Hand Cream

Vice
New Music
No Canada - Hand Cream Rules Everything Around Me
By Jesse Locke

Hand Cream have all the pieces in place to become your new favorite band: dual vocals ranging from throat-shredding to Raincoats-style sweetness, a spaced-out guitar tone that would make Keith Levene proud, plus a great mix of rockers and dreamy slow jams. Their output so far is slim (a split tape with Crosss and a song on the Khyber Comp Volume II) but the Montreal-via-Halifax quartet have already managed to catch the ear of JEFF The Brotherhood, who invited them along for a short tour this summer. I caught up with Hand Cream’s singer/guitarist Meghan Merrigan and sometimes-drummer Christian Simmons for a chat.

NOISEY: You guys both go back pretty far in the Halifax music scene with your old bands Gilbert Switzer, The Hold and The Burdocks. How did you meet?
Meghan: Oh god. I met Christian back when I was a snot-nosed kid and he was in class with my sister. We went to the same school and the same church. We started bands around the same time, but back then we didn’t hang out. I made fun of Christian because I was a snotty punk and he was an indie-rocker. [Laughs]

What makes so many Haligonians want to move to Montreal? Is it kind of like a musical promised land?
I think it’s just the closest city where you can actually tour reasonably. The 12-13 hour drive between Halifax and Montreal is pretty much a wasteland. Nobody wants to play New Brunswick because it sucks! It’s also relatively socially acceptable to be poor and not have a job in Montreal. It’s a nice place.

After your previous Montreal band Denial Tone/Drunk Dial broke up, Hand Cream seemed like it popped up fully formed out of nowhere. Did you have an idea of what you wanted or didn’t want for it?
I started Denial Tone with my friend Crystal. It’s actually kind of an embarrassing story how we started playing together, but I’ll share it because she’ll get a kick out of it. I was dating this guy that I moved with to Montreal, and then she totally slept with him! She didn’t know me or what was going on though, so it was okay. Instead of hating her, I decide to hate him, and then we started a band together. Denial Tone turned into Drunk Dial, and then we broke up. Hand Cream started because I’d been stuck on drums in the last band, but really wanted to play guitar all along.

How was the tour with JEFF The Brotherhood?
It was fun, and kind of ridiculous. They’re really nice guys, and really supportive. They gave us lots of alcohol and set us up with a hotel room in middle-of-nowhere Indiana. They also just played on Letterman, which is pretty crazy! They work so hard, and I really admire that. It was nice of them to ask us.

Here’s a shredding live clip:

Christian, you’re on the kit for Hand Cream now, but also play with three other bands (Each Other, Sheer Agony, and Lantern). How do you do it?
Christian: I basically haven’t had a home for three months. I’ve just been playing shows, and have only been in Montreal for three-day intervals in the last few months. Hand Cream did a little tour, then I went and recorded the Lantern record, played a few shows with them, did a few Sheer Agony shows, and then Each Other was on the road for a long time. I’ve been fairly lucky with the amount of shows with different bands I’ve been able to cram in without too much crossover. It’s a little tricky though, and Hand Cream has actually enlisted the help of my brother and my brother-from-another-mother as back-up and back-up-back-up drummer.
Meghan: Greg Napier did the most recent tour with us, and he’s really amazing too. Someone said to me, “Oh, you’ve replaced the best drummer with the other best drummer.” Greg is a manimal.
Christian: It’s been really great because we all share a space in Montreal. Greg is living there, and myself, my brother Jef, Meghan, and Jackson from Sheer Agony all play music there, so it feels like there’s a pretty strong sense of community from the five bands that all share some members. It’s a pretty proactive situation where we try to accomplish things from multiple angles at once.

It's like a mini-Halifax in Montreal.
It’s pretty embarrassing. [Laughs] Technically, some of us come from small towns in Nova Scotia, but it might as well be Halifax.
Meghan: Every now and again, I’ll be drinking a bottle of rosé or something, and it’ll come out. “Why is Christian gone with Each Other or wasting time with Sheer Agony? I need him for Hand Cream stuff right now!” [Laughs] We’re always arguing about who gets him.

There should be a reality show like The Bachelor, where all the bands are your girlfriends.
Christian: I’m trying to turn that into my real-life scenario. Get out my Rolodex…

I’m pretty obsessed with your Silver Apples cover. Did you use any special techniques did to pull it off so perfectly?
That was a pretty singular thing that happened. In the span of a week, all of the bands at our space recorded a song for that Khyber Compilation. Hand Cream’s was at the very last minute, and Meghan had the idea of doing a cover really quickly. I’d listened to that first Silver Apples album quite a bit, but not enough to know the real ins and outs of that song. Marlee and Crystal were also kind of approaching it like interpreting a song Meghan knew.
Meghan: We didn’t jam it until an hour before we recorded it.
Christian: Yeah, we basically did the entire thing in five hours. We got there, learned how we were going to play it, recorded it, and then mixed it. It felt like how things were probably done back in the old days. Each Other had also just purchased a space echo, so that was pretty essential. I made slightly over-zealous use of it on Marlee’s keyboard. The drumming on almost all of our their songs is really jazzy, so Meghan sent us the original and the Chromatics version and just said she wanted jittery drums.
Meghan: I think I’m writing a lot more songs in the poppy realm because of that cover. A little less balls-to-the-wall. Because we have Marlee singing with us now as well, we’re focusing a lot more on harmonies. I don’t really like sticking to one style, because I just get bored really easily and don’t feel inspired. It’s important to evolve.



@wipeoutbeat
- Vice

"The entire Halifax Pop Explosion lineup has been announced as of this morning. Major additions include Stars, Thee Oh Sees (ohmygodfuckyes) DD/MM/YYYY and The Meligrove Band. Also, Jennifer Castle, who happens to possess the most ethereal voice I have ever heard. Amazing!

The list of local and national showcasing acts has also been released. Among these I'm super-chuffed to see The Weather Station perform songs from her stunning new album All Of It Was Mine, the painfully sexy Rattail and Montreal punkers Hand Cream, who are also sexy. Also, the local lineup is badass, and features several bands that I always wish I saw more of. Cold Warps? Bloodhouse? VKNGS? "..... - The Coast (Halifax)

..."By the time Montreal’s Hand Cream hit the stage, the audience had expanded considerably. The three-woman, one-man outfit cites underground luminaries like Suicide, the Wipers and Silver Apples among their influences, and all that could be heard in the heavy throb, driven along by the hard hitting drumming of Christian Simms which turned their somewhat gothic recorded tracks into a sonic piledriver.
" - http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/

There are these two girls I used to see around in Montreal who always had these rad bands on the go. Even better, their bands had some of the best names ever like Denial Tone and Drunk Dial. Ouch. One time I was having a really bad night at L’Escogriffe on St. Denis and Meghan made me dance with her, which made me feel better but unfortunately didn’t sober me up any. Ouch.

Shacking up with and shedding band dudes like bad boyfriends, Crystal and Meghan have a new thing on the go called Hand Cream. It sounds like noise anthems for kicking down the neighbour’s door when you’re drunk on gin or making unwanted ears bleed at a dive bar on St. Laurent. It also sounds like their old bands, which, of course, is total rad. - Ominocity

New-ish stuff from Montréal's Hand Cream, taken from a split they've done with Crosss for Electric Voice records. Kind of doomy while joyously bathing in it's own gloom, Weird Seance rattles with buzz and distortion, the sound of a pop song with the hinges taken off. If it wasn't so brilliant it'd be more than a little unsettling. Thanks to Lois for the tip.
- lost lost lost (London, UK)

Fair enough, they do have a pretty spectacularly bad band name, but Hand Cream almost make it up by picking one of the best song names of the year. The fact that it’s a haunting, creepy bugger as well more than helps win over the doubts over an act that could work under such a bland moniker, but if you imagine Pocahaunted genuinely trying to make a pop song, you’re halfway to understand this beauty. - The Line Of Best Fit (London,UK)

What’s the deal with… Hand Cream?

Name: Hand Cream

Location: Montreal, QC

Sounds like: If the girls from that 1995 movie The Craft formed a new-wave punk band. Think hints of Skeletal Family with the driving, danceability of Fuzzbox.

Why you have heard of them: Because every guy (and girl) in Montreal has a crush on their bass player, Marlee Shambles.

What’s their deal? Hand Cream did a lot of growing up this year and people are taking notice. Pretend it’s junior high and Hand Cream got boobs for the first time and everyone dropped their jaws. Except instead of boobs, they just traded in their drummer and added a new bassist. Without the losing the blushing urgency of their earlier releases (especially on front woman Meghan Merrigan’s Lydia Lunch-esque hollers) Hand Cream have added layers of melody and female-harmonies and it’s working. Their latest split with Crosss and two new tracks “Oh Rats” and “Program (Silver Apples)” prove that this band is worth their salt. Hand Cream embarked on an East Coast tour last week, so keep your eyes peeled for dates. - Hearty Magazine (Vancouver)

What kind of band names themselves after a male masturbation aid? Hailing from Montreal, two girl adorables Meghan Merrigan and Crystal McNorton, joined forces with one shirtless dude drummer (currently Christian Simmons) to shred all over riotously loud punk anthems with dork-lit titles (“Potion Control,” “Fingercult”). Opening for other loud, dorky punks like No Bunny and Vivian Girls (when Hand Cream was known as Drunk Dial), they’ve honed a sloppy scorching guitar sound that seems like things could fall apart at any moment.
Sat., April 21, 8 p.m., 2012
- The Village Voice (Brooklyn)

What’s the deal with… Hand Cream?

Name: Hand Cream

Location: Montreal, QC

Sounds like: If the girls from that 1995 movie The Craft formed a new-wave punk band. Think hints of Skeletal Family with the driving, danceability of Fuzzbox.

Why you have heard of them: Because every guy (and girl) in Montreal has a crush on their bass player, Marlee Shambles.

What’s their deal? Hand Cream did a lot of growing up this year and people are taking notice. Pretend it’s junior high and Hand Cream got boobs for the first time and everyone dropped their jaws. Except instead of boobs, they just traded in their drummer and added a new bassist. Without the losing the blushing urgency of their earlier releases (especially on front woman Meghan Merrigan’s Lydia Lunch-esque hollers) Hand Cream have added layers of melody and female-harmonies and it’s working. Their latest split with Crosss and two new tracks “Oh Rats” and “Program (Silver Apples)” prove that this band is worth their salt. Hand Cream embarked on an East Coast tour last week, so keep your eyes peeled for dates. - Hearty Magazine