LACK OF COHERENCY COMES TO AN END
Regina band returns after long absence with a new member, a new album and a show
When it came to naming its new album, Coherency decided to do something out of the norm.
Rather than use the title track method, the Regina alternative rock band branded the record with a specific phrase from one of the 14 tracks on the album. That’s how Cognitive Dissonance came to be.
“We had a list of names and we were trying to pick one that would fit the best and Cognitive Dissonance was a natural fit given all the themes of the album,” explained Justin Mrazek, the bassist for Coherency. “This summarizes the host of songs and how they mesh together. There were a few names that would’ve worked but everyone agreed this was best fitting.”
The phrase fits the content of the album but it’s a label that forces people to think — after all, how many people actually know what cognitive dissonance really means?
The literal meaning is rather straightforward: “The state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioural decisions and attitude changes.”
That sounds like something Mrazek and bandmates Brenden Claypool (guitar/vocals), Eric Kristjansson (guitar) and Chris Sawcyn (drums) might have to explain over the coming months.
“Yes, I don’t know if we even really know what it means,” Claypool said with the chuckle. “I’m assuming we’ll have to explain that going forward quite a bit.”
The band, which combines rock, grunge and punk into its alternative sound, hosts a CD release party on June 16 at The Club with special guests Ghost Notes. The album was recorded in Regina by Claypool and Mrazek with the mixing done by Caine Lee at the Red Lion Audio Studios in Orlando, Fla.
Reaching this point is a surprising milestone for the band given that it went on hiatus seven years ago. The break wasn’t forced by anything within the band, like disagreements over content or style. Rather the hiatus came about naturally as life happened for the band members.
“It was never planned. Pretty much everybody had kids and we just fell out of it,” said Claypool.
So what motivated the band to return to writing, recording and playing?
“The weird thing was getting back into it was an accident,” said Claypool. “We always wanted to play but never really had a driver to do it because everyone had young kids and stuff. So I happened to be renewing our domain name and thought that I should also check our old email address and it just so happened that the day before, a band out of Winnipeg had sent us an email. We never get emails from anyone on that account yet there it was, ‘Hey, do you want to play?’
“That sounded awesome so I put the word out and our bass player, who has three kids, couldn’t make it, so I knew Justin and asked him if he’d be interested in playing this show with us. He was all in and that kicked off everything.”
Cognitive Dissonance follows Shades of Aura, an EP released on Dec. 1, 2010. There is a recognizable difference in the sound of the two albums and one might wonder how that difference came to be.
“There’s definitely a different sound with the new record,” said Claypool. “We took a bit of a different approach. Some of the material is from back in that era but they solidified over the years. And with Justin coming, he brought some songs with him that really fit that kind of sound.
“I don’t know if we could’ve done this album ( before the hiatus) and I don’t know if we’d have been as excited about as we are now. We’ve kind of been let out of the cage, as it were,” he added with a laugh.
Although Mrazek is a recent addition to the band, he has been friends with Claypool, Sawcyn and Kristjansson for years. In the past they meet once or twice a year to jam so when Mrazek got the opportunity to join the band, he knew what he was getting into.
He also knew that he had a load of material that fit into what Coherency was doing.
“I knew a lot of the songs that I had fit the sound they were looking for. I had a collection I’d been writing over the years and I hand-picked some that I thought would really fit that sound,” said Mrazek. “I remember the first time we jammed one of my songs and I thought it sounded awesome. You play it on its own and it sounds OK but playing it with the full band and developing it and honing it in a little more, it was awesome.”
“It wasn’t too long afterward when I told him, ‘These were your songs but now they’re Coherency songs.’ And now they’re on the record so that makes them Coherency songs,” Claypool said.