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The Coast Are Tense
By Jill Langlois
“We bought a van right before we left — like a big 15 passenger van — and we just found out it’s got a crack in the gas tank,” says Ben Spurr, singer of Toronto’s indie pop-rock quartet the Coast. “We bought it used, so I guess that stereotype is true about used car salesmen.”
Out on the roads of North America for many months to come promoting their first full-length record, Expatriate, the Coast haven’t exactly had the best of luck when it comes to things being flawed. Luckily, though, not every rough patch they’ve hit on their way to being one of 2008’s artists to watch has slowed them down as much as a gas tank that can only be filled halfway.
“When we first started the band I think we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could do this,” says Spurr. “We’re not the best musicians, but we’re trying to cross over that path.” After some initial new-band growing pains, the Coast are dealing with bigger issues. They’ve hit a couple of snags along the way — mainly whether or not to keep the band together or not — but the foursome has managed to turn their problems into great pop-rock songs.
“Before this record we were kind of fighting and wondering what to do with the band,” says Spurr. “The remedy for that was, instead of ignoring the problems between us, to incorporate those problems into the band and into the songs themselves. So there’s a lot of personal stuff in the songs, and some of the tension of the band is in the songs on this record.”
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Simply Saucer’s Half Past, Half Future
 Simply Saucer had been broken up for ten years before their first record, 1989’s Cyborgs Revisited, was even released. Yet that lone album was quickly adopted by the underground as a long-lost masterpiece, garnering the defunct band an ever-increasing cult following. That persistent momentum ...Read More
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Gary Louris Leaves The Nest
 For 20 critically acclaimed years, the Jayhawks were driven by Gary Louris’s twin gifts of songwriting and guitar playing. But after the band ran its course following 2003’s Rainy Day Music, he reunited with his alt-pop all-star band Golden Smog and worked on several other projects, including the Sa...Read More
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Torche Make It Quick
 I need a mixture of melody and doom. I think we have a good combination of that,” says guitarist Juan Montoya about Miami-based quartet Torche. “We’re like Cheap Trick combined with Sabbath…maybe a bit of Pink Floyd’s spaciness.” Rounded out by guitarist/singer Steve Brooks, bassist Jonathan Nuñez and drummer Rick Smith, Torche has completed their anticipated sophomore album Meanderthal with producer Kurt Ballou (Converge, Ghengis Tron)...Read More
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The Constantines Are Your Neighbours
 What do the Constantines have in common with the Guess Who? The same custom-made Garnet amplifier — Randy Bachman’s Herzog, to be exact — that gave “American Woman” its legendary fuzz. The Constantines’ new record, Kensington Heights, is dedicated to Gar Gillies, the man behind the device.Read More
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Woodhands Sex It Up
 In Woodhands’ brief history, they’ve been called a lot: sensual, groin-based, the “two-headed indie Timberlake.” All warranted, all with good reason. One fiery live show at a time, the Toronto-based robo-pop duo has earned a reputation for encompassing all things sexual — something they fully embrac...Read More
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DL Incognito’s Urban Zen
 With the spring release of A Captured Moment in Time, DL Incognito can boast that he ranks among the few Canadian hip-hop artists to have four full-length albums under their belt. That is, if he wasn’t so humble about it.
“It’s just about the love of making music,” says DL over the phone from his Toronto-based crib. “It’s like when you love playing recreational basketball — you keep playing whether you make it to the NBA or not.”
This isn’t to say that Oliver Nestor doesn’t possess major league talent....Read More
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In an interesting twist of Hollywood fate, Chris and Paul Weitz have entered the final stretch of 2009 each in control of a major vampire franchise built from the pages of popular young adult fiction.
From one half of the brotherly team who brought us American Pie and About ...
Full Review
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