Doldrums is the electro-punk moniker of Airick Woodhead who currently lives in Montreal. Woodhead has been making music publicly since he was 13 years old and was a founding member of the inventive, well-respected Toronto band, Spiral Beach. Since Spiral Beach disbanded, Woodhead has been exploring other kinds of music and the melodic, jarring, hazy sounds in Doldrums really speak to his open mind and constant desire to challenge conventional perceptions of art. The latest album by Doldrums is The Air Conditioned Nightmare, it’s out now via Sub Pop, and has prompted Woodhead to tour the world, including a stop by the Hillside Festival in Guelph on the weekend of July 24. Here, Airick and I discuss chilling at the Arbutus Records office, touring with people from Spiral Beach, Henry Miller’s trip, a traveller’s disillusionment with home, iDeath and Richard Brautigan, anger and everything, evolving thoughts on EDM, web traffic, testing your own genes, the Hillside Festival as a formative musical influence, David Woodhead and Scott Merritt and the Barmitzvah Brothers, having a rad dad, pop-punk and hip-hop, Toronto’s music community compared to Montreal’s. contemplating leaving music behind to become a geneticist, the song “Video Hostage” and then there was tackling,
Related links: subpop.com hillsidefestival.ca vishkhanna.com
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