So these guys appeared on my radar a couple of weeks ago during a late night internet browsing session. And no, I wasn’t looking at porn. I was actually going through the Arts and Crafts roster and they jumped out at me as the only act that I’d not heard of. Like the majority of the acts on A&C, The Most Serene Republic hail from Canada and have been on the scene since 2004 when they released their debut Underwater Cinematographer. They were the first act signed to the label that weren’t connected in anyway to label founder Kevin Drew’s band Broken Social Scene.
Their new album Populations is out in the States now, and quite frankly, it’s bloody brilliant. A fantastic mix of pop hooks and dizzying BSS-esque instrumentation. I caught up with lead vocalist Adrian Jewett to pose our 20 Questions to him. Make sure you click on the mp3 link at the bottom of this post to sample this exquisite band.
1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Ineffable Ineffable Ineffable
2. What would be your ideal holiday?
Building a back deck with my father, paralleled with a shared craftsmanship of nails and Home Hardware visits.
3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
A high metabolism.
4. What’s on your rider?
Anything that will fold my linens of discontent into a hamper of confidence.
5. How do you get ready for a live show?
There is no such thing as getting ready.
6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
It is different every show but generally the one(s) we all emote on simultaneously. .
7. When was the last time you told a lie?
When I said there was no such thing as getting ready.
8. Who would win in a fight, a badger or a fox and why?
A badger because he fights with furtiveness and cunning with an
understanding of playing dirty, without any respects to vanity or ring tones.
9. What was the last album you bought?
Stravinsky’s Petrushka.
10. If you could rid the world of one song - what would it be?
Impossible. It would have to be many songs and a career orientation course for the people who made them.
11. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Woody Allen, but he would have to foreshadow my state of mind at age 70.
12. Dead or alive. What 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival.
The Dismemberment Plan
Maroon 5 (I would want them dead before they went on stage and brought out rigor-mortis styles)
The Beatles with a zombie Lennon and Harrison.
Radiohead
A band from 20 years into the future.
13. Desert Island Disc? Pick only one.
I would have an I-Pod.
14. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
The most memorable story of the road was the realization that memory in its rapid degradation will be completely gone by age 40, and all tour memories will be a cloud of neurosis and how I handled it.
15. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
A bunch of very vapid moments cluttered with ones vindicated by emotional crescendos, but really, how dare you ask me to die while I’m at such a young age?
16. File sharing and Myspace - Sign me up or cold shoulder?
Cold Shoulder. MySpace reminds me everyday of the mundaneness of human life.
17. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
My genitals because its the answer that caters the most to the lowest common denominator.
18. What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
Book - Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Movie - An American Tail by Don Bluth
19. What three things could you not live without?
My kidney’s, reminders that its worth it, and my repugnance for boredom.
20. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
Humans need war.
mp3:> The Most Serene Republic: Sherry And Her Butterfly Net
[From Populations; Out Now, Arts and Crafts]
Links
The Most Serene Republic [official site] [myspace]
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