The Attics Preview
March 11 at King’s Head Pub
Jen Zoratti



The dead of winter is an excellent time for a Winnipeg band to take its tunes across the pond. February is certainly a good time to hit Barcelona, Rome, Athens and all those other exotic cities that have better climates than ours.

The Attics decided to skip those Mediterranean hot spots and head off to Moscow.

Spending just over a month navigating their way around treacherous roads and questionable border officials, the band toured through Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Poland — places your average Canuck indie band wouldn’t consider for a European tour. That’s exactly why The Attics decided to spend their February trucking around the Baltic Sea.

“It was mostly because no one does it,” singer/guitarist Rob Mitchell says over the phone from England. “I had a couple contacts out there, and through dozens of e-mails it came together.”

Taking off to play clubs in Eastern Europe was a bit of a risk for the band, whose debut album Once a World came out last September. Though the band wasn’t exactly expecting to find hardcore Attics fans in Liepaja, Latvia, music aficionados in the tour-starved Eastern European countries were certainly intrigued by the Winnipeg rockers.

“I had a feeling people might be more curious about us,” Mitchell says. “If you go to London, like Winnipeg, there’s concerts every night. But (in Eastern Europe), it’s a bit more rare. They’re not exactly over-entertained there, if you know what I mean.”

Mitchell says a healthy interest in English-language music also made The Attics a draw in the Baltics.

“They’re huge Britrock fans over there. We stayed in one girl’s flat, and she had Oasis posters and Coldplay lyrics on her wall,” he says. “They wanted to hear English music, and a lot of them speak English. But we did our best to learn ‘hellos’ and ‘thank-yous.’”

British music is something the band is also interested in. The Attics have a ’60s-throwback Britrock sound that makes them infectiously listenable and melodically powerful. The quartet, which includes Aaron Klassen (drums), Chris Rademaker (bass) and Rene Campbell (guitar), have tempered catchy pop-rock hooks with smart, politically charged lyrics, striking a perfect harmony between their influences and their own inventiveness.

Like the band’s hometown, Eastern Europe was very receptive to the indie rockers’ energetic live show — when they managed to get themselves onstage, that is.

“Were in a city called Ryazan in Russia, and we showed up for our show really late because Russian roads are really bad,” Mitchell recalls. “As soon as we pulled up, all these people loaded our stuff for us. We set up, played, and all these people were crushed against the stage. And after, they all wanted to party with us, giving us vodka. It was the craziest two hours — set up, played, tore down, blitzed on vodka.”

It was also an interesting night for four Canadians who found themselves in a Russian club on the night the Russian hockey team ousted the Canadian squad from the Winter Olympics being held a few countries over in Italy.

“They were pretty proud of that,” Mitchell laughs. “They kept shouting a phrase which basically translates to ‘Sport is fucking shit but vodka is forever.’”

In addition to trading in Canadian beer for Russian vodka, The Attics also traded the ‘comforts,’ such as they are, of North American touring for life on the road in Eastern Europe. Even though the Trans-Canada in the middle of winter isn’t always the friendliest of terrains, Mitchell says it’s nothing like the roads in the backlands of Russia.

“The thing that made touring a lot harder than I thought it would be was the roads. It’s so much more populated than Canada, so there’s all these little towns you have to slow down and stop for. We made it to every gig, but it was a miracle,” Mitchell says. “Seriously, it was like driving on the moon.”

If it wasn’t drunken Russians or sketchy roads screwing with the group’s schedule, it was colourful border officials.

“We ended up having to sing a song for the Ukrainian border guards to pass,” Mitchell laughs. “It was really strange, and no disrespect, of course, but all the guards had on different-coloured uniforms and were all half-cut on vodka. One said, ‘You’re in a band? Then sing a song.’” So we sang Hard Road by Sam Roberts. We thought it was fitting.”

It’s worldly experiences like these that shape how The Attics write songs. Mitchell has seen a good part of Western Europe, and he spent a year living in Dublin and did some travelling in South America. Russia was always on his list of places to see.

“Russia was a place we wanted to go as tourists, so we thought we might as well play some shows,” he says. “Yeah, we won’t make much money, but part of being a band is getting to see all these amazing places.”

The Attics will finally see a familiar place when they play a homecoming show on Mar. 11 at the King’s Head Pub before heading out West for a few gigs. Then it’s off to work on a new album, one that will no doubt reflect their trek through Eastern Europe.

“I can almost guarantee it will affect us,” Mitchell says. “You are what you eat, so to speak.”

For now, Mitchell and his bandmates are looking forward to the comforts of Canadian touring.

“We missed good roads and Tim Hortons,” Mitchell says. “I mean, we loved the experience part, but there were times where’d you be sitting there thinking, ‘Man, I’d love to be going 110 down a double-lane highway in a good vehicle with a large double-double.”