Off The Record

Jay Koster, former frontman of BC based pop-punk band The Fallaways, joins me to talk about his new solo project Koster.

If you haven’t heard of this band and love nothing more than putting on some great music after a long day’s work and sparking up a joint or sipping on your favourite cocktail then look no further. You’ve found them. Mother Tongues has been on the Toronto music scene for the past 5 years and is made up of: Lukas Cheung, Charise Aragoza, Konrad Karczewski, Nick Kervin , Hannah Bussiere Kim.

It was a love of everything from 60s French pop, to break beats, kraut rock shoegaze and film scores that brought these 5 together and it’s interesting how all of these seemingly random mix of genres come out in their music. Mother Tongues have toured all across Canada and the US sharing the stage notable artists such as Dilly Dally, Fucked Up and U.S Girls.

The band signed with Buzz Records in 2019 and released their debut EP Everything You Ever Wanted in 2020, in the thralls of the COVID 19 pandemic. If you haven’t yet, I urge you to give the EP a listen, it is truly out of this world and as guitarist and vocalist Lukas Cheung says the “music transports you” – which is a very accurate way of describing it. To truly get a sense of this statement check out their Live If you haven’t heard of this band and love nothing more than putting on some great music after a long day’s work and sparking up a joint or sipping on your favourite cocktail then look no further. You’ve found them. Mother Tongues has been on the Toronto music scene for the past 5 years and is made up of: Lukas Cheung, Charise Aragoza, Konrad Karczewski, Nick Kervin , Hannah   Kim – if that last name sounds familiar to you, it should because Hannah is none other than the very popular and talented Luna Li.

It was a love of everything from 60s French pop, to break beats, kraut rock shoegaze and film scores that brought these 5 together and it’s interesting how all of these seemingly random mix of genres come out in their music. Mother Tongues have toured all across Canada and the US sharing the stage notable artists such as Dilly Dally, Fucked Up and U.S Girls.

The band signed with Buzz Records in 2019 and released their debut EP Everything You Ever Wanted in 2020, in the thralls of the COVID 19 pandemic. If you haven’t yet, I urge you to give the EP a listen, it is truly out of this world and as guitarist and vocalist Lukas Cheung says the “music transports you” – which is a very accurate way of describing it. To truly get a sense of this statement check out their live performance at the River & Sky Festival on YouTube.

I caught up with Lukas and Charise via zoom o chat about the forming of the band, what drives them and how they’ve navigated putting out their debut EP during a pandemic.

Here’s my chat with Lukas and Charise of Mother Tongues at the River & Sky Festival on YouTube.

I caught up with Lukas and Charise via zoom o chat about the forming of the band, what drives them and how they’ve navigated putting out their debut EP during a pandemic.

MOTHER TONGUES

Bandcamp | https://mothertongues.bandcamp.com/

Spotify | https://spoti.fi/3j9vHGY

Apple Music | https://apple.co/3mF7Lh1

IG | https://www.instagram.com/mothertonguesband

SPRINTS are a four-piece garage-noise band based out of Dublin, Ireland. They are made up of Karla Chubb on vocals, Sam McCann on bass, Colm O’Reilly on guitar and Jack Callan on drums.

The band is pretty new, having formed in late 2019. Just in time to get a few shows and songs out before the global pandemic hit. However, what is very interesting about these guys is that in that short time they gained quite a bit of notoriety, getting radio play on the UK’s BBC radio 6 and 1 and having write ups in publications such as NME and Hot Press Music.

Their music combines guitar-driven hooks, motoric rhythm and emotive lyrics to create a sound that is pretty unique drawing inspiration from the garage, grunge and punk genres.

They released their debut EP Manifesto in March of this year and are looking to sign with a label and get a full-length album out as soon as they can.

I caught up with vocalist, Karla and bassist, Sam via zoom to talk about the forming of the band, how they have been navigating being a new band during a pandemic and what is coming up next for them.

Here’s my chat with Karla and Sam of Sprints.

SPRINTS

Bandcamp | https://sprintsmusic.bandcamp.com/

Spotify | https://spoti.fi/2UGSq3V

Apple Music | https://apple.co/3rHJmaT

IG | https://www.instagram.com/sprintsmusic

If you live in Toronto and frequented music venues like The Horseshoe Tavern, or even just have the local radio station playing in the background at home or your place of work, then you’ve undoubtedly heard the catchy melodies of the pop-rock quartet: Jane’s Party. If you haven’t had a chance to see them live, I highly recommend it: they put on a great show and will soon be performing on the stage again.

The band is made up of Jeff Giles (keys/guitar/vocals), Tom Ionescu (guitar/vocals), Devon Richardson (bass/vocals), and Zach Sutton (drums). These guys have been hard at work making wonderfully catchy tunes that get stuck in your head since forming the band in 2006. In their 15 year career, they have put out 5 full-length albums, the latest of which is a collection of unplugged versions of songs they performed on The Marshmallow Revue. 

"What is the Marshmallow Revue?", you might ask. Without giving too much away, because we talk bout it quite a bit in the interview, it is a very well produced film of the guys performing out on docks or in canoes out in cottage country – north of Toronto. The film really gives fans a deeper insight and personal connection to the band, and is all around just a great watch – you can catch it on YouTube.

JANE'S PARTY

Bandcamp | https://janesparty.bandcamp.com/

Spotify | https://spoti.fi/35MZLRq

Apple Music | https://apple.co/3zNYjfc

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/janespartyband/

The Damn Truth is made up of Lee-la Baum (lead vocals/guitar), Tom Shemer (lead guitar/vocals), PY Letellier (bass/vocals) and Dave Traina (drums/vocals).

They have been around for the better half of a decade , and Now or Nowhere is their 3 full-length album. Their sound is kind of timeless - if I didn’t know about them and heard it on the radio I would think they are one of the great bands of the classic rock era. And their new album just sounds fantastic – and it’s no wonder because it was mostly produced by Canadian Music Hall of Fame Inductee: Bob Rock. Bob, if you don't know him, has produced some of rocks greatest albums, working with some of rock's biggest bands like Metallica, Bon Jovi, Motley Crew, Bryan Adams... the list just goes on and on.

I got to chat with the entire band, which I don’t get to do often and I got some insight on the making of the album, what it was like working with the legend that is Bob Rock, and got some cool background stories of a couple of the songs that made it to the album. I even got to ask Lee-La and Tom’s son, Ben, a couple of questions towards the end of the interview: I learnt that the youngster is already an avid vinyl collector and plays the drums – so we’ll have to keep tabs on him because something tells me he’ll be following in his parents footsteps.

Special thank to Selina over at TA2 Sound + Music for doing the mix 🙏

THE DAMN TRUTH

Bandcamp | https://thedamntruth.bandcamp.com/

Spotify | https://spoti.fi/3vy4RvZ

Apple Music | https://apple.co/34v5Dy0

IG | https://www.instagram.com/thedamntruth

Website | https://www.thedamntruth.com/

Luis Felber has been involved in England’s music scene for a long time, playing in tons of bands, in various genres from punk rock, with his band Turbogeist to psych rock with Shuga.

He is also one of the founders of Young Turks Records, now known as Young. If the name sounds familiar that’s because they have some pretty notable acts on their roster including The XX (and with that Jamie XX) and FKA Twigs.

However, since the end of 2019, Luis has been releasing self-produced tracks under the name Attawalpa – this happens to me his Peruvian middle name. Because he has full control, Luis flirts with different genres in the music he makes, but I guess if we wanted to pidgeon hole him, I would say he’s somewhere in the alternative indie world.

Luis and I caught up via Zoom and had a really long chat – it was just so interesting getting to know him and hear about his journey to becoming Attawalpa.

ATTAWALPA

Bandcamp | https://attawalpa.bandcamp.com/

Spotify | https://spoti.fi/33NE3vD

Apple Music | https://apple.co/3fakqD8

IG | www.instagram.com/attawalpa

Miesha Louie has been making music for over a decade now and as the band name suggests, has always been the main driving force behind it. Miesha and the Spanks, has gone through many lineup changes  over the years, but Miesha seems to have found the perfect musical partner in drummer, Sean Hamilton – who’s been with her for the past five years. When setting out to make this EP, Miesha and Sean initially wanted to tone back their punky roots and write songs that would be more radio-friendly, which is why they brought the project to Americana legend, Leeroy Stagger to produce it. However, Leeroy decided the best thing to do would be to turn everything up – way up - and we are left with what might be the bands loudest work yet.

I caught up with Miesha via zoom, to discuss the new EP, and the making of it, and how her and Sean came to meet and why their musical partnership just works.

MIESHA AND THE SPANKS

Bancamp | https://mieshathespanks.bandcamp.com/

Spotfiy | https://spoti.fi/2Suf1zf

Apple Music | https://apple.co/3eRXR62

IG | https://www.instagram.com/mandthespanks

(A special thank you to Selina Fiorini over at TA2 Sound + Music for editing and mixing)

Tunic formed around 2012, after the band’s founder David Schellenberg – on vocals and guitar - was fired from another band he was in for not being good enough on bass. This acted as a catalyst for David to start his own project, going for a sound inspired by the likes of Quicksand and Superchunk. In 2016 Tunic released their first EP Disappointment followed by another EP Boss in 2017. Since those releases, Tunic has been touring practically non-stop – playing 111 shows in 2019 alone.

The new album “Exhaling” acts as an anthology album of both of those EPs with three new tracks: Exhaling, Fade Out and Invalid.

I got to chat with David via Zoom abut the new album, the bands relationship with their new label Artefact Records, and a lot about what he’s been doing to keep busy during the pandemic.

TUNIC

Bancamp | https://tunicband.bandcamp.com/

Spotify | https://spoti.fi/3xwMj0E

Apple Music | https://apple.co/2R4K4kf

IG |  https://www.instagram.com/tunicband

Tiger’s Jaw have been together for well over a decade now since starting their career in Scranton, Pennsylvania back in 2005. In that time they have put out and handful of Eps and 6 studio albums - the latest one being "I Won't Care How You Remember Me", which dropped on March 5, 2021 on Hopeless Records.

I got to chat with the band’s frontman Ben Walsh – who has been in the band since the beginning. Ben and I chat about the new album, the relationship with their long-time producer Will Yip, and we get some insight to what Ben has been listening to during this pandemic.

TIGER'S JAW

Bandcamp | https://tigersjaw.bandcamp.com/

Spotify | https://spoti.fi/3dIjgxM

Apple Music | https://apple.co/3uooJRh

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/tigersjaw

The members of Dead Poet Society went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and when they initially formed in 2012 or 2013, but without their current frontman Jack Underkofler – the band, according to Jack sucked (his words, not mine). Apparently there were even memes going around Berklee about them being the worst band in the school and Jack, who’s best friend was the drummer in the band in those early days, convinced his friend to leave the band and then somehow ended up as the bands frontman in 2013. This is when their sound changed dramatically and they discovered the unique guitar sound achieved by playing a home-made fretless guitar thought to have been broken, which was busted out during one of their band practices. Go and listen to one of their early songs “Lo Air” and you’ll hear what I mean – it’s a killer sound.

Jack graciously took my Zoom call while waiting in an airport to board his flight – so disclaimer: you might hear some announcements going on in the background and some awkward pauses while we wait for them to pass – decided to keep them in because it was funny.

Jack and I chat about the early days of the band, the making of the album, the ideas behind the cryptic album title and imagery of the album art.

DEAD POET SOCIETY

Bandcamp | https://deadpoetsocietyofficial.bandcamp.com/

Spotify | https://spoti.fi/3rqjVZC

Apple Music | https://apple.co/3lSNlyB

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/wearedps