An Interview with Rodrigo and Pado Machado of Brazil’s Urban Trash Art, two brothers whose mission is to make art sculptures and installations from things people throw away everyday. Urban Trash Art were featured artists of the RRRRR Trash Art Festival, a part of “Take Me With You” an art series put on by the Whippersnapper Gallery in Toronto.

 

Getting the hang of being a touring rock musician can take some time — especially if you’re in a band like Billy Talent, who pack-out stadiums in their Canadian homeland as well as abroad in Europe. Despite years on the road backed by major labels like Atlantic and Warner (who are behind the band’s upcoming release, ‘Billy Talent IV’), guitarist Ian D’Sa insists his ego is still in check.

“Some bands feel they need to keep a wall between themselves and their fans but that doesn’t really exist for us,” he tells Spinner. “We were independent for the first nine years as a band and are used to crashing on our friends floors. It’s allowed us to be really open to talking to fans, and I think that’s why we’ve developed a cult following.”

The Ontario rockers may have a cult following but it’s certain that few fans were on hand last weekend in Toronto for HeavyTO, where the band was sandwiched on the bill between juggernauts Slayer and Rob Zombie. Thanks to a guerrilla Jägermeister ad campaign gone awry, concertgoers sent a strong message to Billy Talent with crude, makeshift signs displaying insults like “Billy Talentless” and “Top 10 Ways to Kill Billy Talent.”

Speaking to Spinner onsite at HeavyTO, D’Sa admitted he had a hunch their set might not sit too well with the devil horn-thrusting audience. “We play all kinds of music festivals in Europe; we blend in with other bands there, and their take on harder metal-like music. But it’s totally different in North America. There’s a very purist mentality here that didn’t exist in the early ’90s with Lollapalooza-type bands like Faith No More. While it is kind of weird that we’re on this bill, because we aren’t metal, we’re definitely happy to share the stage with all these great bands that we grew up on.”

Though the incident in Toronto was certainly humbling, D’Sa and crew should have no problem bouncing back — especially since their fans are so pumped to hear news of their forthcoming record, the first since 2009’s ‘Billy Talent III.’ “Even my friends are asking me when it’s coming and I’m like, ‘Dude, we’ve been touring for the last year-and-a-half!'” the guitarist laughs. “That’s a lot of touring.”

Watch ‘Red Flag’ from Billy Talent

On the plus side, being on the road when there’s a new album on the books is bound to encourage ad-libbing as the guys tests out fresh ideas. “The more shows you play on tour, the better you get at transitions,” says D’Sa. “Some songs could be heavier, some could be lighter, but it’s really a mood kind of thing. I’ve written some songs that sound best on a blues guitar, but I can’t put that on a Billy Talent record. However, it is something the rest of the band can grow from when we add different instrumentation.”

When asked what fans can expect from their fourth disc, D’Sa remains vague. “The songs are a lot different than the last album, they’re closer to our first self-titled album. We’re opening up to new ideas and using piano on a few songs, but I’ve also been listening to a lot of old punk stuff I was into in high-school like OFF! and Black Flag.”

D’Sa, who’s also producing the disc, having worked with bands like Toronto’s Die Mannequin in addition to co-producing ‘Billy Talent II,’ has high hopes for the next release (and likely can’t bare the thought of actual fans hoisting “Billy Talentless” signs at future concerts). “Producing your own album is definitely more time-intensive, because not only am I trying to work on songs, but thinking about how it’s going to sound sonically as well. It’s definitely going to be a challenge. But I’m up for it.”

Follow @Spinner on Twitter | Like Us on Facebook | Sign Up for Our Newsletter

• Filed under: News, Exclusive, New 

Posted on Jul 28th 2011 5:00PM by Jesse Ship

Baptized in Blood have been playing gigs for about six years now under their current name, a tribute to the band Death, and their song of the same name. Based in the smaller city of London, Ontario, they lucked out when they caught the attention of Roadrunner Records.

“Growing up in a small town, you get a real appreciation for underground bands playing real underground shows,” says Baptized In Blood frontman, Joel Ploth, who actually grew up in the even smaller, Stratford ON, home of the Justin Bieber. “I didn’t get a lot of exposure to heavy music early on. We never had ‘crazy’ shows, but local promoters were able to bring in a lot of smaller bands like Trunk, Five Knuckle Chuckle, Swarm, and Left For Dead.”

To reference the cult Mike Judge comedy, ‘Office Space,’ Joel is a ‘ straight shooter with upper management written all over him’ “I started the band during the hockey strike of 2004, but all the other guys were already in bands already. I had to drag them away to start this side project that became Baptized in Blood. By the end of our first year, they had all quit to focus on this thing specifically. I’m glad they made that choice.”

For a guy whose only band experience was playing in a high school cover band, it’s quite an achievement, and after six years, he’s still a driving force in keeping the band together. He attributes part of his success to a strict ‘failure is not an option’ ethos. “Without that positivity or drive, bands fall off the face of the earth or break up. Whether it be due egos about ridiculous shit, think they’re huge when they’re not, or just doubting their abilities. But you can’t do that in this industry. If you want to succeed, you have to believe in everything you do and every word that comes out of your mouth.”

Much of his song writing on his last self-titled album sticks to a similar mentality, “I deal mostly with things that happen in my life and focus on things that are relatable. I could write ten albums about killing zombies but I don’t want to because I don’t know s— about it. I I want to write about my family, life, death, and personal experiences. My songs are like my battle cry, to shout out to the world ‘is there anybody else going through this shit too?’ I want to reassure people that as shitty as it gets, there’s always turn around.”

Watch ‘Dirty’s Back’ from Baptized in Blood
Little known fact, Joel worked at Mr. Sub for ten years before he started the band, but it gave him a lot of time to write all the songs for their first album. “That job allowed me to write all the songs for the first album. ‘Up Shirts Down Skirts’ was written about this smoking 40-year old who would come buy subs from me. I’d stare at her ass as she was leaving the whole time. It’s crazy where you get inspiration from. It just so happens mine are from Mr. Sub. You have to have a good laugh at that. We all have to do our own little things to let you keep on going.”

Metal bands are generally known for serious attitudes and giving the finger to mainstream pop stars but their bellowing thrash hit, ‘Dirty’s Back’ is indeed a Justin Timberlake reference. A tribute, as much as their own namesake is to the band Death.

“This may sound really f—— lame but I really respect what he’s done for himself. I’m incredibly jealous of him, aside from the boy band stuff. When I wrote that song, I was thinking ‘if he can bring sexy back, I can bring dirty back.’ Also, I don’t wash my jeans either. If you just leave them, they age perfectly by themselves — that’s something I learned from him. ”