It almost seems like every Canadian band in existence is putting a record out this fall. Occupying a key position in this Can-rock orgy is local quartet Tangiers. For the past few years, Tangiers have been touring sporadically and receiving a steady stream of critical acclaim for their first two albums, Hot New Spirits (2003) and Never Bring You Pleasure (2004), and now they’re set to add their latest effort, Family Myth, into the fray.
The brainchild of native Torontonians James Sayce and Josh Reichmann, Tangiers always seem to be a band on the move. While the Constantines’ beautiful new disc, Tournament of Hearts, represents the conclusion of one of Canada’s most heroic record labels, Three Gut, the release of Family Myth signals the birth of the brand-new Baudelaire Label, headed up by former V2 (a major label that’s home to the likes of Moby) staffer Evan Newman. Tangiers have also been picked up in the U.S. by French Kiss Records (which is also home to Thunderbirds are Now! and Les Savy Fav) and even have an Australian deal in their pocket.
For Tangiers, Family Myth represents less of a dramatic departure from their classic sound than the natural product of a musical progression-it sounds refreshing and familiar at the same time. Working with producers Chris Zane, the band recorded the album this past winter while jet-setting between studios in New York City and Toronto.
Although cutting a record in New York City might be an indie-rocker’s wet dream, the process wasn’t without its hardships.
“We stayed at our label’s headquarters, which is in a really nice part of town, in an amazing space, but they had no beds,” laments Reichmann with a touch of good-natured sarcasm. “So we slept on the floor, and it was freezing and weird.”
“That was only for a few nights” Sayce cuts in, setting the record straight. “We were then given a full apartment to ourselves in the Lower Eastside, with a couch, TiVo, and nothing else.”
“So basically we had blowup mattresses and really good TV,” Reichmann quips.
While the living may have been spartan in some respects, Reichmann and Sayce were content to focus on making their songs sound as big and fully furnished as possible.
“Our last record we wrote in the studio, but this time we wanted to go down there with a really focused idea of what we were doing,” explains Sayce. “We spent more time getting things to sound good by focusing on the production and not having to worry about the song structure.”
Now that they’ve got the backing of a decent American label, Tangiers will be busy touring in support of Family Myth. This fall, they’ll embark on a cross-Canada mission with Sayce’s former bandmates The Deadly Snakes, which will be followed by stops in the U.S., Australia, and Europe. Sayce, who graduated from U of T this past spring, admits that previously school had gotten in the way of extended trips abroad, but “now that I’ve finally graduated from university, we can actually go on tour.”
“Yeah, James’ education really fucked our band up pretty badly for a few years,” Reichmann deadpans.
But now that Sayce is free from his academic constraints, and the band has a record that’s being released to both domestic and international markets, Tangiers can expect to broaden their fan base significantly. This potentially also means that more critics will have the opportunity to pick apart Family Myth. That doesn’t seem to bother either Reichmann or Sayce, although they are tired of being constantly compared to whatever band happens to occupy the indie rock spotlight.
“Badly written reviews are the ones that only discuss other bands that are around that month-saying, you know, ‘They sound like Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Hot Hot Heat…'” Reichmann grouses.
“But at least those reviews are usually positive!” Sayce adds with a laugh.
Sayce’s optimism is well founded. Since their debut, critics have generally had nothing but kind words for Tangiers’ loud and poppy garage rock. They’ve even managed to win praise from the notoriously pretentious and elitist tastemaker website Pitchforkmedia.
However, Reichmann and Sayce are prepared for the worst, noting that with such a wide release at hand, some negative reviews are bound to surface somewhere.
“We’ll get a lot of bad reviews on this one because we’re going to get reviewed a lot more,” Sayce jokes modestly. “There’s going to be someone from the Boise, Idaho Examiner who’s like, ‘These guys suck, they sound nothing like Bloc Party.'”
Tangiers play a CD release for Family Myth Friday (Oct. 7) at Lee’s Palace ($10 at the door).
