This four piece hail from Windsor, Ontario and were born from the breakups of a few local bands. They've shared the stage with some of my favorite Canadian acts (Bif Naked anyone?!), and all the while managed to keep their heads on straight. Pitch Union is Paul as vox and guitar, Brandon on guitar, Aaron behind the kit and C-Bass on bass (though I think that lasy one is pretty obvious). Pitch Union's debut CD, Mohawk Clock Machine was released last fall through Cyclone Records and it's already in it's third pressing! They're playing shows around southern Ontario right now in support of Mohawk Clock Machine. Paul slowed down long enough to do an email interview with me in mid-April.
The hookup with Cyclone, resulting in their track Tornadic Activity from their debut release being added to Cyclone's upcoming label sampler Storm Warning Vol I, and the digital re-release of their disc as well. As many stories being these days, the one behind this hookup kicks off with MySpace. A friend of Paul's had been on him about making a page for the band, telling him they can 'find new fans and make all kinds of contacts.' And how true is that?! 'So I gave it a shot,' says Paul, 'and it was everything that he said it was. We started meeting new people right away. We uploaded some of the rough mix tracks from Mohawk Clock Machine, and started getting song plays by the dozens if not hundreds.
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Paul
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'One of the songs that was featured on the MySpace was the song Tornadic Activity. Now I'm not to sure who found who first, but I remember getting an email from Brad Trew (owner of Cyclone Records) saying that he really dug the tune. And it also helped with the fact the title Tornadic Activity seems to work so well with the name Cyclone Records. I think if anything it was that song that brought us together. And thank God for that. We can't say enough good things about Brad Trew and the Cyclone camp.'
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Paul on Cyclone...
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'...it also helped with the fact the title Tornadic Activity seems to work so well with the name Cyclone Records. I think if anything it was that song that brought us together. And thank God for that. We can't say enough good things about Brad Trew and the Cyclone camp.'
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So before starting work on their upcoming release, the guys decided to re-release their record as a digital offering. 'It just seems to be the 'way of the future'. More and more people are getting there music from online sources these days,' explains Paul. 'In the past, we could offer our music at shows and local music stores and even get a distro deal to maybe get the music, for example, to everyone in Canada. And that was great! But now, the whole world has the ability to find 'your' music, without having to be bothered with shipping and waiting for the product to come in the mail. We didn't want to have the restrictions of that. We want our fans no matter where they are from to have, easy, simple access to the music. With no hassles. It just seemed like the right thing to do. The best thing to do.' Considering the shift in the way people look at buying music, and that many of their labelmates have done something similar, it just makes sense.
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Aaron
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C-Bass
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In light of the re-release, I asked a little about the songwriting and recording of the disc. Paul sums up the songwriting experience behind it, 'the songs that made the CD were songs from the group's beginnings. And a little from the past. We took some of the ideas some of us had from past projects and fine tuned them into the songs on Mohawk Clock Machine. We were still learning about each other when those songs were written. How to approach music with one another. So the songs came out almost as an experiment for us. We needed that, at that time and we learned a lot about each other in the process.'
The recording of the disc came about a little differently. 'In the early stages of the group, the first 2-3 months or so, we knew we needed to get something on tape. We had these new songs 10 in total I'm pretty sure. So we decided to go into a local studio here in Windsor Ont. and lay down 5 tracks for what we thought was just going to be a demo, something for us to listen to and maybe promote ourselves with until we could get back and record everything full on,' explains Paul.
Best laid plans don't always work out, and once in a while when they don't work out it's actually for the better. Paul on what happened next, 'it started to take shape into some great sounding tracks. There are 4 tracks on this EP/CD clocking in at about 30 mins. There was in fact a fifth song that didn't make the final cut. But, we may give that song some light one day. A b-side in the future perhaps?? The recording itself took a few months cause while in the middle of the recording, the studio had to move to a new location so it was put on hold for a little bit until they could get everything up and running again. After all that it went pretty quick with the mixing and mastering. But I won't lie and say that we didn't take our time. We knew what we wanted and we made it happen. The recording is never painful, and we'll stand behind that!'
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Brandon
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So with this new release in the works, the positive response they've seen from their previous offering, and the hookup with Cyclone, they've got a lot on their plate in terms of working towards a release date and playing shows. Pitch Union keep on keepin' on simply for a love of the music, 'we love music. And every part of it. Every member of Pitch Union has been deep into music from almost childbirth, and shows no sign of stopping. I think the second we finished writing our first song together we knew there was something more there than just throwing chords together and calling it a song.' When Paul tells about the creative aspects, what sticks out is the the fact that everyone in this band has a hand in the songwriting. 'For the first time, being in bands for years, this is the first band that I have been in where everyone gets in on the writing process. Just that fact alone brings us closer as a unit and makes us want to work harder on impressing one another. It keeps things pretty fresh. And it's something that none of us wants to let go of. We love working together and we are always happy with the final product. It keeps us strong,' he explains.
It's this solidarity, this sort of unity within the band that keeps them focused on what's important, even the aspects aside from the music. 'This group doesn't just stop at the music,' says Paul. 'We believe that a visual should always help to add something to the mood or sound of the music we make. Almost NOTHING goes to the printers without all the members of the band's 'ok'. We know how we want things to look and do everything in our power to be involved as much as possible.'
So now what? Well, notes Paul, 'we have been busy recording some new material and plan to tour as much as possible in the coming months. We are also looking to shoot a video for one of the new tracks. Our plan is to be everywhere we can possibly be and with the help of Cyclone Records we have been shown that anything is possible. We plan to work closely with Cyclone to further this group and show everyone our true potential. We are very excited about the future and we hope that the new songs will get our fans as pumped as we are about them. Simply, all we can say is - You havn't seen anything yet!! So stay tuned!!'
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Check out Pitch Union as they play around southern Ontario. They're playing The Salt Lounge in London on May 12, Gafitti's in London on May 20 and The Avalon in Windsor on May 30. Check out their site for more dates.
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The Playlist
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Paul's Playlist
1. Tool - Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)
2. Tool - Rosetta Stoned
3. Tool - Intension
4. Tool - Right In Two
5. Tool - Viginti Tres
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