Singing in the Rain!

Perhaps one of the best parts about getting to spend a few moments with the Toronto indie septet Ohbijou at Hamilton’s recent first annual James St. N. Supercrawl was that it was under a roof. “It’s raining you guys,” was all vocalist/guitarist Casey Mecija, barraged by a sea of umbrellas from the crowd, and with the most charming and innocent disposition possible, could muster between songs during her band’s set. “Oh my goodness, I’m sorry I can’t stop talking about the rain,” she laughed a few moments later, “but it’s so awesome you guys are sticking it out for this great event.”

Melancholic weather notwithstanding, it’s no surprise that Ohbijou was there to stick it out too. Born out of Toronto’s ballooning indie, community-driven music scene, they fit the bill perfectly for the Supercrawl, an art and music celebration which had part of James. St. N. closed.

Ohbijou of course is used to being labelled as the “epicentre”—to use NOW magazine’s term—of an emerging DYI-style scene. In 2007 the band orchestrated the Friends in Bellwoods compilation album, named after the bandmates’ former Bellwoods Ave. home in Toronto, where many of the songs were actually recorded. The band is naturally humble about all of the praise. “The thing is, ‘community’ is such a loaded term,” Mecija explained. “The house served as a hub for us and all of are friends, a place for us to play music and get together. We’ve met a lot of awesome people and it was mostly just our friends coming over to our house to jam and play music.”

In August, Friends in Bellwoods II was released, further solidifying Ohbijou as a rising force in Toronto’s indie community. “(The album) is definitely an extension of the first one,” said Mecija. “It all originated from the house and it was a great experience to just get together and make music with our friends. And all of the proceeds go to the Toronto Food Bank, which is a great cause.”

Beacons, the band’s second full-length album, was also released over the summer, and the album shows a much more nuanced maturity over the eclectic indie/pop mix found on their debut, 2006’s Swift Feet for Troubling Times. “The recording sessions for this album were different because we’ve learned a lot since the last one,” bassist Heather Kirby told me. “We took a couple of trips outside of the city and really separated ourselves from everyday life for a while.”

Kirby, along with Mecija, cellist Anissa Hart, and mandolinist Andrew Kinoshita, were all quick to credit the Indie Band Residency they experienced at the Banff Centre for the Arts—where they were one of three bands chosen by the Alberta-based Centre to spend two weeks developing as a band and work with top producers and engineers. “It made a huge difference and it was definitely a very involved process that impacted our last album,” says Kirby.

“We also didn’t need to worry about impressing anyone there or playing any shows or anything like that,” adds Kinoshita. “It was great to work with so many professionals and they had such an amazing setup there. It was a great experience.”

Ohbijou, who is rounded out by Mecija’s sister Jenny on violin, James Bunton on drums, and Ryan Carley on piano, certainly have been making a lot of headway over the past several months. In partnership with CBC Radio 3 and Exclaim! magazine, Aux.tv chose them as the X3 artist of the month for August, and their new music video for the song “New Years” is now getting regular airplay on MuchMusic. Hart credited the Exploding Motor Car company for producing the aesthetically innovative music video: “I’m more excited for the people that made that video, because they worked so hard on it, and I’m just really glad how it came out and how people are having the opportunity to see it.”

The band acknowledges the difficulties that come along with more mainstream attention but is excited about the opportunities. “The more people that are listening to our music and appreciating it is a great thing,” says Kirby. “I think anytime you have more people listening to music and appreciating music is a good thing.”

“Can you guys see yourselves becoming the next Tegan and Sara, or the next Feist, or the next Lights, and if so, is that intimidating at all?” At this question the band seemed to reveal some vulnerability, but Mecija’s humble, easy-going answer prevailed and showed why Ohbijou is making such a dent in the indie scene. “We have a lot of things we need to do. For one, we need to work on making a really good next album. All of the musicians you just named are very successful artists, so it would be amazing to be at their calibre. I just look forward to whatever comes next for us.”

Stereos: Misery Signal

Stereos is an anomaly in the music industry, that much is certain, and to some their success is even confusing. Even their name itself is disorienting. Stereos used to be Turn It Up, and The Turn It Ups’ biggest influence was The Stereo. See, you’re confused already, aren’t you? Even they were surprised by that playful connection when I mentioned it to them. "That's like some Nardwuar shit right there," they half-joked in response.

Yes, this band is huge today, but just a few short months ago they were nobodies. “We started out by touring B.C. and Alberta but absolutely nobody would travel out to those shows. To be honest, even in our hometown (Edmonton) we were having trouble getting even one hundred kids out to a show,” lead singer Pat Kordyback confessed to me, in a heavily guarded-off, intimidating gothic-styled basement room after his band had just performed an outdoor concert. The window curtains were closed tightly to prevent passersby even a glimpse (even outside of the windows there was a security guard), and the room stunk of dozens of half-eaten bags of chips and rotting dips and salsas. Yes, this band has come a long way.

But not without controversy, and lots of it.

“There’s definitely a stigma attached to the fact that we had a reality show,” Kordyback notes in reference to the MuchMusic program DisBAND, Stereos’ big break. “The thing is, we did not win the reality show. It wasn’t a competition. There was no guarantee of anything. We had the same shot as every other band.”

However, it isn’t how Stereos was discovered that bothers most critics as much as it is their music, especially in regards to their image. They look punk, but they sound nowhere near it. Kordyback laughs it all off with a shrug. “I write music that I want to hear. What band doesn’t write what they want to hear? I think that’s the great thing about us, is that we don’t sound like we look, and because of that people are either going to love us or hate us. I’d rather be a love/hate band than just kind of be in the middle.”

Matt Wells, DisBAND’s resident punk rock judge, was the first in a long line of critics to attack Stereos’ music: “It’s like punk-rock Jonas Brothers and I fucking hate it.”

Kordyback was quick to point out though that Wells’ personal opinion wasn’t what mattered. “The question was whether or not we have a chance, and in his speech he gives about five reasons why we do. So he didn’t really answer the question properly.”

The band’s use of Auto-Tune, the audio processor that automatically corrects pitch, primarily in vocal performances, does seem to add fuel to the fire, especially considering how much of a hot topic Auto-Tune has become in the music world.

“Well we use it as an effect, we don’t use it to cover up anything,” Kordyback says to defend himself. “What people don’t know is how much harder it is to sing with it live, because it’s a pitch corrector, and if you’re pitchy, it will make you sound that much worse. We have a few songs that have Auto-Tune, but we also have just as many that don’t have Auto-Tune.”

For a band that has been in the spotlight for such a short period of time, it is almost extraordinary how much debate they have been able to rack up, and one incident in particular had a lot of online message boards fuming: the so-called Misery Signals Rip-Off.

“Yeah, we’re really ripping off Misery Signals,” Kordyback chuckled sarcastically.

Not long ago, Stereos released a t-shirt design that looked similar to the Edmonton Oilers logo. Problem is, the post-hardcore band Misery Signals did it first.

“Look, I’m a huge Misery Signals fan,” explains Kordyback. “But, it’s hilarious, I mean, we’re from Edmonton, and Misery Signals is from Wisconsin. We are hands down the biggest hockey fans and sports fans you will ever meet.” Perhaps he makes a good point, but, although most of Misery Signals is indeed from Wisconsin, Kordyback shares the same hometown as one of their guitarists: St. Albert, Alberta.

All misery aside, Kordyback tries to focus on the positives, such as the touring success of his band, especially without an LP or even an EP. “The crowds’ response has been crazy. (The music industry’s) almost gone back to when it started, you know, bands in the 1950s would have one song and would put out a single, and they toured off that. It really opens your eyes to how the industry is becoming cyclical. We’ve got two singles out right now and I can’t wait to drop the album.”

The band’s debut, self-titled album is due out Oct. 20, and they worked with Juno award-winning producer Gavin Brown of Billy Talent, Three Days Grace, and Metric fame. Yes, Stereos really has come a long way.

West Coast Smoker

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