DAYDREAMING IN THE BACK OF A VANArticle By Madison Foster
The boys in the Toronto and Niagara
region band and garage rockers, Elk, officially released their
sophomore album “Daydreams” on Tuesday, July 17th.
Their first full length with record label Indoor Shoes but second
release with the label. Elk's 2011 EP “Balm Beach” had the honour
of being the first 7” release from Indoor Shoes so needless to say
the band (including members Kyle Connely, Ben Pokol, Michael Price
and Josh Korody) was more than ready to get back to work with the
label.
Although last Tuesday marked the
actually release date for the new LP, London, ON was the town of
choice of a pre-release party on June 28th where
show-goers could walk out with a copy of the album which was not
available anywhere else. On that night before the band hit the stage
to close off the show, they spent most of their time in the back of
their tour van drinking beers and smoking cigarettes. I got the
pleasure of joining them in the van and chatting with Price, Pokol,
Connely and fill-in drummer Jordan Rutledge
(as Korody was absent that night) who got thrown a few unsuspecting
curve balls. (Sorry Jordan)
Madison: So tonight we get a sneak peek
of your new album. But why London?
Ben: Because London is really like a
third home for us. We've played here a lot of time and we always get
treated well.
Michael: Yeah, it kind of goes, St.
Catherines, Toronto, London that we stick the flag in. So those are
the three places we always think of whenever we want to plan
something special.
Madison: So this was your third
release. Second with Indoor Shoes. Maybe you can let me know how the
recording process went this time around.
Ben: Who's taking the head on this one?
Kyle, you wanna fill this one?
Kyle: Aw, me? Alright. We recorded in
Toronto in a studio called Angles Up which is no longer actually a
studio. But it was a converted garage on the west end. We spent seven
days and seven nights there recording as much as we could. We all
recorded our parts with Josh Korody, who's also our producer but
couldn't be here tonight.
Madison: And that's why Jordan is here?
Kyle: Haha yeah. Jordan's our fill-in
drummer for tonight. Pretty much everyone is Hunters & Anglers
help out with the band... Did anyone else what to add anything about
the album?
Michael: It was really the first time
we had a long period of time to work on anything and to kind of focus
more on one thing at a time. Instead of just getting it done as
quickly as possible.
Ben: “Balm Beach” was recorded in
three days. Hence why it's a 7”. It was suppose to be have 11
songs. This one was suppose to be 15 tracks but we cut it down to 12.
Michael: So we have a bunch of songs
that will never be released but we just try to go with as much as we
can! But it was cool. We could to experiment with a bunch of
different sounds since we had the time and focus more on the little
things.
Madison: I read a quote on CBC Radio
saying, “This new album showcases the band's maturity while
maintaining the throwback nature of the sound." What do you guys think
of the quote and how would you put it into your own words?
Ben: In a way it's accurate because
with this album he had the chance to play with different melodies and
sounds instead of just straight up amps cranked.
Michael: It's hard for us to describe
it because some of those songs are two years old at this time so to
me they're NOT really mature... But looking back it's nice. We can
see how much we've matured since our last full length.
Ben: Well, that must be talking about
how we're still like a 60s and 70s pop sounds and, yeah, it does
retain that... but it's different...
Kyle: Great contribution Ben! Quote
that. Ignore the real responses.
Ben: Let's get Jordan to do the
interview! Jordan, you got the next one.
Madison: Alright! Ready Jordan? Okay! Next question...
Well, I don;t even know if you'll be able to answer this. This is the
band's second with Indoor Shoes. Their seven inch that came out
around 2 years ago was the first original release for the label. How
did the band get involved associated with Indoor Shoes, even when it
was just starting off?
Jordan: Umm... Well! See... uh, well.
We are associated with... (trails off) Hmm. Let me think a second
here... (long pause)
Ben: Please add in brackets “slams
some whiskey.”
Jordan: (slams some whiskey) Indoor
shoes, eh? That takes me back... take me back awhile... So I really
have to delve into this one..
Kyle: Okay, can someone else just
answer.
Michael: Basically, they were the only
ones willing to give us a chance.
Kyle: Timur (Inceoglu) was someone who
was putting on shows and would put us on bills when he ran a small
place called 73. He told us that he wanted to start a record label
and asked us if we wanted to be the first release. And at the time it
felt like the most logical thing to do.
Madison: You guys are associated with a
bunch of different places. Toronto, St. Catherines, Niagara, Welland.
Is it because you'll all scattered throughout?
Michael: Absolutely. It started off
with me living in St. Catherines as well as Kyle and Josh living
there. Ben is from Welland. Still lives there. Born and raised as
they do there. Then Kyle and Josh moved to Toronto so it's kind of a
helpful thing to expand where we can say we're from.
Madison: With that kind of being the
case, how do you manage to find the time to get together to practise
and write?
Michael: It costs Ben and I a lot of
money...
Ben: Yeah. We have a rehearsal space in
Toronto so we drive up there most Tuesdays. I mean, we found a good
spot that makes sense and we just make it happen at this point. I'm
sure many other bands would have just said “fuck it” because
someone else lived somewhere else but we have a goal we want to
achieve so little speed bumps like living an hour away is nothing.
We'll do what we have to do.
Michael: When it comes to writing it's
kind of hard because we have to all write separately. It's always
easier to write with someone else. Other than that it's worked out
fine!
Ben: Except for the driving and the
couple extra gas bucks it's been a benefit having half the band
living in Toronto. All it's done is open doors for us. Even if
they're just small doors.
Madison: Do you two see yourselves
making the move to Toronto?
Ben: Absolutely not!
Stay tuned for a tribute to Welland
from the boys and make sure to check out Elk when they're in your
city and check out their album “Daydreams” available now on
iTunes.
