Bobbyisms: Right place and time to meet Attack in Black
I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Even though I write this column each week about music, it doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about sports; personally, I play as many as I can, especially hockey, and I'm one of those dudes that will tell you to keep your head up at all times.
Of course, people use sports references in life all the time, and it's because they apply - if I hadn't been keeping my head up on Friday afternoon, I would've missed out on the chance to interview Attack In Black at their gig at Call The Office here in London. And honestly I'd have been pretty upset at myself for a missed chance like that.
It began with a school assignment, a photo essay - I don't know if it's apparent to any of you reading this, but rock music is losing its shrines, one by one. Rock clubs are disappearing all over Ontario, and that symbiotic relationship between kids and growing bands supporting each other becomes more and more strained and left in the hands of the Internet.
If you've been paying attention, you'll notice that here in London our clubs have been dropping like flies over the last couple of years; The Wick was condemned in 2007 (before succumbing to highly suspicious means), The Salt Lounge ran dry, The Embassy lost to arson, and even the Alex P. Keaton just seemed to close its doors one day, didn't it?
I reached out to Tony Lima, who runs and books Call The Office at York and Clarence streets downtown, to ask him if I could shoot CTO as a way of praising and depicting a true rock club in its glory. I don't know that I know of any place within a few hundred kilometers of here that has a history as rich and legit as Call The Office does, and luckily for me, Tony agreed to letting me shoot there on Friday. And it was waiting outside to get in to photograph CTO that I met Attack In Black.
It seems they were supposed to be having an interview with someone else, an interview I'm not ashamed to say I may have directly stolen - I mentioned this very column to them and got their word to ask them a few questions later in the evening. In the meantime, I busied myself shooting the club and waiting for the show to begin.
To make a long evening short, the bands were great and I got a lot of great shots. In particular, Attack In Black were absolutely brilliant - an indie-rock outfit, they land somewhere in sound between The Decemberists and Brand New's Deja Entendu, pure and entertaining, wildly varied from one song to the next, and highly listenable.
Attack In Black almost seem as though they're more comfortable onstage than speaking in person, though that fact is likely more due to a real sense of mild-mannered-ness; these four guys are quiet and far more down-to-Earth than you'd expect from a band with such a strong, positive reputation preceding them. And accommodating? They let me take pictures of them the entire night and agreed to answer questions for Interrobang.
They put on perhaps the most interesting, satisfying set I've personally seen in months, pitching to a perfect crescendo in audience feedback with the inclusion of a short, very uptempo encore. And then, true to his word, guitarist Spencer Burton put aside a little time to answer a few questions.
Now, Burton could be the quietest of the group, based on what I've seen. Glaringly humble and soft-spoken, he seems to have no trouble slipping in and out of the rock persona when he's not onstage. He shared some excellent stuff with me, like when we discussed that the band recorded the audio to every one of their shows on this past winter 2010 tour across the province (though there are currently no plans to release a live disc).
When I asked about the next step for Attack In Black, Burton mentioned the band intends on getting back into their basement home studio to record a new full-length album - their first Attack In Black recording in the new digs. The good news? It doesn't sound as though it's going to take long to produce - Spencer predicts that it might take a week or two at most.
“We're impatient,” he said. “We just get it done as fast as possible. Otherwise you want to redo that, redo this... just do it and be happy.”
It's little surprise that as a group, Attack In Black has released several albums and EPs over the last couple years, since signing with Dine Alone Records (home of Alexisonfire, Arkells, Moneen, and more) back in 2006.
I even asked Burton about the band being as prolific as they are, able to release so much new material on such a consistent basis. Recording only makes sense, he told me. “You gotta do something, something else, so why not write music?”
Out of sheer curiosity, I asked what album he's been listening the most to lately, and he informed me of Ramblin' Jack Elliot, who just this month won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Recording for his latest record A Stranger Here. Beyond that, a healthy mix of NoFx and Depeche Mode has never hurt anybody.
On his suggestion, you can see Ramblin' Jack at www.myspace.com/ramblinjackelliott, and on mine, check out Attack In Black at www.myspace.com/attackinblack.
This week my personal thanks must go out to Tony and everyone at Call The Office, to Spencer, Ian K, Daniel, and Ian R of Attack In Black. Words can't describe what a pleasure it was to see the band perform and to give my first interview for this column, and all because I was in the right place at the right time.
And speaking of this column, I am likely to be murdered for going way over my 500 word limit this week, so now more than ever, I'm out of words.
Of course, people use sports references in life all the time, and it's because they apply - if I hadn't been keeping my head up on Friday afternoon, I would've missed out on the chance to interview Attack In Black at their gig at Call The Office here in London. And honestly I'd have been pretty upset at myself for a missed chance like that.
It began with a school assignment, a photo essay - I don't know if it's apparent to any of you reading this, but rock music is losing its shrines, one by one. Rock clubs are disappearing all over Ontario, and that symbiotic relationship between kids and growing bands supporting each other becomes more and more strained and left in the hands of the Internet.
If you've been paying attention, you'll notice that here in London our clubs have been dropping like flies over the last couple of years; The Wick was condemned in 2007 (before succumbing to highly suspicious means), The Salt Lounge ran dry, The Embassy lost to arson, and even the Alex P. Keaton just seemed to close its doors one day, didn't it?
I reached out to Tony Lima, who runs and books Call The Office at York and Clarence streets downtown, to ask him if I could shoot CTO as a way of praising and depicting a true rock club in its glory. I don't know that I know of any place within a few hundred kilometers of here that has a history as rich and legit as Call The Office does, and luckily for me, Tony agreed to letting me shoot there on Friday. And it was waiting outside to get in to photograph CTO that I met Attack In Black.
It seems they were supposed to be having an interview with someone else, an interview I'm not ashamed to say I may have directly stolen - I mentioned this very column to them and got their word to ask them a few questions later in the evening. In the meantime, I busied myself shooting the club and waiting for the show to begin.
To make a long evening short, the bands were great and I got a lot of great shots. In particular, Attack In Black were absolutely brilliant - an indie-rock outfit, they land somewhere in sound between The Decemberists and Brand New's Deja Entendu, pure and entertaining, wildly varied from one song to the next, and highly listenable.
Attack In Black almost seem as though they're more comfortable onstage than speaking in person, though that fact is likely more due to a real sense of mild-mannered-ness; these four guys are quiet and far more down-to-Earth than you'd expect from a band with such a strong, positive reputation preceding them. And accommodating? They let me take pictures of them the entire night and agreed to answer questions for Interrobang.
They put on perhaps the most interesting, satisfying set I've personally seen in months, pitching to a perfect crescendo in audience feedback with the inclusion of a short, very uptempo encore. And then, true to his word, guitarist Spencer Burton put aside a little time to answer a few questions.
Now, Burton could be the quietest of the group, based on what I've seen. Glaringly humble and soft-spoken, he seems to have no trouble slipping in and out of the rock persona when he's not onstage. He shared some excellent stuff with me, like when we discussed that the band recorded the audio to every one of their shows on this past winter 2010 tour across the province (though there are currently no plans to release a live disc).
When I asked about the next step for Attack In Black, Burton mentioned the band intends on getting back into their basement home studio to record a new full-length album - their first Attack In Black recording in the new digs. The good news? It doesn't sound as though it's going to take long to produce - Spencer predicts that it might take a week or two at most.
“We're impatient,” he said. “We just get it done as fast as possible. Otherwise you want to redo that, redo this... just do it and be happy.”
It's little surprise that as a group, Attack In Black has released several albums and EPs over the last couple years, since signing with Dine Alone Records (home of Alexisonfire, Arkells, Moneen, and more) back in 2006.
I even asked Burton about the band being as prolific as they are, able to release so much new material on such a consistent basis. Recording only makes sense, he told me. “You gotta do something, something else, so why not write music?”
Out of sheer curiosity, I asked what album he's been listening the most to lately, and he informed me of Ramblin' Jack Elliot, who just this month won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Recording for his latest record A Stranger Here. Beyond that, a healthy mix of NoFx and Depeche Mode has never hurt anybody.
On his suggestion, you can see Ramblin' Jack at www.myspace.com/ramblinjackelliott, and on mine, check out Attack In Black at www.myspace.com/attackinblack.
This week my personal thanks must go out to Tony and everyone at Call The Office, to Spencer, Ian K, Daniel, and Ian R of Attack In Black. Words can't describe what a pleasure it was to see the band perform and to give my first interview for this column, and all because I was in the right place at the right time.
And speaking of this column, I am likely to be murdered for going way over my 500 word limit this week, so now more than ever, I'm out of words.
