Do you guys want to introduce yourselves?

Andy: Hi, I’m Andy. I play drums in Knitting.

Sarah: Sarah, I play guitar.

Misha: Hey, I’m Misha. I play guitar and sing.

Piper: Hey, I’m Piper. I play bass.

 

And you guys are all from Montreal? Or where are you guys from? 

Piper: Based in, but we’re all from different parts of Canada.

Andy: Yeah, well, a couple of us are from Ontario. I’m from Alberta. Sarah’s from Newfoundland.

 

You guys are all from different places in Canada. Do you have any hometown bands that you love? 

Piper: Damn, well, I’m from Kingston and the last couple of years I was living there, there was a pretty good DIY scene, and Dorothea Pass was living in Kingston at the time and she’s a really phenomenal singer, songwriter, rockstar. She’s based in Toronto now, but yeah. Major shout out to Dorothea, she’s incredible.

Sarah: Yeah, Shouts out Swimming from St. John’s and Disperta.

Piper: Yeah, Jacob from Swimming mixed our new single Nightlight.

 

You guys just released an album a couple months ago on Mint Records. Do you guys have another album in the works? 

Misha: We’re planning on recording this summer. Many of the songs are still to be written, so we will see what happens…but we are recording, we will make it.

 

How is the recording process? Who did you record with for the last album? 

Misha: We recorded with our friend Monty at Studio St. Zo in Montreal. That was a lot of fun. And then we did overdubs with Sarah at her studio.

Andy: This Sarah.

Sarah: In Little Italy, Villeray ish.

Misha: Then we did two singles in the winter with Sarah, whole start to finish.

Piper: So now we’re floating the idea of doing some destination recording in St. John’s where Sarah’s from.

 

Do you have any bands at New Colossus or at SXSW that you’re really excited to see?

Piper: Ginuwine. And also lots of friends. We love Pippy, that was Pippy.

Sarah: Laughing from Montreal.

Piper: Sarah also plays in Amery and we caught that set last night, it was awesome.

Misha: There’s just so many bands and I feel like at festivals like this I tell myself I’m definitely gonna see something and then I do not see it so I’m trying to be open to new experiences and just seeing what I see and enjoying it. Which led to me watching this amazing prog rock band from Japan last night after the Amery set. Suichu Spica. Really impressive like guitar playing and singing and presence.

 

Do you guys have any non-music plans while you’re in New York or in Austin?

Piper: Oh we love New York. We’ve been eating well, getting good coffee, thrifting. I think it’s all of our first time going to Austin. Just excited to check it out.

Misha: I’m excited for it to be 30 degrees.

Sarah: Barbecue, cowboy boots.

Andy: Fried chicken.

Sarah: But New York – A1 records, pizza, many places.

Piper: Punjabi deli.

 

Your album Some King of Heaven was number one on Canadian campus radio charts for a good amount of time, right?  Do you guys listen to college radio at all? 

Piper: Yeah, I work at CJLO. Sarah and I originally met at CKDU in Halifax when I was working there and Sarah was volunteering. We love campus radio. Campus radio is awesome.

Misha: I wouldn’t say that I listen that regularly to a show that I like but Piper is doing a really interesting podcast right now.

Piper: It’s called Discordia. It’s a docu-series about the history of student activism at Concordia.

Sarah: I listen to CJAD 800. Shouts out Montreal, West Island. It’s not campus, it’s community though.

 

CJLO, I have some buddies who have a show called Go Go Radio Magic Show and they actually asked a really good question in their interview with Last Waltzon that I wanted to ask! It was “Do you have any funny road stories from tour or anything?”

Andy: Somehow we manage to amass, like, a lot of bananas.

Piper: We do all like to eat bananas. You gotta, you know, you gotta have potassium, keep your electrolytes up.

Sarah: Some funny stories? Everything is funny.

Piper: Yeah, that’s the thing, you kind of lose your mind,  so everything is funny. Like, we’ll be laughing about something and bringing it up for the rest of our lives, but it wouldn’t be funny to anybody else, you know?

 

Have you guys played in New York before? Are there any other cities that you guys have played that you’ve really enjoyed?

Andy: Philly Rocks.

Piper: I love playing Philly. In Austin we’re gonna be playing with one of those bands called Her New Knife, they’re really sick. Also, in Connecticut, we played in Connecticut and there’s a really cool video rental store that holds shows called Best Video and they’re in trouble right now so if anybody lives in America or Connecticut…support Best Video in New Haven, Hamden.

Andy: Yeah, they got every movie you could imagine in the North American lexicon. Many international as well. I don’t want to make any promises on the record that they have every movie, but they have many films.

Piper: They have a Cirque du Soleil section.

 

Speaking of films, do you have a non-music media recommendation? Like a favorite movie or something?

Andy: That’s the greatest interview question I’ve ever received. I would just say like any reality, Korean reality TV. Physical 100 is one that I really enjoyed.

Sarah: The X-Files. The X-Files every season front to back. No skips.

Misha: I’m gonna say Harriet the Spy, R.I.P. Michelle Tractionberg.

Piper: Last night we were watching Blue Velvet on TV dubbed in Spanish. I’m sorry to admit it was my first time watching it because I was worried it was too scary but I do plan to go home and watch it in English now. R.I.P. David Lynch also.

 

Do you have a desert island album pick?

Piper: The first thing that comes to mind for me is Blonde by Frank Ocean. I think it’s a perfect album.

Andy: I have to listen to it forever?  Yikes. I’ll just go with… I mean I’ll probably be sad so probably like Galaxy 500 or something. I don’t know which album.

Sarah: I feel like the environment’s number one recording of Coney Island. It’s not music. It’s just the sound of the ocean. No music.

Piper: You’re on an island. If you’re on an island you can hear the sound of the ocean.

Misha: Yeah, but like… Then you can have a transcendent ocean experience.

Piper: 4D sound. No, favorites are too hard.

Misha: Okay, I’ll say Do a Little by the Pixies.

 

Then do you guys have a karaoke song?  Are you guys karaoke goers? 

Piper: Yes. We love karaoke. We like to do karaoke at our jam space so that, you know, you just take the stranger factor out of it. And you can just be free. Andy’s a karaoke king. He’s an excellent host.

Andy: Yeah, sometimes  I host karaoke if anyone asks me to. Anyone in Montreal needs a karaoke host. It depends on the mood but, uh, some Bob Seeger.

Piper: Oh yeah, Whiskey Does is a good one for you.

Andy: Yeah, what’s that? Paul? Isaac, something or other. Country guy. But no, I feel like Night Moves by Bob Seeger is my go-to. But I’m not sure.

Sarah: I just do like whatever comes next on the algorithm. Yeah, just choose based on what other people are singing.

Misha: I recently did Queen Bitch by David Bowie and that was fun for me.

Andy: How about you?

Steph: Oh,  uh… Video killed the radio star. Because then you can have someone come and just do the “ooooh ooooh” and then it’s a duet.

 

And then, last question, I’m a photographer, so I take your photo?

 

Interview and photography by Stephanie Nofz (@sure_shawty on instagram)