“And you can bring that to the bank and smoke it…in a shoe.” Interview w/Oh No Forest Fires

in Interviews by BBtBB Team — January 19, 2010 at 8:35 pm | 2 comments

“And you can bring that to the bank and smoke it…in a shoe.”

Interview w/Oh No Forest Fires

by Natasha Smith

*Natasha Smith makes her debut with Bring Back the Boombox with this interview. The St. John’s, NFLD native will continue to correspond from the East coast until she moves to Toronto at the end of February.*

When I think of the Toronto-based band Oh No Forest Fires I am slammed with the memory of their final St. John`s show in September. Front man Rajiv was a faceless, energetic ball of hair bouncing around like a 3-year-old on a sugar binge, while guitarist, Brock, stumbled off the stage, mounted a bar stool, and eventually stood atop the bar counter. And even though it was a Sunday night with a crowd of less than 20 people, the guys managed to put off one hell of an entertaining show.

Searching for one word to describe their sound – a berserk blend of pop, rock, air jumps and sweat – is near impossible. But Oh No Forest Fires, a fusion of vocalist/guitarist Rajiv Thavanathan, guitarist Brock Swanek, bassist Matt Del Buono, and drummer Adam Nimmo, would best describe their sound as “Guitarded”, which undoubtedly sounds fitting.

Now, after a run of two and half years, and the successful release of their debut album War on Geometry back in November 2008, ONFF has decided to call it quits. Recently, I had the chance to ask Rajiv Thavanathan and bassist Matt Del Buono a few questions about the journey.

BBtBB: First of all, I want to clear up where you guys got the name for your band, Oh No Forest Fires? I’ve been pondering this one for a while. Were there any other names that you toyed with?

RT: Yeah, we were going to call it Forest Fires, and that was too safe.  We were going to call it Oh No, and there was a rapper called “Oh No” so we couldn’t do that. One other title we were going to use was You Are Perfect Weather, but that’s almost impossible to say and it makes even less sense than Oh No Forest Fires so we didn’t go with that. But yeah, we were almost called You Are Perfect Weather, YAPW (yap-wah) if you were to abbreviate it and YAPW wouldn’t sound nearly as cool as ONFF (ow-n-fuh), because ONFF sounds really cool, like, “ONFF, ONFF, ONFF”. We’re not YAPW. YAPW sounds like something you’d say in church like, “YAPW, YAPW, YAPW, Amen!”, like that.

*sound effects would be needed to fully understand that ONFF really does sound much cooler than YAPW*

MDB: Metallica was taken. We really, really, really wanted to be called Metallica. Oh No Forest Fires was our second choice… REALLY disappointed we couldn’t call the band Metallica, I can’t stress that enough. We also thought of being: The Oneders, Destiny’s Child, Macho Man Randy Savage, and A Bunch of Five Year Olds with Beards.

RT: Absolutely all of that is true. Interestingly enough, both Dave Mustaine and Beyonce tried out for Oh No Forest Fires. True fact. We had to get rid of Beyonce because we already had enough pigment in the band and we already had way too many hot behinds.

BBtBB: War on Geometry debuted back in November 2008. Tell me a bit about the preparation involved with the album.

RT: Prepare for it? We didn’t really prepare for it. I stopped smoking and I drank a lot of water and tea, and I didn’t drink as much when we were recording vocals. But beyond that, preparing for it was just listening to the albums I listen to and listening to Wilco records and Radiohead records and thinking, “Oh, what can I steal from these?” And I stole a lot. I stole almost everything. And I’m going to continue to steal, I have no problem with that.  I’m not a very original person. I hear something and I like it and I want to make that sound. If I hear a crackly feedback sound, I’m going to go make it. I’m going to record it and pretend it was my idea – it wasn’t, it was someone else’s idea. But I’m very lucky that I get to say whatever I want.

MDB: A lot of yelling. We would just yell at nothing. It was like five Brick Tamlands from Anchorman, yelling at absolutely nothing.

BBtBB: “It’s not fun and games unless someone loses an eye” landed at #87 on Radio 3’s top 109 songs of 2009. That MUST feel good. Has it created any sense of accomplishment?

RT: Ah, yeah, definitely. That’s a nice little landmark. That was a really unexpected Christmas surprise. My friend forwarded me the link and I was like, “Oh! Look at that!”.  I was shocked when we were on their Top 30 thing anyway. And I was shocked when we did well on the Top 30 because we debuted on the chart at number 30 and we just thought that was as far as it would go, and then the next week we would be off.  We were like, “Oh, that’s amazing that we are on the top 30.” We thought that was an accomplishment. Then we got to number 3 and we were like, “Are you sure?” We are very happy, and we’re glad people like it. I think it’s something to be proud of and, yeah, I’m definitely proud of it. And I’m proud of the guys and I’m happy for them, and I’m happy for us – that someone has deemed our music worthwhile enough to put on a list like that.

MDB: We beat out John K. Samson. Take that, you beautiful modern day poet, you. You got nothing on us.

RT: [John K. Sampson] is in what I call my “Holy Trinity” of song writers or lyricists, which is John Darnell from the Mountain Goats, John K. Sampson from The Weakerthans and Craig Finn from The Hold Steady. They’re my favorite lyricists.

BBtBB: January 23^rd , at the Horseshoe Tavern, is going to be ONFF’s last show. This comes as a bit of a shock to some. Why did you guys feel it was time to call it quits?

RT: I think the timing of it made sense. People are going into different phases of their lives, and they’re changing. There are different commitments in life like work, school, and the possibility of school for me. I think, for me personally, I needed a change in how I create music and how I create art. That might sound a little high-minded or pretentious or whatever, but it’s true.  I think that anyone who makes music and wants to keep making music should be able to respect the decision of someone wanting to do it another way and challenge themselves. It’s not that I don’t enjoy Oh No Forest Fires or the creative process, but I think it was just time. I think it’s lucky that it’s at this point where everyone is so busy with everything in their lives and we’re not actually touring a record. We’re not in the middle of something big. Technically, right now for our band, this is down time anyway. It’s kind of a good time to break up, you know?

BBtBB: What should your fans expect to see at the last show?

RT: We’re going to play really, really hard. You know that old expression, “play every show like it’s your last”? Yeah, well this is our last show, so we’re going to play like it’s our last show. We always give 110 percent [and] I think at this show we are going to see if we can throw up! Honestly, I might not live through the night. So, they can expect to see someone die – put it that way. They’re going to witness a sacrifice. I’m going to kill Matt Del Buono and Brock is going to help me.

MDB: Way too many people on stage for their own good, sweet rock jump kicks, Rajiv offending anyone he can, Brock getting panties thrown at him, Adam seeing how many chairs he can jump over (record is 27, I believe). Me? Enjoying it like everyone else.

RT: I would edit that to say, “Adam is going to throw 27 panties at Matt.”

BBtBB: So with the end date drawing near, do either of you or the other band members have any new projects on the horizon?

RT: Oh yeah, I always like to play in as many bands as I can without going crazy. And sometimes I do go crazy anyway. Right now, I’m in another band with my friends Jon Hynes and Brad Kilpatrick and that band is tentatively called All Day Driver. We’ve played a couple of shows and they’ve all been really, really fun. We actually played on Friday here in Toronto. I’m planning on writing and recording some music on my own, although I’m not quite sure yet what it’s going to sound like. I have a feeling that it’s going to sound like pop music, but it’s going to sound like unpopular pop – if that makes sense. It will be called “melodramatic unpopular”; it’s “un-pop”. That’s the kind of genre it is – “fuzzy un-pop”. Me and my younger brother, Romesh, have started a band called Wolfgang Bang and the record is also in the works right now. It’s coming along and I’m really proud of it.  I’m probably going to tour with as many people that can put up with me touring in their band with them. I mean, I bought all these fucking guitars – I got to play them, don’t I?

MDB: Definitely an ’80s cover band. Duran Duran, Hall & Oates, Huey Lewis and the News, that kind of stuff…. the GOOD stuff. I also have some of my own material. Adam will probably help me with it in some way.

BBtBB: Thanks for your time guys! The last one is the token Boombox question. If you weren’t making music, what would you be in jail for?

RT: Like a thousand things! Public nuisance, reckless driving, consuming alcohol in public, public exposure of genitals and genital related things, rabble-rousing, regicide, rape…like a million things! If there was any justice in the world, I’d be in jail for stealing guitar sounds from other bands and for poaching bands for their members. And for stealing hearts.

MDB: I do all my illegal activities in international waters. That way I can’t be prosecuted. Pretty smart, if you ask me.

‘Oh No Forest Fires’ will play their final show at the Horseshoe Tavern on January 23^rd – joined by ‘The Darcys’, ‘Songs From A Room’, and ‘Arietta’.  $7 at the door. All proceeds with be going to a relief fund for Haiti.