Well Built

Australia’s Architecture In Helsinki has been garnering fans from all over the globe. With the reception of their albums “Fingers Crossed” and “In Case We Die”, it’s become obvious that this is a band to look out for. They’ve toured in North America on numerous occasions and during their stint in Vancouver, Band of the Day interviewed members Isobel Knowles and Kellie Sutherland in…

10 Questions with Architecture In Helsinki

- by Mattias and Dave-Os -

1. First we were going to ask you how you came up with the name, but people ask that all the time. Instead, what names did you cross off the list before picking Architecture In Helsinki?

K: Well I actually wasn’t there when the name was…
I: None of us were around.
K: It was just Cameron by himself, cutting out words from a newspaper. I don’t know what the other words were sitting on the table, but that’s how he decided to go about giving the band a name. There was a show and they really needed a name, so that’s how it happened. I don’t know the answer…

2. You have eight people in your band. What’s it like traveling together?
I: It’s like a party all the time. *laughs*

K: No sarcasm.
I: I guess it makes it expensive to go anywhere, and it’s pretty crowded in the car. We’ve got a 16-seater bus at the moment with a trailer on the back with all our stuff in it. Parking is kind of hard.
K: It means that you just wait around a lot for other people, usually. But it’s okay; we’re all pretty good friends, so we just entertain each other with really bad jokes and usual tour antics.
Dave-Os: Do you guys play games?
K: Yeah, sometimes.
I: We brought cards on this trip but we’ve never got around to it. We’ve been watching Undeclared today. I think we watched about 8 episodes.

Mattias: That’s an awesome show. That’s my favorite show of all time.
K: Yeah, we got through half the series.

3. In terms of influence and sound, what would you consider to be the biggest difference between the albums “Fingers Crossed” and “In Case We Die”?
I: “Fingers Crossed” was recorded over two years and went through a lot of changes. The list of songs changed a lot from the start to the finish.
K: And it was our first time recording an album. For pretty much everyone in the group, it was the first time being in a band that had made a record, so we experimented a lot. We were also very new to it, so by the time we toured and written for the next album, “In Case We Die,” we were much more prolific on our instruments and better at figuring out what we wanted from the album. They’re completely different and they should be because many things happened in between.

I: And we’re completely different from one to the other.
K: Yeah. We just got a lot of confidence and applied that to ourselves as musicians and artists and really tried to challenge ourselves in the studio a lot more.

4. This one is for Cameron, but maybe you could answer it for him. In the earlier days, Cameron went to the States and hearing all the American bands totally changed his view on music and musical style. What was it about American music that made him change his style?
K: I know that it was about that whole DIY thing that he was exposed to while living in Portland and the energy and conviction that people had to live and make new music. He met a lot of people and they all played him different music over the months that he was living there. Then he came back with a much more fresh approach to playing music. It was great; he was completely changed, and without that I don’t think we would be where we are right now.

5. When people think Australia, they don’t normally think of indie music. What’s the scene like there; is there a big scene?
K: Yes, there’s a very big scene.
I: And it seems that the bands from Australia are starting to come here more often, so maybe you will hear of them very soon.

6. If you could be a room of any building, what would you be?

K: A basement. That’s where the treasures are stored.
I: I’d want to be a ballroom with chandeliers.
Dave-Os: Reason for that?
I: I like chandeliers.
Dave-Os: Chandeliers are nice.
Mattias: Who doesn’t like chandeliers?
Dave-Os: Everyone loves chandeliers.
Mattias: I love chandeliers.
I: They’re amazing.

7. How do you teach a dog and a cat to be friends?

I: You let them grow up together.
K: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the only thing.
I: ‘Cause they’re not afraid of each other.
Mattias: I’ve always thought that if you put them in the same room together they’ll eventually fall in love.
I: I think you just have to get them there before they’ve learnt what the other one’s meant to be.
K: They can change just as much as anybody else can change.

8. So you’re playing at Sasquatch tomorrow. How would you capture a Sasquatch?

K: How do you capture Sasquatch…I don’t know. Don’t you have to live in the woods, in Wisconsin or something? Or Montana?
Dave-Os: You could go hunting.
K: Yeah, I’m not into hunting. I wouldn’t want to catch it.
Mattias: I think BC has our own Sasquatch.
Dave-Os: I saw it.
K: In Australia, the mythical creature that lives in the outback is called a Bunyip. It’s like a swamp monster.
Dave-Os: That’s much more intimidating than a Sasquatch.
K: Yeah, he’s pretty evil. He eats little children.

9. What’s your favorite color?
I: Hot pink.
K: Green.
Dave-Os: Both good choices.

10. Who would you like to see next on Band of the Day?

I: Clue to Kalo. They’re our support band.
K: They’re playing with us tonight.
I: You’ve got an opportunity to make it happen.
Mattias: Definitely.

Thanks to the ladies for having a talk with us despite being incredibly tired from traveling. The next 10 Questions will be up on Band of the Day later this week.

Beware of the Bunyip,

The BotD Team