Music Under Fire

The sophomore album from Hamilton, Ontario's seven-man crew has over the course of the past few weeks driven something home. Everyone All At Once by The Rest emanates the kind of abandoned beauty that elevated Fleet Foxes to one of the top albums of 2008, so perhaps the same degree of success could follow.

In preparation for their followup album, the members of The Rest - Adam Bentley, Anna Jarvis, Blake Bowman, Dwayne Brydon, Jordan Mitchell, Matty Buzanko, Steve Jones - headed into the thicket to surmise and congeal a crafty accompaniment to their 2007 release of Atlantis, Oh Our Saviour.

Now that the album is finished and ready for release on April 21, we were able to catch The Rest's Adam Bentley for some in-depth analysis of the album and the happenings of the group.


For your newest work, you escaped from civilization to focus on your music. You escaped in a way, but with seven artists, was it really that simple?

I think it wasn't about escaping and living in the woods surrounded by nothing, but having the time to connect with each other without being interrupted. When we went up to the cottages (they were more like three small buildings) you knew that music was the only focus. Aside from the occasional nightly excursions, nothing else mattered. I literally would wake up, eat some food, run up a hill and across a path that led to the "music room", then I would get started on some ideas, maybe solidify some lyrics, and slowly everyone else would trickle in.

All of us had been playing together in different musical groups between 3 and 10 years, but this process amplified our chemistry with one another I think. Mainly, it was inspirational knowing you were going to a place that was only about music and relaxing with you friends.

What was the biggest instrument you brought into the wilderness and who had the responsibility of moving it?

The biggest instrument was a Rhodes piano, which wasn't too bad too move in retrospect. What was much worse was at the beginning of our second trip our van got stuck in the path leading in from the road. We would usually head north right after everyone got home from work, and the drive was just over 4 hours, and it's incredibly hard to find the entrance to the cottage in the middle of the night, so everyone would arrive around 1am or 2am. We could have been there much earlier, but one of the cars would always get lost. So the van got stuck around 2am, and we couldn't see, so we left it in the path. When we awoke the next morning we just couldn't budge it, so we had to unload all of our gear, which is quite extensive, and walk it a few hundred metres to the first cottage. Then we had Steve's little green car(I know nothing about cars, so the brand eludes me, it's small and green) push the van out of the mud, this is after we had shoveled the mud for about an hour. It worked, but we definitely earned the right to play music that day!

In one word, how would each of you describe your wilderness music experience?

I doubt anyone else would have a problem with me saying...

Clarity

"Modern Time Travel (Necessities)" seems too deep for me to attempt to explain and eventually fail at. Where did this song come from and what does it mean?

The song actually sprouted from one of the few disappointing days up north. No one was particularly getting along, and we weren't agreeing on some of the ideas that had been brought up, so finally someone (can't remember who) suggested we take a break. It was a beautiful day, and the sun was shinning bright into the room, so everyone decided to go down to the lake. I started strumming a few chords, and instantly the melody to the beginning section came into my head. Everyone left, and I continued to play around with these chords, and then from one part came the next, and then came the next.

I had an idea for lyrics (I'll get to that in one second), and within twenty minutes I had 90% of the song finished. At this point I was terrified that I'd forget the song! It seemed to come so quick that I was getting paranoid it would be a fleeting memory. I just kept playing it over and over again, until Steve came into the room, he then heard what was going on and rushed to get Jordan to record what I had.

We had been listening to Roy Orbison when we were setting up that week, and I think I was inspired, not to write a song that sounds like Roy Orbison, but the idea of quick melodies in a short package. I'm not sure if anything has ever come to me so quickly, from there the band added part after part, which I think are all amazing, but that took place over the next 6 or 7 months. The day was no longer disappointing for me.

The meaning behind the song, or at least the original objective, is about trying to escape from one moment in time to another. Not necessarily to the past or future, but maybe to another present. I know that sounds confusing, but if you don't look at time linearly(the way we perceive it), and imagine it as happening all at once, you may understand what I'm saying. Simply, I think the song's heart lies in the desire to change for the better, even if obstacles lie in your path.

When you returned from your brainstorming in the woods to record, what proved to be your biggest obstacle?

Keeping the momentum going. Everyone had full time jobs, but we wanted to get together 4 or 5 times a week to keep working on the songs. Every week you had to try and balance a life around the band. I think the band beat up the life pretty good, but I think we all had such a great understanding of the songs that it was worth it. We were also able to write a great deal of songs, and only use the ones we felt were as good as the next. The idea of having an album without filler was a goal from the very beginning, and when people ask me what my favourite song, or what our best song from the record is, I have great difficulty.

Your album name, Everyone All At Once, sounds 'busy'. When and how did the name arise?

I guess it comes from how we like to approach arrangements to songs.. sometimes, with all of us finding our place, but still playing together or "all at once". The name came pretty early, I think I had it kicking around for almost of year before we started recording. It seemed to fit with the lyrical ideas I was working with too. I could try to explain that last sentence, but then I'd have to verbalize something that's only a bunch of thoughts in my brain, and I'm pretty sure that would sound terrible. The name has different meanings to different people in the band I think too, just like a song can be interpreted many different ways.

For indie artists from Ontario, what other Canadian artists have jumped out to you most recently?

I'm really liking the new Bruce Peninsula record, I've played that fairly frequently recently. Our friend Electroluminescent put out a record called Measures on vinyl, and it's kick ass. And Gasoline Gathers Hand, Gather Friends and Goatfooted from Hamilton are two groups to look out for. Also, we played with Timber Timbre a few months ago, and he was great. If we're talking about all of Canada the list would be huge, and I feel I should add some more bands to this list, but those ones above are great!

I've only noticed a few show dates on your calendar at the moment, including London. When do you expect to release your album and begin touring for that?

There's a few dates we haven't announced yet, but we're going to try to keep to about a show a week starting in April, and build from there. We're releasing the record on April 21st through Auteur Recordings, and we're going to start taking pre-orders on March 10th at www.auteurrecordings.com.

We're wanting to tour in the summer and later in the year. We really want to travel!

Lastly, which country would win in a rocks, papers, scissors contest - USA, Canada or Mexico? Why?

Mexico, because they have nothing to lose in this particular battle.


For more on The Rest, check out their MySpace or page on Auteur Recordings.

MP3: The Rest - Modern Time Travel (Necessities)