Preview
VENUS AND FERGUS
Friday, March 18
Art Gallery of Calgary
When you think of sweeping post rock – of instrumental epics that rely as much on beauty as on structure – you don’t think they originated with a fevered appreciation of Tricky Woo. Venus and Fergus change all of that.
Anyone would be hard-pressed to identify the Calgary quartet’s humble bedroom beginnings on its new three-song, almost 30-minute-long EP Sky-O, Tea, Epic. But this is precisely where they began.
"It started in high school, just the two of us," says multi-instrumentalist Brian Milne, recalling his early jam sessions with Kincaid Chan. "At first it was like two people playing completely unrelated songs at the same time. I remember we tried playing ‘Fight For Your Right to Party.’ And Tricky Woo – we were two guys trying to be Tricky Woo."
Now Venus and Fergus (including the two founderss respective siblings, Ross Milne and Tyler Chan) have just finalized plans for their CD release party featuring a video piece that accompanies the EP, as well as visual art and rudimentary catering. All to introduce the listening public to their latest effort, an ambitious affair that challenges the perceived depth of Calgary’s music scene and could easily sit in the post-rock canon. And while it might sound a bit weighty, Chan is quick to point out that little if any of it is contrived.
"We were surprised that songs developed like they did," he admits. "We weren’t trying for anything in particular, they just evolved this way."
The evolution required all members to pick up a variety of instruments, as well as inviting several guests to appear on the record. Both Milne and Chan are quick to point out that even with guests, things were rarely pre-conceived." A lot of times it was just people we met," Milne says, with a laugh, "and (we) hadn’t even heard them play. Like with (trumpet player) Chris – I just found out he played and asked him to come in."
This seemingly haphazard method of developing and recording Sky-O reflects the band itself. It’s the latest chapter in a history that includes five records (two of which are available). Leaping from style to style with little regard for the typically straight line most bands – especially young ones – follow in their growth. If anything about Venus and Fergus is contrived, it’s this genre hopping – something Chan and Milne readily confirm. "We’re not trying to set our own sound and then just keep working on that sound," Chan says. "We have short attention spans.
"I think we get bored really easily," Milne says. "You can only spend so long on a style. It’ll always be there, but it just won’t be so dominant. If you go back to the old stuff that we recorded, you can still hear bits of it now. And (on) the new stuff we have been recording and writing, you can hear it as well. It doesn’t disappear or get thrown away."
The short attention span of the group didn’t appear to factor in to the lengthy process undertaken for their new CD. Students all, the band focused on recording and writing in summer breaks while attending university, scaling back their efforts from September to May. As a result it took almost two summers to complete the EP. Even now, education is making things difficult for the group, with Ross attending school in another province. As such, the CD release party will be a unique affair, with Venus and Fergus not actually performing, but debuting the disc along with an accompanying video project the group commissioned from two friends, leaving the live music to be provided by bands whose members contributed to the CD. And according to Milne, that makes perfect sense. "The band has never been the ultimate, singular thing," he explains. "It’s just one of a bunch of projects." |
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