Week of July 9, 2009, Issue #716
MUSIC
It needs more cowbell
That's Parlovr, not Christopher Walken talking
Fawnda Mithrush // fawnda@vueweekly.com
Born from a reaction to the big group/big sound trend of the early '00s in Montréal when outfits like the Arcade Fire were climbing the popularity scale, Parlovr's Alex Cooper and Louis Jackson started pounding out songs of their own in their respective bedrooms. Finally, when they decided to try and write music together, things got a little tense.
"Alex and Louis moved in with each other a few years ago and started doing four-track recordings," Parlovr drummer Jeremy MacCuish says. "They totally hated each other at first. Neither one of them are violent people, but they actually got into a fist fight at one point. But they eventually found some common ground musically, and they both like sitting in their bedrooms recording a lot. They went through a couple drummers, but eventually wound up with me."
MacCuish explains how the three would see each other at other Montréal scene shows, and chat about whatever Frank Black was up to those days while waiting between soundchecks. In 2006, Cooper and Jackson ran into MacCuish in the street, just when they happened to be short of a drummer. Parlovr (pronounced "parlour"—think of the "v" as more of a Medieval gesture) then ventured out to make as big a sound as it possibly could to counter the orchestral team trend that seemed to be overtaking the airwaves. With just three members in the cohort, it was a task that took some creativity.
"I guess it wasn't just in Montréal, it was the whole Broken Social Scene thing all over Canada. It's not that we dislike any of those groups, it's just that we wanted a different sound," MacCuish explains. "We ripped out the guts of Louis's guitar then rewired it to both a bass and a guitar amp. He activates that with a pedal. It doesn't sound like a bass, he doesn't play melodic lines on it like a bass either, but it gets muddy on the lower end. It sounds different than we expected it to, it adds something unique to the band."
The result is a pulsing mash of sloppy chords and distorted tones, a kind of Pixie-ish take on indie up-tempo like the Unicorns.
As for his own role, MacCuish is always looking for ways to add more cowbell, quite literally. "The drums have a bit more freedom in a three-piece, there's not as many restrictions as there would be with the bigger band, you don't have to stick with the groove of the bass or stay out of the way of the horn section or anything," he says. "The percussion can go wild, and the guys get inventive with the vocals too, there's a lot of space in the high register. We like poppy stuff, like the Beach Boys and the Beatles and that. So there's 'oohs' and 'aahs' in there, but also some more inventive vocal sounds. I'm incorporating more and more cowbell and tambourine and trying to use the rims more inventively. Our producer we're working with hates hi hat, and he's gradually convincing me to use things other than the hi hats and cymbals to keep my right hand going."
What the trio is listening to now, he says, is a lot more music from the Prairies. Along with Edmonton faves Hot Panda, MacCuish also notes that the group has run into Regina's Rah Rah and Calgary's Mount Royal at some wicked loud shows. Who knows, perhaps the prairie fires will rub off on Parlovr during its first tour out west this summer. We can only hope that the sloppy-pop movement keeps heading west, because our own popsters are always touring out of province. V
Tue, Jul 14 (9 pm)
Parlovr
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