Since Guelph singer-songwriter Nathan Coles has picked up electric accompaniment, his wistful acoustic dynamic has changed into a resonant, catchy, electric twang. He and his Outfit, comprised of Guelph locals Jordan Howard, Chris Hierlihy, and Vish Khanna, released a well-received debut album in 2005 and have been hooking earnest alt-country hearts ever since. Allana Mayer was lucky enough to get all four members to reveal some dirty secrets.

You'll have to explain the album title to me and everyone in Wavelengthland: Twelve Upheavals that Brought the Redwoods to Flight.

Nathan Coles: A collection of bits of bother that is strong enough to bring the largest creatures on the planet to flight, to be tired of this place and say, '˜Screw this.'

There seems to be this big network of Canadian indie-rockers like Elkas, the Rheostatics, Sexsmith, Doug Tielli solo. You guys are in on it now: is there an evil underlord feeding inspiration to each of you?

NC: Yes and his name is the Lord Jesus W. Christ.

How can I join?

NC: Go swinging with a Mormon.

I assume the Outfit likes to rock out when not playing soulful alt-country stuff. Tell me you have an AC/DC soft spot, or an addiction to Zappa, or something.

Vish Khanna: I love AC/DC but there's absolutely nothing soft about our spot.

Getting your first gig at Hillside was pretty rawk. In order to raise the bar, which one of you is mostly likely to start doing a celebrity?

VK: I do a mean impression of Guy Picciotto singing 'œFolsom Prison Blues'? and Gordon Lightfoot doing 'œWaiting Room.'? Oh wait, you mean 'œdoing'? like with sexual intercourse? Actually, I'm already 'œdoing'? a celebrity. My fiancée is famous'¦

Jordan Howard: Hierlihy. He is a man made of clay?

Matching uniforms for band members (Danielson, Sufjan) seem to be the next big thing. Why doesn't the Outfit have an outfit?

VK: Actually I once sang a verse in a Danielson Famile song at a show of theirs in Brooklyn. Daniel does this thing where he plants people in the crowd with verses from 'œDon't You Be The Judge'? and I was one of those people but I screwed it all up and didn't sing where I was supposed to. Oh the glare I got from Sufjan. But I digress'¦. This question puts me in mind of one of those visual tricks where the image just goes on infinitely. You know what I mean? Like the cover of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma where the picture just keeps going and going? Damn it, what are those called? Anyway, the idea that the Outfit might have an outfit makes me wonder what would happen if that outfit in turn had its own outfit and so on and so forth. I'm pretty much straight-edge so the trippiness of all this is unintentional. Uhhh'¦next question man.

How has the Outfit dynamic changed the solo Nathan Coles material?

JoHo: Nate brings the meat and potatoes, we season and spice.

Chris Hierlihy: Yeah, and it's gotten way louder and it tends to get faster, too.'¨
What's the new songwriting process?

NC: We wrap up basically anybody we see with plastic, hit'˜em with sticks for a while, and we listen.

When's some new stuff getting released? You can't just live off a debut album forever, you know.

VK: Tell that to Elton John. You should seriously tell him that; it'd confuse the shit out of him.

JoHo: New songs are surfacing and we will find a place for them to '¨rest... some time... after now'¦.

By Allana Mayer