{"id":4119,"date":"2012-05-04T07:34:55","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T13:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=4119"},"modified":"2012-05-04T07:34:55","modified_gmt":"2012-05-04T13:34:55","slug":"breaking-fingers-destroying-guitars-and-taking-names-boats-on-upcoming-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/05\/04\/breaking-fingers-destroying-guitars-and-taking-names-boats-on-upcoming-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking fingers, destroying guitars and taking names :: Boats, on upcoming album"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\nWords & photo by Leif Larsen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fans of Winnipeg indie band Boats<\/a> will be pleased to know that the band has been holed away producing their third studio album,\u00a0To a Fairway Full of Miners<\/em>. While three records in five years may seem impressive to some, frontman, Mat Klachefsky, doesn\u2019t think they\u2019ve done enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work pretty slowly; write songs pretty slowly. There\u2019s not a lot of B-sides on these records.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klachefsky says he\u2019s not afraid to abandon a song that he isn\u2019t in to.<\/p>\n

Writing a new Boats song, according to Klachefsky, is pretty much a solo effort. It begins life on his looper, then gets recorded again and again, growing each time. When the song makes sense, Klachefsky says, only then does he show it to the band. In terms of the band\u2019s input, he says that sometimes they have good additions, but Klachefsky always retains \u201cveto power,\u201d so he can maintain his vision for the song.<\/p>\n

While the lack of collaboration may seem strange to some, Klachefsky says it\u2019s the only way he knows how to work, and one of the things new band members are prepared for when they join Boats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the only way I know how to write songs, on my own. So that\u2019s what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klachefsky says that before he recently started playing bass in a friends band, Scotch + Tape<\/a>, he didn\u2019t \u201creally know what it\u2019s like to play in a band.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kind of realize what a shitty musician you are,\u201d he admits. \u201cIt\u2019s completely different from what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of what he\u2019s learned in five years of making albums, Klachefsky said he doesn\u2019t know if Boats has learned anything, but they have become more efficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just spent four marathon days in the studio, to get everything done instrument wise, but it\u2019s kinda just doing the same stuff. We\u2019re not the learning type.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klachefsky says the next challenge will be getting the vocals. \u201cThere have been a few setbacks, and we\u2019re just trying to find time for everybody and make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the setbacks was the breaking of their engineer\u2019s pinky finger in an unrelated dodgeball incident.<\/p>\n

Followers of Boats on Facebook may have come across a YouTube video <\/a>of Klachefsky mercilessly beating a guitar into submission in the studio \u2014 all in the name of capturing the instrument’s death throes. According to Klachefsky this was an evolution of a technique he uses on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just this part of a song where I normally hit the back of a guitar to get a sound, and we had this guitar no one wanted.\u201d The video shows Klachefsky, wearing safety goggles, gloves and a hard-hat, beating on the plugged-in guitar with a hammer, and the sturdy instrument standing up surprisingly well to the abuse. \u201cI was actually hoping that we could have destroyed it more . . . it was a pretty strong guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those recoiling in horror at the destruction of an instrument, worry not; Klachefsky said that it was a no-name \u201cimitation Les Paul\u201d donated by a neighbour who told him it never stayed in tune. \u201cOne day he just showed up at the door, handed it to me and walked away . . . so I figured it was OK for me to smash it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to hang it from the rafters and hit it like a pinata, but I was really worried about destroying some of the equipment [in the studio] \u2014 there was some pretty expensive stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite not getting to destroy it in his desired way, he says the guitar did not die in vain, and the effect \u201csounds great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klachefsky was also polling Facebook in March for a \u201cbowed Saw player,\u201d so what will show up on the album at this point is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

While he was vague in talking about a release date for To a Fairway Full of Miners<\/em>, Klachefsky pegged \u201cfall\u201d as the likely timeframe, and said the band is now set to finish the album\u2019s vocals at UMFM<\/a>\u2019s new recording studio at the University of Manitoba.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice little set up, and they\u2019re giving us a pretty good deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what listeners can expect from the upcoming album, Klachefsky says that Boats\u2019s sound has evolved since their first album, Intercontinental Champion<\/em>, and he went in \u201cdifferent directions\u201d when writing and producing this album.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say that this is a more mature record, but at the same time there are songs that are completely out of control . . . insane and ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says that there are also songs that are more \u201crestrained and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Klachefsky the album itself embraces this dual nature, and plays it safe at times, but also takes risks at others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few meandering five-minute epics,\u201d says Klachefsky. This might disappoint people who have fallen for Boats\u2019 signature sound, but qualified it, saying there are also \u201csome three-minute pop songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Klachefsky says that the it\u2019s hard for him to put the completed album into perspective at this point, because there is still \u201ca lot of room for completion.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Words & photo by Leif Larsen Fans of Winnipeg indie band Boats will be pleased to know that the band has been holed away producing their third studio album,\u00a0To a Fairway Full of Miners. While three records in five years may seem impressive to some, frontman, Mat Klachefsky, doesn\u2019t think they\u2019ve done enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[453,563],"class_list":["post-4119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-indie","tag-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}