Purveyors of: soul and Suicide

For everyone who’s ever wondered what would it sound like if James Brown formed a band with Suicide and The Misfits, Pants and Tie at last provide an answer. Their robo-mojo no-wave soul-punk is not only fun to hyphenate, but kills on the dance floor. It washed us in sweat at the Sneaky Dee’s 20th anniversary show on Sept. 19 and is coming back for an overdue Wavelength appearance. Gird your loins, people.

When I saw you at the Sneaky Dee's anniversary  I called you "Devo with balls". Response?

Rory Hanchard: I honestly didn’t realize that Devo didn’t have balls.

Chris Trigg: I’m trying to remember the times I’ve actually listened to Devo. It’s under 10. But I really like the Rugrats theme song.

Mark Colborne: Well, the balls were really an afterthought, I think. Devo’s like one huge ball to me, so putting balls on a ball just seems kind of awkward.

How did you get together and arrive at your unique sound?

RH: The original plan was really to be a kind of Suicide with guitar instead of keyboards.

CT: Well, truthfully, I was crashing Kate McGrann’s birthday, a party that Mark was actually invited to. We just got talking about soul music and American literature. I joined a few months later, after a period of probation.

MC: The only thing that all three of us can agree on is soul music. Oh, except for Rory.

This summer you teased us on your MySpace blog about an upcoming 12” vinyl and CD single. Has that been released yet?

RH: I guess… no.

CT: We have some pins for sale.

MC: Not exactly, we’ve been waiting on a remix to come back and we’re ashamed of the delay, so we’re trying not to mention it. Um, early spring…

Tell us about the remixes that will be on it.

RH: There’s a huge synth-driven remix by the guy who does the high kicks in Shout Out Out Out Out.

CT: The other one is coming across a vast ocean. We think it’s somewhere over Greenland at the moment.

MC: We got really lucky and a couple of much bigger bands agreed to do remixes. One of them rhymes with Shot Schip.

Tell me about the tech gear that you use on stage.

RH: I use a couple of mediocre drum machines and a couple of nice synths.

CT: Fender jazz bass (Mexican).

MC: My backing guitarist has this crazy pedal that basically just completely fucks up everything. It’s just blue and it’s called “The Blue Box”. I wreck a lot of mic stands, but they’re not mine, so…

It seems like dance parties have been becoming more common in Toronto at venues that might have otherwise featured bands. Meanwhile there are a lot of bands that play danceable electronic music. Are live bands taking back parties from DJ’s?

RH: Chris is an excellent dancer.

CT: We played a great show at an amazing loft off Queen East called Labspace, which was kind of an art show/dance party. Marshmallow suits and violinists on trapezes. We’d like to do more of them.

MC: I’ve always felt that DJs are just another type of live performer. A great DJ and great band do the same kinds of things in terms of engaging the audience and creating a good set with strong energy and dynamics. I wouldn’t make a distinction. We love playing with DJs.

You were the only band at the Sneaky Dee’s 20th anniversary show on Sept. 19. Am I just way out of touch? What’s your relationship with that bar besides the fact that they have the best nachos in town?

RH: The Peter Project and Woodhands Wavelength (ed's note: WL 364) night was an especially memorable show there.

CT: I always associate Sneaky Dee’s with several great Rock Plaza Central shows that I’ve seen there. It’s always a fun place to play. Plus, I love the sweeping vista you see through the window as Bathurst runs down towards the lake.

MC: The Huckleberry Friends and Creeping Nobodies played that night too and the Nobodies were probably the best I’ve seen them. It’s a fantastic room with great sound and a nice stage. I’ve seen some crazy amazing shows there. Ian Svenonius TOUCHED me in that room!

By Evan Dickson