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Fast, cheap and
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by ERIK LEIJON Arite of passage for university graduates is to elude the harsh responsibilities of life just a little bit longer by spending a meandering, substance-fuelled sabbatical in Europe, typically under the guise of discovering one’s self. When Dan Boeckner went with his wife and Handsome Furs bandmate Alexei Perry to postcommunist Russia, the Baltics, Poland and Germany, he didn’t return home with a bunch of selfaggrandizing stories of how many types of Czech absinthe he consumed or how much perspective he gained. He and his wife came back with Face Control, a punchy sophomore record that recounts their adventures with more honesty than any slideshow or Travel Travel episode. “Face Control is a more brutal, honest way of saying dress code,” says the 31-year-old Boeckner, explaining the title of the record, which comes from a type of Russian club with a vigorously stringent policy to ensure only the most welldressed, attractive and rich people can enter. “We had been coming up with these songs, and I became fascinated with Eastern Bloc countries that so viciously adopted capitalist policies, where something as simple as a dress code could transform into something like face control.” Amid the crackling, drab communist architecture of Eastern Europe, a disillusioned Boeckner learned to love music again. In 2007, he and the 26-year-old Perry had a modern Montreal storybook wedding—getting hitched in front of friends and family at Beaver Lake and then dancing the night away at la Sala Rossa— but following the release of 2007’s minimal and cold Plague Park, he was becoming more detached from the progressive rock bloating and repressed sexuality he saw creeping into indie rock. Face Control is a very blunt reaction to not only the bewildering onslaught of new images and sensations he and Perry immortalized in their journals and scrapbooks driving across Eastern Europe, but also to the rapidly changing indie rock scene he helped forge with the Furs and his other famous group, Wolf Parade. EAST WITH THE LEAST“I’ve always been a punk at heart,” Boeckner says. “When we were over [in Eastern Europe], we were asking about people’s favourite music, and consistently, we would get these early-’80s postpunk records. This music had made a huge impression on them, because in the early ’80s, the separatist movements had started in the Baltics and there was a resurgence of young people not wanting to be under the thumb of Moscow. Listening to that music really brought back what I loved about music in the first place—the urgency and off-the-cuff nature.” Trekking across Eastern Europe on two different occasions in a minivan with their tour manager, Boeckner and Perry forced their fatigued bodies to maximize free time in between shows, to explore and soak in the sights. Having only two band members and very little gear made moving around much easier, and the constraints of having so few musical tools to work with—a guitar, synths and drum machines—meant making interesting, danceable, uptempo music representative of their adventures would be defined by its ingenuity and restrictions. Luckily for the duo, hitting the clubs after their shows proved creatively fruitful in contextualizing Perry’s robotic drum loops. Face Control’s electronic drums provide both repetitive dance hooks and an appropriate militaristic vibe. “Eastern Europe has this specific strain of really cheap-sounding techno that I totally love. I’m sure lyrically it’s totally vapid but just the cheekiness of replicating what they hear coming out of the U.K., it’s done so cheaply that it sounds so bizarre,” Boeckner says. One night at a club in Prague, New Order’s “Temptation” started blasting on the system. A good selection to be sure, but Boeckner recalls the PA was so terrible, the song was nearly unrecognizable through the distorted speakers. It also didn’t help that many of the eager young Czechs were attempting to sing along despite not knowing the lyrics, so the muffled music was drowned out by locals passionately interpreting the words phonetically. The memorable incident eventually became the New Order-referencing song “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything,” and it allowed Boeckner a brief fanboy moment when the now-defunct Manchester group personally approved the homage. Like the story behind the album title, the economic disparity between rich and poor in these locales was a recurring theme during their travels. “Talking Hotel Arbat Blues” is about the Russian hotel they stayed at, owned by former Russian president Vladimir Putin (“it was opulent on the outside but inside was kind of a dump,” he remembers). Despite being in a ritzy part of Moscow, nearby, young Ukrainian girls were living in portable toilet stalls. Similarly to how their newfound Eastern European friends developed a relationship with post-punk because of historical importance, the Furs’ simple and effective Face Control might prove to be on the cusp of a recession-based music movement. A recent album critique Boeckner read denounced Face Control as sounding cheap, but in this case, the word can easily be considered an unintended compliment. “Right now, with things being as fucked up economically as they are, I think it’s really important to make cheap music,” he says. “Not cheap in a bad way, but combined, we probably only have about $2,000 worth of gear, and with the current depressed economy, I think it’s important people can make music with limited resources.” OPPOSITES ATTRACTAlthough Perry’s cheap drums and Boeckner’s punk rock guitar work and vocals were meant to illustrate downtrodden post-Soviet industrial towns in places like Poland and Latvia, the album has proven relatable to American rustbelters in similar dire straits. Having recently played a show in St. Louis, Missouri, Boeckner didn’t see much of a difference between the abandoned factories peppering the Gateway City and the crumbling remnants of Soviet industrialism that still define life nearly two decades after the Iron Curtain fell. It’s no wonder, during these demoralizing times, the Furs made a concerted effort to create more lively music. Boeckner seems a bit surprised about the positive critical reception the album has received thus far, largely because the record was his candid response to the direction he sees many of his peers going in. “There are massive trends with indie rock, and it feels strange. It’s supposed to be underground but [indie rock] follows very strict rules. Lil Wayne or Kanye West using autotuned vocals feels the same to me as every fucking indie rock band having a fanciful drawing on the cover of their album. I felt, if we were going to be in that world, we might as well do something as different as possible.” One might have also noticed the unique and occasionally uncomfortable press shots of Boeckner and Perry, taken by Montreal photojournalist Liam Maloney, with the couple wrapped in various amorous poses. Despite being one amongst many married couples making music together, photos of such a physical nature between partners aren’t all that commonplace. The pics are also bucking a trend in indie rock, Boeckner says. In response to hyper-sexualized mainstream music, indie bands have reverted to “neutered, sexless preciousness, to the point where sex in music is considered uncool.” Telling a story that perhaps best symbolizes not only the duo’s relationship but their mindset as a band, Boeckner recounts the first gift he ever gave to Perry, whom he met when they were working at a local telemarketing firm (yet another page in this storybook Montreal match). During the initial courtship, they traded a lot of books with each other and because lovestruck Boeckner was tight for cash at the time, he borrowed a copy of Donald Barthelme’s 40 Stories from the Westmount library, ripped off all the tags and gave it to her as a present. So when Boeckner was given the opportunity to travel to exotic locales as a musician, he made sure he and Perry got the most out of all their trips, even staying up for 48 hours straight in Serbia, despite the rigours of touring. He keeps an extensive photojournal of the many great signs they’ve witnessed, while writer/poet Perry is the meticulous note-taker. “It’s a luxury to be able to travel and perform even if you’re not making any money,” Boeckner says. “I never know if there will be a next time back there.” WITH WITCHIES AT IL MOTORE ON |
