Friday night saw an early show from Toronto natives, Wildlife, at the Mod Club Theatre. As people slowly kept wandering into the half-empty venue, the band performed a well-rehearsed (and lit) set that spoke to their continuing and rapid spread across the indie world (like wildfire, har-har). Lead vocalist, Dean Povinsky, was spot on with delivery, and in between songs genuinely interactive with an appreciative crowd. Creating orchestral sounds magnified by the Mod Club’s ample size, the band’s strength lies in their cadence of vocals and instruments that build into catchy choruses and punctuated melodies.

Travelling north from their New Jersey base, The Ugly Club also played a Friday night set at Rancho Relaxo. As the crowd thickened, the five members delivered an intimate show, while managing to stay upright in the heat. Though it may have been a first musical encounter for some audience members, they offered songs that were laid back and easy to get into. Highlights included “Under the Great Wave”, a keyboarded and soft tempo tune with a serious electric guitar work out, and “Loosen Up”. These guys certainly suit music festivals, and maintain a comfortable appeal.

Further West, Wrongbar brought to us Jane Void and Wayne Doe, the duo that is Some Minor Noise from Toronto. In line with some of the recent up and coming electronic lo-fi bands that spend a decent time producing the sounds SMN without a doubt surprised the crowd. Void’s young energy and what appears as a don’t give a fuck attitude makes them more appealing, they’re like those cool kids sitting in the back of the cafeteria wearing t-shirts no one understands. Wrapping up the set with Pixies’s cover of “Where Is My Mind” definitely set a good mood for the rest of the night.

Saturday night started off with a Vancouver based electro-indie duo Data Romance at the Supermarket’s back room. With only a handful of people in the room Amy Kirkpatrick begun to sing. Less than a verse in mystified people begun to move over from the dinning area with their pints in hands. Everyone kept close to stage, bobbin heads and swinging from side to side in pleasant surprise. Rock on Data Romance. Rock on.

The night also welcomed in the Quiet Company, all the way from Austin, Texas, at Rancho Relaxo. Bearded and burly, the band put on a warm breeze show that featured thoughtful lyrics and contemplative harmonies, offset by a funky, plinking keyboard. Band member, Cody Ackors, also swung in some stylized trombone notes that pushed the group closer towards a deep roots sound. Professing their love for Canada and Tim Horton’s, the five guys finished up a well received set to a full house.

Another Toronto installation, PAPERMAPS, hopped on stage after Quiet Company and began Rancho Relaxo’s wee hours set. Opting to perform a wide collection of new songs set to debut on their upcoming September album, they offered the audience a glimpse into their continuing maturity and establishment of sound. Lead vocalist, Dean Marino (whom we chatted with last summer), was an intense and focused performer and filled each song with a distinct, gravel tone, while bassist, Betty Dimo, followed in a similarly set, unspoiled attention. Enthusiastic crowd reactions bode good things for this band’s future.

Meanwhile at BLK BOX, the dark back corner room of the Great Hall, Ryan Hemsworth took the stage. As people kept piling into the room, filling corners and grabbing on to balcony rails atmosphere quickly started to feel like the gates to hell swung open. Hot. So damn hot! In no time the BLK BOX filled to capacity, people crowded around the stage, dancing, jumping, reaching for the stars. If anyone was worth the wait and the heat and that sweaty guys who kept rubbing against me it would be this guy.

See more NXNE concert photos here

The post All kinds of heat: NXNE weekend 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.