Photo Credit: James Fox

Written By: BD Marie Hughes

Derrick Ballard – Lead Vox, Guitar
Ryan Hutcheson – Guitar
Jed Atkinson – Bass
Dan Farrell – Drums, Vox

Gentlemen Husbands has been playing the downtown Toronto indie circuit for a while.  I’ve known “of” them but finally heard them play for the first time at The Elmo in February.  We got together after their Canadian Music Week performance at Clinton’s on Saturday, March 14.2009.

BD:  Gentlemen!  Stellar performance!  Perfect timing for CMW!  Can I get seat on an amp or something to chat?  (laughing)

GH Rick:  Oh yeah, grab a seat!  What a riot!  People were up dancin’, havin’ a good ol’ time!  Feels great to see!

BD:  How important is CMW to you?  Did that come from your invitation to play last year?

GH Rick:  CMW is a pretty exciting time to be in the city.  Yeah, last year we really had no idea what a big deal it was.  Luckily, someone pulled some strings and we got on a great bill at Lee’s Palace.  It was a good time – same with this year!

BD:  You guys have been together for quite some time – 6 years?  Playing rival bands, and now together.  What can you tell us about that process and how you all came together?  And gel together?

GH Jed:  We’re kinda just gellin’ now…

GH Rick:  The boys, Dean, Jegsy and Ryan, have all kinda been in and outta different hardcore bands together since grade 9.  I was always in the background, playin’ my acoustic guitar and ridin’ the free pass to shows!  (everyone laughs)  After a while, they kinda grew out of that scene and wanted to try something different.  So we got together around two years ago to play as Gentlemen Husbands.

BD:  You have played some amazing venues in Toronto:  The Opera House, The Horseshoe, Lee’s Palace, The Reverb, The Elmocombo, The Bovine.  Which rickety old joint is your favourite?  (laughs)  Maybe you better say Clinton’s because I think Sarah Herburger (one of Clinton’s sound engineers) is within earshot!

GH Dan:  Our favourite rickety joint isn’t in Toronto!  It’s at home in Cobourg!  But we really love The Horseshoe here and have also felt quite at home with Gregg at The Bovine!

BD:  You say you’ll play big venues, little venues, bars, basements, even your fans’ living rooms.  What about an elevator shaft?  (deadpan – then everyone laughs)

GH Rick:  Oh fuck, we’d do that in a heartbeat!  (everyone laughs)  The way we see it, the more people you play to, meet and speak with, the more you’re gonna learn.

BD:  Your first demo, “Hill 60” was well received.  You now have a debut EP called, “Something Along The Lines Of;  A Lesson in Unprofessionalism”, which sold at a phenomenal rate in a mere 2 months.  How did recording “Hill 60” prepare you for the EP?  What challenges did you face, if any?  Or what you found different in the process?

GH Ryan:  Well, on “Hill 60”, we kinda thought we wanted to play country and would aim at the CMT market.  We learned that you can’t break rules in a genre before you know the rules of the genre and none of us are country players by any means!  (laughs)

GH Rick:  With “Somethin Along The Lines” we were into a folk rock type vibe.  Banjo and acoustic guitar.  Basically all the songs on that EP began as acoustic strummer type folk songs and were built up from there.  I suppose the biggest challenge was tearin’ the songs apart and puttin’ them back together for a full band.  Now, we’re kind of going in a different direction again, as a 4 piece, which is kinda a more rock ‘n’ roll feel that we all feel suits us a lot better.

BD:  You describe your music as “more than something a little bit country, a little bit rock n roll”.  Now, I’m not going to ask you what are your music influences or what’s your favourite fucking colour, ok?   (laughing)  Rather, what musicians do you admire and why?  I mean, you’ve played with some of the city’s finest bands – Ten Second Epic, Attack in Black, Lucero, Down With Webster, Ill Scarlett, Casey Baker and the Buffalo Sinners – that’s a real genre mix!

GH Jed:  Yeah, for sure, probably because we love, literally, every style of music.  So, naturally, we wanna play with bands outside of our scene.

GH Dan:  Right now… Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson , Baby Dadds, Gene Krupa , Shelly Manne.  Jazz drummers.  But I used to really be into the heavier stuff.

GH Jed:  I dig Jim Croce, Paul Simon, seriously Chronic 2001 (Dre) is one of my favourite albums of all time!

GH Rick:  I’ve been drivin’ around crankin’ Bruce Springsteen – all I can find by him. Generally, I’m listenin’ to lyrics and vocal melodies and phrasing more than the music.

GH Ryan:  I was a huge 80′s metal fan – Winger, Maiden, Malmsteen and so on. Then got really into hardcore and, after high school, I swear, for a year or more, all I listened to was pop!  (laughing)  Huuuuge JT and Usher fan!  Now, I’m really hard into CMT but also like a lot of indie folk stuff – Bon Iver, Ray Lamontagne – that kinda thing.

BD:  You’ve received some radio play – The Star 93.3 fm – you did a live interview and performance with them.  What did you play?  Personally, I’m hooked on “Tapanga”.  (smiles)  What else is happening for Gentlemen Husbands on the radio air waves?

GH Ryan:  We played some more acoustic-based tunes – an old one called “Summertime”.  Then “The Learning” and “19” which are on “Something Along The Lines…”  Lately, we haven’t been pushing too much for radio time.  We get played on CBC radio a bit and, every once in a while, on some college stations.  We really want to hone our songwriting skills and find ourselves, not to mention get some better recordings done – which we’re in the process of right now.  Maybe, in 2010, push a little more in that direction.

BD:  You’re available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, and just about every other digital retailer.  What other ways are you, Gentlemen Husbands, getting your music out there?  What’s in the future?

GH Ryan:  Well, in one word “Free”!

GH Rick:  (laughs)  Yeah, we’ve always liked getting things for free and figured that the rest of the world probably does too!  It’s not about money at this stage.  So we figured that putting it out there for free is, without a doubt, the best way to get heard.  We have a new 3 song EP comin’ out.  We will be givin’ that away at shows and it will be up for free download as soon as it is finished.  Other than that, we’re just trying to promote our shows, keep building a larger fan base and make some friends along the way!

www.myspace.com/GentlemenHusbands

Canadian Music Week is back, with all of the bands performing, we thought we would put together a list of our favorites and MUST SEES for this year.

THURSDAY, MARCH 12th, 2009

AT 8pm – THE SUPERMARKET  Dan Mangan, The Painted Birds, Mani Khaira, We Are The City, Mother Mother – I met Dan Mangan a few years back at CMW while in line waiting for my pass. I had absolutely no idea that this young guy had one of the most soulful voices I’ve ever heard. On top of it, he’s playing with an amazing line-up – Mother Mother and We Are The City who’d miss it? This is probably one of the best CMW line-ups this year.  He’s young, He’s Canadian and He’s Indie go see him – and check out his new EP “Roboteering” released this month.

11PM – BOVINE SEX CLUB  Turbowolf from the UK is our FAV punk rock pick, check out “Seven Severed Heads”  and “Mystery” on their Myspace. They will rip you’re head off and you’ll like it! Really Really good stuff. Although they are followed by a band that makes our ears bleed, literally.

12 AM – BLACK BETTY Another band you need to check out from B.C. is Bend Sinister sweet dynamic pop mixed with arena rock, not the pretentious irritating kind;  we are talking Freddy Mercury vocals and sick guitar riffs.

9PM – 12AM CIRCA  If you’re into hip hop/rap Juno nominee  KID FAMOUSSS, w/ The legendary Naughty By Nature ARE A MUST SEE! The Kid Famous just released his “I RAP NOW” EP not too long ago, and had a recent MTV performance check out the music video for  “Ain’t No Use”

FRIDAY, MARCH 13th, 2009

STARTS AT 8:30 HORSESHOE -  If you want to shake-it indie style the ‘shoe line-ups look great, Handsome Furs, The Bicycles, Black Hat Brigade, Hot Panda from – Mint Recs – Edmonton needs to keep putting that shit out. All Great! You don’t have to go anywhere all night! Handsome Furs have a new CD out today on Sub Pop called “Face Control”, check it out!

10PM – KOOL HAUS – BLOC PARTY

SATURDAY, MARCH 14TH, 2009

8:30PM – MOD CLUB The Ting Tings

ROYAL YORK HOTEL – Don’t miss the Indie Awards in the Canadian Room at the Royal York Hotel Jon Lajoie, USS, Crystal Castles and Arkells ALL AWESOME!

12am KATHEDRAL – Canadian Punk Rock Legends SNFU. They have like 4354768768 albums. If you haven’t seen them yet, this would be your chance!

11pm OPERA HOUSE Eternia – that  girl grabs the mic by the horns, Juno nominated hip hop.

1am CENTRAL SKIBUNNY go see them out of curiosity at the least if you get the chance. They are highly acclaimed and are probably not going to be back in Toronto anytime soon. We like “Robot on Disguise” Remix

TIMA 2008 Nominees and Winner Shout-Outs:

Thurs. March 12th – TIMA 2008 “Best Live” Electric Winner Marshall Dane 9pm @ Hard Rock Live
Thurs. March 12th – Emma Lee TWICE 9pm @ Glenn Gould Studios prior to the Trews or Fri @ C’est What?, same time.
Fri. March 13th – JEFFERY STRAKER 8:20pm @ Library Bar (inside Royal York Hotel)
Fri, March 13th – Jamesking 11pm @ Revival
Sat. March 14th – MAGNOLIUS – 7pm @ CiRCA
Sat. March 14th – Secret Suburbia – 11am @ Clinton’s
Sat March 13th – TIMA 2006 “Best USA” Winners Peachcake 8pm @ Rancho Relaxo
Sat March 14th – TIMA 2008 “Best Blues” Winner Mike Celia 1am @Global Village Backpackers
Sat March 14th – TIMA 2008 “Best Out-Of-Province” Winner Empire Isis 11pm @ Poor Alex