- Architects
Blood, bruises and broken bikes headlined my first night of Pop Exploding. My bicycle, Old Blue, couldn't make it through even half of night one. Jaunting from seeing Pig at Gus' to see Red Mass at the Paragon, my rear fender came loose and got mangled in my rear wheel throwing me ass of tea kettle on Cunard Street. (See last night's tweets for the carnage). But it was worth it (also, a big thanks to Dan for fixing my bike). Pig was a great start to this year's HPX, setting up amp over amp and piling the small Gus' stage with eight musicians (four were Radiator Collective chums). Pig was late getting set up because they were back at Radiator headquarters practicing the set the first time together. The sound was indescribable, so here's a link to a video I took...here. Drinking Colt 45 outback I had a chance to chat with these boys from Truro. Not only were they proudly wearing Stanfield's longjohns, but they revealed they settled on the name Pig after playing with a Ouija Board. Matt, aka Dream Pig, also confessed to being only 16 years old (the rest of the band are 18 or 20). "I’m not going to school [tomorrow]. It’s a personal leave."
I didn't stay for Architects, but I did have a chance to talk with members Ali and Tom. The following transcription of our chat is brought to you today by the letter Grillz (my assistant Jill Pettipas). Even if you don't care for Architects take five minutes to check this out, they get pretty candid. Due to their Brighton accents I couldn't tell who was who, so where possible the two voices have been separated by soft-returns. Click the link below to read on, and enjoy!
I talked to eight guys inside who came all the way from Fredericton just to see you. Why?
Why?
(A guy walks over)
—-Are you guys British? Are you Architects?
Yes.
How long did it take you to get here?
—-Five hours
Why did you drive five hours to come see us?
—-Why the fuck not?
There you go.
I heard you guys played Moncton as well. How was that?
That was one of the kinda bigger shows.
Really?
I know. (laughing)
It’s still shocking but you know…
But it’s nice…
Top of the pile for the week.
You know at Gus’ people really don’t show up until much later. I was surprised by how many people were here at 8:30pm.
The show opened at half nine, I don’t blame them.
Fucking hell.
What the fuck’s that about? (laughing)
Is that a bit early for you guys?
That’s a little late for doors to open.
Oh really?
We left the show yesterday at 9:30.
Yeah, we left yesterday’s show at half nine and here the doors opened at half nine.
So were you looking forward to coming to eastern Canada?
We were and then… we got here and we realized it’s probably a little early to headline over here.
(chucking)
Great to get over here though.
It was great seeing Nova Scotia.
(crazy yelling)
(Tom asking a fellow bandmate who strolled up in a leather vest) So what do you make of Eastern Canada? Were you psyched to get here?
Yeah, can’t wait to get home though.
It’s a little bit like…(more yelling)
…it’s different…
…it’s like the eastern block of Europe like Boznia or something but without the war...and the horrible poverty.
Have you seen my home? (chuckling)
Is it bad? Or good?
Bad.
At the end of the day, it’s refreshing to come out here and no matter how many kids there are, there’s still kid’s singing along and that’s fucking amazing.
Not last night, but the nights before.
Yeah, a lot of Fredericton kids came to see you
A lot is rich. A hundred? Hundred and fifty?
It is awesome for people to even show up to these shows is brilliant. Cause apparently we have no… no presence in the eastern segment of Canada… on the circuit.
Eastern Canada is not somewhere we should be headlining but…
Have you been to Toronto and Montreal yet?
Yeah, Toronto. Toronto is lovely. Love it.
Montreal… mixed feelings.
And why should people come out, if you come through again?
I really don’t know. I really don’t know because…
You’ll probably see a bunch of people… spoiled fucking cunts from England who get whatever they want and can’t handle the fact that can’t handle the fact that we’ve never been here before.
It’s a little bit humbling?
It’s very humbling.
Yeah, there you go.
But it’s very brutal on us. It’s like getting kicked in the face.
(chuckling)
It’s like getting kicked in the face and told you’re an ugly piece of shit over and over again.
That’s fine. You know. Sometimes you need that. You take the rough with the smooth.
Who does well in Eastern Canada?
Halifax people.
Metallica must do pretty good around here.
I don’t even think they’ve ever been.
Don’t blame them.
It’s just weird in Halifax. It’s our own scene. You know, it’s a small place. People don’t want to go through New Brunswick. So, we just develop our own.
How about Pig? Do they do well over here?
(chuckles)
They're pretty experimental…
They are one of the most experimental bands I’ve ever seen.
It’s got to be difficult to kind of get a… I don’t want to say break. But you know what I mean…. It must be difficult to get noticed, being a band from here.
Oh yeah.
I’d find it very frustrating.
You have to leave. I mean, that’s the trick. You go to Toronto.
We’ve taken it for granted - being where we’re from. It’s just down the road from London. You know like, there’s tons of people that want to go to shows and stuff.
Because where you are born and where you grew up is (bus drives by) normal…
Do you like the small beers? Did you have some of them?
Yeah, yeah. They’re fucking small.
Thanks… yadda yadda.
I hope you can pull some eligible takes from that.
