Humans, After All

Robbie Slade and Peter Ricq are just two regular guys. They’ve got 9-5er’s just like you and I, but instead of needlepoint or bonsai trimming their hobbies include collaborating together on their roots-electro-folk duo Humans.

You may remember their outrageously entertaining video for “Bike Home” which they Jim Henson’d themselves; but they’ve accomplished much more since meeting nearly 3 years ago now at a pop art gallery in Vancouver. For starters, they’ve built a reputation as Vancouver’s best party band. Peter who was originally from Montreal joined Robbie in the city to, er, party. “We got together to do this, to make people dance, really. But the songwriting is rooted mostly in folk and I’d say some soul.”

Hot on the heels of the October 12th release of their Aves Mes Mecs EP, they’re already bustling with new ideas and readying for their next album: “A lot of stuff [from the EP] is old. To be honest, part of the releasing it was like ‘ok, that’s done. Let’s move on now’. We’ve got some more old stuff that we’re reworking just because we do like the ideas behind them but we really didn’t get the time to do it properly.”

Robbie hints at a change in direction that is both ambitious and uniquely experimental: “I’ve got some world music that I’d really like to get out there. Like Canadian world music…they’ve got some super good music.” They’ve also been talking about adding depth through the incorporation of Robbie on drums: “it gives you way more kick because we get everything out of the sampler right now and when we play with a drummer it’s just so much more layered.” An indication of what fans can anticipate Robbie says can be found on the track “Wake Up” from the EP.

Their musical influences are as eclectic as their sound: “I love Tony Owens…We’ve both been listening to Daft Punk for as long as they’ve been around…They’re like Gods. They’re royalty. I really like Nirvana back in the day and I was so into Michael Jackson, before he got all weird…old Beatles like ‘Love Me Do Era’.”

While Vancouver may have crowned them as their party band, Robbie jokes: “We can’t play in Vancouver anymore, we’ve played so much. I don’t want people to get sick of us!” They’re currently touring Eastern Canada with some dates in the States. The secret seems to be out and things seem to be going pretty great for the duo: “We did a couple little shows in LA, and everywhere we’ve played they’ve given us rave reviews so we’re super stoked to go back.”

Come see what all the West Coast fuss is about for yourself November 13th at The Press Club, you digg?

Words by Kate Masewich