Nov. 04, 2009 - Issue #733: Broke

Slates (with video)

Veteran musicians take Budd to BC, return to Edmonton with an album

Even though this may be the first album for Edmonton band Slates, it's not for lack of experience. The band is comprised of ex-members of the Secret Fires, Our Mercury and the Operators, and the group formed almost accidentally two years ago when the ensemble performed as the Jam for the Starlite Room's annual Halloween band masquerade party, Bands as Bands. It's fitting, then, that I catch up with guitarist Eric Budd over the phone as he's scouring Value Village for an Ozzy Osbourne costume, preparing to celebrate the band's two-year anniversary at this year's Bands As Bands, only this time as Black Sabbath.

"[In 2007] we'd been playing as a band for about a year; Our Mercury had wrapped up, and Secret Fires were winding down around the same time," Budd recalls. "Then we did the Starlite Room [Halloween show]—I was playing keys, and these were demo songs for Secret Fires—and they became our songs."

Although the four-piece band, which includes Stefan Duret, James Stewart and Dallas Thompson, may have a soft spot for Sabbath, it draws its influences more poignantly from the frenetic, gruff, punk-rock sensibilities of vintage rock bands like Constantines or the Replacements. Slates chose to record the 14-track self-titled LP with producer Jesse Gander at The Hive Creative Labs in Burnaby, BC, the same place that fellow Edmonton band the City Streets has also tracked its music. Slates also recorded to tape, a deliberate choice on the band's part, Budd explains, over digital technology's forgiving format, and the benefits of taking the hard road.


"We went out there for a week and banged out the record live off the floor. We did it to tape, and it was great," Budd explains, before adding, "it's my personal preference. When you do it to tape, you don't have as many re-dos as the luxury of when you're doing digital recording. The way the process is with analogue lends itself to the band having to be in its finest form and really cohesive, and I think we nailed that on that album. We rolled in, everyone's in the same room, everyone can look at each other, so the album really captures the emotion and interaction between players, which is awesome." V

 

Sat, Nov 7 (8 pm)
Slates
With Falklands, the Pack A.D., No Problem
Pawn Shop, $10 

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