Purveyors of: Noisy indie rock goodness
File next to: The White Stripes, late ‘80s Sonic Youth, Wavves (and waves)
Playing #WL14 Sunday, February 16 @ The Garrison

Cousins may be the hardest touring band in all of Canada. The Halifax-based two-piece have criss-crossed Canada, the States and now the globe in recent years, sharing their charming brand of indie rock with music fans of all persuasions. Last fall saw the band visits locales as exotic as Iceland, and with a new full-length due in the first half of the year, the Cousins motorcade won't be slowing down any time soon. Cam Gordon talked to the band's drummer Leigh Dotey about some of the band's most recent adventure at home and away.

Easy question to start: why do you guys tour so much?

At first, it was really out of necessity for getting our name out there and building our fan base. We have people to help with our booking now but for a long time, it was all us or largely Aaron before I joined the band. Luckily, Aaron and I are really good friends so we really do enjoy the travel and having the chance to visit so many places and make more friends and contact. For Cousins, going in the studio and other elements of the band are very secondary — we're a live band first and everything else comes after.

Any random pockets of the country or the world that have surprised you as being especially receptive to the band and your music?

There are a few. London, Ontario and Peterborough have always been amazing — in the last year, we might have played London more times than we played Halifax. There are a few US cities that we've felt a good connection to as well: Seattle, Chattanooga, Ann Arbor. More often than not, there are certain cities that just “get it” more than others. It typically means there are similar bands or similar sounds happening in those areas, but we've definitely discovered a lot in places we weren't necessarily anticipating.

I see you played the Iceland Airwaves festival last fall with DIANA and some other Canadian acts. How was that?

It was amazing. Aaron had actually been there the year before with his girlfriend and played an unaffiliated solo set. But this was the first "official" Cousins' appearance. Our main show was at the university during the day. Everybody was hung over. We were hung over. But it was packed and they seemed to like us. Of course, we always find it pretty strange to play for people sitting down and in that case, with the lights on. But still a really good experience overall.

Any other differences with the crowds or the set-ups over there?

One thing we noticed is that the sound people were unbelievably good. There were literally no sound issues with anybody's show. We're fairly simple sound-wise, but we do like to play loud, so any sound problems tend to come from volume. But they easily bumped all the levels without any issue. I heard one theory that could probably be correct — these guys are used to doing sound for bands with six cellos and more complex instrumentation. So when a band like us comes in that's just guitar and drums, there's no comparison. Also, this has nothing to do with music, but we literally didn't see any police during the 4-5 days we were in the country. That was a bit strange.

A number of the past few Cousins' release have come out on cassette. With a small-sized cassette renaissance (of sorts) underway, why has the band gone the cassette route?

I like that cassettes are cheap. It gives you the chance to have something on the merch table for $5 that you can walk away with. Cassettes are also a great format when you're driving and looking to kill hours, which is key for a band that tours as much as we do. Also, they're quick to make, you can throw them in a bag or the floor of a car, they're durable. We just like them.

Finally, even though you're on the road half the year, what are some of the local Halifax bands that people and Toronto should keep an eye on?

Old and Weird are a new band that are getting really good. They're really enthusiastic and hard working, with some great songs. Nap Eyes are awesome and as always, the new Dog Day album is insanely good. They had an album release at the Marquee that was totally mindblowing. In Halifax, there is never a shortage of new stuff happening, even when we're not around.

The Wet Secrets play night four of Wavelength FOURTEEN, Sunday February 16 @ The Garrison (1197 Dundas St. W.).

- Interview by Cam Gordon (Completely Ignored)

UPDATE! Cousins have just announced their new album The Halls of Wickwire will be co-released by Hand Drawn Dracula (Canada) and Ba Da Bing Records (USA) on May 13th. Pre-order it now from HDD!