GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

The members of Yukon Blonde are making their way across the country as the opening act for Hey Rosetta!, with a synth-heavy new album, On Blonde, that signals a fresh start for the British Columbia rockers. Lynn Saxberg caught up with frontman Jeff Innes.

Q After the last album (2012’s Tiger Talk) and tour, you guys took some personal time before you started writing. How come?

A That's the one question I was hoping you wouldn't ask. We'd just been touring for too long. We got on each other's nerves a little bit. We got together to put things together for a third record, and we were just not interested. The songs weren't that great. We weren't interested in working together on a creative level.

So we took some time off. It was an indefinite break. We didn't know if we would keep playing music. We decided to give it six months of almost nothing. Zero. No little money-making shows. We actually cancelled the insurance on our van and made sure there were no bills for the band.

Q You launched High Ends, a debut solo recording project. What inspired that?

A I was just in Vancouver bored. I didn't know what to do. I was scared the band would never get back together so I made a record. Brandon (Scott, guitar) did the same thing, and then Graham (Jones, drummer) went on tour with Brendan Canning, and recorded with him. I think everybody just needed a bit of freedom to do what they wanted. Then I asked Brandon to come play on High Ends, my solo thing. He came on tour with me and we fell back in love with each other. So we got the band back together, as the Blues Brothers used to say.

Q Did your solo record influence Yukon Blonde?

A For sure. The stuff that we were working on before, none of that saw the light of day. I made my record, and it seems that once I got through this mental hurdle — it's really interesting when you had a support system for many years, and the band as a panel of judges — it was the most frightening thing to have to do it alone. So when I completed the record, I wrote 20 songs immediately after, and then the band waded through everything and rearranged everything. We went in (to the studio) with very loosely structured songs but really strong parts, and then just sort of worked through it. But yes, making my solo record definitely made me feel a little bit more creative.

Q Both the High Ends and On Blonde records use a lot of synthesizers. Where does that come from?

A We were listening to a lot of really seriously '80s sounding bands, like Duran Duran. And I've always been a massive Prince fan. I was just not being inspired by guitar anymore so I was writing a lot on synths.

Q Is it a new direction?

A I don't know. I can't tell if I'm over it right now. I feel like I'm in search of a sound quite similar. This is maybe the first thing we've ever done that we're all really proud of, in terms of the songs and its sonic quality. We're really pumped about it. It's actually now a frightening thing, trying to write songs for the next one. We're in that stage now and so far everything is not as good, and we have to try to make a better record.

Q Meanwhile, you’re on tour with Hey Rosetta. How’s that going?

A Incredible, actually. It's a theatre tour and it's a different fan base. We've always played barnburner shows, loud and fast, and everybody gets really drunk and crowd surfs when we play. This is different. We're playing these massive theatres, and they're so beautiful and full, and everybody is just sitting there watching you. It's so nerve wracking, but it's amazing. I think we're getting the hang of it.

Q You guys performed with Hey Rosetta on Land You Love, the anti-Harper song that (Hey Rosetta’s) Tim Baker wrote. How is it holding up after the election?

A It's amazing playing it. It's so sombre and serious but now that the election has worked out in the song's favour, we can have fun when we're playing it. We can be laughing and smiling on stage, which is awesome.

Q I would say all the new songs sound like they’re fun to play live. Is that the case?

A I'm having the most fun I've ever had playing in this band right now, mostly from playing the songs. They're so much fun. I just feel like we're all so much better. Everybody's got their game face on, everybody's focused 100 per cent.

Q How’s the newest member, bassist James Younger, working out?

A He's a bit of this missing piece. Everybody listens to different kinds of music. but he fits in. His tastes are like all of ours but different. He sees things the way we should do them and pushes to make things better. He's a cool addition to the band.

Q After this tour, you’re going to Europe. What’s next for Yukon Blonde?

A I think we're looking at another Canadian tour in the spring. It might be nice to go back to barn-burners.