Jenia corresponds with the Toronto, Canada, based band
If you’re searching for a band that will make you get up and dance then look no further. Based out of Toronto, this ensemble has been making a name for itself across Canada thanks to the band’s energetic live performances and their highly unique sound. Spiral Beach, which was formed by brothers Daniel and Airick Woodhead and friends Dorian Wolfe and Maddy Wilde back in 2003, has seen their band featured in the movie Charlie Bartlett as well as the television show Life’s a Zoo. They began to get noticed in 2005 when they released their self-titled EP and followed that up with their second album, “Ball”, in 2007. Throughout 2008 Spiral Beach was in the studio recording their much anticipated 3rd album, “Voodoo”, which is set to be released sometime in May 2009. Not only has the band toured across Canada but they have played all over the United States and even travelled to England to perform and promote their album.
Spiral Beach took the time to respond via e-mail for an interview with CONFRONT Magazine.
CONFRONT: Where did the name Spiral Beach come from?
SPIRAL BEACH: Well, we found out AFTER we settled on it that Spiral Beach is three things: a beach on Mars, a huge man-made sand sculpture and a level in Super Mario. When we originally chose it we just thought it sounded cool!!
CONFRONT: How did you all come together to form this band?
SPIRAL BEACH: Me (Daniel, drums) and my brother Airick (guitar) started writing songs together when we were really young, like 14 or 15. We always had an idea of what we wanted to do and the way we write together is still pretty much the same. We grew up with Maddy (keyboards/sampler), she lived just down the street, so she just kind of naturally fell into the band once it got going. Dorian I met at school where he played guitar. . . I told him we needed a bass player so he just switched over! The band “officially” came together in February 2003.
CONFRONT: Your genre of music has been described as trance, thrash and pop. How would you describe your unique sound?
SPIRAL BEACH: Haha, that’s what I put as our Myspace bio! I do think it suits the music; it’s kind of schizophrenic sounding and has a lot of character. There’s a lot of energy and excitement but the songs have pretty detailed arrangements and kind of a hypnotic feel. You can definitely dance to it, but it’s also music to listen to in headphones at an aquarium.
CONFRONT: Having travelled across Canada and throughout the States, do you have a favourite city or venue to play at?
SPIRAL BEACH: Well we’ve definitely found some new favourites over the last couple of weeks…the Pawn Shop in Edmonton, the Matchbox Theatre in Red Deer…but I always like to say the Ford Plant in Brantford, the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield and the Centre of Gravity Theatre in Toronto.
CONFRONT: How would you describe life on the road?
SPIRAL BEACH: Smelly, but awesome.
CONFRONT: What’s your favourite song to perform live? Why?
SPIRAL BEACH: For me probably Made of Stone, it’s got kind of a weird Black Sabbath/Salsa drumming which is really fun.
CONFRONT: What were your inspirations musically speaking?
SPIRAL BEACH: There’s so much music we all collectively take in, and it changes all the time..right now we’re really into these old Bollywood compilations, Animal Collective, early 90′s euro-house and our friends from Toronto the Miles.
CONFRONT: Three of your songs were featured in the movie Charlie Bartlett. Can you tell me how that came about and your feeling about such an accomplishment?
SPIRAL BEACH: It’s funny because the movie was shot in early 2006, before we even had a record out or anything and now it’s finally released as we are finishing our third album! It was lots of fun to film, they did our bit at the Opera House in Toronto, which is somewhere we actually play and a bunch of our friends are in the movie too. I think we’d rather play a “made-up” band if we were featured in a movie again though, rather than just ourselves.
CONFRONT: With all the competition in the music industry and the difficulty in succeeding, what drives you to keep at it?
SPIRAL BEACH: The band’s been going for six years now with the same members, so we’re pretty much stuck with each other..it just feels natural and it’s a lot of fun so why stop?
CONFRONT: You’re known for having creative shows involving smoke machines, crazy lights and helium balloons. How did you come up with these ideas?
SPIRAL BEACH: Me and Ryan (our tour manager / guru / vampire master) used to sit around outside after we played Elvis Mondays at the Drake and just think of different ideas for the stage show. . . at the point we were playing the Drake every week so it was kind of like a challenge to make every show better and more exciting than the last.
CONFRONT: When you’re sitting down writing music where does it all come from? Can you tell me a little about your creative process?
SPIRAL BEACH: Me and Airick still write all the songs. . . usually Airick will have a musical idea like a chord progression or a melody and then we’ll work out the structure of it together on an acoustic guitar or piano. Then we’ll take it to the rest of the band and figure out the best way to arrange it – sometimes this can take months playing around with different ideas – and I’ll write the lyrics usually after the melody is already there. We actually throw out a lot of ideas, we have lots of “extra” sections kicking around to use later.
CONFRONT: Who’s the “craziest” in the group? Why?
SPIRAL BEACH: We’re all pretty crazy I guess…I haven’t seen my therapist for a couple of months though.
CONFRONT: What’s the most challenging aspect, on an individual basis, of being in a band?
SPIRAL BEACH: I would say just getting along all the time – we’re all best friends but we do have fights about stupid shit..actually one of the main problems is figuring out who’s going to do interviews ha ha.
CONFRONT: What can fans expect from your newest album? How does it compare to your previous one?
SPIRAL BEACH: We recorded in a proper studio this time (actually several) rather than a basement or a barn like the last two. . . I think it’s a huge step up for us in both sound quality and songwriting. . .there’s still a lot of variety but we tried to make it a little more cohesive as a record rather than just recording whatever songs we had at the time, so we’ve got a couple of extra tracks left over that didn’t make it onto the final album. . . there’s lots of mellotrons and sound effects and tom-toms and tape echo, it’s pretty awesome.
CONFRONT: How have the fans been receiving the new material, live?
SPIRAL BEACH: Some of the new material we’ve been playing for years, some of it we still haven’t played live at all. . . we’ve got five or so new songs that we’re doing live with a slightly different set-up where I’ll play sampler and sing rather than drums and Airick plays acoustic guitar. . . kind of the Spiral Beach trippy hip-hop coffeehouse set. . . so that’s been fun to do at the smaller shows in galleries and weirder venues. . . some of the other new songs are the craziest live songs we have though, and people just go nuts!
The CONFRONT 5
CONFRONT: What were your first and last albums purchased?
SPIRAL BEACH: Airick’s a big fan of vinyl, he just got the new Erykah Badu record, it’s awesome. I think the first album i ever bought was Aqua’s Aquarium.
CONFRONT: What were your first and last concerts attended?
SPIRAL BEACH: Me, Airick and Maddy grew up going to folk festivals with our parents when we were little. . . I can’t remember the first one, but I’m told I was at festival when I was two months old.
CONFRONT: Finish the sentence. I have never…
SPIRAL BEACH: Performed eye surgery
CONFRONT: Finish the sentence. I would never…
SPIRAL BEACH: Perform eye surgery
CONFRONT: What would you want your legacy to be?(Either as a band or as an individual)
SPIRAL BEACH: I want to invent something important like post-it notes or sliced bread, so my legacy lives on long after I’m gone. . .
To learn more about Spiral Beach check them out at the websites listed below and be sure to pick up their brand new album “Voodoo” in stores May 2009!
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