Tag: Destroyer

Ep. #215: Destroyer

Post author By vish
Post date September 23, 2015

Destroyer is the music-making moniker of Dan Bejar, a very gifted lyricist and musician who originally hails from Vancouver, British Columbia. He has been creating an idiosyncratic kind of pop music as Destroyer for almost 20 years and can also claim membership in bands like the New Pornographers, Swan Lake, and Hello, Blue Roses among others. His latest work as Destroyer is a startlingly great new album called Poison Season, it’s out now via Merge Records, and has prompted him to tour the world over the next few months, including Canadian stops in Toronto at the Danforth Music Hall on September 30 and in Montreal at Theatre Fairmount on October 1. Here, Dan and I discuss sitting in a park in Vancouver, gearing up for tour, inspiration from the road, fiction and film, plays and theatricality, American songwriting and show tunes, whether pop or rock music is inherently theatrical, banal music, writing and performing, Bruce Springsteen and/or Meat Loaf, things Springsteen likes, Joseph Shabason’s sexy sax, Dan’s history with musicals, surreal Indian movies, how Poison Season is a reflection of his true interests, Brecht’s Threepenny Opera and “Mack the Knife,” “I Loves You Porgy,” singing other people’s other songs, Five Spanish Songs, the song “Forces From Above,” salsa disco, bringing the string sections to life, word countometre and sparse vocals, Poison Season is a weird, emotional roller coaster, Times Square as a place and a muse, a second look, evolution and iterations, Taxi Driver, thinking about New York, “Times Square” as an anchor notion on Poison Season, the song “Bangkok,” and scene.

Related links: mergerecords.com/destroyer vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Tags Bertolt Brecht, Bruce Springsteen, Dan Bejar, Destroyer, Hello Blue Roses, Meat Loaf, Merge Records, Poison Season, Swan Lake, the New Pornographers, The Threepenny Opera, Times Square, Vancouver

News Podcast

Ep. #159: Carl Newman of the New Pornographers

Post author By vish
Post date January 25, 2015

Carl Newman is a well-respected and gifted pop songwriter who originally hails from Vancouver, British Columbia. Over the past 20 years, he has spearheaded bands like Superconductor and Zumpano, and released highly acclaimed solo records under the name A.C. Newman. While long-respected by peers and critics for his sense of melody and powerful hooks, Newman’s work reached a wider audience at the turn of the century with the emergence of the New Pornographers, a gang of singers and songwriters featuring Neko Case, Destroyer’s Dan Bejar, and Newman among others. Each of the band’s six albums has been called a classic by someone who could spot such things, including their latest LP, 2014’s Brill Bruisers, which, as their highest charting album to date, is their most impactful release since their 2000 debut, Mass Romantic. The New Pornographers are touring behind Brill Bruisers, including stops at London’s Music Hall on Feb. 6 and Guelph’s Hillside Inside festival on Feb. 7. Here, Carl and I talk about when your family gets sick, the measles and Disneyland and the anti-vaccination movement, freedom, science versus pseudoscience, happiness after sadness, preparing for and then having a kid, defining rock and ‘power-pop,’ Big Star and Cheap Trick, staying in the game versus retirement, false cheer, the Neko Case harmony lead on “Champions of Red Wine,” what Dan Bejar’s talking about and how he deals, talking about each other’s songs, being normal and wanting to do nothing, connecting with comedians, the older brother with the music, becoming a performer, working with Sloan and murderecords, how Vancouver music was treated by the rest of Canada 20 years ago, the rapid ascent of the New Pornographers, the future, the song “Hi-Rise,” and then I got my marching orders.

Related links: thenewpornographers.com vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Tags A.C. Newman, Brill Bruisers, Carl Newman, Dan Bejar, Destroyer, Disneyland, Hillside Inside, London Music Hall, measles, murderecords, Neko Case, Sloan, Superconductor, the New Pornographers, vaccines, Vancouver, Zumpano

News Podcast

Ep. #87: Bry Webb

Bry Webb is one of Canada’s most distinctive singers, songwriters, and musicians. Based in Guelph, Webb emerged from London, Ontario’s post-hardcore punk scene, fronting an excellent band called Shoulder. In the late 1990s, he co-founded a Guelph-based band called Constantines who had a profound impact on rock music during their 10-year run. In 2011, Webb released Provider, his first solo album and did his best to tour the world behind it as a new father with a day job. On May 20, the Toronto label Idée Fixe will release Webb’s new album. It’s called Free Will, and he’ll be touring behind it a lot this spring and summer, including a hometown show, opening for Destroyer at Kazoo! Fest on Friday April 11. Here, Bry and I discuss what CFRU is all about, what the music community in London Ontario was like when Bry lived there, shy Bry and how punk and skating brought him out of his shell, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet’s Dim the Lights, Chill the Ham, the practicality of parents, how having kids can alter how one values their own life, what drew him to guitar, AC/DC and the Cure, when MuchMusic was awesome for kids, Skeletons of Society (S.O.S.), getting to play guitar at recess, the post-hardcore band Shoulder and their album Touch, my band Captain Co-Pilot and its connection to Shoulder and the early days of Constantines, 519 hardcore, Call the Office, and the Button Factory, Guelph’s music scene and The Goods CD compilation, Aaron Riches and a key Minnow show featuring Blake, Chili, and Shoulder that foreshadowed Three Gut Records, the Cons’ early reverence for legendary rock figures and how it might have pigeonholed them, that time Constantines broke up on the radio, the lead-up and motivation that brought Bry back to make Provider, how Free Will follows a thread from Provider but also explores more complex emotions, the naming of the record and its connection to the Cons’ Will Kidman, why Constantines are playing shows together again and details about the Shine a Light reissue and shows they’re playing this summer, some of Bry’s solo shows, the brand new song “Positive People” and then it’s over.

Related links: brywebb.com ideefixerecords.com kazookazoo.ca vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS