You might recognize Purple Hill's front man from the mess of blond hair flying across the stage of a From Fiction show. Or you might not, seeing that his face is rarely visible. But From Fiction bassist Owen Marchildon will be a slightly more still when his solo-plus-friends band Purple Hill shows up for their CD release show at Wavelength. Kevin Shutterbug and Owen did the email interview thing, and a bit of cell phone conversation as a streetcar went into a tunnel. Kevin, while staying as close to the truth as possible, made up the answers to the last five questions, as Owen was nowhere to be found.

I HERE YOUR BAND PURPLE HILL WAS INSPIRED AND NAMED AFTER THAT D-12 SONG FEATURING EMINEM? Yes! How did you know. I thought I had everyone fooled. I guess I've been found out. I've been found out by a man who works with ice cream.

YOUR LIVE SHOWS TEND TO LEAN TO A COUNTRY AND ROCK SIDE OF THINGS, BUT ON YOUR UPCOMING RECORD IT'S MOSTLY RAP RIGHT?
I've been found out by a man who works with ice cream. I guess I've been found out. I thought I had everyone fooled. How did you know? Yes!

AS BASSIST IN FROM FICTION AND MAIN SONGWRITER/GUITARIST IN PURPLE HILL YOU GET TO WORK WITH MANY TALENTED MUSICIANS. HOW DO THE PROCESSES AND MUSICAL CREATIONS DIFFER BETWEEN THE TWO? DO THEY EVER AT TIMES INFLUENCE YOUR PLAYING IN EITHER BAND? Yeah, sometimes I go to rehearsal and those three maniacs I play with completely blow my nuts off, and I say, "Would you men like to come over and have a picnic?" and they all shout peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and before you know it our skinny white asses are in circle form, planted in the middle of a Friday afternoon food court rush at the good old Dufferin mall, and roses are growing out of our ears and all the pretty little Portuguese ladies are sniffin' around our scene, whisperings of romance I wish I understood. Oh! To have a belly full of it all again soon I think.

YOU EXUDE A SENSE OF PLAYFULNESS WHEN YOU PLAY LIVE, WHETHER IT IS IN A LAID BACK SOLO SHOW OR IN THE TIGHT TECHNICAL WORK OF A FROM FICTION SHOW. HOW DO YOU DO THIS?
First you have to allow yourself to go towards the glory. When it peaks and you've had enough, you cool it all down by going out and seeing the people.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH "THE SHOEMAKER AND THE ELVES." Men who work with ice cream should not be surfing the internet. There you go fuck face. (www.cowovermoon.ca)

TWEEDLEDEE, WE HAVE TO FILL 700 WORDS.

I'VE SEEN YOU SOLO, AS A DUO, TRIO... WHO PLAYS ON THE ALBUM AND WHO MIGHT BE JOINING YOU ON STAGE? Playing on the album is Matt Smith on various doohickeys, Owen Pallett on fishing wire, John Paul Allen on the low end. I can't really remember the names of who else is on it. These guys and more might be joining me for shenanigans on the Sneaky stage.

ESCAPE GOAT IS PUTTING OUT YOUR RECORD RIGHT? Yeah, Cam and the people have been working hard and it'll be done in time for the Wavelength show. A little spring chick hatched for your pleasure.

I THINK YOU LEFT YOUR HAIR TIE AT MY HOUSE. That's the most important piece of my wardrobe. I'm a lost man without it. I'm a lost man.

HERE IS A PICTURE OF ANOTHER BAND NAMED PURPLE HILL. IF IT CAME DOWN TO IT, COULD YOU GUYS TAKE THEM IN A BAR FIGHT OR
DRAG RACE? Our roots trace back to Orangeville. We're crass motherfuckers. Bar fight, drag race, drag show, you name it we could take them.

I'VE HEARD YOU MAY RELEASE YOUR INNER MANGINA AT WAVELENGTH. All I can say is to just have your camera ready.

By Kevin Shutterbug

Miche Jetté has years of experience playing in a number of Ottawa bands, including Werbo, Jehovah's Wetness, Doc Klatt and the Taters, 7th Fire and Cheeky Monkey. In his newest incarnation, he's known as Flecton Big Sky, a kind of troubadour who's divided his time between Memphis and Chicago, as well as O-town. Flecton's Kelp Records debut, Never Took A Wife, is the result of five years' worth of recordings and includes collaborations with his friends Califone and The Grifters. Shaunna Bednarek emailed Jetté some questions about the record and what's going on in Ottawa outside of Kelp Records and beaver tails.

NEVER TOOK A WIFE IS YOUR KELP RECORDS DEBUT. HAD YOU RELEASED ANYTHING BEFORE THIS? Animals into the wild, the odd ceremonial pigeon and/or dove, as well as the album, Welcome to Japan, by Werbo.

THE ALBUM WAS RECORDED OVER FIVE YEARS IN MEMPHIS, CHICAGO AND OTTAWA. HOW DID THESE CITIES INFLUENCE THEIR RESPECTIVE RECORDINGS? WHAT DO THESE CITIES MEAN TO YOU? There is only one track that was recorded in Ottawa, and it's a live track, so it's more incidental than anything. It's a song ('œTigertooth Says Hurr'?) that I hadn't recorded, yet and I found this live version in my archives that I found represented what happens during my live show. The record didn't really take five years to make. I mean, it's not like I've been toiling in the various studios perfecting them over the last five years. Basically, the story of the record is such: In 2001, I returned to Memphis (where I had lived during 1996/1997) and decided to get in the studio with friends of mine, who some of you may or may not recognize from The Grifters. We cut five songs in the studio (Easley-McCain) and then another two tracks were recorded in my friend Dave's attic. When I returned home, I briefly shopped these songs around to see if there was any interest in putting out an EP. I found no takers, and decided that was fine and shelved the record. For friends and other interested parties, I would make this available in CD-R format as The Memphis Sessions or The Memphis EP. And that was to be the end of that, until I went to Chicago and recorded more songs with more friends. When I put those songs together with the songs from the Memphis sessions, I realized I had a great album on my hands and decided I should put this out there. Chicago and Memphis are great cities that hold many memories, friends and further adventures for me, and I will always consider them as homes away from home.

YOU COLLABORATED WITH CALIFONE DURING THE CHICAGO SESSIONS. HOW DID YOU END UP HOOKING UP WITH THOSE GUYS? I first met Tim [Rutili] and Ben [Massarella] in 1996 while in Chicago on a Grifters tour. We kept in touch over the years and had some discussions about collaborating on something in the future. In September of 2004 our schedules collided and the results of that time make up the first five songs that lead off Never Took A Wife.

HOW IS FLECTON DIFFERENT FROM MICHE? One is more unbalanced than the other.

FLECTON'S BAND IS THE DREAMCATCHERS. WHO ARE THESE GUYS, AND WILL THEY BE JOINING YOU FOR YOUR WAVELENGTH PERFORMANCE? These guys are Tom Werbowetski (drums) and Scott Terry (guitar), who've been a part of many a great Ottawa bands, including, but not limited to Werbo, Av and the Pirates, Ukrainia, The Banditas, South of 78, The Mystic Zealots and others. They will be with me during the Wavelength show.

WAVELENGTH HAS GIVEN A LOT OF LOVE TO THE KELP RECORDS ROSTER, INCLUDING GREENFIELD MAIN, THE ACORN AND RECOILERS. WHAT'S GOING ON IN OTTAWA OUTSIDE OF KELP? To name but a few things or people: Music For Cats, Shawn Scallen (punkottawa.com), Babylon Nightclub, The Million Dollar Marxists, www.amfraser.com, Aloha Room, Songbird Music, The Mighty Eagle Band, Bova Sound, and on and on-- it's all there once you get past all the shawarma shops and coffeehouses.

By Shaunna Bednarek

Joel McConvey met Stephanie Earp in 2000, when she challenged him to defend his negative review of her band. Four years later, they would ironically form a group of their own. In the space of a year they have built a strong live following, released an EP, and learned to bicker less often. Matt Blair spoke with the group about their unexpected success.

Your name doesn't sound very optimistic.
Joel: The best part about the whole name thing is that originally, for our first show, it was Stephanie Earp and the Lost Cause. We were supposed to play with Matt Barber, and then Matt Barber backed out, and so I ended up being the Lost Cause. The whole idea was that it was this tossed together show, with people who'¦
Steph: '¦Shouldn't get along, and wouldn't be able to make it to rehearsal. We came by this name utterly honestly. If you'd told me that we were going to still be playing, and playing as much as we are, and not killing each other and actually having fun, I probably wouldn't have believed it.

And now you're writing new material.
Steph: We're about two thirds of the way there with writing. I don't want to say it's more lighthearted, but it's less morose. It's more fun to play.

Your live show does sound much more uptempo than the record.
Joel: There's more energy. As we learn how to play with each other, the parts balance out. It did start where it was like, 'œHere're my songs, and you play on them.'? And now we have this space that we both play in, where we play how we play.
Steph: I can anticipate what he's going to like, too. I'll definitely find myself, while I'm working on parts at home, thinking about whether Joel's going to like a part and want to play to it.

When did you start to think that it could actually work?
Steph: For me, it was when we were recording [the Memorial EP]. We booked three days to do it, and I thought there was no way in hell this was going to work. I thought it was actually going to end the band. But we sounded better than we'd ever sounded in rehearsal, and that's when I started to think that it would really actually fly. And the record's done better on radio than I thought it would.
Joel: It wasn't so much that it started to get successful as it started to get fun. It's very cool to have people like it, because that makes me enjoy it more. But I'd like to get to a point where someone else loads my gear.

Within the indie scene, it seems like it's taboo to talk about success and money.
Steph: It's not that this is not an art form. But of the art forms, is it the one to take so seriously that we can't talk about making money from it?
Joel: Everyone in our generation that I know thinks office jobs suck. Why wouldn't you want to be a musician, and make a living from that? I can't imagine a better job.

But isn't a refusal to talk about money and success actually a refusal to take your band seriously?
Steph: There's a fear of ridicule, the idea that somebody could be laughing at you for taking it seriously. I'm definitely coming to terms with the fact that I wanted something so badly, and it didn't work. When I was between bands, I thought it was over, and I thought it was rather embarrassing how aggressive and ambitious I'd been, considering it went nowhere.
Joel: Yeah, but your old band sucked hard.
Steph: They were all great players. They were all working very much under my directions. I take full responsibility for the sucking. We were a fun party band, but it wasn't as I thought it was. I took it really seriously. And I take this really seriously too, but I'd like to think that this is a little bit more worthy of my attention.
Joel: I don't take this seriously at all.

By Matt Blair