by Martyna Turczynowicz
Latka is an four-piece rock band that’s known for their onstage energy and catchy lyrics. They’ve been nominated for the Video of the Year and BreakOutWest. Stylus caught up with Cole Vincent and Milos Mistrovic to talk about their busy year and upcoming single, “West Coast (A-Game).”
Stylus: Latka toured west this year, how was that?
Cole Vincent: We went up to Vancouver, and back. It was the best experience.
Milos Mistrovic: We were sleeping in a van. We would park in a Walmart and then everybody would go to the back and sleep. That’s not the best idea because we’re scrunched.
CV: We had this crazy drive from Vancouver. I think we were driving all night, for like nine hours, we had no place to stay. At like 2am, we stopped in Golden at this like convenience store to take a break and we heard live music. So we run down the street and the bar was like empty. It was two touring bands just playing to each other. By the time we got out of there, it was like 3am and we drove out to this town where my family lives but there’s nowhere for us to stay and they have a beautiful beach and in the middle of this town surrounded by mountains. There’s this random wooden hut on the beach, and we pitched a tent there. That was the coolest thing, waking up on the beach.
Stylus: You guys were in Manitoba Song Fest this year as well…
CV: They really played up the competition side of it. We never really see music as a competition. We’re working hand in hand. It’s interesting to be in that environment with all these musicians. I feel like most musicians see it that way, it’s not a competition, everyone’s music is great in their own right.
MM: We got everybody up and moving though. It’s like the more energy the crowd gives you, the more you can give to them. It’s like bouncing a beach ball.
CV: If we have a ton of energy on stage, we’re gonna throw it at you and hopefully you’re gonna throw it back and then we’re gonna keep doing that.
MM: The main thing is, is that you want to get the crowd to forget about everything and just do what people do at like Readymix and stuff. You wanna get them to dance.
Stylus: And now you’ve been nominated for Video of the Year at BreakOutWest…
CV: Our video was nominated for video of the year and Milos is the one who directed it. It’s so rad to be invited out to Western Canadian music awards. Before our album was released, I knew about and looked at it like, “Man that would be so sick”. Mariana’s trench is nominated for video of the year too. It’s so awesome to be able to play with Mise en Scene too and The Revival. We’ve never played with either of those bands before. Anytime you can do music x amount of days in a row is amazing. Having a weekend like that in your hometown, that’s special.
Stylus: What’s next for you guys?
MM: We have a new single called “West Coast (A Game),” it should be out in around a month. It’s kind of a response to us being on tour. There’s a music video for it too. We took four video cameras before we left and we each had a camera and just filmed stuff when we were on tour.
CV: The writing started before tour, finished on tour in the van while we were driving.
MM: It was a lot of fun, made time go by really fast, for the people in the back anyway.
CV: Except when you’re doing group vocals and holding the mic in the middle of the van and everyone’s yelling.
MM: And it’s in the video, we have us, working on the song in the van.
Latka will be performing at the Pyramid Cabaret on Friday, October 3rd with We Were Lovers, Mise en Scene, Shred Kelly and the Revival and October 4th and at the Park Theatre with Fred Penner, Indicator Indicator, The Wet Secrets, The Mariachi Ghost and Moses Mayes.