A
History Ofby Matt
Dixon, August '07 Photos
by Lindsey
Set
& Sinking from Victory Atlas
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.
