| The Borderguards are a hard kicking four piece from
Calgary, Alberta. They are NOT Canadian rock, they are awesome.
In early April, I sent out an e-mail interview that everyone
answered individually. Enjoy.
Virus: Why do The Borderguards
exist?
Brian: We exist as a band because
we love beer and we get a lot of free beer for doing shows.
There are other reasons like playing live, etc, but yah its
mostly for the love of beer.
Joe: Common interest in ideas,
values, and music.
Rick: The Borderguards were just
there when I joined the band. I think they are still around
because they are all good friends who can get along and put
together original music.
Victor: We exist mainly to play
music that we think is good,which is street punk/Oi! blended
with other genres such as rockabilly, honky tonk or blues
as we are all fairly eclectic listeners. We are definitely
a pro-Canadian,anti-racist,working class band but we are not
out to try and save world. Our lyrics come from the heart
and hopefully make some people think or give them a new perspective
on things life .We do try hard to write good songs with good
rhythms and beats and to me it really shows in our newer,not
yet recorded material, hopefully, you can be the best judge
of that though. Weh. We like to try new things with street
punk and possibly make someone out there think. Of course,
one always gets critics with whatever you do. As long as we
are having fun and enjoying ourselves and keep playing fairly
powerful music for people and even Canada as a whole I will
be happy I just hope we don't lose our sense of humor and
creativity along the way.
Virus: What makes you different
from other bands doing the same thing?
Brian: Well we are not surfpunk.
There is a lot of it out there right now. We play a lot of
different stuff from rock a billy to full outold schooll punk
so maybe thats what makes us a little different. Oh yah i
can yell louder than most people, ROARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
Rick: Rick, the bass player.
Victor: We do try to keep our
range of topics a bit broader than perhaps other bands do.
We probably also solo more awell. Onene thing I have noticed,especially
with the newer material is that we do not really stick to
both guitarists playing the same barr chords and having the
bass player just kinda follow along, if you can have a beat
or rhythm and have everybody playing something different around
it in the same key then there is always room to make your
music more interesting to listen to, we work very hard to
remain rhythm based and keep the songs different from each
other. Topic wise, we speak what we feel which may not be
altogether big news as far as punker music goes but some of
the things we say and the manner in which we say them may
be different like for example: Canada isn't so bad sentiments,
Canadian history, cynical points of view regarding city life
and yes, even singing about love gone wrong. I do not think
that I would like to be in a band that is afraid to sing about
alot of things.
Virus: What makes you think
this line-up is the right one?
Brian: Well we all get along
with each other, that helps a lot. For me it's being able
to bring in a new tune or cover and get it down right away,
they are all good players.
Joe: We are multicultural and
good lookin enough to be another S Club.
Rick: Coming from someone who
joined the band at a later time, I can honestly say I like
The Borderguards style of music not because I play in the
band, but because they do have greatness in their music.
Victor: I never said I thought
THIS was the right line-up....hahahahahaha. We work well together
and usually have the exact same points of view when it comes
to things that are band related. Rick is an excellent treasurer
when it comes to finances, Brian has an excellent sense of
humor and is very laid back and creative when it comes to
doing things and Joe is a great drummer with some cool ideas.
To see why the line-up is such a good line-up is to look into
how the band functions internally really, we each have our
own niches and work well within them.We all agree that we
play and write great music together and we work well with
each other which is very important if the band is to be around
for a long time.
Virus: What do you hope to achieve
with the band?
Brian: Not sure really, getting
our new cd done would be an achievement I guess haha. Be a
house hold name like Ann Murry or Rita McNeal. You know making
the big time!
Joe: Hopefully tour outside of
Alberta.
Rick: I already have achieved
what I want with this band, I'm playing in one of the greatest
bands I know with some of the greatest people I know.
Victor: Personally, I would like
to make a few more albums and play as much and wherever we
can and just try to set some goals and see if any of them
come to fruition. I love being in this band and working with
these guys, our ideas have come along way since we first started
2.5 years ago. I hope that I can swear and be a lippy cunt
more in the future while on stage and talk shit about my new
girlfriend in front of her friends as well. It would be cool
to play shows outside of Alberta as well.
Virus: What is the scene like
in Alberta for music and zines??
Brian: There are a lot of punk
bands in Calgary and Edmonton right now . The amount of venues
are a bit limited though. Most shows get turnouts,the all
ages has been really good lately. For zines there are two
that i know of out here right now that follow the local art
and music scene.
Joe: Lots of cool bands....check
out No Coast Hard Core
Rick: I don't know, I'm not as
big into the scene as I use to be.
Victor: Well for music, there
are tons of great bands. We have played with some of what
I think are the best bands in Alberta and it's always cool
to meet a lot of people that are from around your area. Edmonton
has a great scene, more old school than our home town (Calgary)
and I love playing up there when we can. Lots of cool people
around, my chief complaint are the assholes, whether from
other bands or just morons on the street that like to talk
shit and tell lies about us or other bands. There are also
quite a lot of zines here as well but I haven't really tapped
into the zine scene so much, I am usually too busy spending
my money like an idiot on booze and lube for my girlfriend
which may or may not be a good thing.
Virus: Since we're so spread
out up here (in Canada), do you think it's harder to make
your mark on the scene (especially with all the traveling)?
Brian: We don't travel that much.
We thought that it would be much cheaper for the band if we
just made our fans come to Calgary and see us. You know like
Wayne Newton. Wayne Newton doesn't come to you, you go to
Vegas to see him.
Joe: If you are good you'll get
noticed in Calgary, punk scene is pretty close knit.
Rick: I'm not really sure, I
haven't been in the band that long so I don't know... As far
as I know, The Borderguards have really only played in Alberta.
Victor: As far as travelling,
yes it is very hard to get about up here in Canada. There
are people back East that would like to see us play but because
it is so far away, we can never make sure we have the appropriate
time off or funds to get our asses over there and do a show.
I am not sure if we even have a name in Canada but the internet
has really helped us out so far as getting the name at least
out there. If you have a computer and the time and means then
things get easier, it's not years ago when you had to rely
on snail mail to get the shit done. We haven't travelled outside
of Alberta yet but thanks to the net and stuff, we will be
playing in British Columbia hopefully soon this summer. It
would be nice to get more offers an see what comes of things
.........
Virus: What do you think is
the best thing to write songs about?
Brian: If you want to move records
I'd say love songs but we don't write love songs!
Joe: Oh Canada!!!
Rick: Girls.
Victor: Realistic things, life.
I love to write about history like the song "Borderland"
from the CD, which is about Canadian troops in World War 1.
We have songs about drinking, city life, love gone bad, comradery
between friends, Canada, loss etc. etc. To me, as long as
it's real and creative then it's a good topic. I will always
write pro Canadian songs or historical songs. We don't try
to shove our opinions down peoples throats and act like what
we say is gospel, we just like to have our say and have some
fun and thats about it. Why are you pressing me with this
fucking interrogation anyways? Boy are you ever fucking nosey............maybe
I should write a song about people like you.........
"For The One I love": Your basic love gone bad
rockabilly punker song. Good guitar work and written in a
fantasy style format. We havent actually killed anyone that
I know of....yet anyways......
"Trudeau": This is written in memory of Pierre Elluiot
Trudeau and is not yet completed. It was inspired by his death
and I really want to take my time writing this one. Many people
hated him and others loved him. To me, he was a true thinker,
right or wrong and was very patriotic which is always good.
A true intellectual and this should pay good homage to his
memory.
"Maybe Its Because I'm A Man": I wrote this one
about my girlfriend because she was wondering why so many
people are scared of her and give her such weird looks when
she dresses up all girly like. If you are reading this Trish,
I hope you get the hint now...hahahahaha. No really, it's
just a song written about dating new people and having things
not work out. It kind of goes into the behavior that people
go into when they want to avoid someone because a dating relation
turns into disaster whether its because of me or them.
Virus: Who are your favorite
local bands to play show with?
Brian: There are alot of talented
bands in town that we've had the chance to play with in the
last couple of years. Sneak Attack, Handsome Devils, Six String
Rebels, Amazing Larrys, Disrupters just to name a few.
Joe: Handsome Devils, Sneak Attack,
Six String Rebels.
Rick: I enjoy all the bands I've
played with, except a few... you know who you are.
Virus: Anything else?
Brian: We are going into the
studio in May or June, after two years to record our second
cd. Our cds are available at HMV stores across Canada (you
might have to order them) or through our web site www.borderguards.com.
We also have shirts,stickers and pins,so buy the shit up make
us RICH!!
Victor: We are working on finishing
up our new songs so we can record again soon. We are going
to try and do 12 songs this time and they are very fucking
good songs so far. I will go far to say that they eclipse
most of what we did on the CD we have out now because our
songwriting has strongly improved even more so. We are also
going to be submitting a song to CTV for a horror move they
are making right now so keep your eyes out for that and will
be trying to get out CD out to even more radio stations all
over Canada. Go to our website regularly for contests and
information. We have pics, lyrics, mp3 links etc etc etc ther
at www.borderguards.com and you can always send me your stupid
hatemail to borderguards@yahoo.com. We will have the CD out
by summer and you can order it at the address provided on
the website. Love you Trish and hope to play as many out of
towners this summer. Promoters, distros and anyone else that
can help us whether for interviews or whatever should get
in touch with us. Cheers and drink a few beers for us and
Canada. Oi!Oi!Oi! Fuckin' eh. Fuck you .Die............'Nuff
said.
Check out The Borderguards on MP3.com, and be sure
to check out their site, and help get them touring East! |
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