Who are you?
Bravestation—Devin, Derek, Andrew and Jeremy.
What do you do?
Create soundscapes and art that hopefully make you think and feel.
How would you describe your music?
Atmospheric, dark, light. New wave that started out in the wilderness, quote, unquote.
How did the band come together?
The core of the group moved from Brockville to Toronto in hopes of big city dreams; that’s where we met Andrew while working on a year-end demo project at a recording arts school.
Devin and Derek, how is it working with your brother?
Derek: Convenient and transparent.
Devin: Honest.
What inspires you?
Imagination, people, places, art, other bands, songs, revelations, the future and the past.
What is the nicest thing someone has said about the band and the worst thing?
Nicest: ‘Your songs all sound the same, but I could see you guys being big in 5 years from now’.
Worst: ‘Your songs all sound the same, but I could see you guys being big in 5 years from now.’
What are your current obsessions?
Twin Shadow, song structures, buying and selling gear on Craigslist.
Dream Collaboration?
Chris Taylor, the guy’s a buzz factory.
Nightmare Collaboration?
Bob Rock.
You have been doing a great deal of shows with Dora Alexander, why do you think the two bands work so well together?
We’ve developed a friendship through our passion for playing music. There’s a chemistry there that’s built upon mutual respect, trust and good vibes. We dig their sound, and they dig ours—or at least they claim too.
What keeps bringing you back to Kingston?
Kingston’s venues and vibe are great. We had an absolute blast at The Mansion the last time we played here with the same line-up. YGK Productions know how to put on a good show and throw an even better party. It seems like there are a lot of people who are into new music and support independent bands.
Can you give us a glimpse into tour life?
Organize, drive, anticipate, eat, eagerly await, soundcheck, eagerly await, play, organize, eat, repeat. That and sleeping in the backseats of vehicles like some of us did the last time we played at The Mansion.
Favourite Condiment?
Southwest chipotle sauce.
Your self-titled EP only had five tracks on it; can fans expect a full length album soon?
We’ve started actively demoing a handful of new tracks for our first full-length—late 2011 seems realistic.
Your EP was self-released, what are the challenges and the rewards of producing your own album?
It’s nice having complete control over the entire creative artistic process. When we’re in the studio we can be completely honest with each other and ourselves. I think bringing in an outside influence puts certain constraints on your sound/personality and risks steering it in a direction it might not have gone instinctively. We pride ourselves in doing all our own recording, producing, design and promotion. But obviously we realize that bringing in outside sources can help expand your ideas, so we’re enjoying this opportunity while it lasts.
Celebrity Crush?
That girl in The Departed. Natalie Portman’s pretty cute too.
Favourite reality show?
Does such a thing exist?
You are on a desert island and can only have three items with you, what would they be?
A life jacket, mask and snorkel—fuck this, I’m swimming back to shore!
Can you give us a glimpse into what the new video for “White Wolves” will be like?
The video takes place in the woods and has a Lord of the Flies theme to it. The main inspiration was taken from excerpts of Robert J. Hastings’ poem The Station (see “Station Inspiration” above for a fragment of the poem).
Hopes for 2011?
Our hope for 2011 is to release a full-length and see Europe.
— Alyssa Ashton
Bravestation play a free show on Thursday at 9 p.m. at Clark Hall Pub.
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