On November 25^th, I had a chance to check out the 19+ performance by Said the Whale at St. James Hall. While they were making transitions between shows, I that chance to catch up with the local indie sweethearts to talk to them about their tour, the success of their single “Camilo (The Magician)” and their album Islands Disappear, and their plans for 2010.Adam, Katrina, and myself managed to secure a not-so-isolated spot at the bottom of a stairwell, in which talked to Said the Whale singer/guitarists Tyler Bancroft and Ben Worcester. So you guys have had a pretty busy year! Tyler: Yeah, its been nuts! Well, the first half was like recording the whole time. Then there was a summer tour, and then a six-week Canadian tour.I managed to catch you guys at Rifflandia. Was that show kind of the unofficial start date for this recent tour?T: Yeah, that would have been. We didn’t play with Hannah (Georgas) that night. I guess that unofficial start date with Hannah would have been further down the road.How did that show go for you guys? T: It was great! Rifflandia is an awesome festival and they always pack every venue, regardless of who you are it seems. So, yeah it was wicked. Victoria is an awesome music city.Did you guys get to stick around for the weekend at all? T: No, we had to leave the very next day, which sucked beecause there really as a lot of stuff we wanted to see. But oh well. Such is life.Hannah Georgas crosses through the doorway at the top of the stairs and tosses Tyler a bottle of water. It misses horribly and bounces down the stairsHow did the tour work out for you guys? T: It was awesome; we were with that girl a lot (points to Hannah, who waves then exits the room), which was awesome.  Our band was her backup band. So really, every show was like the easiest switch over in terms of instruments and stuff on stage. Yeah, we had a really wicked time.How far did you guys end up going on the tour? T: St.-fucking-John’s.Holy shit! T: Yeah I know it was crazy! It’s like another planet! It was crazy though. We had a great turn out when we expected nothing.Well you guy seemed to really pick up a lot of steam with “Camilo (The Magician)” as a single. A lot of people that don’t normally listen to local indie bands seem to know the song. T: Yeah the Peak has helped alot. They were like the first radio station in Canada to play that song. And then a bunch of other radio stations picked up in it. It’s easy when you’re touring to get interest of radio stations.Also, I guess it’s a pretty catchy song, three minutes long. Ben slides down the stairs into the conversation.Ben: I agree. I agree with anything he just said.Haha, oh hey! Yeah, we were just talking about how “Camilo” was starting to get your band a lot of attention. B: And thank goodness for that!T: Yeah people still listen to the radio, which is great!B: Oh hey! This is our manager… and he puts his nut sack on my head…Said the Whale’s manager comes down the stairs and sits on Ben’s head. As soon as he looks up, he notices a pink toque that look like it belonged to a 4 year-old girl and places it on his head.Oh my hat! I look like the top of a pencil!Haha, back to your band! You guys have recently been nominated for a CBC Radio 3 Award? B: The Bucky!T: Yeah, a couple of them actually!CBC Radio 3 also seems to be another great place for your music to thrive.T: Dude, they’re amazing. They’re like the number one source for all Canadian music. There’s like this HUGE database of Canadian music, and there’s like fifteen staffers that sit there tirelessly to separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s not only just a great place for anyone to get their music out, but it’s also like an editorial.B: And they really care about music, and helping artists, and spreading the love. Which is always great. They’ve done a lot for us. Like, we’ve never been to Newfoundland, but there was people at the show, because of CBC Radio 3.What were the awards that you guys were up for? T: Most Canadian Song, and Best Song. It’s weird because “Emerald Lake Alberta” isn’t our most Canadian song. There are much more Canadian songs on our record.B: It our most summer-camping-fun song!That’s actually one of the really cool things about your record. You could actually do a road trip, and hit all the places mentioned on the album! T: Definitely, you definitely could do that. And we DO do that often! Like whenever were driving by Elkhorn, we all go “hey! Elkhorn!”Ben appears to have just remembered something, and quickly runs up the stairs and into the venue.T: Sorry, I think he forgot to put someone on the guest list.

No worries! Anyways, I read that you guys got a lot of the inspiration for the songs on the album from just travelling around Canada.

T: Yeah for sure. It’s hard not to when you’re driving across the country six times in two years. We get a lot of influence from that, so that’s what happens.I guess that would explain the Canadian motifs that arise throughout the album. It’s probably the most Canadiana-centric album I have listened to in a long while. T: Yeah that may be true. And it’s going to bite us in the ass when we try and get a US release. But fuck it, that’s fine. It’s who we are.Do you guys go into studio with the mindset of writing an album dedicated to Canadiana, or is that just what happened? T: Well the songs were written before we got in studio. We wrote in between tours and it just got to the point where we were like “Hey, I think we have enough songs for an album! Let’s do that!”Ben quickly shuffles back down the stairsB: I’m so sorry! There were people about to come in and I forgot to put them on the list.T: Called it.Did you guys consider the effect the Canadian-focused content would have on an international release when you guys were making the album? T: No, we didn’t think of anything while we were writing these songs. It was more like, “this is how I’m feeling now, and I’m going to write this song”.Maybe it is a slight obstacle for an international release because it’s such Canadian music, but there is so much regional music.I know it’s an off centered analogy, but just look at New York hip-hop. People all over like that. I don’t think if you’re writing about one particular region you only need to have fans in that region.If they’re not connecting on an experience level, then they can connect on a story telling level and hear about where you live and still be interested.B: Also, for example, in America people in one state or city may not have any idea of what’s going on in the rest of America. To them it’s just a name. To the people who know the place, it’s recognizable but it could also just be the name of a place. We don’t say Canada a lot, so these places could just be anywhere.That says a lot about your guys’ honesty as songwriters. Sure your music is accessible, but it’s still personal. You don’t find a lot of bands that can find a solid marriage between the two. T: Well that’s what we’re going for. Like, let’s be honest, we’re writing pop songs. But it’s definitely more personal than just that.B: We want to make our feelings popular! Popular-feelings music!I think you just coined a new genre. B: Feel-pop.Feel-Pop. Awesome. Tyler is notified that he needs to take his guitars off stage before Hannah Georgas set begins, so he quickly runs off.

Finally, with your tour just wrapping up and your album coming out this year, I’m curious as to what’s coming up in 2010 for you guys. B: We just got home; so we have to figure out how to put it back in gear. Probably some shows, but not in the too-near future, but certainly in the near future. Then touring, again. Somewhere. Hopefully.I would like to go to the States and do some regional touring. Maybe West Coast, to California and back, I think it would really be worthwhile, also exciting, fun, different and new.Also, I don’t get tired of Canada, but it is long, and there are few stops in between and we’ve done it many times in the last few years so it would be cool to do something different. See if we could make a spark and see what happens. But we don’t know what we’re going to do for sure just yet. So that would be ideal. It must be refreshing coming back from tour and just play at home. B: It is. We haven’t played in Vancouver since May, and that’s a long time ago. It feels different playing at home. I don’t know what it is. And then I also get to go back to work on Saturday.So I get to work the day job, play some shows, and then go back on tour again. It’s cool because my day job is my vacation and my music is my work.Thanks a lot to Said the Whale for having a chat with us! If you get a chance, check out the review I did of their November 25th show at the St. James Hall.You can check out Said the Whale at:  myspace.com/saidthewhale or www.saidthewhale.com

MODLINE READER EXCLUSIVE! We’ve got a couple of  Said the Whale’s new CD Islands Disappear to give away!Email info@themodline.com with your story of how you heard about Said the Whale and why you like them.The Modline team will choose the best and send you a copy of Islands Disappear.

HURRY! Send in your entries by January 16th 2010.