QUESTIONNAIRE
Islands’ Nick Thorburn
SINCE LEADING MONTREAL’S MID-AUGHTS INDIE ROCK GOLD
EN AGE AS A MEMBER OF SHORT-LIVED but still-beloved trio the Unicorns, Nick Thorburn has enjoyed a lengthy, multifaceted career as the bandleader of Islands; as a member of Th’ Corn Gangg, Reefer, Human Highway and Mister Heavenly; and as Nick Diamonds. He’s also worked as a graphic novelist and composer, having written the theme song for true crime podcast Serial.
Thorburn is so prolific, it wasn’t until Islands had announced their eighth album Islomania, due for release on June 11 via Royal Mountain Records, that they revealed that they had quietly (and temporarily) broken up after releasing two albums in 2016. We never knew they were gone, but we’re nevertheless glad they’re back.
What are you up to?
Warming up the engines for the release of Islands’ eighth album, Islomania, on June 11, doing the last bit of recording for the follow-up, writing the last batch of songs for the follow-up to that one, and putting the finishing touches on the record for a new project I started with Mike Stroud from Ratatat called The Creem that is very, very good — if I do say so myself.
What are your current fixations? Putting coconut water in my iced coffee instead of water. In 2019, I discovered this place in Toronto called Ella’s Uncle that had it on the menu and I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s such an obvious idea, but I’ve never seen it offered anywhere else!
What has been your most memorable or inspirational concert (one you played or attended) and why? Seeing Anti-Pop Consortium in 2000 in Montreal. They stood in a triangle formation, they each had an MPC and were triggering every sound live, all while rapping! They looked like a coven of witches! Hadn’t seen it before and haven’t seen it since. It totally reorganized in my brain what performing live could be.
What’s been the greatest moment of your career so far?
In January 2004, the Unicorns bought a van the morning before heading out on tour. Five hours later, the van died on the side of the road. We rode a tow truck for an hour to the first stop on the tour, the Middle East in Boston. We arrived at the venue, which had an upstairs and a downstairs room, and saw a giant line snaking around the block. I was dismayed that we were competing with a bigger band. When I asked a guy who he was waiting in line to see and he answered “the Unicorns,” I realized we might have something good on our hands.
What’s been the worst moment of your career so far?
Where do I begin! Islands played in Freiburg, Germany in 2008 and during the last minute of our last song, “Swans,” I decided to get up on the guitarist Patrick Gregoire’s shoulders to rip a little solo. Immediately, I came crashing down over his shoulders and landed on the shards of a beer bottle that he’d broken only minutes beforehand. I sliced the side of my hand open real good. I just stared at it in disbelief as the wound opened like a mouth. It looked like it was gasping for air! The band, unaware, kept playing, so I did as well. I thought it might look good, playing guitar with all the blood pouring out — and then I got really, really dizzy. I threw the guitar off and pushed my way through the crowd to the bar in the next room and held my hand up and said “ambulance?” and right away an ambulance came and a guy named Dr. Hammer rode with me to the hospital and told me all about some kind of German underground techno that he loved. He stitched me up real good and I went straight back to the venue, which had since turned into a dance party, and I tore it up on the dance floor waving my big old bandaged hand. I would say it was a great rock and roll moment, except I’ve never fully regained feeling in that part of my hand.
What’s the meanest thing anyone has ever said about your art?
I was excited when Islomania was announced and was curious what people thought of the new single. Big mistake. I came across a Reddit thread about [lead single] “( We Like To) Do It with the Lights On” and someone said it sounded like “Bloodhound Gang and late-era Weezer,” and now I will think about that comment for the rest of my life.
What has been your strangest celebrity encounter?
In 2009, I was getting on a small plane from NYC to Toronto and realized I was sharing the flight with the guy who had just been ousted from Barenaked Ladies. I immediately felt this overwhelming sense of dread that the flight was cursed, the plane would crash, and that my name would be forever linked to Barenaked Ladies. I did not board the plane.
Who would be your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would you serve them? Comedian and Brutal Knights singer Nick Flanagan, and I’d serve him flan, again.
What do you fear most? The end.