Small Sins, the Toronto-based indie pop quintet helmed by Thomas D’arcy, has been going through some changes recently. Most significantly, D’arcy brought in his entire touring band to record the group’s third album Pot Calls Kettle Black, after recording the previous two Small Sins albums on his own. This upcoming run of shows marks the band’s second tour for this album, and D’arcy says it’s been a new — but not unwelcome — process. “I pretty much made the first two records alone, and I was never thinking about how things would translate live,” he says. “I didn't care. I wanted the albums to be good in one way, and the live show to be good in another. Lately we’ve been trying to stay truer to the album.”
While D’arcy still remains prolific on his own, posting new songs and re-worked covers on his website every couple of weeks, the group sensibility is keenly felt in the new video for the song “Why Don’t You Believe Me.” In a single take, director JP Poliquin follows the group, along with a few friends, as they jam, skateboard, dance and goof around in a large warehouse room, moving seamlessly from scene to scene. For D’arcy, the video is a fitting tribute to the great videos that have come before. “In our (video) we basically stole a dozen different little camera tricks that people base entire music videos on,” he says. “If you can figure out which ones we stole from, you can figure out which ones were our favourites from the last ten years.” Small Sins play the Paragon’s Gallery Pub this Monday, March 7 with Dance Movie and Billie Dre.
