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Goin’ down the road
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Islands frontman Nick Thorburn, formerly known as Nick Diamonds, was at a Neil Young concert in New York City recently, listening to the classic tune “Human Highway,” when inspiration struck. He texted Jim Guthrie—former member of Guelph’s Royal City and the Islands live band, now a solo artist and composer for film and TV (remember “Hand in My Pocket,” the Capital One jingle? That’s his.)—suggesting it would make a nice name for their new project, one that was already steeped in nostalgia, referencing their favourite music of the ’50s and ’60s. Moody Motorcycle would be their album (released last August on Secret City), and Human Highway their name, and along with Geordie and Evan Gordon of Guelph’s the Magic, and Aaron Harris from Islands, they’ll play their first Canadian shows this weekend. Mirror: How did this project start? Jim Guthrie: We demoed the song “My Beach” in a hotel room in 2006, and maybe six months later, moved to my house and jammed out a bunch of other songs we had, helping each other finish them. M: So presumably “My Beach” set the tone, stylistically and otherwise? JG: It fit with his aesthetic and my aesthetic. It’s a softer song, it’s not really raucous, and neither is the rest of the record. With a couple of exceptions, most of the music that we make is mellow and moderately paced, so it was the perfect song to start off the whole project. But we were using songs that were half written, so everything was being pulled from different recesses of our brains and hard drives. M: So that wasn’t an Islands outtake? JG: Nick has a lot of songs that nobody’s ever heard—he’s just got a lot in him—but I think it’s pretty obvious to him whether they’re Islands songs or not. I didn’t feel that the song had a home, so it seemed clear from the start that he would give it to this project. M: Have you seen Neil Young’s movie, Human Highway? JG: I never have, and that’s just not right. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to see. I hear it’s super cracked out. M: I understand your first two shows were in New York City, opening for Paul Simon’s son Harper. What was that like? JG: It was really a whirlwind for me ’cause I hadn’t really played live in a while, at all, with anybody. I’d never even played these songs from start to finish—they were all put together track by track in the studio. So there was the obstacle of getting the band together, and we only had two days to practise, so we had to cram in a lot of rock ’n’ roll there. But it was awesome to play, and Harper was really good! M: Did you meet Paul? JG: There were rumours that Paul might be on the guest list for one of the shows. There were rumours that Yoko Ono might come to the show. It was really insane, all these super heavy dudes that I never thought I’d be in the same room with. But then, in the end, they didn’t show up. Oh well. WITH THE MAGIC AND ARCHIVIST AT IL |
