Cadence recently had the opportunity to chat with Tara Rice, the frontwoman of the storming neo-psychedelica band 5th Projekt on the eve of the release of their fantastic new album, a tour in support of it, and the seemingly endless promotion along the way. The Toronto-based singer, alongside guitarist – though multi-instrumentalist would probably be more apt – Sködt McNalty, is the creative core of 5th Projekt, acting as the group’s primary songwriters and helming the production of all of 5th Projekt’s works.
Formed in 2003, 5th Projekt quickly established themselves as one of the Toronto scene’s most sonically ambitious acts through a series of EPs and albums, alongside an unparalleled live show that illustrated a sound and vision unlike almost anything else in Canadian music. A collision of beautiful noise, furious guitar, haunting vocals, and sublime poetry, the band is one of the few acts in Canadian independent music daring enough to be different while making music that is as conceptually engaging as it is emotionally resonant. In an age of scenes and endless amounts of doppelgangers and passengers, this is a band that strives to make its mark with its own unique sound.
As 5th Projekt prepares to unleash its new album V on August 9, I had the chance to sit down with Tara as she opened up on her experiences with the band, making the new record, and the spirit at the heart of the music she is so furiously passionate about.
So, first off, how’s everything going today?
Pretty good. It’s nice out for a change, not so hot. [Laughs.]
[Laughs] Yeah, it’s a bit dreary, but it’s a nice break. So, you guys have a new album coming out – which is an amazing record by the way; I’ve listened to it a bunch of times and it’s just awesome. And you’ve a tour on the horizon with a hometown show in Toronto, as well. How’s everyone in the band feeling about the upcoming launch?
We’re super-excited [laughs]. We’ve been working on this album for quite a while; originally we were just going to release a smaller EP, but then we decided to just release a full-length album instead. We’ve kind of been sitting on it for a couple of months now, in a way, so we’re just really happy and excited about getting the album out and going on the road and playing shows again.
It feels like it’s been a long time coming, because your last record, CiRCADiAN, was released about five years ago.
Yeah, it was released in 2006. Sködt – the other guitarist – and I decided back then to just take a break. Our rhythm section (our drummer) decided to do other things – you know, go off and get married, have children, that kind of stuff. So we went off and started another band for a few years, but that was kind of a side project-type thing. We did some shows with that band, but then about a year ago we found a new drummer and another bass player for 5th Projekt and decided to record our songs with this band. All in all, since its inception, it’s been about two years with this record.
So with the new guys in the band is there collaboration in the songwriting process or are they just kind of like the hired goons you guys get to do your bidding?
[Laughs] Well, we [Tara and Sködt] are the primary songwriters for the band; we have all the lyrics already set and most of the music arranged, as well. I mean, Sködt even had a lot of the bass-lines written when we started recording. So for the most part the guys just kind of played what we had written, with the exception of “Hurricane,” which was a collaboration with everyone. We’re definitely looking forward to collaborating the writing process in the future with them though, but that’s kind of just how it turned out this time around.
From my experience when you join a band there’s kind of that interim period where you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes at first, so input is usually kind of minimal for a bit. As an aside, since you brought up the bass, the bass on this record is f—king awesome. Like the drums are all well and good, but that overdriven, distorted sound you guys got on the bass is awesome. It’s really BRMC; so that guy’s a keeper.
Yeah, we love Black Rebel [laughs].
Yeah, same; I’ve seen them every time they’ve come to town since the second record. But that’s just an aside . . . moving on . . . was there a different approach with the songwriting on this record versus other records? Because with CiRCADiAN there was malaise to it all, with the particularly dystopian imagery and allegories, and that shade of blue has kind of held over with V. But at the same time it’s a very different record.
With CiRCADiAN (our last full-length record), it was kind of half written by me before I had even met Sködt or was in the band, and half of it was written by Sködt before he knew me [laughs], so we kind of got together and worked on each other’s songs, and that produced a much more eclectic collection – definitely a little more folksy, which was probably from my influence on it. And yeah, like you said, there’s a malaise to it and some dystopian themes.
For this one, Sködt – even before we had the new band members – was in our jam space, like, six days a week just writing all by himself, really [laughs], coming up with drum and bass parts. And he would bring the music to me and we’d work on it. And we didn’t even know it would be a 5th Projekt album when we were working on it, but it was really cohesive; like, conceptually there was a real cohesiveness to it, but musically as well. The songs were actually more musically cohesive than anything we’d done together in the past. So the approach, whether it was on purpose or not, was a lot more focused than anything we’d done before; it’s much more of a rock album than our last collection of songs ended up being.
Very cool. So, conceptually, with V was there anything in particular you were attempting to tackle or a theme or idea that conceptually unites all the songs?
Definitely, we totally have concepts at the heart of our music; we can’t even help ourselves in that regard [laughs]. With this record what really seemed to rise out of the songs was the idea of revolution. We were really influenced by the Mayan culture and how one day they just kind of got up and left; that in itself is something very revolutionary, how an entire culture can just leave everything like that. And then there’s the spirit of the 1960s as well and the revolutions and movements in that time. It all seeped into the music and even got us thinking and writing about what we thought would be the revolutions of the future and what may happen. . . . The really weird thing about that last part is when you look at our artwork; we finished the artwork for the album last August and there was an effort made to have particular images like the pyramids, because of the symbolism attached to them. And then months later we kind of sat back and witnessed a revolution unfold in Egypt and it was really cool because in the end it all tied together so well with the work we were doing and what we were talking about with this record. But we had no idea that stuff would be going down [laughs].
Damn, that’s actually quite cool and quite the twist of fate.
Yeah, it really was.
And it’s incredibly relevant too. I’m a political science guy so I study revolutions pretty much for a living, and you know, while people here are largely fat and bored in their complacency sometimes, half the world away you have people dying for these ideas, quite literally, while we’re speaking. So it’s incredible that you guys have captured that even if it wasn’t on purpose.
Yeah, it’s true. But you know, there are a lot of people out there who are getting fat and apathetic, like you said, about things. But there are also a lot of people here who are just sick of that too. And I feel that energy, and I honestly respond to that energy more, so I try to focus on that instead when I’m writing.
Yeah, that’s definitely a good point. One thing I’ve noticed with your songs is that there’s a degree of homage going on and you guys have this really cool allegorical approach to some of your songs where you reference points of influence, the prime example being Zamyatin’s We in the last album. Were there any particular works in terms of art or film or whatever that influenced you on the new record?
There weren’t really any specific works that influenced us this time around, but the logic of eras like the 1960s and 1970s when free thinking really came into the mainstream, that’s really what inspired this record. We did throw in a reference to “When the Levy Breaks,” but it’s odd, people always think that’s a Led Zeppelin reference, but it’s actually a traditional Americana song. But yeah . . . I’ll probably come up with a better answer later on when the interview is done [laughs].
Well, on the plus side, you have my number, so if you come up with something you could always call me back and say, “Hey, I’ve got an answer to that weird question you asked!”
[Laughs.]
But in terms of your own influences, what inspires you to write? Like, conceptually this album has the spirit of revolution, but what is it that compels you to make music?
It used to be anything that was going wrong actually [laughs]. Like, writing was a kind of selfish thing where I felt I needed to express myself, but at the same time – being a super private person – I didn’t want anyone to know what was going on in my life, so music seemed like a good way to go [laughs].
[Laughs] Awesome!
Now, I just can’t see myself living without writing and I just write about life in general really. And now I find if it’s been a couple of days and I haven’t written anything, I get kind of antsy; it’s just a way to get everything out of my system, I guess. People find their own ways; this would be my way, I guess.
Yeah, it makes for an amazing outlet. I’ve got to say, I really dig the sound you guys have developed on this record – and being a gearhead I have to try to disseminate just what’s getting played on the record. Was there any bit of equipment that defined the sound you guys were going for on this album?
It would probably be the vintage Silvertone amp that Sködt uses; it’s a 1966 Silvertone, I believe. Most of our equipment isn’t actually all that expensive, but it produces the sound we want. This is actually a much better question for Sködt [laughs]; he’s the gearhead of the group.
Well alright [laughs].
I’m definitely not a gearhead [laughs]. I’m the type of person who will just make anything work, like someone can hand me a guitar and I’ll just say, “Okay, thanks!” [laughs]. But Sködt is definitely the opposite; he’s very picky about tones and equipment. But yeah, there are quite a few vintage pieces of gear that really added to the sound of the record, for sure.
Nice. How was the experience on the production end of things with V? Because from what I understand, both you and Sködt self-produced this record.
We’ve worked with a producer once before on something that has yet to be released, but on CiRCADiAN and V, we produced the songs. It’s not necessarily out of not wanting to work with a producer, it just kind of went that way [laughs]. With this record especially, a lot of the songs told us how they wanted to sound, know what I mean? Like, they came out so specific, then collectively as a whole had a kind of bond.
But producing is something we’re just used to; we always have a lot of say in terms of how the record will eventually sound. But that isn’t to say we wouldn’t want to work with a producer who could wrap their head around what we’re doing and make it better; maybe on the next album we’ll do that.
Well, it’s not like it isn’t working; I mean, the close-to-the-chest approach seems to be serving you well in terms of developing a sound you’re happy with, and releasing it through your own label, Organik. I mean, if it wasn’t working, no one would notice, but you have guys like Alan Cross – arguably the most influential musical journalist in the country – praising your work. But you guys brought on some pretty heavy hitters in terms of the additional production staff like the mixers and mastering guys, like Dean Marino, who’s worked with The Black Keys and Tokyo Police Club, and Noah Mintz, who’s mastered the work of Broken Social Scene, Emm Gryner and The Dears. How was it working with those guys?
It was amazing working with them; they were so laid back, but at the same time incredibly professional about everything. Just really hard workers, which we can relate to being hard workers ourselves. They made it look easy and it was a lot of fun working with them. Dean [Marino] did an amazing job mixing the album and we’re so happy with how it turned out; I can’t imagine it sounding better. It was just a totally amazing experience working with them.
Yeah, for an independent record, it honestly sounds like it could fill a stadium; he really did a great job with the mixing. And it’s great because it really gets across the bands distinct sound; one thing with Canadian indie music is that it’s largely distinct from what’s going on in the States primarily because there’s no real point competing with the machine, so to speak. But as a result you have in Canada a vibrant and very unique music scene, though lately the vibrancy hasn’t been all that much. One thing I really respect about this record is that it doesn’t attempt to fall in line with what everyone else is doing in Canadian indie music; like, it seems everyone is falling into one of two camps these days, either a kind of urban folk sound or electro-pop. Did you guys make an active effort to shy away from everyone else, or was it just like, “This is what we do,” and it’s business as usual?
We didn’t try to do what others were or were not doing; it’s just what we do. I’m personally sick of the whole electro-pop thing that’s going on right now, but I just don’t pay attention to it. I don’t want to be that at all, and in a way I pretend like it’s not even there.
Good on you, because it gets damn overbearing sometimes.
[Laughs] Oh, I know. If I hear the phrase “indie pop darling” one more time or even read it in a magazine, I’m going to throw up [laughs]. But it’s what’s in the scene right now, it’s a popular sound and people try to emulate it or just have it as their own naturally, but it’s not our sound. Actually it makes it super hard to find bands to play shows with sometimes, because you want to find acts with similar sounds so the whole night doesn’t sound disjointed.
Does that ever get in the way of booking or become problematic when you’re touring?
Not really. One thing with this new record is that I feel it’s very accessible in comparison to the work that we’ve done before, though still very unique. So it’s not too difficult finding bands to work with. Like, even with a pop-rock band, there’s a thread there that holds the show together and we can work with them; and the same thing can be said about a pure rock band. It doesn’t necessarily have to be, like, an artsy rock band, know what I mean? With this material it’s a lot easier than it was in the past, and that’s very refreshing.
So I take it you don’t consider yourselves a highbrow, art-rock group or collective?
[Laughs]No, not at all. We actually think our material now is very mainstream, but that may be because we’re a little weird to begin with.
So how do you think the new songs will translate live? Because I’m assuming – hopefully – you guys have been practicing and honing them for the live show.
Yeah [laughs].
So yeah, are you changing up some arrangements or anything? How are they feeling?
They’re definitely getting louder [laughs]. It’s a lot more fun playing the new material live because it’s very lively. But with the record itself, we wanted to maintain a live feel to begin with, so we haven’t really completely changed any of the songs for the stage, with the exception of “Aria” because it was very “studio-recorded” track. But it still sounds a lot like the album.
Yeah, that brings up something I wanted to mention: I was recently watching some of your videos on YouTube, and a few of them featured live takes in the studio where you guys were playing live, but obviously separated into individual booths and such. Do you guys do a lot of live recording in the studio, or do you do the standard “layered tracks” approach?
We actually do try to play everything live together in the studio and then do overdubs basically, and it involves a lot of overdubs because there are a lot of guitars on the album [laughs]. But even if we’re playing with a rhythm section that’s, like, super-technically awesome, I find it’s just better for everybody to be playing live so we can have that live feel to it and not have it be so mechanical sounding.
Yeah, I know what you mean. And I apologize for the bad pun I’m about to make, but it’s definitely much more organic to have that approach.
[Laughs.]
But there is more feeling to it when you make the music like that, and it generally does translate well. So, what are the plans in terms of the upcoming tour?
Right now we’re playing a bunch of shows in the area, just around Toronto and the satellite cities. Then in the second half of September, we’re planning to go to Halifax and play shows from here to Halifax and the way back. That’s pretty much it for the immediate future. But we’re also trying to develop some different contacts around, possibly in the UK, as we were told that would be a good place for us to be. So we’re hoping to meet some people and hopefully play some shows there in the near future. The plan is just to keep working on it, and when something comes up just work on it some more.
Awesome. Alright, last question, and it’s only because I’ve got to know: You guys played the launch for the last Harry Potter book a few years back; how was it playing a damn castle? [The launch party was held at Casa Loma in Toronto]
It was amazing! The crazy thing was, like, a year before we were in Casa Loma doing a photo shoot, and we were talking about how cool it would be to play a show here. And then the following year we ended up playing a show there. So yeah, playing a castle is pretty epic.
Any plans to go back? Because I’ve got to say that’s a pretty awesome venue.
Yeah, I’d love to. Maybe we could play another when we tour Scotland or something [laughs].
That would be cool, they’ve got castles everywhere in Scotland. I’ve been there before, and yeah, the place is littered with castles. Like, if you stop your car for a bathroom break in Scotland, chances are you’re doing so at a bloody castle.
[Laughs.]
Anyways, Tara, thanks so much for your time. I really look forward to seeing you guys play soon.
It was my pleasure. Thanks a lot.
