Plants and Animals

Thu 26th Mar, 2009 in Features

Rising up from the creative wellspring of Montreal, Plants and Animals is one of 2009’s brightest prospects. The band’s debut album Parc Avenue has inspired much praise, not least from FasterLouder’s reviewer. We wrangled a moment with main man Warren C. Spicer to talk casinos and Roberta Flack.

Congratulations on your JUNO Award nominations. Was the band surprised to be nominated for those as well as last year’s Canadian Polaris Music Prize?
Thanks. Yes, it was a surprise. This was our first release so we have never really thought too much about awards and nominations. The Polaris Awards gala was a wild night. I was disappointed we didn’t win, but being nominated was nice.

Parc Avenue has a lush density about it, how do you translate that to the live setting, or do you structure the songs differently?
The real sound of that record is us three making music. The additional stuff is not essential, but makes for a more exciting recording. But what makes a good recording doesn’t necessarily make for a good live show. The show is more about connecting with the audience and coming together than trying to recreate what we did in the studio. The live show and the record are siblings, but not twins.

Warren has been quoted as saying the album is a document of you “figuring out how to make songs”. As a result of making the record do you now approach songwriting in a different way?
Parc Avenue is our coming of age story. It’s our childhood as a band and for me as a songwriter. We packed a lot of experiences into that recording and now as a result I think we are now a lot more comfortable with putting a song together. Our new stuff is coming in faster and stronger. I can see a song much clearer that I could with Parc Avenue. A lot of those songs on Parc Avenue are the first songs we ever wrote, so there was an element of naivety and inexperience happening there.

Have you had time to start writing for the next record or are you still on the Parc Avenue tour bus?
Yes, we are working on a bunch of new songs. We’re in the P&A tour van; unfortunately we have yet to climb to bus status. We play two or three new songs in the show these days. We have three weeks in April booked at Treatment Room – the same magical place a lot of Parc Avenue was recorded. We don’t know how much we will achieve. The last time we booked the studio we drank rum and coke for three days and then recorded two songs on the last day.

Much has been made in the media of the multiple influences that appear in your music: Neil Young, The Beatles, Flaming Lips and so on. Are there any other influences that play a part in your songwriting that might surprise listeners?
That depends on who you ask. Right now I am all into Roberta Flack. She is so patient and subtle, and her sound is so open and easy. That might influence me to try and decode what she’s doing and then see if I can do anything with it. It’s not about recreating or imitating anything. It’s more about understanding why something is working.

Nature features strongly in the lyrics of songs like Feedback In The Field and Faerie Dance as well as your name and the artwork for the record. Where does that outdoors theme come from?
I guess it was just somehow appropriate for those songs. I don’t really work with themes in the words. It’s more about the right words for the song. I think the outdoors is nice because it’s easy and open, and gets a song away from human stuff. It’s mysterious and offers no advice or conclusions – however sometimes a song needs that stuff too.

What has been the most amusing reaction or response you have had to Parc Avenue?
Hmm, I suppose it was my own reaction. The only time I ever heard one of our songs outside in the real world I was at the casino in Vancouver losing badly. Then Bye Bye Bye came on the casino sound system…I believe after a Celine Dion song. I freaked out laughing and then won a bunch of money.

Do you have any plans to tour this album to other countries such as Australia?
As soon as we can. I love the Australian accent and kangaroos.

Parc Avenue is out now on Pod through Inertia.