Interview with Andrew Whiteman of 'Apostle Of Hustle' and 'Broken Social Scene'

On a grey afternoon in my bedroom, after several failed attempts by both of us, I finally got a hold of the super-friendly, ever-interesting Andrew Whiteman (guitarist, singer, songwriter for BSS and AOH) on the phone as he was trekking across the country (Somewhere in Colorado) with Gogol Bordello.

Matt McKech: Even before the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, take me back to your younger years - What started you down the road of music?

Andrew Whiteman: Well, actually it all started at one of the first birthday parties I ever went to – and it was in the days where they handed out those loot bags – and it was at a rich kid's house. Anyways, in the loot bag was a little handheld plastic AM radio. Mine was purple. And I took that thing everywhere and even slept with it under my pillow - and as a kid, I wasn't allowed to listen to loud music, so I took revenge on my mom and cranked it up under my pillow so she couldn't hear it.

MM: How did Apostle of Hustle begin with the whole Broken Social attachment?

AW: Well, they're separate entities, really. But yeah – it was all pretty organic. I remember coming back to town after visiting my godmother in Havana and that was when I first started getting together with Julian and Dean. And at that time, me and Feist organized a show with Kevin (Drew), Brendan (Canning), Justin (Peroff) and it all started there. And for a long time, every tuesday, myself, Julian and Dean would play the same dirty bar with AOH. And believe me – this bar was nothing special. It was just a sleazy, dirty bar.

MM: You've self-described Apostle Of Hustle music as 'indie exotica' or 'minor key mood music' – is that still true today?

AW: Absolutely. (laughs) I mean – we do have some songs in major keys, but not many. But yeah - minor key mood music is pretty accurate. But I don't know – we're a little different now because Apostle of Hustle is playing as a duo now (me and Dean) and on this particular run, we've been opening for Gogol Bordello so I don't know – there's been a little bit of punk rock in our set too.

MM: I've seen you guys play live a few times (once at wolfe island, another at zaphods in ottawa) when you were touring with national anthem – how do you get your albums to translate into the live performance?

AW: I try and get more theatrical and more themed as time goes on – so basically, what we have going on now is a very much 'eats darkness' performance. But I don't like to tell people everything. They should decide for themselves, ya know? We don't want to give things away and we don't want to spoil everything.

MM: What's the significance of the string you often raise up on stage and feel across blindfolded?

AW: My theme is usually always death – so, I'm very interested in the idea of passing through to different threshholds. But yeah, I'm always fascinated with death and everything that comes along with that. I mean – with the stage thing and the string - you could take it a bunch of different ways. Maybe you see it as death is the end of life and the beginning of something else. I'm also interested in ancestors and ancestor worship – lots of stuff like that. I mean – death and life are the two main locations in someone's timeline. But I don't like to give it away or interpret everything.

MM: So...maybe the string represented life and you were feeling your way along, between the birth and death points on the line?

AW: (laughs) There ya go, man. You're doing it, right there. You're taking your own interpretation. That's the important thing.

MM: Amy Millan said in an interview that Stars are her main deal – is BSS your main deal?

AW: Absolutely. (Broken) Social Scene is my number one – Apostle (Of Hustle) is like my child. It's sort of my spirit guide, ya know what I mean? It constantly reminds me of what's important to me and I love doing it. But yeah - when BSS hits the road and needs to record a record, that's my first priority always. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

MM: How is the recording of the new Broken Social Scene record going, by the way?

AW: Um – I've been on the road, here out west a lot – so I'm sort of out of the loop. But yeah – there is a lot of music recorded. We did it with John McIntyre from Chicago and that was a f*cking amazing experience. He's recorded and produced amazing bands like Tortoise and many more. And uh – it's a mash up. I'm not sure what I can say – it's a real BSS record. It's great guitar record, as far as I've heard.

MM: I watched an interview where you openly bashed the concept of the book that was written about Broken Social Scene ('This Book Is Broken') – how do you get away with that?

AW: Well, ya know, my band is used to me, man. They're my family. I say what I want. But I'm never afraid to admit that my opinions change. In fact, we were in Houston, Texas, touring a while back, and someone in Houston read the book and told me about how it changed his whole perspective and really opened up his eyes to the fact that a specific music scene can start anywhere. You don't have to be in a 'cool' place. Houston is a cool town, man – we loved playing there. And they're just trying to get a scene going there. So the fact that this one guy got off on the book and it helped him – I think that's awesome. I still think the concept was f*cking stupid, though and way too early. I mean, come on – we're not even ten years old as a band.

MM: What was the story about the fan accusing you of uttering a death threat against Stephen Harper?

AW: (laughs) Ohh. Yeah – no, that guy wasn't a fan. He was some ex-army guy who was passing by the show. And as I was introducing Fast Pony for Victor Jara, I did this thing on stage where I talked about the decapitated, bleeding head of George Bush making love to the decapitated, bleeding head of Stephen Harper. But this ex-military guy said I was making a death threat and he told the cops about it. Anyways, there were cops backstage, after the show, asking me these questions, but they were really nice and basically told me I had done nothing wrong but that they just had to verify that I wasn't making a death threat against anyone.

MM: Can you talk a bit about the alchemical process as it relates to your new album (Eats Darkness) and 'Eating Darkness and sh*tting out sunlight'?

AW: Well, ya know - If a person tapped their eye about them, I would say that there is a lot of heavy sh*t going on right now in the world. A lot of superfluous sh*t. Our society behaves as if everything is infinite. But all the while, the darkness surrounds us, and you need a way to transform all that stuff around you. You have to be able to make peace with it somehow. It's more than that, though– it involves acknowledging evil, in the first place, and then making your peace.

MM: There are a lot of soundbytes between songs on the record (I love the one about the snake having both male and female sex parts) – how do those play into the whole cohesive work of 'Eats Darkness'?

AW: That's a good question. We actually experimented a lot with different sequences and stuff. But for all the clips - they have clues in each of them. So in each clip that precedes a song, it has a clue in it about the song that follows it. For example, the clip you mentioned about snakes – that's right before 'Easy Speaks' which is sort of what that song is about. And the one 'Signs' has a bunch of clues about 'Perfect Fit'. But I think what I'm going to do when I get home is – I have a mix that's about thirteen minutes long of all of them – and I'm going to post the whole thing online. I had a really amazing time creating those things.

MM: Gear question: How do you get that amazing sound from your guitar and amp that can be super clear and clean one second and ultra-distorted, thick and heavy the next?

AW: It's all in the fingers, man. It really is.

MM: Are you into much effects?

AW: Oh yeah, I love effects, don't get me wrong – and pedals are fun but, fundamentally, it has to be simple.

MM: Thanks so much for your time today, Andrew.

AW: No worries Matt. I'm sure I'll see you around.

- Matt McKechnie

Comments

[Char]

How do you get such awesome interview guests on here? I love the Indie aspect of this Zine. It's totally RAD!

[J. S.]

Good stuff. The image of "the decapitated, bleeding head of George Bush making love to the decapitated, bleeding head of Stephen Harper" may haunt me during my sleeping hours, though.

[Adjey]

thick specs just gets better and better with time. awesome stuff guys.