Weakness is just an understatement

The Weakerthans were among the many talented acts that performed during this years Arts County Fair XV at UBC. Clearly the band was a crowd favourite and why wouldn’t they be? Regardless of being drunk and/or high, students know good music, and The Weakerthans have good music. Their album “Left & Leaving” was even named one of the ten best Canadian albums of all time based on a reader poll by Chart Magazine. Band of the Day had a little chat with Stephen Carroll of The Weakerthans to find out a bit more about his critically acclaimed band. What is it exactly that the band is weaker than? Read on to find out in…

10 questions with The Weakerthans

- by Mattias and Dave-Os -

1. You probably get this a lot: What are you weaker than? Subsequently, what are you stronger than?

S: *laughs* Well let’s see… A 20-pound hammer: we’re probably weaker than that. But we’re stronger than a 2-pound hammer. We’re weaker than a semi-trailer, but stronger than a tricycle.

Mattias: What about a 10-pound hammer?

S: Might be a close battle. Depends on where we were struck.

2. You’ve got the song “One Great City” about Winnipeg and you said the Winnipeg Jets were lousy. What was so bad about the Jets?

S: We had Teemu Selanne and Khabibulin, “The Bulin Wall,” but they never won. All we could hope for was making the playoffs – that would be great.

Mattias: Were you sad when they went to Phoenix?

S: Yes, but not for the simple reason that the Jets were leaving. It was like “Ugh. I can’t believe a Canadian hockey team is moving to Phoenix, Arizona. It signaled the end of Canadian hockey as we know it and the beginning of the new NHL, which none of us Canadians like, right?

Mattias: We’ve still got a couple teams.

S: Yeah for sure, but it’s changed. You’re playing the Nashville Predators or Tampa Bay and it’s like “What’s Martin St. Louis, a fantastic Canadian hockey player, playing in Florida for? He could be playing in Winnipeg.”

3. There’s so much debate on what “emo” is and I read an article where you were talking about it. In your words, for the final be-all-end-all definitive definition: What is emo?

S: It’s nothing. I classified emo as those late 80’s and early 90’s bands that [played] “dirgey” metal - like slow metal sounding with screaming guys. I thought we were just sort of melodic punk rock. Now we’re not even that.

4. You guys are vegan right? How does that affect your music?

S: No, we’re not vegan.

Dave-Os: Haha, that bombs your question Matt.

S: Me and John are vegetarian, but our drummer and bass player are like the opposite of vegetarian.

Mattias: Do you guys get along?

S: *laughs* Yeah, it’s a comedy. You need like that straight man, funny man…

5. Last time you were here in Vancouver, someone passed out in the crowd and you had to stop the show. What does it feel like as a band when you’re in those situations?

S: Well you try to be responsible for your audience and if you notice something’s going wrong, you try to take immediate action if you can to address it. That happens quite frequently if the shows are pact. I think we met the person afterwards and they were ok. I’ve personally taken people backstage in the middle of a show or got them out of trouble. Get them orange juice and stuff - I remember that at the Red Room. These Vancouver crowds, they like to pass out.

Mattias: It’s a Vancouver past-time.

6. What is your favourite chord?

S: I think our band’s favourite chord is when you take the third and play it lower than the root note as the lowest note in the chord. It creates sort of a darker harmony where the root note is kind of buried. It’s kind of creates a fake minor chord, but it’s really a major - so any version of that across the guitar neck.

Mattias: I like D.

S: D’s a pretty good chord for the guitar – good for jamming.

7. Would you rather have a car that could float, or a boat that could ride on the street?

S: I think that a boat that drives on the street is obviously going to make more of statement. A car that drives in the water – been there, done that. A boat that “drives” on the street is kind of like a hovercraft. But if it was a sailboat rollin’ on in…the next thing you know you’re rollin’ down the street in your yacht – that’s pretty cool.

8. You’re walking down the street, and some guy is flicking coins at you. How do you defend yourself?

S: Flicking coins at you?

Dave-Os: Just chuckin’ them.

S: Well you get your change purse out and you catch them. And then you say “Thank You.”

9. Would you rather have super-strength or laser eyes?

S: Super-strength is probably the most practical on a daily basis because you don’t really need to cut through a lot of things with laser eyes right?

Dave-Os: But imagine how threatening you’d be if you had laser eyes.

S: Well yeah, but I wouldn’t need to threaten anybody. I was just thinking of the practical applications of super powers. Laser eyes could maybe cause trouble. You might shoot someone a dirty look by accident and have to be like “Aw dude sorry about your hair.”

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

S: You should have our friends, The Fembots, on.

Stephen Carroll is definitely a talented and intelligent man. Most people would run away from someone chucking coins at them, but Stephen’s got street smarts too. Thanks to him for doing the interview and make sure you BotD fans come back; another great interview with another great band will be up next week.

You complete us,

The BotD Team