{"id":9654,"date":"2014-11-06T15:15:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T15:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=9654"},"modified":"2014-11-06T15:15:13","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T15:15:13","slug":"greek-riots-greeking-out-about-their-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2014\/11\/06\/greek-riots-greeking-out-about-their-band\/","title":{"rendered":"Greek Riots :: Greeking Out About Their Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

by Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Greek Riots, not to be confused with the riots in Greece, are one of our very own local indie-rock bands of Winnipeg. Originally intending to start a solo project, Jacques Richer was chatting with his buddy Duncan Murta and well, it just happened. They threw together some rough demos and submitted to The Uniter Fiver. Upon hearing that they were in, they scrounged for some more dudes to play the other instruments typically found in a band and bam! Greek Riots now also includes Breandan Flynn, Mack Hatcher and Seamus Hamilton-Pattison.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were practicing for about a month prior to that so we were panicking,\u201d recalls Seamus on not feeling entirely ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, for awhile there we had it in our heads that we weren\u2019t going to get in. So it wasn\u2019t a really big deal to us,\u201d says frontman Jacques.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe four songs we played at the Fiver were actually the only four songs we had at the time,\u201d adds Duncan. I asked them to tell me about playing the Fiver other than the panic and Duncan replied, \u201cOh man that\u2019s all I can remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he forgot about the comedy that started off the band\u2019s first public appearance. The MC was making jokes about all the bands being pitted against each other. Jacques decided to use this opportunity to introduce Greek Riots with a joke. He shouted, \u201cAre you not entertained?\u201d Unfortunately in his head followed, \u201cThat was stupid.\u201d But who doesn\u2019t love a little silly humour by way of Gladiator<\/i> references?<\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s not like the guys haven\u2019t played live with different bands before. But being so new, playing The Park Theatre, five people running around with cameras and press, there was a bit of extra weight on their shoulders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were joking that oh we managed to sneak on and nobody noticed, right on!\u201d recalls Jacques.<\/p>\n

After the show they realized that damn<\/i> they fit together well. And there you have it, the formation of a band. There was love at first sight with their great chemistry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us got along really well and it was like this was one in a million. Not everyone plays well together. You could have a ton of great musicians and only so many of them click,\u201d says Jacques.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr they play well together and just don\u2019t get along on a personal level,\u201d adds Duncan.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, like Metallica,\u201d coughs Jacques.<\/p>\n

Greek Riots currently have one demo track out titled \u201cNewman.\u201d \u201cWe took down a couple of songs just \u2018cause they were kind of rough,\u201d laughs Jacques. But on November 8th, they\u2019re releasing their EP Cavelier<\/i>. You can find \u201cMonroeville,\u201d a tease track from their upcoming EP, on Bandcamp for \u201cpay what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like t-shirts and pins and CDs and the whole shebang,\u201d Duncan tells Stylus<\/i> as he\u2019s trying hard to contain his excitement. \u201cThere\u2019ll be merch tables and stuff, it\u2019s so fancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most exciting things about this EP is that it was produced by Ron Obvious, musical producer for punk legends D.O.A. and The Subhumans, as well as local bands like Mise En Scene and Little House. The Riots say he\u2019s got a mobile studio and he just sets it up right in your jam space. It was cool, but he was tough. If he didn\u2019t like it, they knew.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel every band needs that. You need to come up on your own and feel good about yourself. Then you need to get beaten down and build yourself back up,\u201d says Jacques.<\/p>\n

The Uniter Fiver was a great kick off show but The Cavern is where the heart really lies for most of the guys. Duncan recounts his first time getting to face that dream. \u201cI\u2019ve been wanting to play The Cavern ever since I picked up a guitar\u2026 The first time I ever got to play it was with this band. We were playing with Solhounds and The Explorers Club. It was the Saturday before St Patrick\u2019s Day because St Patrick\u2019s Day was on a Monday and the place was just filled to the brim like right to the window. For me, that was the biggest show hands down. And everyone jumping around, cause I guess we play the right kind of music for that crowd. I feel our best shows are always at The Cavern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those classic, if you live in Winnipeg and you\u2019re in Osborne on the weekend and it\u2019s nice out. Just people spilling out everywhere and flooding into the Cavern,\u201d adds Seamus.<\/p>\n

The future for Greek Riots is a whole ton of music release and the hopes of hitting all of Manitoba\u2019s music fests next summer. \u201cPlaying something like Rainbow Trout or Shine On would just be unreal for us,\u201d says Jacques.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we can keep making, putting out and playing as much music as possible, that\u2019s pretty much the dream,\u201d says Seamus wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n

Duncan ends things on a bit more of a serious note. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to just having a box of CDs. I think that\u2019s going to be the coolest thing ever. And t-shirts, I\u2019m just stoked to see this crap. I\u2019ve never had any of this stuff.\u201d Just kidding, he was giddy.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss Greek Riots with Naysa and Solhounds on November 8, when they release<\/i> Cavalier at the Cavern!<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

by Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrell Greek Riots, not to be confused with the riots in Greece, are one of our very own local indie-rock bands of Winnipeg. Originally intending to start a solo project, Jacques Richer was chatting with his buddy Duncan Murta and well, it just happened. They threw together some rough demos and submitted to […]<\/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":[563],"class_list":["post-9654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9654","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=9654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}