The Supreme Court has changed since The Hidden Cameras took over.

DETAILS

The Hidden Cameras with Gentleman Reg
Broken City
Saturday, November 28 - Saturday, November 28

More in: Rock / Pop

Earlier this decade, the Canadian musical landscape was practically overrun with “collectives” that all loved violins, gang chants and glockenspiels. Montreal’s Arcade Fire, Regina’s Library Voices, Calgary’s own Woodpigeon and Vailhalen, and Toronto’s Broken Social Scene and their wiener-ish sidekick Most Serene Republic could all potentially be lumped into the pile, but it was the self-described “gay church” and “mild-mannered army” of Ontario’s The Hidden Cameras that epitomized the movement.

On top of featuring 13-plus members in its live lineup — including such past and present luminaries as Final Fantasy’s Owen Pallett, kalimba enthusiast Laura Barrett and the band’s current tour-mate Gentleman Reg — The Hidden Cameras built its live reputation in other ways. First and foremost were the visually over-the-top performances involving blindfolds and go-go dancers, but it’d also be impossible to forget the taboo-taunting subject matter of songs such as “Golden Streams,” “Ban Marriage” and “I Want Another Enema.”

For its latest effort, Origin: Orphan, the band seems to have left out most of the naughty stuff, though “Underage” still includes a few choice lyrics like “Let’s do it like we’re underage, that’s the way to be.” Alongside Afro-pop and the 1980s, the album also includes nods to German composers Wagner and Schubert, which singer, songwriter and founding member Joel Gibb attributes to his recent move to Berlin. However, he also crankily asserts that nothing about this collection of songs was calculated in advance.

“I don’t write a record like a band that would typically finish touring and then write its next record,” says Gibb. “I write songs, which have been recorded over the past few years, and they’ve all gone in their own direction. There are very few premeditated intentions, which people sort of assume about music or albums. It really just comes about naturally.”

“This record represents many years of recorded work,” he continues. “The songs ‘Colour of a Man’ and ‘He Falls to Me,’ for example, were recorded during the Awoo sessions in 2005, so they have more of the classic Hidden Cameras style, while the rest were recorded over the past couple years and are somewhat different. Unlike previous albums, Origin: Orphan was recorded in several different studios with overdubs done in London and Berlin, so that also adds to the eclectic ache.”

After two past collaborations with the Toronto Dance Theatre, Gibb told Exclaim magazine earlier this year of his plans to expand Origin: Orphan into a larger-scale theatrical production. Asked about it now, he seems strangely offended and says, “I really shouldn’t have mentioned that, because I don’t like talking about things that are not so sure and again I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I get asked about it all the time just because I mentioned it once to Exclaim.” Why this is such a sore spot is hard to discern, but he still has a few details to share on the project.

“I’ve talked to a theatre in Berlin and they’re into it,” Gibb says. “I’m just so busy right now, and need to get the money and figure out who would be in it and stuff. Touring’s really cool, too, because you get to travel, but I’d also love to refine a set, make it super-theatrical and just perform it in a few select cities. You’d need a specific venue, specific lighting and a crew to put the show together. That would be my dream.”

Like King Khan, another Canadian frontman with a sizeable backing band, Gibb chose Berlin for his relocation from Eastern Canada. Of course, when you mention this, you get another correction.

“I definitely wanted to live in a different city and it seemed like the most logical place,” says Gibb. “But hey, I didn’t choose Berlin; it kind of chose me.”