Split Chain: Tour Diary - Day 2 - Louisville (LDB Fest) /  by William Green

We were on the road by 10 a.m, making the three-hour drive from Columbus to Louisville for LDB Fest. The guys spent most of the ride trying to piece together a setlist, since they only had 20 minutes to play.

As soon as we crossed into Kentucky, the rain started coming down hard, then easing up, then slamming again all the way to the venue.

Once we got there, we set up the merch table next to a band called Big Ass Truck. Bert immediately hit it off with them, matching drinks like old friends.

The festival flew by, and before we knew it, we were back in the van, inching closer to tomorrow’s destination: Atlanta. After about an hour, we pulled off for Waffle House and found a spot to crash for the night.

Split Chain: Tour Diary - Day 1 - Pittsburgh /  by William Green

Today kicks off the first day of tour with Split Chain, I’ll be tagging along through May 2nd, documenting the ride as we make our way down the East Coast.

Caught a train to Hoboken to meet up with the guys and load into the van with our driver, Josh, a Canadian from Windsor who honestly could moonlight as a stand-up comic with how funny he is. Once we hit the road, I spent most of the ride with my back on the dash, filming and chatting about music and whatever else came up, usually random tangents.

We looked into booking a cabin for after the show, but quickly realized it didn’t have a bathroom, which, with seven people, was a no go.

Eventually made it to Preserving Underground in Pittsburgh. Such an amazing spot, really felt like a true community hub, with all kinds of people, young and old, coming together. After the show, we packed up, hit a Walmart for food, and drove on to Ohio to crash so tomorrow’s haul to LDB Fest won’t be as brutal.

Writing this from the van en route to a Days Inn somewhere in Columbus, Ohio, it's 1:28AM, but there's a Waffle House across the street, so I’m not complaining. I brought about 40 rolls of film for the trip, but for these end of day posts, I’ll be sharing snapshots from my little Contax digicam.

Just woke up at 6:40AM and found out the Waffle House is to go orders only (horrible).

I was planning to sit there and work on this post, but looks like Waffle House will have to wait for another day.

Behind The Scenes w/ Penny and Sparrow & Field Guide /  by William Green

I met up with Penny and Sparrow & Field Guide outside Irving Plaza, and it felt less like an introduction and more like stepping back into a conversation with old friends. Inside, the venue buzzed like a broken television. Cables curled like snakes. Someone hummed an old gospel tune. We slipped out after soundcheck and ended up at a place up the street to eat oysters off cold plates & sip martinis sharp as glass. Every guy at the table next to us had a Patek showing, all gleaming on their wrists, while I sat in tattered clothes, stained in paint feeling like a misplaced extra. But at our table, I felt like I belonged in the film we were making together.

Ce Qui Reste Quand Ça S’éteint - Interview w/ Corridor /  by William Green

You’ve mentioned that no one wanted to be the ‘main’ singer in Corridor, how has that decision shaped your songwriting or sense of ego within the band. 

Dominic : That decision was initially made because none of us thought of being lead singer in the band. We didn’t have much experience at this point. Nowadays, when we write a new song, most of the time we know by the end of the process who should sing it. I think we’ve grown knowing whose voice fits better for the vibe.


When writing collaboratively, what’s something you’ve learned to let go of, and something you insist on holding firm?

Dominic: I’m not sure if we learned something to let go of, but we clearly insist on being really democratic about the music. If someone doesn’t like the song, we do not record or release it. It can be frustrating if 4 out of 5 dig something, but it is what it is


You’ve cited influences like Chad VanGaalen and Dog Day, what’s something about their work that you think listeners might overlook but you find really formative?

Dominic: I think their music in general is just overlooked, especially for Dog Day. They were both influential on how we recorded music in our early days. So many Canadian bands tried to sound like them, so were we.

The album name ‘Mimi’ was chosen early and stuck, how did the name start to shape or influence the emotional tone of the album as it evolved?

Jonathan: I don’t remember exactly what was the spark of it all but I remember I was digging some stuffs to sample in some old cartoons. There was a character named Mimi and at some point in the story everyone is looking for her, yelling Miiiimiiiiii. I loved that part, you can even hear it at the beginning of the record. Mimi is also the name of my cat, an old grey & white furry ball without teeth that is always puking everywhere. On the group chat we were often sharing the same meme picture of an old weird looking cat that looked exhausted. I just had my daughter, and moved to a new neighborhood so I guess I felt connected to that picture. I drew it for the album cover and that’s it.

“Mourir Demain” came from real-life thoughts about mortality, what other tracks were rooted in specific adult anxieties or mundane realities that surprised you creatively?

Jonathan: Most of the album is. The idea of Mourir Demain Phase came out while I was shopping life insurances and writing a testament, things I had to do cause I was newly a dad. Phase IV is kinda post-nostalgia. I remember I was going through my old neighborhood and I felt like that page of the past was closed for good. Mon Argent is about having to care about money. You know, you grew up a punk, saying fuck this and fuck that, then you realize you’re having suppers with friends talking mortgages, doing your tax on time… Jump Cut is when I started to feel overwhelm by nowadays technologies, probably the same ways my grand-parents were with the beginning of internet. Portes Ouvertes talks about moving to a new house. Chenil is about catching animals in this new house, I had to get rid of mices, rats, racoons, all in the same year I moved in. It’s funny, I just thought the concept of a generic and beige adult life was incredible. I wanted the album to be personal and honest and so that was my life at that moment.

With Samuel Gougoux joining and introducing more electronic textures, what’s one new instrument or sound you didn’t expect to fall in love with during the Mimi sessions?

Dominic: Before entering the studio with Joo-Joo Ashworth, he suggested we get a Korg Delta for synth textures, we ended up really liking the tones of this analog synth and it’s basically all over the album. None of us really knew what it had to offer. It really saved some of the songs.

Self-producing ‘Mimi’ gave you more freedom, was there a moment where that freedom became overwhelming or chaotic? How did you rein it in?

Dominic: It became chaotic especially near the end of the mixing process. Some of us thought it was finished, some didn’t. Normally, when the producer is not part of the band, he would determine when it’s done or not, it was kind of a hard moment, but in the end we managed to finish it without killing each other lol. Also, money was an issue because every mixing session would cost money, bankruptcy wasn’t an option.

Ableton and remote work shaped this album. How did those constraints reshape the way you thought about ‘liveness’ or spontaneity in your music?

Dominic: I think this is part of what makes Mimi different from the other albums. It’s the first we didn’t record live, so everything was really clean and crisp and we weren’t really used to that. It was especially difficult when it was time to figure out how to play a live version for shows. It took Sam some time to really figure out how the setup should be. 

In a past interview, you mentioned that the whole concept for Mimi actually came to Jonathan when he bought a leaf blower, realizing he was “becoming one of those guys” who gets excited about yard tools. I love that an everyday moment like that sparked a creative idea. Are there any other surprisingly mundane or non musical moments that have inspired your music? For example, have things like a random errand, a photo you saw, or an offhand memory ever planted the seed for a song or theme?

Jonathan: Yeah, a lot of this album ideas are coming from my everyday life. Like I said, shopping tools, working on your house, bringing your car to the garage, suppers with old friends. It just felt poetic to talk about this normality. Like there was something deeper to say about the whole thing. 

Several Mimi song titles read like nods to photography or film, “Caméra,” “Jump Cut,” even “Phase IV”. Do you consciously think in visual or cinematic terms when writing music? (By the way, was “Phase IV” titled after the cult ’70s sci-fi film of the same name, or just a coincidence?) Can you give an example of how a movie, a specific scene, or a filmmaking technique (like the abrupt feel of a jump cut) influenced the atmosphere or structure of one of your songs?

Jonathan: We actually have a moodboard for the album and most of it is action movies and explosions. We didn’t have so much music references to give to Joo-joo before recording the album so we gave him this instead. We knew, for example, that Jump Cut needed to feel like a car chasing scene in a spy movie on steroids.


Jonathan, I know you’re an illustrator and you’ve mentioned that you “have always opted for an illustration” rather than using band members’ faces on album covers. The cover of Mimi, featuring that wonderfully scruffy cat (Mimi herself, I assume) has a distinctive handmade charm. What visual art influences went into designing that cover and the band’s overall aesthetic? Are there particular artists or art styles that inspire the imagery of Corridor’s albums and merch? And how does your graphic art background shape how you present the band’s identity?

Jonathan: I’m basically an illustrator and an animator. My references are basically what I grew up with, old NFB animation shorts, graphic novels, 70’s french comics, 40’s cartoons. So yeah, I’m far from fashion, that’s probably why you won’t see our faces on an album cover. I did some stuff for other bands before. Knowing how musicians are most of the time painful to work with, I guess it was easier (and cheaper) to do this kind of thing myself. It’s fun, you know, being able to it without someone telling you to change this font or that color for no fucking reason. Since the beginning , directing music videos and making album covers for the band were also ways for me to experiment new stuff and different techniques. It’s nice, it feels like they totally trust me with that part. I always propose a couple of ideas to the band. Somehow it’s always the shittiest idea that makes the cut. Basically, when it make us laugh, it’s a good sign. I wouldn’t say I was inspired by something for the album cover other than the picture I drew. 

Your music videos often have a playful, homespun quality. I’m thinking of “Mon Argent,” where you ended up creating a whole visual concept in a single day using whatever was on hand, a Lite-Brite toy, falling pennies, and Dom’s collection of ceramic cats, after a technical mishap on the shoot. How do spontaneous DIY moments like that influence your visual storytelling? Do you draw inspiration for your videos from any specific filmmakers or visual artists, or is it more about embracing happy accidents and creativity with everyday objects?

Jonathan: This video is a disaster. Basically I had a really cool concept. It was 3 different clips of masked characters playing through different tv screens and interacting with each others. Somehow, the day I was shooting, I stepped on the wire and it broke inside one the television. The video was due the day after so I had to figure out something else on the spot. It is what it is. I created a lot of music videos before, 5-6 for the band and I’d say that I’m kinda proud of them. But this one… It’s not embarrassing but it’s more something that I would only consider as ‘’content’’. The label didn’t even put the final version on Youtube hahaha

Interview questions & research done in collaboration with Molly Alexander.

A record built from what lingers - Interview w/ Robber Robber /  by William Green

 

Some Questions with Nina Cates (vocals / rhythm guitar) of Burlington-based band Robber Robber

You’ve said you like ambiguity—has anyone ever interpreted one of your songs in a way that made you see it differently yourself?

Yeah- I feel like I write in a way where there’s a lot of room for interpretation. People ask if songs are about something and I feel like the answer is always yes.

Even if I didn’t intend it that way to begin with, once someone finds meaning in a song, that’s what it’s about.

How did the shift from Guy Ferrari to Robber Robber reshape your identity as a songwriter?

I feel like in the Guy Ferrari days it was a real kitchen sink approach- I still like some of those songs a whole lot but it was definitely less focused in a direction.

Robber Robber feels like we’re acting on what we learned from Guy Ferrari experiments. In a lot of ways it feels like a different band.

Were there any songs or ideas from your Guy Ferrari days that you carried over into Robber Robber, or did you feel the need to start completely fresh?

Absolutely! We still play a couple carry overs here and there when we want to mix it up- Robber Robber’s definitely more representative of where we’re at though. 

Is there a song on the record that felt like it taught you something about your own tendencies, musical or personal?

Writing primarily from a 3rd party perspective even when it’s about myself was something that I didn’t really realize I did until I examined it after.

Much easier to be vulnerable that way which is something to be examined later on perhaps haha. 

How does Burlington as a physical or emotional space show up in Wild Guess, if at all?

Definitely! There are themes of examining conflicts in my life in Burlington all throughout the record. The winters are long and can be brutal in Burlington and I think that can lend to being more introspective and it’s when I tend to write more lyrics.

In “Dial Tone,” there’s a jittery, off-kilter energy—did the arrangement evolve from a jam, or was that tension always intentional?

I don’t think that one came from a jam. Just Zack and I screwing around in a basement over Christmas break from school. I think that one started with guitar and drums and then we built off of it but few of the songs start in the same way as each other 

 
 

Urian Hackney’s engineering has a punk legacy, how did his approach shape the way this record feels sonically?

We thought a lot about which songs we felt would suit his energetic, punk studio approach. You can definitely hear it on How we ball and Dial Tone. He’s great at suggesting tones and letting us layer tons of stuff and I think those songs benefited a lot from his approach! It was nice to have that contrast with Benny’s approach which felt a bit more experimental for some of the songs we wanted to get a little wavier on like Sea or War. Very glad we got to work with both of them and so lucky to have both of them local! Burlington’s very lucky in that regard

You’ve said you write from a third-party perspective, have you ever surprised yourself by how much personal truth slipped in anyway?

All the time! I’m still realizing the ways in which the songs ring true to myself. I mentioned it a little bit before but I think positioning it like that makes it easier to talk about myself and switch between subjects but there’s always a through line that sometimes isn’t obvious to me until long after the song is written. 

Do any lines from Wild Guess feel like they came from somewhere subconscious or dreamlike, rather than something you deliberately wrote?

Tons of them- I feel like songwriting is a pretty magical headspace you have to get in. Some of my friends like Lily Seabird can sit down and write a song front to back in one go which I think is nothing short of magic. I am not that way, I feel like I have to charge away at tons of lyrical ideas until I have something I instinctively feel good about and by then the meaning I started with might’ve become something very different but just as true. 

 

Behind The Scenes at Split Chain’s First Headline Show /  by William Green

Jasmine from Epitaph Records asked if I’d be down to shoot Split Chain’s first U.S. headline show at TV Eye.

I said yes, but only if I could spend the whole day with them. I get a little nervous before things like this; I tend to go all in with people right away, and sometimes that energy can be a lot. But they were totally on the same page. I wanted to cram everyone into the photo booth, but it was sadly out of order.

Earlier in the day, we’d joked about stage dives and how some people just don’t get stage etiquette.

Sure enough, once the band got on, two kids started aimlessly wandering the stage like they thought they were part of the show. Eventually one guy got the memo, I pointed to one of them and said, “See that dude? He’s your responsibility. Keep him off stage.” He just smiled and went, “Got it.”

 

Behind The Scenes w/ Midwife /  by William Green

I spent the night with Midwife at Elsewhere, documenting their set as they opened for Blood Incantation. Midwife, the project of multi instrumentalist Madeline Johnston, is known for creating what she calls heaven metal, a blend of slow burning shoegaze, ambient drone, and intimate vocals that feel devotional.

For this post I’m showcasing a portrait of Midwife printed on found end sheets from a discarded book I picked up off the street, the texture and age of the paper matching the worn, cinematic world their music lives in. I’ve also included video footage from the performance, where Midwife played in front of a projection screen glowing with 16mm film textures that flickered across the room and wrapped their sound in moving light.

JPEGmafia “Lay down my life tour” NYC /  by William Green

I woke up to a text at 4am from Kat letting me know that the venue was not going to let us do video as we originally planned, So I got out of bed and started to unpack all the VHS cameras and rebuild my gig bag to be more photo focused. I did keep my PXL2000 and Ruvi in my bag incase there was a moment we could do some video which is what the tour bus clip below is from.