By: Sheena Lyonnais

It’s busy times for Caribou drummer Brad Weber. The multifaceted musician is gearing up for an international summer-long tour with music gods, Radiohead kicking off in Mexico next month. But first, some DJ sets in Germany. And then, somehow the debut release of his other and equally impressive project Pick A Piper. Caribou visits home with a gig at Downsview Park on June 16 (buy tickets now, drugs later). And while he should probably be packing, he instead grants us insight into his brilliant, rhubarb-laced mind with 20Qs.

March 21 was the first night of many in the amazing showcase of raw talent that is Canadian Music Week and I hit up the Piston to see the Ottawa based band Zoo Legacy who opened the show for a long list of talented bands like Sound of Lions(another Ottawa based band representing up in Tdot) and Dream Jefferson, all of which rocked the house like no other. I could not have been more moved by the emotion and true untamed talent that performed.

Nick Pouponneau, lead vocals, a rapper by trade, started the show by forcing the crowd to move forward.

“We don’t bite” he said, as people moved up.

This was just the beginning of the engagement that Nick solicits from his audience. As the show continued, he constantly made reference to the crowd and had people making as much noise as he possibly could.

Seriously, we cannot stop talking about T.Mills. He’s infected our blog, our facebook, our twitter, and our social lives.   So when we found out big don Anna Von was going to have a skype date with Million, everyone else at PinkMafia kinda lost their shit.

Regardless, Anna got to have a 1-on-1 with Mills to talk about everything from touring to Starbucks to Chairman Mills. Check out some clips after the jump.

Chicago is known for producing a lot of good things: Chicago deep dish pizza, architecture, wind (aka. The Windy City) but it’s also known for producing a lot of good bands. One of those bands would be A Lull, an indie rock / experimental band that I had the chance of interviewing at NXNE during the Slapback Media BBQ at the Analogue Gallery on Thursday June 16, 2011.

Thankfully, I tried to take it pretty easy on Nigel Dennis, Todd Miller, Mike Brown, Aaron Vincel and Ashwin Deepankar who had just driven in from Cornwall, Ontario (where they had stayed over night via their trip from the States) to play NXNE.

So here is the straight goods from A Lull:

File alongside: Yeasayer, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear?

The skinny: A Lull have been on tour for awhile both on and off festivals. They’ve been through the good, the bad and the ugly. For example, while in Pittsburgh – one of the band members got struck by lighting and lived to play the show. Now that is rock & roll. But in all reality, A Lull tells me the greatest thing about getting to play festivals (such as NXNE) is the general atmosphere and acceptance of different genres. Oh, plus – when they travel to Canada, they get to have Sesame Seed Pizza, which is pretty rad.

Must hear track: Weapons for War

What to expect from their shows: The band tells me that not only do they put on an energetic live show but they have a very unique sound. They try to make each and every single show different from the others.

Favourite band they’ve seen live while touring: Group of the Altos – apparently this is a group of 11 people and they put on a hell of a show. A Lull said, “It’s an experience not to be missed”. Group of the Altos is from Millwaukee and the AV Club has described them as, “a surly high-school orchestra”.

Photos by Lucia Gracia

Soulive is a funk/jazz trio that originated in Woodstock, New York.  The band, known for its solos and upbeat songs are coming to the Toronto Jazz Festival on Monday June 27, 2011 playing not one but TWO sets at the Horseshoe Tavern. I had the chance to catch up with guitarist Eric Krasno prior to their set here.

Amanda/PinkMafia: Soulive has been together for 12 years now. How would you say the group has been developed since you first formed?

Eric: When we first grouped, we were just a trio.  All three of us were completely different artists.  At one point, we even had a singer in the group.  But over the course of the twelve years, getting older and evolving, we’ve added different styles and taken away different things.  We’ve come to realize what works and what is the essence of the band, which is bass, guitar and organ sound.  Just three solid players.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: The sound of Soulive has been described as fusion.  But for someone who hasn’t had the Soulive experience, how would you describe it?

Eric: We like to describe ourselves as soulful music.  We incorporate everything from rock to hip hop.  Throw in a bit of 70s and 80s in there.  We’re not your traditional jazz music.  Rarely when people come to our shows are they sitting down and listening, they are up on their feet dancing and really experiencing and feeling the music.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: That definitely does sound like soul music! With your new album, Rubber Soulive, you decided to cover The Beatles.  Besides being huge Beatles fans, what inspired the album?

Eric: It was kind of a spontaneous thing.  We had just come off of touring and just finished listening to the re-mastered box set of the Beatles.  It went from a talked about idea in our tour bus to us being holed up in the studio for 3-4 days making an album.  It made for a very cool arrangement and something that just kind of happened.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: Have you heard about any of The Beatles having heard Rubber Soulive?

Eric: You know what, I don’t know if they have heard it or not.  But that’s a really good question.  I should try and get this album into the hands of Paul McCartney.  I’ve heard he is a really cool dude.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: Were there any songs that didn’t make it on to the album that you wish could have?

Eric: It’s kind of funny because we went into the studio with a playlist of 75 songs.  It was kind of difficult having to cut that down to 11 songs to put onto the album.  So it is entirely possible that we could put out a Volume 2 at some point.  There were a lot of great songs that just really came together live though.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: With playing the Toronto Jazz Festival, is there anything in particular that you are looking forward too?

Eric: You know, I haven’t had a chance to really look at the lineup as of yet.  But I’m hoping we’ll have a chance to check out some of the other acts playing.  But I love Toronto.  I love that Toronto is really a neighborhood city.  You guys have really great Caribbean Jerk Chicken.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: So what does the future hold for Soulive?

Eric: We’re really focusing on our label, Royal Family and putting together a lot of branded events for the Royal Family label crew.  We’ve really started to branch out and sign a lot of different bands and feature them at an event in New York called Bowlive.  We’ve also thinking about a new album of original work in the future.  So there is a lot going on for us in the near future.

Some might call WIN WIN a supergroup of sorts.  It does help when your group is comprised of heavy-hitters XXXchange (the producer-half of Spank Rock), Devlin and Ghostdad. Well if that isn’t convincing enough for you – maybe the fact that they are signed to Vice Records, had a track remixed by the Black Lips or are touring with The Death Set.  Plus, on their album they had vocal contributions from Hot Chip and Andrew W.K.

WIN WIN are playing a show on Wednesday May 4th at the United Steelworkers Hall in Toronto (with the Death Set) and I had a chance to catch up with Devlin and Ghostdad prior to the show.  Here is what they had to say:

1) How important is the use of art / visual art in the use of your live performance?

Devlin:  Well, Video is crucial part of the performance. While we are banging around on midi controllers and samplers, the video is also being manipulated in a similar way. To keep some sort of time and rhythm with the music.
Video and visual art informs the music we make as well. We make weird sketches and use other kind of visual influences to generate song ideas or to open up the channels

2) You are all established musicians / artists in your own right — how did WIN WIN come together and what was the idea behind it?

Devlin: We wanted to just work on some bootlegs and edits but things really kind of took their own direction. The first few sessions between Boston and Brooklyn sort of made it clear we had something a bit bigger than an ep of edits. Alexxx was working on some stuff that really fit with the work that the 3 of us (GhostDad, XxxChange,myself) were making so it was like ‘OK,  let’s put it all together and have a record’.

3) You’re currently on tour with the Death Set.  Tell me what it has been like touring with them.

GHOSTDAD:  Our first show was last night in Boston and it was really fun!  The Death Set are definitely influencing us to take a more DIY approach to our setup.  We’re hanging up screens and projectors in every venue and have some lights and other tricks up our sleeve as well.

4) What is WIN WIN bringing to the table that is different from other artists.

GHOSTDAD: I think the way we collaborate with guest vocalists is different. We’re willing to let them take the reigns and really develop our idea further and in the same token they’ve been cool with us taking the vocals we collect and doing whatever with them, stretching and pulling them into new ideas in some cases.

5) What are some of your favourite remixes and collaborations that you’ve worked on in the last little bit?

Devlin: We recently did a remix for Bikini and I think it turned out pretty good. We did a Scion remix project for the song Victim we are pretty excited about that as well

With this being WIN WIN’s fist Toronto performance, y’all should go show them some love.  Tickets are still available ($12.50) for this performance and it is an all-ages, early show (8PM).

Montreal native MELISSA AUF DE MAUR is definitely no newbie in the industry. With an extensive resume playing for Hole for five years and touring with bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins. Melissa is now touring for her second solo album “Out Of Our Minds”

Melissa went to an arts elementary school and high school then went to Concordia University to which she got her BFA in Photography. “Out Of Our Minds” is not only an album it is also a film and a graphic novel. When I asked Melissa as to why she decided to make the album multi-media based she stressed how important it is for her to “grow as an artist” and that it was about time she got back to her “roots” of visual arts after being a “full-time rock musician“. “ Over the years technology has been growing so much that I was easily able to intertwine various arts for the album.”

As much as I was excited (nervous) to interview Melissa I got even more anxious in knowing how broad her talents range from. She worked with Ric Ocasek (former “Cars” front man), Rufus Wainwright and had many of her photos were published in magazines such as Bust and Nylon. For OOOM she had Chris Goss produce the song “22 Below” and Glen Danzig sing with her on the track “Fathers Grave”. I asked her what it was like working with them and she responded in the most down to earth manner. Apparently Chris Goss produced half of her first record while Jordon Zadorozny produced the other half. She told me how Glen Danzig (former Misfits vocalist) was her all time child hood hero when she was sixteen. She gushed at how shy she was upon first meeting him and that she never had collaborated with someone like him before. She sent him a personal letter telling him what he meant to her as an artist and how when she was in Hole she wore a Danzig sweatband at every show. The letter obviously paid off. Melissa went on to say that the album was “a journey on how amazing people are”. She hopes to at some point have a “mini danzig..a mythical warrior” inside her.

While listening to OOOM there is no denying that it has dream like images. Melissa told me that dreams have always had a big impact on her during the creative process and partly why she started playing bass, “dreams guide me thru my music”. This record she was inspired by aliens, 3D sounds, dreamscapes, psychedelica and time-travel. Her music is a way on how to live her life, “a quest thru life in a creative jungle”.  Along with her belief of life after death and haunting ghosts fading in the background Melissa invites us to travel OUT OF OUR MINDS.

Another exciting thing about Auf De Maur’s tour is that its worldwide. She’s excited to use Canada as a launching pad for the tour especially since she hasn’t played in Canada for a while and this is her chance to explore its greatness another time. She’s also immensely excited to travel to Poland/Prague because it will be her first time there. She stressed that every city she gets to bring her art to is a pleasure.

My last question for her was one I always thought about as an artist myself. I asked her what piece of advice she would have given herself about the industry before getting into it. As a true artist would say she said “keep everything at hands reach. Be as creative as possible. Don’t treat it as a business. Do it for the honour of respecting music”. She told me that she never really thought music would actually pay her bills so she feels very lucky whilst still living a simple-modest life. She’s most definitely a true artist. Check her stuff out at: xmadmx.com/

For those who are musically savvy, you’ve heard of RJD2 and been on his jock for some time now.  But for those not in the know, RJD2 has been in the hip hop game for ten years now.  For most, his game is just on the DL.  He started in Ohio with his own (now defunct) indie record label and making his own beats.  From there, he traveled the world performing and worked with some notable notables such as Massive Attack, Mos Def and Polyphonic Sphree.  Sure, things have changed for RJD2 (bigger studio, bigger gigs – like his one coming up in Toronto – March 11, 2010 @ Mod Club), but his says his goal remains the same: ‘make music that is going to hopefully rearrange your brain, or at least provide some relief from real life for a moment or two’.

Check out his answers to our 20 Questions.  This dude is charming, hilarious & just a wee bit nerdy.  The best combination!

Photo Credit: Dan McMahon

1. What is your dream of happiness?

Lots and lots of sleep. and blowjobs. then more sleep.

2. Blonde or Brunette?

Redhead.

3. What Is the quality you like most in a man?

I love it when a man’s checks clear.

4. What do you fear most?

Vegetarian diet.

5. 808s or 909s?

808′s.

6. What’s your biggest regret?

Too private!

7. What’s your fav bar or club in the world?

Probly 9:30 in DC.

8. What’s the one thing you can’t you live with out?

Brain stimuli.

9. What are the 3 musicians dead or alive you’d like to see perform?

Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, Joe Zawinul

10. What is your favorite decade in music?

The roaring 20′s.

11. If you had to choose, would you rather go blind of deaf and why?

Ugh. no answer.

12. How old is too old?

Never too old!

13. Where did you see yourself in 15 years?

In a space bubble watching earth in flames.

14. Who’s your hero?

Jim Henson.

15. What’s your favourite colour?

Green.

16. What song could you live without ever hearing again?

That one BEP song. Oh, wait I’m told they have more than one. All those BEP songs.

17. Metallica or Madonna?

Duh. METAL UP YOUR ASS

18. What’s your most hated vice?

My lady hates my neti pot.

19. Who is the most tragic figure in history?

The smelly kid in the wire who ends up a junkie.

20. What are the top three live shows you’ve seen in your life?

Dead Sea, Dead Sea, Dead Sea.

If by now you’re not familiar with the goodness that is Dragonette, we can’t help with your intense psychological issues, but we will kindly introduce you to mastermind Dan Kurtz, one-quarter of the electro-pop-sex-machines.

1. What is your dream of happiness?
Not sure. Most days feel like happiness, though.

2. Blonde or Brunette?
Does it have to be either/or?

3. What is the quality you like most in a man?
A sense of humour about himself. Same goes for women.

4. What do you fear most?
Outliving my loved ones.

5. 808s or 909s?
808s.

6. What’s your biggest regret?
I can’t tell you.

7. What’s your fave bar or club in the world?
Razzmatazz Barcelona for the all-nighter; The Cow in London for drinking and making new best friends.

8. What’s the one thing you can’t live without?
My wife.

9. Who are three musicians dead or alive you’d like to see perform?
Prince (again); the Police in 1983; Jacko in 1984.

10. What is your favorite decade in music?
I’ll take the early 70s into the early 80s, if possible.

11. If you had to choose, would you rather go blind of deaf and why?
Blind. I like hearing more than seeing.

12. How old is too old?
I’m not old enough to answer that question.

13. Where do you see yourself in 15 years?
Somewhere that’s warm for a great part of the year.

14. Who’s your hero?
I have a few. Most are clichés. #1 is my mum.

15. What’s your favourite colour?
Different colours for different things.

16. What song could you live without ever hearing again?
Man, there’s a long list.

17. Metallica or Madonna?
Madonna.

18. What’s your most hated vice?
It’s only a vice if you do it too often. Luckily I have none of those.

19. Who is the most tragic figure in history?
Man, there’s an even longer list. How could anyone sift through all of history’s tragedies and pick “the most tragic”?

20. What are the top three live shows you’ve seen in your life?
Paul McCartney, Camden, 2007.
Prince, Montreal, 1990?
2ManyDJs, Sydney, 2008

P.S. Dragonette are currently on tour across North America and will be messing up Toronto’s Mod Club on October 8th. Attendance is highly recommended. For full tour dates, check their MySpace. Woot, woot!

It’s been a crazy year for British electro-pop duo La Roux. Elly Jackson took some time out of her busy touring schedule to answer a few questions for us. Read the interview below, as well as our review of the fantastic self-titled album and – there’s a special surprise for you, yes you, at the end of the post.

Your touring schedule’s been pretty hectic since March, what’s the best concert/city you’ve played so far?
Glastonbury was amazing. 10,000 people losing it and singing In For The Kill and Bulletproof right back at me.  The breakdown in Kill was special, we all had a tear in our eye for that one.
Germany and France have always been mental and now on this tour the US and Canada are being great for us as well. We’re very lucky

Being a local artist in Toronto can be difficult. The amount of designers and artists we have on Queen St. West, shows there is much competition being in the art world. Many want attention, but I feel one must be aware. Local Toronto Artist, Mark O attends OCAD University for Advertising. His work is very abstract and shows much character towards them. When being a young local artist, it takes much pressure being in the business, thriving to get attention, and being known. Friday July 10^th, 2009 I attended one of his shows held at Earth and Fire on Queen St. West. His work inspired me, since I myself attend OCAD, his art reflected on something I would create as well. Check out Mark’s work at: http://marko.thisguy.ca and his photography: http://marko.thisguy.ca/ovseyously

Interview With Mark O:

Q. Friday July 10^th, you had a show with a girl from Ryerson. Why have a show now?

A. Shauna and I felt as though there are so many artists/designers and creative people around us. They are our friends, they live in our neighbourhoods and we go to school together. However, we both noticed a lack of collaborative effort. We need to learn from those who do different things than us.

Q. Why the name “The Royal We”?

A. The Royal We is the way royalty speak of themselves, the queen and such. Not only are we emphasizing the importance of art and design in the world but contrasting the term with our own lifestyles that of students with limited funds making art in the search for happiness. Happiness can be replaced with many different words. We are just searching.

Q. Do you always plan on working with other artists? Or would you like to do a show by yourself someday?

A. Of course! I will have a solo show at some point in time. I look forward to the day. Whether or not I have my own show, I feel as though collaboration will always remain in the process of creating art because one is constantly being influenced by external forces (people, art, music, the city, etc).

Q. Your work is very abstract and colourful? Do any of your paintings have meaning towards them?

A. They all have meaning. What they mean to me is different from what they mean to you, or the person standing next to you. Whether it’s purely aesthetic or it evokes an emotion, take from it what you will. Each one is specific to a place, a memory, and a time in my life.

Q. Do any artists influence you? If so, why?

A. I would be lying if I said no. I think that it is not the end result of their work that influences me but the creative process, their methods in other words. Like certain Surrealists who explored automatism and attempted to unconsciously tap into their subconscious through exquisite corpses.

Q. Besides paintings, is there any other type of art you do?

A. I started a photography blog a year after I got back into it and since than I can’t choose between the two mediums. It started with a black and white 35 mm camera and a darkroom when I was 16. Painting is raw, but so is capturing someone unposed and unexpectedly.

Q. Being an OCAD student, do you believe it will open doors for you as an artist towards the future?

A. I find something unsettling about any educational institution, but OCAD is different. It’s smaller and more intimate. It is easier to develop relationships with the people you go to school with. This is important because once we graduate we are all going to be working in the same field, collaborating.

Q. There are many local Toronto artist, what do you find in yourself that makes you creative and unique, different from all the other artists?

A. Wow, I would feel really pretentious answering that question. :)

Keep up the amazing work Mark!

xoxo

I have an obsession, and her name is Princess Superstar.

No, she’s not a drag queen, she’s a she, and she is amazing. I’ll admit that when I first heard the name way back when, I thought she was a tranny. Those days of naivety are far behind me, and I’m confessing my girl crush.

Miss Superstar is a DJ as well as a fucking kick-ass MC from NYC with numerous albums and singles under her Swarovski-studded belt. She cut her first demo at 17, and went on to collaborate with the likes of Moby, The Prodigy, and Kool Keith, also playing alongside Felix Da Housecat, Tiga, Miss Kittin, and so on.

Her lyrical stylings have been compared to those of Eminem, but I think she’s more of a female Mickey Avalon (strictly music-wise). “Bad Babysitter” is the perfect track to blast and sing along to infront of your parents.

On any given night, you will hear just about every dj playing mixes of her singles “Licky” or “Perfect Exceeder” (Princess Superstar vs. Mason), so much so that they have become my anthems. If these tunes don’t get you off the wall and dancing on the floor or nearest couch, I suggest you head down to Florida and go into early party retirement.

For those of you classy ladies and lads not quite at your peak, you can experience Princess Superstar’s mad dj skills in person at the Betsey Johnson fashion show, next to Siamese2Hearts and ViVi Diamond on Tuesday, March 17th at Brant House.

Let’s get licky!

To tie you over until next week, check out our 20 Question session with Princess Superstar!

1. What is your dream of happiness?
Doing music you love, being at the pinnacle of health, being in love, having amazing relationships with people, being of service in the world. Oh yeah, and looking hot.

2. Blonde or Brunette?
Finally went brunette after being a blonde for a million years. It’s so sexy and mysterious.

3. What is the quality you like most in a man?
Kindness.

4. What do you fear most?
My pet birds dying.

5. 808s or 909s?
808s.

6. What’s your biggest regret?
That I smoked cigarettes and drank for so long.

7. What’s your fave bar or club in the world?
Impossible to choose. I like Panorama Bar in Berlin, Razzmatazz in Barcelona, and Simachev Bar in Moscow.

8. What’s the one thing you can’t live without?
Green vegetable juice.

9. What are the 3 musicians dead or alive you’d like to see perform?
The Beatles. That’s 4.

10. What is your favorite decade in music?
1970′s.

11. If you had to choose, would you rather go blind or deaf and why?
Blind. Being in silence would be horrendous.

12. How old is too old?
Never too old.

13. Where did you see yourself in 15 years?
Very old.

14. Who’s your hero?
Gandhi.

15. What’s your favourite colour?
White.

16. What song could you live without ever hearing again?
Caribbean Queen – Billy Ocean.

17. Metallica or Madonna?
Madonna.

18. What’s your most hated vice?
I just gave up coffee. It sucks.

19. Who is the most tragic figure in history?
Mrs. Wildenstein.

20. What are the top three live shows you’ve seen in your life?
Public Enemy opening up for the Beastie Boys in late 80′s.
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 90′s.
Playing a show with Bjork in 2000′s.

Words by Melania Fedyna