Author Archives: Syggy Santos

Black Mountain: America’s Lack Of Empathy

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It’s been two decades since Black Mountain’s debut album, and the band’s seen many shifts over the years. Their front man, Stephen McBean moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles in 2010, but he’s still helping create songs for the band even from a long distance while retaining its spirit.

From his time spent in America, he’s seen his home increasingly grow worse where everyone’s divided on every political issue, and the villains are hailed as heroes. It wasn’t always like that. When the band toured in New Orleans, they lost their van, and their bassist was put in jail. Luckily, the band befriended a group of people in Crescent City that reached out to their uncles to help patch up the band’s van. 

Stephen McBean

In Stephen’s case, America is someplace where people can say bizarre things or believe some awful things, but at least they’d be willing to help you out. I recall a tip from a piece of media that New Yorkers can look really unfriendly, but once you let them know you’re not selling them something sketchy or asking for money, they’ll gladly help you out. Stephen says that there’s this underlying theme of things being for the greater good.

While you can easily see his political stance, he does understand what’s upsetting those on the other side. Everything is significantly more expensive than it used to be. It’s like a meal that was once cheap is now almost considered a luxury. Even things like gas prices are significantly bumped up. 

Stephen says Trump really knows how to spark outrage. You may remember what he said about immigrants eating pets during the Trump Vs Kamala Harris debate. I never knew the full story, but apparently a person with a severe mental illness is what caused the story, but the whole eating pets thing was not the point of Trump’s comment. It was that Springfield had many immigrants from Haiti. It’s less about the dog and more on suggesting that Haitians are stealing housing and jobs.

Stephen thinks all this hate is developed through social media, and the protection of a screen can bring out the worst in people.

If America is going to change, Stephen encourages them to find a common thread in the little things and find the human on the opposing end. If America had more empathy, Stephen says that could then lead to discussing and resolving the bigger issues.

Lights: Disconnecting From Pre-Programmed Beliefs

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Based in Mission, BC, Lights is a singer who loves to change up her sound, and for her latest A6 album, she combines the new-wave sounds with German language because of her German and Austrian roots.

She’s recently been able to fully express herself in a creative space and just put all these authentic feelings in her latest album. This is because she now owns the music she releases, and her song, “Damage”,  is the first one she put out.

When she started out with her first record, she wrote whatever came to mind, but after its release, it was given a lot of observations, and she even got teased for writing songs that sounded like Dr. Seuss melodies. It’s kind of bugged her for years where she challenged the way her songs were structured.

When she released “Damage”, she stuck with the first melody that came to mind and the two chords as the base. She can finally bring out some of her brightest and craziest ideas without anyone telling her otherwise. It also further explores the reason she disconnected from her religious roots. 

A6

She was raised by missionary parents, and missionaries are people who spread a religious faith like travelling to foreign countries. In Lights’ case, she and her parents did missionary training in Jamaica and grew up in the Philippines. 

In her case, being religious meant she didn’t really have much room for critical thought. She felt that Christianity and the way it was pushed on her was a pressure that led to a bit of loss in her identity. She feels that we’re always told what we’re supposed to be, and that our responses were pre-programmed.

She doesn’t blame her parents, but she’s deconstructed her belief systems, and she’s trying to find her purpose in life. She was once told by her parents that her musical talents were a gift from God and that’s her responsibility. She thinks that it’s easy for people to find the answers for everything in religion because it gives them a path to follow that they don’t have to create themselves.

When she wrote an older song called “Drive My Soul”, she didn’t intend to create Christian worship. It was really to bring positivity to the world. She spent a while examining herself and finding her sense of purpose, and it’s good that this path brings her more joy.

Meltt: Too Precious To Cut

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The alternative rock band, Meltt is coming to Vancouver on December 6, and they’re performing their latest album, “Eternal Embers”, which is something pretty special to them. 

Eternal Embers

They had so much material to work with, condensing 30 ideas down to 14. While the album is already long at 52 minutes, all the songs felt so connected that the band didn’t want to further trim it down.

The album was made during COVID, and while many people suffered a creative burnout, they wanted to spend that time trying different ways of writing and exploring new ideas, and they ended up with so much material.

The drummer, Jamie Turner, met the lead singer, Chris Smith when they were in elementary school. Their roles as singer and drummer started when they were in Kindergarten. Chris learned guitar then lived in Peru for a few years while Jamie had this talent show happening. Jamie took up drums since his dad was a drummer, and when Chris returned, the two played together as a cover band in grade six and seven.

They eventually met James Porter in eighth grade, and they continued as a cover band until the end of high school. Finally, Ian Winkler eventually joined the band after university, and the band knew Ian since fifth grade.

In their shared history, they also shared similar music influences. Their parents showed them Led Zeppelin, and they all loved the “Led Zeppelin 2” album. As they grew up, their interests branched out, so some artists that one likes, the other band members might dislike. Jamie and his sister were big fans of pop-punk, and especially blink-182, but the rest of Meltt hates listening to those punk bands.

When Meltt was sequencing their album, they really wanted to be meticulous with the flow of it. Before releasing an album, you may want to consider how you’ll play it live and know which songs will be the most popular. For many bands that were around for some time, they like to play in the sequential order of their albums, and while it can be thematically correct, you still want an ending that strikes the audience well.

I think the ending to anything is super important. Even great shows with long runtimes won’t be remembered that well if the ending doesn’t sit right.

Luckily, Meltt considers this in the making of their album, so you can expect a great ending at their upcoming show in Vancouver at the Rickshaw Theatre on December 6.

Theory Of A Deadman: We’ll Go Out Like The Dinosaurs

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Theory Of A Deadman is a band from North Delta, and they combined their old style with a new one that’s more flippant in their 2023 album, “Dinosaur”.

Their title track is about our self destruction and how we’ll bring about our own extinction and end up like the dinosaurs. He believes in our current state, there’s no greater threat to the planet than ourselves. We have billions of years until the sun goes out with a bang, but Tyler thinks humans will be the true blame. Money, obsession, and over-indulgence will fuel wars that contribute to our extinction.

Dinosaur

Their song, “Medusa”, is about someone you can’t just take your eyes off of. It’s not about someone evil or bad, and in Tyler’s experience, it’s someone so attractive that you know things will never work out between you two, and Tyler would never reveal who this person is.

Since I watched One Piece, I know of someone to better describe what Tyler sang about. Instead of Medusa, it’s a character named Boa Hancock, who is considered the most beautiful woman in the world of One Piece. She hardly falls for any man, and anyone charmed by her looks turns to stone.

When they recorded this album, its location was different from the last two in England. Their producer, Martin Terefe, owns a studio in Sweden, but not just any studio. He bought ABBA’S old studio, Atlantis, and it included the piano that ABBA used in many of their biggest hits. Theory decided to use that piano in their song, “Sideways”.

Everyone at some point had to put on a smile when things aren’t okay, and that’s what “Sideways” is about. When things get too overwhelming, or when people face anxiety, you might put up a smile when you go to work when everything’s going sideways for you.

One of their songs had many versions before the final release, and it’s their song, “Two Of Us”. 

You may remember the song, “Just The Two Of Us”, from Bill Withers, but this version from Theory takes a darker turn, and it’s about a couple stuck together in a withering relationship. There was some trouble in how Theory wanted the song to turn out, but they found the right directions. 

While the themes in this album are still dark, it was more fun making the album, and he thinks that’s something people need.

The New Pornographers: Isolation and Acceptance

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I remember beginning to listen to music independently and not passively during the pandemic, and I had a small library of 100 songs with one of my starting artists being A.C. Newman from The New Pornographers. They would always be one of the first to play in my queue because A.C. Newman was in the title, and it’s funny to find that an interviewer pointed out his song, “Miracle Drug” to be the first song that plays whenever she’s in her car. 

Carl Newman had a small moment when he met Paul Rudd, where Paul mentions Carl being one of the first results too.

Their album in 2023, “Continue As a Guest”, explores the themes of isolation and acceptance, and it was written during the pandemic. For such an isolating time, Carl has seen their member, Neko Case more times during the pandemic than without it. When the band meets up, they have Neko for a few days until she’s busy for another six months.

Continue As A Guest

The album’s art actually very well pictures the pandemic. It showcases nearby houses stacked on top of each other and only connected through wires, where no one could visit each other. The concept of the art was based on the work of an artist named Amy Casey, someone whose works were known by Carl and Neko for a while. When Carl asked Amy if he could pull off something similar to her art style for his new album, she said he could.

For their song, “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies”, it’s about the dangers of social media, and how we’ll put anything up on the web for an audience, even if it’s a terrible event. 

Carl does his best to stay away from social media, but one time, he had a little social experiment posted on Twitter and asked what people thought of Steely Dan because he knew how many people reacted poorly towards him. He then saw the train of people writing why they hate Steely Dan. 

For a moment, he was surprised that he caused this, but this also shows how people get too invested in things that don’t matter.

Growing out of isolation also gave Newman acceptance where it doesn’t matter how many tickets they sell at a show, they’ve already reached success, and there’s this ease when even if the band isn’t massively well-known, they’ve done things they’ve always dreamed of.

Yukon Blonde: Celebrating 20 Years Of Friendship With Rock And Roll

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Yukon Blonde is a band from Kelowna that’s been around since 2009, and they’ve changed their style from indie rock to rock and roll for their latest album, “Friendship & Rock ‘N” Roll”. They also happened to be playing in Vancouver on October 24 at Green Auto.

They really wanted to capture the essence of recording like it’s live. For a while, they’ve spent time writing in the studio, but when making this album, they started with acoustic ideas that they brought to the jam space, and they continued from there.

Usually in bands, there is a member that specializes in one thing like voices and guitar while the other is on bass, drums, or keys. When Yukon Blonde recorded this album, each member took a turn as lead vocals and songwriters.

This record is celebrating their 20 year journey together as friends and going back to how they first started. It’s really the simple things that blossom into their songs.

Friendship & Rock And Roll

When they have extra time off, they choose to spend it hanging out with each other, and a two decade friendship is something I can only fantasize about from what I’ve seen in stories. 

While I’m not in a band where I’m singing or playing drums, I did get to experience the fun of being on a long and fun bus ride with my band class. The destination wasn’t that noteworthy, and people were falling ill one by one. There’s still lots to remember about the days we spent in the bus like rushing to the opposite window for photos, taking bad angle shots of our sleeping friends, literally pushing each other’s buttons, and playing dirty games of charades.

For Yukon Blonde, if they were asked about what they remember fondly, it’s probably not any big achievements, but little things like van games and comfort foods in the time they spent together in their band rides. 

The creation of this album was different from working in a studio with formalities and higher pressure, and it felt like making a fun jam session with friends. Still, when their goal was to make it feel like a live recording, they need to rehearse their songs as best as they can before recording as one.

This is another example of how Yukon Blonde likes to freely change their sound in a new record, and they are proud to celebrate their journey in “Friendship & Rock ‘N’ Roll”.

Sleepy Gonzales: Listen At A Different Angle

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I remember in 2023, I was just exploring around Surrey’s annual party for the planet, which is their celebration of Earth Day, featuring live performing bands and food trucks.

I was browsing the place with no money, and capturing pictures of the scene on my phone until I discovered a band named Sleepy Gonzales performing. I was drawn to the front of the crowd when I heard their song, “Alligatorzzz” played live for the first time, and it was a moment where I wished I brought my DSLR and a good mic to better capture the moment instead of my phone.

Upon discovering the Surrey band, I wish they included a clean live recording of that song somewhere. At the time, I didn’t notice their newer EP release in the summer of 2023 called “Mercy Kill”. I noticed how the band’s sound shifted. Their EP explores a whole range of themes like loving what harms you to clinging to something you should have abandoned long ago. 

Mercy Kill

The reason behind the name is that the vocalist, Ally Lowry, doesn’t like the concept of mercy killing, which is killing someone from an incurable pain or disease. The main term for it is euthanasia. She says that when death approaches you, try and give as much space from it as you can. To rush death means that you only think of your discomfort and pain, forgetting what makes our existence so important.

A song that stands out to them is called “Destroyer”, which is about the ease of falling into things that lead to self-destruction like toxic relationships and drugs. 

In the making of that song, their producer, Colin Stewart left out some mics as he went for lunch, and the band asked Ally to enter the live room and scream while gradually growing more intense to the point where it’s bloodcurdling like from a horror movie. In one take, those screams are what made it in the recording

All of their songs in this EP have a deeper meaning to it, and the band acknowledges that you can’t digest all the themes in one listen. 

When you let yourself be changed by the music you create, the band says you put in an element in your music that doesn’t stop growing.

They say the music changes depending on your mood and the speakers you listen through. They hope that people will take another listen at a different angle and listen to how the music changes with them.

Dan Mangan: A Snowball Effect Of Creativity

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Have you ever seen a show or a movie where someone just says “hit it” to a random pianist and suddenly everyone knows what song to play, or maybe when two lovers start singing in unison in a song they made up at that moment?

While it will never be like that in real life, there are musicians that just have things click in an instant, and they’re pumping out a dozen bangers.

Dan Mangan is an artist from Smithers, BC, and he shared a story in May about his album, “Natural Light”, when he was stuck in a cabin with his bandmates from blackflies.

Natural Light Album

The band actually didn’t intend for an album to go out. They spent the week at Lake Dickey in Ontario to swim, go outside and be creative. There wasn’t any intention to put out an album, yet the result is one of the band’s proudest works.

When he wrote “It Might be Raining”, he showed it to his band members the night they arrived at the cottage, and they made three takes until they decided that the song captured the essence of something.

The next day, he and the band were still feeling the glow from the night prior, so Dan had 12 more songs they could record. The process of writing the song only took a week since they recorded one song in one day, two the next day, three the day after, and four following the last. Like a snowball moving down a hill, their flow kept gaining momentum.

He compares the creation of the album to the process of making scrambled eggs for his members. He makes the eggs around leftovers the night before. 

The songs were actually old ideas that they wanted to play five to six years ago, with the idea of placing some of them in albums like “More or Less” and “Being Somewhere“, but they weren’t included. He believes those old songs were meant to be delivered now rather than wishing they were played then.

This album is especially important to Dan because he says it’s a love letter to his family, his band members, and to the world. It’s so important that if he and his band were struck by an incoming meteor, he says this album is their final message.

Sometimes the best ideas come without the pressure of having to create something. Maybe they can just be at the back of your mind, waiting for its moment.

Peach Pit: A Worse Case Scenario For Neil Smith

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Early adult years are a bit of a scary time to think about. You wonder if your first glass of alcohol will be one out of a thousand. Vancouver has an issue surrounding homelessness and drug addiction, and you may think that won’t happen to you, but being young and trying to find fun and acceptance can lead to some dark paths. 

A Vancouver band called Peach Pit in their album, “Magpie” showcases the worst that could happen in an alternate life if Neil Smith didn’t quit drinking.

Magpie / Peach Pit

His way of thinking in his 20’s was different. He feels that when people are young, people are naive about the world and more confident in their ability as they grow older. Even when he’s performing, he feels more nervous than he would have been when he was younger. I see nervousness as a constant battle, and I don’t think it’s wrong to have it especially if you gain more experience and responsibilities.

To Neil, there’s this delusional confidence you get when you start a career that not many people will see. Neil enjoys the simple and carefree things in his 20s that gave him excitement like the first time going to a bar with friends.

The band tried to put themselves in a different perspective in the “Magpie” album. They tried to give it more of a rock energy as opposed to their style of more slow and sad sounding songs. 

Their song, “Magpie”, is a good example of this since it gives that rock energy with a character who wasted his life.

The name of the song and the album came from their tour in Australia, where they saw magpies flying everywhere. The number of magpies flying together determines whether or not it’s a good or bad omen, and they gave the character who wasted his life on strip clubs and alcohol, Magpie. It’s based on an old superstitious poem about magpies that goes:

One for sorrow

Two for Luck

Three for a wedding

Four for death

Five for silver

Six for gold

Seven for a secret never to be told

Eight for heaven

Nine for Hell

And ten for the Devil’s own sell

That character is what Neil feared he would become if he didn’t stop drinking, but Neil has been sober for seven years. He says he’s more boring than he was, so hopefully he and the band can experiment with something exciting.

Mother Mother: A Win For Tik Tok

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I’m not very fond of TikTok and all of its delusional life hacks, but whether I like it or not, there is recycled content there that became part of the Instagram reels that kept me stuck. Now that I’ve ditched reels entirely, I can confirm the brain rot and suspicious gathering of my private conversations with my phone sensors off. I can’t say it’s all bad news though, because a band I know has resurfaced thanks to Tik Tok called Mother Mother, thanks to their songs like “Hayloft” and “O My Heart”. 

I remember hearing them on Evolution’s radio when I was on air, especially “Hayloft”, which turns out to have the most searched-up lyrics in the United States, and it has the second most searched lyrics in the world in 2022.

Mother Mother / Spotify

Ryan Guldemond was surprised to see the band growing on Tik Tok in 2020. While everyone in the studio pleaded for him not to go on Tik Tok because it’s Chinese spyware, he found out how much their older songs appealed to the Gen Z audience, especially the LGBTQ demographic. Especially for such a lonely and strange time, Mother Mother has a shifting and experimental sound, and it happened to click so well with those who felt like misfits. 

Another reason it happened to click so well was because Ryan’s voice was androgynous, which means that it has both masculine and feminine traits that might be somewhere in the middle. 

I think Garrett Borns’ falsetto would be a good example if you ever listened to BORNS. That word also helps describe my inner voice. Whenever I read, it’s in my voice, but it’s more androgynous. Ryan actually wanted his voice to be masked because he had insecurities about it, which formed a sound that’s almost genderless.

Normally for things that go viral online, people quickly move on, but it’s good that wasn’t the case for Mother Mother. While they were primarily featured in Canada, they eventually resonated with a loyal fanbase internationally years later.

Ryan was worried since the band relied on Canadian radio stations to survive. He wrote his older songs proudly and almost effortlessly. He makes a good point of how the work of artists degrades over time as they struggle to find that childlike spark when adult life is so taxing.

While I generally don’t like Tik Tok, it can give artists an opportunity to resonate with a new audience.