Some people are just never satisfied with what they have. Just take a look at the guys in Halifax quartet, the Plan. All of them boast membership in other, semi-established bands like Equation of State and North of America, yet for some reason they feel compelled to give something new a try.
"It's a different band really," guitarist/screamer Mike Catano offers from a truck stop somewhere near South Carolina in the midst of an ambitious ten-week tour of North America. "It's not so much of a side project as it is something totally unrelated. I wouldn't say there's anything less important ? in fact it's more of a priority for the past couple of months."
With North of America, Catano's better-known project, on a hiatus and bassist/vocalist Mackenzie Ogilvie's Equation of State in limbo, the timing was perfect for the Plan to give things a try. And in just nine short months what was born is an intense, discordant ten-track debut CD called This Time Is Not This Place.
Drawing on influences such as Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu, and putting the experience gained from time in other bands to good use, Catano, Ogilvie, guitarist David Harrison and drummer Lance Purcell may well have set a record for fastest formation and release of a debut CD in Canadian history. Which is amazing not only because of the speed thing but because their individual musical backgrounds are unlike anything on this record.
"We didn't really have any idea of what we were going to sound like before we started playing together," Catano notes. "Our songs just come from playing. We don't spend a lot of time writing songs, it's more like coming up with little parts and playing together and working things through. It's very collaborative in that respect because no one has a whole lot of control over what the band sounds like." In fact, out of control may be the best way to describe them.
"It's a different band really," guitarist/screamer Mike Catano offers from a truck stop somewhere near South Carolina in the midst of an ambitious ten-week tour of North America. "It's not so much of a side project as it is something totally unrelated. I wouldn't say there's anything less important ? in fact it's more of a priority for the past couple of months."
With North of America, Catano's better-known project, on a hiatus and bassist/vocalist Mackenzie Ogilvie's Equation of State in limbo, the timing was perfect for the Plan to give things a try. And in just nine short months what was born is an intense, discordant ten-track debut CD called This Time Is Not This Place.
Drawing on influences such as Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu, and putting the experience gained from time in other bands to good use, Catano, Ogilvie, guitarist David Harrison and drummer Lance Purcell may well have set a record for fastest formation and release of a debut CD in Canadian history. Which is amazing not only because of the speed thing but because their individual musical backgrounds are unlike anything on this record.
"We didn't really have any idea of what we were going to sound like before we started playing together," Catano notes. "Our songs just come from playing. We don't spend a lot of time writing songs, it's more like coming up with little parts and playing together and working things through. It's very collaborative in that respect because no one has a whole lot of control over what the band sounds like." In fact, out of control may be the best way to describe them.
