When you first listen to Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, better known as USS, your heart begins to race and you feel the need to jump around with a smile on your face. Jason “Human Kebab” Parsons and Ashley Buchholz (Ash Boo-Schultz) manage to infuse their listeners with nothing but good vibes and an indescribable feeling of musical satisfaction. While Buchholz strums his guitar, Parsons is the hype man for the band while working the turntable — sometimes while doing handstands. The Varsity caught up with Parsons shortly before the release of USS’s fourth album, Advanced Basics.
The Varsity: How did you come up with the name “Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker?”
Jason Parsons: The name is Ash’s doing; he created it as a mantra and honestly, I was often confused with the moniker and thought USS was a better fit. The name, however, fits because we’re all about bringing people together — and not just for shows, just wherever we go and through our music. We want people to get excited about music and life — to believe in limitless possibilities.
TV: How long has USS been together for?
JP: It started in January 2005, we were known as Team of Captains. After a year or so, we dismantled and basically went off in our own different directions; I went to go work on the oil fields out west. It wasn’t until the spring of 2007 that Ash gave me a call and said that he had rebranded himself under the name of USS, wanted to continue on with it, and asked me if I wanted to join. Of course, I said yes. Yeah, so we’ve been together since April 2007.
TV: When was your first big show and how did it come to be?
JP: In 2008, Bedouin Soundclash was really big and was headlining a show at The Sound Academy, and we became the opening act for them. It was pretty big because there were about 2000 people in the crowd, which was crazy for us. Especially because this was only a month and a half after the song [“Hollowpoint Sniper Hyperbole”] was released.
TV: What’s your personal favourite song of the bands?
JP: In any interview, I’ve never given a favourite song mainly because I don’t have one. I feel like a parent to all these songs, and if, for example, I say “N/A OK” is my favourite then “Damini” is going to get upset! But I love each song for different reasons, each song is so different, and they all have individual meanings. For example, “Damini” is all about being a metaphor for life and it’s strange because lyrically, it is a sad song — but when we perform it live everyone is just going crazy, and we just want to make the audience jump around. Lyrically, it’s about losing a loved one, but people will run with a song in any way that they want.
TV: You DJ for the Edmonton radio station 102.9. How do you balance being a DJ with being a part of the band, producing music, and being on tour?
JP: I’ve never been asked that before. It’s still new, I guess. I’ve only been a DJ for the station for about a year now. But it is definitely awesome, mostly because it feels like I have an actual job on the side. It’s hectic though; it takes about two or three days for me to put a show together. I have to first find the music which entails picking out current alternative rock songs. Then it takes about half an hour to find remixes of those current songs. I tend to lose track of time and all off a sudden it’s five in the morning! You know, I’m not a planner and I get distracted a lot so it gets a little crazy, balancing it with USS interviews, shows and festivals. There’s a lot of recording involved, and then editing over the recordings and adding in my voice-overs. So even if I record shows in advance, I still have to edit to include current news.
TV: You recently started touring, what is that like?
JP: We just started touring in September 2013. We’d do a lot of campus shows, club shows, and then of course, festivals. It’s really cool because out west, a lot of campuses don’t expect us to do shows there, because when they think of campus shows they only think that happens for Ontario schools. It’d be really exciting because the students themselves were so excited. It’s also a very humbling experience because when we’d go to parties on campus, the students wouldn’t even really know us; we’d pass through raw and bold while being unknown and become the entertainment for the night. It’s important to think of the little shows, because you enter in unknown and leave with so many fans. The little shows that happen while we’re on tour also act as reality checks. They show us that we still have a lot of work to do. We know that success is really just patience, understanding, and an open mind — along with huge songs and a really supportive team and a lot of commitment. We’ll be passing through cities, and it’s humbling because we’ll go from shows with 10 000 people to just small campus shows of 20 people. It helps us realize that we’re still on our way in whatever direction we’re heading in to whatever destination we’re heading to.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
