Preview
STRADA
Thursday, July 7
Coca-Cola Stage (Calgary Stampede Grounds)
In the film High Fidelity, John Cusak’s character talks about how one of his relationships failed because he didn’t punch his own weight. He was dating outside his means and it came back to bite him in the ass.
If we take that analogy and extend it from relationships to the arena of music (which that film does on more than one occasion), you could say that a lot of bands fail for the same reason. When ambition outshines ability, bands are often left with well-intentioned material and no audience to play it to. When you hear that a local band is garnering comparisons to heavyweights like Coldplay, the knee-jerk reaction is probably to think they are bandwagon-hopping try hards who will be soon forgotten.
But in the case of Calgary four-piece Strada, that couldn’t be further from the truth. They are an ambitious band gunning for the big time. If their latest album, You Have Nothing to Fear, is any indication, they are well on their way.
Formed in June 2000, Calgary audiences might remember them from their previous incarnation, Tourist. Once they learned there was a Vancouver outfit with that name they switched over to Strada (not knowing there was an L.A.-based band called Strata). For singer-guitarist Chad Thomas, the name Strada trips off the tongue nicely enough, but ultimately they were more serious about the music than the name.
Each member came to the band with musical training (bassist Jeff Robertson attended Mount Royal College, drummer Nathan Giebelhaus went to Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, and Thomas and guitarist Dan Huscroft both have 10 years of music lessons under their belts). In fact, Huscroft moved all the way from Chicago to be in the band, so Strada’s commitment to playing isn’t in question. However, the band’s big-time sound (which Thomas says leads to head-scratching comparisons to Audioslave and Our Lady Peace) makes them hard to pigeonhole. While they don’t slide easily into a single genre, Strada liberally incorporates different aspects of many mainstream rock artists. "That is a strength for us, but it can also make it difficult, cause it’s hard to place us."
That is especially true in a city like Calgary that eats its own and fosters an indie community that eschews anything that is a touch mainstream. But while many locals are worried about their hipster status, Thomas is clearly headed in the other direction.
"I don’t think mainstream radio success is a bad thing. If we’re going to make a living off of this we’re going to have to get radio play," he says. "It is hard to fit into that in Calgary. You just gotta slowly build a fanbase in this city and it’s not easy. There are a lot of really great bands here, but I think they don’t really find their place or find their home here."
It’s probably with that in mind that Strada wound up finding an agent to represent them – just one of the many signs the band isn’t content to punch their weight. Despite the polished, hooky, mid-tempo rock that pervades You Have Nothing to Fear, Thomas says their first meeting with their agent wasn’t all hand-pumping and back-patting.
"The first time he saw us play was at the Western Canadian Music Awards in the fall and he just tore our show apart. He just told us, ‘You suck at this and you suck at this.’ The only guy he really complimented was Nathan, our drummer," he says.
"He cut the rest of us apart, but he told us what he liked about our music and he was really straight with us. In an industry where people blow smoke up your ass all the time, it’s refreshing to have people who criticize you and tell you what they really think. And, if they really do genuinely love what you are doing, then it’s great to hear that, too."
If the high-profile shows and an out-of-town producer aren’t surefire signs of a band that is bigger than the town they live in, consider this – midway through their album, Strada hit you with "Walk Away." It’s a thoughtful, melancholy guitar anthem complete with backing vocals, strings and – get this – a children’s choir. Not many bands could take something that pretentious and make it work, but Strada manage.
"It was just an idea that popped out in the studio – one of those magical things. The studio that we recorded in was a makeshift studio in the basement of a church…. We just went and talked to the children’s pastor and asked her if we could record the kids and we all went up there early on a Sunday morning. We were just so tired and these kids were looking at us like we were totally weird. But we got ’em to sing it and they did a great job and it turned out pretty cool." |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.