Saint Alvia

Despite the band having toured through Edmonton a few times beforehand, this was the first time I had the chance to see Saint Alvia (previously known as Saint Alvia Cartel). It just so happened that they had released their sophomore album, Between The Lines, three days prior which made it the perfect opportunity for us to stop for a chat. The interview started with Ben, Greg Taylor and Matt but as the interview progressed more and more members came out of the wood works to discuss the new album, their friends across Ontario, their Juno nod, iTunes and an abnormally long talk about various posters. And no, I don’t remember The Fall Guy – I wasn’t even born yet when it was on TV. Oh well. Enjoy the interview and then check out Between The Lines, which is in stores now.

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Bobby: I guess starting with the basics; you guys are coming to the end of this tour with Against Me! and Japanther, how has that been?

Greg T: Awesome.

Ben: It’s been really great.

Bobby: Has there been any really memorable moments from the tour?

Ben: Well, I think the whole tour itself [is memorable]. Financially, it’s one of the best tours for us. I think it’s the first tour that we’ve been on that has really appealed to the same kind of kid that would get our kind of band. So it’s been really awesome that way. There’s been lots of memorable moments though. Yeah?

Greg T: Every moment’s memorable.

Ben: Yeah, they don’t ever stop. The memories just keep coming.

Bobby: I guess the big news is that your new CD, Between The Lines, came out on Tuesday. I’m assuming you’ve been playing some songs from the record on this tour. How has the reception been so far?

Matt: It’s been really good. We’ve been doing about four songs off the new record, so we’ve got a mix of old and new. But they seem to be going over really well; people seem to be digging it. People are picking up the CD too.

Bobby: Your self-titled CD took a long time before it was actually released in the States. For a long time it was only available in Canada. Are you guys having the same problem with your new CD or was it released in the States on Tuesday too?

Ben: Well, it’s going to be out a lot sooner but nothing’s finalized with who we’re talking with but it should be out shortly in the States.

Bobby: So not a year again?

Ben: Nope, definitely not.

Bobby: When you see anything related to the release you see that you’ve dropped the “Cartel” from your name and just gone for Saint Alvia. Why? What made you decide to change the name?

Greg T: Basically just because it was the hardest name – apparently – in the world to pronounce.

Matt: Or remember.

Greg T: We got everything from Saint Alvia Cartet to Saint Alvin’s Cartel to Saint..

Ben: …Olivia. Saint Elvis.

Greg T: So we just thought that would be easier. I mean, it’s not officially gone…

Ben: If you want to still call us Saint Alvia Cartel, you can. It’s on some of our shirts and stuff like that. I think also a lot of people started to call us The Cartel and we wanted to put more emphasis on the Alvia part. The name of the man that we named the band after, so that kind of came with it as well.

Bobby: How hard is it going through the name change? Like you just said that a lot of your t-shirts still say Saint Alvia Cartel. All the tour promotions have you listed as Saint Alvia Cartel, yet you’re promoting a CD under the name of Saint Alvia. Does it ever cause any confusion or troubles?

Greg T: I don’t really think so. I mean, it’s not anything drastic. There’s probably a large majority of people who just abbreviated our name to Saint Alvia anyway. It’s not like we’re changing our name from Saint Alvia Cartel to Robin’s Butterfarm or anything. *laughs*

Ben: Which was in the running by the way.

Matt: Robin’s Butterfarm?

Ben: Robin’s Butterfarm!

Bobby: You guys should have gone with that, I think everyone would remember that.

Ben: Yeah, yeah. *Pretending to speak into a microphone* How ya doing?! We’re Robin’s Butterfarm! From Burlington, Ontario! This shit’s gonna be dope!! *laughs*

Bobby: I haven’t heard Between The Lines yet, but I did read that one song was actually a Russian Waltz with an accordion solo which features Wade from Alexisonfire/Black Lungs. How did you end up working with him? And what was it like working with him?

Ben: It was cool. We’re kind of just friends from….*screams and laughter float from next to the stage – everyone looks over* I don’t know, it looks like a tickle fights happening over there. *laughs* We’re sort of friends from the area. Greg had written this Russian Waltz and I woke up at a friend’s house really hung-over from a night of drinking the night before. Wade was actually sleeping on the couch of the girl’s house that we woke up at. He’s like “You want a ride back to Burlington?” I’m like “Sure.” So we started running around and hanging out. For some reason this song popped in my head and I started thinking about doing a good, old fashioned, self loathing hang over song. I sort of talked to Wade about it and “hey, do you wanna pop in before you go back to Sainte Catherine’s because Burlington’s on the way? Pop in and do a song? We’ll write something up and try it out.” He said sure, we just kind of went in. It was real easy. I wrote my part and he wrote his part. Threw it down. So it wasn’t really a really formal product or anything. He just popped in; we were both hung-over as shit and it worked out.

Bobby: Do you guys have any other guests on the CD or is Wade the only one?

Matt: Yeah, we brought in a bunch of friends. We got some dudes playing horns, dudes from the band The Ceremonial Snips, actually Ginty from the band The Creepshow played the trombone. Who else did we have? Gianni…

Ben: Gianni from Walk off the Earth played harmonica.

Matt: There seems like there should be more.

Ben: Ginty, Gianni, Ricky Snips, Wade.

Greg T: Some other dude…

Matt: *laughs* Yeah, some other dude. There’s a whole list in the CD in case we’re forgetting anybody.

Bobby: I guess one simple question is, what’s the meaning of the title “Between The Lines?”

Ben: That’s actually the title track. There’s a song on the record called Between The Lines. From what Rob tells me, since he wrote the chorus, the song’s just about a lot of childhood punk rock bands. It’s kind of a reference to our hometown of Burlington. There’s Walker’s Line, Applebee Line, it’s kind of on a grid, Guelph Line. So it’s between the lines. That’s the area where we all, well most of us grew up. So it’s kind of a reference to that.

Bobby: So like I said, I haven’t heard the CD yet but I did read that the record would have a much more political tone, particularly one song which is about the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

Ben: The record doesn’t have much more, but there is a little bit more.

Bobby: Why did you go for that more political tone and what is the Security and Prosperity Partnership?

Ben: Security and Prosperity Partnership is a dialogue between Mexico, America and Canada. It’s essentially a deal that America tried to make to have a North American Union.

Greg T: Did make.

Ben: Did make. Well, they claim they haven’t made it but everyone else says they have. There’s proof that they have. It’s kind of a big hoopla. The White House calls it a dialogue as if nothing has passed but then there’s people saying that it has been passed. Basically, to sum it up, the States will have free reign on all of our natural resources. All our oil, like the tar sands here, our fresh water, our lumber, in exchange for their military protection if a crisis were ever to arise. So it’s sort of nonsense. There are no regulations on any of our natural resources so the States can kind of come in and milk us of everything we have; and it’s really just going to rape our country of everything that we need.

Bobby: On that song, I read that you guys used a sound clip from a professor from Alberta called Gordon Laxer.

Ben: Yeah, he’ll be here tonight.

Bobby: So you guys will be meeting up with him.

Ben: Yeah. I’ve kind of been a pen pal with him for a bit. He’s going to show up tonight and introduce the song and talk about the Parkland institute which is his non-profit research organization that’s crying about political injustice. He’s going to be here and talk about a protest that’s happening here, in Edmonton, tomorrow.

Bobby: How did you guys start talking to the professor?

Ben: I read a paper of his in the Globe & Mail, and that’s how I got onto this topic. I emailed him and kind of looked up his name to find out more stuff and found out he’s a professor here.

Greg T: How did you know that?

Bobby: I read it somewhere; I try and do my research before an interview.

Ben: *laughs* Yeah, that’s good. But yeah, I just kind of googled him and I saw his page for his students at the university and it had his email so I emailed him and asked if he wouldn’t mind talking about his experience with Leon Benoit with me. We just kind of became pen pals and it built up from there.

Bobby: Earlier we talked about the song that Wade’s on, it’s a Russian Waltz. I’ve also heard that you have some dance hall stuff and some old school punk stuff on this record too. You’ve often said that you never want to be pigeon hold into one particular genre and instead that everything goes when you’re in the studio. Why did you decide to go with that rule? That everything goes instead of one style?

Greg T: Because the one style just limits you and, like what Ben says on stage, kind of goes against everything that rock is meant to be.

Matt: We’re kind of just bored of doing the same old thing. We’ve been playing music for a long time and I think we kind of just wanted to try different things and try something new. Not let rules – punk rock rules or whatever – limit us or anything. We wanted to experiment more.

Ben: I think it also seemed silly to all of us that the punk rock philosophy’s supposed to be freedom of expression and do whatever the fuck you want but as soon as you leave these boundaries you’re not punk rock, you’re not cool anymore which seems to negate the whole fucking point. So we decided to be a rock and roll band because rock and roll is an amalgamation of every kind of music. Originally jazz, blues, soul, country. So I think that’s what we try to take that mentality but apply it to every type of subgenre. I don’t know. We like to be called a rock and roll band I think – if we had to be called anything.

Bobby: Do you think that having these different styles and genres may make your album a more complete, artistic experience instead of just a handful of singles or repeated songs?

Matt: Yeah, I suppose so.

Ben: I don’t think any of us sit there and be like “okay, I want to be an artist.” But I think there’s definitely a part of everybody that’s in the band that is an artist and has the need to create and want it to not be the same old crap every time.

Bobby: I was reading an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal a while ago which had a whole bunch of artists blaming iTunes for the deconstruction of the album because now people can just pick and choose songs instead of buying the complete album. It kind of ruins the concept of a complete album from front to back. Do you agree with that? Do you think the industry has become more of a singles market?

Everyone: Yeah / For sure / Totally.

Ben: I think that’s been gradually coming. I think CDs also ruined the titles of songs. I’ll always refer to songs, even on some of my favourite records, as “Track seven.” I’ll never remember the name of song, which is my bad I guess; but I think it’s been gradually going that way.

Bobby: Do you think, in a way, the punk scene has always somewhat been a singles market with such an importance placed on seven inches back in the day?

Ben: Yeah, for sure.

Greg F (who had come in a few minutes prior with Brandon): Yeah, maybe it’s coming full circle because it kind of started out that way.

Ben: Maybe it’s careful what you wished for.

Brandon: Weren’t seven inches a lot cheaper to produce?

Ben: Yeah, probably in the late seventies.

Greg F: Yeah, that’s why. It’s come full circle. History repeats itself. Now we’re back to supplying one tune.

Bobby: You’re last record, the self-titled one, actually got a Juno nod for Best Rock Record of the Year. Do you think this record’s gonna get a Juno nod too?

Rob (walking in): Let’s bloody well hope so!

Ben: And Rob just shows up. Here we go!

Rob: How you doing?

Greg F: Maybe, we’ll see. I mean, we …

Rob: Didn’t make that great an impression on the Juno people *laughs*

Greg F: Well no, we never go into making a record “well, we’re making a record, we better make one that will get a Juno nomination.” We don’t really think abut that sort of thing. If it happens, then hell yeah, that’s cool. We were psyched last time and we would be stoked again; but if it doesn’t happen, whatever. We’re gonna keep doing our thing.

Ben: I think the whole process of awards is kind of silly. Most records that I think are the greatest things ever never got any awards, so I don’t know, I think it’s kind of silly; but I think it is flattering.

Bobby: you guys are no stranger to the Southern Ontario music scene having played in bands like Jersey, Grade, Boys Night Out, and a whole bunch of others. But lately there’s been a lot of bands from the suburbs of Toronto who have been making it big all across Canada. There’s you guys, Billy Talent and IllScarlett from Mississauga, Attack in Black from Welland, Alexisonfire from Saint Catherine’s, Sum41 form Ajax, Protest the Hero from Whitby, Bedouin Soundclash from Kingston. They’ve all been breaking out of the suburbs and making a name for themselves throughout all of Canada. Why do you think all these Toronto suburb bands are starting to make a name for themselves?

Greg F: Toronto’s kind of the centre of the Canadian scene. Those cities are close by so it’s easy to play Toronto a lot; so therefore if you do well you get on the radar of all the music people who essentially run Canada. If you do well there, there’s a good platform to build on.

Ben: I guess it’s the central hub for the music community. Bedouin Soundclash helped us on one of our first national tours – one of our first big ones. It’s just kind of goes like that; I think it’s kind of a snowball effect of bands helping bands helping bands get bigger and bigger. Instead of being where Grade was when Greg was starting it. One band got huge and then Grade helped these other people and it just kind of spiralled out. I don’t know what exactly I’m trying to get across, I’m not articulating myself well.

Bobby: Friends helping friends, like you said on your new CD you have tons of guests. So it’s all like one big community where one person gets big they help the others. Now, just to end the interview off with a few random questions; first off, when you guys were growing up, whos poster did you have on your wall?

Matt: Doug Gilmore’s.

Rob: I had a poster of a monkey giving the middle finger and it said “What’s up?” I got it at Zellers.

Ben: I had a ton of posters. I had Spiderman, Mr.T, Heather Thomas – you probably don’t remember her. She was the girl in Fall Guy. It was a TV show in the early eighties about a stunt man who solved crimes.

Rob: I also had a poster of a girl leaning over a pool table with giant jugs and it said “Nice Rack.” I also got that at Zellers.

Ben: *laughs* Nice, that’s a good one. I never even liked this band, but I had a Def Leppard flag on my ceiling. *everyone stares at him* I got it at the county fair or something!

Brandon: I had a Guns’n’Roses flag, the ceiling flag.

Ben: What about you guys?

Matt: I had hockey posters up everywhere.

Greg F: I was super into baseball. I had Blue-Jays, like Pat Border posters up there.

Ben: Oh! I had a Karl “Milkman” Malone one too.

Greg F: Nice.

Greg T: I just had tons of BMX dudes.

Ben: We’re talking about when we were like eight right? Not like right now… *Everyone laughs*

Greg T: Ben’s still got all those Spiderman posters.

Brandon: Kept the Def Leppard flag.

Ben: I do actually have them all. I have all my comic posters in a tube. I couldn’t part with them – and my movie posters.

Brandon: Yeah, I had a lot of movie posters too.

Ben: Oh, Batman posters; like Batman the movie, the one from 1989.

Matt: I had a Dick Tracey cardboard fold out thing.

Ben: I had one with Mumbles! I don’t know if he was smoking or something, but it was Dustin Hoffman. I had tons of posters man. I had little ones that I’d cut out from Thrasher mags. There were tons of posters.

Greg T: Okay, next question!

Ben: Sorry, you got us on a hot topic! *laughs*

Bobby: Okay, if you guys were a member of the opposite sex for a day, week, month or however long you wanted – what would you do an why?

Ben: *laughs* Oh man, what wouldn’t I do? Honest to God, I would put weird shit in my vagina.

Greg T: Would you go get fucked by a guy?

Ben: No… Well, I guess if I really liked putting weird shit in my vagina and I was a chick I would probably go get fucked by a guy. Why the fuck not? I’m a girl.

Greg T: But you’re actually a guy.

Ben: Am I actually a guy?

Bobby: You’re you.

Ben: It’s me? I’m Ben Rispin but I have a vagina? What type of guy is gonna wanan fuck Ben Rispin with a vagina? *everyone laughs* I’d have a fucking hard time getting laid so I’d probably just stick with the dildo.

Bobby: Alright, I guess that’s about it. Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to add?

Matt: Check out our record, Between The Lines, please.

Ben: Check out the brand new website that Greg made for us.

Greg T: Well, not yet. But we got a new video that should be coming out soon. There’s some trailers for it on our MySpace and what not. It’s got a lot of our friends in it, cameos and staring roles. People from Beodouin, Billy Talent…

Ben: Flatliners. Tommy Slick.

Greg T: So it’s cool, real cool.

Bobby: Okay, thanks a lot.