Concert Preview: The Marble Index Tonight @ Elixir
Hamilton’s often written off as just a blue-collar steel town south of Toronto, but who knew it had a burgeoning, kick-ass music scene?
“There are a bunch of good venues that attract different crowds,” says Adam Knickle, drummer for Hamilton-based, self-described “Millennium punk”-ers the Marble Index, scheduled to rock Elixir tonight.
“[Hamilton has] a lot of fans of live music, and it’s a pretty open-minded city,” Knickle said in an interview this week with the Journal. “There are a lot of good bands coming out of here as well—bands like Cities in Dust, The Ride Theory [featuring Queen’s student Noah Fralick, ArtSci ’06], and Pantychrist. Maybe it’s the undiscovered Montreal.”
Not a bad list of hometown contemporaries. Since the trio’s 2001 inception, the Marble Index has been honing its sound by, as Knickle puts it, “not trying to be something we’re not.” “We aren’t thinking about what we sound like—we just play and sound how we sound. It’s not like ‘Hey, New York-style low-fi-jazz-fusion-trip-hop-tango is HUGE right now, let’s slip a little [of that] into our music.’ ”
Taking their moniker from a song by the singer Nico, the Marble Index upped the ante by switching from their previous instruments: Brad Germain came from drums and bass (now guitars and vocals), Ryan Tweedle was originally on guitar (now bass) and drum-playing Knickle started out with the bass guitar. Talk about a change-up. Something must’ve worked with this arrangement, because the band’s been on an uphill climb ever since. Not many bands can claim they’ve shared a stage with the legendary Pixies, after all.
“To us [touring with The Pixies was] one of those things that’s too strange to be real,” Knickle said.
“They were really one of our favourite bands, and I felt like I was on acid when I looked to the side of the stage in the middle of our set and saw Frank [Black] and Kim [Deal] watching … too weird.”
For the recording of their first proper album, the Marble Index set up shop in the cred-worthy Wigan, England—a.k.a. hometown of The Verve—and threw themselves at the whim of producer John Kettle, the man behind bands like Moco and Roller.
“Living in the studio gave us an extra edge, because we could work at all times of the night or day—whenever we [felt] inspired,” Knickle explained. “Being away from friends and family was great, because there were no distractions, good or bad.” But the creativity-friendly recording experience wasn’t all hunky-dory, either.
“There was no running water, England is really expensive and the food experience was pretty bad,” Knickle itted.
The band roughed it by bunking down in one room above the studio, sans alarm clock, curtains, or shower for three weeks.
Tonight will probably feature the bulk of the tracks off the self-titled release, maybe even Knickle’s favourite, “We Can Make It.” “[‘We Can Make It’] was written above the pub we lived in for the first few days in England and then was finished up in the studio,” Knickle said.
“The whole reggae vibe started off as a joke, we were killing ourselves laughing while playing it … then it just turned out to be the song … and it’s my favourite.”
The harrowing recording experience paid off, though, giving them a self-titled album that led to two U.K. tours and their trip to Japan.
“This is our first time [in Japan],” Knickle said. “It should be fun times. I’m fully prepared for a bit of culture shock.” They can probably breathe easy—with the accolades they’re getting back home, they must be doing something right. Last fall, the band was honoured in the categories of Best New Group and People’s Choice Award at the Hamilton Music Awards. And while the attention is flattering, Knickle said they remain grounded.
“I’d like to be proud of the records we put out and have fond memories of the experience,” Knickle said. “We’re honest with our music. I don’t know if it separates us from everybody, but it definitely separates us from a million bands out there. I smell bullshit with a lot of the bands I hear.”
Amen to that.
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