Fresh from the Post usually comes on Tuesdays (and every couple of so weeks) but since I’m introducing a cool new Canadian band, what better day to feature them than on Canada Day?
This week, Ontario band Anderson Council answers the standard Fresh from the Post questions and lets us know what they’re all about –
How did you guys start out?
Craig
and Mike used to play in a band called “One Track Mind” and Jeff used
to play in a band called “System Slave”. Both bands had stopped playing
and Mike wanted to get another band started so he got in contact with
ex-OTM guitarist, Justin Plati, and asked if he knew any good bass
players. He sent Mike the contact info for Dave and the two began
talking. They agreed to get together to jam and see if anything would
come of it. After a couple of times jamming, Mike called Craig to tell
him about this bassist and that the three of them should get together
to start writing and jamming some songs. After weeks of the three of
them writing and jamming (along with another on guitar), the guys were
paired with Craig’s brother Jeff. Craig and Jeff had also been jamming
and writing songs together under the name “Anderson Council”. Jeff
actually originally wanted Dave to form a band with him! The 4 started
seriously writing songs in late spring and early summer of 2007. We
played their first show at Toronto’s El Mocambo on August 22nd 2007.
What’s the story behind your name, Anderson Council?
Syd Barret’s idea
This is kind of interesting, but did you guys know that there’s a US band who also has the same name..only
it has a ‘The’ at the beginning? I gave them a listen, they’re pretty
good too…though I find you guys more interesting (and I mean that in
a good way), your songs have more character in them – and I’m not
saying that just because I’m doing this online Q and A.
We’ve
seen a bunch of Anderson Council, The Anderson Council, Anderson
Counsel(s), etc… As far as we know, most of them are just Pink Floyd
cover bands though. We’re the only one from Canada that we know of.
How do you describe your band’s sound?
We
think it is hard to classify us as just one genre. We are a mix of
indie rock, pop, psychedlic music, etc… A lot of our music
is influenced by older classic rock artists like The Beatles, Pink
Floyd, and The Band. Newer artists that may be influence us could
include Sam Roberts, Jack White, Radiohead, The Red Hot Chili Peppers,
and Broken Social Scene. We never try to write songs that sound like a
particular artist or fit into a genre. We just write songs that we
think will sound good or that we’ll like. Whatever genre that comes out
as or whatever artists it may also sound like, is just coincidental.
As
our site is The Indie Music Database, we’re curious to find out how
other artists define the term ‘indie music’. How do you guys define it?
Artists
who have to work for a living, or who choose to live poor and strictly
focus on music. It may be anything that has that “Do-It-Yourself” feel.
Often it’s something that is just off the radar of the mainstream and
that’s definitely not a bad thing. A lot of “indie” artists are
emerging these days as opposed to the major-label signed BIG groups.
With CD sales down and downloading as the new way to get music, Indie
seems to be the way of the future. Bands now control their recordings,
their merchandise, their publishing, their promotion, etc… It may be
harder work, but it gives the artist total control of what they are
doing.
***
To supplement our Canada Day celebrations today, Anderson Council has happily provided us with a couple of songs: a toe tapping track called Heartless Stones and a song perfect for lazy sunday afternoons – where the guys get creative with a mandolin, aptly called Amanda Lynne –
Anderson Council may not be the most original band name out there – which comes quite in contrast with the band’s own music. Their mix of influences renders their music with a nice, rich sound which, like I mentioned earlier, gives them a lot of character (and as they say, character goes a long way). A band not willing to be shoved into a specific genre, they have a unique sound that not a lot of bands have nowadays – and it makes them easily stand out. Whatever kind of music this four piece group from Ajax, Ontario is making – they own it, and maybe, just maybe, ‘Anderson Council-esque‘ might be an adjective music reviewers might use someday.
You can check out more tunes from Anderson Council at their MySpace page – https://www.myspace.com/acouncilband
