Though all the members of Canadian based band, Friendo, have years of experience under their belts, this current incarnation of music making is technically all amateur. In a series of musical flip-flopping Friendo turns drummers into guitarists and bassists into drummers, creating an experiment in uncharted waters for the trio.
Pulling from the style of ‘90s experimental rock, ‘70s punk and ‘60s pop, Friendo has created a minimalist blend of harmony and noise, resulting in well paced, floating numbers akin to the sound we suspect Pedro the Lion would make if the band had taken up residence in a garage. Having recently re-released their debut cassette Cold Toads on vinyl through St. Ives Records, the band has been busy touring the States as well as their native Canada and keeping up with the many other projects their individual members take part of.
Friendo will be playing Schubas tonight withBourgeois Zeus and Yourself And The Air. Show at 9pm 18+ $10 at the door
Roommate to 2/3rds of Friendo, David Giancarlo was sent as a representative to answer a quick email interview for the band. Check out what he has to say about their influences, the most memorable concert he’s seen, and what personal anecdotes he thinks are better than our questions.
Reviewsic: What is the back-story to how the band came together?
David Giancarlo: The band came together because Mike was getting an unequal share of Women profits, so he decided to form his own band because dreamy indie pop songs take no effort to write, and are extremely lucrative. Then he assembled a band made up of a woman and an ethnic minority. His future plans include becoming a cripple to complete the triumvirate.
Reviewsic: What are your top three musical influences?
David Giancarlo: The band Friendo sounds like the Cranberries covering Sonic Youth, minus any musical adeptness. Also, Nylon magazine
Reviewsic: Is there any instrument you don’t play, but wish you did?
David Giancarlo: Nicole and Mike wish they could play guitar. Oh wait, they do. I keep forgetting.
Reviewsic: What are the last three albums or bands you listened to?
David Giancarlo: Municipal Waste, Totalitar, World Burns to Death. Friendo likes to sync up their listening and bathing habits while on tour.
Reviewsic: If you could work with one person in the music industry (musician, label, producer etc), who would it be and why?
David Giancarlo: This question is ridiculous. Friendo is the product of three talented young people. Why would they want to dilute
that? It’s like asking Picasso who he’d want to deface his canvasses.
Reviewsic: What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended?
David Giancarlo: I remember last year for my birthday, Friendo took me to see Leftover Crack and we hung out with their bass player and gave each other tattoos with dirty needles and huffed spray paint in an alley and it was a lot of fun. Unlike Friendo shows, which are boring and filled with grown men wearing knapsacks.
Reviewsic: Who are three of your favorite local bands?
David Giancarlo: Friendo really likes the bands Faux Fur and the No You Hang Ups, two junior-high aged bands whose main influence is Friendo. I personally think Calgary has no good bands except for maybe the Moby Dicks who are actually from Lethbridge.
Reviewsic: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
David Giancarlo: Is this what people want to read? 15 variations on the “what are three bands you like” question? How bout instead I tell you about how Nicole tried to pee off our front porch one night but ended up mostly peeing on everybody on the porch. Or the time she peed in an adult diaper for 10$ (or was it less?). Nicole is always doing funny pee-based stunts.
Reviewsic: Tell us about Cold Toads- is there a particular concept behind it?
David Giancarlo: Toads are too dumb to notice a gradual increase in temperature. If you put a toad in a boiling hot bathtub, it will jump out. But if you put it in a cold bathtub, then gradually increase the heat, it will stay there till it boils. “Cold Toads” refers to how the human race is oblivious to the fact that we are slowly marching toward extinction. Many of Friendo’s lyrical themes are influenced by bands like Earth Crisis, Amebix, and the aforementioned World Burns To Death.
Reviewsic: How would you compare yourselves as musicians at this point, as opposed to when you first began playing together?
David Giancarlo: This one’s easy: Mike is a bad guitar player and good drummer. Henry is an okay drummer and great gong player. Nicole sucks at every instrument because she is a girl.
Reviewsic: What are some of your favorite cities to play?
David Giancarlo: They must like Calgary, because they play like 100 shows there a month.
Reviewsic: What are the best and worst music moments so far in your career?
David Giancarlo: Best: the time Friendo invented a machine that would suck the dreams out of young childrens’ brains, convert them into a syrupy liquid, and enable them to write flawlessly dreamy indie pop songs whenever they dropped said liquid into their eyes. Worst: when the children run out of dreams and have to be taken out back and shot between the eyes.
Reviewsic: What are three words you’d use to describe your music to someone who’s never heard it?
David Giancarlo: Dreamy indie pop.
Reviewsic: What are your plans for your music in the next year?
David Giancarlo: Mike has to go away to play drums with his other band, Women, for a few months. Nicole has another band she’s starting up called the Schrapnelles. Henry is in a bunch of other bands, including a metal band with Mike and another guy. They’re called Monkey. Check them out if you have weighted down earlobes and a creative goatee.
Tags: International, Interview, New Release, Tour, Upcoming Show
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