Julie Doiron
Tally Hum Orchestra
Boygina
Just Like the Movies
Rockets Red Glare
V for Vendetta
Jai Agnish
Sufjan Stevens

JULIE DOIRON
Purveyor of: SOLO HEARTBREAK POP
WAVELENGTH #53: SUNDAY MARCH 4, 11:45pm
http://members.tripod.com/julie_doiron/

Julie Doiron: Eric's Trip bassist, solo artist, Broken Girl, photographer, Juno award winner with the Wooden Stars. Interview by Paddy O'Donnell with contributed questions from V. Tree:

You're currently on a tour that is tied in to your husband's art.
One of the shows we're going to do, on March 3rd at the Jane Bond in Waterloo, is the closing of an art exhibit that's between my husband and I - I have 10 photos in it, Jon (Claytor) has nine large drawings in it.

He does a lot of the art for you, and you do a lot of photos now yourself, right?
Well I've always done a lot of photography, so most of the photography on my records has been done by me. Jon's always done the paintings and the drawings, designed posters, T-shirts - He directed the video for "Dance Music" as well.

It's a joint effort, I guess. And that's actually a pretty good way of bridging the next question. It said in the liner notes of the album with the the Wooden Stars that the tunes were re-worked in collaboration with them. Do you have to re-work them again when you play solo?
They change a little bit but never too drastically. Basically, the structure of all of them stayed pretty much the same, there were a few that changed pretty drastically from when I would play them solo, but the core of the songs, my parts, didn't change. I don't usually change my part too much... but I think I'm about to, for my project, do something really different, try and really work on some of the songs.

Do you have plans for it yet?
Well, actually, the next thing I'm going to record is a French record. Oh wow! Yeah, so I've been putting it off just for lack of money. Now I'm just trying to find the time to start recording it any way I can. I'm hoping to work with one particular person who does a lot of cool recordings and remixes... so I would like to deconstruct the songs I have and put them back together in a way that I've never done before. I know for a fact if I had recording equipment here, if I had time and a recording space, I would do something that no one would ever expect of me. I've never done it before because I always have to pop into the studio for like two days and get like three songs recorded, so I've never had time to actually work on those songs. If I had the money I'd buy some equipment and do it here, but at the same time I'd also really like to work with this person. But I am planning on getting a French album recorded soon and I do plan on experimenting and doing things that I haven't done yet. I've done other French songs on records actually.

Do you find the mode of expression is different?
Yes, very different for me. I seem to write very different kinds of lyrics in French, and I'm not sure why. I think it's because I'm really hung up on having grammatically correct sentences in French, whereas in English I'm not really hung up on that. That's amazing then. Yeah, I think it's going to be fun. I'm not sure who I'm going to put it out with. I just want to record it and get it done. And I definitely have enough songs.

Do you find your songwriting goes in fits and starts?
Yeah, I end up writing three or four songs at a time and then there are times when I don't have anything to work on. So right now I've decided that I want to try and write one song a week Wow! That's a challenge, you know... write one a week, work on them and then just pick my best song. As opposed to just working with everything that I've got, and then not picking the best one. On this tour I plan on playing all new songs. I'll probably play a few old ones, but you never know what I'll end up doing. I never write a setlist.

Where are you happiest playing live now at the moment, geographically or spatially? Or does it matter?
I haven't been on a proper tour since October, and when I'm not on tour I have a really hard time thinking of things like that, because I'm at home and I'm happy here. In terms of places I like to play, I find that certain parts in the States are starting to get nice. Florida's good for me, for some really weird reason I get a lot of people. Yeah, that's amazing, I don't know how it happens. Last year I went to Sweden and England and played a couple of shows and both of those were great, but I can't play those on a regular basis... I should say that Toronto is a really good place for me to play, because I still have a really great fanbase there.

There seems to be a theme of lost love or broken hearts and loneliness throughout your work, and I was wondering where that was drawn from.
Uh, I don't know, life. Life, yeah. Yeah.

Is it something you write from first-hand experience?
I think that everybody writes from first-hand experience - even when they're writing in the third person, or writing stories that are fictional about people, they still have to know what it feels like to write about it. People feel pretty close to what they're writing about. I don't really like to really go into details - sometimes they're about personal experience and sometimes they're actually not. I like to leave it so people just have it and apply it to their own lives. I've had people say, "that song reminds me of something that happened to me", and it'll be a totally different experience than what it was actually about, but I would not want to take away from what they experience and how they feel when they hear the song.

TALLY HUM ORCHESTRA
Purveyors of: HYPER BREAKBEAT ACTION
WAVELENGTH #53: SUNDAY MARCH 4, 10:45pm
Email: mbelle80@canoemail.com

Tally Hum Orchestra contains a former member of Cedrumatic, the Hamilton improv rockers who played the second-ever Wavelength. What follows is Paddy O'Donnell's questionings of Tally Hum's two Michaels (MacGillivray and McLean) and the mysterious Kevyn a.k.a. Kay Dubya.

Why are you an Orchestra? What makes you an Orchestra?
Mike MacGillivray: When you have two laptops, synths, samplers, guitars, a foot-pedal manic, all floating on top of each other a little here and there - you might end up with 78 things that need immediate attention. Control is the key. Trying to conduct and control all these various instruments is very much like both playing and conducting an orchestra.. Mike McLean: We need a whole dang orchestra to get anything done on stage. Kevyn: An orchestra traditionally has a lot of members to it, right? More than three for sure... with an orchestra, there are bound to be a lot of different instruments, consequentally a lot of sounds. That's where it fits into Tally Hum. There is an unlimited possibility of sounds for us to make with numerous different instruments between three people.

Have any composers ever asked you to make it out to one of their recitals?
McLean: Only one. John Cage. He has called our office at least eight times a day for the last several days, begging us to tune his pianos and to kiss large wooden framed pictures of his mother during the intermission. Former member of Cedrumatic explain. Tally Hum continuing tradition of percussiveness? MacGillivray: The groove aspect of Cedrumatic is very much at the core of Tally Hum, simply because we're sampling - sampling everything, ourselves, old vinyl, The Crocodile Hunter, etc. When you've got one beat going through an LFO, and another going through a different one, then mixing them up a little so they overlap, then run into the crowd, sample them, throw them right in the mix. It's all being beaten up in a very organized rhythm... Kevyn: The percussiveness comes now in the form of laptop computers pumping out crazy breakbeats.

What plans? Recording? Touring?
MacGillivray: Recording, hmm.. we've recorded about 784 hours of material. The hard part is editing, fly over the pond so to speak, join forces with cats that get into the beat and love it. McLean: Hitting the road is on our list. You can only ask a town to dance so many times... Kevyn: I'd like to play every college basement party across Canada that we can. If there is free pop and chips, I'll play it!

What is the live experience comprised of re: Tally Hum Orchestra? What is your audience to expect? What philosophies are at work in your art?
McLean: I'd say that our sounds and sources of sounds are more ambitious than a lot of more "chilled-out" electro acts where you hear the same 40hz hum looping slowly with such mild alteration over the course of 3-9 minutes that it seems like an hour has passed by. I use the word "ambitious" because of the choice of sounds... we like in-yer-face, New-York-momma FX. Quite frankly, I find a lot of electro-experimental music just plain boring. MacGillivray: Of course, the 10-minute plus drone is just that for a reason, but in a live situation you don't want people falling asleep. Plus, I'd like to see some movin' from the crowd· funk it up, get into the groove - slow groove, fast groove the beat carries the dance. LOVE IS THE DRUG AND WE ALL NEED TO SCORE! GIVE OUT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN - 110%! Kevyn: Well, each live experience is completely different from the last, and most of the live set is usually improvised so much to the point that the next day I won't even remember something that we did at that show. I can't say what the audience is to expect, since I hardly know what to expect. I can say that they should expect SOMETHING.

What technology is involved in bringing your musical vision to fruition?
MacGillivray: The almighty compter chip, video mixers, etc. The computer has come to play such an important part in music -remixing, recording, capturing video clips it's hard to imagine not having or leaning on the laptop computer. Portable, small, sexy- what else?? Kevyn: I just play some noisy guitar. I think visuals will have to be added to the experience very soon!

What do you like?
McLean: Laptops and breakdancing MacGillivray: Veggie pizza, girls that breakdance with laptops, giving away loads of free samples with our CD, mad FX, vinylistic breaks, videos, enhanced CDs that hold the music, software, samples, pics, all kinds of stuff aimed at remixing, manipulation, the whole lot of it. Kevyn: Um, to make noise. I like lotsa stuff too, though. Music, the arts, legitimate theatre, The Simpsons, Ray Liotta's haircut. What inspires you? McLean: Ray Charles-esque boy bands. MacGillivray: Sound modules, Hammer-rock politics and the idea that spring will come back again. Kevyn: The books I read. Almost all the songs I write stem out from something I was reading at the time of conception.

Where to next?
MacGillivray: Work we babysit the legend that is, the almighty, the ever-lasting, the always dancing Mr. Duke or Charles Raymond Charles, the 1st. Kevyn: The bookstore.

BOYGINA
Purveyors of: SILLY PUNK GOODNESS
WAVELENGTH #54: SUNDAY MARCH 11, 11pm
In the sweatshop: Terence Dick, Shannon McNally, Tim Muirhead
Email: hussieXXX@hotmail.com

Dear Wavelength posse, The band can't decide on a theme for our gig on the eleventh. Either Shannon thinks something is stupid or Tim doesn't get to wear gym shorts or Terence can't make an obscure joke that no one will understand anyway. This is what we've rejected so far:
Backstreet Boygina (dance moves downloaded from Maurice Starr's website)
Guygina (the world's greatest Boygina cover band)
The Phonetics Lesson (where we explain to everyone that "boygina" is pronounced with a long "i". You know, so it rhymes with "vagina")
Wild Boyginas (Terence as Bill Burroughs, Tim as Simon le Bon and Shannon as Rio [she'll be dancing on the sand])
Boychina (cancelled because Royal Doulton rejected the design for our commemorative plates)
TommyBoygina (delayed pending our appeal of their rejection letter)
GameBoygina (ProTools made Terence feel dumb so the techno set was nixed)
Sonny Boygina Williamson (we squeeze lemons until the juice runs down our legs)
Lay-Z-Boygina (the band gets to take a nap between songs)
Boygina George (Tim is our very own karma chameleon - WITH A MULLET!)
Corduroygina (our indie rock set; cancelled 'cuz Shannon wouldn't wear a shapeless T-shirt)
Soygina Green (IT'S MADE OF PEOPLE! SOYGINA GREEN IS MADE OF PEOPLE!)
Myrna Loygina (we do "The Wet Parade" as a Ziegfeld musical)
Oygina (skinhead music sucks and klezmer is too hard to play, so we gave up on this idea)

After the success of our last show, The Boygina Monologues, we've decided to rip off another big ticket theatre event. We'll be performing the Sing-Along Sound of Boygina©. Audiences members can shave their head bald and wear skinny pants to look like Terence, grow a mullet and wear glasses to look like Tim, or have cool hair and look like Shannon. We'll charge 25 dollars and maybe screen the mudwrestling episode of Cop Rocks. Let us know what you think. Peace out! Boygina

JUST LIKE THE MOVIES
WAVELENGTH #54 SUNDAY MARCH 11, 10pm
Purveyors of: SURREAL CASIO RAP ATTACK
Email: crazylegsboss@hotmail.com

Just Like The Movies is the must-be-seen-and-heard-to-be-believed experience that is Chris Mills, Canada's #1 Air Guitarist, member of comedy sketch troupe Loogie, former singer of punk band Mudfish and button-pushing adept of the Rapmaster 2000 lo-fi hip-hop device. With such songs as "Pregnant at the Party", Just Like The Movies may inspire either laughter or terror (or both) in the Wavelength audience.

How did you get to be "Canada's #1 Air Guitarist"?
Of course lots of practice to "Stairway To Heaven" and other hard rock classics but also the fact that I've got friends in high places and I have an overactive imagination. This combination lead to me acquiring this prestigious title.

Should the squeaky wheel get the grease?
Ummmm yaaaahh no I mean shit I don't know anymore man just back off with all the probing questions I need my space!!!!!

Why did the Rapmaster 2000 become your instrument of choice?
The Rapmaster is the queen of Radioshack-produced machinery from the '80s. It has a unique blend of funk and fondue in a touch of a button and it's portable.

If you lead a horse to water, and it doesn't drink, who is at fault?
I thought you said these were gonna be easy. Shit Jonathan what am I some kinda mind reader some kinda psychic that knows about horses some kinda wizard that knows this kinda shit? Well fuck man you think if I knew that stuff I'd be here? Seriously, neither; it's probably Mike Harris' fault somehow.

Who rocks harder, "comedy" or "music" audiences?
MUSIC audiences rock harder. Comedy audiences are either quiet or laughing, the only rocking they usually do is slowly back and forth during laughter, the occasional knee slap barely qualifies as rocking I'm afraid, unless it's done by a Wookie.

Do blondes have more fun?
Only sometimes maybe a little but not really I mean sort of kind of I don't know on Thursdays or not ask my Mom.

- Interview by Jonny Dovercourt

ROCKETS RED GLARE
WAVELENGTH #55: SUNDAY MARCH 18, 11pm
Purveyors of: CLASSIC T.O. MATH-PUNK
Rockin' out: Evan, Gus, Jeremy
Email: thenewemotion@hotmail.com
Web: www.dievenom.bizland.com/die/site/rrg.html

Rockets Red Glare - the awe-inspiring Toronto math-punk band whose name blatantly references another, long-departed, awe-inspiring Toronto math-punk band, Phleg Camp - is led on guitar and vocals by Evan Clarke, also of Holding Pattern and Picastro and formerly of Blake. This self-confessed "band slut" is joined by ex-Blake mate Gus on drums and ex-Blue Light Blockade mate Jeremy on bass. Buddy It'sOver!Court interviews hims, commencing now:

You once said, in reference to a local band (who shall remain nameless), that their music was wussy because they sang "about their emotions" what is the lyrical content of Rockets Red Glare primarily concerned with?
We use our lyrics primarily as a sounding board for project DINO, an ongoing experiment involving the use of selective breeding, with the ultimate end of creating a race of super dogs.

What's more important, the riffs or the words?
The relationship between the riffs and the words is best expressed in terms of the chicken and the egg (the central impulse behind project DINO is the transcedence of this tired paradigm - DINO represents the fusion of progenitor and progeny - DINO is the beginning and the end. All hail DINO).

Will music change the world? Will politics change the world? Will anything change the world or are we all just fucked and might as well accept it?
The human race has effectively forfeited their tenure as masters of nature - history now beckons a race of super dogs. Jeremy's impression of Juvenile ("I am Juvenile, I will make you smile") - discuss. Beneath Jeremy's awkward post-rock frame, beats the heart of a die-hard rapper, imprisoned by his social and cultural circumstances to a life spent sounding the death knell of the guitar.

When humanity gets beaten up by political protocol and common sense gets trampled by process, does that mean your band has sold out?
Our own selling out will commence precisely when we cease to sell out.

V FOR VENDETTA
WAVELENGTH #55: SUNDAY MARCH 18, 10pm
NOTE FOR POSTERITY: V FOR VENDETTA DID NOT PERFORM AT THIS WAVELENGTH NIGHT DUE TO THEIR VAN BREAKING DOWN. THEY WERE REPLACED BY ACTION SNACKS.
Purveyors of: MATH-ROCK DUETS
Email: vforvendetta99@hotmail.com
Web: www.vforvendettarocks.org

In their own words, "V for Vendetta is from Providence, Rhode Island. V for Vendetta has been playing their brand of math-rock since 1998. V for Vendetta's songs range from two sad-sounding guitars with vocals to math-y drums and guitar duos to full band rock epics! All songs are about feminism, analytic philosophy, punk-rock politics, their hometown, and some other stuff. V for Vendetta proudly uses the 'Avant Garde' font."

V for Vendetta has also maintained radio silence since confirming their show on the 18th, hence no interview. They also have an EP, In the End Pretend You Hear Me, out on Sampson Recordings, and a song, "Providence Is a Very Small Town," on the TAZ comp Tea at the Palaz of Hoon. That song is all we have to know them by, but rest assured it provoked the Wavelength head-nod. The Spinanes meets Don Caballero? You decide. The band is also involved in boosting the local arts scene in Providence through the P-Squared booking collective and the Hive Archive, a women's arts resource group.

And the name? We believe it is derived from the dystopian graphic novel (as seen at right) by British comic artists Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

JAI AGNISH
WAVELENGTH #56: SUNDAY MARCH 25, 11pm
Purveyor of: TECHNO-FOLK-POP

I would love to believe your name is French for "I have Agnish". This is not the case. What can you say about your name?
I was recording and performing under my nickname for a while but decided to go with my real name. This decision in many ways reflected my desire to embrace my Indian heritage. I'm 50% Indian, all from my Dad's side, who is Hindu, although he doesn't practice from what I can tell at least. He was born into the Brahmin caste which is traditionally the highest, most honoured of them all. When my Dad immigrated to Canada he chose the name "Agnish" (from a lower caste) out of humility and a desire to do his part to extinguish the traditions of the caste system which had been abolished but still practiced unofficially. It seems like you are a part of a growing community of musicians who sing of their Christian faith and work their asses off on events like Christ A-Go-Go.

How do you manage the various expectations and reactions audience members might have of you because of your music and its connection to this community?
Yeah, I don't know. All I can do is just do what I do, believe what I believe and people can take it or leave it. I feel that God is completely unpredictable in how he reveals himself to people and I feel no pressure to consciously go out of my way to make something like that happen, nor can I possibly make something like that happen. However, being involved in a community like this, I do feel that I need to be completely honest with myself and with what I'm going through spiritually - accepting my human faults and weaknesses.

Speaking of expectations, what was it like meeting Will Oldham?
I met Will Oldham in Phoenix, AZ, a few years back before a show. Gave him a copy of my zine and asked if he wanted to write something for it. I can't remember if it was before or after we met that we had a brief postcard correspondence. A year or two later he was in NYC for the Drag City Revue and we met up the next day. I was a little more zealous and pushy about my faith at the time and we ended up getting in a pretty heated argument about whether or not the Bible could've possibly stayed true to the original text over all the years; also the validity of the Bible altogether. We cooled down and got lunch somewhere with some of the other Drag City bands/artists. >From the start he was always an extremely generous and understanding person and I consider it special to have spent a bit of time with him.

What do you think about math, science and technology? How do these things influence your music? Evolution or creation?
I'm taking Algebra right now. I have a test in two hours. I'm not sure I see any deep inspiring stuff in math or science for that matter. Not sure how I feel about the idea of science and evolution. These are issues I need to explore more and will be doing so next semester. I'm probably a creationist from what I know, but I try not to seal these things up until I know more. Technology, on the other hand, is key to where my music goes. I'm dependent on relating with machines for my beat and melody making. I need to keep time with quantized, mechanical, non-human rhythms, which I'm really into right now. But you probably mean technology in some other way. I just picked up a new computer and I have all this recording software. I recorded a couple new songs and I'm finding that I can work off the computer and the different FX options and cut-and-paste moves. It's really moving my music along and I have no regrets moving from analog to digital yet.

What is your favourite planet and why?
Saturn is my favorite planet because of the rings and the mystery behind it.

- interview by T-Bird

SUFJAN STEVENS
WAVELENGTH #56: SUNDAY MARCH 25, 10pm
Purveyor of: SEXY ELECTRO-GOSPEL?!

Sufjan Stevens mixes it up. Folk, punk, rock, lo-fi analog dubs and myriad instruments including oboe, flute, banjo, sitar, xylophone, guitar, bass and percussion combine to defy even the most music-geekiest of classifications. Honest comparisons to Beck, Jeremy Enigk, Frank Zappa, and Mark Kozelek would only begin to scratch the surface. In addition to his sincere and entertaining solo shows Sufjan's current gig also includes organ with American folk gospel group the Danielson Famile. This former member of Michigan folk quartet Marzuki has just released his solo record, A Sun Came.

Interview as follows:
Who is Sufjan Stevens?
Sufjan Stevens is me. 25-year-old Greek/Lithuanian fiction writer, musician, and knitter of ski caps. I love to crochet and sew. There's nothing wrong with a man using a needle and thread.

What comes first, the lyrics or the music?
I write music. Hum tunes. Listen to traffic. Then try very hard to put the right words over some noises. There is no easy way about it.

How did you get hooked in with the Danielson Famile and how does playing with them impact your music?
I helped organize a festival where Danielson headlined. Dan's unorthodox manner of writing a song has inspired me to try more stops and starts in the way I write music. The whole Famile is a good example of a healthy music community.

Books/music that are rocking your world as of late?
I just read The Little Prince, and some of Borges' non-fiction. I love Eno, Mouse on Mars, Prince and the Revolution, and Neil Young.

How does your community affect your art?
New York City has made me write more electronic music. Lots of urban noises. Tinny mechanical jerks and stops. Very inorganic and cold.

Where do you call home?
I'm originally from Michigan. I was born in Detroit. Right now my home is New York. But I feel homeless.

You play a lot of different instruments on your record. Are you self-taught or do you give a shout-out to any mentors?
I took several years of oboe lessons, from which I acquired music theory. The rest is self-taught. Mentor? Oh, I can't think of one.

Was there more music making in your house growing up or music listening?
I listened to a lot of Prince growing up. And Yaz. Upstairs at Eric's. Anything my sisters had: David Bowie. Beatles. The Cure. U2. Casey Casem. American Top 40! I listened to it every Sunday.

-interview by Eldorado