Tag: Polaris Music Prize

Ep. #118: Steve Sladkowski of PUP

Post author By vish
Post date July 24, 2014

Steve Sladkowski plays guitar and sings in a Toronto punk-infused pop band called PUP. Originally called Topanga, PUP changed their name ahead of releasing their first, self-titled debut album, which is out now via Royal Mountain Records. PUP plays Guelph’s Hillside Festival on Saturday July 25. Here, Steve and I discuss staining fences in Toronto, living in Guelph and putting on shows and working for the Guelph Jazz Festival, touring the U.S. with the Menzingers, single A baseball in Iowa, America is weird, this is Texas, talking to Americans about baseball, the Oakland A’s and Moneyball glitches, regular seasons are a drag, why the Skydome sucks and seeing baseball in America rules, I don’t think I like Toronto, talking to people outside of Canada about Rob Ford, playing ska-punk, Protest the Hero, the 3tards, and the Reverb, working with Dave Schiffman on the PUP record, pathetic use of potential, Toronto punk is thriving, when Weezer was wonderful, my membership in the Weezer fanclub and contributing “Mykel and Carli” to its first covers compilation, Rivers Cuomo goes back to the shack, impersonating Fucked Up at the Halifax Pop Explosion, feeling honoured to get to do cool stuff, it comes and goes, self-promotion, not needing day jobs but working harder than ever, their Polaris Music Prize nomination, the status of hard music in Canada, Peter Bradley is in Alaska, Constellation Records, forced conversation, Tanya Tagaq should win awards, PUP’s new songs, throwing down, writing songs in extreme emotional places, marrying real-life with fictional narratives, the song “Guilt Trip,” and then it is outta here!

Related links: puptheband.com royalmountainrecords.com hillsidefestival.ca vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #105: Zaki Ibrahim

Post author By vish
Post date June 3, 2014

Zaki Ibrahim is a very creative singer and songwriter who splits her time between Toronto and Johannesburg. Over the past decade, she has established herself as one of the most daring and fascinating R&B/electro-pop artists in North America and her heady, sci-fi-infused debut album, Every Opposite, was shortlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. This Sunday June 8, Ibrahim performs at the Field Trip festival at Fort York in Toronto along with people like Constantines, Fucked Up, Washed Out, Do Make Say Think, Gord Downie and the Sadies, Broken Social Scene and more. A few months ago, Ibrahim and I caught up for a chat just after she played a noon hour concert at the University of Guelph where we discussed microphone checking, our hang-ups about our voices, speaking like someone who’s lived in South Africa and Canada, being mistaken for Jian Ghomeshi on the phone, playing concerts for students at lunch, leading an aerobics class, the sci-fi, African-set narrative of Every Opposite, Nanaimo to Cape Town, the town in British Columbia that has outlawed hand drumming, Diana Krall and Young Galaxy, rumbling tummies, receiving a Polaris Music Prize nomination, getting to Toronto in 2001, living in Johannesburg, deer come, Zaki’s dad was involved with Bush Radio and media education in Cape Town, making radio plays but not necessarily engaging with other media forms, House of Lies with Don Cheadle and Teen Wolf, the internet in South Africa, twitter binges, avoiding categorization musically or otherwise, knowing one’s blackness and being multi-racial or “Canadian,” I subtly quote the Fugazi song “Place Position,” loving pop music by white people, singer and songwriter, being ok with external perceptions of one’s work, performing for old people at lunch, dates, following up on Every Opposite, messing with songwriting and addressing the terms of success, go to wikipedia, proper pronunciation, and that’s it.

Related links: zakiibrahim.co.za fieldtriplife.com vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #97: Braids

Post author By vish
Post date May 6, 2014

Braids is an excellent, art-y rock band from Montreal featuring Raphaelle Standell-Preston, Austin Tufts, and Taylor Smith. Originally from Calgary, Braids is a close-knit group whose first album, Native Speaker, was excellent and short-listed for Canada’s Polaris Music Prize (previous winners include Karkwa). Their latest album is 2013’s Flourish // Perish, which is obtainable via Arbutus and Flemish Eye Records and is a moodier, emotionally and musically challenging feat from one of the most accomplished young bands in North America. Braids are on a tour of the eastern and midwestern parts of the United States and they play Montreal’s Il Motore on May 10 and Toronto’s Horseshoe on May 11. Back in November 2013, Raph, Austin, and even press-shy Taylor met with me outside of Toronto where we had a good chat about addictive coffee-flavoured e-cigarettes, a living room in Mississauga with a wooden carpet, rating Halloween candy, a tour oasis and a bitchy cat, my mom, my name Vishal, and our premature births, Austin and Raph’s close, sibling-like relationship, the travails of An Indian From Kitchener, computers versus guitars, special effects and Flourish // Perish, the logical puzzle that is the piano, leaving space in your work so that you can think, how Raph has grappled with mental health issues and public pressure and Flourish // Perish’s uniquely dark tone for an ‘electronic’ record, Austin is a man, the road is long, losing Katie Lee, you’ll have to speak up; the soundman is wearing a towel, female companionship, man conquers machine, machine conquers woman, how the media has manipulated and over-scrutinized Katie’s departure from Braids, the band’s frustration with the way they were portrayed in an Exclaim! Magazine cover story this past fall and how it impacted their already fragile relationship with Katie, the power dynamic between journalists and interview subjects, unique views and clickbait culture, learning from talking, Taylor shows up to discuss abstaining from interviews and their value, Braids’ future plans and progress towards their next record, Joshua Tree National Park and the desert, Good Will Hunting, Back to the Future, the song “Girl,” and that’s it.

Related links: braidsmusic.com vishkhanna.com

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