{"id":4585,"date":"2012-07-06T08:59:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-06T14:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=4585"},"modified":"2012-07-06T08:59:19","modified_gmt":"2012-07-06T14:59:19","slug":"slates-petro-state-rock-n-roll-hits-the-lo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/07\/06\/slates-petro-state-rock-n-roll-hits-the-lo\/","title":{"rendered":"Slates: Petro-state rock n’ roll hits the Lo"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Darcy Penner<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was sitting in the <\/em>Stylus office a few weeks back when Adrienne Yeung tossed Slates’ album <\/em>Prairie Fires<\/a> into the CD player. My excitement for the band quickly turned to annoyance when I found out how long I had not known about this fantastic quartet, and their post-punk, Americana influenced rock n’ roll. Leading up to their cross-Canada tour in support of <\/em>Prairie Fires, Dallas Thompson took the time to send some emails my way and answer a few questions. \u00a0They play Winnipeg on Saturday, July 7 at the Lo Pub<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Stylus: You are presently touring in support of your most recent release, Prairie\u00a0Fires<\/em>. Both this album and your previous self-titled full length were\u00a0recorded with Jesse Gander<\/a> at The Hive Studios <\/a>in Burnaby, BC. What is it\u00a0about this environment that draws you away from your Edmonton home to\u00a0record?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dallas Thompson: <\/strong>Jesse is a friend of ours and an accomplished engineer. When we were\u00a0originally looking for a studio, the Hive was the only space in\u00a0Western Canada that both interested us and had a tape machine. It\u00a0suited what we wanted to accomplish at the time, as far as instrument\u00a0tones and live recording was concerned. Most of the things that we\u00a0weren’t wild about on the first one were worked out on Prairie Fires<\/em>.\u00a0Maybe the idea of getting out of our comfort zone played a part but\u00a0really, Vancouver is just a great city with an ocean and a ton of veg\u00a0food.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Along with your album title, your bios, one-sheets and lyrics all\u00a0reference living in the relatively isolated prairie city of Edmonton.\u00a0Obviously we have a relatable existence here in Winnipeg, and our local\u00a0artists regularly reference this as well. How does this existence affect your art, from the creative process, to the content, to your lifestyles as\u00a0musicians?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DT: <\/strong>Isolation is definitely the factor, but I’m unsure if it trumps the\u00a0fact that we’re living in the capital city of a petro-state. As far as\u00a0the music is concerned, I’m not even sure how much of a role that\u00a0plays anymore as an infinite amount of influences are available at\u00a0one’s fingertips these days. Thematically, maybe it’s the residents\u00a0who can a little insular that add that touch of spice to living where\u00a0we do and the creative aspect That’s just a result of having 6 months\u00a0of Winter. I’m sure folks all across the prairies would agree that\u00a0writing music is a good way to ward off those -40 and dark all the\u00a0time blues.<\/p>\n

Stylus: You were one of the first bands to embark on the Solidarity Rock<\/a>, Cuban\u00a0tour, and even left all the gear you brought there for kids to play music.\u00a0Evidently the experience shaped you guys, titling the first track off\u00a0Prairie Fires<\/em> after the Cuban city Sancti Spiritus. How did this experience\u00a0influence the band and your music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DT: <\/strong>That tour happened in January 2010. I can only speak from personal\u00a0experience on this, but I’m sure the guys would agree to some extent.\u00a0I consider myself a fairly privileged musician. I’ve been able to\u00a0freely travel around the world to play wherever I’ve wanted, and in\u00a0them meantime have accumulated some decent musical equipment. After\u00a0spending two weeks playing shows for free, with people my age who are\u00a0more or less stranded on the island and who don’t even have access to new\u00a0sets of stings… I guess you’d have to be pretty calloused to not be\u00a0impacted by a run like that. It was in Cuba where we decided we’d\u00a0like to be an international band. Why keep playing pubs and\u00a0punk-houses when you can play a squat during a riot or have to bribe\u00a0your way out of Bosnia?<\/p>\n

Stylus: It seems like you folks celebrate the DIY lifestyle a fair bit. \u00a0Can you\u00a0discuss the benefits and limitations to a DIY approach for Canadian\u00a0prairie-bands, and what it means to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DT: <\/strong>I’ve never been the type to wait for someone to do something for me\u00a0and really enjoy the challenge of seeing ideas through. If it fails,\u00a0we learn from it and if it works out, we try for something bigger I\u00a0guess. DIY to me is about celebrating opportunity, which these days is\u00a0only limited by your own self-imposed restrictions. Plus, when you’re\u00a0the captain of your own ship you can’t really blame anybody which\u00a0makes the successes that much sweeter. I’ve always thought the DIY\u00a0bands were doing something a bit more interesting. Take Greyscreen in\u00a0Calgary. The dude (K. Stebner) plays shows using this ridiculous\u00a0game-boy set up he’s created and it’s awesome. He loves it. Who are\u00a0the bands that look like they love what they’re doing?<\/p>\n

Stylus: Your criticism<\/a> of the militarism within the Winnipeg Jet’s logo joins a\u00a0Winnipeg (or just G-7 Welcoming Committee-affiliated individuals) tradition of\u00a0addressing militarism within professional hockey (notably John K. Samson’s\u00a0criticism<\/a> of the logo, and Propagandhi’s “Dear Coach’s Corner”<\/a>). \u00a0What\u00a0do you believe are the consequences of normalizing\/celebrating the military\u00a0within popular, non-military culture, such as professional hockey?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DT: <\/strong>I was impressed at how well John K. articulated the issue. As an\u00a0elementary teacher, the visual of the student drawing the logo in his\u00a0desk was bang on. Kids are so impressionable and that’s what concerns\u00a0me. I don’t believe that the bluest conservative is down with the\u00a0trickle down effects of celebrating the war machine. Of course it’s\u00a0not a new phenomenon, I remember Tie Domi being celebrated in the\u00a090’s, but it does seem more prevalent. It’s nice to see the momentum\u00a0as far as responsible adults pushing for a less violent game.<\/p>\n

Stylus: After you are finished your month long cross-Canada tour, what are your\u00a0plans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DT: <\/strong>I’m going to head to the Yukon for a while and not think about the\u00a0band. (Ha!) Then I think the plan is to finish writing a new album,\u00a0record in spring and head out on a larger tour next year. \u00a0The\u00a0opportunity to check out the Middle East has come about after playing\u00a0a few shows with an Israeli band last summer. That’d be something\u00a0else.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Lastly, what are three (not obvious) records anyone who is into your band\u00a0should be listening to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

DT: <\/strong>Oh man, you’re probably talking to the wrong guy about this one. How\u00a0about anything on Daptone, Weights and Measures – Tonight the Lower\u00a0Abdominals and the Rite of Spring (Stravinsky, not the DC one).<\/p>\n

Catch Slates at the Lo Pub on Saturday, July 7th with This Hisses. $8, doors at 9 PM.<\/em><\/p>\n


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By Darcy Penner I was sitting in the Stylus office a few weeks back when Adrienne Yeung tossed Slates’ album Prairie Fires into the CD player. My excitement for the band quickly turned to annoyance when I found out how long I had not known about this fantastic quartet, and their post-punk, Americana influenced rock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[300,561,867,1003,1104],"class_list":["post-4585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-edmonton","tag-lo-pub","tag-slates","tag-this-hisses","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}