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Dr.
D - You've made an album that's miles away from your
debut album, was there any second guessing internally
or with your label about the possibility of alienating
your audience with such a bold departure?
TF
- Yeah, we talked about that and we thought about that
but you know we are a band that wanted to change and
push the boundaries and grow and the people who
will… well certainly there will be people who will
be alienated, I hope the least amount possible but I
think we will gain new fans as well. I think that the
people that aren’t alienated and will stick with us
will realize that it’s not so much the sound rather
an idea that growth will occur.
Dr.
D - 2004/05 seemed to be the years of bands name
dropping Joy Division, the Cure or The Smiths as
musical influences to the point where this new musical
movement, that The Stills were lumped in with, kind of
got very watered down and tired and overall repetitive
which kind of goes against the spirit of what a lot of
these original bands were all about. How much of this
was a factor for The Stills to make a change in
direction.
TF
- I
think we were looking for ways of transcending our
own……well what people expected of us and what we
sounded like previously and I think we looked around
and saw a lot of bands doing the same thing, a lot of
bands were making music like “Logic Will Break Your
Heart” and defiantly we weren’t going to go back
and sound like that and we’ve grown so much since
making “Logic Will Break Your Heart” and we wanted
to reflect the changes and reflect the growth and I
think it doesn’t have to be that drastic of a change
in the sense that there are still familiar elements to
it but we wanted to step beyond and investigate new
ground. I mean we are all into lots of different music
and always have been…we would be cheating ourselves
if we went in and made “Logic Will Break Your Heart” Part 2, I mean that would be the same thing
but less charming.
Dr.
D - A lot of bands stumble on a formula that works out
of the gate and they spend the rest of their career
repeating that formula, some bands are determined to
never repeat themselves. It strikes me that The Stills
are determined to never repeat themselves in the
studio?
TF
- Yeah I mean it’s ok for The Ramones to keep making
the same record but you know there’s not many bands
that I think that’s acceptable. I think if you’re
in a band, its part of your responsibility to
challenge yourself and what’s expected of you and I
think it’s important to strive for new things
because otherwise it’s just people stagnating and
people getting too comfortable with themselves. I
think that good music comes from an opposite
philosophy, being in touch of what’s happening in
your personal life and the world around you. If
you’re repeating yourself then your not touching
upon what’s vital.
Dr.
D - What were your musical reference points while
making the new album "Without Feathers"?
TF
- There was a lot of John Lennon and the Beatles
floating around, Fleetwood Mac and The Clash’s
London Calling… a lot of blues and Paul Roebeson and
even some Bach that was floating in and out of our
mind space.
Dr.
D - When playing songs off "Logic
Will Break Your Heart" live now, have you played around with the
arrangements to tailor it more to your current sound?
TF
- No, we keep them as they were and they fit really
well with the new music. I think it’s a really good
blend and I think that the people who haven’t heard
the new album have been really surprised and even
excited as it all really works well together despite
the fact the new album is quite different, it actually
works out perfectly.
Dr.
D - You have an impressive line-up of guest musicians
on the new album, tell us who you have and how this
all came about?
TF
- Emily Haines from Metric/Broken Social Scene sings
on the song “Baby Blues”, she actually ended up
singing her parts on the back of our tour bus on a
tour we did in 2004 and we just extracted her vocal
take from the 8-track and threw it in Pro-Tools and
edited it in. I mean basically we recorded that song
all on this little 8 track machine in the back of our
tour bus. Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene sings on
“She’s Walking Out” and then on the song
“Shoplifter” there is like 18 people there all
playing along including Sam Roberts and Eric Fares
from the Sam Roberts Band, several of the guys from
Priestess and a whole slew of our friends from the
Montreal music scene.
Dr.
D - The Hammond organ is very apparent on this new
album “Without Feathers”, especially the opening
song “In The Beginning”, but I was surprised to
hear horns on the song “Destroyer”… tell me how
this came about?
TF
- Well we all grew up listening to Roots music and old
ska and reggae, stuff like “London Calling” by the
Clash and a lot of Motown stuff. It was just
natural for us and only a matter of time before
that kind of stuff crept into our music.
Dr.
D - Is it possible for a Canadian band on your level
to make a living in this country?
TF
- Yeah, you have to keep working on it and making good
music and keep touring. We play a lot in the States
and abroad as well. We’ve had radio success in
England and the States as well and that helps us a lot
making a living in Canada
Dr.
D - Speaking of which would you agree that this is the
best time in recent history to be a Canadian band in
terms of gaining acceptance in the U.S. and overseas?
TF
- Oh yeah, I think it’s one of the best times ever
in terms of, well beyond commercial music but just
people treating music as art and I cant think of a
better time. I think now in terms of a collective
experience, between Montreal and Toronto and all over
the East and West there are so many great bands and
they are all friends and they are all making great
music and all are happy for each other’s success and
we all push each other along and encourage each other.
It’s exciting for Canadian people to have something
of their own, that’s home grown to latch onto and be
happy with.
Dr.
D - Are you at all influenced by the bands and the
scene in Montreal?
TF
- I don’t think we were inspired by the Montreal
scene, we kind of lived in our own little bubble and
did our thing. At times it was fraught with insecurity
and a sense of “Are we nuts here?” Other times we
were like “This is great” so let’s keep doing
this, but I think it was something that just happened
within our own bubble.
Dr.
D - How do you personally handle the rigors and all
the pitfalls that come with touring as much as you do?
TF
- In the past year we haven’t been touring at all as
we’ve been working on the new album but for the past
2-3 months we have been touring and it gets tiring but
you have to focus on your job, and that’s at the
worst of times….it’s a pleasure at the best of
times. You have to keep your perspective because
it’s easy to lose it when you’re with the same
people day in and day out, but you find your own way
Dr.
D - You just finished a string of U.S. dates, how’s
the reaction been to the new material?
TF
- Response has been great, we’ve gotten a lot of
positive comments on our MySpace page about the shows.
Live, people have been having a great time and really
enjoying the new music.
Dr.
D - Is the album cover artwork representational of
anything in particular?
TF
- I think it’s a beautiful iconic image really
that’s striking, to me it means stripped down, no
illusions, no bullshit. Basically, just us as a band
at the core and also a lot about relationships and
bearing the truth about that. Also the first album
cover had tons of feathers on it and this being called
“Without Feathers”.
Dr.
D - What’s the plan for the Still this year, I
imagine you are heading to Europe soon?
TF
- We are actually going to Europe this fall and
keeping the European summer festivals to next summer
but in the meantime doing a lot of touring in Canada
and the States and just concentrating on that.
Dr.
D - You’ve done the English Festival circuit in the
past, what’s that like playing in front of that many
people? Is it intimidating at all?
TF
- It’s not that bad, everyone’s hanging out
backstage drinking and having fun and just chilling
out. I mean you throw you gear on stage really
quickly, do a line check and play for a half hour, you
load out and your done and then you enjoy the
sunshine. It’s not that intimidating because your
too busy doing other stuff to worry about it.
Dr.
D - What are currently listening to?
TF
- I’ve been going through a big Led Zeppelin faze
right now which I haven’t gone through for 10 years.
Some Leonard Cohen and Emmylou Harris and various
things here and there.
Dr.
D - Are there any new Canadian bands that you’ve
seen that you are excited about?
TF
- There
is a band called “Priestess” that actually me,
Oliver and Dave used to be in. They are our buddies
and a great band for sure and there is this band
called Paso Mino which is Jason Collett’s backing
band who have been blowing everyone away.
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