Cannon Bros. release Firecracker/Cloudglow on emerging label

While local duo Cannon Bros. ended up releasing their self-titled debut EP last winter out of necessity, the release of their full-length Firecracker/Cloudglow came about because the pair chanced into an opportunity.

“The EP we just kind of recorded with our friend and we weren’t even really planning on releasing it,” notes Alannah Walker. She explains, “We just recorded songs when we first started playing and then we went on tour last summer and we had nothing to sell so we were like, ‘Let’s just put all the songs that we recorded onto a CD and sell it,’ so that’s how the EP came about.”
The pair now finds their new record being tagged as the second release from brand-new Winnipeg label Disintegration Records, a move that came about organically as Cole Woods notes. “I play in Greg’s band and so Greg has heard our music, and the person that he’s running the label with, Cam Loeppky, is the person who recorded our album, so it was kind of like a natural thing.”

Both Walker and Woods sing Loeppky’s praises with Woods stressing that “He mostly just acted as the engineer, which is pretty nice. Not a lot of people can do that, just sit back and be, ‘No, it’s your call, it’s your call always.’ He had some suggestions with guitar tones and sounds but he never changed the songs.”

Walker adds, “As far as the process goes it was really simple, relaxed and enjoyable and it didn’t take us very long to record all the songs.”

Notoriously prolific writers, Walker admits that “we have written so many songs and played so many songs together that probably no one will ever hear and we probably don’t even remember.” So when it came time to consciously consider what would go on Firecracker/Cloudglow, the pair “started playing the songs that we liked the most and stopped playing the other ones and I think that’s how the album came together with the twelve songs.” Woods is quick to note that they recorded the guitar and drums live off the floor and overdubbed the vocals and were conscientious about keeping the songs “still pretty simple” so the pair could recreate the album live.

As to the title of the record and what exactly it means, Woods is tight-lipped: “It’s kind of an ambiguous title I guess, I’ll just leave it at that.”