Gravity Wave
WL 352
Sunday, February 25 -- 11pm
Purveyor of: failed folk

Armed with MTV Music Generator for the original Playstation (the same program Jim Guthrie used), Ken Farrell quickly created Gravity Wave’s first record Martyr’s Bridge. The result was an electro-pop creation with lyrics like “Jump/ Fireball/ Jump/ Fireball/ Wait/ Run” from “Princess,” the song that probably runs through Mario’s head while he tries to beat level 4 in Mario 3. But according to Ken, Martyr’s Bridge was supposed to be a folk record. In order to get to the bottom of this, Miles Baker called Ken at Varsity Hockey where he helps train the next generation of hockey hopefuls.

First of all, I’m impressed that you went to school on a hockey scholarship. That’s pretty awesome!

Yeah. You know, I’m not the only one to ever do it but I’m probably the only one in Toronto indie rock.

When you were younger, was there a battle between being a rock star or an NHLer?

Totally. Just that when I thought about it long and hard I thought I’d be able to write songs forever and I knew that hockey’s a game for young guys. So I played until my body gave out and then went back to rock.

You said in your email that “there was no gimmick I wouldn’t try. But there’s a couple I haven’t got around to yet.” I was wondering what gimmicks you might be planning for Wavelength?

Oh, no way. There’s no way I’m going to give you the inside scoop on what I’m planning—it’s spectacle and surprise. If people knew what was coming it wouldn’t be any fun. The show’s a gimmick from the start, right? It’s like a karaoke rock show with a four-track cassette tape that I’m singing along to.

At last week’s show there is this guy named Tom, a twelve-year old, he started out as just a fan, then he started to coming to the show. He shakes tambourine with a lot of bands, so he shakes tambourine with me a little bit now. So last show, I just left him on stage. I walked off in the middle and I went to the sound booth in the back and had Tom step up to the mic. From the booth I said what I wanted him to say and he acted it out.

Okay. For Wavelength we have a script for this one, there’s dancers, there’s actors, there’s guest musicians. It’s going to be silly on Sunday night.

That sounds amazing.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Wavelength is one of those shows I’ve been waiting for, looking forward to and finally got asked to play, so I’m not holding anything back.

You said that Martyr’s Bridge was supposed to be a folk record.

Yeah. I got really upset when Neil Young came out and said “I released my anti-war protest record because I waited so long and no one else did it.” The point is that none of us have a major label record deal or distribution like that he has. So even if we are sitting in our bedrooms writing folk songs—and protest songs—doesn’t mean that Neil Young is going to hear them.

I’m a social justice guy—anarchy and the whole thing—but I didn’t want to go to a live show and play an acoustic guitar and a folk set: sit around and have the audience interested but whispering quietly at candle lit tables, stroking their goatees. I still try to weave social consciousness in there, but we have to have fun. If we’re going to protest, I don’t want to spend the rest of my days protesting upset. I’ll protest, but we got to party.

Is that why you turned to the MTV Generator as your main backup?

I tuned to that out of frustration, I guess. I had a rock and roll band I was in—I was writing most of the songs for them. With four other people in the band it was hard to coordinate rehearsal time, shows, tours and finances. It got to the point where we weren’t able to update our set. So I had this videogame and I started out saying “I’ll just make a demo for the band. That’ll save us some time at rehearsal—we can learn a song quicker.” But the demo was better than the song. So I tried it again and I got to the point where that’s all I wanted to do.

Now it just takes a couple of hours and the song is done. If it is no good, fuck, I’ll write another one tomorrow. If it is good it’s done and I can move on. It’s just efficient.

Do you think you’ll go back to working with musicians at a different time?

Yeah, I will. I’m planning a show with a 35-piece band in Montreal sometime in early 2008. That’s one of my big goals.

I sat around watching Lawrence Welk reruns on public television for about six months. Then when I found out it was on twice a day on Sunday I was just done. It’s just a bunch of people playing little parts—so unlike the rock and roll bands I see where everyone has to play all the way through every song. I wanted to hear what rock and roll would sound like if Lawrence Welk was getting his orchestra to play it. Everyone plays their one little bit, the rest of the time they sit there in the uniform, look good, and smile the whole time. The Playstation band never complains about not getting laid, or that their part is two seconds long in a four minute song.

Speaking of getting laid, which has better groupies: rock and roll or hockey?

Wow. There’s no way not to incriminate myself here. I gotta tell you, the rock and roll groupies dress so much better. They look good, they listen to good stuff, and they have interesting conversations. The Hockey groupies? Well, I’m not going to tell you they don’t have their perks, but the perks were not intellectual or aesthetic.