00:00:00:18 [Music]
00:00:02:28 I think that most people aren't like a lineage as far as
00:00:05:06 what they listen to in music, you know, like something
00:00:08:09 sparked their interest in music at a young age,
00:00:09:28 and then eventually there is a point where someone like,
00:00:12:24 you know, gets into a type of music
00:00:15:18 that brings them to where they're at today.
00:00:17:08 Notes from the front line of a strange new culture,
00:00:19:18 this is Strange Notes.
00:00:21:06 [Music]
00:00:32:16 And it's Phoenix tonight,
00:00:34:18 The Weakerthans and The Constantines will be playing.
00:00:38:06 We're going to a interview
00:00:39:28 Mr. Bryan Webb of The Constantines.
00:00:42:16 The Constantines, I mean like,
00:00:43:28 this is a nerve wrecking one for me, I mean, they're,
00:00:46:03 for my money they're probably the best band in Canada.
00:00:48:08 I kind of got into them on their second record,
00:00:50:17 and I've been following them every since.
00:00:51:28 People compare,
00:00:53:07 you know they talk about the foogazy influence,
00:00:55:22 and then they say Bruce Springsteen,
00:00:57:18 and at the time when I think
00:00:59:18 a lot of say Bruce Springsteen, worship stuff is very...
00:01:02:17 almost approaching a level of cliché,
00:01:05:24 they have just like made it their own thing,
00:01:07:18 and I think they're probably one of the best bands in Canada.
00:01:10:10 The newest record they put out, Kensington Heights,
00:01:12:23 its easily the best Canadian record to come out last year.
00:01:15:06 Associated Press gave it number one album of the year,
00:01:17:28 and not one Juno nod, except for Artwork,
00:01:21:06 and the Artwork didn't even win, and I'm just, I don't know,
00:01:23:18 I feel like that was a tragedy in this country.
00:01:26:16 I think a lot of musicians identify with them as well,
00:01:28:28 like they're real bands man.
00:01:30:26 ♪ [Music]
00:02:05:06 You're originally from London?
00:02:06:12 Yeah.
00:02:07:19 What's it like growing up there?
00:02:09:07 It's like a good place to raise a family, as they say.
00:02:13:03 You know it's like, it's the insurance capital of Canada.
00:02:16:24 It's pretty conservative in a lot of ways
00:02:19:02 and pretty quite in a lot of ways,
00:02:21:28 but it was great being a skateboarder
00:02:24:19 in that kind of a town, you know.
00:02:26:17 Sure
00:02:28:01 You didn't feel like too afraid to go out all night skating,
00:02:32:17 and then there were like great...
00:02:34:08 like All Ages bars there, like called the Office,
00:02:37:01 the Electric Banana was like where the All Ages shows
00:02:39:14 were when I was a kid.
00:02:40:22 And there is a show called Speed City Radio,
00:02:44:18 that's been going for like; I hope it's still going,
00:02:46:20 but it was on the campus radio station there, it was my...
00:02:50:08 The guy who started Speed City Records?
00:02:51:26 Exactly, Mike Todd who runs Speed City Records was the guy,
00:02:54:06 like he started this All Ages series of shows when I was 14,
00:03:00:09 at the Electric Banana; it was like afternoon Saturday shows,
00:03:02:29 and just all of our friends, just rock bands would play,
00:03:05:18 and it was perfect, you know, like the first shows to play.
00:03:08:25 Like one guy would stage dive and there would just enough
00:03:10:28 people to hold on, move around the room.
00:03:14:12 That was amazing.
00:03:16:16 But yeah, I kind of got a little bit...
00:03:18:12 you get to like a certain age and you need to,
00:03:20:00 it's the kind of town that everybody needs to
00:03:22:10 get out of for a little while, at least.
00:03:23:20 Yeah, I mean, like I grew up in Grimsby, and like most of the
00:03:26:28 kids that I knew moved just far away as they could without
00:03:29:18 leaving the country; they moved to the West Coast,
00:03:32:17 somewhere else, you know, yeah.
00:03:34:01 Now, I can see that a lot.
00:03:35:10 The metal scene in London is huge, which is probably true of
00:03:37:18 a lot of like kind of conservative towns,
00:03:40:14 you know like, there is this...
00:03:41:23 there is a giant underground metal scene there,
00:03:43:18 which was great.
00:03:45:02 The embassy was like the main place for metal, I think.
00:03:47:20 When did the move to Guelph happen,
00:03:49:04 were you going to school or?
00:03:50:28 Yeah, I was in University at Western, and I worked at the
00:03:54:03 campus radio station there as the music director for like
00:03:57:18 two years, and that kind of kept me in the university.
00:04:00:06 I was not enjoying it all that much.
00:04:02:28 After I left the station, so I just decided to put that on hold
00:04:06:18 and move to Guelph as we had already started playing,
00:04:09:03 and some of the guys were living there at a house,
00:04:10:28 and it just seemed like a nice city.
00:04:13:07 So I moved up there in like 2001, maybe,
00:04:17:20 and into that house, and we put on some host shows there,
00:04:21:28 and we used to practice in that same place;
00:04:23:23 it was Dallas, Steve and I,
00:04:26:01 and an artist friend of ours named Pete.
00:04:27:22 And then Guelph had this amazing community of musicians
00:04:30:10 that were all doing like home recording
00:04:33:06 Jim Guthrie had a home recording based show on CFRU there.
00:04:36:22 Everybody was just making music for their friends
00:04:39:13 and like for themselves, it was so exciting to me at the time.
00:04:42:28 So yeah, that kept me there for a while.
00:04:45:11 Is a lot of that still there you think?
00:04:47:03 Every time I go back, there is some like strongholds there,
00:04:51:09 that have been there since I lived there.
00:04:53:09 There is Hillside, the Festival there.
00:04:55:17 I always heard kept like... the kids were starting the
00:04:58:23 bands just to get into Hillside for free each year, you know,
00:05:01:26 like local kids. That's awesome!
00:05:03:18 It's a freaky little kind of hippie time too.
00:05:05:28 Like it's just far enough off the 401
00:05:08:03 that it's stayed small and strange.
00:05:11:28 The local, yeah.
00:05:13:21 What were some of the more memorable like
00:05:15:15 you know musical experiences from there,
00:05:17:23 what bands were playing at the time?
00:05:19:28 When we were doing house shows, it was bands
00:05:21:18 like North of America and Royal City.
00:05:25:18 The Mudpuddles were a local band.
00:05:27:11 Evan Gordon, who played keyboard in the Cons,
00:05:29:28 they were incredible.
00:05:31:08 They played in the basement, but before them,
00:05:32:28 Evan's younger brother Geordie was in this band
00:05:34:28 called the Barmitzvah Brothers, and it was like...
00:05:36:18 they were like 14 to 16 at the time,
00:05:38:28 like really young, their set was like these 14 year old kids,
00:05:42:28 like surrounded by toys,
00:05:44:04 and like toy pianos and stuff, and like all this people like us
00:05:47:26 just kind of hanging, baffled by how free they were musically.
00:05:51:05 Then the Mudpuddles just like destroyed,
00:05:53:25 like it was one of the most intense shows I've ever seen.
00:05:57:01 And it was in my basement, you know, which was incredible.
00:05:59:14 Yeah, I won't ever forget that one.
00:06:00:28 Do you guys still get the chance at all ever to like
00:06:02:23 play in weird like locations or anything like that?
00:06:04:28 We don't get it as much of a chance.
00:06:06:28 It works out less and less that we get to play these things,
00:06:10:02 but we have this on-again, off-again,
00:06:12:16 Neil Young Crazy Horse cover band
00:06:14:28 that is devoted more to playing shows like that,
00:06:17:14 which is a blast.
00:06:18:28 [Music]
00:06:21:15 Stay tuned for more tales of the bizarre.



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.



00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:05:12 ♪ [Music]
00:00:46:12 Is home life easy to maintain
00:00:48:13 and with road life as well kind of thing,
00:00:50:29 is it really been pretty like easy?
00:00:52:18 Yeah, it's good, it's going better now like I mean I think,
00:00:55:17 there was a few years where we were like... we kind of grew up
00:01:00:28 like with the idea in music where you just,
00:01:03:12 you don't turn down shows.
00:01:04:18 If somebody wants you to play, like you should play
00:01:07:14 and not turn down the chance but Like,
00:01:09:08 there was a couple of years of round turn [inaudible] it's
00:01:13:21 just getting to be too much, like all the creative energy
00:01:17:13 was kind of being sucked out by too much traveling.
00:01:20:16 So we just rethought it over the last couple of years and figured
00:01:24:28 out what we could do helpfully and safely.
00:01:28:28 and around 30-years-old now, we have been a band for ten years
00:01:34:16 and we are pretty comfortable communicating with each other
00:01:38:03 and knowing what like
00:01:40:04 just listening to what each other needs are.
00:01:42:19 Yeah, it's good, where it's the family business thing,
00:01:44:28 we just... we want to maintain the business and keep it going,
00:01:48:10 but we don't want the family to fall apart.
00:01:50:11 Yeah, yeah definitely been on the road with
00:01:51:28 some bands that have... that were like,
00:01:54:22 you can tell like it's strictly business and like yeah they tour
00:01:59:19 ten months out of the year and they kind of hate each other.
00:02:01:28 Then you kind of get on the road with like bands like
00:02:03:28 Attack in Black, you really can kind of feel this like,
00:02:08:10 there's this camaraderie in this lost for travel
00:02:12:28 and all that stuff and
00:02:14:28 There is something to be said for like, yeah,
00:02:18:08 for staying connected to the performance to like...
00:02:21:15 I remember reading about like DC bands,
00:02:24:04 like the [inaudible] kind of era. Yeah.
00:02:26:08 And like none of those bands wanted to leave DC.
00:02:30:19 They would have like [inaudible] played like
00:02:33:12 what seven shows or something or like between seven and ten shows
00:02:37:21 and like all in DC I think, and they didn't want to leave
00:02:41:12 because I think once you start touring
00:02:44:06 you are playing everyday like the ceremony
00:02:46:08 or like the event of a show starts to disappear.
00:02:50:09 It's like, it's not as much of a momentous occasion,
00:02:54:00 when the band plays.
00:02:55:08 So I mean I like touring too.
00:02:58:00 I like what happens with the band on stage after like
00:03:02:28 two weeks of playing together you know.
00:03:04:06 Yeah, yeah.
00:03:05:15 But there is something to be said, for making sure that you
00:03:07:06 are not... it's not becoming [inaudible]
00:03:10:18 At Virgin Festival, last summer I believe,
00:03:13:28 you guys got to perform with Gord Downie.
00:03:15:28 Yeah, yeah that was amazing.
00:03:19:07 What was that like?
00:03:20:18 Yeah, like how did that come about; were they playing,
00:03:22:28 like did you guys met them before?
00:03:24:27 Yeah, we have played with them around Ontario,
00:03:28:05 some like big arena shows.
00:03:30:18 Yeah, I like that band a lot and then we ended up doing a tour
00:03:36:13 with them in the States which was really cool because
00:03:38:13 they were playing in smaller places,
00:03:40:16 and that was just a different context to see that band
00:03:43:05 that I see as a huge kind of Canadian thing.
00:03:45:28 So we got to know them fairly well on that trip.
00:03:49:15 They were playing on same festival in Calgary,
00:03:51:08 that Virgin Fest.
00:03:54:02 Dallas, like I am far too shattered to like approach
00:03:58:08 somebody on that kind of thing but Dallas was more confident
00:04:01:06 about it and just decided to ask Gord about it,
00:04:03:21 and he was fully into it.
00:04:06:15 I think what had happened is like when we were mixing
00:04:08:11 Kensington Heights, Gord was in town,
00:04:11:16 singing with The Sadies at the Horseshoe.
00:04:14:05 He came to hear a couple of songs,
00:04:16:07 when they are mixing at Orange
00:04:18:02 and just really liked that song.
00:04:20:26 I was talking talking about it and said he liked it a lot.
00:04:23:23 So when we were there, we asked, while listening on that.
00:04:27:08 Yeah, it was a real sweet deal for us,
00:04:30:05 to kind of practice for it, it was just like him
00:04:33:24 and I sitting in a trailer across a kitchen table,
00:04:37:14 from him like playing electric guitar quietly,
00:04:41:12 and him and I just sort of singing back and forth
00:04:43:15 lines of the song.
00:04:44:28 It's like, how do I get this point right here,
00:04:49:10 it was wonderful.
00:04:50:18 I'll never forget it.
00:04:52:05 I feel like when you guys first started,
00:04:54:06 everybody wanted to like,
00:04:55:21 say like it sounds like kind of like [inaudible]
00:04:57:13 and Bruce Springsteen.
00:04:58:28 But now I feel like, other bands are coming out now,
00:05:01:08 they are saying that
00:05:02:15 they sound like the Constantines kind of thing.
00:05:04:27 Are you aware of like your influence on Southern Ontario
00:05:07:21 and on other bands and stuff like that?
00:05:09:08 That's one of the things I guess maybe just about being a band
00:05:11:16 for ten years is like eventually somebody
00:05:14:03 will relate to what you are doing.
00:05:16:27 And so this like, yeah I mean we have met some folks that have
00:05:21:28 said that they are influenced maybe by what we do and that's,
00:05:26:06 yeah it's an amazing thing.
00:05:27:13 I feel very privileged to hear that kind of thing.
00:05:31:19 [Music]
00:05:34:08 This is Strange Notes, you're welcome!


00:00:00:14 [Music]
00:00:05:18 ♪ [Music]
00:00:43:18 Sometimes I feel like the media has been like,
00:00:47:11 there have been highs and lows with you guys a little bit.
00:00:49:28 But you guys pay much attention to the critics
00:00:51:22 and stuff like that.
00:00:52:29 Does it hurt when like Now Magazine gives
00:00:55:01 Tournament of Hearts bad review kind of thing and like?
00:00:58:10 I guess like it's not nice.
00:01:03:03 We started trying to avoid it around that time anyway
00:01:06:18 just because I realized that was going to influence how I relate
00:01:10:13 to what we were doing and that's no good.
00:01:14:06 But, yeah like it's a local thing, it's a bit more of a drag
00:01:19:16 I guess, but it doesn't really matter that much.
00:01:22:08 We make music more for our friends.
00:01:24:24 If our friends are still [inaudible]
00:01:26:25 what we are doing, we feel pretty secure.
00:01:28:21 Yeah, yeah.
00:01:29:28 Doing for your friends is obviously super important
00:01:32:03 and I mean I feel like Constantines
00:01:33:28 could be more loved in this country a bit.
00:01:35:28 When the first record hit, there was like this like everyone is
00:01:39:12 saying, Cons, Cons, Cons and then it kind of like went down.
00:01:43:02 I feel it's like comeback a lot on this record, like especially.
00:01:47:18 I mean I think that's - had a lot to do with that.
00:01:51:01 Like yeah, we definitely had like hype behind us,
00:01:53:13 like when we first started and that was great.
00:01:56:19 It was like, we made the first few tours a lot better than
00:02:00:19 most first tours are.
00:02:02:10 Yeah.
00:02:03:18 But, the band can't be hyped for ten years. No, yeah.
00:02:06:20 We are just lot like, I mean we are planning through a lot of
00:02:08:09 people still and and it's great.
00:02:10:08 I was also kind of really bumped that Tournaments of Hearts
00:02:13:22 didn't get like a Juno Nod or anything like that really like.
00:02:16:00 I don't know especially when you are Associated Press
00:02:18:12 number one band in America kind of thing like.
00:02:21:07 That must have been a bit of a shock like...
00:02:22:28 That was... actually that came kind of at the right...
00:02:26:06 I think we were just... it was on tour.
00:02:27:29 We were on tour in December in the States and it was like,
00:02:31:20 just like the weather was kind of bleak,
00:02:33:19 and I think we were all just feeling little tired
00:02:36:03 and that came at the right time, it was perfect.
00:02:39:04 It was a big confidence boost.
00:02:42:01 Yeah, maybe like you get usually enough good to balance it.
00:02:45:04 Yeah, definitely.
00:02:46:28 Well, what does the future hold for the Constantines?
00:02:48:25 The near future and the distant future, what do you see?
00:02:51:22 We are going to tour somewhere in this summer,
00:02:53:28 and plan in the States, in the South-Western States in June.
00:02:58:17 We are going to finish this tour obviously,
00:03:00:17 we have played across the country.
00:03:02:08 We are kind of half way at this point,
00:03:03:28 playing a lot of [inaudible] at this year...
00:03:05:28 That will be fun. Do you know who else is playing it?
00:03:07:26 I don't know who else is playing it.
00:03:09:18 It's like I kind of haven't looked into it yet.
00:03:12:12 It's kind of funny because that was a generation.
00:03:15:04 It's like, a guy, who was in high school,
00:03:16:20 went to like one of the long cruises and stuff,
00:03:19:01 took a bus from London to Barrie.
00:03:22:24 So it's kind of exciting to just be part of that.
00:03:25:04 It's weird, they don't have like a collected tours
00:03:26:26 -like that anymore. -Yeah, and we've been talking about that a lot.
00:03:30:06 And it was like you can go see like Nick Cave
00:03:31:12 and then Rollins Band would play and like.
00:03:34:20 It was an amazing like time for mainstream music
00:03:37:00 like probably the hype
00:03:39:03 of artistic integrity and mainstream music.
00:03:42:03 What happened?
00:03:43:16 -The old days... -That's good,
00:03:48:17 But I am amused by the circle, that circle that
00:03:51:02 we are going to play that festival this year.
00:03:53:12 This is our tenth year, it will be fun.
00:03:54:28 We are going to try and do something big for
00:03:56:28 the ten year anniversary,
00:03:58:18 but we haven't figured out exactly what that is yet.
00:04:01:14 -Stay tuned for that. -Alright, yeah.
00:04:03:18 Well, here is the ten more years of the Constantines.
00:04:05:06 Thanks!
00:04:06:13 -For my money the best band in Canada. -Thank you.
00:04:09:05 [Music]