At press time, the ambitious Ear to the Ground Festival of indie music and arts slated for this weekend at Exhibition Place had been cancelled. We, like many others, had been looking forward to the event and had planned to bring you coverage of some of the acts participating, but, alas, the show’s a no go.
But you know us, always ready to talk indie-rock, so in that spirit, here’s a recent chat with Arts & Crafts upstarts The Most Serene Republic, whose recent Underwater Cinematographer debut is rife with enough whimsy to keep you from pining over the loss of the festival. Somewhat, anyway.
-TABASSUM SIDDIQUI

TS: How did you guys end up being the first ‘outsider’ band signed to A&C?

Ryan Lenssen (mastermind, keyboards): We’re such fans of the ‘family’ aspect and how great the bands are… I emailed them one night, and they got back to me, and I sent them a CD. They came to see us at Canadian Music Week and, as they say, the rest is history. They were totally into it, and we were grateful.

TS: You’re yet another A&C collective-how does the writing process work with six people in the band?

RL: I use the ‘house’ analogy: I lay the foundation, and everyone else brings their own experience to it. Like, Nick’s the plumber; Andrew, he could be the interior decorator…

Emma Ditchburn (guitar, vocals): No, that’s me, man! I could do plumbing; I could do electrical… I could do whatever you want!

TS: You must be aware that there are those who want to cut you down to size for being so young yet so successful-are you feeling any pressure?

Adrian Jewett (vocals, trombone): A lot of people are just waiting for us to screw up… Critics are vultures.

RL: Actually, no, that’s not entirely true. We’ve actually been blessed (press-wise), and we are incredibly grateful… They are probably the only thing that’s keeping me sane right now. We’re trying our best to stay objective on the whole thing, but you see your face on something, you kinda wanna read it…

AJ: We definitely don’t Google our name anymore…
ED: …anymore! Busted.

RL: We are working our butts off right now-the difference between us two months ago and right now is leaps and bounds, and I think it does show. I think that is a demonstration of how hard we are working to refine our craft and make sure that we can really become the best musicians possible so that we can be as creative as possible.