Wrapping Up a Big Year For The Arkells – An Interview w/Tim Oxford

in Interviews by Tanya Tonon — January 13, 2010 at 4:56 pm | 0 comments

Wrapping Up a Big Year For The Arkells
An Interview w/Tim Oxford

by Diego Silva

Tim Oxford, drummer of The Arkells, spoke to us at Lee’s Palace before their first of two headlining shows, wrapping up their cross-Canada tour. We have been following these talented boys closely since Bring Back the Boombox first launched. We first interviewed Max Kerman, singer and guitarist of the band, in August of 2009, read it HERE. This follow-up interview wraps up a very busy and exciting year for the Arkells. Keep reading to find out why 2009 was a great year and why 2010 will be even better.

BBtBB: I’m here with Tim Oxford, drummer of Arkells.  This has been a big year for you guys. You’ve won Rising Star of the CBC Award in, a CASBY, and you were nominated at the Verge Awards, how has that affected you in regards to thinking about the future as a band?

TO: As far as thinking about the future, we’ve all been working other jobs so when it comes to taking on music as a career it’s very helpful when people are acknowledging the record.

BBtBB: Are you thinking it’s time to drop the other jobs and starting doing this full-time?

TO: I think it’s getting hard to balance the two. Touring three weeks out of a month and trying to hold down a job is nearly impossible.

BBtBB: You guys are just wrapping up your first headlining tour now?

TO: Yep, this was our first time!

BBtBB: How did it go?

TO: It was great! It went a lot better than expected. We went all the way out West, and we’re just finishing up some Ontario dates this week. The response has been awesome. The first time across [Canada] you never know what to expect but it was really positive.

BBtBB: Who did you take with you on this tour?

TO: The Novaks from St. John’s, Newfoundland.

BBtBB: Did they go straight across the whole tour or did you have other acts with you for certain dates?

TO: We had a few local openers, tonight we have Sweet Thing who are good friends of ours. Tomorrow, Huron will be opening – also good friends of ours. For certain shows we had local openers but it’s good to have friends out when you can.

BBtBB: What was the best city to play in this time around?

TO: It’s hard to say which was best. I think Vancouver was the most surprising because we’ve been out there five times this year and this was the first time we really felt some growth. Especially since you’re that far away from home, it gets more and more intimidating the further you get. Thankfully, it was really great.

BBtBB: That’s awesome. You guys did ‘Busking for Change’ the War Child benefit before you left for tour, how did you get involved with that?

TO: A good friend of mine Jeremy Taggert from Our Lady Peace got me involved in something called ‘Drummers for Darfur’ and we marched down Queen St. with a bunch of drummers and it was really cool. So when they came out to recruit us, it really wasn’t much more than having a good relationship with people involved.

BBtBB: Cool. You guys have a new video out, ‘Pullin Punches’ which is premiering today on MuchMusic.  Who did you guys work with on the video?

TO: We worked with Devon Black. It was our first time working with him and he was a great guy. He had a vision to do this Raging Bull idea.

BBtBB: Yeah, I saw the making of! It looks like an interesting concept. Devon was the one who came up with that idea?

TO: I think we were back and forth, we had a boxing concept for the song. It comes across as very obvious since the song is called ‘Pullin Punches’. It’s more about the throwing of the fight, that’s what it’s really about. But yeah, it started with the idea to do a boxing video and Devon really brought up everything else. From day one, he really knew what we wanted.

BBtBB: Arkells were the first band to play live on The Hour this year. You performed with Stephen Lewis, was that weird for you guys?

TO: I don’t know if weird is the word but it was interesting! (laughs) He was a really great guy and a lot of fun. I don’t know if he knew what song we were doing before that day but it was interesting to say the least.

BBtBB: Yeah, he didn’t sound like he had too much time to practice! (the both of us crack up right about now)

TO: You said it, not me!

BBtBB: I’ll take the blame for that one! Last fall I spoke with Max and so much has happened since that it’s amazing for everything to have happened in such a short time span. Max mentioned in that interview that you were already writing new songs and getting ready for a new album, have you been performing any of the new songs on tour and testing them out a bit?

TO: When we took off we probably had two new songs that we played at Bookie’s Big Bash at the Sound Academy and we’ve since introduced two more on this tour. We’ll hopefully play one at tonight’s show and one tomorrow. As long as no one gets cold feet. (laughs)

BBtBB: You’re obviously working on new songs and preparing for the future, what’s next for you guys?

TO: We’re trying to get the record outside of Canada and support it internationally. We’d like to tour the States. We went down there for SXSW in Texas and played a show in New York on the way back, so it would be nice to fill in the blanks and get more into the States. Especially when it gets cold here, we can just go down to the sunny places.

BBtBB: Good plan! On to the token Boombox question, if you weren’t in music what would you be in jail for?

TO: Oh man, I need to think about this one.  I always wanted to be an athlete but that’s not illegal.  Breaking and entering in to record stores, just to listen to them!