Preview
NOVILLERO
Saturday, May 28
Broken City
If you hop onto the Internet and do some digging into Novillero’s sound, you’ll stumble on to the word "mod" more than a few times. You’ll also run across a sizable handful of band references – The Kinks, The Who, Booker T and the MGs, and The Small Faces to name a few.
It’s clear this Winnipeg four-piece delves deeper into the past than most bands these days and the above-mentioned references aren’t inaccurate, says bass player-songwriter Grant Johnson. But when it comes to describing the sound of Novillero (a Spanish term meaning novice bullfighter), he’s not sure anyone’s really nailed their sound so far – and for that matter, he’s not so sure they know how to describe themselves either.
"We just need a word that describes it, some kind of clever and simple way that encompasses what we’re all about," says Johnson. "So far the best term we’ve come up with is soul-pop." It’s a description that makes sense, seeing that Johnson and his cohorts view themselves as a lot more Motown influenced than anyone gives them credit for. Given their driving, infectious melodies and penchant for vocal harmonies, the way Johnson gushes about the Motown sound shouldn’t be surprising. "Just the musicality – like, listen how great the Funk Brothers are. It’s approaching music with the intent of being great musicians."
Listening to Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives, their second full-length and first record for Vancouver’s Mint Records, it’s clear that musicality and the intent to be great musicians are there. This is no straight-ahead, three-chord rock record. Make no mistake, it rocks, but there’s clearly a higher purpose and a lot of forethought put into the shifting arrangements and lush sound of the 12 tracks on Aim for the Holes in Their Lives. With keyboards and sometimes even horns accompanying the usual guitar-and-drums combination, Novillero makes a point of thinking about what best suits the song. "Just so much attention is paid to the instrumentation and arrangements," says Johnson. "We have no problems with telling each other we really loved the way someone approached something and we don’t mind putting whatever time we need into a song."
The result is simultaneously diverse and cohesive. For example, "Laissez Faire System" is an urgent, semi-political rocker that is clearly different, yet not at odds with the Beatle-esque "Abbey."
If you look a little deeper you can discern the differing approaches of different writers. Former Transonic member Sean Stevens wrote "Laissez Faire System." The blatant Brit-pop of "Abbey" belongs to Johnson, and then, of course, there’s the bulk of Novillero’s material, which bears the recognizable mark of ex-Duotang member Rod Slaughter. Johnson says that the songs may be brought to the group by different players, but in the hands of all the members the material becomes a product of Novillero. "It’s good the sound of the band can tie them all together, but there’s definitely different sensibilities, different backgrounds," says Johnson.
But it’s not the band’s sizable pool of songwriting talent that’s being called upon these days. With the new record garnering a decent buzz right out of the gate, the band being featured on the front page of the iTunes site and the album being named by The Globe and Mail as a "CD of the week," the time to get out there and spread the word to the masses is now. And that is, indeed, Novillero’s current focus.
With a new video for the song "Hypothesis" just finished by the team responsible for recent Weakerthans videos, Novillero is busy moving from city to city and introducing themselves as a live entity. And that, says Johnson, is where the careful orchestration of their songs gets further altered by yet another influence – the increased energy of playing live. "The gloves are off for playing live. We have some good pictures of keyboards and drums and people lying on the stage at the end of the night." |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.