Come
Clean by Matt
Dixon, August '08 Photo
by Riley Pearson
A
Murder of Crows for a Pack of Doubts from Demo
1.Please
introduce Come Clean and give a little history behind the band:
Nathan: Glenn and I have attempted to start a hardcore band for years,
after playing in plenty of rock/punk/indie kind of bands. We tried
several times in Halifax, with some really great people too, but they
always floundered - usually because i was trying to live two hours
away in Sackville NB, and everybody else played in other more established
bands.
I moved to Toronto last winter, basically chasing Glenn (drums) and
Jono (guitar), who let me sleep on their couch for 5 months. As much
fun as it is to play any music, I think we're all pretty much stuck
on each other from years of other bands and shows and touring and
all that in Cape Breton, where the three of us are from. The obvious
addition was third-roommate Jim Scarth (bass), originally from Charlotteown
- he's lived and played with Jono for years. Payson worked with Glenn
at a screen printing shop, and was into singing. Plus, he's from Truro
NS, and it just felt better to make it five dudes from the east coast...
so we wrote some songs, and fought over hundreds of band names (i
swear everything is taken at this point), finally picked Decades,
which turned out to be a band that had just signed to Think Fast,
bickered way more, and chose Come Clean. Cause Payson loves Hillary
Duff.
2.
What do you consider worth fighting for? What are some of the things
you try to communicate through your music?
Nathan: Clean dishes. So far all five of us have contributed some
lyrics and ideas, and Payson organizes them and makes them work, so
they're all over the place.
I think though, that we write about stuff that pisses us off, or our
darker ideas, whether they be social concerns or totally personal
frustrations and issues. It's worth fighting the sick lethargy of
society en masse, and it's so disgustingly blatant in toronto, but
i feel we have to do that through our own actions and encouraging
other people to do the same - so active lives, cook your own food
well and enjoy it, and don't work for total dickheads, cause it'll
drag your spirit through the sewer every day. And spend your time
with people who make you laugh until you hurt. But our music is also
a lot about catharsis, and that's good for people as a group too.
3.Do
you think it's necessary for independent musicians and bands to have
a form of ethics?
Nathan: Truly independent artists establish their own ethics by deciding
how they want to work, without the influence of the music industry
that pervades ALL levels of music today. I don't think it's necessary,
people can do what they want (i.e. make boring shitty music and sing
lyrics about absolutely nothing if they want to), but it often happens
that the bands/artists that are exciting, not to mention nice people,
are those that do work with a set of ethics - fun and energy and dignity
over business and generic mediocrity. We, however, are a fairly generic
hardcore band, and I know people who think we're boring and shitty,
and we can't afford to go on tour and never get paid cause we're always
a few bucks above broke, so the evil is in us too - it's just a balance
and a matter of what works and what makes you happy.
4.What's
your take on bands that try to install moral and political messages
in their music, but scream all the lyrics so that nobody can understand
them? I've noticed that your lyrics in particular to be quite striking
and it's obvious that you have something to say; how do you overcome
this?
Nathan: Provide the printed lyrics with the music, i guess. If it's
worth saying, it's worth screaming, if that makes sense.
5.What
do you guys think about the current state of the punk rock/hc community,
locally in Toronto and in general?
Nathan: Way too many bands, and indie music is the new punk/hardcore
in terms of the community of people most active in putting on house
shows, small shows, DIY releases, art, etc. But it gets to be really
bland, and then they all sign to arts and crafts or some other 'indie'
label owned by Universal and booked by Feldman. I only saw a few shows,
but Toronto seemed to at least have an active hardcore scene.
6.What
is it that sets Come Clean apart from all the other hardcore bands?
How do you avoid being classified as just another hardcore band?
Nathan: I think we are just another hardcore band, certainly in the
way we sound. Hardcore is a songwriting and subcultural tradition,
just like folk music and blues - it comes from certain areas of society
in response to other areas of society and has been adopted by a youth
subculture blah blah blah, at least for the most part. There are standard
song structures and lyrical ideas and even 'dance moves'. What we
do, though, is feel what we're playing - there is nothing half-assed
about the songs when we played them in our shitty jam spot. We don't
want any filler or empty posturing or bull-shit - but probably every
band says that.
7.You're
planning an eastern Canadian tour for later in the summer with Ottawa's
The Wishlist. How did you end up hooking up with them for the tour?
Nathan: Well the week I moved to toronto we went over to ASL's apartment
(the singer from the Wishlist) and ate Gandhi Roti, played nintendo
tennis, and then he showed us his box of human bones... cause he's
in med school. And that was that. The wishlist spent some time in
halifax last summer and with our friends Risky Business. So we knew
their music and were into touring with dudes we knew were awesome.
Also, their newest member, Paul, played in Searching For Chin, a Windsor
band that Jono and I toured with several years ago in our oldler band
One Day Late. So it all comes together in funny ways. Their music
is really fast and has a wicked energetic punk feel, and i can't wait
to see that every night.
8.
Looking over your tour itinerary, it seems that you'll be playing
a good mix of bars, clubs and diy spaces. What is your ideal show
situation? (ie. venue, other bands, crowd).
Nathan: A small room with stinky over-excited kids who were jumping
around their kichen to lifetime or satanic surfers before the show,
and either listened to Springsteen in their mom's cars on the way
or even better walked or biked or skateboarded there. And it would
be cool if the headlining band were How We Are or Modern Life is War
doing a reunion tour.
9.The
end of civilization will be caused by:
Nathan: One of us lighting a match in our van with the windows closed
- such an action would ignite the powerful volume of ass-methane trapped
in the packed, combustible vehicle. Followed by a pretty standard
mushroom cloud and apocolyptic explosion. Or us continuing to drive
our gas V8 360 engine for another year, along with 100 million other
beef noggins in their SUV's and air-conditioned oil-heated non-insulated
suburban homes.
10.What
were the last five records you bought and your current top five?
One each?
Nathan: Statues 7" Same Bodies Same Faces. and current favorite
record would be Drive by Truckers "Dirty South".
Jono: Shamefully, haven't bought a cd in forever. Current fave, decoration
day. drive by truckers. kills me.
Jim: I got the new Mardeen a little bit ago, and Payson just put some
Reign Supreme on my computer thats kicking my ass.
Payson likes Ceremony a lot
Glenn left the room before answering.
11.Apart
from the upcoming eastern Canadian tour, what does the future hold
for Come Clean?
Nathan: We're playing with Ceremony on the 17th of August in toronto,
which is really really exciting. And if I bite the bullet and move
to toronto again hopefully we could play lots more. I think we'd all
really like to tour in the States... and make a record and all that
stuff - we'll have a demo available on tour.
12.How
can people contact you?
comecleanhc@gmail.com / www.myspace.com/comecleanhc email is a better
idea.
