20 Questions with… The Pack A.D.

With a sophomore album that went straight into the Canadian College charts at number 1 in August, and has been firmly nestled in the top 15 ever since, things are looking positive for Vancouver two piece The Pack A.D. With their raw garage rock’n’soul show, the band have been tearing up Europe and have just played three shows in London, drawing comparisons with the Black Keys, White Stripes and Janis Joplin along the way.

Ro Cemm went along for the ride and lived to tell the tale (and provide the pictures). Oh, and on a cold night in Tufnell Park, he managed to get Becky Black (Guitars and Vocals) and Maya Miller (Drums, Banter) to answer the infamous TLOBF Twenty Questions.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words..
MM: I-Like-Cheese.
BB: Don’t Expect Anything.

2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
MM: Four Tops-The Motown collection on tape, somewhere I can’t remember.
BB: Aretha Franklin’s Who’s Zoomin Who?…on tape as well. I have no idea where from.

3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
Both: Greasy breakfast, tylenol and coffee.

4. What’s on your rider?
Booze, water, coffee. In that order.

5. How do you get ready for a live show?
BB: Turn up
MM: Go to the Bathroom. Again, in that order.

6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
BB: Cabin
MM: Don’t Have to.

7. What’s your guilty pleasure?
BB: . Serial Murder. Once you start it’s hard to stop.
MM: Billy Joel- he’s the piano man.

8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
MM: A STOAT. Because I don’t know what it is but it sounds like it could be stout.

9. Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
MM: Dag for Dag- They’re an American brother/sister who moved to Sweden, got an adorable Swedish drummer and I think they’re fantastic. Plus they’re name is pronounced Dog for Dog. Richard Swift is producing they’re new record, and I think Tyson from Two Gallants is on it too.
BB: Black Diamond Heavies- The best live show I’ve seen in a long time. And they’re sexy. And I know them.

10. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
MM: Linda Hamilton, when she was buff in Terminator 2. Actually, maybe Edward Furlong could do it. And my life story would involve Arnold, so…come to think of it, a mix of John Rambo and Sly Stallone….gah. Never mind. Clearly J Lo was meant to play me. The Ting Ting’s can do the soundtrack. If they pay me.
BB: A film of my life would have to be animated. It would be foreign and not make any sense. Oh, and there would be unnecessary nudity and excessive gore.

11. Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?
BB: Kate Bush/ The Sonics/ Groundhogs/ Early Black Sabbath/ Cat Stevens
MM: Erik Satie/ Michael Nyman/ Vangelis/ Laurie Anderson/ Jean Michel Jarre (He played at the pyramids!)

12. If push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album?
BB:Tea for the Tillerman- Cat Stevens
MM:F♯A♯∞ by Godspeed! You Black Emperor

13. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
MM: An elderly lady recently helped me carry gear up some stairs at a tube stop….I hang my head in shame.

14. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
MM: I Like Cheese
BB:Cheeseburgers, Artichoke dip and blue corn chips

15. What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you and did you take notice?
MM:‘DOG SHIT!!’. And no, unfortunately I didn’t notice
BB: ‘Take your hands out of your pockets when doors are closing on you’. DOES. NOT. COMPUTE.

16. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
MM: My enormous, squishy frontal lobe.
BB: My liver. I guess they could study the affects of alcohol.

17.What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
BB: 1984- it’s good everytime. And we would both say Burn after Reading. We watched it somewhere in Georgia.
MM: American Psycho- It’s comfort reading. And yeah, what she said.

18.What three things could you not live without?
MM: Coffee, contact lenses and friends.
BB: Food (more than in a ‘basic need’ kind of way), People (a few of them at least), Art (in all forms)

19. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
BB: I graduated from clown school
MM: I also like eggs

20. And finally, we’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
MM: Well, we won’t do a ‘Funeral Mixtape’ , as that would be too cheesy. Mine is “No sense is Good Sense”
1. Kate Bush-Rocket’s Tail
2.Gorillaz- November has come
3.The Organ- Don’t Be Angry
4. Black Diamond Heavies- Nutbush City
5.Immortal Lee County Killers- Let’s Get Killed

BB: Mine would be “The Nasty Instrumentals”
1. Amon Tobin- The Nasty
2. Aphex Twin- Finger Bib
3. Nyman and Albarn-Theme from Ravenous
4. John Fahey- Sunflower River Blues
5. Godspeed! You Black Emperor- East Hastings

The Pack A.D. on MySpace

Funeral Mixtape is out now on Mint Records.