Spiral Beach
Words by Kristen Cochrane / Photo by Erin Hynes
Food and sex. What do they have in common? They sell. Mcdonalds sells. Image sells. You could probably say image is one of the most important aspects to a marketable object, or in this case, musicians. Not that this is their goal, to be marketed like the next fabricated gimmick or fad band. But Toronto’s Spiral Beach, consisting of Maddy Wilde, a dead ringer for a New Romantic post-punk band on keys and vocals, Airick Woodhead on drums, Daniel Woodhead on vocals and guitar (yep, handsome, wild-haired brothers), Dorian Wolf (doesn’t that sound superheroic?) Add this to dark revitalizing whimsical sounds, somber lyrics that are counterbalanced by Maddy’s eccentric yet trained vocals, and you’ve got the formula to presumably the next buzz band.
With a charismatic, Michael Cera-esque demeanor, Airick gently tells the crowd “We have CDs! If you buy a CD we can get new pairs of shoes, we go through quite a few pairs of shoes.
Unlike other keyboard-oriented acts, notably Ladytron, who stand around their instruments in a stoic peculiarity, Spiral Beach tease you with melodious riffs, that ultimately rise to crescendo followed by batshit crazyness - dancing furiously, hammering strings and keys, in a bizarre, but beautiful and seemingly choreographed fashion.
Whether it be their frenzied enthusiasm and open-mindedness towards all genres (Dorian digs Samba, Airick and Daniel love the Beatles but prefer live music, and Maddy is down with Portishead and Black Lips), their silly rhetoric, or insightful questions while describing Empire of the Sun. “Are we really ready for another MGMT?” Airick professes, sipping his tea. “We’re big tea drinkers,” adds Maddy. “We need it.” Very novel indeed, to hear from a musician that they need numerous cups of tea a day to prepare for a gig, rather than…other substances.
I had the immense pleasure of sitting down with Spiral Beach, on a chilly Ottawa night, as they ate ice cream cones and sipped tea, carefully and insightfully choosing their words, as we discussed Chopin, their plans of a UK tour and the frontman of Fucked Up’s former profession.
Can you briefly describe the music making process?
Daniel : Me and Airick write the songs. Basically, he does music and I do lyrics. But that’s kind of a streamlined version of it. Plus we kind of have this basic idea, and we’ll work on it for months, figure out how to arrange it.
So it’s a pretty long process?
Daniel : Well, you’ll notice that with bands some of the best songs ever written took 5 minutes to write.
What do you think about age restrictions for venues? It must be really awful going to the United States with the 21+ gigs.
Maddy : It’s too bad about the age restriction, we have a lot of fans who are underage, and they can’t get in.
I wonder why they do that in the United States though, it really alienates fans.
Airick : Yeah, it seems that they want to make everyone feel like a criminal. (smirking)
I heard that you spent some time in the UK?
Daniel : Yeah, we did London and basically went to the Mississauga of London. (Note ; Mississauga is a lovely place, a small city in surrounding Toronto area). It was called Guilford. It was fairly small, it was nice though.
But they have security cameras watching every street corner, it’s creepy.
Yeah, the CCTV?
Daniel : It’s like 1984!
We’re hoping to go back in the Fall though, to the UK, and do some more shows.
An extensive UK tour?
Daniel : Hopefully, I mean basically we really just did London, we didn’t go to any other big cities.
I have a friend of mine staying in Toronto, from Leeds. So we’re definitely going to Leeds!
How did the crowd receive you? Judging by the past 50 years, British crowds have taken a liking to North American bands before they even hit the mainstream here.
Daniel : Everybody seemed a lot more excited, generally more involved. Also people over there talk a lot about Canadian bands, which is really cool. Like at the time it was Crystal Castles and they were the biggest band over there. It was interesting. Cause I went to high school with Alice Glass, so it’s weird to go over there and see her on billboards.
It’s really crazy how she just exploded. What was she like in high school?
Daniel : She didn’t actually go to school a lot. So I dunno, she was usually out in front smoking cigarettes and looking cool and shit, yeah. (laughs)
In terms of politics, what is your stand. What do you think of Stephen Harper? (Canadian Prime Minister)
Daniel : Not much (nervous laughter)
Are you more or less apathetic?
Daniel : No, not apathetic, I’m just kind of uninvolved. I don’t think music should be involved with politics.
I heard you opened for Tokyo Police Club?
Daniel : Yeah, at the Horseshoe [Tavern] in Toronto. We opened for the Go! Team, it was really good. We also just played a house party with Born Ruffians.
How hungover have you been at a jam session?
Daniel : Hungover??
Airick : How hungover…do you mean like alcohol poisoning hungover?
Dorian : I don’t think any of us have ever…thrown up on anything before.
What’s the most fucked up show you’ve played?
Daniel : The one we played with Fucked Up!
Daniel : Damien [frontman of Fucked Up] works at a video store down the block
Dorian : (eyes Daniel warily) Dude, he doesn’t still(italic) work there…
I saw your cover of Grass by Animal Collective on youtube, it was pretty sick.
Airick : Yeah! Me and Maddy did a whole lot of busking actually, we learned how to busk while we were on a trip here in Ottawa, and we had nowhere to stay. So we figured the best way to make money and meet people to live with would be to busk. We learned Sid Barrett songs, Animal Collective songs.
Where do you draw your influences from? What was shoved down your throats growing up?
Airick : A lot of psychadelic music, and outdoor festivals. The Beatles. It’s not even questionable, that presence in our childhood, like, it was so huge…
Daniel : Jefferson Airplane, too, Cream, stuff like that.
Airick : We grew up going to festivals with our parents, we saw a lot of live music, and I still don’t listen to records that much, I prefer live music, and I constantly see live music, I prefer it that way too.
What about you Maddy, what were you listening to?
Maddy : Same as them, really. I grew up singing, and taking piano lessons when I was little. But then I realized I didn’t like practicing.
No?
Maddy : Yeah, I was a bad kid. I never did practice. (laughs) I just didn’t wanna do it.
I went back to keyboard playing with them.
I totally understand though, those piano lessons are killer. They make you play Beethoven and Chopin and shit.
Dorian : (laughs) Chopin…
Maddy : Yeah I was just like “Whatever man, I just wanna play rock and ROLL.”
Posted Mon, April 27, 2009