Preview
UNCUT
Tuesday, July 12
The Hifi Club
When you find yourself forced to reinterpret the songs written for a two-piece electronic act through the format of a more conventional indie-rock band, the results are guaranteed to be interesting. This was the task at hand for Ian Warong and his band Uncut, after his original partner Jake Fairey left to pursue a techno career in Berlin.
"It just came down to the fact that he could actually make a living playing music out there, which he couldn’t do here," says Warong. "It’s the difference between having to keep a job besides your music, and living in an amazing city in Europe and supporting yourself. It’s a no-brainer, really."
However, Warong feels no resentment towards his ex-partner, as his departure has proved to be nothing but positive for the Toronto group’s development. If it weren’t for Fairey’s exit, there would have been no reason to assemble Uncut version 2.0, a fully operational four-piece that now sound like a simultaneously driving and mesmerizing cross between Bloc Party and Joy Division.
"Jake and me originally streamlined it into this whole laptop thing and when we did that it kind of lost a sense of being dynamic," says Warong. "You’re just playing over a backing track, so nothing really different ever happens. By getting away from having laptops, it became immediately more exciting to play, especially live. Things can change and can go potentially wrong, and it’s definitely a lot louder."
On Uncut’s delirious debut, Those Who Were Hung Hang Here, released on Paperbag Records last year, Warong’s voice is reminiscent of an updated Ian Curtis – dark, deep and perfectly depressing. But during the interview, his spoken tone is lively, open and happy. Why does he sound so down in the dumps on the album?
"When we were recording, it was winter and it was freezing out. It was sort of a sad environment and it just came out that way," he explains with a laugh. "The heat broke in the studio, and we were recording in parkas at two in the morning, eating shitty food."
With Paperbag’s rapidly rising stock in the indie world, Uncut have begun to make a name for themselves in Canada and have even gained a small following in the States. In the past several months, they played two sets at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and also embarked on a mini tour with the apocalyptic two-man Death From Above 1979 and the unrelentingly awesome controller.controller. Warong explains how opening for these notoriously energetic bands may have altered their sound yet again.
"On the tour with DFA, we just realized that we were playing the Bowery in New York and were the first band on," he says. "Everything had to become amplified, quite a bit louder and more aggressive, even the vocals. I definitely know that when we got back home and played our first couple of shows, people were just like, ‘what the fuck?’"
Warong also adds that the songs the band have begun recording for their sophomore release now sound much closer to their harder rocking live sound.
"Because there was so much stuff that I had written with Jake beforehand, I think that part is still there, but now other people are contributing a lot more to the band," he says. "I had so many structures and ideas that came along with the… other version, but now we’re a lot more open and we sound a lot more like how we sound live. It’s taken us out of the gloomier end of the record and towards the more abrasive end."
These days, the only remnant of Uncut’s original incarnation is their trademark song "Understanding the New Violence," which Warong and Fairey also recorded as a techno track and released as a seven-inch. The big question though, is just what exactly is the new violence?
"It was the first line that I came up with, before there was even a band," says Warong. "It was purposefully vague and, to be honest, I don’t really remember." |
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