by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“Montreal’s a hard nut to crack,” says Tangiers bassist James Sayce, last seen playing Exclaim’s annual show to 150 locals, a slight comedown from the previous night’s 1,500 in Toronto. Sayce knows Montreal well, through Québécois lady friends and tours with his (and guitarist Yuri Didrichsons’) old band, the Deadly Snakes. Between the classic punk sounds heard on Hot New Spirits and the shabby chic looks seen in reams of magazines, Tangiers are the toast of indie Toronto, and the U.S. and U.K. are next. But first, they’ll roll back this way to try and get arrested in Montreal. The Mirror spoke to Sayce about the hard, rock life.

Mirror: So you’ll be playing us some new songs. What’s the forecast for the next album?

James Sayce: A little less manic. It’s still us, it’s still great, but we’ll have time for more layers, more instruments, more harmonies. It’s not gonna be Pet Sounds, we’ll still be a rock band about it, but I think we spazzed out on the first album. We didn’t have much time in the studio so we just played everything really fast. We basically recorded our live show.

M: Speaking of which, you toured with Frank Black. Was that cool?

JS: Well, it was physically cold. We did a lot of intense drives, like straight home from Vancouver—but, you know, we stopped for burritos in Winnipeg. Frank Black had never toured that part of the country, with the Pixies or solo, so we played to 1,500 people some nights. I don’t think it’s gonna be as much fun next time we cross Canada ’cause big shows are usually better shows—unless you’re at Club Soda with the Exclaim show (laughs). No, just kidding.

M: Any words of wisdom from Frank Black?

JS: He was pretty quiet. There was a lot of hand-shaking and, “Great work, guys!” but he wasn’t teaching us how to play guitar with our teeth. He had a bus, we had a van, and the old Pixies drummer [magic/science guy Dave Lovering] was touring in his car, doing his experiments between sets. He’s living the L.A. lifestyle, the L.A. magician lifestyle. That was, uh, strange.

M: So you guys are practically childhood friends. Does that help ease the tension of having three songwriters in the band?

JS: Oh, we get along. There are never arguments about who gets to sing what and who stands where. It’s just a fuller album, a fuller band when each guy brings in his best songs. I mean, we covered an entire continent without punching each other in the face. We all know what makes each other mad.

M: Okay, like what?

JS: Marco [Moniz, drummer] is the only driver—that makes him mad. Yuri gets really pissed if somebody drops fries in the van. Actually, fast food bugs me. Everybody getting hungry at different times and craving revolting food? Disgusting. But you can’t get really mad in the van ’cause there’s nowhere to go. You have to shut off your brain and stare out the window like you’re taking a weird two-week nap, except for the shows. Then later, you try to remember what happened, and nothing happened. It’s like two weeks have been lifted from your consciousness.

With the Cherry Persuasion and the Mystery Girls at Petit Campus on Thursday, July 10, 8:30pm, $6

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