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.

Pyramid Culture is part of a new wave of concept bands in Toronto. The term 'œconcept band'? is quickly being equated with 'œjoke band'?, and while that's sometimes a fair comparison, Pyramid Culture are far from a joke. These four girls sing minimalist harmonies over catchy electro beats and their content is purely academic. You won't find any cop-out love songs here. Ryan McLaren sent some questions to the band, and they responded with a united voice.

How did you guys come together?

The magnetic force of pyramid power brought all four of us, incarnations of the great pyramid spirit, together onto a certain Toronto-based vessel. We were bonded by the triadic-power of our names and we knew, once and for all, that the pyramid had called us to start this mission.

What roles do you all play within the band? Kat (Collins, of Barcelona Pavilion and Republic of Safety fame) seems like the leader, but is that the reality? How do your songs come together?

Tallulah heads the cult of efficiency. Kat provides rhythmic understanding. Ignacia is the heart, the soul, the bosom. Catherine is the gladiator, ensuring 'œbeneviolence'?. Kat's previous experience in the music scene helped her find the right collaborators to start this project with, but within the group our work is 100% collaborative. We try to operate as the four points at the base of a pyramid - each has an important role to play in raising the whole. We are inspired to write about serious subjects like math and science, and within the band we encourage each other to be creative and to think outside the traditional boundaries of what a "band" can be about. We're very interested in scientific and medical discoveries, and in ecology. We read the BBC science news and choose the subjects that strike us as being most relevant to our mandate of trying to discuss these kinds of ideas in pop-song form. The heartbeats of our pyramidal overlords inspire us to create complex and mysterious beats.

Can you explain the concept of your band?

Initially, we wanted to stick with a strict pyramid-themed mandate. When we started the band, we were very interested in the Piri Reis map, found in 16th century Europe and showing the continent of Antarctica as it would look free of ice - a reality that hasn't been the case for much longer than 500 years. We began drawing parallels between this mystery and the origins of the pyramids. As we got more into sacred geometry and mathematics, we became interested in more scientific ideas as well. Our 'œconcept'? is to sing about the only subjects we find truly relevant '“ science, nature, ecology, and the fate of our world today.

There seems to be a rise in concept bands around Toronto recently. Dollarama, Garbage!Violence!Enthusiasm!, and The Blankket, for example. Care to comment on the concept of concept bands?

The concept bands that are currently on the rise often get discounted because they're not seen as "real musicians" or as being "serious" about their craft. Toronto is a very fertile place right now, creatively - and it's amazingly open to new ideas and concepts. We don't sing in perfect pitch, and we aren't trained singers, but we don't find that fact relevant to our artistic project. Art isn't the same as craft - it's not about being a trained musician or a trained scientist, it's about creating something real, and something you are serious about. There are only so many melodies. We incorporate ALL IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS! In the new year, Jennifer Lopez Knife will be releasing a compilation CD called Bad Bands Revolution that will include bands like Dollarama and Garbage!Violence!Enthusiasm!. This compilation will articulate further some of our ideas about how music and participation in a music scene can take many different forms, and how the validity of that participation doesn't come out of musical proficiency but the commitment and integrity of the project.

As a band without instruments, how do you engage your audience?

We're still working on a way to truly engage with our audience in the physical moment of performance, but in the meantime, we try to present them with compelling material and interesting and educational ideas. Audiences seem to identify with our lack of pretension. We don't want any mediation between us and other people. We resist instruments as artificial dividers. This allows the audience to really connect with what we are saying.

Are you working on an album?

We're working on a split 7" with Laura Barrett, a split 12" with 10,000 Watt Head and a split tape with Dollarama, after which we'll be releasing an EP of our own.

This is the part of the interview where you ask YOURSELF a question. Go ahead, ask anything (and answer it).

If Pyramid Culture the band was an actual PYRAMID CULTURE, which one would it be and why?

The lost pyramid culture of Antarctica - a continent so far removed from our understanding that we can't even begin to comprehend it, and yet - a culture that we suspect might have been as rich as any other we do have record of. The fact that any Antarctican culture is lost to us makes it a vessel for our imaginings. Like the continent of Mu or the lost city of Atlantis, the pyramid culture of Antarctica awakens in us the desire to believe that once upon a time, there existed a people who had truly gotten it right. They were civilized, peaceful, progressive, scientifically and artistically developed - all the things we wish our own world could become.

How do you go about explaining this'¦ music played by grown men using the simplest of instruments; anything cheaply made and bought that will make a sound? Is it art or just cacophony? Is it the beginning of a revolution, or a sign of the coming apocalypse? Harkening back to the very cradle of civilization, where our Neolithic ancestors discovered the very ways to make music with whatever they found, Dollarama is more than just camp, it's primordial. Mike Perreault decided to let the thrift store experts elaborate: 'œDollarama was thought up by Aaron. Dollarama was put into motion by Aaron & Eric, the two core members. Dollarama is a collective. Dollarama is a lifestyle. Dollarama has featured Lee, Matthew & Sonny. Dollarama could feature you as well.'? So, we can bring a dustpan that we bought at the dollar store and jam with you guys?

Dollar store instruments? How do you keep your gear in working order, given the sketchy nature of dollar store toys?

Aaron Bronsteter: We don't. We break stuff on a regular basis, often intentionally.

Eric Warner: We carry our "gear" around in garbage bags. We're low-maintenance and as much as we should care, realize we can find new equipment with relative ease.

Do you incorporate other non-musical/toy dollar store items in your music?

A/E: Hammers, foil pans, clipboards, cheese grates, bowls, vases, whatever we can find that is capable of making noise, which can be pretty much anything. We use old tapes, which have included: Berenstein Bears, Dance Mix 95, He-Man/She-Ra, Mariah Carey and it will probably continue to grow. Young MC forever!

What's with the knock-off action figures sold at dollar stores, like "Star Force" or "Police Commando". I mean, who are they kidding, right?

A: We're not concerned about that, we're concerned with making critically-acclaimed music to get the asses into the seats and the albums off the shelves.

What's the strangest thing that's ever happened to you at a dollar store? Did it involve old people?

A: When I first came up with the concept for the band, I went into a dollar store and started banging on things and asked the storekeeper '“ an albino Russian man '“ to help me find instruments and he walked around the store with me and tried to show me what made noise.

Ever given a shot at trying a cover song with the dollar store instruments? I'd imagine "Mother" by Danzig would be fairly easy to pull off.

A: On the Danzig note, we have covered a Misfits song before, as well as Captain Beefheart, Rick Springfield, KoRn and BTK. All of whom are huge influences on our music.

E: If you give us a topic, we'll make a song out of it. Sometimes that results in us breaking into covers after being inspired by audience members. We recently crashed a Christmas show on the grounds that all our members that night were Jewish and we didn't feel there was proper representation. There was a compromise and "Driedel, Driedel, Driedel" was covered by both religions.

Would Dollarama the band ever consider a sponsorship from Dollarama the chain?

A: Definitely, but I think they'd probably give us a cease and desist order before any sort of sponsorship.

E: We're going to play a show outside a Dollarama in the near future. It has to be free-standing though.

OK, spill the beans: where are the best dollar stores in downtown Toronto? I wanna know where Dollarama gets their magic from.

A: To be honest, the only dollar stores that I've shopped at are Dollarama at the Woodbine Centre and Cloverdale Mall, The Silver Dollar at Fairview Mall and a store called Dollar Blitz, home of the albino Russian.

E: I'm not too picky, although after trying to find the best sounding instruments after a while would give you a chip of sorts, as you gain an advantage.