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Interrobang issue for the week of Monday, April 19, 2010
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Interrobang issue for: Monday, April 19, 2010
> > > > > >
The Warped 45s fast tracking success
Bobby Foley
Interrobang
Click to read more Interrobang articles written by Bobby Foley
Published: Monday, April 19, 2010
I write about random things a
lot. I write a lot about random
things. Well, I tried not to think
about when I’d have to write the
last column of the year, but here it
is. Don’t get all heavy on me, it
was always going to happen.
I tell you, though, it’s been a
crazy run with you this year,
being fortunate enough to get to
write for this paper and express a
lot about the music I’ve been
thinking about or listening to.
Writing this column has provided
me with a lot of cool experiences,
ones I won’t soon forget - the
music I’ve been introduced to, the
interviews I was lucky enough to
get with some truly cool bands.
One such band is The Warped
45s, who reached out to
Interrobang in advance of their
March 26 gig here in London. I
went out to see them perform with
The Schomberg Fair at Moon
Over Marin, and there are few
words to describe their show. But
first a little background.
This band, now based out of
Toronto, is composed of multiinstrumentalists
Dave
McEathron, Ryan Wayne
McEathron, Kevin Hewitt, bassist
Alex Needleman, and drummer
Hamal Finn Roye. Formed in
2007, they’ve received near
exclusively-good reviews on their
efforts - a self-titled EP released
in 2008, and the full-length 10
Day Poem For Saskatchewan,
released September 2009 and
named for a poem by a friend of
the band.
The band has been blazing a
trail for themselves beginning
with their mutual passion and
instant chemistry, and moving
along with the help and hard work
of those around them mirroring
their own. Hard work and talent
the likes of which won them a Fan
Choice Award at NXNE last year,
along with a cash prize.
But therein lies the problem,
for me; there’s so much press on
their website and social profiles,
so many glowing reviews all
around. Following their gig, I got
to sit down with principle songwriters
and cousins Dave and
Ryan McEathron and I mentioned
it to them, stressing instead my
desire to hear their story in their
own words.
So with that, I got them to open
up and reveal for us a little bit of
the world of The Warped 45s.
And, since it’s the last column of
the year, what do you say we just
hang up that word limit of mine
and enjoy ourselves?
“After university I moved to
Australia for a couple of years
and I did a record out there,”
Ryan told me, as the story of The
Warped 45s begins. “We’d always
kind of talked about maybe getting
a band together somewhere
down the road, and I... I stayed in
Australia a little bit longer than
I’d planned on, I couldn’t help it.
“After a couple of years, I was
sort of running out of paperwork
to stay there legally, and I was
thinking who I’d like to be in a
band with, then I brought Kevin
Hewitt and Hamal. We all went to
Western and played in a sort of
jam band together, and they were
both living in the Toronto area
now... maybe they’d like to be in
a band with my cousin and
myself. So I sent them an email,
and instantly they were both all
over it.”
Dave and Ryan McEathron,
though separated by a few years,
both have a musical background
extending deep into their development,
thanks to a musical family
that hosted large jams up at the
family cabin in Northern Ontario.
“I have a house there, but it’s
actually our grandparents’ house
where we used to jam,” Dave tells
me, relating the story of their
musical family get-togethers.
“And then afterwards Ryan’s dad
built a cabin beside a lookout, and
that became quite a - well, still is
a place we go to jam and write.”
“Definitely my first memories
were sort of around grandma’s
kitchen table or... the campfire,
and then the cabin,” agrees Ryan.
Now touring the country, The
Warped 45s are enjoying exposure
due to the debut of their
video for Radio Sky, which was
first broadcast on April 3 on CMT
Canada’s Wide Open, a program
featuring artists “a little outside
the country box” and airing a couple
of mornings each week. It
wasn’t an easy road, however, and
the video is a testament to the
dedication of Montreal director
Vincent Scotti
(vincentscotti.com).
“A friend knew a director in
Montreal, and this director said to
him, ‘I really wanna... move into
videos and short films and stuff, I
just need the right band for stuff
that I can believe in.’” recalls
Dave. “And so this guy’s like,
‘I’ve got a band for you,’ and
gave him the EP.”
Contacted with a write-up of
the intended work, the band
applied for a grant to fund the
video project. Unfortunately for
them, they were declined.
“So this guy was just like,
‘Well, I’ve got a soundstage rented
for something else, if you can
come down during this time in
this two-week window, I will do
you a video for free.’ ‘That’s
ridiculous, we can’t let you do
that,’ but he’s like, ‘Let me do
this, I want to do this.’”
The band embarked around
then on their first east coast tour,
and instead of booking solid with
gigs, left a little time open to go
to Montreal to do the shoot. Over
the next three months, Scotti
completed the remaining aspects
of the video when he had the
time.
“I was honestly happier for him
when I found out that the video
had been accepted to CMT,” Ryan
admitted, and Dave agreed.
“Yeah, I was really happy for
him, exactly. He needed that more
for his package, you know, to be
recognized by some kind of commercial
element.”
For now, the band are working
around the province, with a fairly
intensive tour schedule currently
extending to the end of July, seeing
them travel out to British
Columbia and back. Seeing them
perform live was a real highlight
for me, and something I recommend
to everyone. Watching them
at Moon Over Marin, I actually
got to thinking about how good
they all are together, and how I
would believe it if told they were
all cousins - they’re so good
with one another, so in sync, that
it would be easy to believe they
were all family.
Their music lends itself to the
stage very well, too, though it’s
pretty impossible to describe it as
any one kind of genre. I asked
them about their songwriting
process and background, about
the work of constructing a song to
see it transformed upon delivery
by its environment (a theory I
credit to Dave and Ryan, because
I hadn’t considered performing in
such a way before).
“It’s almost like, if you write a
novel and it’s in your head then
great - it’s on the page, you’re in
someone’s head in their bedroom,”
Dave pointed out for me.
“But with music, you’re like,
geeking out on all the different
layers and playing the word
games and experimenting with
the music - and now you have to
go out and like, now it’s fun! Now
it’s to drink to, and now it’s about
energy and getting people in a different
way, and I think that’s the
part where we’re really starting to
act to that, on the road.”
To close, I asked Dave and
Ryan what I’ve asked in every
interview so far, the record that
they most recently listened to. “I
listened to Neko Case’s record
today while I was lying down on
the couch,” Ryan said.
“And we listened to one song
of the Arkells, and then we went
to... was it a couple of Nick Cave
songs, and then it was The
Sadies.” Dave admitted that as
driver, Alex had had the choice of
music. “Is that how it went? And
then we pulled into the parking
lot.”
“I was kind of half-sleeping,”
said Ryan, shrugging slightly.
Though they aren’t scheduled to
return to London just yet, they are
performing in Toronto and four
times in Kitchener in May. Time
for a road trip?
You can get much more information
on The Warped 45s from
their website thewarped45s.com,
Myspace profile myspace.com/thewarped45s, or
accounts with Facebook and
Twitter. This is not a band to be
missed - in three short years
they’ve grown into a pretty big
deal and are attracting more and
more into their fan base, just
think about all they can accomplish
in three more.
And with that, I bid you all a
fond farewell. It’s been a real
pleasure writing for you every
week, and if I don’t get dumped
for obliterating the word limit so
many times this year, perhaps
you’ll see me on this page again
in September. Be safe, be well.
I’m out of words.
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