Montreal rockers The Stills formed from life-long friends and soon found themselves in New York in the midst of the nu-rock scene of the early 2000s, sharing stages with the likes of Interpol and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They have earned much acclaim for their latest album Oceans Will Rise and are heading down under as the invited guests of long-time buddies Kings of Leon.
yourGigs (YG): Are you excited about heading to Australia? Do you know what to expect?
Dave Hamelin (DH): Yeah, we're all pretty excited; none of us have been before. I'm expecting poisonous spiders and kangaroos boxing in the streets and all that kind of stuff. My idea of Australia is that it's just like Canada but with lots of dangerous animals and lots of predators, the biodiversity is a lot different there to here. We seem to share the fact we are both old British colonies and enjoy a lot of drinking and have an easygoing nature.
YG: The band did get together when you were all quite young - how does that affect things on the road? Do you all grate on each other sometimes because of that or does it help you all know each other so well?
DH: We know each other so well that the insults fly pretty freely, but we also are pretty good at getting over things - you have to be if you are working in those tight quarters all the time. Your tolerance for other people has to go up, even though it goes down.
It's like a family or boyfriend and girlfriend - you've been together so long you just have to become a better compromiser and learn how to be a better human being; and it works in the end, we've been doing okay.
YG: Does that closeness help when getting songs together?
DH: Songs come together for so many different reasons, [and] songs in general are snapshots of whoever is writing them and their life at that particular time. It's never only just one thing; there's always a cross section of variables that go into any song coming about. It's too complicated to pinpoint.
When we record an album usually there's a couple of tracks where you go, "Alright, well the record should be kind of like these songs, let's get this sort of direction going." So there's usually a couple of "statement tracks" for your record where we thing this is the sort of vibe and this is the aesthetic we think might work for this record and we might start going down that road.
YG: Has your new label Arts & Crafts been a good fit and helpful for the band?
DH: It has, especially in Canada. We kind of have been... not ignored, but the Canadian music industry had always set us aside because we had been on an American label for so long.
This is our first album with Arts & Crafts and we've been nominated for two Juno awards, which is like the Canadian Grammys, and one of them for Best New Group, so they've done a lot for us in Canada. They're a really great label actually, it's really cool to be on a small label with so many cool acts.
YG: Did the early attentions The Stills got come with a lot of expectations from people?
DH: It's hard to say; a lot of people thought a lot of different things about us. I think we've definitely not played into everybody's expectations of us, and we're happy about that - that's what we didn't want to do. We didn't want to be pigeonholed, and we came out of these 80s Joy Division bands, and we weren't really into that. I'm glad at this juncture now that no one sees us as an 80s revival band.
YG: You are touring Australia with the Kings of Leon. You've toured with them on a number of occasions - has it been interesting to see how their and your bands have progressed over time?
DH: It's crazy - we toured America with them two or three years ago and they could pretty much walk down the street anywhere and no one would know who they were - and now I don't think that would be the case. They would be mobbed, they are absolutely huge now. All of us are so happy for them and it couldn't happen to a better bunch of dudes. We are proud of them. I'm really, really happy for them. I'm not really happy for anyone, but I'm happy for them - they actually deserve it and they are really, really cool guys and they work really hard.
YG: Do you think playing to their crowd suits you?
DH: Maybe, but we are not necessarily doing it for that reason. We're not doing this to sell records, we're doing this because they asked us to come on the tour and we like going out on the road with them and cause they're buddies of ours. We're not doing it for any other reason except of course we want to come to Australia with the Kings of Leon and have a great time and drink wine and stuff like that! We're not doing it for a career opportunity.
YG: When you started out was it your dream to tour the world and play music?
DH: Of course, I think it is [every band's dream]. You make the most of it. I remember there was one moment where we played Coachella a few years ago ... and me and the drummer were riding around on a golf cart after the festival was over and were just rolling around looking at all the people partying and it just was a really magical and surreal kind of moment, and that's when I realised, "Ok, this is pretty special and what we are doing is really awesome and this is really a singular opportunity." I think it was at that moment that I thought I was really lucky to be doing this.
YG: How was the Quebec Anniversary Concert experience playing with Paul McCartney?
DH: Yeah that was a lifetime kind of moment, meeting him was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. We're all pretty big Beatles and Paul McCartney fans and it was just crazy - you never think "oh I'm just going to start a band and write a bunch of tunes" and when you are having a hard time you don't ever think one day I'm going to get to play and meet with Paul McCartney ... it's a pretty surreal thing, when you start from nothing ... and to end up there is a lot of fun, it's pretty f***ed up.
The Stills play the Rock-It festival in Western Australia on March 8 and support the Kings of Leon at all Australian shows. Oceans Will Rise is available through Shock.
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