Since the release of their Juno-nominated self-titled debut and the widely praised follow-up, Shine a Light, the Constantines have become an underground rock staple, with guitars that steal the best parts of classic rock, angular indie, and heart-on-sleeve punk coupled with hoarse fire-breathing vocals. Given the tenacity of their music, both live and on record, I figured this band worked menial labor jobs from ages five to 22, stole their instruments, ate glass, and shit earnestness. One interview with singer Bryan Webb, and all those notions were dispelled. I couldn't believe what I was hearing: Eco-spirituality? Houses by the lake? Gordon Fucking Lightfoot?
Even in the midst of the final anniversary party for their label, Three Gut Records, Webb was relaxed and candid. He spoke optimistically of a time when his band could slow things down and diversify, modestly wondering if they'd make it that far, and what the immediate future might hold.
Pitchfork: What's happening-- a Three Gut anniversary, you said?
Brian Webb: Yeah, it's sort of the final fifth-anniversary thing. We've done the anniversary kind of intermittently. It hasn't been every year, but it's kinda been every other year, I guess. They're having the final one this afternoon; they're doing Gentleman Reg and Jim Guthrie, and the guys from Oakley Hall are doing a solo set.
Pitchfork: Cool. Are you guys going to play, or will you just be there?
Webb: We're playing, with Kinski, Oneida, and Oakley Hall.
Pitchfork: I actually saw Kinski with Oneida last Wednesday, they were both fantastic.
Webb: Right on. Oneida's one of the best live bands I've ever seen.
Pitchfork: Yeah, definitely. But one of the first things I wanted to ask was about Three Gut...cause your new one [Tournament of Hearts] will be your last record for the label. Do you have any insight into what happened, with the end of the label?
Webb: I think, it's changed. It used to be Lisa [Moran] and Tyler [Clark Burke], then Tyler would do her own thing for a while, so Lisa's been doing pretty much all of it herself. I think it's just gotten to be a bit too much. I just think she wants to have a life. She's still going to manage us, she's also tour managing for Sufjan Stevens and Oneida.
Pitchfork: So she'll still be part of the family?
Webb: For sure, it's just that everyone's moving in different directions now. We'll all be in contact, I imagine, but I guess all things must pass.
Pitchfork: What's it mean for the future of the Constantines? Are you going to have to search for another Canadian label?
Webb: Because this record's coming out on Three Gut, we've just been focusing on that. When we start thinking about making another record, we'll start looking for someone else. We haven't really given it too much thought; we don't want to start shopping for a label while all this is going on. We're kind of an organic band. We let decisions make themselves, usually.
Pitchfork: Well, you've gotten more attention since Shine a Light, do you think it's time to look for something larger?
Webb: I don't know. I would love to just work with people on this level forever. It's a lot more comfortable for me, and a lot less stressful. The people that I know who have gone on to bigger labels, it still doesn't seem that inviting. It would take something pretty special to get a unique situation to inspire that decision, I think.
Pitchfork: But Sub Pop has worked out for you so far, right?
Webb: Yeah, for sure. They're a good bunch of people. They're really nice, and the bands that they're working with now on that label are pretty inspiring. At the same time we just sort of deal...we feel as important as all the bands on that label. It wouldn't be like that if we were signed to, whatever--
Pitchfork: Yeah, Warner or something. You would be last priority.
Webb: Exactly.
Pitchfork: You were opening for Foo Fighters earlier this year, right?
Webb: Yeah we just got back from that. We did five dates
Pitchfork: Generally, what was that like, playing to the huge crowds?
Webb: Very surreal. It was definitely the strangest tour we've ever done. It was really fast. Everything was so rigid, as far as [the way] the evening was played out. We would be on, we didn't really do a soundcheck other than the first night, all of the boards were automated, so everything was set, we just went out, played for a half hour, and got off. We worked out a set that was exactly a half hour, we didn't change our set from night to night, it was kind of getting out and playing and then loading out right after we were done, and it was still light out. Just very, very different. The crowds were cool--
Pitchfork: Can you get any sense of crowd reaction when you're playing an arena?
Webb: There weren't any "boos"...there was clapping.
Pitchfork: Clapping is good.
Webb: Yeah. We were the first of three bands-- Sloan were second-- so we played to half capacity basically, but it was still one of the biggest shows we we've played. It was cool to play in that context. We're always up for playing in a new space; it was a new way to hear the music.
Pitchfork: How do you think you guys sounded? Were there moments when you felt like, "Yeah, maybe we do belong here?"
Webb: I think it translated all right. We definitely rip off a lot of arena-rock bands, like Crazy Horse and the Who and stuff like that, so it works pretty well in that setting. We also had a guy named Cam who was an amazing sound guy, and offered to come on the road with us for really cheap. He did an amazing job, so that was lucky I think if we'd gone in there without anybody on our side, in terms of sound, it would have gone off a lot worse.
Pitchfork: So you got lucky.
Webb: Yeah. I think you have to have a pretty good understanding of that space to make things sound coherent.
Pitchfork: Did you get to meet either Foo Fighters or Sloan?
Webb: Yeah, we sort of know the Sloan guys. They're [in] Toronto now, and they're good guys. The Foo Fighters are really nice as well. I didn't meet the drummer, but everybody else was really nice. Dave Grohl came to our dressing room before our first show, he was just hanging out. They're good guys, no pretension at all.
Pitchfork: How long have you guys been in Toronto now?
Webb: Almost three years.
Pitchfork: But that wasn't where you started, correct?
Webb: No, when we started the band we were all living in different cities in Southwestern Ontario, sort of a couple hours apart. Eventually we all lived in Guelph, Ontario, which is sort of a college hippie town. We lived there for a couple years in a house together, and then lived in Toronto gradually over the last four years.
Pitchfork: How did you all meet?
Webb: Just through rental hall shows and basement shows in Ontario, around Guelph. [There's] sort of tri-city in between Detroit and Toronto, there's all these little cities, and there was a great punk scene, people putting on shows, so we knew each other from playing with each other's old bands.
Pitchfork: So you were all in other bands before the Constantines?
Webb: Yeah, just punk bands. We'd done a few tours, each of us, but it wasn't really making a living as a band.
Pitchfork: What college is that in Guelph?
Webb: University of Guelph. Steven [Lambke; guitars and vocals] went to that school, and I did a term there. Doug [McGregor; drums] actually went to University of Waterloo for inorganic chemistry.
Pitchfork: Do the members of the band still have full-time jobs?
Webb: Actually, this is the first year I've just done the band. We're not really living it up, but it's been kinda nice. We got to a point with working a certain type of job, where I figured if I could not have a boss, I'd try and do that for as long as possible.
Pitchfork: What were you doing before you quit?
Webb: I worked at a few bookstores and worked at a warehouse that shipped CDs and vinyl, a music distributor in Toronto that sent stuff from smaller labels to record stores across Canada. It was all right, it was like shipping and receiving, you know?
Pitchfork: Yeah, not too exciting, but still sort of involved with music.
Webb: Yeah. It was a decent job.
Pitchfork: Would you have to take vacations every time you wanted to record or tour?
Webb: The good thing about that is that there's this place called Outside Music, and they distribute our records. We were kind of working for them if we were on tour, in a way. They were pretty much cool with us going away.
Pitchfork: But things are going all right now that you're full-time?
Webb: Yeah, yeah, as long as we're touring, it's fine. My rent's pretty cheap.
Pitchfork: How long did you spend recording?
Webb: Like, three weeks, [including] mastering and mixing and all that.
Pitchfork: That's not very long. I remember when I saw you last, you had "Love in Fear" already. Did you get to road test all these songs beforehand?
Webb: Pretty much. There was maybe one song we hadn't played live, and put it together in studio--
Pitchfork: Which song?
Webb: "Lizaveta".
Pitchfork: Is that you or Steve singing that song?
Webb: It's me.
Pitchfork: You do a lot of different things with your voice on this album. Have you consciously tried to change your approach when you're singing?
Webb: I'm just trying to sing a bit better [laughs]. Put a bit more melody into the singing. I got to the point where I didn't want to be yelling all the time.
Pitchfork: About the title of the record: I was listening to the song "Soon Enough", I caught what I thought was the [titular line]: "It's a tournament of hearts/ Somebody's got to lose," and I thought, "Oh, that's nice." But then I looked it up, and it turns out that's the name of a curling tournament?
Webb: Yeah.
Pitchfork: You've talked about curling in several interviews, in Pitchfork and elsewhere...
Webb: [chuckles] Well, the hockey strike was on, and we got into watching women's curling. The national women's curling tournament is the Tournament of Hearts. It's actually a pretty amazing sport, and we just kind of all fell in love with the leader of the women's Ontario team, she's a really of charismatic and awesome person. We were watching that a lot while we were recording.
Pitchfork: Do you know her?
Webb: Uh, we don't know her. But we invited her and her sister, who's also on the team, to our show in Ottawa, where they're from. I don't think they actually showed up. They said they were gonna come...
Pitchfork: Are there any other non-musical influences coming through when you sat down to write this album?
Webb: I kind of got into this woman [author] named Starhawk, who's kind of an eco-spiritualist. I don't fully understand what she's talking about, but still, she has a pretty interesting angle on the modern world. She's written some fiction, but she's also written books on, like, Wicca spirituality. She's an eco-activist as well, and [the book] is all about the feminine side of one's personality and how that can relate to the state of the world.
Pitchfork: Wow.
Web: It sounds very corny, but she's a pretty interesting person. The first song on the record is sort of all about her.
Pitchfork: Were you always an ecologist?
Webb: No. I'm just starting to get into that kind of thinking. I've also not been in a stable home sort of situation for about year.
Pitchfork: So it's something to think about when you're more stationary.
Webb: Exactly. So I haven't really been able to set up an eco-friendly lifestyle, you know what I mean? It's been frustrating, I'm hoping at some point I can move into that sort of thing. Just live on a lake, that's kinda the...[laughs self-consciously]
Pitchfork: That's the direction you want to go, when you're done being in a rock band?
Webb: Well, even while. It'd be nice to have a quiet place that's surrounded by trees, rather than not being able to see the horizon. Whereas being on a lake in Toronto that you could swim in, it would be cool.
Pitchfork: Let's talk about the record a little more. You had the chance to work on these songs on the road head of time, but the approach is a little different, a little calmer, and songs like "Love in Fear" and "Hotline Operator" almost have an improvisational feel. What was the recording like?
Webb: Actually [most of] the songs were totally structured before we went in. The structure for a lot of them is pretty simple. After touring a lot on the last record, we wanted to have these songs that could have a life after their recorded state.
Pitchfork: You mean to tweak them more onstage?
Webb: Yeah...We have this Neil Young cover that we do that sometimes, it's all Crazy Horse stuff basically. Playing that stuff teaches you that the simpler the song structure is, the freer the song is to grow and have its own life.
Pitchfork: Are all the members [of the Constantines] in the cover band?
Webb: Everyone except Doug. Although we just recorded some Neil covers for a split we're gonna do with his band the Unintended.
Pitchfork: What did you cover?
Webb: We did "Don't Cry No Tears", "Transformer Man", "Don't Be Denied", "Fuckin' Up" from Ragged Glory, and "Shots" from Re-ac-tor, which is probably the only good song on that LP. It's a great song, though.
Pitchfork: Do you have a favorite Neil album?
Webb: It's weird lately; the great thing about him is that you can go to him in different states of mind and appreciate different albums. I don't know, Comes a Time, maybe? And I love Ragged Glory, I think it's one of the most amazing comeback records...
Pitchfork: Really? It's not bad, but I'm surprised you're crazy about that one.
Webb: Oh, I love that record. I also have some pretty great memories tied to that record. And Tonight's the Night, for sure. There's lots of them. I love Greendale, too. It's a very strange record. I saw that tour.
Pitchfork: Do you ever see yourself shaking up the Constantines like that, trying your hand at a more acoustic record?
Webb: Maybe. We talked about trying to do a stripped-down thing and getting into the folk festivals, because those are pretty sweet. I just kind of like that scene. People taking their kids to shows, that's a nice thing.
Pitchfork: Partying in the grass.
Webb: Yeah, with the hippies. We love the hippies.
Pitchfork: Hey, I thought you guys were punk rockers...
Webb: No, we're hippies. We're somewhere in there.
Pitchfork: I'm printing this, you know. Are you prepared to go on the record as hippies?
Webb: I'm not gonna deny it.
Pitchfork: So, is the split coming out under the Constantines' name, or is there a name for the cover band?
Webb: It'll be under the Constantines. But the name of the band is Horsey Craze--
Pitchfork: That's original.
Webb: Yeah, it sounded exactly like what the band was, just a silly drunken idea that came up one night.
Pitchfork: So Horsey Craze has only played around Toronto?
Webb: Yeah. We did one show in Montreal as well, opening for Oneida, but we're mostly keeping it small.
Pitchfork: Speaking of Oneida, wasn't Fat Bobby part of the recording process of Tournament of Hearts?
Webb: Yeah, he was there for the whole initial recording. Unfortunately, he couldn't be there for the mixing. He was incredible, a great force in the studio. It's all positive, he's very organized, and he has tons of ideas. He just holds back from telling us the performance was not what it could be.
Pitchfork: Was he producer?
Webb: Not really, he didn't want to be listed as such, and he wasn't there for the mixing so it's kind of hard to say. He was definitely a big influence on the recording and some of the sounds we got.
Pitchfork: Did he perform on any songs?
Webb: No, no.
Pitchfork: Was there a formal producer?
Webb: There was a producer, a guy named Jeff McMurrich, he engineered the whole thing, and he's incredible too. He's been in Toronto for years, and we recorded in a studio called Halla Music that's been around for years, it's just a big warehouse. He knew the room really well. He's an old hippie as well, so it worked out nice.
Pitchfork: Was there any pressure to build on the success of Shine a Light?
Webb: Well, we want people to like it, as much or more. I know it was in my head when we writing songs and working out stuff. It's just part of developing as a band; hopefully you don't write a good record and don't forget how to write good songs. We learned a lot while writing Shine a Light, and we've learned more since then, listened to more music...
Pitchfork: When you're writing, are you looking back through your old records for inspiration, or are there any recent trends you're reacting to?
Webb: Well, while we were recording, we were listening to stuff that had nothing to do with what we were doing.
Pitchfork: So it's more like an escape.
Webb: Yeah, a relief. [Stuff] like Gordon Lightfoot. The great thing about Halla Music is that Pete Hudson, the guy who owns it, he's been in the Toronto scene for many years, he has a great record collection and all or most of it is at the studio. So we were just breaking out a lot of his records at times, like some great, old Pere Ubu records...
Pitchfork: I can't imagine getting any work done in that environment, I'd just pull records out all day.
Webb: It was tempting, for sure.
Pitchfork: How does the songwriting work? Does Steve bring in songs, then you do, or do you work them out amongst the band?
Webb: Sometimes Steve and I will bring in a song that's pretty much structured, lyrics already written. "Windy Road" was like that, and "Draw Us Lines" was like that. Those are usually the more simple songs. The more complicated ones, structurally, are the ones we all kind of write together. We don't really have a template for writing yet, every song just comes around.
Pitchfork: So "Working Fulltime", is that more about previous jobs, or being in the band full-time?
Webb: I haven't been working for about a year, and I was trying to come to terms with the nature of what work is. There's a book called "Working" by Studs Terkel. He's amazing, and it's all these kinds of mediations on work, and the nature of it. But I never really try to come up with any answers when I write songs, I'm just trying to get every different angle I can think of.
Pitchfork: The band does kind of project the "working man" image, and a lot of your lyrics are about...I was looking over the lyrics for the first album today, lines like "music for the minions," stuff like that...is that conscious, or is it just coming out from your own experience?
Webb: It's just kind of words that fit. I guess it's part of our experience, but...you can really only put out what you take in. It's part of listening to a lot of music that's based in that state of mind, and it's also from having worked in warehouses. I've never had a professional sort of aspiration--
Pitchfork: I didn't mean to say that it was a calculated image, but even not choosing an image is a choice, sort of.
Webb: Yeah. It's just sort of us and our friends who we're writing songs for.
Pitchfork: What can we expect [in the near future]? Are there any plans for singles, recording more covers or b-sides...?
Webb: I'm not sure how that split with Unintended will be released, but they're doing all Gordon Lightfoot covers and we're doing all Neil covers.
Pitchfork: Oh that'll be awesome, do you know what label it's coming out on?
Webb: It's a small label based out of a Toronto record store called BlueFog. It'll be more of a live-only kind of release. It'll be a split 12".
Pitchfork: Will it be ready for the next tour?
Webb: We'll be in the States in October, we're hoping it'll be ready by then.
Pitchfork: Do you get to pick the bands you tour with?
Webb: Yeah, pretty much. Often times somebody will contact us. We just got offered to tour with Sleater-Kinney for five dates, which is pretty exciting. We're gonna do a tour with the Hold Steady. I haven't seen them, but I like the record a lot. No one ever says, "This is the tour you're doing." We often go out with friends of ours, like Oakley Hall or Oneida, it's nice to have a bigger family on the road.
Pitchfork: Any new covers we can expect when we see you live?
Webb: We've done "Ride On" by AC/DC. We started working on it when we were a about year old as a band, and we couldn't really pull it off, but I think maybe after touring for the last five years, it seems to be going well.
Pitchfork: Do you still do [Lou Reed's] "Temporary Thing?"
Webb: Yeah, we haven't done it in a little while, but we can still do it. We always wanted to record it, but we still haven't.
Pitchfork: You don't have to answer this, but every time I've seen you play it, you do the hands raising-thing...
Webb: Ohhhhh, yeah.
Pitchfork: What is that?
Webb: It just kind of happened one night in Hamilton, just kind of a silly idea in the middle of the song, and it stuck. It works well in some venues, not so well in others.
Pitchfork: You tried it on the Foo Fighters tour?
Webb: Yeah, but it worked a little bit. It was like something visual on stage for the arena, something was happening. There were people in the front who knew our band who were doing it, which was kind of cool.
Pitchfork: A part-of-the-club kind of thing.
Webb: Right.
Pitchfork: Any crazy tour stories from this year?
Webb: It's sort of blurry right now. There's usually like a year delay until I get the memories of the past year's tour.
Pitchfork: Well, anything from last year?
Webb: The Dawson City music festival was amazing last year, it was almost exactly a year ago, Dawson City is up in the Yukon Territory, and it was probably the best week as a band we've ever had. All these people come from all over the territory, and from B.C. and Alaska, it's sort of this one cultural event that happens in that area. Dawson city was just a small, beautiful little town by the Yukon and the Klondike rivers, it's just...immaculate. It's all dirt roads, everybody has a dog, there are no franchises, and it's all old storefronts. Everyone knows everyone in the city, and everyone's friendly and has a silly sense of humor. It was incredible. We hung out there and played the festival, then we stayed and played this small bar called The Pit, near a haunted hotel in the Yukon.
Pitchfork: Haunted Hotel?
Webb: Well Dallas [Wehrle; bass] was just there, when we took a couple months off this year, Dallas lived up there in a shack. It was an old prospector's shack we had found, sort off of the property of some friends we'd met there. Dallas living in a prospector's shack for two months.
Pitchfork: Was there even water there?
Webb: Not running water, no. Luckily it was connected to this lot that our friends had a cabin on, and they had running water.
Pitchfork: So he'd jump in there every couple weeks to take a shower.
Webb: Right, yeah. The artwork for this record, I know was influenced by that experience, living in the Klondike.
