| Good things come to those who wait. Don’t tell that to Calgary ska-punks Five Star Affair (FSA). While most bands spend the better part of a year writing songs and playing shows before they hit the studio, FSA had recording time booked before they even had a drummer.
In the process of auditioning drummers, the band met Chris Gillrie who answered their musician-wanted ad. He was such a good fit that the band offered him a seat at the kit before the audition was even over.
"I was on the website the next morning, with my own e-mail address," says Gillrie, who originally had dreams of being a guitarist. "It was pretty hectic. I had never played drums in a band before."
"They said, ‘OK, we have a show in about nine days. Can you learn all these songs?’ We practiced every day. It was a little nerve-racking, but it was a crash course in playing drums."
Five Star Affair has built its rep on that gut-instinct, fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants approach ever since that fateful meeting two years ago. But the band’s history actually goes back further, to 2002, when another fortuitous meeting sparked another local band – Parker’s Lime.
IN THE BEGINNING
It was during a Halloween pub-crawl that guitarist-vocalist Tristan Chanel met bass player Jessie Robertson. Chanel was decked out in a toga while Robertson was dressed as a member of the Canadian girls’ drinking team. They were both waiting in line in the ladies room when Robertson noticed a guitar tattoo on Chanel’s arm. Through an alcohol-induced haze, the two bonded over music. Chanel gave Robertson her e-mail and told her to get in touch.
"I didn’t even write it down or anything, I just told her the e-mail," says Chanel, laughing. Miraculously Robertson remembered it and before long Parker’s Lime was spreading what Chanel describes as angry, folky, woman rock all over town. After gigging relentlessly and recording a handful of tracks, Chanel decided it was time for a change.
"I had written a whole bunch of songs and I was like, you know, I need to start something right now and do it," she says. Robertson was onboard immediately and the pair recruited trumpet player Jesse Colin and guitarist Alistair Graham. Once they found a drummer, Five Star Affair took off. The goal was to maintain the momentum they had with Parker’s Lime, but express themselves in a whole new way.
"We weren’t wasting any time," says Robertson.
"We were together for two weeks altogether, and we had two shows booked and recording time booked in the studio. And then we released our CD after two months," says Chanel.
That album, Better Than What You Get At Home, was their calling card to the local scene. In true take-no-prisoners fashion, the band played every gig it could, finagled a slot on the 2005 Warped Tour on the She Ra Girl’s stage and quickly became an all-ages favourite. For a band that deals in velocity like Five Star Affair, it should come as no surprise that the band’s debut, while well received, doesn’t necessarily reflect its current sound.
"We wrote quite a few slower songs for our first album. Then, playing shows, we found out that we wanted to pick it up," says Robertson. "We loved it when people were dancing and getting into it. So we didn’t want to write any slow songs after that."
That fact is evidenced on the band’s latest release, 2006’s Do Not Disturb. The album is jacked up with brassy skanking and a furious commitment to speed, but ironically, it was while the band was recording Do Not Disturb that FSA finally learned to slow down.
GETTING INTO THE GROOVE
When the band was preparing to record their followup, they called on longtime friend and local reggae legend Ibo. He had been at the boards for the first FSA album and the Parker’s Lime recordings. The band felt so comfortable in his studio, lovingly known as The Smokey Room, that they arrived with songs that weren’t even finished.
As Gillrie picked up a few recording tricks, Ibo worked with Chanel to flesh out the material. Once they were rolling, though, another challenge presented itself.
"It was hard to capture the energy from our show," says Robertson. "We really wanted a CD that represented our style and our sound. We just found that we weren’t happy with the energy level so we did things over and over again."
As a result, Do Not Disturb was released nearly a year after the band had originally intended. Still, old habits die hard, and even as Do Not Disturb was being mixed and mastered, Five Star Affair was still cranking out material.
"In the process of waiting around for the CD to be done, we wrote another song and then recorded it," says Chanel.
In the end, the making of Do Not Disturb helped Five Star Affair find a balance. Robertson says they were tempted to rush the release of the record, but in the end patience won out. Reflecting on the two-year Five Star Affair whirlwind, Chanel says that could be the most important lesson they learned.
"Be patient," she says. "Don’t rush it to come out too soon, because it will be worth it in the end." |
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