It must be essay season at the schools because The Great Awake and Wavelength's Evan Dickson have the quasi-intellectual bullshitometer cranked to eleven. Thrill! As The Great Awake fumbles to explain that they are good. Furrow! your brow as Evan Dickson shoehorns postmodernism into an otherwise meaningless question. Double-take! at the presence of two Evans in one interview. This is one Wavelength interview you'll have to see to read!

So, are you guys any good?

Thom: Well there's a lot bands out there and there are a many debate over who is good and who's bad. I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, let's agree to disagree I guess. But if we were to consciously evaluate ourselves it would be based on the work we put in, the unwillingness to settle on something that doesn't feel right and the amount of people moving at our shows (even though Toronto sometimes suffers from fear of dance syndrome). Are we any good? Fuck I hope not. I hope were better than good because good is something you say to someone that hasn't knocked you on your fucking ass, but what can we really say but come out and see for yourself.

Jordan: There is times when we would say yes, and times when we would say no. But at the end of a show, the only non-biased and non-modest opinions we can trust are the responses from the crowd, and they are always positive.

Paul and F. Nietzsche: 'One is praised only by one's peers. And whoever judges you says: I am your peer.' We feel that those who judge us make us fortunate.

Evan: That's classified.

Your music sounds very earnest. Don't you know that postmodernism killed sincerity?

Evan: While postmodernism has an obvious bias against truth or anything other than individual and group constructs, the Dadaists and all post-Enlightenment thinkers were sincere in their insincerity, as evidenced by Jacques Derrida's cultural artifacting.
I mean, no.

What effect might listening to your music have on somebody with the 'winter blahs'?

Paul and F. Nietzsche: 'A single joyless person is enough to create constant discouragement and cloudy skies for a whole household, and it's a miracle if there is not one person like that. Happiness is not nearly as contagious. Why?' We will try our best to cure any ones seasonal affect disorder on Feb.5th at Wavelength and if anyone can't make it they can catch us at Canadian Music Week on March 2nd at Rancho Relaxo. We are looking forward to both shows immensely and hope to see you there.

I'm involved in an international CD-swap right now. If I send somebody in Helsinki a Great Awake song, what impression will they have of Toronto?

Jordan: There actually isn't a proper way of saying 'œThe Great Awake'? in Finnish. The closest is probably 'œSe Erinomainen Infinitiivi'? which (when out of context) roughly translates as: 'œWide awake but oh so nice'?. The music feels a lot like Toronto does: There is diversity and a nervous energy to our songs. You can always find beauty amidst the chaos. And you can always find a place to drink and dance with your friends.

Who is awake and from what?

Josh: We go through our entire lives "asleep". Even during the day, we unconsciously and unthinkingly plod through the hours, living out the script of our meaningless existence and never truly waking beyond a rudimentary level of awareness. The band's name refers to a lofty, possibly unattainable state of total awareness, acceptance and therefore power over one's existential environment. Its resemblance to English is incidental, actually deriving from the Old Dutch term "Groette Waek", meaning "Groette's Week", an annual festival held to honour the ancient, semi-mythical Dutch national hero St. Groette who attained the Great Awake and ascended to heaven from the banks of the Zuider Zee. Just kidding. How the hell should I know? I just joined this band and they won't tell me.