CHRIS WALKER VS. BANDS AND BOOZE, ROUND THREE: THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC

Sometimes, in the wide-world of music, the term ‘experimental’ is just a synonym for ‘chaotic and shitty’. Take the last two Mars Volta albums, for example. Other times, the term ‘experimental’ might as well mean innovative and face-rockingly awesome. I felt the latter the first time I heard The Most Serene Republic’s Arts & Crafts debut, Underwater Cinematographer; I was so impressed my face was almost rocked right off, literally.

I bought Underwater Cinematographer on a whim. I noticed it in Tower’s indie section and thought, “Looks cool, I’ll try it out.” As you can imagine, I was pleasantly surprised. I even went on to call Underwater Cinematographer one of the best albums of 2005. And those are always my favorite albums: the ones you just randomly pick up, not knowing what to expect, only to discover some of the coolest music you’ve ever heard. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Last November, I came across the band’s EP, Phages. Once again, I was rocked. They basically took their chaotic and eclectic sound, fine polished it, and molded into eight flawless songs. I listened to it on repeat for days; it was one of the best things I’d heard all year and was what I needed to motivate me to start another run of Bands and Booze. You can read more here.

The Most Serene Republic are Adrian Jewett (vocals, trombone), Ryan Lenssen (piano, vocals), Nick Greaves (guitar, Ebow), Tony Nesbitt-Larking (drums), Emma Ditchburn (guitar, vocals), Simon Lukasewich (bass, violin), and Sean Woolven (guitar, vocals). Today, Emma and Nick join me to talk about getting drunk and ending up in bodies of water, which band member holds their alcohol the best and worst, and what they’d change about the current state of music. Read on.

Okay, before we get started I want to get the record straight on a couple things: the Most Serene Republic's MySpace profile - that isn't official, is it?

Emma Ditchburn: ‘Tis not. We have asked that they graciously surrender control of this internet terrain but they have refused comment.

Hmmm. I’m sure you could get MySpace to shut them down. Next thing: The Most Serene Republic’s line-up always seems slightly varied depending on where you see it (i.e. MySpace, the Arts & Crafts site, Wikipedia). Is the official line-up still you two and Ryan, Adrian, Sean, Simon, and Tony?

ED: That is correct.

Nick Greaves: The MySpace page is horribly outdated.

So, what does everyone in the band do now?

ED: Ryan plants the seed for each song with piano and also works tirelessly recording and mixing it all – acts as a trellis which the ivy climbs up. Adrian writes the lyrics and adds wizardry of melody. Nick and Sean add their crazy storm of guitar sounds and scapes. [I lay] down a nice coating of smooth butter over the whole sandwich and, of course, Simon and Tony provide the multi-grain Omego-3 bread for us to sit cozily inside. I'm not sure how it went from plant to sandwich, but that's generally how it goes.

Great, now that we've cleared that up let's get into it: what is your favorite alcoholic drink?

ED: Cabernet Sauvignon because of its complex structure and ability to improve with time.

NG: Whiskey and its ability to get me drunk much faster then most alcoholic beverages. I normally mix this with ale of the ginger family.

Is there any alcohol you've been burned by in the past or absolutely refuse to touch?

ED: Appleton's Jamaican rum became an early enemy of mine at the ripe age of 14. I was at a summer camp and somehow obtained a 26er and drank the entire thing. There were no horrible consequences, besides swimming in the lake with all my clothes on, but nevertheless, the taste is something I cannot stand to this day.

NG: I think it was when I was about 14 or 15 or so when I thought it would be a great idea to break into the parent’s alcohol cabinet after I came home from school. Gin was the choice of drink that day. I’m not sure if I mixed it or not, but I do remember it tasting like pine needles.

Needless to say, it didn’t stay down long. My drink of choice in high school was Bacardi Lemon and Mountain dew, this ended one night after I finished a Mickey of it in the course of an hour. Once again, I proceeded to spew it back up. I then remember passing out on my friend’s bed and when I awoke in the morning I had various drawings and makeup on my face.

Which band member holds their alcohol the best?

ED: I would vote for Ryan on this one, even when I know he's drank quite a bit he still remains composed and gentleman-like.

NG: I think Tony might reign champion, but we haven’t really toured with him yet so I could be totally wrong. Ryan is really good at keeping his composure but I wouldn’t say he could drink some of us under the table.

Which band member holds their alcohol the worst?

ED: That's a tough one, I'm hoping not everyone is going to point the finger at me for this question. If we were to count most times barfing it would be a tight race. If we were counting most times love was professed while drunk, I would probably win (or lose... depending on how you look at it).

NG: I might have to point my finger at Emma and Adrian. When we were in Frankfurt we had a hard night of partying with [Broken Social Scene]. Everyone got pretty sloppy that night except for Ryan and myself. When we were getting ready to leave we realized that Adrian was not in the van. So, I went back into the club to get Adrian and I found him in our dressing room passed out on the couch and some random man was just standing in front of him eating a sandwich and laughing at him. It was really random. After stumbling back to the van we set off for our hotel, but I think we had to stop about to 3 or 4 times so that these two could puke. I think Adrian might have started to pass out on the street when we stopped and Emma began to puke in the van. We also got lost on the way to the hotel, which made it much worse.

Speaking of other bands, you guys recently toured Canada with one of my all-time favorites: The Strokes. They're well-known for their alcohol intake (or they were, at least), are there good drinking stories from your outing with them?

ED: In general it was a pretty clean tour. I mean, of course we drank every night but not to the point of excess. There was still room for soccer matches in which we got owned and once I was hit in the face with the ball, but that's about it.

NG: It wasn’t really much of a party tour. You have to realize that when you tour in Canada the cities are very far apart, some even 12 to 14 hours away. So after you have toured across the country so many times you realize that you are going to have to get up at 7 or 8 the next day to get back on the road. It was really easy to get a lot of alcohol on the tour, we would just ask for more beer and it would come. The Strokes guys would also give us some of their booze.

That’s cool of them; I wish I could’ve seen one of those shows, I’m sure it would’ve been awesome. Aside from the Strokes tour, what’s the best drinking adventure you can think of from the road?

ED: I think the funniest result of drinking on tour was probably when I fell into the North Saskatchewan River behind the Shaw Centre in Edmonton. It was kind of enjoyable because earlier in the day I had been thinking it would have been a nice swim but, of course, completely unacceptable. This way I got my swim.

NG: Emma’s story is one of the best one’s that I can think of. I remember I was in our dressing room talking to our tour manager and then in walks Simon and Adrian followed by Emma drenched in water. I began to burst out laughing after they told me what happened, Emma didn’t seem too pleased.

Emma spends a lot of time in water after drinking, I see. So, if there was an alcoholic drink called “The Most Serene Republic” how would I go about concocting one?

ED: Well, it would have to include some premium Russian vodka, maybe some freshly squeezed lime juice as well, and a splash of Blue Curacao for colour.

Nice. So, musically, you guys are awesome. Underwater Cinematographer was one of my top ten albums of 2005 and Phages is one of my top ten albums of 2006 - even though it's an EP and I don't include EPs (until now). It's probably still early but when do you think we can expect a new album?

NG: The album is actually close to being finished. I think that you can expect to hear a much tighter band; everyone really shines on this album in their own way. Other then that I’m afraid you’re just going to have to wait.

If you could do anything to change the current pop music landscape, what would it be?

ED: I would eliminate the aesthetics involved with blackness, lace, faux-war, self-pity and face paint; replace style with substance, and add some of the ethical flavours often associated with sci-fi TV.

All right, that about does it. Only one more question, which are better: pirates, ninjas, or Vikings?

ED: None of the above; Vulcans.

NG: I agree.

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For more on The Most Serene Republic, including videos, music, tour dates, and more, visit their official website:

[Official Site] The Most Serene Republic