Canada is the home of hockey, people avoiding American military service and a surprisingly thriving music scene. With the current rise in success of other Canadian acts like Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire and, well, Wolf Parade, Wolf Parade’s very own Spencer Krug’s side project Sunset Rubdown looks like it’ll fit in with that niche just fine. Their album Shut Up I’m Dreaming is in stores now. A while back, we caught up with Sunset Rubdown’s drummer, Jordan Robson Cramer, to talk about the fabulousness of quitting his job at a video store, and well the fabulousness of making music.
Are you excited about the album?
Yeah yeah. I’ve done music for a while. This is my first as a whole group. The album was recorded very quickly in five days. Actually we were in the studio for like 14 hours a day. It’s a blur.
How do you guys write songs?
The way it works is Spencer comes in with the roots of the song. He tells us instruction we throw our ideas on top.
Is it annoying that whenever people describe the band it’s as the Wolf Parade side project and not as its own stand alone project?
It hasn’t really bothered me that much. No, I mean we’ve only actually played 3 shows as a band. When we play in LA, it’ll be our fourth show and we’ll be headlining. I think we’ll stick together and it’s time to make this project an entity. The press just uses Wolf Parade as a point of reference. There’s the album and everyone in the band had a part.
Can you talk a little about your other project, XY Lover?
When I moved to Montreal I was doing music by myself. I’ve kind of let that name die off. Now, I’m doing music with Mathieu Malouf called Magic Weapon. It’s more of a recording project than an actual band.
What are your plans when you’re done with touring with Sunset Rubdown?
I'd like to keep working with Magic Weapon, since we've been working on an album for the past year. Sunset Rubdown will play a few shows in July and then tour again in September.
What’s your favorite song on the album?
I guess I like the “The Empty Threats of Little Lord." We somewhat created that song in the studio. And, we don’t play that song live so I won’t have a chance to get sick of it.
How old are you?
20
You are young! How would you describe your sound?
People have described us as being a gloomy band but I don't think we make purposefully gloomy music. I'd like to think that our music could mean many different things to people and that we're not too easy to pigeonhole. |