Are you doing the festivals this year?
Yeah, we found out yesterday, we’ve got Reading, Leeds
and Glastonbury. I like the festivals, you do your performance
then you get to walk around and meet really cool people, that’s
the best part about it. That’s what summer is about.
How are the British fans compared to the Canadian fans?
It’s really weird I find a lot the British to be very
similar to Canadian fans, I don’t know why. It’s
weird, I got the same vibe last night as I do when we play
in Toronto at home. It was the same kind of interaction and
the same kind of vibe. It’s really cool.
A Homecoming gig on the other side of the world?
Exactly. Is crazy isn’t it?
So, what do you prefer; touring or being in the studio?
I think it’s like having children, you love both of
them but you can’t love one more than the other. It
took me a long time to get into studio singing. I’m
not the best singer in the world and I don’t really
like trying to be perfect and hitting everything right on,
I like the organicness of rock ‘n’ roll. Playing
live and doing stuff that is real and tangible. But the studio
time makes you a better performer and singer.
Do you get nervous before you go on stage?
I don’t get nervous I get more excited, it’s
the worst like five minutes before you go on stage, I get
like ‘Come on!’..and I don’t really know
what to do, but we quite enjoy playing live…
We’ve heard that your live
shows are pretty intense, on your part and the crowds as
well, apart from the possible
mutilation of your drummer, what are we in store for night?
Oh not that!
Is he alright?
He’s fine yeah; I think I suffered actually more than
he did. I felt so so bad. He’s my best friend too in
the whole wide world, we had a terrible night. It was just
one of those things that happen and we were in the hospital.
I’m just glad it wasn’t worse.
The single is out at the end of the month, can you tell
us a bit more about it?
‘
The Ex’ well, ‘the ex’ is a song about
Aaron and I being in long-term relationships for about two,
three years and needless to say we were broken up with and
we just got together one day and came up with that.
Do they know?
Oh yeah, yeah. We’re really good friends still. Yeah,
she thinks its funny, she’s got a good sense of humour,
she’s a wonderful girl.
The single has had really good press and
great reviews, how much importance do you place on critical
acclaim?
Fuck critics, I couldn’t give a shit about critics.
We’ve met a lot of people who are fans and they’ve
told us what’s really impressed them about the show.
But a critic, well sometimes they can get really malicious,
I think it’s very easy to say “oh well that band
sucks!” because they don’t realise that this
is someone’s art, it’s someone’s musical
sacrifice.
If you don’t like it, that’s fine but a lot
of the time you don’t have to be really mean about
it. I think a lot of critics tend to be really harsh just
to be funny. No-one likes to be made fun of and no-one likes
to be poked at in any aspect of life, just because you’re
a musician…
I’ve learned to not care as much anymore. I’ve
gone through the grind, a lot of people don’t like
my voice, at first I was like ‘that’s not very
nice’ but now I’m like ‘you know what,
fuck you!’ you know I have enough people and enough
fans for support. I don’t play for magazines.
You guys met at a talent show? How do you feel about talent
shows like American Idol and Pop Idol?
Yeah pretty much, it was like a talent show at high school.
I think Pop Idol’s pretty much everything that is wrong
with modern day society. I think they’re taking a preconceived
notion of how rock ‘n’ roll used to be and fame
and women or men or whatever it may be and this outlandish
lifestyle of fame, you know…but music is not made for
those reasons. Music is made to experience things on a wider
scale.
I don’t think anyone should
aspire to be this rock star, drug addict, painter. You
paint because you love to
paint and if people appreciate it and all the accolades come
with that and so be it, but you should be painting for yourself.
I think those things like Pop Idol are taking the essence
of something really beautiful and making it really ugly.
What do you think of the resurgence
of bands and ‘real
music so to speak?
I think there’s a lot to be said for pop music. But
things like ‘The Making of the Band’…I’m
like well ok, you can sing karaoke really well? You look
good in your shiny shirts? And everyone is happy? Gimme a
break! I can go to my local pub and see a guy do that for
free. Fuck!
There’s a lot of college
punk and skater punk around at the moment but you guys
seem
to be taking a more traditional
route. Is that intentional?
Not really, I mean, the bands that we grew up listening to
like The Clash; the Buzzcocks. I don’t think we were
like hey, let’s go with that, it’s just the way
we write and how we play.
So, what’s on your rider?
Well this isn’t really our full rider, this is like
a half rider. Usually we have some fruit and some veg platters,
nutria-grain bars, some gum, tea, coffee.
That’s pretty clean living
for a punk band?
Well no, cos we have some beer, some vodka, some Jack Daniels
(walks to fridge and reveals a vast array of alcohol!)
Red Bull…
What sort of music are you listening to on the tour stereo?
Well we don’t really listen to the same music. We just
all kind of sit in our own world’s with the walkmans
on. I’m listening to Hoxley Workman, who is a kind
of a beautiful singer/songwriter from Toronto, where we’re
from and it’s just this beautiful, beautiful kind of
music. Chet Baker I’ve also been listening to...and
The Distillers album...and I love her and she will love me
one day….and The Strokes album is really good…
Billy Talent release ‘The Ex’ through eastwest/Atlantic
Records on March 29th. Their debut album, ‘Billy Talent’ is
out now.
Words and Pictures
Jude Stone & Jemma Volp-Fletcher
www.billytalent.com
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