The Borderguards
Virus: Why do The Borderguards exist?Brian: We exist as a band because we love beer and we get a lot of free beer for doing shows. There are other reasons like playing live, etc, but yah its mostly for the love of beer.
Joe: Common interest in ideas, values, and music.
Rick: The Borderguards were just there when I joined the band. I think they are still around because they are all good friends who can get along and put together original music.
Victor: We exist mainly to play music that we think is good,which is street punk/Oi! blended with other genres such as rockabilly, honky tonk or blues as we are all fairly eclectic listeners. We are definitely a pro-Canadian,anti-racist,working class band but we are not out to try and save world. Our lyrics come from the heart and hopefully make some people think or give them a new perspective on things life .We do try hard to write good songs with good rhythms and beats and to me it really shows in our newer,not yet recorded material, hopefully, you can be the best judge of that though. Weh. We like to try new things with street punk and possibly make someone out there think. Of course, one always gets critics with whatever you do. As long as we are having fun and enjoying ourselves and keep playing fairly powerful music for people and even Canada as a whole I will be happy I just hope we don't lose our sense of humor and creativity along the way.
Virus: What makes you different from other bands doing the same thing?
Brian: Well we are not surfpunk. There is a lot of it out there right now. We play a lot of different stuff from rock a billy to full out old school punk so maybe thats what makes us a little different. Oh yah i can yell louder than most people, ROARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
Rick: Rick, the bass player.
Victor: We do try to keep our range of topics a bit broader than perhaps other bands do. We probably also solo more as well. One thing I have noticed,especially with the newer material is that we do not really stick to both guitarists playing the same barr chords and having the bass player just kinda follow along, if you can have a beat or rhythm and have everybody playing something different around it in the same key then there is always room to make your music more interesting to listen to, we work very hard to remain rhythm based and keep the songs different from each other. Topic wise, we speak what we feel which may not be altogether big news as far as punker music goes but some of the things we say and the manner in which we say them may be different like for example: Canada isn't so bad sentiments, Canadian history, cynical points of view regarding city life and yes, even singing about love gone wrong. I do not think that I would like to be in a band that is afraid to sing about a lot of things.
Virus: What makes you think this line-up is the right one?
Brian: Well we all get along with each other, that helps a lot. For me it's being able to bring in a new tune or cover and get it down right away, they are all good players.
Joe: We are multi cultural and good lookin enough to be another S Club.
Rick: Coming from someone who joined the band at a later time, I can honestly say I like The Borderguards style of music not because I play in the band, but because they do have greatness in their music.
Victor: I never said I thought THIS was the right line-up....hahahahahaha. We work well together and usually have the exact same points of view when it comes to things that are band related. Rick is an excellent treasurer when it comes to finances, Brian has an excellent sense of humor and is very laid back and creative when it comes to doing things and Joe is a great drummer with some cool ideas. To see why the line-up is such a good line-up is to look into how the band functions internally really, we each have our own niches and work well within them .We all agree that we play and write great music together and we work well with each other which is very important if the band is to be around for a long time.
Virus: What do you hope to achieve with the band?
Brian: Not sure really, getting our new cd done would be an achievement I guess haha. Be a house hold name like Ann Murry or Rita McNeal. You know making the big time!
Joe: Hopefully tour outside of Alberta.
Rick: I already have achieved what I want with this band, I'm playing in one of the greatest bands I know with some of the greatest people I know.
Victor: Personally, I would like to make a few more albums and play as much and wherever we can and just try to set some goals and see if any of them come to fruition. I love being in this band and working with these guys, our ideas have come along way since we first started 2.5 years ago. I hope that I can swear and be a lippy cunt more in the future while on stage and talk shit about my new girlfriend in front of her friends as well. It would be cool to play shows outside of Alberta as well.
Virus: What is the scene like in Alberta for music and zines??
Brian: There are a lot of punk bands in Calgary and Edmonton right now . The amount of venues are a bit limited though. Most shows get turnouts,the all ages has been really good lately. For zines there are two that i know of out here right now that follow the local art and music scene.
Joe: Lots of cool bands....check out No Coast Hard Core
Rick: I don't know, I'm not as big into the scene as I use to be.
Victor: Well for music, there are tons of great bands. We have played with some of what I think are the best bands in Alberta and it's always cool to meet a lot of people that are from around your area. Edmonton has a great scene, more old school than our home town (Calgary) and I love playing up there when we can. Lots of cool people around, my chief complaint are the assholes, whether from other bands or just morons on the street that like to talk shit and tell lies about us or other bands. There are also quite a lot of zines here as well but I haven't really tapped into the zine scene so much, I am usually too busy spending my money like an idiot on booze and lube for my girlfriend which may or may not be a good thing.
Virus: Since we're so spread out up here (in Canada), do you think it's harder to make your mark on the scene (especially with all the traveling)?
Brian: We don't travel that much. We thought that it would be much cheaper for the band if we just made our fans come to Calgary and see us. You know like Wayne Newton. Wayne Newton doesn't come to you, you go to Vegas to see him.
Joe: If you are good you'll get noticed in Calgary, punk scene is pretty close knit.
Rick: I'm not really sure, I haven't been in the band that long so I don't know... As far as I know, The Borderguards have really only played in Alberta.
Victor: As far as travelling, yes it is very hard to get about up here in Canada. There are people back East that would like to see us play but because it is so far away, we can never make sure we have the appropriate time off or funds to get our asses over there and do a show. I am not sure if we even have a name in Canada but the internet has really helped us out so far as getting the name at least out there. If you have a computer and the time and means then things get easier, it's not years ago when you had to rely on snail mail to get the shit done. We haven't travelled outside of Alberta yet but thanks to the net and stuff, we will be playing in British Columbia hopefully soon this summer. It would be nice to get more offers an see what comes of things .........
Virus: How do you handle songwriting, who takes care of melodies/lyrics?
Brian: It all depends. One night Vic will show up with a song thats completely finished . Other nights all I have is a riff and we work it out and write the whole thing on the spot. We help each other out a lot I add things to finish his songs and he does the same to mine. Vic and I write all the tunes but everyone has a say for the most part in how they sound in the end.
Joe: I can take all the credit for all the songs written but Vic and Brian might not like that.
Rick: I don't handle any songs, I just play bass... kind of.
Victor: Myself and Stogie, our singer, write all of the songs but when we present them to the band, we each talk about the final arrangements and stuff like that. Stogie might make a song and then I will add to it or vice versa. When I write a song, I usually have a good idea how it is going to sound and make my suggestions to Joe, Stogie or Rick as to what I think would sound good. Joe will do the same to one of our songs and we try it out basically through a trial and error style process until we are happy with it. Or else I get mad and beat the fucking shit out of the band until they succumb to my opinions.
Virus: What do you think is the best thing to write songs about?
Brian: If you want to move records I'd say love songs but we don't write love songs!
Joe: Oh Canada!!!
Rick: Girls.
Victor: Realistic things, life. I love to write about history like the song "Borderland" from the CD, which is about Canadian troops in World War 1. We have songs about drinking, city life, love gone bad, comradery between friends, Canada, loss etc. etc. To me, as long as it's real and creative then it's a good topic. I will always write pro Canadian songs or historical songs. We don't try to shove our opinions down peoples throats and act like what we say is gospel, we just like to have our say and have some fun and thats about it. Why are you pressing me with this fucking interrogation anyways? Boy are you ever fucking nosey............maybe I should write a song about people like you.........
Virus: What are your favorite Borderguards songs?
Brian: I like all of them, some turned out better than others on the recording but they are all fun to play live.
Joe: We gotta go (my intro).
Rick: My favorite would have to be 'I'm Going Home', it's got such a nice feel to it and it's one of those tunes that make you just wanna get up and cream yourself. I also like 'Live Fast Die Drunk', because it's so true when you say it looking at certain people.
Victor: From the CD my favorite songs are "We Gotta Go, "Borderland", "Anarchy", "Canadian Bootboys". Those are my favorite songs to play live. My real favorites haven't been recorded yet, our new material is very good so far as I am concerned, of course, I wrote most of them so its pretty obvious that they would be so fucking good. (haha) Some of my favorite new titles are: "The Way We Were" which is basically about coming to the end of an era in life or relationship and just looking ahead without trying to blame someone or dwell on the bad side that brought it about. Its a good Oi! song and is very powerful. "Live Fast, Die Drunk": A pretty self explanatory title, basically another humorous take on having fun with the lads drinking and causing trouble and what not. The lyrics are written about a persons personality transition as the night goes on, drink by drink. I had a lot of laughs writing that one as I tried to remember Stogie and myself back in the old days, I can see almost every one of my friends in that song.
"Going Over The Top": Another Canadian experience in World War 1 trench song. I had read a book called "When Your Numbers Up" by Desmond Morton who is a renowned Canadian Military professor at McGill University. In it he mentions how many of the Canadian soldiers knew they were going to die when they went up onto the parapet from the trench in an infantry charge and how, sure enough, they were shot down almost immediately, almost like they had an insight or intuition minutes before. So the song is written about a soldier saying good bye to all of his loved ones and friends before he goes over the top from the trench into no mans land. I really like this one a lot.
"For The One I love": Your basic love gone bad rockabilly punker song. Good guitar work and written in a fantasy style format. We haven't actually killed anyone that I know of....yet anyways......
"Trudeau": This is written in memory of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and is not yet completed. It was inspired by his death and I really want to take my time writing this one. Many people hated him and others loved him. To me, he was a true thinker, right or wrong and was very patriotic which is always good. A true intellectual and this should pay good homage to his memory. "Maybe Its Because I'm A Man": I wrote this one about my girlfriend because she was wondering why so many people are scared of her and give her such weird looks when she dresses up all girly like. If you are reading this Trish, I hope you get the hint now...hahahahaha. No really, it's just a song written about dating new people and having things not work out. It kind of goes into the behavior that people go into when they want to avoid someone because a dating relation turns into disaster whether its because of me or them.
Virus: Who are your favorite local bands to play show with?
Brian: There are a lot of talented bands in town that we've had the chance to play with in the last couple of years. Sneak Attack, Handsome Devils, Six String Rebels, Amazing Larrys, Disrupters just to name a few.
Joe: Handsome Devils, Sneak Attack, Six String Rebels.
Rick: I enjoy all the bands I've played with, except a few... you know who you are.
Virus: Anything else?
Brian: We are going into the studio in May or June, after two years to record our second cd. Our cds are available at HMV stores across Canada (you might have to order them) or through our web site www.borderguards.com. We also have shirts,stickers and pins,so buy the shit up make us RICH!!
Victor: We are working on finishing up our new songs so we can record again soon. We are going to try and do 12 songs this time and they are very fucking good songs so far. I will go far to say that they eclipse most of what we did on the CD we have out now because our songwriting has strongly improved even more so. We are also going to be submitting a song to CTV for a horror move they are making right now so keep your eyes out for that and will be trying to get out CD out to even more radio stations all over Canada. Go to our website regularly for contests and information. We have pics, lyrics, mp3 links etc etc etc there at www.borderguards.com and you can always send me your stupid hate mail to borderguards@yahoo.com. We will have the CD out by summer and you can order it at the address provided on the website. Love you Trish and hope to play as many out of towers [as we can] this summer. Promoters, distros and anyone else that can help us whether for interviews or whatever should get in touch with us. Cheers and drink a few beers for us and Canada. Oi!Oi!Oi! Fuckin' eh. Fuck you .Die............'Nuff said.