WL 366 - Sunday, June 3 – 11pm
Purveyors of: Knicky Knicky Nine Doors

With two EPs and several tours already under their belts, Knock Knock Ginger’s recordings and live shows have become surprisingly tight and infectious during their short lifespan as a band. After a show at the Silver Dollar with Forest City Lovers and Pony Up!, KKG sat down with Dan Taylor over a couple of pints to discuss their records, their touring, and their plans for the future.

So how does this rate as a part-time job: getting to play shows, see great bands for free, travel around and see the country and meet people all over the place?

Milosz: It doesn’t feel like a job so I think that’s saying something. We can spend 13 hours in the studio and I’m still okay with it, whereas after seven hours at work I’m already getting annoyed. Or getting up tired and driving for 10 hours and then playing a show and still having a great time the whole time. And I’m a lazy man; there’re not a lot of things I would put up with that kind of thing for.

Matt: Yeah, it’s, uh…. It’s pretty good.

Milosz: Oh Matt, you and your sound bites!

Matt: Well… Yeah.

You’ve been promoting a band in a time when the internet figures very heavily into getting your stuff out there. It’s kind of a unique time for artists to get their music distributed to a lot of people without incessant touring or traditional radio play, and opportunities like CBC radio 3 are pretty huge. But it’s also made people expect music to be free, and you can promote yourself for a long time before you see a dime for the music people are consuming. What’s your take on music on the internet?

Milosz: For a band like us, it’s great. I don’t think we would have gotten a third of the way they we have right now without it.

Owen: It’s the only way, really.

Matt: We still make some money when we play shows and people buy our records when they come to see us.

Milosz: We’re also at a point right now where the fans that know about us are usually people who are into supporting independent music. People who buy our records know they can download it but they know that this is an independent band, all the money’s going to help the band. When you hear people talking about a sense of entitlement to free music their excuse is that, “Oh, well, that band’s got millions of dollars. What do they need $15 from me for the CD?”

Melissa: And in our case $15 might get us to our next show.

Having watched the band evolve for a while now, I’ve noticed the new album and your live performances are much tighter. Has this been a matter of practice makes perfect, or outside musical influences, or just learning how the band plays together as a whole?

Milosz: In terms of songwriting, when I wrote our first songs I had no idea what the band was going to be, what instruments or how good everyone was going to bed so I pretty much wrote everything in my head. But with the next album I had a band behind me, I knew what they could do, so I tend to write more sparsely now. I try to write the melodies, write my parts the way I like them, and then I rely more on these guys because I know now that everyone is capable of doing their own thing.

Melissa: With the first album we also had a cellist, which we added along with the piano after the songs had been written so we were trying to find places for those instruments. Now that we’re collaborating more, everyone is finding their own spot and doing what they like to do and what they’re good at. Everyone’s more vocal with suggestions now too.

Owen: I think we’ve been arguing more and more about every song we write.

Milosz: Not so much argue because nobody ever gets mad, but we definitely discuss every aspect of a song a lot more.

So with the first album your were writing songs for yourself and now you’re writing songs for Knock Knock Ginger?

Milosz: For sure. I think I leave a lot more room open for these guys to add because I know they’ll do great.

When I saw you play with the d’Ubervilles, I thought they would be a lot of fun to share a stage or do a tour with. You also just did an East coast tour with Bocce, which seemed like ridiculous fun.

Matt: Touring is a lot of fun, especially because one of the guys in Bocce decided to form a record label that was just a bunch of friends who were all in bands. Let’s make a record label and all go on tour! Touring with four friends is fun but touring with eight is just that much better.

Who would you want to play with if you could play with anybody? Even if they’re dead.

Melissa: Well, do we choose someone who we’d fit well with, or someone we just want to hear every night or someone who would throw a good party after the show?

Milosz: I think for those three reasons I would go with Belle and Sebastien because we go well with them, they throw a great show and they drink like crazy. Or… maybe Shakira.

Matt: Yeah, someone with a big rider we could steal stuff from.

Melissa: I’d play with the Flaming Lips so I could dance on stage. And do drugs.

How about short-term and long-term goals? I remember Matt saying that your first East-coast tour realized his goal for the band and for himself as a musician. What are other moments you’ve reached, or have yet to reach that you would consider milestones for the band?

Milosz: When we started this band we all came up with a goal, and “when this happens I know that we’ve gone somewhere with this little band”. Matt’s was the East coast.

Melissa: One was to get an EP or album onto Chart’s Top 50 list, which we did accomplish.

Matt: Milosz’s is the cover of Exclaim! I think Owen’s is a 7/10 for a record on Pitchfork.

Milosz: Yeah, just achievable goals that could actually happen in real life. Not like the Rolling Stone cover or anything.

Melissa: That’s mine. Rolling Stone cover for sure. Or do well enough at this that we don’t need our jobs anymore.

Milosz: Right now our goal is to put out a full-length that we’re happy with, start to finish. If we can make a record that we feel is solid all the way through, I think that’s the ultimate goal for now.

By Dan Taylor