Rock Plaza Central is big (seven members) and fun and earnest. Their country-ish, folky-ish rock music will appeal to fans of Jon-Rae and the River and proponents of smoking pot in rural areas. The new album, called Are We Not Horses, sounds an awful lot like the score to an old-timey radio play but in a sort of D.N.T.O./Cancon way. Kate Carraway talked to her pal Chris Eaton about his band and his other pursuits that aren't totally related to his band but whatever.

Did someone in your band have a baby a little while ago?

We have more babies than all the other bands in Toronto have put together.

Well, not actually. But all told, there will be five band children by the end of September (I think Rob's partner is due on the 23rd), with three of them coming in the last eight months. Makes touring difficult. Not that having a seven-piece doesn't already make it somewhat difficult.

Are you, like, band pimp? Do you run tings?

We'd fight a lot less if someone would actually run things, I think. It took us probably a month to come up with the song order for the new disc.

I am the oldest surviving member, however.

What are you listening to? I am listening exclusively to Hilary Duff this week.

[My wife] and I are visiting family in New Brunswick, and her sister has a one-year old, so I'm listening to a lot of bilingual (English/Spanish) CDs for kids. One song is about a mother who must make the tortillas for the father's belly.

I wanted to see your other interviews to prepare myself, and I came across an article you wrote about Kittie. I played one of their first shows in Toronto, believe it or not, opening solo. [It was] a big industry thing at the Rivoli. This was years ago, so they were probably 16 or something. One of them asked if I wanted to join them on stage so they could spank me. It was frightening.

Also, because it was this big thing before they were signed, they had a guest list that ran for pages. When it came my turn to work the door, I basically let everyone in for free because they were all on the list and I got bored looking their names up plus one. But then I saw Moe Berg, who I knew wasn't on the list, so I told him he had to pay the cover. It was so fun.

Are you still in advertising?

Yes and no. I will undoubtedly have to return at some point, but I decided to quit in May and live at the bare bones minimum for the rest of the year to only write fiction. I wanted to finish my next novel this fall (the story in [the Strong Words anthology] is a chapter from it). But so far, I took a month to make the new album and a month to write a short story for Maisonneuve magazine. Then I've been visiting my parents. I've barely had a chance to work on it. But starting Monday, the novel will be a 9-5 job for me again.

Tell me about making the new CD.

Tell you about making the CD? That's not the kind of question I was expecting. Is there anything specific you'd like to know? We did all the bed tracks in one day, and then overdubs in two, but that's boring.

We did it on the Island, and there's an elementary school over there, so we
got this Grade 3 class to come over on a day's notice and scream at us. Actually, I wrote that song while we were there, and also "Our Hearts Will Not Rust". I can go months without writing songs because I spend so much time working on fiction, and then in the studio I just write things on the spot. On the last CD, we went in with six songs and recorded twelve, all in two days. This time we had a few more.

Or do you want to know how we started writing songs about robotic horses who think they are real horses? That started about two and half years ago. I had written a few songs without any real plan to them, and gradually I realized that they all had lyrics that dealt with machinery and horses. Over the next two years, I realized that the story had something to do with the Armageddon songs on the last disc, with robotic horses fighting with humanity to kill the army of angels (who come in as friends, like in V, and then, whoa), and then wondering if they fought for the right side, especially when the humans try to tell them they're not real. Eventually, one horse falls in love with an angel and they both head off, a la Chrysalids, to find a place where they are welcome. They've heard about a place that's far away, and they can see some lights in the distance that they think must be it. And so they're running towards these lights, not realizing that they're only the stars, which they'll never reach. But that's okay because they love running, and they're happiest together, and this way they'll be running together forever.

Sweet, huh?

By Kate Carraway