We sat down with two halves of the group, Marskell and Couse, during one of Toronto’s worst summer storms. Despite the torrential downpour, we managed to soak in what the band has been up to and how they’re bringing lessons of the past into the future.

Laura Eley: You’ve been recording at a farmhouse. How’s that going?

Wes Marskell: We’re back from the farm now. We were recording a companion piece to the record, a different project. When we made our first record we moved to Montreal to try and get a little bit of distance from people we knew, but when you’re on a farm you don’t have any Internet, you don’t have phone service, you’re just isolated. And we were trying to make something and sort of channel that distance from everyone. So it was interesting, rewarding, challenging.

Jason Couse: We definitely made the most of it. We ended up staying up until four, five in the morning every night and getting up at ten – really maximizing the opportunity there. But it was fun, just all the work that we did was turning out really well.

LE: How is creating your own album different from interpreting an album like AJA?

JC: We spent a lot of time learning how to play the songs, learning our way through the chord progressions, which with Steely Dan is particularly complex. But then once we had an idea for each song and aesthetic, and the direction we wanted to go, we would cut ourselves off from where it came from, and then treat it as if we’re something of our own in a way, which was fun, but also challenging musically. Most people play the things they’re comfortable with and sing the way they’re comfortable singing, but we were all forced far outside of what we’re used to doing.

LE: You chose to release your last album online for free and sell vinyl copies. Is that something we can expect with this next album?

WM: We’re looking at different options. I do think we spent a lot of money on making this new record, and there’s a reality in that. But we still don’t want to just put out a record and wash our hands and be done with it. We understand that we’ve gained a lot fans by putting things out for free, so we’re looking at other ways to capitalize and put music out for free in smaller doses.

LE: You’re signed to Arts & Crafts, which seems like a pretty open minded label. Is it difficult for artists to find labels that see eye-to-eye with them?

WM: Yes. I think Arts & Crafts is very generous and supportive and they back us fully. They also have the mentality of ‘if you have a great idea, we’re going to let you do that.’

LE: Speaking of other art forms – photography, literature, etc. – how important are they to your music?

WM: Massively. Jason and I both read a lot of Cormac McCarthy while making the new record and sort of thematically, sonically, lyrically that crops up. I’ve been coming around to the idea that really good things aren’t necessarily things you enjoy, but allow you to reflect on your own art form. I went to see a band the other day and it was like ‘I want to go home with this idea and I want to work on that’. That to me is what made their show great, it allows you to internalize through your own stuff.

LE: Since releasing your first record in 2007, you have been through a lot as a band. What’s the most important thing you’ve learned between then and now?

WM: I think we learned in the last few years that this is a project that had to move forward. If it all fell apart we would still be here in some capacity doing this, and it wasn’t about getting a record label or playing stadiums.

JC: I think that at a certain point you don’t know exactly what you want to get out of something, but you know that want to live through the process of trying to figure that out. And, I think that’s something for us, just by a number of things that happened to the band and the way it’s changed and our ideas and aesthetics and goals have changed, it’s always been a project of discovery just trying to figure out what it is we’re really after and the best way to get there is. That process alone is where a lot of growth comes from artistically and personally.

The post Moving forward with The Darcys, interview appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Joining forces with his band, Morning Fold, in 2008, Tim and Morning Fold received an award for COCA Emerging Artist of the Year, and he was selected as the Musical Director for Will and Kate’s Royal Tour of PEI in 2011. Now, after celebrating the release of his fourth album, The Other Side in September, Chaisson has wrapped up another cross-Canada tour and is currently down under for his third tour of Australia.

Before he jetted off, though, we had a chance to sit down and discuss his album, touring, fiddling, and how a b’y from PEI handles Australia’s deadly assortment of creatures.

Laura Eley: So, you just arrived in Toronto last night?

Tim Chaisson: Yep. We finished off our tour on the fourth, and we’re here until Sunday when I head off to Australia.

LE: I know you’ve done a ton of touring around Canada. Do you feel like you now have a different a perspective of our country?

TC: I’d never been out to the western provinces until about three years ago, so it was neat to travel through there. You really notice a unity between the Canadian people, but the Maritimers have their own thing going on, as do Quebec, and Ontario, and out west. And the way people perceive music is definitely different. Being from PEI, I try to play Celtic music during our sets, and playing in the east coast it’s a normal thing, but once you get out of the Maritimes people don’t hear it very often.

LE: Speaking of the Maritimes, you recorded your last album between Dartmouth and Austin, Texas. With the country and folk influences that run through both cities, do you think there’s a musical connection there between the Maritimes and Deep South?

TC: I think what brought it together for me was working with Gordie Johnson, because he lives in Texas and has Canadian connections down there. We did the majority of stuff in Dartmouth, and then I spent about twelve days in Texas and got to take it all in. I think your surroundings definitely influence what you do, and when you’re submersed in a culture you tend to do what they do without realizing it. It was also really, really hot down there, so I spent a lot of time inside.

LE: And you’ve written in Nashville too?

TC: Yeah, I’ve been to Nashville and did some demo-ing, I guess you could say.

LE: Having written your latest album, The Other Side, at Toronto’s Woodshed Studio, do you feel like Toronto influenced the music at all?

TC: Yeah, I think so. Well, I wrote a lot of stuff back home, but I did do some stuff here in the city with members of The Trews, and I wrote with Patrick Ballantyne who’s from Oakville. But I did a lot of writing at home in PEI, which is a pretty laid back spot, and I think the music there definitely influenced me the most because there’s tons of musician there that don’t tour and play at home, not because they’re not good enough to tour, they’re amazing musicians. But you’re obviously influenced by what goes on at home, and I spend whatever time I’m not on the road at home. And being in Toronto, we weren’t downtown, but we were still in the city.

LE: In Greek Town, right?

TC: Yeah! It was cool there. I really liked it.

LE: You grew up in a musical family. While kids like me were being forced into practicing the piano, did music just come naturally to you and your siblings?

TC: Well it’s funny because Koady and I are sixth generation fiddle players. It’s just been passed down and passed down and passed down, and the goal for each generation is for it to not die out because it’s a style of music that’s not played as much as it used to be. I don’t remember learning how to play the fiddle because it was one of those things that all my brothers and sisters played, and we just did it when we were so young. Everybody did it, it was completely normal to be a fiddle player.

LE: Is there anyone in the Chaisson family that doesn’t play music and is an accountant or something?

TC: Pretty much everybody can at least play something on the fiddle.

LE: You’ve recently been touring with the Poor Young Things, which from what social media tells me, has been a lot of fun.

TC: It’s been a good time.

LE: They toured with The Trews which you guys have done a lot of as well. Is that how you met?

TC: Yeah it is actually. I met them for the first time in the spring of last year when they were playing for The Trews, it was just at a show that we met, and all of us really clicked, the guys in my band and them. They’re just really solid, nice fellas.

LE: They’re originally from Thunder Bay?

TC: Thunder Bay, yep. It was awesome, we became really good friends. It’s just really nice to tour with bands that you just click with personality wise.

LE: You’ve been to Australia for two tours before. Is it different touring down there?

TC: Yeah it’s different, but it’s also pretty similar too. I opened up mostly for Australian acts, and every show that I’ve played they’re always super welcoming and seemed to enjoy it. They all think I’m from Ireland when I go there, not even because I play the fiddle. They’re like “But you talk like you’re from Ireland!” A friend of mine from PEI went there before too, and everyone thought he was from Ireland. But it actually happened, not even a joke, five times at least after ever single show.

LE: Did you or will you get a chance to surf while you were down there?

TC:  Yeah, I did the first time that I went there, because it was the summer time. It’s pretty much summer time all year round there. I tried it and I wasn’t very good, but I’m going to try it again this time, and if I get a day off I might try and take an actual lesson.

LE: Any fear of being eaten by a Great White?

TC: Um, no. But my girlfriend and I were there together for my first tour, she came and stayed for a couple months, and one day we went to the beach and there were these little blue jellyfish in the water. And we asked a guy surfing if it was okay, and he said “Oh yeah, they’re called blue bottles”, so we went in, and something didn’t seem right; we never got stung, but we had wetsuits on. But then we found out that they’re actually Portuguese man o’ wars, which if you get stung by one of those, they’re not deadly, but you’re gonna be in pain for a couple of days.

LE: There are some serious creatures there.

TC: Oh yeah, it’s bizarre. Even deadly spiders are outside of people’s doors. I went to bed and saw some spiders there in a little web, and thought “Oh, what are they?” I can’t remember the name of them, but if they bite you, you have to go get an antivenom or you’ll die. And I was like, “Okay, the door’s open and the spiders are out there.” But they don’t really… They were like “Oh, we don’t know anyone that’s died from the spiders.”

LE: I wonder if living with those deadly creatures plays into Australians’ laid back attitude.

TC: Oh, yeah. And I’m not a fan of spiders really at all.

LE: Or snakes?

TC: Oh, no. I didn’t see any snakes there at all, thank God. Just at the zoo there.

LE: Are you going home at all before you head to Australia?

TC: No, I’m not. We play here tomorrow and then the next night, and then Sunday I fly out.

LE: So you’ll have been away from home for over two months?

TC: Yeah, about two and a half months away from home.

LE: Is it hard being away?

TC: We were actually just talking about this the other day. I think the toughest part about being away, because I don’t have any kids, is just being away from your significant other. That’s really the… Because family everyone moves away, but whenever you’re doing a long distance relationship, that’s always a little bit tougher. But my girlfriend’s coming here, so at least we’ll get to see each other for a couple of days before I leave.

LE: Finally, I wanted to ask, what is your big dream?

TC: For me it’s really just playing music full time, and just being able to sustain my life playing music. And I never ever really had any, I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or whatever, but I didn’t have any intentions of fame. But right from the get go I just wanted to do something I love, play music, and I couldn’t care less if I… I mean obviously money would be nice, to have lots of money.

LE: To be able to eat?

TC: (Laughing) Yeah. But I mean, as long as I can eat and live, and still be playing and touring and making records, and writing more, even writing for other artists, stuff like that. I’ve done a bit of that and I love that.

LE: Well it certainly sounds like you have enough musical friends and connections to sustain it for awhile to come.

TC: Yeah, I hope so. We’ll see.

The post A chat with Tim Chaisson appeared first on Quip Magazine.

It’s a fair statement. For the past half-dozen years Marino has been pulling triple duty as a professional musician, producer/engineer, and co-owner of Chemical Sound Recording Studio. One of Toronto’s premier mid-sized studios – which has been used by the likes of The Black Keys, Born Ruffians, Death From Above 1979, and Tokyo Police Club – Chemical Sound had been the centre Marino’s life since he and friend Jay Sadlowski bought it in 2005.

It was the studio’s unceremonious closing in February that gave Papermaps’ latest six-song EP, “Inferior Ghost”, a greater sense of sentimentality. As Marino wrote on the band’s website, “We decided to release an EP instead of a full-length because, regrettably, these are the last songs we wrote and/or recorded at our studio, Chemical Sound (R.I.P.).  That studio is gone now, but you can certainly hear it’s ambiance and magic in this record.”

“I guess [the songs] carry a bit of emotional baggage, you could say. More so than the other material, because with the other material the future of the studio was unknown then, and I knew I would be there for another seven years at that point,” says Marino.

Along with the closing of other Toronto studios like Signal to Noise and Sleepytown Sound, Chemical Sound’s shuttering signaled a shift in the Canadian recording industry.

“If it were only one factor [for the studio closing] I think we would still be doing it because we enjoy doing it but obviously the ‘state of the industry’ played a big part. Basically, we found that we were starting to work more for less,” recalls Marino. “Chemical is a really great studio and we got to work with a lot of really great people and I don’t think our problem, necessarily, was getting the bookings. We were a medium-sized facility in a world where a medium facility, there’s just no niche for that anymore.”

For the average music fan, technology’s impact on the industry has been obvious, as file sharing decimated traditional album sales. Slow-adapting major labels are experiencing record losses as they fail to come up with a model that effectively embraces the industry’s new reality. Likewise, unknown artists can record at home with just a couple of mics and a laptop and become stars, like Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Caught amid this shifting power structure the studios have become the forgotten victims.

“With the, I hate to say it, but with the technology, the democratization of recording, it sort of made its impact on the industry. Anyone can make a record now in their house that’s a pretty decent-sounding record,” explains Marino.

“What’s happening is the middle is falling out now,” he continues, “So say you’re The Walkmen or Spoon or bigger, then you’re going to have the budget to work in a studio but if you’re an indie band you’re options are to work from home for the most part or maybe go into a studio for a day to do some bed tracks and then take it home and do the rest in your house. That became the M.O. of most bands and studios can’t really survive on that model.”

Shy at first, Marino – who describes himself as “an extrovert, but by practice and not by nature” – seems to get more comfortable as the conversation goes on. Staring down at his coffee and cookie on the patio table for the first few answers, he eventually begins to make more eye contact and open up. His love of the studio and his shy demeanor make sense when he discusses his childhood.

“I’m a bit of a nerd. I was a geeky kid in grade school who didn’t get a date to the prom or whatever. So I was a pretty inward child, I’m a pretty introverted guy,” he explains before talking about his grandfather; a WWII vet and engineer who worked on Spitfire plane engines. “He was also a musician and a painter and a writer, you know, and he really inspired me as a kid. So I got a lot of that from him because there was always books around my grandparents’ and at my parents’ house too. Books on how engines work, books on nature and so on, and being introverted I just dived into that world and it really informed me.”

His curiosity about how things work translated into Marino’s early passion for music. “When I was a kid and I was listening to the radio – I used to listen to the radio a lot of and fall asleep with the radio on – when I visualized the music, I didn’t visualize the MTV video or the live band playing, I always visualized the studio.”

A childhood spent with one ear constantly pressed to a radio speaker not only resulted in a life spent inside a control room, but also in the type of songs Marino writes. The tunes on Papermaps’ 2011 self-titled debut brim with a classic ‘50s and ‘60s pop sensibility.

“I can’t get away from it because my parents never got a FM radio in their car when I was a kid,” he says with a bit of a laugh. “They were into The Beatles and early rock and roll like Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and the Beach Boys and R&B,” he continues, “So that is my musical upbringing, my musical gene pool so to speak.  So it ends up in the music. Early on I tried to fight it, but now I don’t. I just let it happen.”

And Early on Marino was a solo artist under the banner of EX~PO, which he describes as “just me learning the ropes of the studio basically”. This early incarnation eventually morphed into Papermaps when Marino recruited the other three – drummer Bobby Lee, keyboardist Wendy Leung, and bassist Todd Harrison – to be his backing band on a 2008 tour in promotion of the EX~PO album “Central Meaner Street”.

After the band began collaborating on new material post-tour, they suddenly found themselves with a record deal with indie label, Sparks Music. “I thought it was a good time to make a name change. I wasn’t really happy with the name EX~PO to be honest. Plus, with the new blood in, adding ideas and things like that, it just seemed like the right thing to do.”

Despite the new name and increased collaboration, there is little doubt about who is leader and creative centre of Papermaps. Marino writes the songs and has final say on almost all band matters. This is no democracy, but rather, a benevolent dictatorship.

“I hate to say that but that would describe it. They call me the leader of the band or sometimes Wendy calls me the ‘Band Daddy’. So yeah, but I don’t rule by terror. I rule more by committee.”

Nonetheless, Marino says his experiences working with other groups as a producer and engineer taught him the value of having clear leadership. “I’ve been privy to a lot of band dynamics and I know a lot of time the infighting or little inner struggles within a band because there is no clear leader, can just cause procrastination and it just slows things down,” he explains. “I didn’t want that to happen with us.”

Nonetheless, the benevolence of Marino’s rule is evident in the recent band shuffle. When bassist Todd Harrison became uneasy with the increasingly hectic and time consuming band schedule, Marino took a very understanding approach to solving the problem.

“I think most bandleaders would’ve given him the pink slip at that point and said ‘let’s get a replacement in, see you later.’ Instead, Marino brought in Betty Dimo as the new permanent bassist and told Harrison he could play whenever he wishes as an extra keyboardist and guitarist.

Now nearing the end of a month long residency at the Drake Underground in Toronto, Marino and rest of Papermaps are preparing for the release of “Inferior Ghost” and an August tour of eastern Canada.

“Three years ago I would have said I want a record deal with some good distribution lines and playing shows on a regular basis. But now that we’re here I’m thinking I want to do more national touring and maybe even tour Europe,” Marino says of his plans for the band.

“Really, I just want to keep writing music and bettering myself and keep doing it, and the moment I feel that I’m not writing better than before, that’s when it’s time to quit.”

It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon. After all, what else is he equipped to do?

The post Interview with Dean Marino from Papermaps appeared first on Quip Magazine.

The show had a slow start, people grounded themselves on the floor and swiftly moved to the retro sounds of Ilene and Gemma Ray. Calm and melodic, without a doubt, both made a new set of fans under the last beating rays of the sun illuminating the stage through the theatre windows.

But the sun set just in time for Ane Brun’s performance. The crowd was called out by the drummer to stand up, and stand up they did. The room quickly filled up with ambitious fans: “Dance with us! Don’t you want to dance because she is AMAZING!”

When Brun sang “Do You Remember,” the energy shot up immediately, and nearly everyone danced, some even frolicked around the room in their matching “It All Starts With One” t-shirts.

When we spoke to Brun a little while ago about building a following in North America, she agreed that it was a challenge. Admittedly, it was not a sold-out show, but every single person in the room was a fan, and they brought a friend. It all starts somewhere.

Her charming presence, accompanied by dramatic dancing, is an unforgettable experience that everyone should enjoy at least once.

The post Ane Brun live at the Great Hall appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Despite their exhaustive schedules – on top of band duties, Jacquie works at well-known Toronto bar and music venue Sneeky Dee’s while Liam and Stephen Neville both work at coffee shops – the two seem in good spirits and ready to talk about anything. Of course, when you’re talking to and about The Balconies, band dynamics and relationships are an unavoidable topic.

Popular music history is littered with inter-band sibling and romantic relationships. Somehow, The Balconies have managed to combine both potentially volatile relationships within one three-person rock band. As the common last name indicates, singer/guitarist Jacquie, 24, and bassist Stephen, 22, are siblings, while Jacquie and drummer Liam, 28, have been dating for the past six years.

“We’d known each other for a couple of years before we started this band and at first, when Jacquie and I starting dating, it was kind of the last thing we wanted to do, start a band together, just because it’s a potential disaster, right?” says Liam, who met his future girlfriend and bandmate at the University of Ottawa where they both studied classical music, Jacquie specializing in viola and Liam in classical guitar. “I guess after a year of me and Jacquie dating, we realized it didn’t really make sense for us not to be writing together.”

As Jacquie explains, around the same time that her and Liam were opening up to the idea of working together musically, brother Stephen was feeling frustrated his then-bandmates’ lack of dedication. “Stephen and I wanted to start playing music together again,” says Jacquie, who would often jam with her brother in their high school days. “We felt the chemistry was really good and it really brought us closer together as siblings.”

As far as Jacquie sees it, the sibling and romantic relationships that form the backbone of the The Balconies are two things that ensure the group is in it for the long haul. “What’s great about being siblings in a band is that we have to resolve the problem because we’re always going to be siblings. I’m very grateful for that. And the same with Liam; we’re in a relationship and we’re always going to have our issues but we have to solve the problems because we want to be together as a couple and as a band.”

But as Liam points out, what’s most important for the band success is not the sibling and romantic relationships, but the musical chemistry and a shared vision and level of dedication. And when it comes to their individual musical backgrounds, there is amazingly diverse set of influences that all three share. Each band member studied classical music at the University of Ottawa while also indulging, at one point or another, in ‘90s and early-2000s punk, classic rock, ‘80s pop, and new wave.

“The funny thing about how it all comes together, when you think about popular music and music played with guitar, bass, and drums, you can take things from anywhere,” says Liam, explaining the band’s ability to blend punk rock energy, soaring choruses, and infectious pop hooks. “Our goal is to create something that sounds really huge. From song to song there’s a lot of different stuff going on and that’s where all the different influences come out and we don’t argue and we don’t write songs that butt heads with each other, although they are sometimes very different.”

And that creative process is something the band is still feeling out. While creating their 2009 self-titled and self-produced debut album – which was partially recorded in fellow Toronto indie band Zeus’ studio with vocals recorded in Jacquie and Liam’s Ottawa apartment – Jacquie, Stephen, and Liam tended to write individually before bringing their ideas to the other band members. As well, though Jacquie is commonly seen as the lead singer, all three shared lead vocal duties on the album.

However, with their recently released Kill Count EP and their finished-but-unreleased second album, The Balconies are beginning to write together more often and are refining their sound. Working with renowned producer Jon Drew, of Tokyo Police Club and The Arkells fame, has also helped.

“When I listen to [the second] record now and compare it to the first record, it seems a lot more particular. You can still tell whose songs are whose because we each have our own little flare but I feel like this record really represents what The Balconies-sound is,” says Jacquie, adding that they’re aiming for a fall release.

“Working with a producer, too, changes a lot. I feel like Jon really helped capture our live energy and that’s what we felt, on the first record, didn’t come through enough,” Liam chimes in.

It’s the band’s live show that has really garnered a lot of attention, particularly at industry showcases like Canadian Music Week in Toronto and South by South West in Austin, Texas. While Liam and Stephen are both great musicians and don’t lack any energy on stage, it’s Jacquie that commands an audience’s attention.

Her powerful voice and intense stares accentuated by animated head bangs and guitar strokes. She definitely has the charisma and magnetisms that marks the difference between being a mere singer in a band and being a rock star.

“I think engaging your audience is really important. You want to entertain, you don’t want to just go on and play your record,” explains Jacquie, mentioning that Tina Turner is her idea of the perfect frontwoman.  “You want to put on a show and that is why I got into music, because I love performing. Obviously I love writing and recording as well but what drives me is being able to perform and being able to connect with an audience and get that rush and I feed off of that energy.”

Whether it’s fair or not, sex appeal is an undeniable element of being a great frontwoman and Jacquie’s sex appeal hasn’t gone unnoticed by the music media who’ve reviewed The Balconies’ shows. “I like suggestiveness. I don’t like the obvious, so if our music or our show suggests sex appeal, I think that’s awesome and is totally okay,” she says a bit nervously. “At the end of the day we’re all animals and it’s going to be there. I guess I kind of embrace that.”

Boyfriend Liam, who probably understands Jacquie’s on-stage allure better than anyone, adds, “I think it’s more of something that is inherent in rock and roll; loud nighttime events where people are getting sweaty and working their asses off.”

And working their asses off is what The Balconies are going to be doing over the next year as the new album drops and they head out on tour. They have big dreams but, as Jacquie points out, they are under no illusions that success comes easily or quickly. “Of course I would love to be a major touring band and be on the radio constantly and be selling out thousands of tickets; that would be awesome. But right now we’re very focused on where we’re at and continuing to grow organically and get people out to the shows. So one step at a time.”

And with those final thoughts, the meals are finished, the cheque is paid, Jacquie and Liam head to a nearby park to film a promo video for the Tom’s  ‘One Day Without Shoes’ awareness campaign. It’s just the next step in their journey.

The post Interview with Toronto’s The Balconies appeared first on Quip Magazine.

As it happens, some of the most popular bands in are the ones that we’ve missed out on in Canada. The Gift, a Portuguese psych-pop ensemble is one of those bands. They are top-selling artists in their native country, MTV awards recipients, and very talented performers. Famous for their DIY attitude and vibrant presence, The Gift recently returned to Canada and the United States with their new album Explodeem. Produced by Ken Nelson, the same man who works with Coldplay, Ray LaMontagne and many other talented artists, this new album is downright colorful through and through.

QP: Have you been to Toronto before?

TG: Yes, we’ve played Toronto before and we’re going to Montreal tomorrow to play, we like it a lot.

QP: I was very impressed with the whole DIY thing that you do, that gets to be a lot of work, but I imagine at the same time that gives you more freedom to grow as an artist?

TG: Yes! It’s important to have a structure, if you have structure it’s easier to come from our little town to Toronto, or to Vancouver, or Calgary or Montreal. We control the studios, we control the production and marketing all on our own, we control photo shoots, record the albums we want when we want, and it works out well.

QP: Would you recommend it to other bands?

TG: Definitely, I think most of the bands start as self-managed and after a little while they get a managing agent. We have all that too, for example we have a booking agent in America because I cannot book the shows myself but I still do it in Europe, I still do it in some countries, including Brazil.

QP: What got you into music, why The Gift?

TG: Honestly that’s what I wanted to do for my life, so we started as a young, young band in a small town in Portugal and just went for it.

QP: Were you exposed to a lot of American music?

TG: Yes, we were exposed to all of that, but not as much as these days and its not as much of the case in my town. In the 90s it was really hard to get the right albums so we had to wait and import them from outside, share the cassette tapes, it was a big deal!

QP: Your whole new album is very uplifting, it’s very inspiring, happy if you may

TG: Yes and that was very intentional, did you see the pictures that came with the album?

QP: Yes, very colorful

TG: Exactly! We went to India a year ago. Portugal was in huge crisis and we wanted exactly the opposite of what it felt like at home, we wanted to bring happiness, we are all in good moment in our lives and we wanted to share that, hence the explosion of colors, you will see some colors on stage tonight as well.

QP: Definitely looking forward to that! Speaking of that last album, you had actors in the last video you produced, it almost seemed like it was not your song…

TG: Yes, Lucas/Lucas, the idea was to make it look like they were working on a music project, and then three weeks after that first release we announced that the song was from The Gift. During these three weeks, we wanted everyone to think it was Lucas/Lucas, they are actors people would recognize so it was a good lie, we enjoyed that.

QP: What kind of shows do you usually do while touring?

TG: We do theaters, we do clubs, outdoor shows, we do everything. Next we are doing a two month tour in Europe only in theaters, 20 days straight, Sonya is pregnant so we decided to do it fast, we needed to stop in February. On New Years Eve we are playing at Lisbon Casino in front of 2000 people. The Casino throws a huge party and everyone knows who we are. But I do prefer to play in front of 300 people of new audience, it is always exciting to conquer new audiences. We care about our existent fans but we do enjoy playing in new places to new audiences.

QP: So you are not going home for Christmas?

TG: No, not really. Some of us live in Madrid, I live everywhere, Sonia lives in Portugal. In the winter time we do go home, but later. We’re also finishing up a new album, just recorded two weeks ago! Normally you wouldn’t be allowed to produce two albums on a raw like that but because we are self-managed we can do it. Now we are going to mix it and January-February it’s going to be out to the world, at least digitally.

QP: On that note, how do you feel about the digitalization of music, do you sell most of your music online?

TG: I think that Spotify, and things like that, will change the way we listen music. Subscription music will be the future, although the way the money is played now it’s not very good for the industry. But in terms of the future, I think that this is it, you pay very little for a subscription and then you see and listen all the music you want. The live shows are where you prove yourself as a band and have fun.

QP: Is there a band that one person in the band likes and everyone else hates?

TG: No, we are very open, we don’t hate on things. I don’t understand the haters haha! We like the honesty in music and you will see that on stage today as well.

QP: If you weren’t a musician what would you be?

TG: We would be connected with arts for sure, I studied marketing while doing art projects, you can’t help it.

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