The Mission District – Interview – November 2009
By: Sian Norris
Canada has given the world a number of global superstars, from Bryan Adams to Mike Myers, and now to add to that list we have Montreal indie pop outfit The Mission District. I caught up with David in between tour dates to see what they were all about.
Having arrived in the UK a few days before we spoke, David was remarkably chipper compared to the horrific jetlag I feel after such a long haul flight, planning for the Colchester gig and the Bristol gig to come during the week. This wasn’t the band’s first time in the UK, having been over to tour a couple of times previously, an experience they always enjoyed.
I was interested to discover more about the band’s roots, how they came to form the Mission District and where their music came from.
“The band came together when we left the band they were in previously, which was more of a pop punk or skate punk outfit,” he explained. The band then developed as a 5 piece from their initial skater roots to create a sublime mix of pop punk with sing along choruses and air-punching enthusiasm.
“I started drumming when I was about 8 or 9,” David explains further, as I ask him about his musical past. “I sang in the choir, and my parents were always musical so that was definitely an influence when I was younger.”
The punk influence is definitely there in the music, reflecting David’s early music tastes. “I started off listening to punk rock such as Green Day when I was a teenager,” he remembers. “And bands like the Clash. Then as I got older, we started to listen to a lot more British music, such as the Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, all these really great bands.”
The influences of edgy, slightly gothic eighties electro merges perfectly and seamlessly into the band’s punk origins. “For sure they have an influence,” David adds. The result is a contagious listen, as the electronics merge with the pumping rhythms and carefully crafted lyrics.
As a band who clearly care about their influences and musical tastes I wanted to see how the Mission District approached song writing and musical creation for their album Youth Games.
“It really depends on the song,” David mused. “Sometimes a melody will just pop into my head and we’ll work on that, sometimes we jam together as a band and see what happens, it’s all very organic.”
Having chatted about past influences and music that the band enjoy, I asked who the guys were excited about at the moment.
“Our musical tastes are all over the map at the moment,” David thinks. “I’m really into the last Cut Copy record and the M83 record was really beautiful. The Jimmy Eat World record was great too.”
Beyond the obvious Canadian exports, I’ve long been familiar with the rising DIY music scene in Toronto, but wanted to discover more about Quebec’s capital Montreal, where the Mission District hail from.
“Montreal is a really musical city,” David reveals. “And it’s a cheap place to live if you’re a band! We not really part of any particular Montreal “scene” though. We don’t see ourselves as a Montreal band – we want to be more of an international band!”
And as the tour continues throughout this year and the next, covering the UK, Europe and the States, as well as Canada, the band is well on the way to making that happen. The album is all finished and is just waiting to be finalised ready for release.
“It’s ten tracks,” David enthuses. “We worked with a lot of different producers, Andy Green who has worked with Keane and New Order for example, so it was really exciting.”
And what does the future hold? Well, more touring over the New Year and then more recording as new material is created. “I’d like to work with Stuart Price,” David muses for the future, who has worked with the Killers and Madonna.
With buzzing praise all over the blogosphere from Perez Hilton and beyond, and professional endorsements of support spots with Elbow and the Bravery, we’re confident in predicting an exciting future in store for Montreal’s hottest pop punk property.
Artists in this article: Mission District