EastScene

EastScene had the chance to enjoy the nice weather this past Wednesday afternoon, in the company of Daniel Carriere and Sandy Mackinnon of Ten Second Epic. They’re currently on tour supporting their latest release, Hometown with The Februarys and The New Cities.

EastScene: So, you guys have a lot of shows in Quebec, a lot more than most bands. Is the language a barrier for you guys? Is it a struggle?

Sandy Mackinnon: I mean, maybe when we’re ordering food… I can speak a little bit of french, but we do try. I can understand when people talk to me.

Dan Carriere: What we loose in communicating, we gain, well, they find it charming, you know? When Sandy gets out there and starts to speak french… (laughs)

ES: You guys have a lot of support from Much Music, how much does that support mean to you guys?

DC: Any support is important, and we just appreciate it.

SM: They’ve been really good to us since we started out.

DC: Yeah, and the fact that they’re still supporting us is awesome.

ES: ”Welcome To Wherever You Are” peaked at #1 on Much Music this past April, was that satisfying for you guys to be at #1?

SM: It was pretty sweet, that was pretty cool.

DC: Yeah, that was a first for us.

ES: Really?

DC: Yeah well, on that scale of things, yes. So it was some kind of milestone.

ES: How different do you think the music business is in Canada then in the US?

DC: It’s hard to say, you know, the population of Canada is roughly the population of California, right? So, you know, everything is relative and I bet you it’s probably the same to grow as a band in the states then it is in Canada, it’s just a really different scale.

ES: You guys were once named Edmonton’s band of the year, do you think you still hold that title?

SM: I think last year we were the band that could eat the most, and the year before that was drink the most, or run the fastest (laughs), it’s definitely sweet, I wouldn’t say we were the best band, I mean, I’m very proud of our band..

DC: This year we’re going for largest combined weight!

(laughs)

ES: Are you guys into a lot of Canadian music?

SM: Absolutely, a lot of the bands we play with or listen to are Canadian so, we have good artists from metal to pop.

DC: I mean, David Wilcox, come on!

SM: Yeah, that’s sweet!

ES: Well, you guys listen to a lot of different artists individually, how do you think the band choses one way to write or perform?

SM: I mean, we’re all there to do the same thing, you know, it’s not like one of us is starting a hardcore outfit and wants to take Ten Second Epic’s name with it.

DC: We never really had that conversation you know, what we really sound like..

ES: It just happened naturally?

DC: The dynamics was just a natural combination.

ES: Where were you guys the day that “Hometown” was released? Did you go out and buy a copy?

SM: YES! We were in Vancouver, and I definitely did buy a copy.

ES: Is it weird seeing your CD in stores now?

SM: Yeah, it’s definitely cool, especially when you saw the old one all the time and it was just like “ooh… great..”

(laughs)

SM: No, I’m just kidding. But when you see the new one, it’s definitely cool

ES: You worked with Garth Richardson (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Agaisnt The Machine), did you feel any pressure working with somebody who worked with big bands like that?

SM: It’s the second time we worked with him so, we knew him really, really well. But this time the dynamic was… it was like having an angry father yelling at you all the time, and you being the snotty teenager like, “yeah, whatever dad!”

DC: He kicked us out of the studio once for being too drunk!!

ES: Really?!

DC: Yeah, he would always kick us out, we broke some stuff accidentally once…

SM: Give us the evil eye, point at whoever did it and just say, “GET OUT!” and it was like, “okay! see you tomorrow!”

DC: But yeah, it definitely felt like we were being yelled at by our dad..

SM: An angry dad.

ES: It’s good to have that kind of relationship though, right?

SM: Absolutely. We definitely look up to him, hes done tons of great work. The first time we worked with him, that’s when it was like “holy shit!”.

ES: You guys did a song with Lights, is there any other artists that you’d like to do a collaboration with?

SM: Phil Anselmo from Pantera.

DC: Rita Mc’Neil.

SM: That’s sweet!

ES: That is sweet! Why not, eh?

DC: That’s what I mean though! Just anyone really. You know, Sandy likes listening to hardcore and metal, I listen to like jazz and rock and I don’t know, whatever Rita sings must be cool, I wouldn’t mind jamming with her!

SM: Vivaldi.

(laughs)

ES: Bands like Blink 182 and No Doubt are making a comeback, are there any bands that you guys would like to see make a comeback? Dead or alive!

DC: Hmm.. that’s a good question..

SM: I’d like to see The Ramones, The Clash, Pantera..

DC: Yeah, Pantera, that would be a big one.

ES: I’ve been following the blogs on myspace and saw that you guys cooked for mothers day. Who’s the best one out of you guys?

SM: I’m gonna go with Pat, our drummer, he cooked for a living for a long ass time.

ES: Oh yeah??

SM: Yeah, he knows what he’s doing!

ES: Do you guys do that a lot? On your days off?

SM: Whenever we can on our days off, it’s just like, “okay, let’s make dinner, get a big ass bottle of wine, get really drunk and eat this food.”

DC: Somehow, that’s always a part of the equation…

SM: And it’s really fun.

ES: Also with the active summer, are you guys keeping up with that?

SM: Today’s a write off! I just had a plate of Schwartz (smoked meat) and I feel like shit!

ES: Who’s the laziest?

SM: Hmm.. I don’t know!

DC: Laziest… I don’t know!

SM: I’ve actually been pretty active!

ES: What do you guys do though? Like go for runs?

SM: Yeah! I go for runs, street hockey, skateboarding, what else?

DC: Oil wrestling..

SM:  Sea herding…

(laughs)

ES: What do you guys do on your days off? Or before shows..

DC: Sometimes it’s nice to just zone out, create a little space, you know, we’re in closed corners. Other than that, we just treat it like another day on tour. It’s funny though, we’ll be on tour for a few months, and then get home and think we’re not going to talk to each other for a while, and the following night, I call them up and it’s like “so.. what are you doing tonight?”

SM: And then we realize that we don’t have any friends, and it’s like “alright, I guess I’ll hang out with those guys again..”

ES: What’s your favourite city to play in, besides your hometown in edmonton?

SM: You know, I love so many cities, I love playing Halifax, Montreal is always fun. It really depends on the show. We have great fans in every city.

ES: What’s it like to play hometown shows?

SM: Stressful!

ES: Yeah??

DC: I don’t like it as much actually.

ES: Really?

DC: Yeah, cause you don’t have all that extra pressure at other shows.

ES: You guys are really about perfoming live, is there anything you’d want to add to your live set? Anything at all!

SM: Pyrotechnics.

DC: FOR SURE pyrotechnics.

SM: Probably get cages hanging from the top, have an ape in there.

DC: Or a dancing chick!

SM: Yeah, that would be cool too! Just some monkeys and women..

DC: Yeah, monkeys and women, that’s cool. Thank you for this, we’re gonna talk about this!

SM: Yeah and when the ape’s off the clock, he can do whatever he wants, you could probably find him in the back of the van smoking, throwing his shit up against the wall.

(laughs)

ES: You guys did a live DVD, was it harder or more nerve wrekcing to play when you know you’re being filmed?

SM: No, it was more nerve wrecking to find out what it sounded like after we got off the stage! We didn’t really look at it like, “hey, you know man, when I’m doing this part, make sure you really zoom in.”

DC: We actually didn’t concern it too much, just let the DVD crew do their thing.

SM: Yeah, they can’t tell us how to do our jobs! Like “okay, next time instead of playing in C, try playing in D.”

ES: You guys actually have a lot of music videos, how involved do you get in the making of them?

SM: It really depends on the video, a lot of the time though, we’re really involved in it.

ES: Do you guys usually come up with the concepts?

SM: Yeah, a lot of the times. Or someone will mention something and it’s like, “yeah, okay, that would be cool.” But yeah, absolutely! These represent the band, they represent who were are.

ES: Do you guys have any guilty pleasures, at home, on tour? for anything?

DC: I’m not guilty for anything, it’s all a pleasure to me!

SM: I guess I’m guilty of liking Pokemon and top 40 rap music.

DC: That’s not embarassing man! That’s cool!

ES: Yeah! There’s nothing wrong with that!

SM: I like top 40 rap music, I think it rules!