Preview
VAILHALEN
Friday, September 24
Liberty Lounge
It’s apt that "Spit in the Mouth," the opening song on Vailhalen’s debut EP Becs D’Oiseaux, features the repeated line "I can’t stand wasting time." Chris Vail, songwriter, frontman and namesake of Vailhalen, has accomplished a rare feat with the five-song, not-quite-23-minute-long offering – wasting no time in making it abundantly clear that Vailhalen is quite simply one of the best acts this city has seen in several years.
Not that this should come as any surprise. Vail is likely a familiar face to many Calgary music fans – he’s been involved with a number of projects over the past few years, including the much-beloved Shecky Forme, and the too-short-lived XL Birdsuit. But last year, having seen the latter fall apart due to people relocating to faraway climes, Vail decided to take firm hold of his musical vision, recruiting members for his own project from a wide swath of styles. What began as a way to flesh out his own ideas has grown into a band that often numbers near 10 members, a CD that is already turning heads across the country and what one can only imagine is an organizational nightmare ("It’s getting hard to co-ordinate schedules," Vail concedes). He makes it clear, however, this was hardly the initial plan.
"When I started Vailhalen just over a year ago, it was just out of necessity. I was tired of re-starting bands under a different name. People just kept moving away from me," he says with a laugh. "It was really important to me that everyone in the band was really fun. They were all really good friends that I wanted to hang around all of the time."
Vail had the advantage of happening to be "really good friends" with some of the premier musicians in Calgary’s indie scene. The resulting band, which is a bit of a rotating-door affair, is an impressive collection of talent, though Vail was careful not to simply find people who shared similar tastes and experiences. "This is probably the most intentional thing I have ever done," he says about co-ordinating the current lineup of the band. " I brought in Dolly (Sillito), Brent (Gough) and Pat (Wallis, Reverie Sound Revue) because they were such competent musicians. And (with) Garrett (McClure, Primrods, Summerlad), Carl (Lukasewich, Shecky Forme) and Joel (Nye, Hot Little Rocket), it’s more of a stylistic thing. They add a bit more of the edge," he says. With friends like these – a veritable who’s who of the Calgary scene, and all involved in creative projects of their own – it can’t be an easy feat to keep everyone committed, though Vail says this hasn’t been as big a problem as it might appear to be. "It’s been the same core membership (since the outset), but I like the way it is now…. I hope it works out, but it’s up to them," he says self-effacingly. "I don’t want to tell anyone what to do."
While the band has quickly developed a following within the city through its live shows, Becs D’Oiseaux should see the Vailhalen name spreading far beyond this sprawling city’s limits. Despite having only five songs, the disc shows an impressive range. From the straight-ahead, melodically-heavy opener to the moody headphone candy that is "The Moodkiller," its clear that the months spent mixing the album paid off.
Even a cursory listen to the record reveals an attention to detail that is often lacking in local releases, with textures, harmonies and even horn arrangements not just being tastefully placed in songs but becoming integral to them. Melody lines are stacked on top of one another, with vocals sitting near the front of the mix atop a bed of subtle keyboards, effected guitars and unnerving rhythms. It’s an achievement that doesn’t sound as though it was done largely through a computer that repeatedly crashed throughout the process.
"I might’ve overdone it a bit," Vail says, laughing, when asked about the arduous mixing process. "But I think I got it out of my system. The next album we’re working on is much more straightforward."
Never content to waste any time, Vailhalen has been busy at work on the full-length followup to Becs D’Oiseaux, toiling away on the final version of the posthumous XL Birdsuit record. Somewhere in there he has managed to arrange for his CD release party, which will feature two drummers (McClure and Nye) and stand-up comedy. If initial reaction to the disc is any indication, Vail will continue to be busy for the foreseeable future. But while the quality of the disc coupled with Vail’s outgoing personality will likely win over both media and industry types, don’t look for Vailhalen to be making a major-label, commercial-radio charge anytime soon.
"I never really want to make music for a living, theoretically, because I don’t really like the music industry. I would love to be able to tour and maybe come back with some money," Vail says, pausing. "Maybe," he adds, breaking into a wide grin, "maybe even tour in a bus one day. I think the bus would be the big symbolic thing that would say I’ve achieved some sort of success."
CELEB TOP FIVE
The Top Five bands led by a primary songwriter according to Chris Vail from Vailhalen
1. Smog (Bill Callahan)
2. The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson)
3. The Hidden Cameras (Joel Gibb)
4. Guided By Voices (Robert Pollard)
5. The Kinks (Ray Davies)
Chris Vail’s steps to starting a good band
1. Find musicians that you want to spend a lot of time with (i.e.: the band
Chad Van Gaalen).
2. Find musicians that don't all listen to the same music. That way if
you're ripping somebody off, they'll get it wrong and you'll end up sounding original (i.e.:The Dears).
3. It's good to be relevant, yet unaffected by fads (i.e.: Pilate. I hope
they're still around when this gets published!)
4. If you're going to rip something off, rip off someone who has nothing to
do with your style of music, as it then becomes clever referencing! (ie: when Hot Little Rocket stole from Nana Mouskouri, when Falconhawk ripped off the Wu Tang Clan...)
5. Let your bandmates know not to mess with you. For example, at the first Vailhalen rehearsal, I gave Dolly Sillito the ol' "Glasgow Kiss" (head-butt to the nose) and made Garrett McClure clean up the blood with his Primrods T-shirt. |
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