Jamie of Old World Vulture call in from St. Catharines

Hello and I hope the sun is shining where you are. Where actually are you today?

Three of us are slaving away at day jobs underneath an overcast sky in Toronto. The other one is probably still in bed in St. Catharines, Ontario. (This answer was written at 1:20pm.)

How would you describe your sound for people that have not heard your music yet?

A friend once described our sound as "kit-bashed spaceship rock," which more or less sums it up. We'd stuff the word "instrumental" into that description somewhere to be completely accurate.

What was the spark that made up your mind to make music your career?

Let's replace "career" with "expensive hobby" and we can answer that one for you honestly. We approach the band like a full-time job in many ways, but we're completely independent and self-funded. At the core, the four of us just love playing music together. We're all friends, and the creative machine happens to chug along naturally. Everyone needs an outlet to offset the mundane of the day-to-day. Some people join house-league softball teams or play darts. We write songs and play really loud music.

Canada has been feted over recent years as the epicentre of great music. That title seems to rest with Brooklyn at the moment but, how is the music landscape in Canada today, including the retail environment for music sales?

In a nutshell, Canada can be broken down into four major musical areas: Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Each city has been responsible for exporting some major international talent and nurturing really healthy scenes, for lack of a better word. But then you have great bands like Attack in Black who emerged from a tiny city like Welland, Ontario or The Constantines who call the rural town of Guelph, Ontario home that were able to make a major mark on the Canadian musical landscape without ties to any major metropolis. So go figure. There seems to be a very blue-collar mentality to making music in Canada. Were not afraid to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. Hard work often pays off in every way.

How do you rate the Polaris prize and the access for musicians to be nominated?

Polaris nominees are selected by journalists, broadcasters and bloggers, so if you follow Canadian music news on a daily basis you can almost predict the longlist each year. Its when the winner is announced in September that things really start to get interesting. Part of the awards mandate is to recognize albums without regard to genre, label affiliation or sales, but the last two winners have been The Arcade Fire and Feist. The internet is rife with chatter about whether those two acts should have won the award. But it says a lot about the Canadian musical landscape when the subject is so intensely debated. There are so many great Canadian albums longlisted and shortlisted each year. From our standpoint as both fans and musicians, its always inspiring to see bands like Fucked Up and Caribou walk away with the giant cheque at the end of the night.

Were did the idea for the Artwork come from on Trophy Lovers and who designed it?

The artwork and album title were inspired by a series of paintings by a Toronto artist named Jane Duncan. Mike (our guitar player) is a graphic designer and handles all of the artistic stuff for the band. He was really struggling for a visual concept for the LP and kept going back to Jane's paintings. They captured the sound and feel of the album. There's something violent yet erotic about them. They are actually quite large; completely mind-blowing in a gallery setting. You can see more of her work here 

Whose idea was it to offer a Limited edition gold vinyl version of the Album and how easy or difficult was that to arrange and get produced?

Mike thought of the idea. It's a continuation of the trophy theme from the cover art. How easy or difficult was that to arrange and get produced? It's was as simple as ticking the box for "gold vinyl" when we put our order in for pressing. Exciting, eh?

You have toured extensively with other bands, any bands or gigs that you specifically learned from?

We actually haven’t toured in the proper sense, but we've been fortunate (i.e. lucky) enough to play shows with larger touring bands that have really inspired us over the years. Two examples that stand out are Mogwai and Grails. Their live shows were second to none and both bands were incredibly humble and welcoming to us. Solid. Not once did we feel like the small-time local openers. Every band should take notes from those dudes. We learned a lot in our brief encounters with them, especially Grails; we could have talked about music all night with those guys. Being a decent human being goes a long way in this business.

Any particular instruments, effects or, recording techniques that you use in the studio that would like to share with your fellow musicians?

Word to the wise: When recording with a vocoder, don't underestimate the power of a shitty, shitty microphone, and bashing an amplifier on the floor is a great way to get some large, noisy, dirty hits.

First gig and last gig; what are the memories?

Our first gig was early 2009 in St. Catharines, hometown for three of us. We got banned from playing the pub because of our volume. Our last gig was on September 20 and happened to be just down the block from our first gig at a vegan restaurant/performance space. A great DIY space and the show was just as loud. We played with two of our favourite Toronto bands: Rituals and Black Walls.

What were the albums that blew you away at the time, from School/College days that you exchanged with fellow students? Do you still play these records today?

We were all in high school at various points through the early-to-late 90s. Heres an alphabetized sampling of some albums from the time that we were stoked on. Two decades later were still listening to most of these albums. Every so often you need a shot of Hangar 18:

Blur Leisure
Dinosaur Jr. Where You Been
Eels Beautiful Freak
Hayden Everything I Long For
Kraftwerk Autobahn
Kyuss Blues for the Red Sun
Maestro Fresh Wes - Symphony in Effect
Megadeth Rust in Peace
Rush Chronicles
Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet Sport Fishin': The Lure of the Bait, The Luck of the Hook
Chris Sheppard Pirate Radio Sessions Volumes 1-6
Thrush Hermit The Great Pacific Ocean

Trophy Lovers for all you Post Rockers is available on limited edition gold vinyl and as a free download. The LP is streaming here