Clothes Make the Man
Interview

by Diego Silva

We sat with Scott and Ross from Clothes Make the Man before their November 6th performance at Sneaky Dee’s where they opened for Vancouver’s Carpenter [Check out our interview with Dan Sioui of Carpenter HERE. Photos HERE]. The band has just recently finished recording their next release Distance, which is set to release in spring 2010. Though the album is fully complete and ready to sell, CMTM are waiting for the right offer from a label or distributor before putting the album on the market. Produced by Julius “Juice” Butty (Alexisonfire, Protest the Hero, City and Colour) and tracked at Metalworks Studios, there is no doubt that this will be a great sounding album. Clothes Make the Man are highly energetic and loud, which makes for a great live performance, and they have somehow managed to capture that energy in their recorded work as well.

Check out our interview with the band, as they go into detail about

BBtBB: Distance is the title of your next full-length. When can we expect it and what can you tell us about it?

Ross: 2010? We don’t have a set date for the release yet. We’re working with people doing all the behind-the-scenes work to get that sorted out.

Scott: It’s all done and ready to go, but it’s just the business side that’s holding it back.

BBtBB: Who did you work with on recording this album?

Scott: Julius ["Juice"] Butty who is a kick-ass producer.

Ross: Nick Blagona was the engineer and he was fuckin’ baddass! We recorded it at Metalworks and Juice’s studio, Silo, in Hamilton.

Scott: Good dudes. Silo is in Stony Creek, actually.

BBtBB: Some of the new songs are up on your MySpace so listeners can already get a taste of the new album. What would you say sets these new songs apart from your past material?

Scott: Production is one for sure.

Ross: We spent a lot of time crafting the songs this time, more so than we did before.

Scott: The songs are more mature, but not in an “icky” way that it’s stale. We’re relatively young gentleman still learning to master our crafts, so it’s still fresh and exciting.

BBtBB: Did you guys experiment with anything new for this album?

Ross: We brought in some fun players. There was a guy, Bill Dillon, who played lap steel on a song or two, and he was really cool too, just watched as he played. He was something. There was a cellist as well.

Scott: Carla Reeves I believe?

Ross: He’s the guy that remembers the names. (laughs) We didn’t try a whole bunch of new things. In the studio, there were different mic techniques but that was all the engineer’s doing.

Scott: It was pretty much straightforward, the way we like to work. We went in with a plan and executed it!

BBtBB: You have been together for more than five years now. How would you describe the progression in the band’s sound since the early days?

Ross: Back then we were a lot younger and just friends playing in a band. Somewhere along the road we said, “Let’s do this for real!”

Scott: We’re writing songs with meaning now that could mean something to someone 20 years down the road, as opposed to writing songs about girlfriends we just broke up with.

BBtBB: Where do you guys look to for inspiration? Any artists that you look to for inspiration when writing?

Scott: I think we might be different from other bands in that we all listen to so much different music, and hate each other’s music. It’s the way we play together that makes us what we are and we play with an edge. I am the edge! (laughs)

BBtBB: What’s next for the band after the holidays? Touring for the new release?

Ross: We’ll tour for the album once it’s out next year. For now, we’re going to make some videos and play a bunch of shows around Ontario.

Scott: Yeah, there’s a lot of behind the scenes business going on right now but we’re keeping it relevant by playing shows and selling CDs. It’s a cool way to get people out, because a lot of people ask us to mail them CDs, but they have to come out and watch us to get a copy.

BBtBB: Are you pushing to get a record deal or going indie?

Ross: We’ve been chatting with some people to see what deals are offered and what makes sense for us right now.

BBtBB: How did the last album do? When did it come out?

Ross: It did pretty well. We sold a couple thousand copies.

Scott: Just from playing shows and selling it at the merch table! It came out in 2006, so about three years back. We’re definitely due for a new one.

Ross: We’re itching pretty bad to put it out. It’s really hard to sit on it for this long.

Scott: In between, we thought of putting out EPs but we waited until we had a strong album.

BBtBB: Token boombox question: If you weren’t doing music, what would you be in jail for?

Ross: Definitely for killing prostitutes! (laughs)

Scott: I would say statutory rape!

BBtBB: (laughs) We get a lot of the statutory rape thing. It must be the all ages shows bands play all the time! It’s all fun and jokes, don’t worry!

Scott: Seriously, I’d say defrauding a corporation. Defrauding fuckin’ Microsoft! The End!

Ross: Killing prostitutes is fine! (laughs) I’d really want to go to jail for doing what those “Sea Sheppards” do on TV. They go around and take down whaling boats, that’s what I’d want to do. I’d make a good pirate! A pirate for the whales! (laughs)

Scott: Statutory rape… I regretted that as it was coming out!

BBtBB: You know it’s the honest truth when it comes out right away! (laughs)

Scott: I would not want my mom to know I was in jail for statutory rape! (laughs) She’s a minor! It’s disgusting and wrong!

BBtBB: Do you do a lot of all ages shows?

Scott: Not really, we don’t! We need to smarten up on that. I think we play cross-over music that could go 19+ or all ages.

Ross: We don’t do as many as we should. We do good when we play with bands like Cancer Bats and Attack in Black and we sell lots of merch and and kids are receptive, but we don’t really set up all ages shows. I don’t know why that is.

Scott: It’s a hard thing to promote when you’ve been used to playing to a bar scene.

Ross: Our music isn’t easily definable as emo or hardcore.

Scott: We don’t really fit into a scene. We’re heavy, but we’re also pop and we value production.

Ross: Some kids wouldn’t know what we’re doing. We’ll have to look into it.

BBtBB: Any shout-outs to bands or friends before we finish up?

Scott: Got to rep the Macho Man Randy Savage album. The real deal, you have to check it out! If you don’t have it, buy it. The first six songs are bangin! His rhyming [bad Macho Man impression] is hilarious! (laughs)

BBtBB: Amazing. Thanks!