Making it in the music industry in Canada is a struggle. While as fans we see the glory of the live band onstage performing, the hours spent practicing, writing, and especially driving around in Canada takes its toll. So it is promising for a band to even see a glimpse of triumph.
Such is the case with Welland, Ontario’s Attack in Black. From playing around Niagara Falls and Welland to opening for bands like Thrice and The Tragically Hip, they are making a name and creating their own success.
“I don’t know what you consider successful but we get to tour around and play music and don’t have to work that hard on crappy jobs when we are home. It doesn’t pay the bills or anything but at least our families think we are doing something important,” said guitarist Spencer Burton.
We caught up with Burton before a recent show at Broken City with Julie Doiron. The name doesn’t quite fit the initial perception of the band, who are neither attacking nor particularly black.
“We were young when we named the band and some of the first music we wrote was aggressive punk music. It is still punk music but aggressive in a different way. The name comes from a lyric from a band called Seven Seconds, a song about spray paint and they sing about attacking in black. We were younger and more aggressive and liked our tattoos then. Now we regret everything.”
Canadians are known for their often quirky sense of humor, and Burton was no exception, making witty and sarcastic comments about how the band got their tattoos.
“I saw this cover of Men’s Health the other day and 50 Cent was on the cover without any tattoos. I thought it had been photo-shopped but I guess he got them all removed so he can do more acting and stuff like that. There are no scars or anything, he is like the perfect man, perfect body, no scars, flawless. If I could get my hands on a billion dollars I too could have all my tattoos removed without scarring. If 50 Cent can do it anyone can. It wasn’t airbrushed or anything, it was just beautiful naked 50 Cent. I need that. Maybe I should just start working out and maybe all of my tattoos would fall off.”
He is certainly amongst the people who look at their body art and say, “what the hell was I thinking?”
“I wonder if there is anybody out there that doesn’t regret their tattoos. There is that moment where you are standing in front of a mirror and realize I am never going to be naked ever again, I am always going to have something on me. I’ve got an x-girlfriend’s name tattooed on me, but I actually like that one, it is so sketchy. I have one that is a flaming vampire chick staking herself through her heart—that is just stupid. The ex-girlfriend tattoo is kind of funny in a weird ironic embarrassing kind of way.”
The band and their producer Dan Weston were recording the tour stops, although Burton admits he is not quite sure what they will do with it.
“We have songs for our new record for this year and we might do like, an album release and have some live songs as a bonus, or hold onto them and use them down the line. We are filming the shows as well so maybe we will match the music to the live performance. I have no idea, it is just good to have it. We are doing that with every show on the tour. It is being recorded onto a hard disk recorder and has to be mixed down.”
He is looking forward to recording the next album, but acknowledged this makes it harder to decide what to play live.
“Every time someone asks me what to expect they say, because you know every album is so different than your other ones. I don’t view that, it is the same as all the other ones. We put the same amount of effort and love into every song that has been written. It is just another record that I like better than the other ones because it is new and different. I am sick of the old stuff and want to hear something new. It is tough to make a set list because I know there are people that want to hear old songs. There are nights that it is all new stuff and one old song and we forget about that. If you start thinking about it too much, it gets difficult.
In the meantime Spencer wants to keep playing music for as long as he can.
“I just want to keep doing what we are doing. Just from playing music we have met so many different people and opened for people like the Tragically Hip; headlined shows I never thought we would headline. We can do so many different things as long as we keep meeting new people and playing shows and having fun, making enough money to keep doing it. The money is nice because you can’t live off of nothing but I like the meeting people and the playing music part above it. It would just be nice to have enough money to make it to the next show.”
While most artists move to a major city, the band has remained in Welland.
“A few [band members] moved to Montreal but they have moved back to Welland and we are together again. I don’t think any of us really want to be there, hanging around the canal gets old. We want to be together and be able to make music. It would be nice if we could all get a place together, I think that is what we would like to do. Maybe not. It seems like a good idea but living together, touring together and always being together may be a bad thing. I would probably be the one who would be stabbed and that would suck.”
However, from a marketing perspective, being a short drive from major centres like Buffalo and Toronto could be part of the appeal, but Burton has other reasons for staying: at heart he is a small town guy.
“There are so many places around to go hiking or swimming under a waterfall in the summertime. It is nice to be able to get away and go for nature walks and play with the dog in the woods. I like the area and that is why I didn’t go to Montreal, with cars everywhere and people yelling, I couldn’t handle that. I want to be even more of a small town guy, and live in a house surrounded by 1000 acres of nothing. I like the peace and quiet—I find peace on the road, that is why I like it so much.”
“I love my music, so the shows are awesome, but you get that day off that you can go for a hike, or just stop on the side of the highway at nighttime and you just stand and stare at the sky. I like that kind of stuff.”
