1.
Please introduce A History Of and give some background behind
the band:
We're a noisy post-punk kind of a band from Halifax who likes
to yell and play dissonant chords over all kinds of different
rhythms. I was the last one to join, but the band was basically
brought together by billionaire industrialist Jeff Parker. I knew
Noel from playing shows with Tomcat Combat and he asked me to
come and jam with him and Jeff who I knew a little bit from the
neighborhood and going to the same shows. He later informed me
that Lance Purcell would be keeping time, which was really exciting
for me, because I had been a fan of his work since Led by Regret.
The first time we jammed, there was a penthouse pin-up in the
jam space and Noel told me it was Lance's girlfriend....I believed
him because I figured nobody could resist being with the drummer
from LBR and the Plan....haha.
2.
What does A History Of mean to you?
The name was actually just chosen from a list that we were all
throwing around. People have kind of pinned us as a Halifax nostalgia
band because of the huge influence of Halifax independent music
on our sound. Not that we would be so silly as to imply we're
a history of Halifax indie rock, but thats what what people in
the press have sort of implied. You know what "THE MEDIA"
is like hahah. On tour Noel and I decided we were going to tell
people that it was short for A History of Violence, and just become
a Cronenberg tribute band. We'll all wear bug suits and develop
crazy fetishes and play Ornette Coleman covers. Wow. That actually
sounds good.
3. What are some things you try to communicate through the music?
We're still a fairly new band, so I would say most of the material
on our record has been about creating a foundation to build our
own sound upon. We have a lot of conflict in the music itself.
Between instruments, between notes, between verses and choruses.
As far as I know there aren't any re-occuring themes in the lyrics,
but musically we like to create tension and pay it off with big
releases.
4.
What is your musical background? When did punk/indie/whatever
come into play?
Well, I won't answer for the other lads, but for me punk/indie
came into play with Ant Records out of truro. They were a 4-track
recordings cassette label run by J LaPointe and Jon Hutt that
put out the early records from The Motes and their side projects.
They also had the early Sixtoo tapes and a couple of punk bands
that I really liked from the area (Truro). I started a punk band
around then and also played in some metal bands. Around 1998 straight-edge
'came' to Truro in a big way and my friend Darren asked me to
play bass in a straight edge hardcore band. I didn't really know
what that was at the time but he gave me a bunch of bands to listen
to. The only one I liked was Led by Regret and I figured out some
of their bass lines by ear. I play them at practice and Lance
gets mad, haha.
5.
How has the DIY ethic influenced not only your music, but how
you go about the business of the band (booking tours, putting
out records, etc)?
Fortunately (or unfortunately) since I was exposed to Ant Records
around the same time I was getting into playing music, DIY has
been pretty much the only method of doing anything for me over
the last decade. I'd like to have the opportunity to do a record,
tour, etc. and only worry about writing the music but I think
that being your own booking agent, producer, engineer, label is
the only way that people are going to be able to do this music
thing in the next few years. I don't know how to answer how it
has influenced us really, because it's all we know. I can't really
say it's given us some great control we've never had before, because
we've all done it this way, always.
6.
You're just wrapping up a tour with The Medium Mood. How did it
go, and do you have any interesting road stories?
We met Kevin Macdonald from the Kids in the Hall and almost convinced
him to help us lug gear up 54 steps in Montreal. Noel and Jeff
got yelled at for postering and threatened by a 400 pound man.
On our day off we went to see Battles and pulled a 'we're with
the band' but they had left for dim sum. Adam from the Medium
Mood almost got in a first fight with a Vietnam vet while bartering
for an ammo can to put his hardware in (at Kensington market).
A snarky Buddhist on ludes told us we were pissing our lives away
by drinking in a park and wouldn't leave us alone. We saw a French
band called Balthazaar that were really tight but overwhelmingly
uninteresting. I lost a wooden bat in rush hour traffic on our
way to Hamilton (our only protection from thieves). I drank 3
Olympico cold alonge´ in 15 minutes and nearly went into
cardiac arrest. You know, tour stuff.
7.
What is your ideal show situation (venue, other bands, crowd,
etc)?
A fair sized room with kids all around the stage... I dunno, that's
about the best we've seen so far. Haven't done the festival thing
yet really, and we don't like being that far away from the audience.
We love house shows. Maybe we'll get hired as the entertainment
on a cruise ship. That would be alright.
8.
You have a CD out on Noyes Records. How did this relationship
come about?
My other band (the Medium Mood) and Noels other band (Tomcat Combat)
both have records out on the label. Chad is our homie and everything
was done already so he decided to help us out by putting us under
the umbrella. It's a great thing that's bubbling up over their
between VKNGS, The Got to Get Got, Boy for Sale and all of our
various projects. We just gotta figure out how to get our records
out to more people.
9.
What are the upcoming plans of the band?
Writing new stuff, planning small tours for a while and a bigger
one next summer, hopefully in support of another record. Pop Explosion
hopefully... Ballin' is our hobby.
10.
What is your favorite dance party song?
My lip gloss is poppin', my lip gloss is cooool.
11. How can people contact you?
www.myspace.com/ahistoryof or www.noyesrecords.com or carrier
pigeon.
12.
Any final words?
Don't be a junky, cause remember, Freddy's dead.
