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Back To PressMid-decade musings from punk newcomers
By Fateema Sayani, The Ottawa Citizen - June 26, 2008
Dial back a decade and then some to 1994.
In music history, the biggest blip on the radar was the death of Kurt Cobain -- but for the guys in The Late ’94s, it was a time of discovering new music, acquiring first guitars and launching scrappy punk bands.
Fans will likely have had the same experience -- the cerebral guitar rock appeals by riffing on the time and making sonic reference to grunge and post-punk bands alike. Pavement, The Screaming Trees and Dinosaur Jr. are all over their new seven-song, self-titled EP in some way, though they cleverly elude that derivative sensibility that can mark a "number band."
The Late ’94s came together in March 2007 when guitarist/ vocalist Ryan O’Hagan got together with producer Mike Bond to record his solo material under the name The Tourist. Common interests brought Tristan Knott (lead guitar) and Mike Short (bass) to the fold. Bond sat in on drums and they cranked out a few songs. With their easy access to Barrhaven’s Pebble Studios -- where Bond has honed albums by Pysiedius and those of his other bands, Sleeping Pilot and Embassies of Denmark -- they decided to record a few tracks. “Just to hear how we sound,” Bond says.
The test-run was solid and so they made a few tweaks, forming what would become their EP -- though they have yet to play a live show. Since the album was half in the can, the four-piece decided to wait until it was ready, and chose to spend time practising twice a week, in place of the chore of booking. Their CD release party will be their big outing and a boon to the Ottawa scene. The songs are full of angry energy and a crisp low-end. Bond has pruned his loud style just enough to allow O’Hagan’s raspy boom through while keeping a churning, chugging rock speed.
As lyricist, O’Hagan unpacks the sentiment behind some childhood stories (And the Silence), the beauty of writing at night (The Midnight Hour) and even squeezes in a straight-up love song (Your Soul Man) going from grim to rapturous in 24 minutes. Songs are built from bits. Knott came up with a creepy, minor-chord part on From a Waiting Room that set a haunting mood for O’Hagan.
“I thought of myself as an old man when I heard it,” the singer says. Short crafted the opening of The Midnight Hour, setting the album’s tone that Bond was able to coax out and onto disc.
Check out what could be your new favourite band. The Late ’94s CD release party takes place Saturday at Zaphod Beeblebrox, 27 York St., with These Electric Lives and Acres, 8 p.m., $6.
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