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| Louder Than Love |
March 27 2012 – Slacker Canadian Music Week (CMW) 2012 happened in Toronto from March 21st to the 25th. CMW is a music festival, conference, exhibition, and even a film festival all rolled into one. It is also billed as “Canada’s Largest Music Festival” and aims to bring exposure to Canadian music of all genres and in general to support the Canadian music industry. Over 900 artists from 40 countries in 60 venues converge for 5 nights in Toronto and this puts us on the map in terms of large artistic and creative gatherings. Having just come back from the fabled South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, we are very pleased that Toronto will host CMW and we are certain that CMW will grow in both number of attendees and stature in the music industry (much like Toronto’s International Film Festival has). You can read a recap of some of the festival’s highlights here for March 21st, here for March 22nd, here for the 23rd, here for March 24th, and also recommendations for the whole festival here.
Louder Than Love incorporates everything from hard rock riffs and acoustic folk arrangements, to pop vocal harmonies and dirty blues guitar solos. After the release of their debut album Dark Days, just over a year‐and‐a‐half ago, the Vancouver‐based band quickly started racking up accomplishments: rave reviews for the album and packed live shows, airplay on commercial radio stations, (CBC, 106.9 The Wolf, 104.7 Power, 103.5 The Bridge, 99.3 The Fox), charting as high as #4 on the Canadian college !earshot radio reports, completing two successful Western Canadian/U.S. mini‐tours, playing at the Vancouver Convention Centre, and signing an artist sponsorship deal with Graph Tech Guitar Labs (sponsors of Nickelback and Kenny Wayne Shepherd).
Here is what they had to say to us:
Louder Than Love: Paul Lambert does lead vocals and plays guitar, Nate Parsons plays guitar and does backing vocals, Dan Okano plays keys, guitar and does backing vocals, Jason Nickel plays bass and does backing vocals and our drummer is Flavio Cirillo.
We found you as we were searching through the mountain of artists being featured at the 2012 Canadian Music Week. How important is CMW for bands fighting to get noticed and the exposure you can gain from it?
Louder Than Love: From what we saw last week, CMW provides an awesome spotlight for artists to get their names out there, to get some exposure from people who wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to see them. There are tons of industry people who attend shows; we were able to make a few connections while in town, and I think that is where the true benefit for artists lies.
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| Louder Than Love |
Not sure if you read the recent interview with Dave Grohl on Billboard, but the interview title was “Why Rock Will Never Die & Why 2011 Was His Best Year Ever”. So tell us your thoughts – Why do you believe rock will never die?
Louder Than Love: I did read that article actually, and it was spot on I thought. Real music is the portrayal of emotion through song, and that was Grohl’s explanation of why rock has not been at the forefront of music lately. I especially liked the Adele reference, her music stands out from the rest because it is filled with passion and has the musical talent to back that up. If rock can get back to being about brewing up feelings in people rather than pumping out songs that follow some kind of industry formula, then rock won’t have any problem surviving in the future. I think there are tons of up-and-coming bands who are capable of bringing rock back to its rightful place in the popular music landscape.
Why will 2012 be your best year ever?
Louder Than Love: We will be releasing our 3rd album in only 2 and a half years, and I think this one will by far be our best. We’re working with producer Garth Richardson for this record, who’s done Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers and others, so he brings some excellent credentials to the table. We have really grown as musicians and as songwriters, and the chemistry we are starting to feel when working through songs is incredible. Once this new album drops sometime in late-July/early-August we’ll have to wait and see, but it’s been all positive to this point.
Imagine each of you were the guitarist/drummer/bassist/vocalist in another band. Would that band be: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath or Nickelback and why?
Louder Than Love: We look up to a lot of the classic bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd especially. As funny as it might sound coming from a bunch of 20-something guys, those were the tunes that we listened to growing up. The Beatles are another band that we always look to for inspiration; those guys just wrote pure songs that could capture you instantly. All those bands you mentioned have something different going for them, but I think we would all rather be in Louder Than Love and be playing to sold-out stadiums some day. There’s nothing that beats the feeling of finally getting that payoff after pouring all your blood, sweat and tears into something.
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| Louder Than Love |
What is the future of the music industry? With the concept of the album and physical CD’s facing extinction, how will we be consuming music in 10 years? Are the economics feasible for emerging artists?
Louder Than Love: The economics of the music industry today are pretty much stacked against the artists. The future economics of music will be centered around live performances, as we’ve seen already. You make an album, everyone steals it (not a bad thing at our stage of the game) and then you tour the crap out of it and make your investment back. It’s the most fun job in the world, and there will always be people who are willing to do it for free. Money is the last thing on most people’s minds when they start a project like this. It’s about making your kind of music and trying to get that music to the greatest number of people. Money is typically an afterthought.
How long has the band been around, and how did you guys get started?
Louder Than Love: We have been playing together as a band for only 2 and a half years, going back to January 2010 when we played our first show at a tiny pub in Vancouver. We all knew each other from high school. Paul and our original drummer Tyler played together as kids, Nate and Paul’s younger brother Tony were in a band for years, and when Paul and Dan decided to start this project, the lineup just sort of fell into place. We pushed really hard to sell tickets to shows and within 6 months we had 400-500 person rooms packed for live gigs. The right people started to take notice and the next thing we’re opening for bands like Young the Giant, the Sheepdogs, Theory of a Deadman, and the Trews. Interestingly enough, we recorded our first full-length album before ever playing a live show. It’s a great way to jumpstart things, you have something tangible to give to people, both media, industry people and fans.
Where can people get your music/CD, is it being sold anywhere?
Louder Than Love: People can get physical copies of our two albums online through our website, or at live shows. Our tunes are available for download on iTunes as well.
At the end of 2011 we did our picks for top 10 albums of 2011. What albums did we miss on our list, or how would your top 10 list differ from ours?
Louder Than Love: I like the picks of Foo Fighters “Wasting Light” and Black Keys “El Camino”. Both are stellar albums in my opinion. I have never really got into My Morning Jacket or Mastadon, so can’t really comment on those two. As far as not including the Adele record, I’d say poor choice, but Jay-Z and Kanye was kind of a bust for me. Lady Gaga is an incredible songwriter and performer, and I think deserves to be in that Top 10, regardless of what kind of musical interests you have. Coldplay and Skrillex both put out gigantic albums, and as real students of music, you can’t help but dive in to those albums. I don’t think dubstep is really any of our favourite styles of music, but there is definitely some force there that can’t be ignored. Skrillex does a great job of pouring undeniable emotion into electronic music, which is an impressive feat for that genre.
Very broad choices indeed, however we only focus on rock on this site Gaga and Adele are polar opposites to our musical tastes (otherwise we would just be a Rolling Stones clone). We do appreciate your time, any closing remarks for our readers?
Louder Than Love: If you like our tunes, tell us! Go to our Facebook page or Tweet us (@ltlband). There’s nothing we love more than connecting with fans! Passionate music fans are the driving force behind what we do so don’t hold back!
