MONDOmagazine » Interviews-Music

[FAT] Interview: DJ Daniel Wilson

art — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:00:58 +0000

Interview and photos by Helen Fylactou Performing both on the second and the third nights of [FAT], DJ Daniel Wilson kept the mood of the room vibrant and sexy. The perfect soundtrack at a fashion show propels the audience from feeling good about the show, to feeling fabulous about the show. DJ Daniel Wilson is that perfect soundtrack. Prior to the big nights, MONDO had a chance to interview him about life, music and fashion. MONDO: How would your describe your sound? DJ Daniel Wilson: A little all over the board, but a lot of electro. For [FAT] I will be changing it to suit the theme of the night, so Planet will be a little more ethereal house and vocal-based electro, while Gutter will be more glitchy with some punk and rock — I'll be able to let loose a bit more. MONDO: What DJs/musicians have inspired you? DJ: Oh gosh, a lot. Everything from Princess Superstar to PJ Harvey [...]

Tour of Duty: Surviving Your Band’s First Trek Across the Country

music — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:01:52 +0000

An interview with Storyteller By Nathan Hoffmann When a rock star opens his bank book and realizes his stash of cash is starting to dwindle, it's time to go back on tour. Playing to the masses is how bands obtain their fortunes. But, for an independent band, touring isn't the same lavish party the big boys get to enjoy. Instead of the luxury jet, a sold-out crowd at the ACC, and trashing hotel rooms, it's a crummy old van, a show for six scene kids in a town whose name you can't pronounce, and using up all the toilet paper of the nice emo girl who's letting you crash on her floor. Storyteller, a post-hardcore band from St. Catharines, left for their first cross-country tour on October 17th. I recently sat down with three of the members to discuss the obstacles that face an independent band as they get set to embark on a month-long journey together. MONDO: You guys are about to depart on a four-week tour from Ontario through BC. Is excitement the only emotion you're feeling? Eli: No, there is also fear, confusion, sleepiness, malice, hunger and jaundice. JJ: It's a big build-up of anxiety. I like it and I don't. It kind of puts an edge on things and keeps you on track. Dave: I'm very excited but, at the same time, worried. Anything can happen and we'll be miles and miles away from home. [...]

An Alchemist’s Dream: The Element Choir

art — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:00:52 +0000

By Kerry Freek I had no idea what to expect when my friend Isla said she was singing in a choir that mimicked the four elements. But last week, when I finally caught Christine Duncan's Element Choir at a TRANZAC Wombat Wednesday, things came together like an alchemist's experiment gone right. About 20-25 very different voices, ranging from several walks of life, took part in what I thought could be explained as "directed freedom." (I later discovered it's called "structured improvisation" — pretty close!) As the conductor cued her singers, the back room filled with intriguing, ethereal, and sometimes odd sounds, all coming together to make a one-time-only performance. Earlier this week, I interviewed the choir's conductor, Christine Duncan, a five-octave-ranged vocalist with involvement in jazz, R&B, gospel, improvised music, sound poetry, new music, and musique actuelle. MONDO: The choir seems to work sort of like John Zorn's Cobra. It's participatory and improvisational, and involves giving cues. How do your cues work? Is it up to the performers to interpret your gestures? What makes your movements (and, as a result, the choir's sounds) "elemental"? Christine Duncan: I've developed a system of hand cues which outline certain parameters for primarily vocal sound making, moving from [...]

Evren — “The Celine Dion of Hip Hop” — In Interview

music — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:00:41 +0000

By Quincy Jones I first crossed paths with Evren a couple years back at a friend's place — a low-key Friday night of spinning records. He was passing through on a mission: to walk around Queen West with a bottle of Jack Daniel's and a camera, trying to get people to reveal their most embarrassing moments. He got mine. Evren's rhymes are often politically charged; his beats and melodies often incorporate his Turkish roots. His work as an artist, writer, and producer has led to the release of two independent albums — Conflict of Interest (2002) and Unknown MC (2004) — earning him credits on many international compilations including with MGM Australia, Sony, and Universal Music Canada. He has also had enormous success writing and producing music for national advertising campaigns by Telus, Nike and Toyota, as well as developing original tracks for TV shows such as Instant Star, Degrassi: The Next Generation, and Billable Hours. We caught up recently and he couldn't resist the chance for an interview [...]

An Interview with The Paper Makers

music — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:00:21 +0000

The Paper Makers are fun. By Beej The Paper Makers, currently working on the follow-up to their debut EP Sergeant Matthew, are one of the most instantly likeable and original acts on the Toronto club circuit. On the surface we have two fresh-faced youngsters, Katie Plant and Anna Mernieks, poised to make a racket with guitar, vox, and drums. They are the duo of nervous, talented teens that pulled weeds for strings at the local guitar shop; the kids who played their first big house at their high-school talent show. Beneath this youthful veneer lurks a sound that belies their ages, that any rock snob in attendance discovers mid-way through the first song of their set. There's an on-stage confidence usually found only in seasoned and jaded veterans, a unique and unaffected understanding of what makes people drop the wary mistrust and adopt a set of open ears. They have the feel of a middle-school sleep-over, lacking the pillow fights and scary movies, but none of the unrestrained enthusiasm. In short, The Paper Makers are fun, and they want you to be, too. [...]

Chromewaves’ Frank Yang in Interview

music — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:00:01 +0000

Interviewed by Eva Bowering Frank Yang is the creator of Chromewaves.net, one of the most prominent indie music blogs around. Frank began the blog in 2002, an experiment that soon developed into a second full-time job. He covers just about every major music event in Toronto, and brings a wide variety of music news and reviews to readers every day. Frank took the time to answer a few questions about his visit to Austin for SXSW, as well as some of his favourite venues and artists that have graced Toronto's landscape. MONDO: Who are some of your favourite artists, in a nutshell? Frank Yang: If we were to go "all-time," I'd have to say R.E.M., Wilco, Belly, Ride, Luna… Of more recent acts: The National, Okkervil River, Shearwater, The Radio Dept. But I like so much stuff it's impossible to narrow down [...]

Hawksley Workman in Interview

music — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:00:45 +0000

Interviewed by Jake Shenker At the beginning of March, homegrown icon Hawksley Workman began the Canadian tour in support of his new album, Between the Beautifuls. I caught up with him in Montreal, and we talked about his new record, his old records, his production style, and why The Beatles' Revolver was so damn good.

In Interview, Kenna

music — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 04:08:53 +0000

By Todd Aalgaard Photos by Tavishe Coulson Coming down off the high of Live Earth and a North American tour with She Wants Revenge, Universal recording artist Kenna and I took fifteen to talk about life, music, passion, the challenge of facing down the 21st century, and our culture's deficit of intensity. Well, after we geeked out for a minute about Halo 3. The picture of chill, he pointed to the XBox 360 resting on the couch. Kenna: My friends from all over the world — literally all over the world — are on Halo 3. All our friends are hanging out, killing each other. MONDO: Well, you might as well do it from the road. K: And we were in Detroit yesterday. MONDO: Nice, how did that gig go? K: It was dope — Detroit people are amazing. You know what it is? Justin Warfield from She Wants Revenge said it from stage. He said that you don't want to step out of line, but if you do a great show, they're with you. You don't want to step out of line, though, let me tell you [...]

She Wants Revenge

music — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:05:00 +0000

Darkwave for your parents.

Interviewed by Todd Aalgaard Photos by Tavishe Coulson Two missed streetcars and a last-minute cab ride from hell left me loitering in front of the Opera House, drawing a complete blank. The MuchMusic-happy use of the word "darkwave" left me loaded with assumptions about She Wants Revenge. I expected to be dredging up question after question in a desperate attempt to keep these aloof darkwavers on my level. Preconceptions of goth-y indifference and gloomy reticence had me trawling my brain for something — anything — interesting to ask. I had, after all, listened to SWR for the first time about four nights earlier. Though by talking to Adam 12 I learned that not only are these guys more [...]

Sister Suvi

music — Tue, 22 May 2007 04:01:56 +0000

Liberating the uke from annoying Hawaiian sing-alongs. By Daniel Ian Taylor Montreal's Sister Suvi have accomplished plenty in their short lifetime as a band, most recently the North American tour that closed with their Wavelength show here in Toronto. In addition to amassing a collection of catchy and off-kilter songs, they've also done what few dare to do: they've rescued the much-overlooked ukulele from music's kennel of forgotten underdog instruments and have gone on to feed, groom and nurture it into the admirable canine, capable of winning the Kentucky Derby. In the midst of their tour, Sister Suvi printed off MONDO's questions and answered them in [...]

Rebekah Higgs

music — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 03:54:11 +0000

In Interview; candid, a little strung-out and slightly violent. By Daniel Ian Taylor Haligonian songstress Rebekah Higgs is touring her way ever-inland, introducing old followers and new fans to the catchy electro-folk music that has brought her fame and friendship across the East coast. Rebekah took some time this week to talk with MONDO about her new album, her cross-Canada tour, and which Canadian musician she’d most like to force-feed a sandwich and then punch in the stomach. MONDO: Your new album is an interesting mix of acoustic and electronic elements. How did you arrive at this decision? How do you decide when to flesh out a song and when to keep it more organic? Rebekah Higgs: The style in which we recorded the album really allowed for a lot of creative freedom on my part. Each day Thomas (Rider Payne) and I sat down with a track to work on, so each track became a little artistic project on its own. Because we didn't have any specific ideas about the tracks before the day in which [...]

A Simple, Modest, Evil Vision.

music — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 03:45:13 +0000

An interview with The Phonemes. By Daniel Ian Taylor In the bewildering world of Language, a phoneme is the subtle addition of a single letter that can affect a drastic change in the meaning of a word or sentence. Observe: "My ex-wife is going to kill me! I was supposed to send her my monkey, but I lost it at the racetrack." Here in Toronto, The Phonemes are gaining momentum with harmony-driven songs that share the same quiet understatement and stunning impact of the band's syntactical namesake. Soon to release some new material through the Blocks Recording Club, The Phonemes took some time to discuss their band, their city and their plans for the future. [...]