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December 10, 2009


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2009-12-10

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Quinzy gets set to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Quinzmas - and the release of its latest EP - with two shows at the West End

Jen Zoratti

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Quinzmastime is here - and Quinzy, the powerhouse pop-rock outfit behind the beloved annual holiday spectacular, has lots to celebrate this year.

First off, Quinzmas' fifth anniversary is being commemorated with a two-night stand at the newly renovated West End Cultural Centre - and it's shaping up to be the biggest yet, with both nights almost completely sold out. (Last year's instalment at the Park Theatre marked the first time the event was held over two evenings, and both shows were recorded for national broadcast on CBC Radio Two's Canada Live.)

Secondly, the band - Sandy Taronno (guitar/vocals), his brother James (piano/keyboards/vocals), David Pankratz (drums/vocals) and his brother Jason (bass/vocals) - has just put out Self-Defense, the third in a trilogy of EPs released over the past year and a half.

Finishing the series is cause enough for celebration - but Quinzy has another reason to indulge in some holiday cheer. Self-Defense is easily the band's strongest recording yet.

"This time we feel like we did it," says Sandy.

"It's the best thing we've ever done," agrees David.

The band and I are discussing the new EP over bevvies at The Toad - the same place we chatted about its predecessor, These Nautical Miles, one year ago. Even back then, when Self-Defense was 'still just a fetus,' as Sandy called it, it was shaping up to be the foursome's favourite - and it's destined to be a favourite among critics and fans as well.

Self-Defense serves as the perfect coda to a series of recordings that began with a shot of hooky power pop bravado (One Boy's Guide to the Moon) and progressed to bombastic, melody-driven anthems (These Nautical Miles). The new EP draws elements from both, but the finished product is a tighter, more realized collection of songs. From the sophisticated swagger of I Dream in Exponents to the cinematic swells of Ode to Norman Borlaug, Self-Defense hits all the right notes.

While all three efforts can stand alone as complete, cohesive and individual albums, it's a rewarding experience to listen to them in order. (In one sitting. On headphones.) It's kind of like arranging three consecutive yearbook photos in a row; the progression (in this case, from good to great) becomes strikingly clear.

"That was kind of the whole idea behind doing the EPs, was to let people see the progression," Sandy says. "The chasm between two albums can be big. We wanted to reflect where we are as a band. There's a transparency to it."

Self-Defense skews more studio epic than the live-off-the-floor basement-style recordings that have become so popular as of late - and that's just fine with Quinzy. The band's not in the business of making overwrought, overproduced songs - just good-sounding ones.

"We wanted to embrace our polish," Sandy says. "We try not to rely on production but, when we have it, we'll use it. Sometimes drums should sound like fucking rock drums, you know? We felt comfortable throwing a sheen on it because we know it's still not going to sound like everything else on the radio."

The band also credits its producers with helping it realize its potential. Renowned engineer/producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Rheostatics) helmed the first two albums, the bulk of which were recorded in Toronto back in the spring of 2007. In April 2008, the band went to Vancouver to record two more songs with their manager, former Spirit of the West drummer Vince R. Ditrich - Even You, the lead track from One Boy's Guide to the Moon, and Fell in Love with the Enemy, the first song on These Nautical Miles.

Based on the success of that stint in the studio, Quinzy decided to enlist Ditrich to sit behind the board for Self-Defense, which was recorded at The Warehouse in Vancouver earlier this year.

"You can hear the difference," Sandy says. "I think (Ditrich's) esthetic works better with us. Working with Michael was a dream come true, but we needed more time for our esthetic to come together."

"Vince is the kind of producer that really pushes you - almost to tears," David says. "He really gets those gut-wrenching performances out of you.

"At the end of recording Self-Defense (the title track), I was hitting the drums so hard my hands were bleeding," he adds. "
"They had to be duct-taped. My drums were covered in blood"

Recording the EP wasn't the only defining experience Quinzy had this year. In June, the band took up a month-long residence in Singapore to get some overseas shows under its belt.

"We have ADD, and because recording and releasing three albums just isn't enough work in a year, we thought, 'Why not take over Asia?'" Sandy says with a laugh.

And so, at the behest of a friend's girlfriend, who is from Singapore, the band went for it.

"She said there were places you could play for $1,000 a night," Sandy says. "So we decided to buy tickets and fly there with five shows booked."

Five shows quickly swelled to 13.

"Some were great, some were shitty," David says.

"And some were just ridiculous," James adds.

"There was one show we played called The Malicious Revolution. The poster said, 'Featuring Quinzy from Canada' and about 14 metal bands," David recalls with a laugh.

"Our contact for that one was a guy named Ganesh, who's probably 16 or 17 by now," James adds. "We didn't know he was so young. It was kind of like a battle of the bands, without the battle."

The Singapore sojourn was rough on Quinzy. Winning over a crowd that has never heard of you is a hard enough task; winning over a crowd with a healthy thirst for Weezer and Iron Maiden covers is even harder.

"It's definitely a karaoke culture," Sandy says. "We'd tell people that we were a Canadian band and we play original songs, and they would say, 'Why are you here?' We hit a lot of roadblocks."

The band documented the whole experience on camera, and the footage was made into a three-episode TV series called Quinzy Breaks Singapore for MTS Winnipeg on Demand.

"It's hard (to watch) because you're seeing yourself struggle," Sandy says of the series.

"But above it all, our band brought us to Singapore, and that's amazing," David says. "Playing all those shows and having to work so hard to win over audiences - we learned a lot."

Not only did they leave Singapore better players, the guys left with enough crowd-pleasing anecdotes to last them a lifetime.

"Our stories from that trip don't even sound real," says James, who, for just one example, was bitten by a scorned Argentinean girl at a show. ("She leaned in for the real thing, but I have a girlfriend so I gave her the cold shoulder," he says. "And then she bit the cold shoulder.")

Quinzy has another momentous event on the horizon. In February, the quartet will join Toronto indie rock act Tokyo Police Club onstage as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

It'll be one of the biggest shows the band has ever played, but its members aren't nervous.

"I'm just nervous for our athletes," David says with a grin.

QUINZMAS
Dec. 11 & 12, West End Cultural Centre
Feat. House of Doc

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