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VIDEO
STRANGE NOTES WITH GEORGE PETTIT - THE CONSTANTINES PART 2
Bryan Webb of The Constantines talks stick-n-poke tattoos, dedicating their album to Gar Gillies of Garnet Amps and 100 Dollars as his wedding band as this Strange Notes with George Pettit interview continues!
POSTED ON: APRIL 27, 2009
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:53:20 We have a lot of friends in Sackville, New Brunswick
00:00:56:02 who are doing SappyFest that happens there in August.
00:00:58:28 It's kind of like...
00:01:00:28 it's not exactly like host shows and stuff,
00:01:03:00 but they... it's the DIY festival.
00:01:04:24 Like they take over a bowling alley
00:01:06:24 and like an old movie theater and stuff like that.
00:01:09:06 It's pretty beautiful out there.
00:01:10:26 The Sappy folks are like Julie Doiron
00:01:13:15 and my friend Paul Henderson, who has a gallery there
00:01:16:02 and stuff, like they put on that festival
00:01:18:04 based on that label Sappy Records and stuff.
00:01:20:19 Yeah, it's amazing, you know,
00:01:22:20 still it's a cool little town.
00:01:23:28 There's so much going on in this country that I feel like
00:01:26:14 it doesn't get as much recognition as you think.
00:01:29:22 I don't know that the media sources
00:01:31:10 seek out that kind of story.
00:01:34:02 Unfortunately a lot of media outlets
00:01:36:03 are motivated by advertisers.
00:01:37:23 Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:01:39:03 I heard you have a Replacement's tattoo, is that true?
00:01:42:19 Yeah, it's on this hand.
00:01:45:20 I've had that for a long time actually, that is one of my...
00:01:48:03 that's long time have been one of my favorite bands for sure.
00:01:52:00 That's great. Yeah.
00:01:53:13 I love The Replacements, yeah.
00:01:54:26 That was when I was working at the radio station in London,
00:01:57:01 around the same time as my co-host,
00:01:59:15 a woman named Erin, who is an old friend of mine,
00:02:02:10 and we both decided to get kind of commemorative tattoos
00:02:04:21 and so, left to the...
00:02:06:28 seemed like kind of perfect and I love that band very much,
00:02:09:28 so that was kind of nice.
00:02:12:06 I have like mostly band tattoos.
00:02:14:15 Dallas has started doing like stick-n-poke tattoos,
00:02:17:10 he gave me this C.
00:02:19:05 Yeah, yeah, I get the feeling that came out of the whole ,like
00:02:22:02 you guys and Ladyhawk, and like all that stuff.
00:02:24:26 Definitely Ladyhawk has been doing that stuff, I think, for,
00:02:26:28 I don't know who got into it first, but yeah,
00:02:29:18 Dallas is a master at it, he's great.
00:02:32:17 I kind of want to get like a little Bird stick-n-poke
00:02:34:22 that just says,
00:02:35:28 You Should Keep Writing from Messenger Bird.
00:02:38:11 So sometime on this tour maybe I'll do that,
00:02:40:27 it's one of my favorite lines in any song ever, I think,
00:02:42:20 such a nice one.
00:02:44:21 I hope he has his needles with him on this trip.
00:02:47:27 Yeah, just in case you don't know what stick-n-poke is,
00:02:50:20 its wrap, what, like two needles in like string,
00:02:53:09 dip it in Indian ink.
00:02:55:23 -Jill has style. -Jill has style.
00:02:57:23 The ones that I got mean the most to me,
00:02:59:15 just because I got it from a friend.
00:03:01:28 Totally yeah, yeah, when Dallas did that,
00:03:03:20 it was a really important thing to me for sure.
00:03:07:05 Tell us a bit about Gar Gillies.
00:03:08:25 Yeah, Gar was the guy who started like
00:03:11:00 Garnet Amps in Winnipeg
00:03:14:10 he made amps for like The Guess Who
00:03:17:21 and BTO and all the Winnipeg bands
00:03:21:03 and like kind of expanded out,
00:03:23:12 to be this really valuable name, and invented Champs.
00:03:25:28 But when we were recording the record,
00:03:28:21 finally got my hands on one, and it was like
00:03:30:19 after a lot of trial and error with other amps
00:03:33:23 that weren't working,
00:03:35:01 and I couldn't get the sound that I was hoping for,
00:03:36:26 and this guy was like the one,
00:03:38:02 you know, just changed everything.
00:03:40:02 Gar also passed away like while we were making that.
00:03:42:22 Yeah.
00:03:44:23 It kind of just...
00:03:45:29 -Record or... -Yeah, I felt that was really cool.
00:03:48:08 He was a guy who like had
00:03:51:09 and controlled the means of production for himself
00:03:53:20 for his whole life.
00:03:55:13 He owned the company, it was in his name.
00:03:57:28 He had his hands on the product like
00:04:01:14 from start to finish, you know,
00:04:03:28 all along, until he was like 85 or whatever.
00:04:06:24 It's a pretty inspiring way to live, you know,
00:04:10:27 so that was a big part of why that record is dedicated to him.
00:04:14:09 On Kensington Heights, what kind of guitars were you using?
00:04:17:07 I have a Guild Starfire, like 1980 Guild Starfire,
00:04:21:28 it's my favorite guitar, it's been nexed and snapped,
00:04:27:04 and it's been fixed
00:04:28:28 and yeah, it's been through,
00:04:30:28 it's been rethreaded about five times, but I love that guitar.
00:04:35:19 Live, I always use the Super Six Reverb,
00:04:38:28 it has one of the greatest amps I think, I love that thing.
00:04:42:22 This is nice, I don't think we've ever had a Tech Talk.
00:04:46:18 When did you get married?
00:04:48:24 On July 26, last summer.
00:04:51:28 It was great, because we had... we did the Ladyhawk tour
00:04:54:21 and then went to the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary
00:04:56:28 at the end of that tour, and it was just a great big party,
00:04:59:22 and like reunion of friends, and then I got to go home.
00:05:02:27 Katie and I just went to her parents' farm
00:05:06:05 and had a big party on the farm,
00:05:08:27 it was just the most incredible thing.
00:05:10:28 I'm a big fan of ceremony,
00:05:13:16 I'm not particularly specifically religious,
00:05:17:01 but it was... we had our friend Melina,
00:05:20:01 who is an old friend of Katie, she performed the ceremony,
00:05:23:28 and it was just wonderful.
00:05:25:28 It was all more about,
00:05:29:03 you know, your friends, you know, in one place,
00:05:32:07 One Hundred Dollars, great band, from Toronto,
00:05:34:24 -were our wedding bands. -Ah, that's great.
00:05:36:01 Did like Harvest Moon,
00:05:38:02 there was a Harvest Moon like behind them
00:05:39:28 as they were playing, it was perfectly,
00:05:42:12 -they did 9 moves. -9 moves, yeah, I was going to say.
00:05:44:26 They did an incredible cover of 9 moves. They were amazing.
00:05:46:28 It was like the perfect wedding band, they were on fire.
00:05:50:08 [Music]
00:05:51:23 From the Ashes of the Old, I am George Pettit
00:05:53:28 and this is Strange Notes.
00:00:53:20 We have a lot of friends in Sackville, New Brunswick
00:00:56:02 who are doing SappyFest that happens there in August.
00:00:58:28 It's kind of like...
00:01:00:28 it's not exactly like host shows and stuff,
00:01:03:00 but they... it's the DIY festival.
00:01:04:24 Like they take over a bowling alley
00:01:06:24 and like an old movie theater and stuff like that.
00:01:09:06 It's pretty beautiful out there.
00:01:10:26 The Sappy folks are like Julie Doiron
00:01:13:15 and my friend Paul Henderson, who has a gallery there
00:01:16:02 and stuff, like they put on that festival
00:01:18:04 based on that label Sappy Records and stuff.
00:01:20:19 Yeah, it's amazing, you know,
00:01:22:20 still it's a cool little town.
00:01:23:28 There's so much going on in this country that I feel like
00:01:26:14 it doesn't get as much recognition as you think.
00:01:29:22 I don't know that the media sources
00:01:31:10 seek out that kind of story.
00:01:34:02 Unfortunately a lot of media outlets
00:01:36:03 are motivated by advertisers.
00:01:37:23 Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:01:39:03 I heard you have a Replacement's tattoo, is that true?
00:01:42:19 Yeah, it's on this hand.
00:01:45:20 I've had that for a long time actually, that is one of my...
00:01:48:03 that's long time have been one of my favorite bands for sure.
00:01:52:00 That's great. Yeah.
00:01:53:13 I love The Replacements, yeah.
00:01:54:26 That was when I was working at the radio station in London,
00:01:57:01 around the same time as my co-host,
00:01:59:15 a woman named Erin, who is an old friend of mine,
00:02:02:10 and we both decided to get kind of commemorative tattoos
00:02:04:21 and so, left to the...
00:02:06:28 seemed like kind of perfect and I love that band very much,
00:02:09:28 so that was kind of nice.
00:02:12:06 I have like mostly band tattoos.
00:02:14:15 Dallas has started doing like stick-n-poke tattoos,
00:02:17:10 he gave me this C.
00:02:19:05 Yeah, yeah, I get the feeling that came out of the whole ,like
00:02:22:02 you guys and Ladyhawk, and like all that stuff.
00:02:24:26 Definitely Ladyhawk has been doing that stuff, I think, for,
00:02:26:28 I don't know who got into it first, but yeah,
00:02:29:18 Dallas is a master at it, he's great.
00:02:32:17 I kind of want to get like a little Bird stick-n-poke
00:02:34:22 that just says,
00:02:35:28 You Should Keep Writing from Messenger Bird.
00:02:38:11 So sometime on this tour maybe I'll do that,
00:02:40:27 it's one of my favorite lines in any song ever, I think,
00:02:42:20 such a nice one.
00:02:44:21 I hope he has his needles with him on this trip.
00:02:47:27 Yeah, just in case you don't know what stick-n-poke is,
00:02:50:20 its wrap, what, like two needles in like string,
00:02:53:09 dip it in Indian ink.
00:02:55:23 -Jill has style. -Jill has style.
00:02:57:23 The ones that I got mean the most to me,
00:02:59:15 just because I got it from a friend.
00:03:01:28 Totally yeah, yeah, when Dallas did that,
00:03:03:20 it was a really important thing to me for sure.
00:03:07:05 Tell us a bit about Gar Gillies.
00:03:08:25 Yeah, Gar was the guy who started like
00:03:11:00 Garnet Amps in Winnipeg
00:03:14:10 he made amps for like The Guess Who
00:03:17:21 and BTO and all the Winnipeg bands
00:03:21:03 and like kind of expanded out,
00:03:23:12 to be this really valuable name, and invented Champs.
00:03:25:28 But when we were recording the record,
00:03:28:21 finally got my hands on one, and it was like
00:03:30:19 after a lot of trial and error with other amps
00:03:33:23 that weren't working,
00:03:35:01 and I couldn't get the sound that I was hoping for,
00:03:36:26 and this guy was like the one,
00:03:38:02 you know, just changed everything.
00:03:40:02 Gar also passed away like while we were making that.
00:03:42:22 Yeah.
00:03:44:23 It kind of just...
00:03:45:29 -Record or... -Yeah, I felt that was really cool.
00:03:48:08 He was a guy who like had
00:03:51:09 and controlled the means of production for himself
00:03:53:20 for his whole life.
00:03:55:13 He owned the company, it was in his name.
00:03:57:28 He had his hands on the product like
00:04:01:14 from start to finish, you know,
00:04:03:28 all along, until he was like 85 or whatever.
00:04:06:24 It's a pretty inspiring way to live, you know,
00:04:10:27 so that was a big part of why that record is dedicated to him.
00:04:14:09 On Kensington Heights, what kind of guitars were you using?
00:04:17:07 I have a Guild Starfire, like 1980 Guild Starfire,
00:04:21:28 it's my favorite guitar, it's been nexed and snapped,
00:04:27:04 and it's been fixed
00:04:28:28 and yeah, it's been through,
00:04:30:28 it's been rethreaded about five times, but I love that guitar.
00:04:35:19 Live, I always use the Super Six Reverb,
00:04:38:28 it has one of the greatest amps I think, I love that thing.
00:04:42:22 This is nice, I don't think we've ever had a Tech Talk.
00:04:46:18 When did you get married?
00:04:48:24 On July 26, last summer.
00:04:51:28 It was great, because we had... we did the Ladyhawk tour
00:04:54:21 and then went to the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary
00:04:56:28 at the end of that tour, and it was just a great big party,
00:04:59:22 and like reunion of friends, and then I got to go home.
00:05:02:27 Katie and I just went to her parents' farm
00:05:06:05 and had a big party on the farm,
00:05:08:27 it was just the most incredible thing.
00:05:10:28 I'm a big fan of ceremony,
00:05:13:16 I'm not particularly specifically religious,
00:05:17:01 but it was... we had our friend Melina,
00:05:20:01 who is an old friend of Katie, she performed the ceremony,
00:05:23:28 and it was just wonderful.
00:05:25:28 It was all more about,
00:05:29:03 you know, your friends, you know, in one place,
00:05:32:07 One Hundred Dollars, great band, from Toronto,
00:05:34:24 -were our wedding bands. -Ah, that's great.
00:05:36:01 Did like Harvest Moon,
00:05:38:02 there was a Harvest Moon like behind them
00:05:39:28 as they were playing, it was perfectly,
00:05:42:12 -they did 9 moves. -9 moves, yeah, I was going to say.
00:05:44:26 They did an incredible cover of 9 moves. They were amazing.
00:05:46:28 It was like the perfect wedding band, they were on fire.
00:05:50:08 [Music]
00:05:51:23 From the Ashes of the Old, I am George Pettit
00:05:53:28 and this is Strange Notes.