00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:02:21 I think that most people are like a lineage
00:00:04:18 as far as what they listen to a music.
00:00:06:20 You know like something
00:00:07:27 spark their interest in music at a young age
00:00:09:28 and then eventually, there is a point where someone like
00:00:12:20 gets into a type of music that brings
00:00:15:18 them where they are today.
00:00:17:07 Notes from the front line of a stringing culture,
00:00:19:24 this is Strange Notes.
00:00:21:04 [Music]
00:00:34:17 [Music]
00:00:36:08 Actually, a lot of family is from here.
00:00:37:28 A lot of... I spent just about every Christmas since
00:00:41:06 since I was born here.
00:00:43:08 My uncle Edward Matika, the Late Edward Matika,
00:00:47:08 he played hockey for Michigan University.
00:00:52:13 And he is on the
00:00:54:00 Welland Sports Wall of fame at that Seaway Mall.
00:00:57:10 So, we are here in Welland,
00:00:59:06 stopped by the Sports Wall of Fame.
00:01:00:29 Look up Ed Matika.
00:01:02:28 Great man and a great hockey player.
00:01:05:23 [Music]
00:01:08:08 I want to go back in this town.
00:01:10:16 My grandfather, he had a house here
00:01:13:23 and my father grew up in Welland, Ontario as well.
00:01:16:19 I am kind of biased towards liking people I meet from
00:01:20:10 Welland because I share a sort of kinship with them.
00:01:23:06 I spend enough time around this place,
00:01:25:03 the small town in Southern Ontario.
00:01:27:21 And most people wouldn't know about,
00:01:29:21 from the rest of the country.
00:01:31:10 In the mind of people, you know, they have certain
00:01:32:28 stereotypical thoughts about what they think Canadians are.
00:01:36:10 I think Welland is probably a picturesque Canadian town.
00:01:41:07 [Music]
00:01:45:28 Well, we are way to the Rex Hotel,
00:01:49:06 which is kind of an Italian eatery.
00:01:51:13 It's a hotel.
00:01:52:12 It's an off-track bedding facility.
00:01:54:29 If you want to get a nice slice of pizza, this is where you go.
00:01:58:17 And the guys of Attack in Black are just whom we meet here.
00:02:01:23 That's coming up right here a lot.
00:02:03:22 ♪ [Music]
00:02:35:20 I will give it little bit of pepper
00:02:37:02 ♪ [Music]
00:02:49:08 How old were you when you moved here?
00:02:51:06 I think I was, it's late like almost 18 may be.
00:02:55:08 Okay, cool.
00:02:56:23 I was long here. Late in the game.
00:02:57:28 Yeah.
00:02:59:18 There was also coincidently,
00:03:01:20 this time I started drinking was when I was moved here.
00:03:04:21 The first time alcohol touched my lips was when I am...
00:03:07:04 -Well, corrupting a fact -Yeah,
00:03:08:09 Spencer and I met, basically
00:03:10:07 the first time we met was at a show in Fonthill
00:03:13:22 actually at the region, where you may have been before.
00:03:16:28 But anyways, it was just a local show and it was a classic
00:03:21:24 dispute as to who was going to open the show.
00:03:24:14 Someone from, one of the bands who offered to open the show,
00:03:28:06 when he get someone to play drums with us,
00:03:31:08 and asked me to play drums with Spencer.
00:03:35:12 Never met before.
00:03:36:14 I think I may be, some around time once.
00:03:38:06 Wow!
00:03:38:25 But I don't even know if you told me
00:03:40:10 what the song was going to sound like - song
00:03:43:01 I am pretty sure, started the band thereafter as a two-piece.
00:03:46:16 That takes a massive amount of balls, just like walk to a show.
00:03:52:03 Walking in a show, it's be like, yeah, I need a drummer.
00:03:55:28 I am going to entertain you.
00:03:57:15 Well, we had a show and like everyone is like arguing,
00:03:59:28 and like no one want to open the show and
00:04:01:24 someone came up to me like, listen, you can play guitar.
00:04:03:28 Do you want to open the show?
00:04:04:29 I mean I am like, yeah, I'll open the show.
00:04:06:14 And like this is an - keep plays drums and like,
00:04:09:10 let's do this.
00:04:09:28 Yeah, let's play the song.
00:04:11:28 ♪ [Music]
00:04:41:04 What was like the intention at first?
00:04:43:20 Did anybody have an idea as to
00:04:44:16 what it was going to sound like
00:04:45:25 or you just get together and you want to play Punk music or what?
00:04:48:10 It kind of almost started as, like the earlier stuff that like
00:04:52:01 kind of what turn into Attack in Black was like hit some songs
00:04:55:05 that he just wrote for his upper band,
00:04:57:02 and that was before Spencer was even in the band too.
00:04:59:18 We tried to have some guitar plays
00:05:00:28 and then Spencer came into play.
00:05:03:22 A couple of bass players later, Ian joined.
00:05:05:19 Yeah, a couple of bass player later.
00:05:07:27 So when you joined, would that be the catalyst as far as
00:05:11:06 that kind of change the way the music sounded or
00:05:12:08 was it just like everybody is kind of like...
00:05:15:07 things have obviously progressed and like you know with the
00:05:17:15 Widows EP, I think there is a lot of difference between
00:05:20:02 now and the first record, obviously.
00:05:21:08 You are after those Widow songs.
00:05:22:28 When I joined the band, the first songs that
00:05:25:18 I learned to play were the songs from the Skate Ahead EP.
00:05:29:23 So, there were songs that we had written that were like kind of
00:05:32:01 even more in between Punk and whatever we did after that,
00:05:36:19 But I don't really know if when I join the band,
00:05:38:18 if that was why or when.
00:05:40:28 People want to talk about that, when they talk about you guys is
00:05:43:18 -they talk about how you guys have become what you are now. -Yeah.
00:05:46:25 And it's not necessarily, you are there at the beginning.
00:05:48:26 It's like you know, which I find very interesting and then
00:05:50:28 all bands I love have these long careers; 13 records and
00:05:54:28 the first record sounds nothing like the last record.
00:05:58:04 And I don't know that's exciting.
00:06:00:04 [Music]
00:06:02:26 Stay tuned for more tales of the bazaar.



00:00:00:16 [Music]
00:00:01:28 I am George Pettit and this is Strange Notes.
00:00:05:01 Welcome back.
00:00:07:01 Tonight's musical performance is a special one.
00:00:09:28 A group that has led their musical ambition
00:00:11:28 take them where it may and I am very please to say
00:00:14:18 that it has taken them here.
00:00:16:05 [Non-English]
00:00:23:18 Ladies and Gentleman, Attack in Black
00:00:26:20 [Music]
00:00:34:27 Lyric writing as well.
00:00:36:07 It is that like,
00:00:37:11 where is the responsibility of that mostly fall?
00:00:41:04 I think now it is everybody, but definitely on marriage,
00:00:44:07 that was pretty much all you were...
00:00:45:28 I think I wrote mostly, yet.
00:00:47:18 I would help write songs with Dan and stuff,
00:00:50:17 but never would really come with a song of my own,
00:00:54:20 probably because I never really had tried to write songs
00:00:57:18 like that were as - those were.
00:00:59:08 Yeah.
00:01:00:28 So, I would try to contribute in anyway I could by writing,
00:01:02:23 I would guess.
00:01:04:13 And now it has become a bit better where we all do
00:01:07:07 everything which I think makes our band
00:01:10:03 ten times stronger than if only one person does a certain thing
00:01:12:28 and reflected by everyone in the band, I guess.
00:01:15:21 Another thing that I think comes up in articles about you guys
00:01:18:22 is that they want a name literally influence as well
00:01:21:18 Bukowski and Whitman
00:01:23:03 and like all these things they are coming up.
00:01:25:10 For me, definitely.
00:01:26:14 Yeah.
00:01:27:06 And I know Dan...
00:01:28:12 Oh, Henry Miller, of course.
00:01:29:24 Henry Miller, yeah.
00:01:30:20 Have you ever like pursued writing outside of
00:01:33:07 like writing songs?
00:01:34:11 Yeah, some times I do.
00:01:36:00 I definitely try to write music
00:01:38:28 way more than I try to only write words, you know.
00:01:42:13 Sure, yeah.
00:01:43:12 But, I have thought about it.
00:01:44:28 It is something I would like to do at some point.
00:01:46:18 Dan and I have talked about that before
00:01:47:28 and we have talked about making a book together,
00:01:49:28 something where I would write down words
00:01:51:28 and we would make art to it or something like that.
00:01:55:08 But music just always comes first to us
00:01:57:02 and we do it at such a pace
00:02:00:08 that it doesn't really allow for much else.
00:02:03:09 There are bands that you can tell are like,
00:02:05:24 they get along and they are brothers
00:02:08:08 and there are bands that you kind of feel have like,
00:02:10:03 they are just kind of going through the motions
00:02:11:26 kind of thing.
00:02:12:21 Certainly like and it is weird because...
00:02:15:03 When you do go on a tour with a terrible band,
00:02:17:14 that's terrible in every possible way.
00:02:18:28 It just sticks out.
00:02:21:08 And to be optimistic, I have even found that
00:02:25:14 when we are on a tour with a band that we
00:02:27:19 just want to not be on tour with,
00:02:30:27 like it just unites us in our hatred.
00:02:33:20 Yeah. So...
00:02:35:06 I have heard some stories about you guys being
00:02:38:05 thieving some things from time to time?
00:02:40:23 Yeah, sometimes.
00:02:42:15 [laughter]
00:02:44:23 When we don't have any money and we are hungry
00:02:47:28 or we need the gas money or we need oil,
00:02:51:04 we just steal those things.
00:02:52:26 Sometimes he steals.
00:02:55:00 The road is long and the road is hard.
00:02:56:04 Oh yeah, everybody is young once.
00:02:58:03 We stole a few things.
00:02:59:27 We don't regret them but...
00:03:01:26 Hearing about you guys stealing oil on the road
00:03:04:14 because you need to keep your van going
00:03:06:22 and you're are poor, but you are still like
00:03:08:13 yeah, sometimes thieving is what it takes
00:03:11:02 to keep the whole machine going.
00:03:12:21 ♪ [Music]
00:03:40:13 Name some of the good stuff
00:03:41:18 that's going on in Canada right now?
00:03:43:26 Definitely... Alexisonfire.
00:03:46:10 Definitely Alexisonfire.
00:03:47:21 Constantines for sure, of course.
00:03:49:14 Ladyhawk
00:03:51:28 Shotgun Jimmie
00:03:53:21 which is kind of a selfish choice
00:03:55:28 because we play with them.
00:03:57:29 Yeah, let's talk for a while about Shotgun Jimmie.
00:04:01:07 Did he kind of become the sidekick to your band?
00:04:03:10 Yeah.
00:04:04:22 We all just kind of fell in love with the songs.
00:04:06:03 We never met him on a song or anything like that before
00:04:10:21 and we listen to the record non-stop.
00:04:12:28 And then Dan just e-mailed him, mentioned that if ever he needed
00:04:17:03 or wanted to tour together and needed like people to play with,
00:04:21:01 that we would do it.
00:04:22:27 It just kind of developed.
00:04:24:06 Jimmie came down this past year
00:04:25:21 and Dan, Spencer and I had learned
00:04:27:14 a bunch of the songs on our own
00:04:29:25 and had a practice and then went
00:04:31:05 and played a couple of shows at North by North East with him
00:04:33:21 and have done so as much as we possibly could ever since.
00:04:37:08 He seems like a very interesting character, alright?
00:04:40:21 Yeah.
00:04:41:22 You are putting out one of his records, correct?
00:04:43:08 Yes, Still Jimmie.
00:04:45:04 Our label is called You've Changed Records
00:04:47:27 and ironically the first release is called Still Jimmie.
00:04:53:06 He is an amazing person,
00:04:54:28 he is just one of the nicest people
00:04:56:24 I ever met in my life really.
00:05:00:28 His songs are flawless, I think they are amazing.
00:05:05:08 I don't know, it just stays a gem to be around.
00:05:07:18 Real creative, kind of interesting guy.
00:05:09:10 Yeah, to thank us for playing with him at North by North East
00:05:11:28 he made us a music video,
00:05:14:01 some of it was animation, some of that it was just him.
00:05:16:28 When did you decide to start this record label?
00:05:18:13 I think we just thought that it was logical for us
00:05:20:22 to be putting out records and originally,
00:05:22:28 I think we planned for the first release
00:05:24:08 to be a split that we did with
00:05:26:18 Attack in Black and Baby Eagle.
00:05:28:22 But we decided to have our first release to be just proper LP,
00:05:33:28 proper record and so Still Jimmie it is.
00:05:37:15 [Music]
00:05:38:24 From the actions of the old, I am George Pettit
00:05:41:04 and this is Strange Notes.



00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:05:08 ♪ [Music]
00:00:37:08 We've got the old man on stage just ripping it all up.
00:00:42:23 Yeah. Just pretty cool.
00:00:43:28 And he'll sometimes even play on our recordings and stuff too,
00:00:47:04 he's just... he does a... he plays some classical guitar on
00:00:52:02 one of his songs, one of the Baby Eagle covers and stuff
00:00:54:28 and contributes when he can.
00:00:56:28 It sounds like you and your brother have a very
00:00:59:13 like cool and healthy relationship
00:01:01:03 with your parents too which is like...
00:01:03:13 Well, they let us build a studio and that...
00:01:05:17 Yeah, that's right.
00:01:06:16 With our bare hands, not even our carpenters,
00:01:10:05 they just let us tear it apart and do it.
00:01:11:18 Yeah, with the building of a studio,
00:01:13:15 you guys are recording like all the time now?
00:01:14:28 We recorded the new record on a... you know what it is.
00:01:18:14 Yeah, it's just an A track digital recorder.
00:01:22:28 It's the same thing that we did before...
00:01:24:03 Yeah, the same thing, yeah.
00:01:25:02 Well, I had no idea.
00:01:27:04 That sounds really, really good.
00:01:28:28 We have had that machine since...
00:01:30:11 well, for forever pretty much.
00:01:31:21 Sincerely, that the old has...
00:01:32:28 What is the actual machine calling?
00:01:34:23 It's like a Yamaha like MD-8.
00:01:37:07 It's just like 8...
00:01:38:22 you can record 8 tracks and if you wanted you can get to...
00:01:41:03 -Then you've got to bounce to... -Yeah... mix it down and then start there again.
00:01:44:08 Wow!
00:01:44:28 Oh, yeah, that's a funny thing.
00:01:46:21 When we were recording, the Stop button
00:01:49:07 on the machine is broken and the way to save tracks
00:01:53:08 is you're supposed to click the Stop...
00:01:55:07 double click the Stop button, right?
00:01:57:10 So, we would finish recording a song.
00:02:00:11 We never... I don't...
00:02:01:28 were there any songs that we used more than 8-track sound,
00:02:04:03 I can't remember, maybe a few.
00:02:06:08 I think, we might have added a couple of things after,
00:02:08:09 let's say.
00:02:09:08 The majority of the songs were, we only used 8 tracks
00:02:11:19 and so we were finished recording a song
00:02:14:24 and we would mix it right away...
00:02:15:28 On the machine?
00:02:17:02 Mix it on the machine and then put it onto a CD,
00:02:20:16 because we couldn't risk having,
00:02:23:04 because if the machine would shut off,
00:02:25:03 the song would be lost.
00:02:27:21 As soon as we recorded another song,
00:02:28:28 like that's it,
00:02:29:28 like you didn't have the other song saved in it.
00:02:32:08 So, it's like, okay, is this good?
00:02:36:18 We did it quickly too, we recorded ten songs
00:02:38:28 and that was maybe three days or something like that,
00:02:40:28 that we did.
00:02:42:08 But, working kind of straight
00:02:44:18 and then we did three more songs at Shotgun Jimmie's
00:02:48:21 when we were there for Sappyfest and then we came home
00:02:53:00 and recorded another three songs,
00:02:54:20 again in the basement.
00:02:56:10 But, in total,
00:02:58:00 it was all done pretty quickly, I guess.
00:03:02:03 I am like completely shocked.
00:03:04:28 On an 8-track, you made that, is just absolute...
00:03:09:02 like on a broken A track as well.
00:03:12:18 Broken Stop button.
00:03:14:11 Well, we had taken... took the recordings to Dan Weston
00:03:18:13 and he made it sound a lot better than,
00:03:21:08 I guess, we had it sound.
00:03:23:03 I don't think that you're getting anymore enjoyment
00:03:26:17 out of a record if you paid...
00:03:28:10 a million dollars recorded the top of the line studio
00:03:30:27 and there is absolutely no hiss into it.
00:03:33:05 Recording on yourself, you can get a soft spot
00:03:34:28 for how it sounds and you have it sound exactly
00:03:36:21 how you want it to too.
00:03:38:04 Yeah.
00:03:38:28 And we're kind of not an inclusive band,
00:03:42:26 in that we like doing things only ourselves.
00:03:45:20 Yeah.
00:03:46:10 And so you don't have anyone else...
00:03:49:28 Whether or not it's true or not,
00:03:51:03 but we feel that like things can
00:03:52:28 well maybe just unconsciously that it can...
00:03:54:28 things can be tainted if it's out of our creative command.
00:03:59:03 I kind of thought that the studio was down in your basement
00:04:01:18 and like you had like a really cool setup and like all that
00:04:04:21 kind of stuff and like... yeah, but just knowing that
00:04:07:10 you just kind of like did it or not, that's amazing!
00:04:09:23 It's amazing, you've blown my mind!
00:04:11:08 There are some trinkets that we...
00:04:12:21 they have... I mean Dan has always collected lots of nice
00:04:14:28 microphones that we used in the wedge.
00:04:18:18 Wedge, yeah.
00:04:19:14 Oh, the Effectron too is one thing that we used.
00:04:21:26 Drum machine that we used a little bit on the record too.
00:04:24:15 No, we think that Bruce - like there's other tubes in it.
00:04:27:28 Which one?
00:04:29:00 -That get used for some robocops... -Like the tube preamp.
00:04:32:07 -Yeah. -I like that.
00:04:33:18 What would you plan through for guitars?
00:04:35:08 I think, generally the Champ is used for everything, right?
00:04:38:22 I think almost everything was in the Champ.
00:04:41:22 Except for the stuff at Jimmie's house where we used the Peavey,
00:04:44:20 his Peavey amp.
00:04:45:21 There's just this little Fender Champ, about this big...
00:04:47:20 Yeah, most of the guitar was like that
00:04:50:28 and we used an organ that we are given by Andrew Dench,
00:04:56:07 one of our friends from Marytown.
00:04:58:03 -Dench? -Dench, yeah.
00:04:59:29 It's beautiful, I don't know what kind it is, but...
00:05:03:20 That's a Hammond.
00:05:05:09 -Hammond. -Wow!
00:05:07:01 -That's a nice gift, ha! -Yeah.
00:05:09:03 It's nice for those organs.
00:05:10:10 That's really nice, yeah it's awesome!
00:05:11:28 -That's how the organ sounds. -Sounds amazing!
00:05:14:13 And I remember Dan putting like a delay pedal on the drums
00:05:16:21 for one song.
00:05:17:28 There's one song that starts out
00:05:20:23 where it fucks up and then it started again kind of thing...
00:05:23:05 -Oh, yeah. -And song before that...
00:05:24:03 That was a... we recorded that at Dan Weston's
00:05:25:28 as a little like addition
00:05:27:18 or like segway in between songs
00:05:29:28 and Dan was playing the piano and I was playing the guitar
00:05:31:28 that you can't even hear on the recording,
00:05:34:28 -and we were both singing. -But, it's there.
00:05:36:20 Yeah.
00:05:37:23 [Music]
00:05:40:23 This is Strange Notes, you're welcome!



00:00:00:28 [Music]
00:00:05:22 ♪ [Music]
00:00:36:28 Is that your edition or was that like his?
00:00:39:14 Oh! Yeah.
00:00:40:28 Yeah! It came from that, I think he used to be...
00:00:42:28 Funky stuff came from that.
00:00:44:28 Yeah... Yeah...
00:00:45:28 Yeah, Dan took the...
00:00:46:28 Yeah, I think that had some dots on it.
00:00:52:00 Yeah wow! Very, very nice looking
00:00:54:10 nice looking piece you have for the room,
00:00:57:08 it really ties the room together.
00:00:59:24 [Music]
00:01:17:12 So, when is like... is this getting...
00:01:21:11 it's going to be hooked up in any...
00:01:23:01 It's hooked up.
00:01:24:18 See my new recorder out there.
00:01:26:06 Oh! We've recorded, I think, like four albums on this.
00:01:29:28 Wow!
00:01:30:28 I'll show you.
00:01:31:28 And is this... and you guys,
00:01:33:08 everything this is all functioning, working...
00:01:36:01 It's all functioning.
00:01:37:08 I'm just about to add a part to the song.
00:01:38:28 That's great!
00:01:40:28 Where is the MB-8?
00:01:41:28 It doesn't work out...
00:01:44:04 Is it over there? -Yeah.
00:01:45:02 'Curve of the Earth' was recorded on.
00:01:47:00 Yeah, yeah. Exactly.
00:01:47:28 Oh! Yeah, yeah.
00:01:49:25 The new album.
00:01:51:27 Yeah, this is the... yeah. That was recorded on...
00:01:53:28 Sure, we tracked that... Working on that.
00:01:55:28 The new album... New album as well.
00:01:58:24 Like a lots of it, anyway for sure.
00:02:00:28 We were doing the interview and we're talking about,
00:02:02:28 all you have to have your recording this time,
00:02:04:15 it was just like... like, see, you have the whole like...
00:02:06:18 a studio setup in place now and you...
00:02:08:21 yeah, we did it on the 8-track or whatever and I was like...
00:02:11:18 Yeah, yeah.
00:02:12:18 And I was just blown away, it sounds amazing!
00:02:14:21 That's the broken Stop button.
00:02:16:26 Nice!
00:02:18:10 Got to get like a butter knife in that time like...
00:02:21:14 ♪ [Music]
00:02:34:18 As soon as you power down you lose that, you lose everything.
00:02:37:01 So you were having it on...
00:02:38:12 Now you have to record it and you have to dump that on to
00:02:41:28 something else, and you have to mix it real live
00:02:44:24 or anyhow forget it.
00:02:45:11 So it's a one shot process.
00:02:47:18 Is it pretty like Soundproof? Soundproof?
00:02:50:00 Yeah, no, no.
00:02:50:28 He cuts it down. He cuts it down a lot.
00:02:52:28 You know it cuts it a lot.
00:02:55:28 You know what the best part of it is it doesn't cut
00:02:59:10 the liveliness of it, because some studios are so dead
00:03:03:01 that you only hear the amps, you don't hear the room so much
00:03:06:18 or this... It has a liveliness a lot for sure.
00:03:09:28 George is correct.
00:03:10:18 This room is soundproof.
00:03:11:07 Yeah, this room is soundproof.
00:03:13:12 It's definitely good.
00:03:14:06 There's enough separation to be able to tell
00:03:16:07 what it's going to sound like... -Yeah.
00:03:18:06 ...like in the other room, recorded as opposed to live,
00:03:22:24 so that's pretty cool! Yeah.
00:03:23:28 I am Absolutely jazzed, just standing in here like...
00:03:27:07 You can't hear it that room so much,
00:03:28:28 but you can hear it when you're creaking upstairs.
00:03:33:18 ♪ [Music]
00:04:23:08 It is a new records called for the sake of...
00:04:26:09 That's 'Years (By 1000 Fingertips)'
00:04:29:10 Okay, cool!
00:04:30:08 -Thanks a lot guys! -Nice stuff!
00:04:34:13 [Music]