The Besnard Lakes

Thu 3rd Mar, 2011 in Features

After seven years, three albums and two nominations for Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize, The Besnard Lakes are making their first trip to Australia to play at Golden Plains, as well as sideshows in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

If you haven’t yet heard them, you are in for a treat – words cannot adequately express the sheer fullness of their sound, but imagine the sunny voices of The Beach Boys slowed to about half the speed, awash with layers and layers of beautiful guitars and hypnotic, rolling drums. Add a touch of Jesus and Mary Chain along with a pinch of badass and you are getting close. Now sit in your favourite chair – the one right between your speakers – and turn it right up.

Faster Louder caught up with guitarist Richard White to chat about smoke machines, potentially being relieved of one’s underpants, and recording an album on the mixing desk that Led Zeppelin used for Physical Graffiti.

This is your first Australian tour. Is there anything that is a ‘Must Do’ on this trip?
It all depends on how much free time we have. I think we’ll try to head to the beach and see some Koalas at some point. Just being in warm weather again will be satisfying enough. Winter in Montreal can be long and harsh…
What can you tell us about a Besnard Lakes live show? What should we expect?
It’ll be like listening to our album, but louder and heavier, and hopefully with a bunch of smoke machines. We get in trouble for using too much smoke – some think it’s funny and ironic but Jace is really into it. One time someone passed a note to our soundguy that said “smoke machine=not cool. please stop that.” I guess they couldn’t see that we were the ones setting it off repeatedly…

You are part of a pretty incredible lineup for the Golden Plains festival. Who are you most looking forward to seeing play/hanging out with?
Hawkwind!

After your sojourn Down Under you are playing a couple of shows in China. How did that come about? And are you at all limited in what you can say or do while you are there?
Our US booking agent had sent a few bands over, and when she heard about the Australian dates, she offered to book us some dates in Asia. I haven’t heard any info re: what we can or can’t say or do, but maybe we’ll be ‘debriefed’ when we arrive there. Yes, it’s true – I wear briefs.

Jace has had a producing hand in countless records over the past few years [including Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade, Young Galaxy and Patrick Watson]. Does that experience affect the way he goes about Besnard Lakes records?
His running joke is that he steals all their cool ideas and then uses them on our records. Maybe it isn’t a joke?

I have to ask about the Physical Graffitti mixing desk [ The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night was recorded on a 1968 Neve germanium console that Led Zeppelin used to record their 1975 masterpiece]. Aside from the obvious attraction of using the same equipment that recorded Kashmir, what was it about that particular desk that so appealed to you?
We’re all gear snobs (or nerds depending on how you look at it), and with the Neve desk, it was great because not only does it have mojo, but it sounds amazing!