!earshot Top 200 of 2021

An Interview With Of Montreal

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Of MontrealIt is no secret to those who know me, or those who read my column religiously every month, that I LOVE Of Montreal. Last year, Satanic Panic In The Attic was my #1 Album of 2004, and this year I expect that The Sunlandic Twins will take the same spot for 2005. So, it was with absolute pleasure that I was able to do this interview with the Of Montreal mastermind, Kevin Barnes�

!Bryndis: The Sunlandic Twins is doing very well in Canada, debuting at #7 nationally on our !earshot chart for the month of May. I'm wondering if you know how well it's doing in the States, or if how the album charts is something you even care about?

Kevin: No, it is doing really well actually. On the college charts it's number three, that's where it peaked, and it's been in the top ten for two months.

!Bryndis: Yeah, it just debuted with us in Canada , it went from nothing to number seven and I'm sure it will go even higher than that.

Kevin: That's awesome!

!Bryndis: You were one of only three non-Canadian artists in the top ten, which may have something to do with our CanCon thing here. Are you aware of the Canadian Content rule?

Kevin: No.

!Bryndis: We have something known as CanCon here in Canada , which means that programmers have to play around 35%, or more, Canadian artists. For commercial radio, that means there is a lot of Avril Lavigne and Celine Dion, but it also works in the favour of more indie bands. Do you have any favourite Canadian bands?

Kevin: Oh yeah, there's a lot. I like Arcade Fire, The Unicorns, um�let's see, who else? I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them right now.

!Bryndis: What are you listening to right now? What's inspiring you to create at the moment?

Kevin: Well, guys like Brian Eno, and Queen, David Bowie, and�Talking Heads, Prince. Even some seventies afro-beat stuff, like Fela Kuti.

!Bryndis: It's funny that you mention Queen. I was listening to Satanic Panic In The Attic this morning and Queen popped into my head.

Kevin: Oh yeah, their sort of vocal acrobatic stuff, I'm really influenced by that.

!Bryndis: Some of my friends just got back from seeing you perform in Seattle.

Kevin: Oh cool!

!Bryndis: One of them commented that it was one of the best live shows he's seen. They were actually on their way to the Sasquatch Music Festival the next day. What I want to know is why did you decide not to just hop over the border and play Vancouver?

Kevin: Well, I guess just because it's such a long drive north, and then you just have to drive back south. I mean, I guess I really just don't know how far away it is from Seattle , I don't know, do you know?

!Bryndis: I think it's about three hours.

Kevin: Oh, it's only three hours, ok. We probably should have done that. (laughter)

!Bryndis: (laughter)

Kevin: We played Vancouver once, but it was like early on, so nobody knew who we were.

!Bryndis: So you're not just banned from Vancouver, sort of like Madonna was.

Kevin: (laughter) Yeah.

(!Bryndis: I really thought there was a big kafuffle about Madonna being banned from Vancouver with her Blonde Ambition tour, but I couldn't find anything about it after the interview. So my apologies to Madonna, but she was banned in so many other locales that it still seems like an appropriate comment.)

!Bryndis: That's good. All right, well next time.

Kevin: Yeah yeah, I think we'll definitely try to do it next time.

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