Noise from Room 407: The Band Next Dorm
Promptly waking up at 8:30 on a Friday morning, I headed to Bishop Mountain Hall for breakfast. I had a long day ahead of me! First on the docket was to meet with a band from Molson Hall, 407 Studios. I was familiar with the group through word of mouth, though I was never quite sure who was a part of the band and who was an avid fan.
Amongst other Upper residence subgroups, including hairdressers, confessions pages, and chair enthusiasts, 407 stood out in their presentation and atmosphere. Halls that were home to Grimes (despite some disagreement on which dorm), Upper Residence is a microcosm of McGill itself. A ubiquitous feature of Upper is its bathrooms: co-ed, uncomfortably spacious, and surprisingly communal. Unless you paid the extra money for a personal bathroom at New Residence or Carrefour Sherbrooke, you’ll be disposing yourself among your peers in mid century tile bathrooms. It’s an equalizing experience, compounded by frequent pregames and chance encounters with floormates. It’s within this culture that 407 establishes themselves.
The band is fashionably late – truthfully, only five minutes – and I was greeted by the group’s leader Ishan, the tenant of room 407. Accompanying Ishan was Edward, quasi-producer and “fucking awesome” at what he does, Maddy, lead vocalist, “Big O” Oscar, and “Dirty Gav” Gavin. While 407’s lineup isn’t restricted to these five, they are the group’s core. Ironically, the group stemmed from a similar lineup named ‘Chunder Thunder’ (a name I misheard as ‘Gender Bender’ for half of the interview), named after their frequent bathroom rehearsals and late-night hurling in Upper toilets. The group was founded primarily through Ishan. He quotes: “I’d always been playing music, and when I got here, I felt like I wasn’t doing that much, and I needed an excuse to play music with people, and that excuse was 407 Studios.” This led to him asking his friends in Chunder Thunder if they needed a bassist, “that one thing turned into another,” and 407 was born. The band grew alongside their friend group. Maddy joined the band when, “me and some other girls were kinda groupie-ing… and I said ‘hey, I can just do vocals,’” subbing in for Edward on vocals after 407’s first recording of ‘Hey Joe’. Big O was also convinced to join by Dirty Gav coming up to him in the gym saying, “Oscar you’re so tough on guitar bro”.
“We don’t really have much time to practice”, said Oscar about performances. “It’s relatively spontaneous,” added Ishan, who takes responsibility as editor, cinematographer, and director for the band’s online material. “We practice on our own and usually do 2-3 takes of a song, sometimes more,” adding that showtime in the bathroom usually ended up around 1.5-2 hours. “That long?” Oscar replied, with Edward insisting, “Well, that’s including the pre-show orgy,” convincing me that the whole group was a ruse for a sex cult. Above all, the Band’s ethos is to have fun. “That’s what we do. None of us are music students, but we wanted an opportunity to make music with other people in our dorm,” Ishan says. “We have fun with these guys,” Maddy added.
Truthfully, if there was any better way to advertise residences at McGill, it would be 407 Studios. They exemplify the “what if we started a band” spirit of a tight knit friend group. Interviewing them gave me a sense of their chemistry and genuine enthusiasm – always joking with each other and committed to making good content. The spirit of 407 won’t die when they move out of Molson, Ishan insists. “407’s like the mama band, it birthed us making music”, Oscar chimed. Moving forward, however, they want to grow through house shows and bars – and a drummer…they really, really need a drummer and are taking applications for one, please reach out – while sticking together as friends. The ultimate goal of 407 is “to be famous enough so the person living in 407 thinks ‘Oh shit! I’m living in the same room as the band!’… the next Grimes.” As the band moves across the McGill-Plateau area, look out for the numbers 407, McGill’s newest band next door.
Instagram: @407_studios
