By: Alex Nino Gheciu
Sure, the whole boogie rock thing’s been done countless times before, by the likes of: ZZ Top, Foghat, Canned Heat and the rest of them. Yet, seeing these guys live is like driving down a good old fashioned American cheeseburger. Sure, it’s not lobster bisque, but it feels right and just hits the spot. These guys laid it down slick with their Delta-dipped grooves during their set the Oh Henry! Stage. I caught up with singer/guitarist Darren Glover, bassist Darcy Yates, and drummer Chris Henry right after they set the stage aflame.
So, you’ve regularly been playing residency shows at the Dakota Tavern.

Darren: Well, we used to, we used to play at the Dakota Tavern regularly. Now, we’re just playing our own shows. Saturday, September 13th, we’re doing our EP release at the Horseshoe.

How did you get hooked up with the residency stint?

Darren: Oddly enough, the whole band kinda’ met on the corner of Bathurst and Queen St, right when the owners of the Dakota just signed their deal. I just put the band together right on that spot, literally, and because we’re all friends. We turned to the owners and said, “Do you need a band to play your new bar?” They said, “We do.” So, we booked a gig and didn’t look back. It all happened within a month.

Did you preview new songs each week?

Darren: Yeah, we worked really hard to showcase new stuff every week and just write new songs to capture what was missing in the set the previous week. We did a lot of improv, but we really structured our sound to put on the best show we could. The improv would just come with the energy of the night.

How much of your show is improvised, usually?

Darren: It all depends on the vibe of our surroundings. When it comes to our songs, we try to interpret the solos and expressions differently every time. They’re our songs, they’re written out. Definitely, every time we play, it’s a different experience. It’s a different form of what we do.

I heard a lot of John Lee Hooker in your set. Am I right?

Darren: Yeah, for sure. John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Skip James, ZZ Top. It’s boogie rock. So, all the guys that invented boogie - we’re doing our own version of it in 2008. It never gets old, you know? It’s an amazing sound. We’re really happy to be able to explore it and be one of the band’s out there doing it.

There’s not much of a boogie rock scene in Toronto, is there?

Darren: We are the boogie rock scene in Toronto! (laughs) Well no, there are some other killer bands out there that do the vibe, you know. Well, it’s Southern rock, so we have a lot of good friends in similar style bands, in that regard.

What are some of your favourite Toronto boogie rock bands?

Darren: Well, see that’s a tough one. We’re the only boogie rock band. White Cowbell is an example of a Southern band and they play boogie and they’re an amazing band, too.

Chris: C’mon is another good one.

Darren: Basically any guys with beards (laughs). There are a lot of bearded bands. There used to be a band called Illuminati, too. They were one of those.

Would Black Mountain fit into that category?

Darren: Black Mountain is, uh – well yeah, they have beards (laughs). They’re awesome. They’re more psych, whatever that means.

Would you consider yourself stoner rock?

Chris: We like stoner rock.

Darren: If we’re stoned while playing, it’s an accident. But we’re not stoner rock. Still, it definitely helps.

Chris: We’re big on Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age.

Are you more of a Kyuss guy or a Queens guy?

Chris: Well, I found out about Kyuss through Queens, I backtracked, I was late on that train - I was at the back.

When did you guys form?

Darren: Almost two years ago. We’re about a year as a full-on original band. For our first show, we got invited we got invited to play with Stars at the Phoenix, and that was kinda the flag in the ground saying that we are now a band. So, it’s been almost a year of playing our own shows outside of our own residency. We’ve been fortunate enough to play with Wintersleep, Metric, even the Breeders – which was pretty cool. It’s been a really busy year.

Didn’t you also play with Broken Social Scene?

Darren: Yeah, an impromptu show. Kevin is a good friend of ours and we wrote a song with him and jammed it out with him; it was really fun.

Most of these bands you’ve played with have totally different styles than you. How does the crowd usually react?

Darren: The crowd likes it. I mean, it’s Toronto. Toronto likes rock n’ roll. It’s also just that, the fans that like those bands are really just music lovers. To get into that music, you really have to be a music lover and open your mind up. Those are the type of people that we want to play to.

Sex, drugs or rock n’ roll?

Chris: Rock n’ roll. I’ve botched too many relationships. It’s all about music now.

Darren: Disco.

Darcy: Rock.

Darren: Wait, don’t they all go together? It’s a trick question. What are you doing? Trying to pull the wool over our eyes? The beards over our faces?

So, you guys just recorded an EP?

Darren: Yup. We just released an EP about two weeks ago with Pheromone Recordings. It’s been a great time. They’re a great bunch of people and really see our vision and work with us to build our road and go on our path.

What are your plans for the next year?

Darren: Just to play, play, play. Release a full-length LP in the new year and basically work really hard to make new fans and create new music.

Darcy: Hey, sorry I haven’t been too talkative. I’m really hung-over.

Hey, don’t sweat it. It comes with the territory.

Darcy: Good point.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at 7:03 pm.