“We’re running out of time, and we need to play this music to a wider audience.”

With its band members scattered across the globe, Soft Copy can be extremely difficult to interview. Luckily, frontman Andrew McAllister was able to make time for rookie Wavelength reporter Alex Headley over the Christmas holidays. Alex asked some hard hitting questions and Andrew provided some pretty insightful answers. Enjoy the interview and don’t forget to check out Soft Copy at Wavelength on January 27th, 2008.

Prior to Soft Copy, you and your band members have a great deal of music experience. How is Soft Copy similar and different from past projects you have been involved in?

Several things have changed: our expectations of the results, the lens we view music through. There is more hard work and focus. We don’t expect to be anything more than we are: we do what we do. But I now have a more flexible view on what we could do. The musical universe in some ways has become less Manichean: no clear winners or losers, simply strong preferences with the occasional disagreement.

Was it difficult for Mark, Paul and yourself to merge your musical styles? What attracted you to these two as potential music collaborators?

Much to the embarrassment of Paul Boddum, I often preface my comments or criticism about his style with stating that he is the best drummer in Toronto. It’s the sort of ironic falsehood that lives on the fumes of faith. It’s an absurd thing to say, but I say it with vindication. The two criteria I’ve used in working with people musically are [these]. First, I really enjoy their company: I can get along with them, be direct and honest. A number of years ago, recording engineer Tom Heron recorded NECK’s Hydrofield of Myth at Chemical Sound, and I think he found a similar thing: first, that we created some extremely unusual pop songs and that secondly we were a nice bunch of guys that really agreed on a set of parameters for making music and there were few egos involved.

Second is that their formative years embody or reflect, or that they have some awareness of, a fifteen year period from the late 1970’s No Wave, Punk to the early 1990’s Avant-rock and Indie-pop. This is the formal language that we’re working with. Paul met Mark through the EXCLAIM Good Times Hockey league, and when Paul put out the word for a bassist, Mark responded. Times have changed and Mark Pindera left for London and the wintry climes of Ottawa. Thus Wes Hodgson previously of Hung Up has assumed bass duties.

Your second album, High School Champion, is now available on the internet as a free digital release. Is this album’s sound an evolution or a continuation of your first record? Why the decision to release it for free?

We’re just in the final phases of finishing up the second album, which is more of an EP. It’s a brief assault, slightly greyer with occasional sun, and somewhat less poppy than the previous release. It ventures a little further afield, while using the language of other bands we like. We have never derived any significant income from music and it was never our original reason for playing music, and therefore it’s simply not a priority for us.

Describe Soft Copy’s group songwriting dynamic. Are ideas born out of jam sessions or does the group build upon preconceived ideas that individual band members bring to the table? Do band members have ever-changing roles in the song writing process?

I come up with most of the hooks, mostly by improvisation, the lyrics. Then the band arranges the songs and weighs in for the duration of certain parts. Generally every practice is recorded, edited, posted online, then downloaded by all the members to hear the good bits on our iPods. The iPod and computer have changed the way we write music. Wes has stumbled upon a few hooks for songs that Paul and I thought sounded like send-ups to the British New Wave, but we haven’t been able to complete them just yet. Good thing we got them recorded.

Despite the excitement surrounding the release of your debut album, Wolf, Wolves and More Wolves, none of you quit your day jobs. What are your day jobs and how do these occupations reflect your rock star personalities? (Are there any personality traits that are important to both professions?)

Paul is an early-childhood educator and painter, and Wes and I work in IT. Mark works as a lawyer, sometimes in music law. The number of people who make a living at performing and writing music is miniscule. I was introduced to the computer at age 8 (Commodore 64), and the electric guitar at age 16 (a white Epiphone Stratocaster knock-off). Our society has differing needs and priorities and we cannot or should not all be musicians.

You list Sonic Youth, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party and Death Cab for Cutie as some of your musical influences. Are these artists just good bands to listen to or can their sounds be found in your music? (After all, Noel Gallagher of Oasis claims that these days, he only listens to Bob Dylan and Neil Young but he doesn’t sound like either one of them!)

You would be a better judge. I thought the new Kylie album was pretty good, although I was only half paying attention. However, for many years I kept a cut out of Guitar Player from the 1990’s that included rare altered tunings from every different kind of music you could think of and it was Sonic Youth’s use of this technique that particularly caught my attention. I’ve almost always used altered tunings since. I learned from Death Cab for Cutie that flat-wound strings were nice to use. I tried it and they’re right, not just for jazz.

You’re playing Wavelength on the 27th of January. How did you land this gig? Is this venue similar to other spaces that Soft Copy has played? What does Soft Copy hope to bring to the Wavelength environment/audience?

We don’t play often, because we’re often making music for ourselves or recording it, or recording for other people. We’re running out of time, and we need to play this music to a wider audience.

By: Alex Headley