s and ’70s and also dropped into factory muscle cars out of Detroit during its heyday. The 427’s, Calgary-based surf outfit, has the power-burst of those sleek machines along with the smooth stylistics of a sultry cocktail act playing Dino’s Lodge off Sunset Strip circa 1964. In 2015 their first EP, Surf Noir, was nominated for an instrumental award. Lead guitarist, Chris van Keir, talks to BeatRoute about his band’s upcoming release, Mavericks, and how they put the noir in surf. BeatRoute: Obviously the 427s are purists to a large degree, and embrace traditional surf. But there’s a lot more going on in the music than just beach blanket melodies. For instance, you list Neil Levang & Buddy Merrill, a pair of Texan twangers, as one of your influences. What do you think are some of the main music ingredients that fuel surf, and what do you like to throw in the 427s’ tank? Chris van Keir: Surf is catchy guitar hooks played by reverb-soaked Fender guitars coupled with danceable beats to create a vibe of black skinny tie, Wayfarer coolness. We apply ideas and influences from jazz, punk, novels, film, and visual art to avoid becoming another threechord wonder. BR: You’ve made a couple of videos. “The Spy Invasion” is filmed in a distinct noir aesthetic with props and fashions borrowed from the private eye TV series 77 Sunset Strip. What’s the inspiration behind the vids? CvK: We believe a music video is simply a short film. It tells a story. We pay homage to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe with “The Spy Invasion”, while we embrace the digital world with Fake Betty, giving people the control to experience our live show at their convenience. BR: Fake Betty? What’s that? CvK: It’s a crush with eyeliner. BR: Even though Surf Noir leans towards lo-fi, the playing on both your recordings is tight, precise, deep in the pocket. But onstage the band lets loose and rips it up. There seems to be a very definite distinction between making records and playing live. CvK: Our records are meant to be heard; our stage show is meant to be seen. A live show should be interesting and engaging, not emulating your album note-for-note. Isn’t that what rock n’ roll is all about? The 427’s release party for Mavericks is Fri., Feb. 12 at the Palomino. ROCKPILE BEATROUTE • FEBRUARY 2016 | 29
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BeatRoute Magazine Alberta print e-edition - Feb. 2016

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