Paul Mortimer is in a lot of great bands, which you probably love but maybe just don't know he's in. His new solo project, Mortimercy, makes its Wavelength debut this month. Jeff Wright asked him some questions about his shady past, community, and Sloan.

Could you give the WL readership a quick Paul Mortimer bio? Where you're from, what bands you're in, and a little bit about Mortimercy?

I'm from Malton, which is a suburb of Mississauga, near the airport and Southern GTA like Etobicoke and Rexdale. I've been living downtown for about two years, but I have been playing shows and involved with music here since I was 16, when I was in a band called Size Sevens. Other bands are the Pauls, Jon-Rae and the River, and Awesome. Mortimercy was originally going to be my part of the next Pauls record, which wasn't made because we broke up. So then I threw those songs away and now have all new ones for a recording I'll do soon called Demortimercy.

Who's helping you make the album?

Matt Smith is helping and I think Colin and Alex from Awesome will help too. I think Jon Rae will help cause he has this old two track recorder from the 50s that people like Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly used, and was used for all those old field recordings that Alan Lomax or whatever did. Paul Julien from the Pauls is going to help me with performing on it.

Is Mortimercy going to eventually be a full band then? Are you playing with anyone at the Wavelength show?

I don't know what Mortimercy will be for the Wavelength show. It's too early to tell. I won't know exactly what going to happen until the day of the show. That's what's nice about being a solo act; if worst comes to worst, I can just play alone. I don't have to rely on anyone. No one can let me down and I can't let anyone down. That's why the Pauls stopped playing together. We kept letting each other down and pressuring each other and hurting each other. If you're alone, no one can hurt you.

I was watching my Sloan DVD, a little while back, and saw Paul Julien in the "If it Feels Good Do It" video with some mysterious person hangin' around in the background. My roommate, Dylan, said was definitely you, but I say it doesn't look like you at all. Is it? What's your Sloan story?

That is me. Ron Baker (from the Size Sevens) and Paul J. know those guys and were pretty friendly with them. We got asked to be in the video, or we asked them if we could be in it, I can't remember; I wasn't involved with that part. That's it. I was in a Sloan music video when I was 17. Ron, and guys I knew in high school who were older, were in, like, every one of their videos, somewhere.

I saw The Pauls sing a Lullabye Arkestra song at last year's Wavelength anniversary, but that's the only time I got to see you guys play. Do you think that at some point down the road, I could convince you guys to play a reunion show?

Me and Paul are going to do music together again, or make some art together or something. I don't know if we'll do those old tunes anymore, though. We didn't really do stuff off that first Pauls recording (the one I recorded when I was 17) when we were playing in support of that Pauls or Nothing CD-R. I hate reunions. Bands should never do that. I would rather progress together, or separately, and not dwell on the past. Leave it behind and move on. Reunion implies that you're still broken up or don't plan on working together artistically in the future. It also implies cashing in on post-band fame or importance. Me and Paul never really "broke up". It wasn't so much a band as a partnership, and we kind of put that on hold cause we were stressing each other out. So no, we won't do a reunion show, but if we have something together as the Pauls you can book us. E-mail the_pauls@hotmail.com.

What are your top three things community events or happenings from 2005? What are you excited for in 2006?

The Clap at the Boat and probably the stuff Awesome did in Trinity Bellwoods those couple of times. Those were really fun. I'm excited for a tour with Castlemusic, Anna Linda, James Anderson, Wyrd Visions, Mortimercy and Magali in May, too. We're gonna do a compilation together, tour the States and do some shows in Canada. Like Toronto and Montreal, I think.

That sounds amazing. I think that's about all the words I'm allowed to hand in, so thanks a lot, and will you autograph my Sloan DVD?

Sure.