CC: Tell me about Heavy Static. Why do people need to check you out if they’re hearing about you for the first time?
I always have a tough time explaining what Heavy Static is, but we are never boring and we always look fucking fantastic. I’d say have an open mind because our music can tend to be a bit schizophrenic, in that our songs are sometimes so different from each other. We are a bit of everything, minus hip-hop and country. We do tend to play a lot of overly dramatic guitar solos and incorporate gang vocal falsettos!
CC: How and why did you guys start this band?
We started Heavy Static out of necessity. There is too much shitty music being made and too many people are playing guitar music the wrong way. Too many bands look like garbage. Too many bands think irony is cool. And too many bands listen far too much to what their mothers think. I wanted to show people how it could and should be. Our sound and look is classic and it’s familiar, but new. I’ve always been proactive in terms of stepping up when I see a wrong. Indie rock is just plain wrong these days and just because you own an instrument doesn’t mean you should ruin our ears by pretending to be an “artist.”
CC: In 3 words describe your music.
Sexy. Sweaty. Mysterious.
CC: How do you want people to feel when listening to your music?
I want goosebumbs to form on forearms and the hairs to stand on end on peoples’ napes. I want Heavy Static to feel like falling in love and heartbreak all at once, which essentially it is. I especially want our music to inspire and to elicit delusions of grandeur. If a kid sees a picture of us and thinks “they look cool” then we’ve done our job. If a kid hears our music and thinks “I want to pick up a guitar” then we’ve done our job. And, if a chick hears our music and sees us on stage and thinks “I want to have sex with them” then we’ve done our job.
CC: What should we expect from your new EP, Here Comes the Fear, coming out in July?
There’s a little bit of everything on there. You’ve got the 1970s punk-esque first single “Andromeda”, and the Swedish electro-pop sound of “Spark”. Then you’ve got an almost Arcade Fire kind of sounding song in the title track “Here Comes the Fear.” It’s an ambitious EP for a band that is unsigned. It’s what you’d call “punching above our weight”, but we always feel like heavyweights even as underdogs. Regardless, it’s four really great rock/pop songs – which I don’t think many people bother writing anymore.
CC: Do you plan to tour this summer to help promote Here Comes the Fear?
We’ve got a few shows booked in Montreal, Toronto and a few other cities, but we’re focusing on putting the finishing touches on a tour. So stay tuned!
CC: Do you have any interesting preshow rituals?
Not that I know of. I’m very focused and disconnected from reality in the lead-up to getting on stage. Everything is in slow motion and I am sort of lost in my head. I don’t know it at the time, but later on I recall these moments and they seem like I’m on the outside looking in. Mostly, though, it’s us scrambling for make-up and hairspray and trying to decide on which outfit we are going to wear because we like to wear the same thing (a uniform as it were) when we are onstage together. It’s sort of a uniform that makes us feel like we are going to war, which we are. Us against the world!
CC: With so many bands out there, what makes Heavy Static special?
I think we’re playing music that is hard to define, but is familiar. Everyone likes to categorize everything and it’s hard to pin us down. On one hand, we are rock, but on the other hand, we are pop. Bands with guitars shouldn’t be pop these days, but we are! I’m very into the idea of writing catchy songs that stay in your head for a week. We also look great on stage and in life. I hate bands who look like they just clocked out at their job at The Gap and walked right up on stage without changing. It’s disgusting. More importantly, it’s lazy. If you can’t make an effort to look good, then what makes anyone think you’d make an effort to write a good song? NOTHING.
CC: Where do you see yourselves five years from now?
Stadiums to finally play these songs live in venues in which they were meant to be played. Stadium rock or bust!
CC: What’s next for Heavy Static?
The world is our oyster. But for now, new music and shows. More new music and more new shows. Then after that, another helping of new music and new shows. In between all that, starting at ourselves for long periods of time in the mirror and admiring what our parents made with their love.
All answers by guitarist and vocalist Christian Patrick.
Post and interview by Haley Knapp
What are your thoughts on Heavy Static? Comment below.
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