July Talk is putting the “sexy” back in rock ’n roll. The Canadian alt-rockers do it not with provocative stage outfits nor naughty lyrics that would make Anthony Wiener blush, but a primal energy that gets you hot and bothered.
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Although the Juno Award (think Canada’s Grammy’s) winning band (guitarist Ian Docherty, drummer Danny Miles, bassist Josh Warburton) can go from whiskey soaked-blues to punked-up jock rock to glam new wave at the drop of a puck, the genre-defying songs start with frontman Peter Dreimanis and frontwoman Leah Fay.
Dreimanis raspy, dive bar baritone bark rubs up against Fay’s soothing open mic-type tones for a lightening in a bottle sound that’s both confrontational and sensuous. I had a chance to talk with the two over email about their upcoming appearance (Sunday Oct. 2 at 11:30am at the HomeAway stage) at this year’s Austin City Limits, their favorite duets and their Canadian hometown, eh?
Crave: You guys are from Toronto aka “Home of Drake,” what is the music scene like there?
Leah Fay: It’s rad. Toronto is my hometown so I’m probably a bit biased, but I think it’s the place to be whether you’re having a go at a musical project or just a lover of music and art. It’s a crazy supportive community and people love watching acts start small and work their way up to bigger venues. If you’re heading there or jonesing for new tunes, look for shows/music by Daniel Caesar, The Darcys, Lowell, Dilly Dally and Calvin Love. See shows at The Horseshoe Tavern, Silver Dollar and The Danforth Music Hall.
Peter has a unique and powerful voice that borders on a bark. Is that the way you’ve always sang? What’s your “indoor voice” like?
Peter Dreimanis: I think so. To be honest, I didn’t really sing in the bands that I was in before July Talk. It wasn’t until after those shows were over each night when I’d find myself at a piano at some kind/poor soul’s afterparty at four in the morning that I would sing the songs that I had fiddling with in my head. That’s really the only time I sang back then. My voice is really fucking loud, so I can’t exactly sing in the shower. If I did, I think I’d have trouble keeping a roommate. So it wasn’t really until the band formed that I was able to start experimenting with my voice. My ‘indoor voice’ is featured a lot more on ‘Touch’ then it was on the first record. You find it on songs like ‘Strange Habit,’ ‘Touch’ or ‘Don’t Call Home.’ It only really works when the music surrounding it is pretty minimal, but that’s kind of nice because minimal arrangements are almost always more interesting anyway and anything that forces us to distill an arrangement as much as possible is a positive thing.
I love juxtaposing light and dark, sweet and spicy, July Talk has that with Fay and Peter’s dueling vocals. What are some of your favorite duets (songs, groups, etc)?
Leah: Feist and the Constantines do a mean ‘Islands in the Stream.’ I have been obsessed with ‘Hangover Days’ by Jason Collett and Emily Haines for years. Most recently (Johnny) Cash and (Bob) Dylan’s ‘Girl from the North Country’ has been on heavy rotation since Peter showed it to me. As an art form, duets are a bit of a novelty. In July Talk, yes there are two voices, but for us that fact is as important as having drums or bass. There’s nothing novel about it.
The video for “Beck + Call” is a cinematic whirlwind. Sexy, fun and nasty (in a good way). Can you talk about the concept, process, etc?
Peter: It started when Jared Raab (one of the directors) and I visited William F. Whites and saw this crazy new robot crane they had just bought called the Bolt. It can move the camera a huge distance with exact precision in a matter of milliseconds, so you can move around an object quickly in the midst of extreme slow motion. Jared had the idea of shooting a minimal movement piece of Leah and I because it has this minimal, driving arrangement that feels almost ritualistic. I was really nervous to do choreography because apart from flailing around on-stage every night, I had never done any sort of choreography. Leah has a degree from Concordia in Dance and Performance and I trust her more than anyone, so at least I knew I could rely on her instincts. We share a best friend named Norah Sadava, and she has an incredibly bold and groundbreaking theatre collective called Quote Unquote Collective. Having just seen their performance called Mouthpiece, we realized that her and her collaborator Amy Nostbakken would be the perfect fit to help us choreograph the movement surrounding the song’s themes of power dynamics in relationships. ‘Beck + Call’ is meant to be a response to the vulnerability and confusion of being in love with someone that has you under their thumb. So Leah and I did a month and a half of rehearsals with Norah and Amy to develop the movement that dealt with these dynamics, and then collaborated with Jared in how to capture them and cut them together.
Austin is known for bands, beer and barbecue, which ones are most excited about?
Peter: Austin is my favorite American city. Every time we go there we have the best crowds, eat epic food and party our faces off. I normally skip the barbecue because I can’t justify missing any opportunity to eat tacos there, but maybe I’ll find a moment to try it out this time. To play ACL is such a dream, I grew up watching videos from the festival and it’s always been the spot I wanted to play the most in the States. Cannot fucking wait.
What bands are you most excited to see/hear at Austin City Limits?
Peter: We’re all pumped to see Cage The Elephant. I think they’re one of the best live bands out there right now. I love their records so much and they just unleash so much energy on the crowd. Other than that, the idea of having two chances to see Radiohead, Die Antwoord, Cold War Kids, LCD Soundsystem, Catfish and the Bottlemen, St. Paul and The Broken Bones and Basia Bulat is, to be frank, absolutely insane in our minds. So let’s party.
For more information on July Talk go here. For the full ACL Lineup go here.
