It’s not a riddle it’s a stepping stone

I first heard Half Moon Run’s 21 Gun Salute and the intensely dramatic beginning to that song with lead vocals by Devon Portielje on the CBC at a live show, just a couple of months ago. It was meditative even ambient – and I was entranced –instantly inspired – including other songs like Full Circle.

Although I had not heard of them before, I felt it was a new mission of mine to share the gift of music with my family (including my preschool age children on some certain tracks (Call me in the afternoon even by one by one [x2 ]is sung around the hosue like a Christmas Carol substituting some words in for the obvious) and all my friends and social network so they too could enjoy this gift. That being said there was something sacred in hearing them for the first time. It was so different yet modern but there was a comfort in it that seemed to be missing in most modern music, and not felt by me personally, since artists like Bob Dylan, and Ballads from Simon & Garfunkel, I was introduced to in my youth.

That same day after discovering and enjoying the first album on iTunes (Dark Eyes Released June 2013) My musical journey with HMR led me to discover the second album which coincidentally was released that same day!

Sun Leads Me, Released Oct 23, 2015

It was a groovier sound and a more uplifting album than the first. It assisted in my creativity and put me in a greater mindset, having just emerged from the writing depths, after 10 years and creating again myself personally.

In researching the journey of the band, from recording in the desert (Texas) to California (For some seaside inspiration, leading up to the Second Album, and living in a dome shaped Oceanside house fit just right for a inspirational surf all day and late night magic sessions ) To experimenting in Europe in what appears to be a bit of a Rave Scene – road testing songs like Trust - it all lines up triumphantly.

I was lucky enough to experience this live set of troubadours on Dec 7th, 2015 at Sugar Nightclub in Victoria BC to a sold out show where some fans paid 9 x the door price just to get in. After staying late and meeting the eclectic mix of supporters, including a High School French Teacher and his wife who also thought their sound was as transcendent and made the journey to support them from up Island (Where most of the band hails from in Comox), to the sprawl of young woman who clearly were there for the "act" to the Lead Vocalist Devon Portielje who you could say in my excitement of après show and with my slight nerves "When a sip of gin saved an hour of speech - Nerve " I didn’t quite get the interview I thought I would - instead Briefly – you could say I found speaking with Devon clearly exhaustive from his end.

This band tours and plays almost nightly I would have asked him who "stole his Sunny Day" – but I could tell he was wiped. I asked him if the band would emerge on the Island again soon (Returning to play Rifflandia in 2016 like in 2014 but he didn’t commit to that.)

I spoke to his interests and would he get a chance to Surf the Jordan River on his visit to the Island but he said they only had 8 hours in the city and then off to Vancouver for the next nights sold out show at the Imperial.

This Band works hard – you forget sometimes when you haven’t seen an emerging act for awhile ( My last show was UB40 in the summer at the Commodore in Vancouver ) that to really put yourself forward you have to put in the hours (years ) on Tour (They actually toured Dark Eyes for three years !)

Just the fact that the Lead from the opening act for that nights show (Nick
Vallee from Folly & The Hunter) was assisting behind the counter at the merchandise booth after a long night and travel… well that’s a team of working mans bands.

More on the Music, there is huge variety in sounds on the current album, Sun Leads me – with the gritty Narrow Margins - There is a hint of Flamingo music that quickly folds into a somewhat Hip Hop beat – the sound not found anywhere else on the album, speaks like a story its very cool and soulful. It wasn’t played in the show, as I had anticipated – it’s a story of sorts that sounds very introspective.

Highlighting the further talents of Connor Molander (Harmonica being my favorite) one can find a cover done of the modern, Chvrches –The Mother we Share on the BBC Radio 1 (01/2014) then found again in the finale to the current live show touring with the Cover to Bob Dylan’s , Shall be released – seeing it live is spectacular - it was clever and mirrored the original art but with a tang of HMR.

There are confessional tones and a little sadness on both albums – and stories of what appears to be glimpse into the world of addiction – Music is a challenging business for anyone who has had this in their lives – this band however appears to live clean and is into a very healthy lifestyle from surfing to organic gardening mentioned to me by a family friend at the show about Issac’s Symonds (Mandolin extraordinaire and haunting vocalist) wishes for at organic landscaping book for Christmas.

I have heard Dylan Philips (Drummer – who has a great timing and a soulful sound as a professionally trained pianist – and always rocks the keyboard) said in other interviews that in terms of personal struggles that they have had the music guide them as a group – I noticed words formed around the struggle with being saved and loss of faith - perhaps even a loss of hope there – I hope they will continue to explore some further element of faith and that this translates to even more extraordinary music from this talented group, I am proud to call Canadian and will continue to share as their talents that will be sure to surprise us with further gifts in the future.

I clicked the you tube link on HMR’s website and watched some videos they had favored and found: TORA : and now I feel like the gifts just keep giving.

In the next feature story coming in January 2016:

　

Artist Profile: Half Moon Run

Singer Devon Portielje on vocals, guitar and percussion;

Conner Molander on vocals, guitar and keyboard;

Dylan Phillips on vocals, drums and keyboard;

Isaac Symonds on vocals, percussions, mandolin, keyboard and guitar.

P.J Tinham 12.06.2017

Everybodsys Trying To Steal Your Heart

 

FAST ROMANTICS

We were lucky enough to enjoy A Fast Romantics show in support of SLM Featured Said The Whale back in April (2017) in Victoria. We were just blown away, so amazing. I've had so much fun diving into the Fast Romantics anthology. I caught up with Matthew Angus in support of their most recent album American Love. We chat about tour life, songwriting, the dynamic of a six-person band, time spent in New York and the hopefulness of this American Love.

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Members of Fast Romantics include interviewed; Matthew Angus (lead vocals), Kirty (guitar & synthesizer), Kevin Black (lead guitar), Jeffery Lewis (bass), Nick McKinlay (drums) and Lisa Lorenz (keyboardist)

 

 SLM:   I am such a strong admirer of the single Animal.  I almost feel like it needed to be up front as a standalone song. That line, "Every time I fall on my heart, I can't help but break it," Those are really powerful lyrics. Finding a love is one of the major themes of the equally amazing American Love, ()and I understand for you personally, perhaps with an archetypal runaway girl? - Tell us about Animal before we embark on the album.

Matthew:  Animal is a really funny song, we thought it was going to be on the record. It actually got written as this slow, brooding song, then we went and produced it with a different producer than we usually work with and spent some time reworking it and it turned into this song that it wasn't, to me. It was funny, through that process; I think we found our way into how we wanted to make the rest of the record. We went back to our original producer, Gus van Go (This Canadian producer has worked with other SLM Featured ARTists, Said The Whale, The Sam Roberts Band, Arkells)

So as a side process of that, I think Animal got put out separately and it never really felt like it fit on American Love, for some reason. We stopped playing it live for a long time, but so many people requested it, on this last tour that we've been playing it, but the way it was originally intended, which has been really nice for us. It's been kind of like, "Oh, that song still exists for us; we're just playing it our way."

SLM:   You're on tour now in support of the amazing album, American Love, which I understand was recorded over two years and alternating between Brooklyn and Toronto. How have the US supporters received the album?

Matthew:   I think pretty well, although I think Americans probably take something different from it than Canadians, but there's also some universality there, I think. It's been really positive. It's been really cathartic for us and I think for some American fans when we go down there and play. We were just in Buffalo on Saturday it's a different feeling. There's a moment in the set where I turn the mic on the crowd and ask them to sing American Love, in Canada, the crowd interprets that very differently than I think Americans do. They both do it wholeheartedly, but Americans sing it, I think, from a different place than Canadians. That's been a really fun experience.

SLM: That's interesting. Do you have a favorite US city to perform in or is there a particular city that inspired you guys when you were writing during the climate in the U.S for this album?

Matthew: Probably New York,  just because we spent so much time there working. We always came back to it and we played there quite a few times now. It's always different, so I think New York is the most inspiring place to play. A lot of the lyrics got written there. There was a lot of song-writing that went on in New York versus recording. I think, for that reason, whenever you sing a lyric in the city that you wrote it, if it wasn't your hometown, there's some kind of deeper meaning there. You remember why you wrote it or where you wrote it.

SLM:Yeah, definitely. You've been playing in New York for years. You even played at CBGB's a long time ago, didn't you guys, a long time ago?

Matthew: We did. It wasn't CBGB's anymore when we played it, but yeah. We won this crazy contest, Spin Magazine put on and they flew us down. Actually, it's the fashion designer  John Varvatos that owns the old CBGB's (The Bowery). They turned their store into this one-off concert venue for the finalists of the contest to play. We played for a thousand fashionistas and celebrities sipping martinis it was very interesting.


SLM: We just interviewed Moby, who was here for Rifflandia, and he and I talked , about how New York changed before he left. He just wrote a memoir "Porcelain" that was really interesting. The memoir was really an ode to New York it was really encapsulating what had happened in New York in the 90’s. Moby talks about that time where the infamous CBGB era came to a close and when he was part of that scene, it's an   amazing journey.

Matthew: That's a perfect metaphor for, I think, the wider story of New York, and that's coming from someone that's only loved the city and visited a lot, but never really truly lived there. But our CBGB's experience was not the traditional CBGB's experience than 10 years earlier.

SLM:  Tell us about the experience of recording between the two countries and the significance of that to the album with the collaboration with Gus van Go (including (SLM Featured Arkells, The Sam Roberts Band, Said The Whale) and Werner F (Arkells, Wintersleep, Whitehorse)

Matthew:   Gus and Werner are like our spirit animals. It doesn't really matter where we work with them. It's just we go to the Northwest Territories and work with them and it would be totally warm and cozy. As soon as we sent the first demos to them years ago, they got it. They understood what we were trying to do, unlike a lot of people.         We've always been this outsider band that is trying to do something different than just what the radio is playing. They got it, and they understood that we still wanted to write pop songs.

SLM:  The first single and the second track on American Love, “Why We Fight”, I've read you say,”It's in part about what drives you to be in a band and also evolved into an ode to anyone who finds themselves hungry for something that might seem out of reach.” I love that. What do you guys hunger for these days, now that the six of you have found each other and have this amazing collaboration?

 

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Matthew:  I think a lot of time we just want to keep our heads on straight, honestly, and to keep doing it for the reasons we got into it for. I think that's a struggle for anyone that suddenly starts getting attention. You start to fill your head with the things you're supposed to do, rather than the things you want to do or feel compelled to do. I think, right now, we're just really excited to just get writing again and go back into that place of creating and reminding ourselves why we do it. That song is still really relevant. That's how that song started, was just a reminder of why we do this.

SLM:  “Julia”, such a brilliant track and the video's so entertaining, It's been out for a couple years and it has a real holiday sort of sound to it now. It's getting lots of radio play goo. It's a wonderful selection and winner for the 11th Annual SOCAN, so congrats for that support. You directed this video on this one, is that right?

Matthew: Thank you. It was a crazy month of my life that just went down the tube. It wasn't much directing. It was mostly just crazy post-production,  weird  magic that had to take place, just a lot of work. Sometimes I get in these little tinkering projects and I just lose myself in them. I came out the other end and I was like, "Oh, my God. We're dancing with Fred Astaire."

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SLM:  Kirty, such an incredible storyteller as well, also had her first track Dreamboat, accompanied by the visually stunning video released under Postwar, your independent label as well. Tell us about that experience, assisting her on that solo project.

Matthew:  It's been really great. Kirty is just such a great songwriter as well and that's how I met her, is that she's just writing amazing songs and was working on an amazing album. I was just starting to sink my teeth into working with other artists and the timing was just right and I really believed in the record. It's been really good to collaborate in that way with her beyond Fast Romantics. That record hardly needs any help. Everyone that hears it just loves it. It's really a great collection of songs.

SLM:  That latest sensory-heightened "Get Love" (above) video with the Fast Romantics, tell us a little bit about this track and the concept behind this one.

Matthew:  The whole band pitched in, but Kirty and I really spent a good month making that happen for some reason. Yeah, we had this idea that we wanted to just try to create images of feelings, rather than over-intellectualize the song. We just got a whole bunch of friends and their friends and total strangers together and we just tried to create weird, awkward situations. Really, one of the examples I use when we were starting off, it was like, try to picture a two-year-old with something in front of him or her and they just love to destroy it or squish it. I just want the whole video to be adults doing that.

SLM: My personal favorites on American Love are “Ready for the Night”, “Kids Without a Country” and “How Long is This Going to Last”, such great songs. Do you have a favorite on this album that you hold onto a little bit more tightly than the others?

Matthew:  That's hard to do. I think I go through phases where one song is my favorite for a while. Ready for the Night is definitely one of my favorites and still is. I really love Heaven's Alright, and proud of. Alberta was probably the moment on the record where I found the words that were the most personal for me. Then,  there's  songs that I'm really proud of, like Julia and Get Loved, where I'm like, "Hey, that's a good pop song." I love writing pop songs. I don't have one favorite. I think it's really hard. I don't know if  any one  of us does.

SLM: Is "Alberta "  , an homage to where it all began now that you guys are all settled in Toronto?

Matthew:  It was more about the experience of having to leave town and what it felt like to leave my entire life behind to come to Toronto.

SLM: Just get out of your comfort zone?

Matthew: Yeah, and some of the personal relationships and what happened to some of my friends after I left it’s a pretty heavy song.

SLM: "Heaven's Alright'', it seems to me like a hopeful bookend for the album. Do you feel hopeful in light of the current global political climate.

Matthew:  I think that was how we wanted to leave it; I think Heaven's Alright is definitely a nice way to go into the next record for us. I think its hope with a couple of asterisks on the end of it. We actually have to change some things. We actually have to think a little more about, not just the political climate or the economic realities of the world, but how we consume art and how we make art and the importance of art and what we value as humans. All that was a part of Heaven's Alright. That song's really about just the experience of living and how we just throw it away so easily.

SLM: What have you guys got planned for 2018?

Matthew: We're just going to take a few months and just see if a new record is something that will happen fast. Last time, it was basically almost four years between a record and I don't think we want to do that again.

SLM:  Is it hard having six of you in collaboration? Do you feel like it takes longer to get out an album because of that or do you feel like you just take everybody's perspective into account and then it just happens organically?

Matthew: No, not really. I think the biggest problem was that we didn't have six of us for most of those four years. I was putting together a new band.  I think actually so much of the  song writing  is pretty personal  to  begin with. We're stoked with this record because there are six people just waiting to hear those seeds of songs and we get into a room and we could play them right away, rather than try to build them over a long period of time as people join a band. Yeah, I'm hopeful and everyone's really excited!

Looking forward to seeing more from these amazing ARTists soon! https://fastromantics.com/shows

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