Few bands assault the sense like MYTHS. Combining out-there noise, synth-led electro and ear-grabbing pop, the Vancouver, BC duo are on a wavelength all their own, as their pop-noir approach flirts with post-industrialism, witch house and Knife-influenced weird dance, yet remains its own art-damaged beast. Unfortunately, until now, MYTHS have remained strictly a Vancouver phenomena - something the pair are hoping to change this summer with a lengthy North American tour and, eventually, a debut full-length.
Kicking off with appearances at Washington's Squeak and Squawk Festival and Calgary's Sled Island, where MYTHS will play alongside Woodhands, Cex and !!!, the duo of Lief Hall and Quinne Rodgers will make the rounds in the U.S., hitting up L.A., New York, Austin and a whole lot in between. Along the way, MYTHS will head back up to Canada for shows in Montreal and Toronto, as well as at Ontario's Electric Eclectics Festival, which Hall tells Exclaim! was "the major motivator of the tour."
"We figured if we are going to go to Ontario, might as well go the funnest way possible - even though its the longest route there," she jokes in a recent interview.
In addition to the group's visually and aurally explosive live show (see a review of one here), the band will be showing off selections from their as-yet-untitled debut album. As Hall, who once shrieked for Vancouver's dearly departed Mutators, reveals, the record is being recorded at hometown studio Little Red Sounds with Cosmetics' Felix Fung, who took over recording the album after Fine Mist's Jay Arner was forced to pull out of the sessions.
"We are doing all the mixing ourselves, which has been taking a while, but we are learning a lot, and listening a lot and just letting the mixing itself become part of the creative process," Hall says. "It has actually been really good for us to go through this process because we have new ideas all the time with how we can mix things and then when we try to recreate that in our live show we find all kinds of other new neat things to work with - so we are constantly learning and evolving through this process - although it's kind of hilarious how much energy ends up going into each song. Each song has become a precious gem that we continue to buffer and polish, but it's nice to see the shine emerge."
In the meantime, you can look out for MYTHS' self-titled mini CD, which the band will be hawking at the merch table during the summer live dates. Along with the stand-out "Deadlights" and its vocal gymnastics, the four-track demo features "Goldbase," "The Wedding March" and free-form electro-noise piece "// <<|>>//." You can currently hear "Deadlights" and "Goldbase" on the band's MySpace page.
"Of course those versions of the songs are also different from the album versions, but the noise piece is all its own," Hall says of the self-release. "We want to start incorporating more improvised noise stuff into our live set as well, which we have begun to do at the last couple shows. It's a really great way to make each show totally unique - and fun too - so we can play around and see what happens and work with it."
No firm dates has been slated for MYTHS' full-length, but it will be released via Vancouver's Nominal Records sometime this fall.
Tour dates:
6/11 Tacoma, WA - Squeak and Squawk Festival *
6/26 Vancouver, BC - TBA (tour fundraiser) ^
7/2 Calgary, AB - Sled Island ^^
7/7 Portland, OR - Fame #
7/8 Sacramento, CA - TBA
7/10 Los Angeles, CA - TBA
7/12 Los Angeles, CA - TBA $
7/13 El Paso, TX - The Hideaway Lounge %
7/15 Austin, TX - Cheer Up Charlies &
7/17 New Orleans, LA - TBA
7/18 Atlanta, GA - TBA
7/20 Philadelphia, PA - TBA
7/22 New York, NY - Death By Audio
7/24 New York, NY - TBA
7/26 Providence,RI - TBA
7/27 Boston, MA - TBA
7/29 Montreal, QC - TBA
7/30 Meaford, ON - Electric Eclectics Festival
8/2 Toronto, ON - The Beaver!
8/4 Toronto, ON - The House of Everlasting Super Joy **
8/5 Detroit, MI - TBA
8/6 Chicago, IL - TBA @
8/7 Chicago, IL - TBA
8/8 Minneapolis, MN - TBA
8/10 Denver, CO - TBA
8/11 Las Vegas, NV - TBA
8/13 Los Angeles, CA - TBA
8/14 Los Angeles, CA - TBA
8/15 San Francisco, CA - TBA
8/18 Portland, OR - TBA
8/19 Olympia, WA - TBA
8/20 Seattle, WA - TBA
8/21 Vancouver, BC - TBA
* with Lake, Paris Spleen, People Under the Sun
^ with Animal Bodies, Caving
^^ with Woodhands, Cex, WhoMadeWho, !!!
# with Matrimony, Vibrato, Paradise Island
$ with Sean Carnage
% with The Dozal Brothers
& with Survive, Os Ovni, DJ Disaro
** with Romo Roto
@ with Golden Birthday Party
Kicking off with appearances at Washington's Squeak and Squawk Festival and Calgary's Sled Island, where MYTHS will play alongside Woodhands, Cex and !!!, the duo of Lief Hall and Quinne Rodgers will make the rounds in the U.S., hitting up L.A., New York, Austin and a whole lot in between. Along the way, MYTHS will head back up to Canada for shows in Montreal and Toronto, as well as at Ontario's Electric Eclectics Festival, which Hall tells Exclaim! was "the major motivator of the tour."
"We figured if we are going to go to Ontario, might as well go the funnest way possible - even though its the longest route there," she jokes in a recent interview.
In addition to the group's visually and aurally explosive live show (see a review of one here), the band will be showing off selections from their as-yet-untitled debut album. As Hall, who once shrieked for Vancouver's dearly departed Mutators, reveals, the record is being recorded at hometown studio Little Red Sounds with Cosmetics' Felix Fung, who took over recording the album after Fine Mist's Jay Arner was forced to pull out of the sessions.
"We are doing all the mixing ourselves, which has been taking a while, but we are learning a lot, and listening a lot and just letting the mixing itself become part of the creative process," Hall says. "It has actually been really good for us to go through this process because we have new ideas all the time with how we can mix things and then when we try to recreate that in our live show we find all kinds of other new neat things to work with - so we are constantly learning and evolving through this process - although it's kind of hilarious how much energy ends up going into each song. Each song has become a precious gem that we continue to buffer and polish, but it's nice to see the shine emerge."
In the meantime, you can look out for MYTHS' self-titled mini CD, which the band will be hawking at the merch table during the summer live dates. Along with the stand-out "Deadlights" and its vocal gymnastics, the four-track demo features "Goldbase," "The Wedding March" and free-form electro-noise piece "// <<|>>//." You can currently hear "Deadlights" and "Goldbase" on the band's MySpace page.
"Of course those versions of the songs are also different from the album versions, but the noise piece is all its own," Hall says of the self-release. "We want to start incorporating more improvised noise stuff into our live set as well, which we have begun to do at the last couple shows. It's a really great way to make each show totally unique - and fun too - so we can play around and see what happens and work with it."
No firm dates has been slated for MYTHS' full-length, but it will be released via Vancouver's Nominal Records sometime this fall.
Tour dates:
6/11 Tacoma, WA - Squeak and Squawk Festival *
6/26 Vancouver, BC - TBA (tour fundraiser) ^
7/2 Calgary, AB - Sled Island ^^
7/7 Portland, OR - Fame #
7/8 Sacramento, CA - TBA
7/10 Los Angeles, CA - TBA
7/12 Los Angeles, CA - TBA $
7/13 El Paso, TX - The Hideaway Lounge %
7/15 Austin, TX - Cheer Up Charlies &
7/17 New Orleans, LA - TBA
7/18 Atlanta, GA - TBA
7/20 Philadelphia, PA - TBA
7/22 New York, NY - Death By Audio
7/24 New York, NY - TBA
7/26 Providence,RI - TBA
7/27 Boston, MA - TBA
7/29 Montreal, QC - TBA
7/30 Meaford, ON - Electric Eclectics Festival
8/2 Toronto, ON - The Beaver!
8/4 Toronto, ON - The House of Everlasting Super Joy **
8/5 Detroit, MI - TBA
8/6 Chicago, IL - TBA @
8/7 Chicago, IL - TBA
8/8 Minneapolis, MN - TBA
8/10 Denver, CO - TBA
8/11 Las Vegas, NV - TBA
8/13 Los Angeles, CA - TBA
8/14 Los Angeles, CA - TBA
8/15 San Francisco, CA - TBA
8/18 Portland, OR - TBA
8/19 Olympia, WA - TBA
8/20 Seattle, WA - TBA
8/21 Vancouver, BC - TBA
* with Lake, Paris Spleen, People Under the Sun
^ with Animal Bodies, Caving
^^ with Woodhands, Cex, WhoMadeWho, !!!
# with Matrimony, Vibrato, Paradise Island
$ with Sean Carnage
% with The Dozal Brothers
& with Survive, Os Ovni, DJ Disaro
** with Romo Roto
@ with Golden Birthday Party
