Attack In Black, Ladyhawk Talk Angry Fans And Why The Internet’s Bad During Weekend At The Horseshoe
Posted November 17, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Do you like Canadian music?
Believe it or not there are still a few bands banking on the fact that you do, and two of Canada’s favourite indie outfits joined forces in that pursuit during two weekend dates at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern.
The double dip came as the cross-Canada conquest – which has also served as a showcase for Sackville “shoegazer” Shotgun Jimmie – nears its completion and found Welland, Ontario’s Attack In Black (pictured) and Kelowna’s Ladyhawk in very different spaces even as they share stages.
CityNews.ca caught up with members of both bands before Friday’s opener at The ‘Shoe. Here’s what they had to say:
Attack In Black’s Ian Kehoe and Spencer Burton:
AM: How’s it been touring with Ladyhawk?
IK: Amazing.
SB: Really amazing. And also Shotgun Jimmie.
IK: Yeah, it’s been great. Shows are good, Ladyhawk are fun guys to tour with.
SB: I’d have it no other way.
AM: How’d the tour come about?
SB: We’ve toured with them before, we’ve played with Shotgun Jimmie before. It’s kind of just all of us coming together as one … in one tour. So basically we’re just touring together.
AM: After two albums in 2007 and a lot of touring in 2008, is there anything new we should be looking for?
SB: We just finished recording another album coming out in March, called Years (By One Thousand Fingertips), so yes you should be expecting something.
Singer Daniel Romano from a few feet away…
DR: And the Baby Eagle split…
SB: And the Baby Eagle split, coming out on…
IK: You’ve Changed Records…
SB: First release.
AM: Probably a lot of touring after that?
SB: Well we’re going to the U.K. and Germany right after this, about eight days from now.
AM: And after that?
SB: And after that … the rest of the world.
AM: What are you guys listening to besides Ladyhawk?
IK: Lot’s of Shotgun Jimmie, lots of Street Legal and lots of Mad Men.
AM: Has the Internet helped or hurt you? Do you guys have a big following online?
IK: I’m not sure. It could only really help, I think? I don’t know.
SB: I think the real question is does the Internet help anybody? I think that without the Internet, maybe the world would be a better place.
AM: It’s helped some people.
SB: Yeah it helps for music and stuff … maybe people were getting along fine without the Internet for many, many years though. But I guess times have changed.
AM: This story is for the Internet.
SB: Internet. Internet’s great.
AM: The Internet’s not going to get mad at you because you say something bad about it.
SB: No that’s true. Give it a few years.
IK: I knew a guy who said something bad about the Internet; I don’t know him much anymore.
SB: Sorry Internet.
Ladyhawk’s Duffy Driediger:
AM: After releasing an album in March and touring overseas since, how does it feel to be back in Canada and working your way across it?
DD: Feels good, this is kind of the last little bit of our tour and it’s kind of cool that we get to do it here. And it’s gonna feel good to go home too.
AM: How’d the tour with Attack In Black and Shotgun Jimmie come about?
DD: It’s been awesome; they’re two of my favourite bands. I’m not really sure how it came up, just kind of one of those things, the wizards behind the scenes. The cauldrons, you know? Making magic happen.
AM: Anything particularly memorable during your stretch here in Canada?
DD: All the shows have been really good, last night was pretty funny because we played in London, Ontario, not London, England. It was college night and there’s another Ladyhawk, but spelled with an e and there was this one dude, pretty drunk, standing right at the front of the stage right before we were playing.
He kept asking, “where is she, where is she” because it ( Ladyhawke) is sort of an electronic group with a female vocalist. We’re like, “She’s in the bathroom, she’ll be out in a minute, like ha ha ha.”
This guy had already bought a record and a t-shirt with our faces on it, which is strange. We start playing and within one song he’s swearing at us and he storms out and throws his record at Fred, the guy who’s doing merchandise for us. It’s one of those things. Gotta keep those fans happy! Sucker…
AM: Probably not anything right away, but what’s up next as far as releases go?
DD: Nothing really. We’re gonna go home and work on a bunch of new stuff, just practice and try to do some recording hopefully sometime in the spring. But we don’t have any money and there’s no money coming in on the horizon, so who knows?
The focus is to work on some new material, because we’ve been playing these songs forever! Or it feels like that anyway.
AM: What else are you listening to right now other than the bands you’re touring with?
DD: I don’t know, I listen to a lot of old stuff, I bought some records on this tour.
Friend slides Ladyhawk’s “Shots” album across the bar.
DD: (Laughing) Just bought a wicked new CD, Ladyhawk’s Shots! I just bought a pretty cool Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions record. I listen to a lot of blues and soul and that kind of stuff. There’s a lot of good new bands, I just don’t know who they are.
AM: Has there been a flip flop in terms of who headlines these shows (with Attack in Black)?
DD: It started out with us headlining most of the western shows because we’ve done a lot more touring over there … and then as soon as we sort of crossed over into Ontario we switched to Attack In Black headlining. We’ve headlined a couple of the shows but it’s more their sort of strong hold, they’ve toured a lot in this area.
( Laughing) Everyone gets their night. Inter-Canadian peace concerto!
To see clips from both interviews, click on the video link.
Photo Credit: AttackInBlack.com
