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>>Sizing up Montreal brother act
Continental Train Wreck

PICKING UP STEAM: Nick and Dan Philippi

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

If the two brothers who make up Continental Train Wreck look familiar, it’s because Nick and Dan Philippi have an extensive history in Montreal. For the last decade, since relocating here from Winnipeg, the pair have followed through a variety of projects—Tulip, To Bed With Venus, most recently Subsally. That last one was sans Nick, with Dan on guitar and vocals.

All were worthwhile projects, but none was ideal, and the Philippis are dedicated to reaching a certain pinnacle with their sound. “We’ve been distracted over the years by doing the other things, running dépanneurs and bars,” says Dan. “We’re free of that now. Right now our entire focus is on the music, and I think it’s the first time we’ve done that since we came to Montreal.”

Veterans of the music game and capable entrepreneurs outside it, the Philippis are well past the point of second-guessing themselves for the sake of the marketplace. Build the songs right, they figure, and the fans will come. Their business acumen won’t hurt, particularly as they look to crack the U.K. and European markets, but it’s secondary. “We’ve found some of our biggest success at the end of rehearsal,” says Nick, “just the two of us in the room at 2 in the morning.”

The trick is in reduction, not expansion. Returning to the duo format they began with, the brothers use their minimalism to maximum effect, with Nick employing the full range of the bass guitar to create a richly textured wall of gale-force tones, stitched up by Dan’s diligent drum work and carefully crafted vocals.

“The dynamics are coming, more and more,” says Dan. “Nick can be so overpowering sometimes, so tremendous, but I think he’s really starting to work the dynamics. Our tunes are very rollercoaster-ish, where they come down a bit and then kick in again.”

If there’s any talk of a third member, it would be a sound technician to further enhance CTW’s voluminous tunes—they beg for ever greater wattage, because the brothers built the songs that way. “It’s not the nature of the music,” says Dan, “something that we can sit down and do with two acoustic guitars. Not gonna happen.”

With Stop Thief and Beautiful Nothing at
Playhouse on Saturday, April 26, 9 p.m., $5