Gaven Dianda has long played the sideman in numerous groups, the best known of which would be the Flashing Lights. But as a long-time psychedelic flag-bearer, he lets his acoustic acid-tinged songs soar with his new band, The Saffron Sect, of which he is the sole leader. In a late-night conversation, Dianda told Tyrone Warner about why he has never been ashamed of the term 'retro', and why people dig his vibrations.

You recorded the Phosphorus Flash EP with a host of players, so who will be playing with you for your live shows?

We have Katie on the flute and the dulcimer, and Matt on the stand up bass, Jay on various percussive things like tabla and finger cymbals, and myself on guitar and kazoo. I lost my kazoo in Montreal, and I have to find another one. They're hard to find these days. It's like sunglasses; you have to buy them cheap because you'll lose them.

How is The Saffron Sect different from other groups you've been in?

It's something that's been brewing for a while, it's been something I wanted to do since I moved out of Hamilton. The difference, from the other bands I've been in, is that I'm the captain of the ship. I've been a first mate for a while, now I get to decide what direction to go in. It's a challenge and I tend to be lackadaisical. It's taken a while to manifest.

What kind of music fan would you say The Saffron Sect appeals to?

I'd like to think that it appeals to somebody who likes definitive ideas of music. We're not very ambiguous'¦ we're very specific. Perhaps it's somebody who wants to see a glimpse of a new utopia. I'd like to think of us as a breath of fresh air for some people who may not already be in that kind of bag already. A lot of people will get it because that's what they already listen to at home. Like folk-rock or psychedelic bullshit music, that sort of stuff. If they dig the vibration, that's great. It's not full of pretence, or the contrivance a lot of bands struggle under. I just like to lay it down, you know?

Do you see The Saffron Sect fitting into this new wave of psychedelic bands?

I'm a part of the old wave of psychedelic bands! That's the thing, I guess we fit in by default. I've been making this kind of music since the 90s were young! I've seen trendy bullshit come and go, I've seen it ebb and flow, and I just do what I do. People are now willing to fork out their mental energy, to extend their thought and seek out interesting bands, that don't sound like all the horrible, bulgingly monotonous indie rock, which has become a bad caricature of itself. So be it, it's all the better for people making dissonant kind of music.

Why do you think psych is coming back now?

I think in a weird way, people are interested in this back-to-nature sort of folk bullshit music. I think it's a rejection of the idea that all the indie rock of value, or any other alternative thing has already been completely co-opted and played out by pop culture. People want something real without the taint of that disappointment on their lips. They want something genuine.

Some people blame it on the Lord of the Rings.

Yeah'¦ no. I don't know. I'm going to steer clear of that one. I did learn how to write an elfish show at one point in my life history, but that was a while back. I don't know how to explain that sort of thing. I think that young people these days, the younger fans aren't really shackled by the sort of preconceptions about this kind of music that maybe their older brothers and sisters were. They're not so easily dismissive of stuff that's maybe more niche-specific musically. With this technological music bullshit going on, with short attention spans, for all the harm it's done, its probably made people more curious musically.

I used to get written off for being retro in the nineties, and now people don't really bat an eye. People just understand that certain threads have always been going on in musical history and maybe they're just catching up to the big picture.

I have to admit, I love the EP. It's not often something that creative and interesting crosses my desk.

I'm glad it's out there; it's been a long time. A lot of those songs are from 1996. I'm glad people can finally hear it and dig it. I've been labouring under the apprehension that nobody would be into it.

When I listen to it, I get that its inspired by a foreign culture, but how does today's culture or influence fit into the band?

This culture really gives me something to strike against. The only way this kind of shit is possible is through all the good things that we've got. I'm not choosing one thing over another, that's just how we roll. Everything is here, we can pick and choose. This is the modern age. I'm not trying to stick my head in the sand, culturally. This is a good question. Let's just say people probably musically melded more with other countries in the 12th century than what we give them credit for. All this stuff has been a part of our culture, and we've forgotten that. It takes synthesis to remember that kind of thing. Indian modes and Irish modes really aren't that dissimilar.

So what does it all come down to?

We're painting with sound, all cultural jibber-jabber aside; I've always been into stringed instruments. I love the sitar, and it sounds good with guitar. It's like the last song on the EP, Wild Woods of the North, basically a re-raggified Irish Appalachian ballad. That's our mission statement right there. People have been fusing things since the folk boom in the 50s, so I recognize we are not doing anything new, in a sense of meaning something in the modern age. I guess you could say its non-pop music, because it's a rejection of sort of what's going on in music today.

By Tyrone Warner