Interviews: Closet Monster

Our little interviewing machine, Angie Lalonde, gives us another interview, this one with rising Canadian band Closet Monster. Click READ MORE to get the full interview with Adam and London [including just what is up with their connection to Avril Lavigne].

A- First congratulations with getting on Union Label Group, what does this mean for Closet Monster?
Adam- Another chapter…
L- Yeah I guess another chapter it means we don’t have to do it all on our own now.  We can focus more on music and our team gets a little bigger.
A- You’re getting great distribution now?
L- Oh yeah for sure, it’s really getting better, it’s just great that we can find people like them, just good people that want to help put out good music, that’s the bottom line. To us it doesn’t even feel like a record deal or anything it’s ‘cool you guys want to help, that’s awesome’.
A- Is Union going to be distributing your ‘Killed The Radio Star’ records since you’ve already released it on Underground Operations.
L- Yeah, it’s sorta of like a split thing right now, they’re dealing with the distro and the pressing aspect of it and we all work together on everything else.
A- Last time I saw you guys was with ‘The Getaway’s’, have you seen a lot of familiar faces, a following at shows from that tour?
Adam- Yeah definitely
L- Yeah actually a lot of positive responses from that tour, on the East Coast it was great when we got out there, it was crazy, like P.E.I, Halifax and Sydney, it was the same kids and all new kids coming out, it was a really great experience I guess we partied a little too hard, when we got to Quebec we were fucking toast.
A- Now that Closet Monster is no longer D.I.Y how’s this tour been so far having Duncan at Union taking care of booking everything for you, no longer dealing with shady promoters, having contracts now…?
L- It’s a good step in a direction where for once we don’t have to worry about where we’re getting our food. We get fed and we get watered it’s great
Adam- And we get to play. ..
L- And our shows don’t fall through, now were dealing with really good scene promoters kids that promote because that’s where their heart is, instead of promoting to get their band on bills with other bands kind of business. 
It’s really cool it’s a good network and we’re really happy to be a part of it.
A- After this tour you guys are going to Europe for the ‘Fight War Tour’, is this your first time?
Adam- Yeah it’s my first time, I can’t wait.
L- I’ve been a couple of times but as Closet Monster this is my first time.
A- Did you ever think Closet Monster would make it, to tour Europe?
L- Honestly I think that was the end goal when we started we always said all we ever want to do with this is be able to go to Europe and travel and see the world and do it our way now six years later we’re finally doing it our way we’re going to Europe it’s fucking awesome.
Chris- It’s going to be hectic though, hectic and tiring but super sweet though!
A- Okay London I hate to do this to you but there’s so much bullshit on the punknews message board about you playing in Avril’s band. You were yes, now you no longer are, it has no reflection on Closet Monster…
L- It never did… but I don’t know it just sucks that people… Well it’s seems like Avril is just in everybody’s face that it’s the first thing that they want to talk about, it’s the first thing that they think about and it sucks that the major side of the music industry has that affect on people. Closet Monster was around before, it was around when I did it and we’re still around now, we haven’t changed, it was a job, a job that I did for less than six months.
A- Only six months?
L- Yeah, really it drives us nuts…
A- You’re really having trouble getting away from this…
L- Completely…
Adam- it seems like it dies down then comes back up then it dies again…
L- Yeah like whenever she gets a push it comes to us as well, they’ll push her on a tour this tour coming up then all of a sudden it’s back, we’re sorta of almost beating it into people that Closet Monster has nothing to do with that.  She getting a push right now and again it’s all back in our faces again…
Adam- Some guy asked me tonight, so I heard you guys are Avril’s back up band…
Chris- Yeah there’s always that one guy in the crowd that either has to bust out one of her lyrics while were playing a song of be like hey aren’t you with Avril?
L- We take it in stride though, in a sick sadistic way I kind of like it because it gives us something to prove when we get on stage and to that one guy that wants to say it, it’s like okay watch what we do and if you saw us before all that shit you’d know. It’s cool that now we get to prove ourselves, as long as people understand it’s not us and it never was and nothing about us relates to any of it then that’ll be alright but that will never happen so we’ll just keep on fighting it.
A- Now life after MTV would you ever want that level of success for Closet Monster?
Adam- No!
L- No never, not at all. I think the success that she has is manufactured, it will never have the integrity that we are desperately trying to hold onto. It’s not about if your video is played on Much Music it’s about, who you are as a band and what you’re trying to do with your art and if you’re making videos as art with ideas in mind that you want to get out and it’s not just about selling units and breaking markets. It’s about presenting your art to kids that maybe see it on MTV that maybe gets them into punk and acts as a doorway. My first shit that I saw was a Gob video on MTV and that got me into Gob which got me into something else but it helps and it shows kids that there’s more shit out there than the shit that’s there, so why can’t bands like us make videos and make art instead of making product commercials as videos and say kids check this shit out, there’s more than Britney Spears, there’s music scenes out there with people doing what they want to do and it’s fucking beautiful, I say why not sneak onto enemy lines and maybe we’ll suck some kids out of that shit.
A- How was Closet Monster first received at shows being so young and politically involved, do you think you were taken seriously at first?
L- No I don’t think so, we had a lot of people who did but we had a lot of opposition. It’s a growing long, long thing that’s been going on for awhile and slowly in time, that person that saw us in 98’ and was like ‘ah you fucking raver ska punk…’ blah, blah bullshit, it’s like look at us now we’re still doing it, what are you doing? We’re not going to quit, it’s about putting your heart into whatever you do in life, that’s all it’s about in the end.
A- I read somewhere that quoted you saying (London) "We believe punk rock’s not just about music. It’s about creating an alternative through education and unity to the world that we live in" do feel it’s kind of like your responsibility when you guys are up on stage to relay a message and gets kids thinking?
L-Not really our responsibility, I mean it doesn’t even have to be something political it could be anything I think why not try and inspire someone, why not try and present something that they can take and use in their life in any way that can be positive maybe it’s negative but it’s some kind of action, then from action that cause affecting something will happen.  If you put your soul into something and show people that you can do that, that alone you don’t even have to say something political maybe they’ll be like ‘I want to be in a band, I want to go up there and just lose my mind on stage’ in the end that’s all we want kids to do.
Adam- That’s all I want to do.
A- And you have a new EP coming out?
L- We have a Closet Monster EP that’s been sort of in the works and out of the works, we have three days off next week and we’re trying to get into the studio to do it then.
A- Do you know when it will be released?
L- Probably in May, just before we leave for Europe but this isn’t going to be a release that we’re putting on shelves, it’s more our own project. It’s probably going to be something that we’re going to sell on stage or hand out. It’s going to be more art based than music based, it’s going to be cardboard sleeves with cut stamps, maybe spray-paint on it very D.I.Y, something that we want to do, we feel like it’s time to go into the studio and lay out a few songs and maybe some political art tracks of noise, make a little project out of it and see what happens, we’ll see.
A- Have your views regarding world governments and power changed a lot since the War on Iraq started and will we see this reflect over into your lyrics?
L- My views on the world seem to be reinvigorated it makes us really mad to see what’s going on, it’s sad…
A- I noticed a lot of your lyrics are more applicable to world situations now then before…
L- It’s true, the world and everything that is going on, it’s really scary, it’s proof that big business and large powerful countries can run the world and can bully people around. As far as it affecting our music, our music is our passion and if this is affecting us in a passionate way you can definitely expect to find our next releases to have a lot of what’s going on.
A- To be on tour with Closet Monster are you guys a bunch of straight-edge sleeping early no after party bunch or do you guys indulge in festivities and stimulants while causing chaos on the road?
L- We love to party, I think that’s the weird misconception…
A- I thought you were straight-edge…
L- Oh yeah everybody does.
Brandon- I live for drinking, actually I’m going to go drink now
L- To each their own, like Brandon’s vegan and we’re all vegetarian, Chris doesn’t drink or do drugs and we’re all pot-heads love to drink, it doesn’t matter what you do with yourself as long as it doesn’t affect anyone negatively around you but fuck yeah we love to party!
A- If you guys could go see any band in the world anywhere you pleased who’d it be and where?
Chris- I want to see The Cure, In Britain where they’re from for sure!
L- I’d like to see a Sex Pistols show and I don’t give a fuck where, well not in America.
Brandon- I’d want to see the Beatles.
Adam- Since we’re all going with classic’s I’ll go with Elvis, he died on the can man.
A- I found out that Elvis didn’t even write any of his own songs!
L- I found that out too recently.
Adam- he had his own catalogue, they Elvis-sized him.
L- I’d also love to see Operation Ivy…
A- Anything else guys…?
(Russ from Ann Beretta adds in) ‘Cookie Monster rules!’