We recently were alerted of a new release by a trio of local Canadian musicians named U.C. from Toronto. We are familiar with these guys from various projects such as Classic Albums Live and Druckfarben. We jumped on the opportunity to listen to the digital album and we were blown away by the aural landscape this symphonic prog presented us. We would recommend it with our maximum enthusiasm as something you should explore, The album is currently only on Bandcamp and you can check it out right here.
We were able to catch up with William Hare who is credited on the album as: Keyboards, Vocals, guitar, sequencing.
Q: Will, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. We just heard your new bands debut album Time Distortion and wanted to get some insight. First and foremost can you tell us who is in the band named U.C. and also maybe break down the acronym for us. What does U.C. stand for?
A: Well, U.C. consists of Kevin Bath (vocals, guitars, bass), Troy Feener (drums) and me (keys, guitar, vocals). We had a couple of guests on the album, including Ed Bernard on melodica (of all things!) and Alex McMaster (cello) – a Classic Albums Live co-worker (as well as my girlfriend!). When Kevin joined Classic Albums Live a few years ago, the three of us would jam stuff during soundcheck – Some King Crimson but also some UK like “Carrying No Cross”. So, when we named the band it was a play on UK but since we are Canadian we called it U.C.! Doesn’t REALLY stand for anything in particular.
Q: How did Time Distortion get created? Can we call it a COVID baby?
A: Yes, a COVID baby. Kevin sent Troy and me a version of him singing and playing “I Talk to the Wind” (King Crimson) and wanted us to play on it. We did so and Alex played some cello on it too. Turns out, it was Kevin testing the waters to see how things worked with the three of us recording together and he followed it up with an original tune called “Magnanimity” and we all really enjoyed how that song turned out. Things grew quickly from there and the music seemed to feed upon itself.
Q: We want to tell our readers that the offering right now is available on Bandcamp, but is a physical offering in the works?
A: Yes, it’s available on Bandcamp (ucmusic4.bandcamp.com). As for a physical offering, we decided not to do a CD. I’m noticing that fewer and fewer people even have anything to play a CD on. We would be interested in vinyl but that is expensive and the delivery of vinyl through the mail these days is also expensive… and slow! Let’s see what the response to the album is like and we will decide from there.
Q: Let me tell you Will, when listening to Time Distortion it feels like one of those albums that must be heard end to end sort of like Tull’s Thick as a Brick or Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Would you agree with my opinion and was the album in fact created as a concept album? If yes can you tell us a little about the concept behind the album
A: Exactly. It really does need to be played beginning to end and Kevin was even unsure about making the songs listenable as individual tracks. I am a huge Moody Blues fan and always liked the way the songs fade into and out of each other. Once that started happening with the songs, a concept became clear to Kevin. Obviously, we’ve all been going through our own mental journey during the lockdown, particularly those of us who have had our livelihood taken away. If you want to get a sense of Kevin’s concept, check out the following:
Q: The album seems to take on the madness of the world these days with the great divisiveness that we are seeing in the USA with even a piece of cloth on your facet that can save lives becoming politcized. Then the song Fragmentation features vocals declaring “LIES LIES LIES Where the truth lies”. Where does the truth lie?
A: Man, that’s quite a question, Terry. THAT has probably been one of the most frustrating things that I’ve observed over the past year – The death of truth or at least the malleability of truth. The entire population has been presented with daily information about the COVID virus from our governments and yet you end up with wildly divergent views within the population.
Truth is whatever one chooses. If one is presented with facts that do not fit their world view – Facts that are uncomfortable or inconvenient, they will simply deny that truth and find another one. There are plenty of alternate truths to find on the internet and PLENTY of other people who share your viewpoint. This is not a good thing.
Q: Obviously you guys were not able to record in a studio these days (or maybe you were), but how was the album recorded and mixed?
A: That’s true. Pretty much every musician has the ability to record at home these days. Even when we could go into studios, this was necessary for overdubs etc. Whenever a piece of music was created by one of us, we would email it to the other two guys. Then, we load it into whatever we are using (Cubase, for example) and start adding our own touches to it. We would then send a mix to the rest of the band for their appraisal. If people liked it, the individual tracks were uploaded and Kevin was really the main mixer – It was really HIS concept and sonic vision. He knew what he wanted to hear, particularly vocally – lots and lots of vocals. In the end, we brought in a guy named Steve Skingley to finish off the mixing and mastering.
Q: Will we know you and Troy are part of one of our absolute favorite prog bands Druckfarben. We actually were in the studio with you guys and filmed this documentary of the recording process (can be seen here). This week we were shocked to find out the news that Druckfarben’s singer Phil Naro passed away from throat cancer. Is it safe to say that Druckfarben is no more? Were you able to speak to Phil before his passing?
A: First of all, I appreciate you posting that link to the documentary – Watched it last night and had forgotten so much of that experience. Great to have that. Thank you.
Phil would chat with the band through a Facebook group and let us know how he was doing and I do know that Ed would talk to him from time to time. We knew he was in dire straits but he just had no quit in him. He really made me believe that he was going to beat it. Even a couple of weeks ago he posted on Facebook that Druckfarben would be at it again in the future. This one really hurts.
Almost a year ago, I found 3 or 4 unfinished Druckfarben tunes on my computer and I said to Ed “Let’s round these off and release them.” When we presented them to Phil that’s when it became clear that he wasn’t able to sing and that he was very sick. Will we finish those tracks anyway? We haven’t talked about that yet, Terry. Too early to say. We’re all still dealing with the reality that Phil is gone – We just won’t have that voice around ever again. It sucks. That said, I feel very lucky to have worked with him so much and so closely over the past 14 years. Very lucky indeed.
Q: Is it true that someone in the band owns a world record?
A: Haha! Yes indeed. I remember years ago hearing that some guy had recorded an album a week and released them online and that this was a world record. Crazy. Flash forward years later and I’m on a gig with Kevin Bath and he’s in the back of my van and I’m talking about that record only to find out that it was HIM! Just hilarious. As he described it, he just couldn’t stop. Some of us (like me!) sit at our instrument and stare at the blank slate and try to come up with something. Guys like Kevin (and Ed Bernard) – Music just pours out of them at times. Kevin got into that headspace again during the pandemic and that’s why he have an album. Some music for another album too.
Q: Will we appreciate your time, and we cant recommend Time Distortion enough. We really hope we can see the piece performed live at some point in the future. Any closing words for our readers?
A: Thanks for this, Terry. Yes, everyone have a listen to Time Distortion. We are pretty proud of it and we hope we can perform it live – if we are ever allowed to that sort of thing again!
U.C. Time Distortion article by Terry Makedon
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