Skinny ties and all

>> The past catches up with Winnipeg quasi-mods Duotang

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

After too long an absence, Winnipeg's mighty Duotang return with what might turn out to be the best Canadian rock album this year. And they don't even have a guitar player.

Rumours that the bass-and-drums duo had parted ways were nearly confirmed by bassist Rod Slaughter's active involvement in orch-pop unit Novillero--his voice, vocally, lyrically and composition-wise, was all over the best tunes of last fall's The Brindleford Follies. But now he and drummer Sean Allum have delivered The Bright Side, a clarification (and intensification!) of the ideas presented on the pair's previous Mint releases. Precise and muscular, the minimalist smart-pop is further charged by Slaughter's sharp lyrics. If you'll excuse the paradoxes, they're poetically blunt and fiercely ambivalent--forcing questions over coaxing answers.

I present the indirectly political quality of many of Duotang's songs as evidence, postulations on the politics of politics. "The first song on the last album, 'Call Your Side,' actually sets it all up," says Slaughter, checkmarking a tune that contained the eight words, "Am I left-wing?/ Am I right-wing?"--a sentiment echoed on The Bright Side's "Excuse For Apathy," with "For one, I try to see points from either side."

A sharp critique of leftist dogmatism, that one's followed by a thinly veiled abstraction of eco-despair and a bitter piss-take on the cruel, shallow fiscal hierarchy of the corporate world (very Paul Weller). Call your side, Mr. Slaughter.

"I find that lately especially, I believe in a lot of leftist things--like this book No Logo, which has a lot of interesting thoughts and premises--but that it's becoming a catalyst for rhetoric. All of a sudden, people are spewing out the same fuckin' lines over and over again. 'The corporate dragon is crushing our individual souls,' or whatever, and they're saying these things without any thought, it seems. That's what drives me crazy. I'm not standing on a soapbox, saying, 'I know the way,' at all--I believe in what they're saying, it's just hard for me to jump in and go, 'rally, rally,' when there's a lot of considerations I can't help myself thinking about.

"The right, on the other hand, is obviously very capitalist and cold. I find myself wanting to be political, but then bouncing back and forth until I end up back in the middle again."

Purple heart failure

A similar ambivalence is reserved for the mod tag sewed into the snappy couture suits. Note that they're booked for the Datsons' second annual All-Nighter, wherein the Lion d'Or, one of Montreal's choicest show spaces, becomes a dusk-till-dawn mod Mecca in the northern-soul tradition.

"I'm really excited about that, but I'm kinda nervous about it, too, because I think we're really being thrust into that mod thing now. In the end, we're not a mod band. The influences and the love of the music are definitely there, but no matter how much we'd like to sound like the Kinks or something, we're still going to sound like Duotang, a messy rock band."

Quasi-mod at best, which makes the grade for the All-Nighter. No scraps with local teddy boys are scheduled and Vespas, parkas and wraparound shades are strictly optional (though mullets and sweatpants may be checked at the door, thank you).

"That's the way it should be. When I was younger, I was more into it--I was kind of an idiot about it. It was almost a religion. What it should be is that it's what you love, but you shouldn't have to spend all your money on every single piece of cool clothing. I mean, the name itself means modernism, but you're dressing retro. You could almost twist your mind into a ball trying to figure it all out."

Plus ça change...

Ten years ago, as "Rise and Fall of the G.Q.B.C." intimates, the meaning of mod was clear as day to young Msrs. Slaughter and Allum. It seems Slaughter's ambivalence is fiercest in his reassessment of himself (and buddy there, Allum) after years of wallowing in that questionable fountain of youth, the rock 'n' roll scene--where motion is often circular, not upward or forward.

"I was trying to put this humorous twist on it, making fun of myself, and being positive about in the end. That's why it ended up being called The Bright Side. Recognizing that, especially in Winnipeg, having lived here for quite a while, you end up falling into a rut after a while, lifestyle-wise. Being in your late twenties or early thirties, your whole group of friends is still doing the exact same thing, going to the pub on Friday night, talking about the latest records, getting jobs to pass your time. It doesn't change.

"Winnipeg, and I get a feeling Montreal's like this too, is the kind of place where, if you want to be a socialite, you move to Vancouver. If you want to make it in the entertainment industry, you go to Toronto. For business, you move to Calgary. If you just don't know what the fuck to do, but you'll make up your mind next week, you stay in Winnipeg."

With the Datsons, the Numbers, More Plastic, DJs the Soul Clan, Davy Love and Mimi La Twisteuse at Lion d'Or on Saturday, June 16, 8pm--6am, $15