Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Death From Above 1979 by now. As one of Toronto’s hottest bands, their music and distinctive cover art (which reimagines the pair as pachyderms) have become ubiquitous in this city as their fan base grows exponentially. Their 2004 debut, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, made it onto all sorts of year-end lists, they’ve got two Juno nominations, two videos in rotation on MuchMusic, lots of international attention, and they’re selling out shows wherever they go (including what’s sure to be a triumphant hometown stand tomorrow night at the Opera House).
Though the band is comprised of only two lanky lads-drummer/singer Sebastien Grainger and bass/synth player Jesse F. Keeler-their volume level alone sounds like a stampede of elephants charging through your living room, which is exactly what the duo is going for.
DFA1979’s sound is hard to pin down, and has been described as everything from thrash-pop to disco-metal to “sweat rock,” but Keeler and Grainger agree that their favourite description is “a pop band in wolf’s clothing.” The phrase is apt, as their music comes across as intensely aggressive at first, but has some surprisingly danceable, catchy tunes at its core.
It’s an ingenious twist-their music’s genre-bending nature appeals to almost every kind of music fan, from the indie-rock kids to metal thug types and everyone in between.
“We don’t care who likes our band-we’re not in this to discriminate against people. We want as many different kinds of people to like our band as possible,” Grainger deadpans, “Because we want to sell a lot of records.”
At their sold-out hometown gig back in late December, the pair told the sweaty adolescent throng how much they prefer playing all-ages events to licensed shows.
“19+ shows are still fun, in the way that the dentist is fun when your mouth is already frozen,” Keeler quipped at one point. Later in the set, Grainger and Keeler even invited several teenaged fans up on stage to play one of their songs for them, Grainger exclaiming afterwards, “That’s the most flattered I’ve ever been in my life!”
When asked about the noticeably increased banter at the all-ages show versus their Vice tour gig earlier that month, Keeler declares, “It’s only adults that forget that music gets made for kids first… Just rent A Hard Day’s Night and look at the crowd. People forget that kids are the defining audience for music in general.”
Grainger, a former camp counsellor, goes on to elaborate on his bandmate’s comments. “We also understand the necessity to have a 19+ show and an all-ages show, because when you’re 19, you don’t hang out with 14-year-olds. There’s a period in your life where you’re kind of resentful about your childhood, and [so] people have a problem about all-ages shows.”
As one of several Canadian bands that are achieving widespread international success, the DFA boys have some interesting theories about why they and other Canucks like The Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, The Dears, Feist, and so many others are receiving so much attention these days.
“Jesse came up with the theory that there’s a lot of attention [being] paid to Canadian artists now because Americans are so self-loathing because of the political climate, and I think that’s pretty true,” Grainger offers.
Keeler picks up the thread: “I don’t think there’s anything different happening now in Toronto than there was 10 years ago. It’s just that people are paying attention now. Maybe that’s a reciprocal reaction to the fact that the rest of the world is paying attention and thinks it’s cool-so just like everything else, Canada is last on the bandwagon.”
Despite their burgeoning popularity and association with the hipper-than-thou Vice Records (an offshoot of the puerile mag of the same name), don’t look for DFA1979 (the guys added their birth year to the band’s name following a run-in with New York electro wizards DFA Records, home to The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem) to be jumping on any bandwagons anytime soon.
“You’ll never see our name on a list of bands to play Warped Tour. Our management was directed not to associate us with any kind of extreme sports,” cracks Keeler.
Clearly not a bunch of guys who take things too seriously-so to cap off the interview, I couldn’t resist asking Sebastien about a rumour I heard about him telling Paris Hilton to fuck off-made rather plausible on the grounds of his friendship (word is they’re dating) with Kelly Osbourne. He pauses and replies (much to Jesse’s amusement), “It was a case of mistaken identity. You can quote me on that. But I told [Brit balladeer] Badly Drawn Boy to fuck off once. And you can also quote me on that.”
Death From Above 1979 plays the Opera House tomorrow night (March 8) before embarking on an endless tour with fellow T-dot rockers controller.controller. Sold out. Just remember, kids, scalpers are evil.
