Toronto's Elliott Brood isn't one guy, but three: Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet and Steve Pitkin. They've got a self-titled Weewerk EP under their belts and plan on releasing a new album come spring. Shaunna Bednarek met up with Sasso and Laforet and the drinks were good.

ON YOUR WEBSITE, THERE'S A LEGEND ABOUT A MAN NAMED ELLIOTT BROOD. IS THAT FACT OR FICTION? Mark: Our friend made that up. We didn't want to do the regular bio thing that everybody always does... A friend of ours is a writer, so we just let him go and create a guy, and that's where that comes from. Casey: That's actually the first I heard of it. I thought he was real. Mark: It's kinda a cool thing to have a legend, as opposed to a bio... I just can't stand band bios... And you know that it's usually just the lead singer writing it anyway.

IF YOU GUYS PLAY "DEATH COUNTRY, WHAT WOULD BE "LIFE COUNTRY"? Casey: Shania Twain? The Faith Hills and Toby Keiths of the world... Mark: I think it's just bad country, but that's all relative to the person. The only reason it's like "death country" is because it's just darker. Like Johnny Cash would probably be "death country" as well. It's murder ballads, it's not the happiest sort. A lot of people called [our music] country, and then were like, "Nah, it's 'death country.'" What was the other one? There was "urban hillbilly"...
Casey: "Blackgrass" is another one. So it's cool. At least there's a bunch of labels.

IS THERE AN INDIE COUNTRY "SCENE" IN TORONTO? Mark: I don't think there's really a "scene." We're not part of it... All of these songs need to get out there. You might stumble upon people, but it's not like anybody's pushing. It's not a co-operative... There's a lot of bands out there hitting the mainstream that actually have that sound and now you kind of notice it. But I think it's always there. Like, The Sadies... I don't go out and necessarily seek out the type of music we play. We listen to all sorts of different music. Casey: I've been listening to the new Tegan and Sara non-stop right now. Mark: Modest Mouse, The Weakerthans... Casey: Modest Mouse is a great example... They can do stuff with banjos and lapsteels that you wouldn't expect. That's a really good thing, because it gets those instruments out there for people.

SO IF YOU GUYS ARE "DEATH COUNTRY," AND THE STUFF ON COMMERCIAL RADIO IS "LIFE COUNTRY," WHERE DO CLICHÆ’S LIKE DRINKING BECAUSE YOUR WIFE LEFT YOU WITH YOUR DOG AND YOUR TRUCK FIT IN? Casey: I think with what we're doing, the loss is a different kind of loss than your traditional "my dog's dead, and my truck" Mark: It's more stories as opposed to this person whining on about life. Everyone goes through it. It's more tales, as opposed to "my girlfriend dumped me." Who hasn't been dumped? Who hasn't had all of that happen to them? Who hasn't felt shitty in life? It's definitely not dialogue about bitching about your life. Casey: It's all about bitches and money! That's what death country is going to become, like every other music... We'll get money for a video and there'll be bikinis and fast cars.

SPEAKING OF CLICHÆ’S, EVER HAVE ANY FIGHTS BREAK OUT WHILE YOU GUYS WERE PLAYING? Casey: I'm a big fan of the chicken-wire house stage where you're in danger of getting hit with beer bottles - I don't want to get hit with one, or anything. Just that mood is a cool setting for live music... No one's thrown anything at us yet that was big enough to hurt us.

Shaunna Bednarek