Indian Handcrafts is hoping to break the bank with their second album — just enough to become billionaires.
“It’s fun and heavy and has a bunch of new songs. We’re proud of it, and hopefully it will make us billionaires,” he said.
Barrie-born Aikins and music partner Daniel Allen, recorded the album in Los Angeles in March, despite Allen nursing a broken hand.
They were both previously in the band Fox Jaws, which disbanded in 2010 because of disputes between bandmates.
“Being in the band was fun, but at the end of the day, it was taxing to have everyone else fighting, when me and Dan were the only ones who got along.”
Now a heavy metal power duo, Indian Handcrafts is going on tour with their second album Civil Disobedience for Losers — a title stemming from the lyrics in their song “Red Action.”
“I got the idea from an old Soviet handbook published by the rebels that said ‘How to be civilly disobedient,’” he said.
The duo returns to Kingston after having been outdone by Canada’s national pasttime during their visit last year.
“It was the last game of the Stanley Cup finals and we were playing a pub down by the water so there were lots of people there to watch hockey,” Aikins said.
Needles to say, it was a disappointment for a band that has a unique heavy metal style, heard best at loud volumes.
Aikins said the people in the pub weren’t the only ones who didn’t understand the power of heavy metal music.
“My mom came to one show two years ago and said, ‘It’s nice, but it’s so aggressive! I can’t believe someone like you would be so aggressive,’ and I just said, ‘You don’t understand me, Mom.’”
Heavy metal and screamo, often synonymous musical styles, couldn’t be more different for the band.
Aikins was quick to tell me that his band wasn’t in the business of making screamo music.
“When I think of screamo, I think of dudes with eyeliner, quaffed hair and meshed gloves screaming words you can’t really understand at all,” Aikins joked. “If you called me screamo, I would hang up the phone.” One thing’s for sure — behind the heavy metal guitar lines and politically humoured lyrics, Indian Handcrafts isn’t a duo of divas.
“After shows we go home and go to bed — unless there’s a cool party going on. If you have tacos and kegs of beer, we’ll play in your living room free.”
Indian Handcrafts plays the Mansion tomorrow night at 9 p.m.
Tags
Brandyn Aikins, Daniel Allan, Indian Handcrafts
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.
