Capital shitty

>> Ottawa's Daiquiri click with the laff-makers

by BOSS SAMBOSA

Lyrics like "Your teeth are really white, you're all dried up/ You're so tanned in the middle of winter, you're so brown," in a song about tanning salon victims, can fool one into believing Daiquiri are into the trivial. And though they certainly turn the mundane elements of their hometown Ottawa into funny quips, there is definition and direction beyond the silly.

"A lot of the songs are kind of shots at people," says singer and samplist Mike Hickey, seeming remarkably more domestic and composed than his overtly frantic stage persona. "We take shots at ourselves too. We're sarcastic, we just like to laugh."

Daiquiri sound like a shattered mélange of metal, hyperactive pop, smart-assed humour and evolved laziness. This weird recipe, which somehow avoids being downright annoying, has attracted legendary comedians Tom Green and Neil Hamburger to the band.

Listening to Daiquiri, it's clear why they'd get along with anti-comedian Neil Hamburger, whose own style is half-assed self-deprecating sarcasm-soaked comic nihilism. "Neil Hamburger is fucking amazing. When he played here, he stayed at this giant place that I was housesitting and said, 'You guys got it pretty good here, this sure beats a hotel,' in his weird Hamburger voice. He's really out there. But you'd be surprised how well he functions doing day-to-day things. He seems dysfunctional, but he manages."

The hook-up with Tom Green makes sense too, considering he's also from Ottawa. "Our old band Brandon Walsh played on the Tom Green Show a few times, back when it started. He liked us, even though he's mostly into hip hop. He thought we kind of fit the vibe of the show. Anyway, that's how we met our guitarist Glenn Humplike [Green's sidekick] and started Daiquiri.

"What was most weird about being on this hugely popular show was that it didn't really translate into lots of attention for Daiquiri. The old band Brandon Walsh is on all kinds of old tapes of the show. Which is crazy too. I mean, they're selling thousands and thousands of tapes, but it doesn't really reflect what we're doing now."

Part of the problem seemed to be the lure of Hollywood, which dragged Green and Humplike to Los Angeles, leaving Daiquiri to find a new guitarist who'll stay in the capital city as long as they do.

"I just spent the whole day practicing with our new guitarist--who's also leaving town, which means we'll need a new-new guitarist soon. But I understand the lure of leaving. Music in this town sucks. I want to move to L.A. too. The only thing keeping me here is money and not being American."

Besides, L.A. is a place where Hickey can stay tanned, all year 'round.

With Estradasphere and Tub Ring at Foufounes Électriques on Monday, August 6, 8pm, $6