Ducks Ltd. and Illuminati Hotties bandleader Sarah Tudzin have joined forces on a cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Head On," the first track in a series of covers included in new project The Sincerest Form of Flattery, which will find the Toronto duo teaming up with a new collaborator on each track.
Arriving via Royal Mountain Records / Carpark Records, today's rework came into being as an extension of a long-standing Ducks exercise in live covers. As lead singer and guitarist Tom McGreevy explained in a release, the tradition started after playing Paul Kelly's "Before Too Long" for bandmate Evan Lewis's parents when they flew in from Australia to see their show.
As for choosing the JAMC tune for this release, he elaborated:
The original "Head On" is total a classic, and the lyrics are just so brilliant in an understated kind of way, but I actually started thinking about covering it after listening to the Pixies' cover of it on Trompe le Monde (which is the best Pixies album, don't @ me). They really kick the shit out of it, in a totally different way than the Jesus and Mary Chain do, and it made me desperate for a chance to sing it, and also got me thinking about ways you could adapt the vibe of it to make it fit into our world a bit.
Sarah Tudzin has an immense and powerful production/mixing mind and one of my favourite singing voices of anyone doing stuff right now, so we asked her if she'd be down to work on it with us and she helped us figure out how to make it work. Truly a high honour! She also persuaded us to record our guitars through actual amplifiers for the first time ever, rather than going straight into the box like we normally do which feels momentous! Amplifiers! Who knew!
In addition to their team-up, the Hotties and the Ducks have both hit the road this year in support of their respective albums, and have further plans to meet up for a run of shows in the UK in May. While they won't share any Canadian stages, both groups mapped out 2022 tour dates in the north; Ducks have shows lined up in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in the coming weeks, while Tudzin and co. wrapped their Canadian leg earlier this month with performances in Vancouver and Toronto.
Hear their collab below.
Arriving via Royal Mountain Records / Carpark Records, today's rework came into being as an extension of a long-standing Ducks exercise in live covers. As lead singer and guitarist Tom McGreevy explained in a release, the tradition started after playing Paul Kelly's "Before Too Long" for bandmate Evan Lewis's parents when they flew in from Australia to see their show.
As for choosing the JAMC tune for this release, he elaborated:
The original "Head On" is total a classic, and the lyrics are just so brilliant in an understated kind of way, but I actually started thinking about covering it after listening to the Pixies' cover of it on Trompe le Monde (which is the best Pixies album, don't @ me). They really kick the shit out of it, in a totally different way than the Jesus and Mary Chain do, and it made me desperate for a chance to sing it, and also got me thinking about ways you could adapt the vibe of it to make it fit into our world a bit.
Sarah Tudzin has an immense and powerful production/mixing mind and one of my favourite singing voices of anyone doing stuff right now, so we asked her if she'd be down to work on it with us and she helped us figure out how to make it work. Truly a high honour! She also persuaded us to record our guitars through actual amplifiers for the first time ever, rather than going straight into the box like we normally do which feels momentous! Amplifiers! Who knew!
In addition to their team-up, the Hotties and the Ducks have both hit the road this year in support of their respective albums, and have further plans to meet up for a run of shows in the UK in May. While they won't share any Canadian stages, both groups mapped out 2022 tour dates in the north; Ducks have shows lined up in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in the coming weeks, while Tudzin and co. wrapped their Canadian leg earlier this month with performances in Vancouver and Toronto.
Hear their collab below.
