Saskatoon. That's basically two bowling alleys and a hockey rink with a Tim Horton's next to it in the middle of a wheat field, right? I've never been there, so I can't say, but it's mighty tempting to agree. What I now know, though, is that it is the home of the self-anointed creators and sole purveyors of "Demolition Rock", theUltimate Power Duo. The Duo - actually a trio - aren't entirely unlike the Ramones, recording in a garage pissed on JD and malt liquor, slurring and chanting about transformers, U.S. foreign policy and good old-fashioned boozing. His curiosity aroused, Pras Rajagopalan had a couple of swigs of something brown, unpleasant smelling and semi-alcoholic, and had a luv-er-ly little chat with the entirely polite and likeable guitarist/singer Scott RP as he talked about the UPD's upcoming Warped Tour dates in western Canada and why his hometown is not such a dull place after all.

WHAT IS UPD'S DRINK OF CHOICE?
UPD's drink of choice is Guinness. Of course there are others. Jagermeister. Vodka. Tequila. With UPD, it's all systems go!

WHAT IS THE MOST COMPLIMENTARY THING YOU CAN SAY ABOUT SASKATOON?
It's that little town in Canada. It's a hidden find. There's a great music scene. We probably have some of the better clubs in western Canada. Everyone knows everyone here. Everyone here works that much harder. Isolation breeds creativity, basically.

AND THE LEAST?
I guess you can get kind of complacent in this environment. And the jobs here suck.

HOW DID YOU GET THE WARPED TOUR GIG?
I got this email from someone who asked us if we wanted to play the Warped Tour. I told them we'd love to, and we sent them a demo, and that was it. I almost didn't do it though. I got lazy and I think I was kind of stoned so I almost didn't get around to it. But then I figured, let's just send it anyway. Now I think we're going to be playing one of the five main stages. We'll be playing with Brat Attack and Bombs Over Providence and another good fucking band on that label. What was their name? I forget.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE, GOING INTO THIS BIG FESTIVAL ATMOSPHERE?
I have no worries. I don't care if we're playing to one person or 10,000. As far as that stuff goes, I don't feel any competition. I'm not trying to be cocky or anything, but as far as it comes to our band, I feel it's a case of 'take it or leave it'.

DEFINE 'œDEMOLITION ROCK'?.
Demolition rock is the bastard child of 70's punk and rock'n'roll. Rock'n'roll is attitude '“ how you carry yourself. I think we have that. As far as the state of the music industry goes, I'm not so sure. I think there should be more honesty in music. I mean, I would love to have that major label marketing money. I would love to have crazy distribution and marketing to get the music out to people. What I can do without is the label telling me, 'œThis is your market, this is who you're playing to, and this is what you should sound like'?.

THE LONGEST SONG THAT YOU HAVE RECORDED IS A LITTLE OVER TWO AND A HALF MINUTES, AND MOST ARE UNDER TWO MINUTES LONG. YOU GUYS REALLY LIKE TO GET DOWN TO BUSINESS, HUH?
That was our mission. Let's just punch 'em in the head and go away instead of writing four and a half minute songs that go on forever. Many songwriters do the verse/chorus/bridge thing. We don't really do that. We trim the fat, so to speak, but it's not like it's a plan. It just sort of happens.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE 2 MINUTE SONG?
Ultimate Power Duo deforms Moon Formation. It came out of nowhere '“ we got tanked on 40's and we just sort of spit it out. We were so excited about it we trashed my fucking basement.

NAME ONE THING YOU DEARLY WISH YOU COULD DO AS A BAND FROM NOW UNTIL YOUR EVENTUAL DEMISE.
World domination. I think it's there for the taking, I'm gonna go for it. I mean, if the US can do it, why not a rock'n'roll band? I'mtrying to present something that I believe in and will stand by it, regardless of what other people say.

By Pras Rajagopalan