FEATURE BAND: LEISURE SUIT

Published: November 15, 2013

Photos courtesy Leisure Suit

My number one piece of advice to every single Victoriandrink more water. Not bottled, not carbonated, just 100% plain and pure capital region tap water. Why you ask? Well, to be honest, I think theres something in it. As evidence for this claim, I give you, Leisure Suit. Not only has this local collective shown promising progress towards reinvigorating our nations indie-rock field, they have done so with a single self-produced EP, a handful of shows, and all with a calm and cool that belies their rosy-cheeked youth. As far as Im concerned, our early-twenties are a time in life reserved for confused first steps in the outside world, years marked by mistake-making and wonderful blunders; but surely, not a time for any great progress in the true sense of the word. Yet, lo and behold, the kids in Leisure Suit have been drinking capital district water since the day they were born, and twenty some years later, they are seriously poised to throw some bold new paint on the canvas that is Canadian music.

Band Members:
Oliver Brooks vocals/guitar
Rowan Mackenzie bass guitar
Andrew Taylor drums
Madelaine Collier keys

LYF: Word on the street is you guys have a new album in the works?

Oliver Brooks: Yeah, pretty well all we have out right now is our EP, which we released in 2011 so its getting a bit old. But earlier this year we released a new single called Distraction and were currently in the process of releasing our first LP, which weve been working on for about a year now. The hope is to have that out some time next year.

LYF: Sounds like youre really going about this one meticulously. Its pretty rare for an independent group to invest so much time in their first release, no?

OB: Were actually doing a lot of it ourselves. Ive always been interested in writing music, but also in production work, which is how our first EP came about I recorded the whole thing on some pretty shoddy equipment (laughs). But it was a learning experience, my skills have improved a lot since then and through friends of ours, we’ve managed to get a hold of some pretty decent recording equipment, so we have been recording it for the most part ourselves incrementally over the last year while we develop material.

LYF: Are you finding that the self-production aspect is being reflected in the material that you write?

Rowan Mackenzie: I think its really influenced the way we write music having the ability to constantly record gives us the opportunity to revise what weve done, and take a closer look at it afterwards. Rather than relying solely on stream-of-consciousness jams, we get to go back and pare down the material we come up with.

OB: A lot of our writing process is probably split between two elements: creating on the fly together versus creating more deliberately in the studio. I think when people listen to the album theyll hear that electronic influence, which is a by-product of working on the computer, as well as parts that come across as really live and more drum/bass/guitar-driven.

LYF: Having decided to approach your albums in this way, can you imagine yourselves ever leaving it all to a studio engineer?

OB: Its an interesting thing. A lot of bands arent so involved with honing in their sound on a production model, whereas were thinking really big picture, developing how our songs sound. Sometimes that means that we have to sort of reverse-engineer our songs to play them live, as opposed to coming up with things live first and then recording them.

RM: Yeah, there is only so much a person can do, but a computer can do endless things!

LYF: Do you guys feel a sense of relief to get out of the rehearsal space or studio and play live, or is performance secondary to writing and recording?

OB: Its a tricky balance for sure. Obviously there are appealing elements in both, and it really dives down to the foundation of being in a band how do you balance playing live shows with writing new material?

RM: And from a financial standpoint, too. I mean, playing live seems like the only way to make money through music these days.

OB: Yeah, there are lots of bands that make a living nowadays just sort of touring endlessly and Im sure if you talked to them they would say they are pretty tired of playing the same material they have been touring off of and would love the opportunity to write new material.

RM: Live sound has always been a bit of a struggle for us, too. Because we often write in such a way that is often pretty production heavy whereas live everything is really pared-down and youre working with people who dont understand your soundits been interesting.

OB: I think its one of those things audiences dont appreciate about bands that are first starting out. Youre kind of at the mercy of the house technician of whatever venue youre playing typically theyve never heard your music before so its a huge gamble. You just have to pray that youll be mixed in a way that actually represents how your music sounds.

LYF: Do you think that the influx of EDM and high-resolution production has resulted in a degree of desensitization in some audiences?

OB: Thats a good point especially with the advent of DJ culture. For purely electronic artists, performing a set often involves playing back mastered tracks or original material from a computer, which makes it relatively easy to control levels and/or EQ from on-stage. So I would say definitely. Having really tight low-end and crystal-clear audio versus a band playing acoustic instruments, or even a combination of electronic and acoustic instruments like we do, youre sort of competing with a certain sonic immediacy thats hard to match.

RM: True, but I definitely feel like theres still a certain authenticity with live music and live instruments and I think audiences pick up on that as well. People are receptive to solos and the dynamics of watching someone actually play guitar or bass, and it provides a degree of theatrics that someone sitting behind a computer cant providenot to say that one is better than the other theyre just different.

LYF: Apart from recording and releasing your LP, whats the driving force behind Leisure Suit? Is there a particular goal you guys have in mind?

OB: Its hard. I mean, obviously every band wants to grow their audience as large as they can, reach new fans, do more things, have their work in a band contribute to their living so that they can do less other things (laughs). For us though, I think it will keep going just as long as its fun. Were pretty young guys, but weve already been playing together for five years, which is crazy

RM: Were pretty easy going about being in the band though its just enjoyable and something were proud of.

OB: Its sort of like having siblings, or maybe like being marriedalthough, none of us have been married so I guess were not qualified to make that comparison (laughs). I guess well just see where things go. I mean, making it is just a totally intangible thing. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesnt you just have to enjoy what youre doing, and either way it will be time well spent.

*Leisure Suit can be found online @ www.leisuresuit.ca Catch them live on December 7th when they open for Said The Whale at Victorias ultra-swank Alix Goolden Hall.

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