FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| MUSIC "When we first signed it was like the big indie boom, so we were really happy and thinking maybe we could actually do this and that," says Sean Allum, the drummer for the indestructible two-man team known as Duotang, describing the moment he and guitarist/vocalist Rod Slaughter were signed to Mint Records. "All of a sudden we heard of this band Prodigy, right? And then all of a sudden every club was like 'chicka-boom chicka-boom chicka-boom' - that kind of stuff. More and more we saw clubs having less and less people in them listening to live music." Electronica stealing the spotlight from indie rock would be the least of Duotang's worries immediately following their signing. They were just about to record their debut, Smash the Ships & Raise the Beams and then embark on an extensive tour when Cargo Records went belly-up. The distribution company owed Vancouver-based Mint a lot of money that was direly needed. But both Duotang and their label persevered, and the band built up a solid fan base across Canada with endless touring. In fact, much of the material for their sophomore release, The Cons & The Pros, comes from the duo's experiences from the past year, including the title track which is actually a rally song for Mint and Duotang. "That comes through on the record with what the songs are about - being in an indie band in Canada in this day and age. Not that it's a concept record, 'cause it's not, but it just seems that a lot of the songs are dealing with what we were going through a year ago or so." Sean and Rod did not hold anything back for the recording of The Cons & The Pros. Brenndan McGuire (producer for Sloan, Jale, Super Friendz) flew in early for pre-production to help the band perfect a sound that may win back audiences to live shows. "We kind of figured out what we were going to do in the studios, what we had the time to do, what we wanted to do, and extra time if anything else came up because things always come up that you want to do. This album, we just took a lot more time thinking about songs.... "When we went in to do the first, we were more starry-eyed. This time, we looked at it as if we were going to record another record let's kind of concentrate on the songs and make the album gel and flow instead of here's song one, song two, song three, y'know?" The equipment Duotang recorded with was also another essential factor for their new and improved sound. "The first one we recorded on digital and for our type of band, it thins everything out. This time we used all analog equipment - two-inch reel. And it just makes such a difference. The mixing board was this old 1969 board without equalizers on it. It was just huge," Sean says. "The machine that had the reel-to-reel on it would shake and everything. But it just made such an improvement on our sound, it really thickened everything up." Turning the cons into pros with feisty success, hopefully Duotang can be one of the Canadian bands to ignite another indie boom. |