PLANTS AND ANIMALS
INTERVIEW BY SEAN TYSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA WOLF
ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE PERRY
Calculated but loose, emotional but cerebral, orchestrated yet organic; Montreal based Plants and Animals are as dialectic as the country and city they represent. From “majestic-folk” to “experimental-indie” to “post-classic-rock” the band has remained successfully elusive. Their music is a timeless journey, an enchanting panorama of everything that’s been great in classic rock over the last 40 years. Their debut album, Parc Avenue, was released in 2008 and quickly garnered critical acclaim. With a Juno Award and Polaris nomination in their back pocket, Plants and Animals began touring with bands like Wolf Parade, Born Ruffians and Patrick Watson.La La Land is their newly released second album and it too is excellent. It’s a passionate deviation from Parc Avenue, and a big, bold step forward for these endearingly unassuming musicians. We caught up with lead guitarist and do-it-all musician Nicolas Basque before sound check at The Commodore Ballroom on a beautiful spring evening in Vancouver.
SEAN TYSON—I saw several banner ads for your album on Dictionary.com. Has there ever been a point where you’ve thought, “Wow. We’ve actually made it. We’re kind of a big deal”?
NICOLAS BASQUE—No. I know my real life outside of the band, and this all feels surreal. When we walked into this venue, I was like, “We’re really playing this room tonight?!”
ST—Parc Avenue was such an eclectic and adventurous album, yet its title is so factual and concrete. La La Land on the other hand feels a bit more focused and straightforward, yet the title is obviously quite open and abstract. It seems like you could swap the titles and they would feel more appropriate. You’ve mentioned previously that your touring experiences inspired the idea of La La Land. Were there any specific moments that felt surreal or utterly ridiculous?
NB—Yeah, we went to LA to do a concert in this fun venue called Spaceland. Danger Mouse came to the show with the singer from The Shins, after the show he called us and said, “Oh, you want to come to my place and have a party?!” [Laughs] Also, in Iceland, they flew us to some northern town and made us play in a village bar with Buck 65 and
a hip-hop band from Iceland. The whole town was there – old people and kids – so that was surreal.
ST—Jian Ghomeshi has the biggest crush on you guys. Does that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside?
NB—[Laughs] Yeah, he’s such a nice guy. Last time I ran into him at Canadian Music Week I tried to convince him to play drums with us when we were going to be on his show. He’s been really supportive. All of CBC has been supportive. Hopefully we’ll get him to play in the band. But he has to play standing up. Just drums, standing up.
