Alvvays - An obsession called C86

Interview conducted at the famous Scala venue in King’s Cross, shortly before the first sold-out European date in the Canadian band's history.

Hi guys, how's it going?

Molly: Hi, everything's fine.

Alec: All good.

How have you found London? Have you had any time to enjoy the city?

Molly: Good, but we arrived today, so we haven't seen anything yet, also because we don't have any friends here. Maybe we'll manage to see something tomorrow.

Ah, so you'll be here tomorrow too, good.  How much has your homeland, a Canada that's been fundamental to music worldwide over the last decade, shaped your choices and your formation?

Alec:  Toronto is like a kind of halfway point between the United States and Britain, a broad crossroads between these two pop spheres. We come from a very small place, you know what I mean, a little town, but that doesn't mean we play esoteric stuff or some super-cerebral microgenre. We grew up with the pop music our parents listened to, and that's where our musical choices started from, that's how what we play was born.

Now though you're based in Toronto, what's the city's music scene like?

Alec: The Toronto scene is bubbling, full of good bands, for instance Moon King, who are accompanying us on this tour around Europe. Before coming here, on the other hand, on our last dates in America, we were joined by another great band from the city, Absolutely Free. All in all, it's a really eclectic scene, one that knows no barriers. Just think, we even crossed Canada with Fucked Up, who as you know play hardcore, and yet we got along great together, it felt natural, with nobody trying to dominate.

Let's talk about England and C86. It's well known that this compilation is a cornerstone among your influences, but you're all quite young — so how did you come across it? What does it really mean to you?

Alec: Yes, that tape was a choice for us, an inspiration.

These days you're touring the UK — what does it feel like to play the places from that famous tape?

Alec: It's really nice to play here, in particular it was very enjoyable to play Glasgow, we were there three or four nights ago — that's where the Pastels are from, right? A band we're really attached to. But we also really like Primal Scream, especially their early recordings.

And what do you think of Primal Scream's more recent output? They changed their style a lot after “XTRMNTR”, right?

Alec: Yes, we definitely like Primal Scream's later work, and the Pastels' too, but either way we weren't really influenced by Primal Scream so much as by the more peripheral bands on C86. Oh, and we also took a lot from the Stone Roses — honestly, a huge amount of stuff influenced us. And plenty of other bands too, the Stone Roses themselves, Blur or Oasis, you know, all the britpop bands struck a chord with us. And certainly the Smiths. And twee pop. Anyway, it's always great to play here, we've already been here four or five times now.

Your songs are, with due irony, populated by love affairs gone wrong, people to leave behind, and so on. Are your love lives really such a mess?

Molly: Oh, no, come on... (laughs) They're just dramatic scenarios that come out of my head, that's the only place they come from.

Is Archie also a made-up character?

Molly: (laughs again) Yes, him too.

Last year your debut LP ended up on best-of lists on webzines all over the world, and you'll also be supporting the Decemberists on their American tour. Did you expect all this success?

Alec: No, obviously we didn't expect it. A band like us never really expects that kind of success, so as not to get our hopes up. But then when people start coming out to see you, it makes you happy. And, you know, not expecting success makes it a really pleasant surprise.

Moon King, your support band on this European tour, are pretty much a new discovery for me — tell me something about them. How did they end up opening for you?

Molly: A few years ago we were on tour with another band, with Daniel (the singer of Moon King) playing drums and Maddy (the guitarist).

So you're really close with them, then.

Molly: Yes, exactly.

I actually listened to one of their tracks just yesterday, “Roswell,” it’s fantastic.

Molly: Yeah, Roswell is a really beautiful track.

Alec: Their old band was called Spiral Beach, back when they were seventeen or eighteen. The singer was Airick, Daniel's brother, who now goes by Doldrums and is a highly regarded electronic artist in Toronto.

In about ten days you'll be playing in Milan, Italy. Is it your first time in my country?

Alec: It's my first time in Milan, but Molly's already been there. A backpacking trip with her brother.

Molly: Yeah, that's right, for about a month.

Did you only visit Milan or did you see other places too?

Molly: We were in Milan itself, a bit around the outskirts, and then in Rome, but we didn't manage to get to some other places we would have liked to see, like Tuscany and Sicily.

Do you want to say something to the Italian fans who'll be reading this interview?

Alec: In Toronto I live really close to Little Italy, but I still don't know enough Italian to speak to the fans directly (laughs), though I'll definitely try to say something to them during the show.

Molly: I worked for a few months at a pizzeria, it was a really nice place, the pizza was good, we made pizza and oil...

Careful, I'm from Naples and I might have to correct you on how to make a real pizza, you need basil, tomato, mozzarella

Molly: (laughs) But the place where I worked wasn't really a pizzeria, it was more of a “pizza spuntini.”

So a takeaway pizzeria then, in Italy we call it “pizza al taglio.”

Molly: Yeah, I think so, and anyway it was very different from the pizza I found in Milan.

Ok guys, the interview's over, good luck with the show. See you soon, thanks so much.

Molly: Thank you.

Alec: See you later.

(London, 28/01/2015)

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