Billy Talent - London, UK, Autumn 2003
By: Samantha Hall
Thirsting, and lusting after every drop of sweat Billy Talent shake off, it's evident this dense, sold-out crowd at London's esteemed Underworld aren't just here for an evening of tangible 'punk-rock'. Similarly, the relentless passion and apparently inexhaustible enthusiasm for what they're creating oozes out of every pore of this foursome.
Oh yes, it's a sight; the mightily ensconced, heaving crowd of late-teens/early-twenty-something's haul and sway, bellowing Kowalewicz's lyrics back at him as if repenting their sins, and transfixed to this quartet as if they really are delivering the answer. Yet another stick in the cog that says that there's no more to Canada than Bryan Adams and Nickelback... If these guys aren't selling out four-figured venues in eight months, then rockfeedback will drown itself in maple syrup.
And amid the bluster and pressure surrounding the 'Talent's debut, headline European tour, we snag a pre-show chatter with frontman Ben Kowalewicz about the Canadian underground scene and the trouble of being earnest, all to the backdrop of forcing down Wagon Wheels on an incredibly snug sofa.
For, 'til now, it's been a long journey for these Toronto gents; by no means have they been propelled to the 'hot kids on the block' position they presently reside amid since memorable Carling Weekend festival-appearances this past summer. Enduring the Toronto circuit for a good ten years or so, selling CDs off the stage; with 'a change in name, came a new mindset' two years ago, apparently, and a record-deal with Warner Brothers arrived in the frame via the aid of a mysterious saviour, Jen Hurst.
'Jen became a big supporter,' recalls Kowalewicz. 'She got Warners involved and they started smelling up our skirts... And then (producer) Gavin Brown became a big fan, getting EMI Publishing on board and bad-a-bing, ba-da-boom, the rock 'n' roll machine turned on for us.
'The label was like, 'We can get you Jo Blow, Mr Fancy Pants' to produce your album, but we wanted to work with Gavin; he knew us and what we wanted to do.'
And the sheer creative-process is, rightly, the clinching-point of Talent's success to date. Criticised by some via their overt use of 'topical issues' as inspiration, we brave the dreaded 'emo' path and the matter of using other people's experiences as derived content for lyrical matter.
'The truth is, if you force it, you try to predict, make sense of the next sentence before you've written it. Who are you fooling? You have to be passionate, if you do it with conviction, no one can tell you anything... You know, I don't care if you don't like my music. I don't care if you don't' like my voice. If you don't like it, walk away... It is what it is.'
With every yelp and body-possessing jerk, Kowalewicz leads his mass here tonight through epic emotional waves and empathetic reflections to stories of suicide, drug-abuse and heartache. Pretty heavy stuff for a windy Monday night in Camden.
'Yeah, some songs are definitely third-person,' he nods. 'Like 'Standing In The Rain', there's a major port near where we recorded the album and the heroin problem is just ridiculous. Literally, it's like the land of the zombies, you know - all there is, is prostitution and drugs, it's enough to break your heart. I saw this girl my age, it was just like life gave up on her. We had this beautiful melody and I was just like, 'What'd it be like to do it from this girl's point of view?'
Even still, you could brand it with the petty 'emo' stamp. Especially when Kowalewicz (in his own words) explains how 'self-therapeutic social awareness' plays such an active role in their songwriting evolutionary stages. But when compositions this delightfully simple, yet tantalizingly absorbing, reach out to people on such a personal scale, it seems trivial. 'Yeah, I guess there's an element of role-play, but there's always a little bit of me sprinkled over.'
Beyond this, the non-believers seem keen to push Talent's sound into the over-exposed 'issues band' bracket. To join the realms of Linkin Park and Evanescence; that despite their mass-popularity and huge-selling potential have somewhat lost credibility amongst the more astute of us. Ben reacts passionately on the topic of kudos:
'There's the whole punk-rock credo of not being on major. My favourite band, The Clash, were on a major and, oh, The Pistols were on EMI and Warner... Hey, where is this coming from?'
Indeed, this contrasting, slightly conflicting bundle of ideas is represented by some of their support-slots. The mighty definition of 'who a band is and where they're going' - by whom in the early days they've supported; well, if you go by that judgement, Billy Talent will be soaring. After all, there's been opening slots for pop-punkers Sum 41, as well as bands renowned for their artistic confrontations as much as their ability to be hugely successful, while still maintaining their amiability from 'clever art-rock' lovers - namely, Sparta, Jane's Addiction, The Buzzcocks and David Bowie. Ben goes on:
'We've kinda stumbled on to these weird audiences, but, aesthetically, I guess we have the same work-ethics... I'd really like to tour with Thursday or The Blood Brothers...
'See, in Europe,' he goes on, in regards to the fringe-side of affairs, 'the mindset is similar to Canada - there's a very accepting community. We appreciate all different forms of art and there are all these different outlets. You know, by no means are we high-brow about it... but we like books, we like art, we're not afraid to say that. People like music for the right reasons; it doesn't have to go through any, 'Is it cool?' channels first.' (If only Ben... if only.)
As he contemplates, he explains Talent's own rise in popularity.
'Thing is, we were never popular in Canada, we never had sold out shows. It wasn't until we were signed, it was like, 'Hey, it's OK to like us!'
And Canada is especially doing pretty well for exports at the moment; notable acts such as Hot Hot Heat, The Hidden Cameras, Broken Social Scene and Peaches have emerged from the depths of ice-fishing communities (in part), but is there an existing, cultural underground scene going on comparable to, say, London or New York?
'Where we came from, there were no bands. There was just a load of people hanging out... One kid got a guitar and we started playing around and writing songs and started to form this little community. Bands started appearing and then we rented out halls and had shows. We were just part of a group of kids that proved it wasn't impossible, we saw this community grow and build.'
Proving yet again, that fresh, non-imitative talent can blossom if you just give it the opportunity:
'There's a lot of hot bands that just need a step up over there.'
Such as?
'Ah... Gee, erm,' he ponders over his final words. 'Alexisonfire... Death From Above and oh, my favourite... From Fiction.' You get that?
Talent claim to want to break the current trend of sanitized and processed rock - and, in that, they thrive. If anything, they're too messy, too unpredictable to take a throne on the right-hand side of Mr Krueger. Their indulgence in topical social issues could make their CDs fall into the palms of pierced, troubled pre-adolescents, but there's no way of denying that the aims and real passions behind their music are genuinely sincere.
And even after all, one couldn't class this music as cerebral; these guys ain't no At The Drive-In, but certainly no-one could testify against the fact that every grain of melody Billy Talent produce is genuine and heartfelt. They have the gift of maintaining that punk raucousness while keeping the same tightness and precision as their highly produced, eponymous album in their live-show... Only in this area, maybe they have picked up a thing or two from one Mr. B. Adams. Frightful.
Artists in this article: Billy Talent