Bobbyisms: Two bands, one city, no waiting

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: ALYSSA REID
Wildlife will be performing at Call The Office with Fast Romantics on March 21.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Last month, Wes Marskell of the Toronto band The Darcys wrote a blog for the Huffington Post entitled “Toronto's Best Music: A Playlist for Mayor Rob Ford” for which he curated and posted an Rdio playlist to turn international eyes toward some of the city's finest music.

“We're smart, creative and ambitious and that's how we should be known,” he wrote. “Since Mayor Ford has been stripped of virtually all of his power, I thought he may have some time to listen to a fraction of the great music that I think defines Toronto.”

Here in London, a similar list would be a difficult undertaking for many reasons, however a playlist of featured acts making their way through town would be dynamic. I would propose to open with Fast Romantics and Wildlife — two Canadian indie heavyweights striking out on the road together this week, a brief tour that brings them to London on March 21, in concert at Call The Office. Admission is $8 at the door.

Fast Romantics are still strongly touring in celebration of their sophomore album Afterlife Blues, and their Mountain Mountains tour across Canada sees them in good form following gigs earlier in the month, including an appearance opening for Sam Roberts Band a L'Impérial de Québec. The album was released in October, however, according to frontman Matthew Angus, it began its journey to realization two years ago this month.

“In March 2012 we did our first sessions for Afterlife Blues,” Angus said, explaining that the cost of recording made it necessary to break the album up into more than one session, though it did allow the band to road-test their music. “We spent a lot of time writing and working songs out the songs live, which made a huge difference in the way the songs evolved.”

It was around this time two years ago that the band — now comprised of Angus and Shane O'Keeffe on guitar, Lauren Heron on keys, Jeffrey Lewis on bass and Alan Reain on drums — grew their lineup to include O'Keeffe and Heron, two musicians that had arrived on the scene from Australia. The timing was perfect — their chemistry with the trio formed the basis of much of the music on Afterlife Blues, a musical camaraderie that leaps out of the speakers.

“It's not just about knowing your sound, it's knowing who you are,” Angus affirmed. “The first tracks came out of sessions where it was just me, Jeff and Alan, but we were incomplete. That was a good starting place, but after we brought Shane and Lauren on, it was like, ‘This is our gang, we know who we are now' — your personalities come out in music, and they're the right personalities to have around.”

Perhaps able to relate on forever striving to hone their sound, Toronto's Wildlife is also excited to make their return to London. Their monumental album On The Heart just turned a year old but hasn't lost any momentum, thanks in part to the single “Lightning Tent” and its gorgeous music video filmed last year among the mountains and beaches of Hawaii.

As a consequence, it may be a while before the band — frontman Dean Povinsky and Graham Plant on guitar, Derek Bosomworth on bass and Dwayne Christie on drums — record and release a followup, but that doesn't mean their thoughts aren't constantly turning toward new material.

“We've been writing some new music lately, which is pretty fun,” Povinsky admitted, describing how the band performs small-market shows to debut new songs and sounds on stage. “We've all been in that headspace, wanting to do that — we get antsy to write new stuff, because we always want to do new stuff.”

“So we'll think about what kind of album we might like to do, but we've also done a reasonable amount of touring, and I think we're just now coming into our own — figuring out how we want the [songs from On The Heart] to come across live, and I think they're really starting to do that.”

After they part ways next week, both bands will head west; Fast Romantics will move from province to province toward their closer at Imperial Vancouver on April 10, while Wildlife will join Boy & Bear on their tour westward to B.C. then south into California. Both bands frequently post on Twitter and Instagram — follow @fastromantics and @wildlifeband on either network and watch some remarkable stories unfold.

For more of the latest music news and concert previews, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Don't forget: Call The Office, March 21, $8. I'm out of words.
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