You know that band where the dude won't tell you whether his bandmate is his wife or his sister? Five Blank Pages' Noyan Hilmi one-ups Jack White by being in a band with both his sister, Chelen Hilmi and wife-to-be, Pinar Ozyetis. Together, the three of them make what often referred to as 'œeast coast-flavoured indie pop with an oversized heart.'? The heart is definitely apparent in their Sunday League Records EP, Spaces to Occupy and Abandon. Shaunna Bednarek saw Noyan's large Coca-Cola with her own Diet Coke from across the table at Sneaky Dee's, and they had a nice little chat.

SO, NOYAN, YOU JUST FLED BRAMPTON FOR THE BIG CITY, EH?
I lived in Brampton, she lived in Mississauga and my sister was in Toronto as of a year ago, so the whole band's here now. Me and my fiancée just moved here together. We're all logistically closer together but the whole world of not practicing in my parents' basement is a lot different now. We have a rehearsal space. It's harder to steal dad's van now, but it's all good.

THAT'S RIGHT, IT'S YOU, YOUR SISTER AND YOUR FIANCEE IN THE BAND TOGETHER. HOW DOES THAT DYNAMIC WORK OUT?
It's pretty good. We know each other so well already so it's not like you have strangers in the band where you have to get accustomed to how they are. It's different being in a band than just hanging out, so obviously, there were some things that we had to get used to but we work pretty well together.

I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN WANTING TO PLAY WAVELENGTH FOR A YEAR OR SO. WHAT ABOUT WAVELENGTH APPEALED TO YOU?
Well, I finally got off my ass and did something about it! There was so much other stuff on the go, and there's always so many opportunities in Toronto, it seems. If I have three shows lined up in Toronto in a month or two, I don't want to solicit. I wanted to make sure that it was a good time, if you were interested in having us anyway. But I've been reading the online magazine for awhile now and I respect the way it's booked. The showcase itself is a really good mix of bands and I love the indie rock scene. A lot of my friends' bands, like Spitfires and Mayflowers, The Bicycles, Meligrove Band and Vulcan Dub Squad have all played it and I wanted to make sure that we were involved in it as well. It's pretty cool that you've got this thing that's every Sunday and something that's established.

I HAVE TO GET THE REALLY LAME QUESTION OUT OF THE WAY NOW. WHY IS IT FIVE BLANK PAGES WHEN THERE'S ONLY THREE OF YOU?
We do get asked that a lot! I don't look forward to the day when our lineup grows to five people! It's actually one of the songs on our EP that's out right now, called 'œFive Blank Pages.'? The band was actually called Noyz before which was a nickname that someone gave me in university and I was playing solo, and it kinda grew out of that into a band. I asked my girlfriend and sister to join, and I felt there needed to be a name change as well. Plus, some people would see the old name and think we were a nu-metal band, or something. I wanted a name that reflected what we were doing'”an indie pop rock kinda ethic. After almost considering about 200 names, it just fell onto a song I had written.

YOU KNOW, NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK HAD A SIMILAR STORY. THEY WERE CALLED NYNUK, BUT THEY HAD A SONG ON THEIR FIRST ALBUM CALLED 'œNEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK'? AND DECIDED TO RE-NAME THEMSELVES AFTER IT. SO YOU'RE IN GOOD COMPANY!
Seriously? Us and New Kids, we go hand-in-hand, so that's pretty cool.

NOW THAT THE EP'S BEEN DONE FOR AWHILE, ANY PLANS FOR AN ALBUM?
We're all very busy but we do as much as we can. I've been writing a lot ever since it was released. I'm working on about 20 or so songs right now to make into a full-length album, so we'll whittle that down to maybe 10 songs and make a cohesive album that we could really enjoy. The writing process is longer now, and the arrangements are becoming a little more complicated, but we've always said that we don't want to release anything that we're not ready to. We'd like to bring out something that, if anyone has an appetite for our music, it will fulfill it.

YOU PLAY SO MANY SHOWS ALL THE TIME. ANY PARTICULAR STAND-OUT SHOWS?
We opened for Spookey Ruben this past spring in Peterborough, which was pretty cool. Me and my sister were big fans of his back in the mid-90's and he's still been doing pretty well. He came up to us after and said he really enjoyed our set and we traded CD's. It was kinda weird because when you're really young, watching 'œThese Days Are Old'? on MuchMusic and he becomes someone you get to open for and he says that he enjoys your music, too, it's great! The music that I write is influenced a lot in part by the music I listened to in the 90's when I was a teenager.