Preview
CONTROLLER.CONTROLLER
Thursday, April 7
Warehouse
Critical acclaim. International recognition. Ass-shaking mayhem. It don’t mean a thing if you can’t get along. Just ask Jeff Scheven, drummer for Toronto post-punk dance outfit controller.controller.
Sure they’re receiving rave reviews, but, more importantly, after a gruelling tour that took them overseas and across North America (making a stop at the much ballyhooed South by Southwest music festival), the band is still on speaking terms. No small task when you consider the tension created by cramming five people into a tour van.
"We were gone for three weeks," says Scheven, recounting the U.K. leg of the tour, "and we got along really well. But all of us felt the stress of tour and sleeping on floors and being away from loved ones."
After releasing their explosive EP History, controller.controller was able to cash in on the punk-funk revival and nab all sorts of music press. Released on the small-but-cool Paperbag imprint, that EP made waves overseas when a small label in Bristol put out controller.controller’s debut. The band’s tight groove, combined with the kind of influences that make British music journalists drool (PIL, Joy Division) made their three weeks overseas fruitful, but as Scheven observes, the strength in numbers concept doesn’t always translate on the road.
"We are touring with Death From Above and they are a two-piece," he says. "That is the way to go. It’s pretty simple. You get your own hotel room. Meanwhile we are all sleeping on one sleeping bag on the floor together."
But after 12 years of making music, there is no question that he is willing to suffer the hardships in order to tour. To diss his success after having it so far out of reach for so long would just be hypocritical.
"It was always something we did for fun. Now there is a big group of us who have all been to the U.K. with our bands," he says. "Sleeping on filth-encrusted floors all the time is kind of a dream come true in a way. We never really thought that would be happening.
"We are all totally poor right now and finding it tough to live, but I think things are good enough that we are willing to take on the burden."
Plus, all that time on the road has brought controller.controller together in ways they never imagined. Their razor-sharp guitars and melodic vocals have achieved a skin-tight relationship, and the band have spent time between tour dates recording their full-length followup.
"When you play a show every night for three weeks you really start to notice a difference in the way you play," says Scheven. "It just becomes more natural. It’s the whole process of doing it all the time. You just have to get better."
And though Scheven admits he should be a better drummer by this point in his career, he has found a way to get by. "Just keep the bass drum pounding," he says. "That’s the secret." |
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