{"id":4976,"date":"2012-08-23T08:34:31","date_gmt":"2012-08-23T14:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=4976"},"modified":"2012-08-23T08:34:31","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T14:34:31","slug":"warsaw-patience-can-be-heavy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/08\/23\/warsaw-patience-can-be-heavy\/","title":{"rendered":"Warsaw :: Patience can be Heavy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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

On Saturday, August 25th<\/sup>, Warsaw will be making its debut appearance at the Lo Pub.\u00a0 Comprised of Curran Faris (Hide Your Daughters, Husk), Josh Bedry (Electro Quarterstaff, El Diablo), Ethan Osland (burnthe8track), and Darren Achorn (Projektor, Meat Rack), the four-piece takes melodic riffs on top of pop-influenced structures and kicks it all in the ass with their pasts in hardcore and metal. <\/em>Stylus had the opportunity to sit down for a cup of coffee with Faris, Osland, and Faris’ impossibly cute daughter ahead of their show to chat about the bands inception, influences, and goals.\u00a0 The following is an edited transcript of the interview.\u00a0 Be sure to check out Warsaw at the Lo Pub, with Pop Crimes and Still Lights, on August 25th<\/sup>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stylus: So when did you guys start jamming together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ethan Osland<\/strong>: Two years ago?<\/p>\n

Curran Faris<\/strong>: Yeah, just me and Ethan initially.\u00a0 Just had guitar and bass jams.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: When we reached the point where we knew we needed drums, I had the idea to call Darren first because he had been a friend for a long time \u2013 Curran was very excited as we\u2019re both fans of Projektor. It was pretty exciting. He agreed to come down and check us out, and it was just exciting. You would hear these signature styles of hi-hat work that had made us fans of Projektor, or some kind of a roll through a change or something and we would just get so excited we would almost stop playing [laughter]<\/em>. <\/em>\u201cAh he did it! He did it!\u201d [more laughter]<\/em>.\u00a0 And then\u2014<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: Josh. I think we both independently knew Josh for a lot of years. My other bands have played with Electro Quarterstaff\u2014he\u2019s just such a wicked player. He was impressed coming in and checking it out, and then it just kind of went from there.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: We knew that we wanted to do something once Darren was there; the connection was like, \u201cOk, this is for real.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I think aside from Josh, the three of us had sort of hit a wall playing with other bands and not seeing the kind of progress that we wanted to see.\u00a0 It felt even more empowering to connect with people so easily and hear everything gel really quickly. It was really great.<\/p>\n

Stylus: So this project wasn\u2019t something that had been in the works for years as a, \u201cWhen we get time, this will go\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: Maybe some of the riffs Curran has been kicking around.<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: This band is the type of band I\u2019ve wanted to play in for a long time. There was a stretch where I didn\u2019t have a band, I just sort of had these parts and ideas sitting around.\u00a0 So I think early on, when we first started jamming, there was something to start with.\u00a0 But once we got Darren and started jamming, that light sort of went on where it was like, \u201cYeah, this is the band, this is what I have been looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stylus: What are the goals for this band?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: Well there are a lot of firsts for us in this band. \u00a0It\u2019s Curran\u2019s first shot at singing lead vocals in a band.\u00a0 One of the things that he and I connected early on was that we\u2019re both fans of bands that have two lead vocalists.\u00a0 Sometimes working together, sometimes separate. [Faris’ daughter gives Osland a cracker]<\/em> Thank you!<\/p>\n

And for me it\u2019s the first time that I have been involved in a band from the very beginning\u2014not walking in half way through, or when people are starting to get distracted and starting to sign out.\u00a0 So that\u2019s been the most satisfaction for me.<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: I think we\u2019re all pretty excited to start playing. It feels like we\u2019ve been telling, \u201cOh, yeah, we\u2019re all in this band together,\u201d or, \u201cI got this new band I\u2019ve been working on.\u201d So its nice to finally start playing and we\u2019re really looking forward to that.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Is an EP in the sightlines?<\/strong><\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: Something, yeah. We haven\u2019t figured out the nuts and bolts of it, and the where and whens, but we are all on the same page of wanting to do it.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: I think it will be an EP or two 7″s.<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: The past little bit we\u2019ve been working on just getting this set together.\u00a0 So I think once that\u2019s done we\u2019ll do some more writing and have some more songs in the bag that we can decide to record or not record.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: I think its also fair to say we have just been feeling the pressure of getting the first show out of the way. We have a lot of friends that we want to play with and they have been asking, but we\u2019re taking our time. More than anything else, we need to prove it to ourselves that we can pull off a show the way that we want to do it, so we\u2019re trying to keep it on our terms and not feel the external pressure to get out there. We\u2019ve been deliberately taking our time and not trying to rush or feel any pressure, which is pretty tough [laughs]<\/em>. To live in that bubble is a challenge\u2014<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: You want to play!<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: You want to play! You know, almost from the very beginning, Viridians have been knocking on our jam space door, \u201cWe\u2019re just hanging out in the hallway listening to you guys jam. We want to play a show with you!\u201d\u00a0 We didn\u2019t know who they were, but they turned out to be awesome buddies, and I would say our biggest supporters at this point, really.<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: We still haven\u2019t played with them [laughter]<\/em>.\u00a0 They keep giving us a hard time.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: They have set the bar pretty high for the pool of music, stylistically, that we are swimming in. Those guys can play like crazy and they sing like crazy. It’s really humbling and an honour to be receiving that level of respect without having been out there.<\/p>\n

Stylus: So what is your writing process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: It has varied over the couple years.<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: Yeah, I mean there have been some tunes that have more or less been sitting on my hard-drive or a recorder somewhere.\u00a0 Other times, we have ones that Ethan just brought in and have gone from there, and I think more recently its been someone has an idea and we\u2019ll just start hashing it out at the jam space.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: Darren, our drummer, and I had been talking about an idea we read about from Thrice, and how much writing their drummer actually does in the band. So he just started playing this incredible beat and I got a bass line on top.\u00a0 It gets to the point where I know we have something good when Curran gets really quiet, and just sort of does math in his brain with his guitar and doesn\u2019t make a lot of noise.\u00a0 If he gets super quiet, generally we\u2019re onto something.\u00a0 It\u2019s like playing stump Curran [laughter]<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stylus: What do you think the biggest influences that you bring to the writing process are?<\/strong><\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: For me, one of the things that I have noticed about things that have gotten me really pumped up and inspired is getting away from really technical, aggressive kind of stuff. I have been coming back to and drawn towards stuff that is catchy and has hooks, so one of the things that I really like in other bands and in this band is that those sort of identifiable pop structures are there, but its not just necessarily the four same chords. It can still be really heavy, or weird and unconventional, but still at the heart of it we\u2019re intentionally trying to be catchy and melodic. As for relatable bands: Minus the Bear, Shiner, The Life and Times, Jawbox\u2014we all listen to so much stuff, we\u2019re pretty nerdy.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: I would also put in there Torch and Cave In.<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: Cave In has made some of my favourite records of all time.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: And these guys, Josh, Darren, and Curran, are huge vinylists.\u00a0 They collect, and they collect.\u00a0 Luckily all these bands we just talked about are also into vinyl. It\u2019s provided a really neat point of access for us to bond on, because everybody is always nerding out about records, and \u201cOh, whose addiction got fed this week?\u201d We are all serious about the music that we are doing, and we want to get to the point where we can afford to put out a couple seven inches. I think I\u2019ll shit my pants if we actually have a unique 7″.<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: I think whenever people ask me, \u201cWhat do you guys sound like?\u201d that\u2019s the list I sort of just rattle off. It\u2019s kind of there, but it\u2019s also not the sort of the thing where when we are writing we\u2019re referencing those bands.<\/p>\n

EO<\/strong>: We\u2019re not a quiet band. It\u2019s loud, but\u2014oh, excuse me [Faris\u2019 daughter hands Osland a ringing toy phone]<\/em>. \u201cHello? Hello?\u201d [Osland hands back the phone]<\/em>.\u00a0 That\u2019s by design. We\u2019re all fans of the impact of loud music, but we\u2019re also huge fans of dynamics, and it\u2019s been a real experiment to find out where you can draw the line, where you can find your own identity. Sometimes it is too easy to tune really low and put a bunch of distortion on whatever instrument you are playing, and have the drummer play really loud. With bands like Life and Times and Cave In, they\u2019re so great at crafting sounds inside of this incredible heaviness, without losing that connection to the melody. We also have no interest in screaming, so that adds another challenge to first timers like us, trying to be able to project the melody over the volume of a big band.<\/p>\n

CF<\/strong>: I feel like we\u2019re a bunch of metal or hardcore kids, trying to be in a pop band. And we can only go so far into being super sugary and melodic, but everything is still pretty well dimed\u2014still pretty heavy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Darcy Penner On Saturday, August 25th, Warsaw will be making its debut appearance at the Lo Pub.\u00a0 Comprised of Curran Faris (Hide Your Daughters, Husk), Josh Bedry (Electro Quarterstaff, El Diablo), Ethan Osland (burnthe8track), and Darren Achorn (Projektor, Meat Rack), the four-piece takes melodic riffs on top of pop-influenced structures and kicks it all […]<\/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":[561,563],"class_list":["post-4976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-lo-pub","tag-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976","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=4976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}