One Ton of light, poppy Quebecois disco
Band creates "Supersexworld" in the realm of Canadian content
URBAN GROOVE FEATURE
One of the last things you’d expect from the Canadian music industry is a band like Quebec’s One Ton. Last week, they were on a promo stint, touring the West in support of their recent debut album released on Warner Music.
The funny thing is, neither the album nor the band falls into the stereotypical categories of corporate "Canadian" music. One Ton doesn't play hip-hop or rock and they are not aiming their music at hormonal young boys lookin’ all street in the mega malls. They don’t mention hockey or getting down in the crib in T.O. Their self-described aim is to bring a "groove" back to the pop industry. By all accounts, it would seem that One Ton represents an exotic and welcome shift in the landscape of Canadian electro-pop music.
While they still aren’t too far from the mainstream, they serve up a sense of musical presence that hasn’t been seen since Supreme Beings of Leisure ventured onto the scene. By today’s measure, they could be lumped into the nu-lounge or electro lounge movement, but that fails to sum up their musical capabilities.
A quick chat with the three members of One Ton reveals that there is much more to going on tour and promotional benders than they could have expected from a foray into Western Canada.
With three creative helmspeople, each member contributing a unique piece to their musical puzzle. Byron takes care of guitars and arrangements, Zita adds songwriting and vocals and Cristobal is the maniacal mixmaster that pieces it all together on computer, including samples (on this album) from the likes of crotch-rock gurus Accept, along with world-beat time signatures and disco riffs thrown in for spice.
At first meeting, you wouldn’t expect that they’ve all come from a classical music background. Far from a regular manufactured piece of Canadiana, One Ton seems more the manifestation of Trudeau’s vision of a Canadian multicultural mosaic than a bunch o’ good ol’ boys making songs in the cabin and drinking a beer named after us.
"The way this One Ton is put together, it’s the way music is now – you can put together anything, clever placing of a riff or changing structure," says Cristobal. "With classical music, I thought, 'Well I could play stuff that’s 100 years old or I could make my own stuff,' and that’s what we’ve done with One Ton."
Byron – the only western representative of the band, having grown up in Terrace, B.C. – is living out a long-held ambition of seeing Canada through the windows of a tour bus. That hardly seems as glamorous as the band's ultra-modern urban leanings, especially when their single "Supersexworld" is juxtaposed with them drifting against the barren prairies in a company provided car.
"The inspiration, for the music, I guess that wouldn’t be anything particularly Canadian. We grew up here, but we don’t sing songs about the land – that may come, but...." At this point, they’re not about to try and become the poster band for the Canadian experience not quite yet.
Their aim is modest enough – they want to get their music on the airwaves and in people's heads. No huge dreams of superstar status have yet to cloud their desire to plug away. This despite the fact that the single "Supersexworld" has begun to chart in Europe and is featured on the Greek version of Popstars as its theme for this year.
"We want our music to groove people, give people something a little more sophisticated than this or that," says Zita. "That’s really all we try do – not try to be like everyone else but be ourselves, and be sophisticated, not so simple." |
