The Golden Dogs - 3 1/2 preview

The Golden Dogs, despite their long standing as one of the most ferocious live bands in Canada and catalogue of critically acclaimed albums, have never quite gotten their due.

Like the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir (which cultivated the musicianship of Chris Brown and Kate Fenner, David Wall and Broken Social Scene's Andrew Whiteman); or By Divine Right (which gave BSS founder Brendan Canning and Leslie now just Feist national exposure at the start of their careers); The Golden Dogs may be as well known for their own music as for giving many musicians a schooling and a start including Zeus' founder Carlin Nicholson and ace in the hole Neil Quin.

The high point of their career thus far has likely been playing the Hollywood Bowl touring in support of Feist with Sloan.  Not bad for a husband and wife team from North Ontario's Thunder Bay who met in an Italian wedding band playing polkas. It's hard to fathom the distance between Thunder Bay and Toronto unless you've driven it.  Every band that's crossed Canada- an improbable feat at times- knows that crossing the Ontario border heading East or hitting Thunder Bay is a cruel lie and means another 20 hours drive.  In Europe you could likely cross 10 borders in the same time.

When they originally descended to the Big Smoke The Golden Dogs fronted by the frenetic and inevitably sweat drenched Dave Azzolini and his wife, former keyboardist now drummer, Jess Grassia were a formidable force made up of other near Northern Ontarians from Sault St. Marie with a powerful debut Everything In 3 Parts (2003).   The Canadian Music press fawned over them deservedly.  Lineup changes have been consistent but the 'band' has always been a vehicle for Azzolini's formidable pop chops.  Big Eye Little Eye followed in 2006 to the same acclaim but 2010's Coat Of Arms failed to explode despite its considerable charms. In the same period their brohemes notably Bahamas (Afie Jurvanen) and Zeus have gained international profiles and eaten their share of humble pie.  Afie's eaten the least.   His raffish good looks and breezy delivery (not too mention what they all share in common incredibly substantial guitar chops) have made him a steady commodity in soft seaters and cool kid clubs alike.  In short everyone's rooting for The Golden Dogs on this one appropriately titled 3 1/2.

Reinvigorated by Grassia's confidence in her role on drums and a strong new lineup with Stefanie McCarrol on keys and guitar and Alejandro Cairncross on bass live and on record the group is notably reinvigorated.  McCarrol and her brother Jay's group Brave Shores, at least with their booming single Never Come Down, are also getting considerable airplay with perhaps the most crossover appeal.  In that 3 1/2 embraces some of these electro touches it's a departure of sorts and an arrival in others.  Stefanie's presence, physically resembling and echoing Jess' enthusiasm at the same station, adds a welcome updated synthesized wash which carries across the recording.  Some of the polish is undoubtedly Carlin Nicholson's spit shine who mixed it at Sloan's studio.  The single Do It For You is in heavy rotation on the CBC and a video for the second single Decided (recorded live off the floor with Joao Carvalho at Revolution Recording) is due soon.  Caught recently Azzolini's enthusiasm was self evident:

"Regarding the sound we're going for.  I suppose it's a reflection of wanting to make super pop-y music and noisy-screamy-er stuff on one album. Songs that are friendly and songs that are abrasive."

2015 ALBUM RELEASE SHOWS

FEB 21 – Toronto, ON @ The Rivoli w/Jane's Party
FEB 27 – Ottawa, ON @ House Of Targ w/Ornaments
MAR 6 – Hamilton, ON @ This Ain't Hollywood w/High Kites, Chuck Coles
MAR 7 – Montreal, QC @ Divan Orange w/guests tba - buy tickets
MAR 13 – Kitchener, ON @ The Boathouse w/guests tba
MAR 20 – Kingston, ON @ The Grad Club w/guests tba
MAR 21 – London, ON @ Call The Office w/guests tba

Northern Heads celebrates 60,000 visitors

Northern Heads began as northernheads.com (a very lo-fi website, essentially a proto-blog covering largely Canadian improvisational 'jam' based music) from 2001-2005.   The website was founded by Canadian Luke Bowden and American Abe Robins and might best be described as jambands.com meets The Onion on ketamine.  

After some dark and hairy times Northern Heads was revived by Luke Bowden as a blog at first primarily focused on Detroit Hip Hop.  The notion behind this limited focus at the outset was that there are countless general interest blogs and music blogs out there and the world of music is so vast that once one starts down a path (say Blues from the 1920's) you could literally spend a lifetime trying to understand that little niche.  From an initial focus on the preternatural J Dilla, his protege Black Milk and many in his camp including Elzhi, Guilty Simpson, Sean Price and (Hybrid-era) Danny Brown the scope of coverage has grown.

Gradually the focus of the blog dilated to include its namesake the Grateful Dead, Phish and the immortal Prince - but more importantly progressive improvisational groups such as The Slip (now The Barr Brothers) as well as a variety of Electronic musicians influenced by a deep musicality (The Gaslamp Killer, Flying Lotus etc.).   Swinging to the other end of the spectrum my other area of specialization is Roots and Americana music with a fervent interest in Canadian groups with spine and spirit such as The Golden Dogs and their kin Zeus. 

As a freelance music writer I have always operated on the margins of Canada's nepotistic and clingy world of music journalism.  As a rule I do not feature any music which I am not deeply passionate about- setting a standard of requisite craftsmanship rarely present in the glut of releases pumped out on a daily basis.  Put plainly I listen to all the shit so that you don't have to.

As the New Year approaches we'll be highlighting the best of 2014's releases as well as highlighting long form interviews from the past year originally published on No Depression (the Roots music authority since 1995).  Thanks for reading and coming back - if you don't currently follow the blog please consider following it in the future.  I promise to bring you more music, more diverse music and insights, and more frequent updates over the coming year.

sincerely,

Luke C. Bowden

An Introduction to The Golden Dogs

Taylor Knox played a phenomenal show with his three piece band this weekend at Lee's Palace (Sept. 27) opening for The Golden Dogs and Zeus.  Taylor's a close broheme of both groups having been a member of The Golden Dogs after Carlin and Nicholson's overlapping tenures as well as having been in a group Major Grange (with Neil and Dave Dalrymple).   They're calling th is tour the Ill Eagle Revue or the Family Affair Tour.  It's highly fitting as Dave Azzolini wife Jess Grassia and Taylor were involved with the original Zeus recordings that became the Sounds Like Zeus EP.

 Ill Eagle Revue

Fri Oct 03 @ House of Targ – Ottawa, ON – w/ Taylor Knox

Sat Oct 04 @ The Spill – Peterborough, ON w/ Taylor Knox and Wax Atlantic – $10 door

Tues Oct 07 @ The Starlight – Waterloo, ON – w/ ZEUS and Taylor Knox

Wed Oct 08 @ Ebar – Guelph, ON – w/ ZEUS and Taylor Knox

Thurs Oct 09 @ The Casbah – Hamilton, ON – w/ ZEUS and Taylor Knox

Fri Oct 10 @ Detour Music Hall – St.Catherines, ON – w/ ZEUS and Taylor Knox

Sat Oct 11 @ Call The Office – London, ON – w/ ZEUS and Taylor Knox

Neil Quin of Zeus interview part 1 (home towns, biography, influences)

Neil Quin of Zeus - NXNE Cameron House outdoor stage 06.21.14

LB: Congratulations again on the NXNE show and the show the other night.  And it must be nice after such arduous touring to be back before a hometown crowd?

NQ: Absolutely we loved playing in Toronto the last couple of times. It was a great feeling and a great sort of lettin' everybody know we're back in business people are happy to see it so it's and it's just a happy time.

LB:  I think we're happy for you.  Can we just start as a preliminary talk about your own biography, about your hometown and where you were born and raised

NQ: Sure, I was born in Toronto at Toronto East General Hospital and then the family moved to Orillia in 1988.  And yeah ya know, small town, the rest of the boys they came from Barrie and Oro so we were all sort of from the same region but we met each other later in life.

LB: When abouts did you meet each other?

NQ:  I met those guys probably 2006.  I met Carlin one time and I played with him very shortly after I joined The Golden Dogs he used to be in the band as well we did some shows together had some fun, I met Mike later on, and Carlin's brother (Liam) and everyone else that was involved and sure enough we spent more and more time together which was cool.

LB: You're anticipating my next question which is you're going out on a Family Affair tour in support of this record with The Golden Dogs, and your dear friend Taylor Knox and band mate in Major Grange.  I guess what I really wanted to know is what years were you in The Golden Dogs during the same period as Carlin?

NQ: We just sort of crossed over each other I just stepped in as he left.

LB:  What years would that have been?

NQ: That would've been 2005 whenever year I joined the band.

LB: It just seems to me, and its just worth noting besides the play on words- is that one thing that's really Classic about this record is you've returned to the 'classic' line-up of players that were on the original recordings; Taylor Knox, Dave Azzolini, Jessica Grassia and I guess you added Peter Elkas to the mix.  Was that a conscious decision or was that just sort of hanging out in the Ill Eagle clubhouse?

NQ: It was really just the way it goes it was all about who was around at that time.  Carlin and Mike when they were making the first Zeus record they really didn't know what they were doing they were  just recording songs with each other so it was really just celebration- whoever was around happened to be a part of the recording process.  We just hung around.  This time it was just like Dave Azzolini was there a lot of the time because they live upstairs from the studio, so he was with us hangin' out, makin' tea and he and Jess they were off on Fridays and they'd come down and hang out.  They were featured on some singing and clapping and stuff but I think it was just the kind of energy that it was our record to make and we were totally game time on it.

LB:  You're talking about the first one right now? 

NQ: No I'm talking about the third one now I'm talking about that"s what the difference is- the people are still around but its not as often and it was kind of like it was our project it was how it felt- it happened naturally.

LB:  And what about having this ensemble of players together with you on this Classic Zeus outing is that just an outgrowth of the sort of family relationship that you all have?

NQ:  I wouldn't call it that its just kind of each band kind of hunkers down and gets down to their bottom line and it just happened to be what suited the music was just the four of us working together. A lot of me, Carlin and Mike in the studio together making decisions and producing together.  It was very much us getting to know ourselves and each other better and not having friends around all the time, we're all obviously buddies, but we can just get down to work and work and focus and be more tedious about things.  And I think that we spent a lot more time on this record, and for good reason you know, it needed to sound a certain way. 

LB: I hear what you're saying.  I guess one thing that interests me is that a really strong song from your last outing Strong Mind started as Major Grange song as I understand?

NQ: Yeah

LB:  Are there other songs like on this record or others that started elsewhere and have become parts of the Zeus canon or Classic Zeus?

NQ: Let me see here.  Yeah another song of mine called Where Is My Love? the first song on the record I used to play in a band called Bad Yoga...

LB: (laughs)

NQ: ...With Jay McCarrol (Brave Shores), my friend Matt Miller and our buddy Dave Dalrymple who's in a band called Wax Atlantic, he's the other half of Major Grange to tie it into Taylor Knox. And we've also got the Taylor Knox Band now going- and we also have Wax Atlantic joining us on a few dates.

LB:  So you're touching on what I wanted to ask you which is the current bands or projects you're currently involved in are?

NQ: All of those.


LB: (laughs)... the ones we just mentioned.

NQ:  Yeah, exactly.  Taylor and I did a lot of playing on the Wax Atlantic record.  You know, there's a lot of moments on that where it felt like Major Grange reunited.  You know, in the studio with the three of us, the original line up.  Where I would do drums, Taylor on bass and Dave on guitar and we had some really fun nights together.  It was like band therapy, you know.

LB:  Was Major Grange more of band therapy thing or was that a side project?

NQ: It was just because the band had broken up that's why I called it band therapy. We hadn't played together in a few years because we had replaced...like, I used to play the drums in the band.  We got our friend Rob Gordon involved to play the drums and that was the final days of Major Grange and that was great and everything.

LB: In what years was the band active in?

NQ:  2008, 2009 I guess.  The course of that year we played some shows and made a crack at some recordings and stuff.  It didn't pan out and we didn't release anything in that lineup.  After that, a couple of years had gone by and Dave was writing.  So, yeah, that's what I was trying to say.  We were buddies the whole time it was just kind of hadn't got together and played like that.

LB: I want to get into the record itself because it really deserves some attention but I want to talk for a second about influences. I realize that you and Zeus are a lot more than the sum of your influences. The ones that get tossed around a lot are The Beatles, The Band, Big Star, I know you guys love the Superfriendz and Matt Murphy.  I think you admire Dr. Dog. Are there other contemporary bands that you feel are like contemporaries of yours?

NQ: We have a wide range of influences it's kind of funny. Those bands that kind of resemble our sound seem to be the most obvious. Carlin, for instance, is a huge Michael Jackson fan.We're all big Michael Jackson fans, we all listen to a lot of soul music...

LB: Name some of the soul music you listen to.

NQ: Ah man, like, the whole Motown arrangement. We all really love Stevie. You know, the Funk Brothers and every record they touched. Just you know there was something magic in that Motown sound. We love Robert Palmer- Simply Irresistible. I really like The Eagles, the other guys don't so much but they're coming around. I see a lot of comparisons between The Eagles and Zeus and the hooks and how some of the songs are written.

LB: Some of the eras of The Eagles more than others, maybe.

NQ: Yeah. Absolutely. You know, we dig Alan Parsons, some squiggy AM Gold. Stuff like that.  We've been digging some Chicago as of late. Geez, let's think of more contemporary stuff.  I love the Junior Boys.  I think they've had a big influence.

LB: Yeah, we talked about this the other night and I was kind of surprised, in a nice way, because the Junior Boys, as you mentioned, are Hamilton proud, that they're, you know, electronic musicians for the world and important Canadian musicians. It was a little surprising to hear you say that Heavy On Me, one of your songs with the most cross-over appeal, that you were really influenced by the Junior Boys on that one. 

NQ: Big Time.

END OF PART ONE

Golden Dogs Rivoli setlist (06.21.14)

 

The Golden Dogs

Rivoli

NXNE

06.21.14

Good Feel

Permanent Record

Nevermind

Do It For You

Feel Like A Bridge

Runouttaluck

Pretending

Saints At The Gates

Birdsong

One Last Time

Yeah!

Zeus Biography (Drake, Quin, Nicholson, O'Brien)

When Zeus proper first emerged (out of the ashes of a band called Paso Mino amongst other things) the notion of multiple songwriters was central to their origin story.  Guitarist Mike O'Brien (everyone plays every instrument except Rob Drake who largely sticks to the drums and the occasional Pac Man keyboard solo on the mini Moog) and bassist Carlin Nicholson are always credited as co-founders.  

Most everyone had shared history, hailing largely from Barrie's Bay north of Toronto.  O'Brien and Drake were members of Paso Mino (Carlin did front of house sound) although O'Brien and Nicholson had been writing together since they were 13 or 14.  Paso Mino backed Collett on seminal albums Idols Of Exile and Here's To Being Here.  After the recording of Here through various circumstance (including bassist Michael P. Clive pursuing a career as a chef and guitarist Afie Jurvanen -now performing solo as Bahamas- went on tour with Feist) the band dissolved as a band in their own right and as a backing band for Jason Collett.

You might call this account of the birth of Zeus as the Zeus Family Tree.  Close to the genesis of the band was another bassist Jeremy Little (Burt Neilson Band) who had handled bass duties for Collett after in particular Clive's exit touring in support of Here's To Being Here.  Gregory Macdonald (the fifth member of Sloan) was also brought in to play keys at the same time until his multiple Sloan commitments conflicted.  Then Carlin was brought in to play keys.  

About the time that Collett mounted the Bonfire Ball Revue tour with Bahamas and Zeus in a revue style show, Little (known affectionately as Jer Bro) became the 5th member of Zeus for a period acting as sound technician, playing auxiliary synths from the boards and road manager.  Little now plays in the Peter Elkas Band (curiously Peter Elkas also appears on their most recent album Classic Zeus although the vocal recordings date from the original Say Us sessions).  

During this whole period Mike and Carlin were recording tunes in their Riverdale garage/studio (now properly dubbed Ill Eagle Studios).  The nature of these sessions was goodhearted and rekindled the childhood friend's appreciation of each other.   Their personal history went back to high school when they also started the 6ixty 8ights, a band Carlin would keep going for 10 years with Mike leaving in 2002 for Paso Mino.  With Mike frustrated with Paso Mino being spread all over the place and Carlin feeling lost in 10 years of 6ixty8ights, the zeus sessions begun.  Carlin and Neil Quin had both been members of the ferocious live group The Golden Dogs under the tutelage of Dave Azzolini and his wife Jess Grassia. 

Rob Drake

For the original sessions Mike and Carlin were joined by Dave and Jess as well as Taylor Knox from their band (Taylor and Quin also had a band together Major Grange).  With the Dogs being their own thing Rob Drake and Neil Quin cemented the Zeus line up.  The following tour Zeus was asked to open for Jason Collett and Neil was asked to join the Jason Collett Band as well.   These sessions resulted in their definitive debut EP Sounds Like Zeus (2009) but no doubt they were likely already working on songs for Say Us (2009).   

In a recent interview with American Songwriter they showed a kinship with other bands with multiple songwriters (their companero Matt Murphy's Super Friendz, Beach Boys, Kinks, Sloan, Queen, Dr. Dog). Busting Visions (2011) features material written by O'Brien, Nicholson and notably Quin whose contributions such as Strong Mind (originally a Major Grange song reworked for Zeus) set the benchmark for their newest material.  Collett has gone so far as to say that Quin, who seemed so tenderly young when he joined the band, has "the best rock ‘n’ roll voice I’ve heard in 20 years".

Neil Quin

Of Busting Visions O'Brien has said "the story of this record is it's our first as a band" acknowledging that Say Us ultimately drew from a revolving door of collaborators.  Visions is also their first effort produced, recorded and mixed alongside longtime collaborator Robbie Lackritz (Feist, Jamie Lidell, Bahamas).  It is also their first album to record in two settings; Ill Eagle Studios and Leslie Feist's ranch studio. Each Zeus songwriter readily admits to a healthy amount of competition in the band, "you bring your best every time" says Nicholson. 

Since the release of Busting Visions Zeus have toured extensively across North America and Europe accumulating accolades and enviable tour slots (including an opener for Belle & Sebastian at Massey Hall in Toronto).   During this period they have also produced albums for their compatriots including The Golden Dogs and Danielle Duval.  In various interviews they've indicated that they'd like to turn their vintage Ill Eagle studio into a new millenium hit factory - a type of Motown North-  making them something like the Canadian version of the Funk Bros. or  Booker T & The MG's which sounds about right.

The Golden dogs Lester (from Coat of Arms)

The songs that make up The Golden Dogs new album Coat of Arms have long since wormed their way deeply into my heart- as they will for so many listeners across this great country, continent and world of ours.

I first saw The Golden Dogs in their original incarnation at Guelph's Hillside Festival when their definitely buzz worthy Everything In 3 Parts had just broke.  It is an amusing anecdote in Canadian Rock Lore that... well you might as well hear it from the horse's mouth:

"Okay so basically the Island Stage at Hillside (which is one of if not the best programmed festivals in Canada) is this idyllic tent and Guelph is this really manzy panzy granola town with a pretty heavy duty male and female lesbian contingent (Guelph has more male lesbians per capita than any Canadian municipalities incidentally) and actually quite a few swingers or polyamourists (the King of the Swingers is or was on city council no word of a lie) or whatever those skeezebags call dipping the pen in your neighbour's ink.  So anyways my mushrooms are just kicking in I'm super hyped about this set and then this fucking band just blows up.  Like... and okay sure my mushrooms (like half a fucking cap man get over it) are slowly kicking in... I'm thinking in my mind 'this is what it must have been like to see The Police'.  The band was wholly original somehow rooted in the New Wave but not pandering to it, just really dynamic and engaging original songwriting and the whole band shreds including particularly the lead and very lanky lead guitarist Dave Azzolini who looks a bit like Ric Ocasek without shades but mainly because he's tall as fuck and plays ridiculously good guitar.


So anyways this green bean shaped man... Oh hold up... First I gave the entire band the CLEARLY IRONIC (note that NOBODY was dancing in this entire supposedly hippy town before I got up front and centre and shook not too few tailfeathers) Johnny Cash style 'Fuck You' - whilst still dancing said ass off.  Then beanpole man points at me - mid guitar solo nonetheless - and lunges forward (I'm clearly thinking this is part of the stage show) and then the fugger kicks me (while wearing my trademark - certainly after this occasion- Phil Collins '94 tour t-shirt), hard right between Phil's eyes.   I try to do this Matrix style backspin that didn't totally work clearly due to the durability of his combat boots and point of contact pretty much dead centre on the xyphoid process.  


The entire writeup of the band in the next day's Guelph Mercury was eclipsed by this one event which I don't have to look up because well I was fucking there."


In true rockstar-in-training fashion frontman Dave Azzolini berated a fan (allegedly sporting a Phil Collins t-shirt) for his rude reception of the band in the festival's Island Tent."


How was I supposed to know the keyboard chick was his wife?  Seriously.

In any case we're friends now if this video is any indication.



Whoa hold up.  I left out the part about how when the lights came up - and again this audience wasn't made up entirely of lesbians and it's the Friday night of a 3 day festival this fucking guy 'Dave Azzolini' announces over the mic:  'Hey ladies you see this guy in the Phil Collins shirt?  Don't touch him all weekend.  He's got diseases'.

I couldn't make this stuff up.

The Golden Dogs release Coat of Arms

In all of the excitement about Ween visiting Toronto and Bobby getting dosed in upstate NY a very important day has come and past without notice.  That day was July 29 when The Golden Dogs (core longstanding members being the husband and wife team of Dave Azzolini and Jessica Grassia) long overdue masterwork Coat of Arms.  Having delivered two instant landmarks in the Canadian rock canon (Everything in 3 Parts and  Big Eye Little Eye) Azzolini and Grassia with a steady and very able band in tow have mounted their most promising work to date.   The following days coverage will be dedicated to the history of The Golden Dogs, the genesis of this album and it's execution in the east end Toronto garage/recording studio Illeagle Studio at the hands of Carlin Nicholson and Mike O'Brien (Zeus).

Tonight don't miss an opportunity to see two members of the Zeus Family Tree (Danielle Duval whose yet unnamed full length is waiting to drop and of course The Golden Dogs) perform live at the Garrison (1197 Dundas St. West) tonight July 31.

Dave Azzolini full interview (The Golden Dogs past and present)

The following is an in-depth interview dealing largely with The Golden Dogs forthcoming release (Coat of Arms, release date July 27), the songwriting and recording process and in the end a helpful but largely irrelevant (given The Golden Dogs stark originality) list of influences.

   











Q: Who are the exact personnel on Coat of Arms and who plays what instruments (presumably multiple).  

A: There's so many guests and such, but mostly it's Me, Jess, Taylor Knox, with Carlin Nicholson and Mike O'Brien. Afie (Jurvanen) came in for one solo, Rob Drake drummed on Dear Francis, Neil Quin played on a couple tracks, and a whole lot of people came in for backing vocals and group vocals.  

Q: Did Carlin (Nicholson) engineer and produce it or who is the producer?

A: The Producer cred is "Produced by The Golden Dogs with Carlin Nicholson and Mike O'Brien. Most of the arrangements were solidified in the demo process. There were a couple of tracks that we saved for the studio which Carlin & Mike had a hand in: For instance, When the Movie’s Over was sort of a hybrid song that came about when we were jamming out some new songs at our place. It started out as a jam and I started making up the verse melody with bogus words, then Carlin came up with a piano hook. Then Jess suggested that a chorus from one of my other songs would fit. So I plopped that in there, finished off the words and we recorded it pretty soon after. That doesn’t happen with me very often. I like to think about songs for awhile before I put them down on record. Lester was another one, although the arrangement was finished, Mike offered the lead guitar hook, which is an important part. Underwater Goldmine was another one. Mike developed that intro slide guitar part. Goldmine was one where me, Jess, Mike & Carlin came together and just knew where to take it. It is a pretty magical recording.

Q: When did you first start thinking or not start thinking about the album setting out to as it were to let the album come together in an organic way. If Lester was the first song unexpectedly recorded in a gap in the recording of Zeus’ album Say Us what was the first song written for instance?

A: Burst and Weapon I think – they were finished at the same time, winter of 2007. More than half of the album was written on piano, a Yamaha CP 70 electric piano – it’s Carlin’s, but we’ve had it for years now. Jess loves playing it, and if it wasn’t 200 pounds, we’d bring it on the road. Even songs that are heavy guitar arrangements like Permanent Record and Old Hat were started with the piano. Weapon was actually written on guitar first even though it's a heavily piano arranged song, that opening riff was written on guitar. Darkroom (the chorus at least) was developed at Taylor’s place on an badly out-of-tune piano and cheap old church organ with foot pedals and ridiculous drum beats. Songs like Dear Francis and As Long As You Like were sort of developed at the same time. They have a 50s girl group kind of feel. Jess was originally going to sing Dear Francis, which is why the key is so high, but when we went to do vocals, she wasn’t feeling it and insisted that I do it. I did it too…in only a couple of takes.  

Q: Over what time period would you say you were writing songs for this record and at what point did you start to work up arrangements?

 A: The seeds of some date back to the period right after we finished the last record, so late 2006. I always have bits that I record. If the songs keeps bugging me to finish it, then it gets special attention. Jess is great for remembering bits and pieces and pushing me to finish melodies that she really likes. Cheap Umbrellas was one I had started a long while back. I had sort of let it go and Jess pushed me to finish it and said that she would sing it. There's always songs like that where, say, I can't finish it all at once, but the melody keeps needling me until I have to finish it. Songs usually come in twos or threes. There are always songs that are related to each other in theme, or at least in terms of the point in my life that they were created. Burst / Weapon are two that definitely go together. Goldmine / Lester ; Dear Francis / As Long;  Permanent Record / Old Hat. The last song arranged was When The Movie’s Over.

Q: How would you say Coat of Arms is a product of Ill Eagle Studio, the East End vibe, the shared responsibility etc.  

A: That studio has a drum sound. Getting the drums to sound good is half the battle and they have that figured out. It's a very dry, small room sound, but that's the way I like it. The recording vibe was such that there was no real huge time pressure while we were tracking…this was good for getting the right feel on songs. One song though, Travel Time was the first song recorded at Illegal, but it ended up not having the right feel and I wanted to scrap it, but Taylor insisted we have one more crack at it, but by that time, the studio was unavailable (Danielle Duval was tracking). So we did it at Taylor's place in the west end just off Spadina. We ended up liking the track a lot better. Better performance, big drums sounds – it has a nice place on the album. The east end vibe is mostly that it's very residential where we were. Parking is easier...hahahah. Not too many distractions, very laid back. The studio was just the best place to hang out at the time. Whether working on our stuff, Zeus stuff or Danielle's stuff, or just goofing around.

Q: What is the official release date for the vinyl LP and what is the overall release date.  

A: I think it's all July 27. It's a summer release. I think most of the music industry goes on vacation in August so it'll be interesting to see how this works out.  

Q: What can you tell me about your excitement about having your own piece of vinyl, and also what does it mean to be on a label like Nevado with artists like Afie that you clearly admire?  

A: I can finally do scratching on my own piece of vinyl! Besides that, I hope it means that the real music lovers out there will dive into the new album a bit. Vinyl does have a romance about it that's undeniable. Each side of the album has it's own vibe. We think that the second side is just as good as the first side. We hope others will find that too. We spend a lot of time on album art….the whole winter actually making these specialized song signs…vinyl is a great canvas for artwork. Having something to stare out or zone out on while you’re listening to the music. It’s very important to us.  

Q: It seems slightly odd that one of the most common questions to ask an artist is their influences but you seem to remind so many people of so many different bands (The Kinks seems a common reference point for instance) that The Golden Dogs sound ends up being so rooted in pop tradition but bracingly original. Maybe by way of the bands and artists you started to introduce Jess to when you first met perhaps you could talk about who your big influences are as a songwriter, guitarist and producer. I'd imagine that by now you're so hip deep in the music that your peers are making that they are the greatest influences but if you can point to any other contemporary examples of original bands that inspire you or craftsmen whose technique you applaud that would be helpful.

A: I hope people hear this album and don't immediately think "influences". I think we really got our own thing going on this new album but obviously, rock and roll is almost sixty years old and there are going to be references that pop up in every band playing music today. Arcade Fire - Springsteen/Talking Heads/Modest Mouse; Broken Social Scene - Dinosaur Jr.; I could do this for every band almost... Radiohead - Can/Pink Floyd/ Beatles; Everly Brothers/Buddy Holly/Little Richard/60's Girl Groups; Beach Boys - Phil Spector.   It's fun to do for sure... Anyways... I digress...In terms of influences I just heard some of the new New Pornographers and was pleasantly surprised. I went right to listening to Permanent Record afterwards and felt that we fit right in with this music. Is it Prog Pop? I just think it's just Pop with definite English pop leanings. I felt like we were like the Pornographers minus the slightly faux English accents and the oblique and grandiloquent lyrics- (I looked that up, it means someone who uses big words!). Plus, perhaps we have a bit more of, say maybe, a Neil Young influence going on? Not overtly but...I don't know. A definite directness anyways. If this is a fair universe, the Golden Dogs would get a spot playing with the Pornographers. If we're talking about who we'd love to play with? I'd say Spoon, Pornos, Wilco, Walkmen, I just heard the new MGMT and thought they were doing some interesting stuff too. I thought of Burst when I heard the new MGMT album, I immediately put Burst on and felt really good about our album. Jess and I were talking about how fun it would be to do a covers album and release it on our website only. For free.

Here's the list we came up with, I think it's a pretty good list of influences too:
Harry Nilsson - Without Her  
Wilco - I'm A Wheel  
Frank Black - Headache  
Kinks - Tired of Waiting  
Hayden - Dynamite Walls (Jess sings this one great)  
Cypress Hill - Insane in the Brain (don't think we could pull it off, but it'd be fun to try)  
Modern Lovers - Hippie Johnny Elliot Smith - Independence Day  
Guided By Voices - Glad Girls  
Brian Eno - Needle in the Camel's Eye
Ween - The Mollusk (didn’t I put that on the list?)

As far as the music I started with at 12, it was all about learning every Beatle chord back then. That's what got Jess hooked too. It's the blueprint for great pop. Great for learning and having fun learning music. Beyond that, Stones, Dylan and The Who made me love Rock & Roll at that age too. That shit took me through most of my teens right there. It's not that esoteric a list but it worked. I couldn't get enough of that stuff.