by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“One door closed and another door opened,” says Islands centrepiece Nick Diamonds, formerly of the Unicorns. “I like what’s behind this door. It’s exciting.”

That it is. Islands have already recorded an LP and signed a European record deal, yet the band only performed together for the first time on Monday, Sept. 19, the first of three secret warm-up gigs leading up to this week’s Beck show. Any other band would be quaking at the prospect of playing their first proper gig in an arena, but Islands—at least this temporary line-up thereof—are poised, ready and only slightly rusty.

Only prodigious violinists Alex and Sebastian are green to the music world. Ex-Unicorns Diamonds and J’aime play keys and drums respectively, while Mike Feuerstack (Wooden Stars, Snailhouse) and Jim Guthrie play guitars, and seasoned musician Patrice Agbokou plays bass.

Diamonds describes Islands as more “mature,” “sombre” and “worldly” than his old band, but behind the relative refinement and seriousness of the project lies a light-hearted pop flair bound to satisfy fans of the Unicorns, a band that petered out just as it was hitting full steam. The Mirror asked Diamonds for the skinny.

Mirror: Inquiring minds want to know what happened to the Unicorns.

Nick Diamonds: We toured ourselves into the ground. On the outside, things were going well, but on the inside it was hard to maintain sanity and good personal relations. We were thrown into this bowl of sharks and just had to fight. I don’t know what happened, but it was for the best. And the Unicorns is pristine—we kept things really true to our ideals, we turned down countless shoe and car commercials. We kept it real.

M: So, like you said, that door is closed.

ND: Slammed shut.

M: In light of the problems the Unicorns had, how do you feel about touring?

ND: J’aime and I genuinely enjoyed being on the road. It didn’t feel like a job, it just felt like we were being afforded this really wonderful opportunity to see the world and get paid to do it and meet people and play for people and do music, which is what we love to do. I’ve talked to so many people who come back from tour, and people who are about to go out on tour, and they just complain. I can’t understand. Maybe it’s because my home life is always in such disarray. I like to escape.

M: So you and J’aime escaped to L.A. last winter.

ND: Yeah, we’d given up on music so we were trying to get into the movie business, but we weren’t trying very hard. Then we met this interesting gentleman named Steve McDonald [founder of legendary California punk band Red Kross], who helped us get on our feet again and take another stab at the pop world. Steve was just kinda like our svengali—it was like Lou Perlman and the Backstreet Boys.

M: Wow. This article will only come out after the Beck show, but what are your feelings about that gig?

ND: Oh, last night’s show was wonderful—we pissed Beck off, we set fire to the dressing room. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem normal.

M: Are you guys into the scientology?

ND: Big time. No comment. To each their own.

With Subtitle and Holy Fuck at Academy Club
on Saturday, Oct. 1, 11 p.m.

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