Young Liars Tell the Truth
Nothing Stops These Vancouver Dance-Rockers!
I almost met the Young Liars when they were scheduled to open for Rich Aucoin at the Media Club. Life got in the way of the Young Liars' soundcheck, but as you will read below, nothing gets in the way of a Young Liars show! Young Liars recently released their debut EP Homesick Future.
Here is my chat with Vancouver’s favourite dance rockers.
Scott Wood: Who are Young Liars? And how did you come together?
Andrew & Angelo: We are Jordan Raine, Angelo Ismirnioglou, Wesley Nickel, Andrew Beck and Tyler Badali.
Jordan, Andrew and Ty were in a band together whose lead singer quit. Jordan became the frontman by default. We found Angelo on craigslist and forced him to come out to the boonies of Vancouver because that's where we were practicing at the time. About six months later, Angelo brought Wes to jam because we thought he might know how to play keyboard.
Scott Wood: You guys said you found Angelo on craigslist. Can you talk about some of the most memorable other people that responded to the craiglist ad? Runner ups? Whack jobs? Eccentrics?
Andrew & Angelo: Angelo was one of the only people who we got in touch with. We were pretty specific with who we were looking for. Although we did get some world music folk guitarist who wanted to join, that would have been weird.
Scott Wood: Great band name. Is it from the TV on the Radio release? The graphic novel? From your lives?
Andrew & Angelo: It's the graphic novel. Not our favourite graphic novel, but the name was very cool. We also really like TV on the Radio, but we (Angelo and I) are big comic nuts.
I think this might be a paradoxical no matter what we say. We don't lie that much? 
Scott Wood: Part of me fears that asking questions to a band with your name might be futile, if I want factual answers. Can you reassure me?
Andrew & Angelo: I think this might be a paradoxical no matter what we say. We don't lie that much?
Scott Wood: When was the last time you guys got busted telling a big lie?
Andrew & Angelo: Angelo claimed he was Johnny Depp's stunt double once. We're not sure how sober he was at the time. No one knows who Andrew really is. He's been leading a double life forever.
Scott Wood: I twitter stalked you guys the other day. You said this about Ty from the band” "Ty needs a Facebook poking intervention." What type of intervention do your other members need?
Andrew & Angelo: Andrew needs a learn-to-talk-quieter intervention. Angelo needs a learn-to-enunciate intervention. Ty needs the aforementioned Facebook poking intervention. Wes needs a stop-having-Skrillex-hair intervention (that, or we need to start making brostep). Jordan needs to stop having car accidents. Homesick Future ties to the fact that everyone is constantly hoping for the next moment in their lives to arrive. It seems a little counterintuitive to never be happy with where you are at the time.
Scott Wood: The EP title Homesick Future implies impending times away from home. And not entirely enjoying it.
Andrew & Angelo: Homesick Future came out of a lyric idea Angelo had. The basic idea ties to the fact that everyone is constantly hoping for the next moment in their lives to arrive. When that moment comes, everyone focuses on the past with some kind of blurred nostalgia. It seems a little counterintuitive to never be happy with where you are at the time.
Scott Wood: You guys have come up in the Vancouver music scene with Oh No! Yoko, Teen Daze and We are the CIty. Can say something nice about each of them? And something snide?
Andrew & Angelo: Oh No! Yoko are our bros. They always sleep at our house. They also have keys to our house they've never returned. We'd like our keys back.
Teen Daze is a stalwart friend. He came with us to our worst show ever in Victoria, and when we bailed on that show, he got us on his bill for the same night. He also bears a striking resemblance to Jordan, but is a little shorter (is that snide?).
We Are the City is spectacular live. I (Andrew) got to play with them in front of roughly 15 people in Victoria covering bass for our friends, City of Glass. It was an awesome show and they gave it their all regardless of audience size. I don't think we know enough about them to say anything snide, so we'll just make something up... They ran over my grandma.
No sodomizing mediocrity for us.
Scott Wood: You guys are just starting out. Can you talk about a blunder that a major indie music star has made in their career and how you guys would avoid that?
Andrew & Angelo: I'm not sure it was a blunder, but we probably wouldn't break into an hour long cover of 'My Sharona' just because someone requested it. No sodomizing mediocrity for us.
Scott Wood: Tell me about what it would take to keep you from playing a show? And tell the story of that night!
Andrew & Angelo: We hate to miss shows, so it'll take a lot before we cancel. We recently opened for Rich Aucoin, while he was in the city, and it was probably the closest we've come to cancelling.
The only thing that would stop us from playing is if our backing track tape got eaten by the machine. It's hard to lip sync when your tape is in shambles.
About a week before the show, Jordan's leg began swelling up. He went to a drop-in and the doctor told him he had Achilles tendonitis. A few days later, he was pretty much unable to stand. He went to see his GP doctor and it turned out he had a massive bacteria infection. They had him on IV antibiotics twice a day, but he still couldn't walk the day before the show and he was on crutches up until the minute he got on stage. He was a trooper.
I guess to answer your question the only thing that would stop us from playing is if our backing track tape got eaten by the machine. It's hard to lip sync when your tape is in shambles.
You can find out more about Young Liars at www.youngliars.ca.
Listen to upcoming episodes of the interview show for a full audio interview with the band!
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