Slacking off with a couple of Idle Sons (20 photos)

Just coming off a tour with Three Days Grace, Theory of a Deadman and Mobile, Burlington-based Idle Sons are anything but lazy.

While their colleagues were unloading and setting up gear prior to their Saturday-night performance at Algoma University's Speak Easy, guitarist/singer Mike Eastick and drummer Ryan Barkwell slipped to have some casual conversation with me.

Okay, maybe at that moment those two were being a bit lazy.

Although they demanded the carrots on their veggie tray all be facing north and asked for gluten-free rolls, they turned out to be very down-to-earth, easygoing guys.

Naturally they were joking.

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Influenced by the hardcore metal shows they attended in their younger years, Idle Sons draw elements of those influences into their own shows and records.

But they also have an appreciation for all styles of music and harbour a deep respect for artists like Johnny Cash, Sarah Harmer (they went to school with her) and, believe it or not, Michael Bublé.

"Yea, probably 'the Boobs' would be the most surprising (influence)," laughed Eastick.

Common ground and tolerance are pinnacle factors for this band that has survived for 12 years with the same lineup.

And good conflict resolution skills help too.

"If you make it through your first couple of years, that's more of a test than staying together forever," said Barkwell.

"You hear about more bands breaking up in the first few years than you do after 10 or 12 years. If you get through that, you have a much better chance of staying together for the long haul."

Eastick added, "We always did it for the right reasons so it always did work. Attaining that next level, in the sense of getting a deal and getting the record out nationally was always the goal. But we always played shows and wrote songs anyway. We were sort of doing our thing with that in mind but it wasn't the end all and be all."

Yes, easy street eluded them for quite a few years.

But after changing their name from Slurpymundae, getting signed to Atlantic and recording the album Hell or High Water with them, it all seemed to be coming together.

Then the record got leaked accidentally by none other than Idle Sons themselves.

What was supposed to be a three-song sampler they handed out to 150 spectators prior to a show turned out to be the entire album.

"At the time we thought it was pretty devastating," recalled Barkwell.

"Because that record got leaked, it allowed a lot of people to hear our music that wouldn't have heard it because it got spread on the Internet. So we would go to a lot of towns where we hadn't been before and people would know the songs. It was awful that it had to happen but it actually became a positive."

Shortly after the record leak, Idle Sons was dropped by Atlantic for unrelated reasons.

But they have been since signed to EMI and are currently touring to promote their 2006 release 16 Seasons, a reference to the four years it took them to get the record out there.

Working with producer Garth Richardson, AKA Gggarth, the man behind Rage Against the Machine, L7 and Rise Against was an honour for them and they attribute the raw, intense sound of their record to his genius.

"On this record, we worked with Gggarth and that's his best quality," said Eastick.

"He's able to suck the live energy and the raw performance and put it on to tape. I think we've achieved that as close as we've ever come to on this record. In the past I think we've overproduced stuff and tried to make it too perfect which I think a lot of bands do. It's a mistake because it sounds like a computer."

This back-to-basics style of recordmaking, free of studio tricks and overdubs is quickly becoming mainstream as more and more consumers want to experience at home what they would at a live show.

"It all moves in cycles," said Barkwell.

"It's happening at a perfect time because the labels are slashing recording budgets because of downloading and they have no money. It's kind of good timing for that Arctic Monkeys sort of thing to take shape because those records cost $10,000 versus Def Leppard's Hysteria that cost six million to make or something like that.

"It's changing what the mainstream is. Five years ago you would never hear crappy sounding recordings on the radio. Now most of the stuff sounds like basement demos. But it's got a feel to it you just can't replicate with a machine."

But the average consumer's desire for realism isn't the only thing driving the major labels to produce more superior products.

File sharing and downloading, according to Idle Sons, is a double-edged sword.

"It's hurting us a lot but you can't deny the fact you're getting more exposure," said Barkwell.

"But it definitely reflects in our album sales."

It is true that declining album sales are hurting a lot of bands, but these two boys also see the positive side stating that more concert tickets and merch get sold due to the added free exposure.

It also puts a greater demand on the labels to stop the 90s trend of putting out records with ten filler songs and one hit, resulting in more quality releases.

But who is to be the judge of said releases?

Bad press is expected for anyone who has the guts to put themselves out there for public scrutiny, and Idle Sons have been there and done that.

It was at this point in the interview I was glad I'm not really a journalist, but a photographer who occasionally gets to hobnob with the up-and-comers who grace our Sault Ste. Marie stages.

"I don't have a problem with someone making a bad review if they do their research and they have a warranted point," stated Eastick.

"There are bands out there that rip off other bands and blatantly steal ideas. But if you just listen to a couple of bars of music and don't know anything about the band and make stupid comparisons, that's just ignorance."

Shortly after this point in the conversation, we realized we had been talking for almost an hour and the boys had to leave for sound check.

Both the opener, Vancouver-based Marianas Trench and Idle Sons delivered extremely powerful performances that were greeted with pumping fits, devil fingers and ear-piercing squeals that made a room of 50 sound like a show of 5,000.

Those at the show who knew little of these performers had no choice but walk out afterwards as huge fans.