Preview
SUDDEN INFANT DANCE SYNDROME (SIDS)
Friday, July 1
Stanley Park Community Centre
(4013 Stanley Road S.W.)
Sarah Ford and Jesse Locke are sitting in a Kensington café looking far too happy and excited considering they are discussing the breakup of their band.
The two have joined me to talk about the impending end of Sudden Infant Dance Syndrome (SIDS), a band that achieved more in their 10-month lifespan than many local acts do over the course of several years. Their basement-recorded collection of demos hit No. 1 on CJSW 90.9 FM, and they had a following that began in the all-ages scene, but extended far beyond, until even the most jaded hipsters agreed the band was unlike anything this city had heard before. They even had fans screaming "I love SIDS!" at them from cars as they walked down the street. Ford is succinct in her assessment of the band’s situation: "The joke has gone too far."
The youthful quartet (elder member Locke is 19) have become known as much for their apparent ability to channel songs directly from some of the great bands of the early ’80s and translate them into jerky, hook-filled post-punk pop for the double-zero crowd as they have for their showmanship (Ford once eviscerated a band member onstage, complete with fake blood and entrails). The yelping vocals, the swooping keyboards, the stuttering rhythms – all of it was love at first sight for a scene that desperately needed an injection of fun.
"Too many bands take themselves too seriously," Locke says, "so we just wanted to have fun and make each other laugh."
With one last farewell show to play, Locke and Ford are already talking about what they will be doing next. While the band is sure to enter Calgary music folklore, they don’t intend to disappear completely, with each member promising that if they aren’t in a new project yet, they will be shortly. Still, it’s a tough pill to swallow for a scene that SIDS took, however unintentionally, by storm.
SARAH FORD
Instrument: Keyboard and vocals.
Birthdate: October 21,1987.
Favourite colour: Blue/green/brown... baby vomit?
Favourite band: Argent. Seriously, that's impossible. Top 5? Tom Waits, Beck, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Brian Jonestown Massacre… maybe.
First record you bought: Grade 2. I bought either Elvis Costello or Green Day. SoCal whoo!
Favourite animal: Dik-dik or red panda.
Favourite food: Potatoes. I'm an Irish girl.
Favourite TV show: Six Feet Under or The Office (BBC).
Favourite movie: I work at a movie store. Top 5? Buffalo 66, Akira, Rushmore, Eraserhead, Sleepaway Camp... and Down by Law... and Dig!... this question isn't fair.
Favourite book: The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien.
Favourite piece of clothing: Do sunglasses count?
Where was your first kiss: Real kiss? A kind of ugly suburban basement while playing SNES.
If you could go on a date with anyone, who would it be: A 20-year-old Tom Waits or Jason Schwartzman.
If you had a super power, what would it be: Antlers!
Favourite character on the O.C.: That dumb bitch.
Who's your idol: Joel Gion, epic tambourine player.
Favourite store: Recordland.
Favourite restaurant: Co Do Vietnamese noodle house.
Describe your dream date: Tom Waits takes me to a pool hall. He gets drunk, starts a fight and gets punched in the mouth. I spend the rest of the night cleaning his bloody lip and trying to get him to stop crying.
Plastic surgery, yes or no?: No.
Alcohol, yes or no?: Only achewater.
Drugs, yes or no?: LSD – leadership, service, determination.
Dancing, yes or no?: Yes. Hips to the floor, motherfuckers.
Ties, yes or no?: Yes.
What's the most important quality in a girl/boy?: Legs.
Shoe size: W8.
East Coast or West Coast: West coast. Better surfing, brah.
Teen People or Teen Cosmo: Geez. That's tough. Teen People did a spread on SIDS where Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff were rubbing cocoa butter all over Craig, but Cosmo had a cover story on us where my hair looked really good. It's a toss-up!
CRAIG FAHNER
Instrument: Guitar, bass and lead vocals.
Birthdate: March 6, 1987.
Favourite colour: Brown.
Favourite Band: Destroyer.
First record you bought: Big Shiny Tunes 2.
Favourite animal: Derek McEwen.
Favourite food: Quarter-pounders rule everything around me.
Favourite TV show: Kill your TV, etc.
Favourite movie: 32 Short Films About Glenn Alderson.
Favourite book: My Body's Nobody's Body But Mine.
If you could go on a date with anyone, who would it be: Ayn Rand. What a fox.
Favourite store: Bongs and Such.
Favourite restaurant: Rajdoot.
Alcohol, yes or no?: Only for rubbing on scraped knees and broken dreams.
Drugs, yes or no?: No. Well, meth. Just meth. What are you, a cop?
Dancing, yes or no?: Under my regime everyone must dance.
Ties, yes or no?: Neck: yes. Bow: yes. Twist: Oh god, yes.
What's the most important quality in a girl/boy?: Hand-eye co-ordination.
Shoe size: 10.
East Coast or West Coast: Pedal to the metal and the holy ghost.
Teen People or Teen Cosmo: Teen Cosmo obviously has better kissing tips. How dare you even compare the two?
JESSE DAVID LOCKE
Instrument: Drums.
Birthdate: January 5, 1984.
Favourite colour: Red.
Favourite band: Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars.
First record you bought: Weezer’s blue album (seriously).
Favourite animal: I’ve always been kind of partial to orangutans.
Favourite food: Vegetarian chili with lots of kidney beans and corn, or root beer slurpees.
Favourite TV show: Freaks and Geeks.
Favourite movie: Rushmore.
Favourite book: Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman.
Favourite piece of clothing: My T-shirt with a map of the Maritimes and a sailboat on it.
Where was your first kiss: The boiler room of Balmoral junior high.
If you could go on a date with anyone, who would it be?: Probably Zooey Deschanel or Karen O.
If you had a super power, what would it be?: Shape-shifting.
Favourite character on the O.C.: Seth Cohen, obviously.
Who's your idol: Lester Bangs.
Favourite store: Amoeba Records.
Favourite restaurant: The Coup.
Describe your dream date: Me and Zooey Deschanel have dinner at The Coup. Then we jump into the De Lorean from Back To The Future and travel to New York in 1966 to watch The Velvet Underground play with the Exploding Plastic Inevitable at CBGB’s. Then we head into the future to hang out with some robots and ride hover boards for a bit. Then we do it on a rainbow.
Plastic surgery, yes or no?: Definitely no.
Alcohol, yes or no?: Definitely yes.
Drugs, yes or no?: Definitely depends on what kind you’re talking about.
Dancing, yes or no?: Definitely yes.
Ties, yes or no?: Definitely yes.
What's the most important quality in a girl/boy? How well they can do the jitterbug.
Shoe size: 9.
East Coast or West Coast: West side is the best side.
Teen People or Teen Cosmo: Teen Cosmo, because it has quizzes like "Are you a vapid skeez-bag?"
E. BRADY KIRCHNER
Instrument: Bass.
Birthdate: February 26, 1987.
Favourite colour: cherry red.
Favourite bands: Cuff the Duke and the Constantines.
First record you bought: Soundtrack from Star Wars A New Hope.
Favourite animal: Turtle.
Favourite food: Virtually any dessert.
Favourite TV show: Kung Faux.
Favourite movie: Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice.
Favourite book: Douglas Adams is sweet.
Favourite piece of clothing: A really good hat is the key.
Where was your first kiss: A couch.
If you could go on a date with anyone, who would it be?: Craig Fahner.
If you had a super power, what would it be?: To be skinny like Craig Fahner,
Favourite character on the O.C.: All of them.
Who's your idol: Rick Deckard (Blade Runner).
Favourite store: Tramp's is sweet.
Favourite restaurant: Cheesecake Café.
Describe your dream date: Any babe on any beach.
Alcohol, yes or no?: Jagermeister and Goldshlager.
Dancing, yes or no?: Yes.
What's the most important quality in a girl/boy? Honesty. And a fanatical devotion to rock ’n’ roll.
Shoe Size: 8 1/2.
East Coast or West Coast: West Coast.
Cute Band Alert
If there was any justice in the world, Brit and K-Fed would go off gently into that celebrity twilight, R. Kelly wouldn’t have written any of "Stuck in The Closet" (let alone 30 chapters of it) and the phenomenon that is Sudden Infant Dance Syndrome would be sweeping far beyond the confines of the Calgary music scene.
As such, we decided to give the band their very own teen idol spread as they prepare to play their (some would argue far too premature) farewell show. And in keeping with the reason given for the band breaking up just 10 months after their inception – "The joke has gone too far!" says keyboardist Sarah Ford – here are a few different takes on what international fame would have looked like for a band with their youthfulness andsense of humour.
· Excerpted from a diaryland blog that I might have written if I was half my age
OMG!!!! I saw Sudden Infant Dance Syndrome tonight and they were the BEST!! They were so fun, even if they are really skinny. I wonder how they get pants those tight? Anyway, they were AWESOME!!!! They played this all-ages show and they are supposed to be a joke band, but they are way too good and fun and they play music that sounds like those bands from the early ’80s that I just started listening to cuz I am SO OVER Weezer now that River got all fat and has playboy bunnies in their video. Anyway, after the show, I went and got pizza, and I got to talk to them and they were SOOO nice!!!! And that cute girl with the wicked Gang of Four T-Shirt came in….
· Excerpted from an imaginary In Style article
I couldn’t believe that keyboardist Sarah Ford and drummer Jesse Locke were picking away at some high octane sweets at the fabulous Kensington café we chose to meet up at, given their Hollywood-thin bodies. But there they were, in all their vintage-infused glory, Ford fiddling with the omnipresent sunglasses that sat atop her jet black hair. They seemed oblivious to the onlookers who kept whispering and motioning at the Calgary scene sensations as they giggled quietly, not responding to my questions about just why the band was breaking up. Instead they talked about the future, letting the sun that had emerged from behind a cloud and was now streaming in the windows bathe their youthful good looks in the perfect light….
· Overheard in a Rolling Stone editorial meeting
"Um, Sudden Infant Dance Syndrome? What the hell is that? It sounds dark. Are they like System of a Down? Oh shit – what do you mean Janis Joplin’s producer died?"
· Excerpted from www.pitchforkmedia.com review
"… and while I now understand the greater purpose of 3/4 time, the purpose that imbued so much of the jazz that cross-pollinated, however subconsciously, into the tenets of early punk rock, Sudden Infant Dance Syndrome also speak to the underlying subversion of the retrofitted revival of what some refer to erroneously as dance-punk, whatever that might entail…." |
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