Wunderbar tries on Counterfeit Jeans
Counterfeit Jeans building a real following
Fuzzed-out guitar riffs ricochet off a swell of cymbals and bass thumps. For 123 seconds, the instruments tussle with each other, then make way for Jed Gauthier’s hushed vocals to creep into the room like a stalker.
“Writhing in the ashes,” he rasps as his guitar, Tyler Bedford’s drums and Spencer Heykants’ bass slowly start to explode into another wrestling match before coming to a sudden stop.
This sprawling brawler, appropriately titled Violence, is one of the most unforgettable and spine-tingling songs of 2015. You’ll want, or even need, to play it over and over — to sway and scream along with the rhythm and words until you collapse like an exhausted WWE star in a pool of your own sweat.
Violence is only one of the reasons why Gauthier, Bedford and Heykants — better known as Counterfeit Jeans — are being touted as Edmonton’s best new band by venue bookers, musicians, fans and writers. You’ll find the other three reasons on the trio’s EP, Demos, an intricate mix of ’90s shoegaze, math-rock and grunge, now available on cassette and counterfeit jeans. bandcamp.com.
Filthy, a see-sawing number, was actually the catalyst for the stitching together of Counterfeit Jeans. (Plus, an episode of the Simpsons.) Gauthier initially wrote the song for his other band with Heykants, The Sorels, but it didn’t quite fit their sound.
“I probably came up with it just sitting around in my underwear. That’s how most songs begin when I write them,” laughs Gauthier.
“It’s such a busy riff, so we didn’t really knew what to do with in The Sorels, but I still really liked it ...”
“... And I was like, ‘I’ve got the perfect guy to play drums,’” adds Heykants.
“Then they found me,” deadpans Bedford.
“We just really had great chemistry, so it all sort of naturally grew from there,” replies Gauthier.
That was last August. After hours and weeks of jamming, Counterfeit Jeans started recording demos of songs — including Heavy Weather, Nothing and Violence, inspired by a bout of sleep paralysis — and testing them out at a handful of gigs at various Whyte Avenue bars.
“I shouldn’t be saying this, but we play shows where some of the songs don’t have lyrics and I count on the fact that the audience can’t understand what I’m saying so they don’t even notice that I’m making up stuff on the spot,” laughs Gauthier. “Basically, I’ve become really good at scatting. As long as it sounds like I’m saying words ... ”
Counterfeit Jeans ended up recording seven songs, four of which made the cut on Demos, mastered by Vancouver’s Rain City Recorders. Despite the thumbsdown drawing on the cover of the EP, Gauthier, Bedford and Heykants have only been getting the thumbs up — earning praise from the likes of Wunderbar/Brixx booker Craig Martell and musician Eamon McGrath.
The trio are now booked to play a bunch of festivals over the next few months, including Calgary’s prestigious Sled Island, and Golden West Music Fest near Ardmore, Alta.
In the new year, Counterfeit Jeans hope to record their first full-length album at Rain City.
“We’re happy that people are responding so well,” says Bedford. “It’s more than we expected.”
“We’re just having fun,” adds Heykants. “That’s the bottom line for the whole thing — just have fun with it. Take it serious, but don’t take it too seriously. There’s no ego in the band or anything.”
He pauses, then laughs. “Not yet.”