by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Montrealer Dave Cool didn’t set out to create a solo-artists label. He originally intended to release only his own material, but recurrent ear problems put a temporary kibosh on his dreams of fame and glory. Content to enjoy those dreams vicariously, he shifted his focus to the efforts of others, and established his new Stand Alone imprint.

“With independent music, it’s all about niche marketing,” explains Cools. “A lot of indie labels find a genre of music to represent, whether it’s punk, jazz, ska, blues or whatever, and they stick to that. I didn’t want to restrict myself because I like just about every kind of music there is. I wanted to release a variety of music but have something about it that makes is stand out, makes it unique. I always seem to like the solo spin-off projects of the bands I like more than I like the bands themselves. I look forward to guys going off on their own, seeing what they can do individually. So I figured this would be a great way to accomplish all those things. This way I could take a jazz guy, or a hip hop act, or a spoken-word person or rock, punk, whatever.”

Or any of the above at once, at least in the case of Stand Alone’s first signing, Paul Cargnello of lefty reggae-rockers the Vendettas. Cargnello’s Lightweight Romeo hears him in acoustic mode, doing reggae-flavoured folk-rock that spotlights his raw songcraft, making more room for his lyrical balance of righteous indignation and heartfelt romanticism.

“Paul was ideal because he’s all over the place. On the album, there’s reggae, rock, folk, punk, ska, everything. I figured that, starting out, it would be great to have someone who can play all those different styles. That way, it’s representative of what I want to do in the future with a roster.”

“It was definitely a right-place-at-the-right-time situation,” says Cargnello of his signing to Stand Alone, “which is a very hard cocktail to concoct. It’s funny, with the Vendettas, nobody really bit as they did with my solo stuff. There was actually quite a bit of interest. Looking at my options, I still went with Stand Alone, because there’s nothing quite like it. Especially with my politics—a lot of people were more inclined to change what I was doing than to just accept it. I have had creative control over almost every aspect of this album, and that’s only because Dave allowed it.”

Cool’s remark about enjoying solo projects more rang true, for this writer, upon hearing Lightweight Romeo. It wasn’t the painful solo-folkie drivel I’d feared. With assorted Stomp types assisting on brass, ex-Planet Smasher Tim Doyle at the board and Cargnello’s brother Christopher in a guitar cameo, it’s a collective effort. Some tunes even exceed the Vendettas’ power-trio set-up in terms of instrumentation. And, I’ll be honest, its humble precision makes it easier on the ears.

“I’ve been hearing that all over the place,” laughs Cargnello. “I think the Vendettas have this image of ramming ideology down people’s throats. I don’t know if it was necessarily what I was saying, because my themes haven’t really changed. What has changed is the approach. With this, I can say the same things, and people are more accepting. They come away saying they liked lyrics that, if I sang them with the Vendettas, people would go, ‘Fuck you!’” :

CD launch with Pierre-Alain Faucon at Petit Campus
on Friday, Oct. 4, 9pm, free

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