Courtney Raymond Biesinger

DETAILS

The Famines with The Sharp Ends & Audio Rocketry
HiFi Club
Saturday, February 21 - Saturday, February 21

More in: Rock / Pop

Edmonton lo-fi post-punk phenomena The Famines are truly one-of-a-kind. The band played their first show in the summer of 2008, but had been practising and preparing for over a year prior. Comprised of singer and guitarist Raymond Biesinger (formerly of the Vertical Struts) and electrifying drummer Garrett Kruger (formerly of The Wolfnote), The Famines’ first show was also a release party for their debut double seven-inch. Though their raw two-piece approach to punk rock will likely draw lazy comparisons to Death From Above 1979, that other fuzzy Canadian duo who rose to worldwide prominence a few years back, The Famines attack their songs with a specific focus on dynamics, clearly understanding the importance of quiet as well as loud.

The fact that they do so much sonically with two people is impressive, but it’s nothing new for Biesinger. A world-renowned graphic artist by day, Biesinger understands the beauty that can be found in a limited palette. “I definitely feel that there’s a continuity between what I do visually and what I do in the band,” he says. “In the last decade, I’ve really been excited and challenged by the art of making a lot out of a little. In my visual art, I love working in black-and-white with simple colours, simple images, with cleverness. With The Famines, instead of black-and-white and an idea, we have drums, six strings, a guitar and voice.”

Biesinger’s art also connects with the band in a much more visible way, as his graphic design savvy is all over everything they do, from their uniquely simple website through the ambitious booklet that accompanies their double seven-inch. Rather than post pictures of themselves, the duo filled 26 pages with visuals both directly and indirectly related to the recording process.

Their approach to conceptual art is also their attempt to distance themselves from the idea that their image makes their band. “If you look at the vast majority of band advertisements or even some album covers, everything is meant to link music and art with personal appearance,” Biesinger says. “I find that disgusting in a way. Why should someone’s listening to a song or band in any way be filtered by how they look as individuals? What can you tell from someone’s face? You can tell how old they are. You can tell how hard they’ve worked. You can tell if they’ve had cosmetic surgery or not. But in many ways, it doesn’t say anything other than this person is attractive or this person is not, and we’d very much like to avoid that.”

The Famines are determined to avoid the conventional route to rock ’n’ roll stardom. That will continue to be the case later this spring when they put out their second release. A cassette tape featuring live recordings, the album will be packaged with a 320-page booklet. According to Biesinger, “it will be way more context than anyone will ever need to know about this project.”