Royal Canoe

Give this a spin. Just when you think things couldn’t possibly get any hotter, a blistering heater of a sax solo blows your mind at around 3:20. That’s a real “Summersweat” for you, so hot that it only gets hotter. If you’re into Winnipeg collective Royal Canoe then be sure to pick up their new Purple and Gold release. We promise it’s well worth your next available 18 minutes. Also, if you’re located in SoCal, catch the band performing at The Satellite in Silverlake, Los Angeles this Saturday night (9/22). - Blah Blah Blah Science

It honestly stupefies me to know that Royal Canoe aren’t as big as The Shins or something. They make stadium sized indie pop that flourishes and unfurls with the most jubilant grace. Their production choices manage to make for inimitable catchiness without sacrificing taste or subtlety. This new four song EP, cleverly titled Extended Play, is full of anthemic grooves and kinetic energy pulsating under a veneer of firework harmonics. Do yourself a big favour and procure this spinnie at your earliest convenience. - Argue Job

Royal Canoe’s “Summersweat” plays similarly to Paul Weller’s ventures in The Style Council, where his embrace of funk and guest falsettos was at its most prominent. Recommended examples include “Long Hot Summer” and “The Lodgers“. The primary difference between the two is Royal Canoe’s heavier use of dance-ready synths and vocal eccentricities, the latter sounding more like Michael Jackson’s soulful grunts than Weller’s ferocious croon. The final two minutes of “Summersweat” begins with a brassy howl shortly accompanied by an impressive female vocal lead that captures beauty without words, similar to Clare Torry’s voice instrumental on Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky”. “Summersweat” makes listeners dance excitedly as they look toward the future, all the while allowing nostalgia and its components to thrive; it’s an understanding that these aspects make today’s musical fusions work, and Royal Canoe are an exciting example. - Obscure Sound

Royal Canoe- from Winnipeg Canada: MusicFiler Selah Dalacos had them on her CMJ watch list and we were rightly blown away. The six piece band has a live energy that was incredible, particularly given that they were crammed into a tiny room upstairs at Pianos and could barely move. We recommended them to Ben Kaye from Consequence of Sound who gave them some love as well. This group is nothing short of a good time. - The Music File

Let’s get acquainted with Royal Canoe! They’re six guys from Winnipeg creating some seriously impressive avant-garde pop. So much so that they blew CMJ out of the water and landed on the New York Times Playlist after only the first day of CMJ.

Their most recent single, “Show Me Your Eyes,” is a perfect example of the jubilant extravaganza that is Royal Canoe, taken from their Purple and Gold EP. This single starts with an infectious beat and swiftly layers an electric guitar, bellowing bass, robotic vocals and electronic effects galore. This track emits a genre-bending style, shifting from the 80s to the 70s to a modern orchestral breakdown. There’s something in this for everyone.

Basically, this electro pop six piece has guts. They’re refreshing approach to a style that’s often imitated and rarely duplicated should give hope to all music enthusiasts that there will always be musical diamonds in the rough. - Indie Shuffle

That right there would have been a show worth seeing, but there was still Royal Canoe to wrap up the night. As with the other times I've seen them, they almost had more bodies and equipment than the stage could fit, the six members with an assortments of keyboards, synth, effects pedals, dual drums and more. There was one point where, to get to the other side of the stage, Matt Schellenberg had to hop off and walk around.

They started the set with "Hold On To The Metal", a great example of their complex, yet catchy wall-of-synth rock sound. Their live so is so tight and refined, with densely layered songs that still remain accessible. Highlights of the set were a couple new songs from their recent 7" Purple and Gold, a sexy slow jam called "Summer Sweat" & the crunchy "Show Me Your Eyes", and the bombastic "Bathtubs".
The set seemed way too short as they played right up to the curfew, not bothering with the encore fake-out, ending the set with the incredible "Nightcrawlin'", featuring Matt Peters again using the effects mic to run his voice through what I dubbed the "demonic processor", to give his vocals a deep and electronic quality.

I've said it several times before -- and I'm sure I will again -- but Royal Canoe is one of the best, and most unique, live bands in Canada right now, and I will be there without hesitation next time they're in town. - 3AM Revelations

Sleeper Hit – Royal Canoe

You hear a lot about the great music coming out of Canada. It’s usually Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, but the only thing that ever came out of Winnipeg, Manitoba is the professional Hockey team. That is until Royal Canoe sailed to NY this week. I was so surprised to see these six lads cram 2 drum sets, 6 keyboards, tambourines, guitars, bass, and effects pedals in a tea house. Their super-inventive sound is unbelievable rich and catchy. They’ve put out an EP and single earlier this year that gets better with each listen on the headphones. - KCRW Blog

Arlene’s Grocery – Friday, 9:00 p.m.

Royal Canoe wasn’t on my radar, but some friendly folks from Savannah Stopover Festival recommended them, and I’m glad they did. Hailing from Winnipeg, the six-piece is the first non-Montreal band M for Montreal has booked for a CMJ showcase, and that alone says something about their appeal. There’s a lot going on in this band’s dance-y synth-pop, with hints of Spoon (“Show Me Your Eyes”) bumping up against everything from island harmonies (“Hold on to the Metal”) to Gotye-bred hip-hop (“Nightcrawlin’”). All that music is as exciting to watch being made as it is to hear. Two percussionists alternate between electronic pads and a regular kit; multi-tiered keyboardist Matt Schellenberg tweaks peddles and knobs for two-mic singer/keyboardist Matt Peters; and at one point, I swear there were two basses being played. These Canadians own a sound that’s at once incredibly intricate, and simply enjoyable. -Ben Kaye - Consequence of Sound

OK, l’été n’a jamais paru aussi loin qu’en cette fin de printemps, les peaux sont pâles et les taux de sérotonine se traînent dans les abysses. On peut pourtant accélérer l’arrivée des jupes courtes, les petites danses joyeuses sur le sable blanc, les apéros tardifs sous les platanes : il suffit de se tourner vers les six Canadiens Royal Canoe. Petits chercheurs sérieux mais savants fous de la pop, version douce d’Animal Collective allant piquer leurs soleils atomiques sous des tropiques inédites, pas toujours loin non plus, donc, de Vampire Weekend, les garçons ont déjà à leur actif quelques morceaux aussi fous que beaux, chauds et luxuriants comme une Amazonie sauvage, ou chaloupés comme une balade en boutre sur l’Océan Indien dans le soleil couchant, ou sexy comme un nuit torride dans la discothèque interlope d’une cité futuriste, ou habités comme les hymnes de plaisirs à inventer. Ce sera à vous de choisir : les horizons, ici, sont larges.
- Les inRocks

It has a quirky, half-baked feel – the larky band name, the risk-taking material, the vaguely ironic falsettos, trebly guitars and synthesizers – but Winnipeg’s Royal Canoe sails more than it sinks. A side project of Matt Peters (of the Waking Eyes), Co-Op Mode thrives on a few sharp-dressed tracks marked by unique characters and a sense of tuneful theatricality. The sombre Bowie-ness of Fabulous Mess couples “Do you still love Frederic Chopin?” with “Do you still dream about being a woman?” Me Loving Your Money is wry brilliance. And Kasparov is a love letter to a chess master from the move-making computer Super Blue. It all comes down to finding one’s mate. - The Globe and Mail

ROYAL CANOE
Co-Op Mode (Head In The Sand)
4.5/5

AFTER listening to the premier Royal Canoe album for the umpteenth enjoyable time it makes one wonder... when will the pop world at large give singer/songwriter Matt Peters his due?

Since his earliest days playing with boyhood pals in Steinbach as The Pets through to the whip-smart Waking Eyes and now this startlingly listenable new album, Peters' talents are pretty impressive to say the least. Co-Op Mode is a set of 11 creatively concocted confections that again set a standard for other like-minded combos to attain. Tracks like opener Saw An Arrow with it's sweetly insinuated horn charts, the peppery, thumping I Can't Lie Down, the earnest electro-beat-ish Red House Row and the impressive Me Loving Your Money are full-on superior than most complete albums by other like-minded outfits from Toronto or Vancouver.

The dance floor-driven How Do You Like My Body? even gives Prince a run for his purple money, and that's saying a lot. Maybe if this band sticks together long enough and avoids jumping from project to project they can expect the high praise they deserve from the rest of the planet. They are in the mode to make it happen.
-- Jeff Monk - Winnipeg Free Press

ROYAL CANOE
Co-Op Mode (Head In The Sand)
4.5/5

AFTER listening to the premier Royal Canoe album for the umpteenth enjoyable time it makes one wonder... when will the pop world at large give singer/songwriter Matt Peters his due?

Since his earliest days playing with boyhood pals in Steinbach as The Pets through to the whip-smart Waking Eyes and now this startlingly listenable new album, Peters' talents are pretty impressive to say the least. Co-Op Mode is a set of 11 creatively concocted confections that again set a standard for other like-minded combos to attain. Tracks like opener Saw An Arrow with it's sweetly insinuated horn charts, the peppery, thumping I Can't Lie Down, the earnest electro-beat-ish Red House Row and the impressive Me Loving Your Money are full-on superior than most complete albums by other like-minded outfits from Toronto or Vancouver.

The dance floor-driven How Do You Like My Body? even gives Prince a run for his purple money, and that's saying a lot. Maybe if this band sticks together long enough and avoids jumping from project to project they can expect the high praise they deserve from the rest of the planet. They are in the mode to make it happen.
-- Jeff Monk - Winnipeg Free Press

Just when I thought the Lovers had sung me the perfect lullaby, Royal Canoe (Matt Peters, Joey Penner, Bucky Driedger, Matt Schellenberg, Jeff Bruce) hit the stage. Oh my holy synthesizers, coupled with falsettos reminiscent of Beck from his Midnight Vultures days – I was awake immediately. And really, really drawn in to their dancy, hopping songs. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know exactly what’s going on with the message of the song “Me Loving Your Money”—it’s tongue-in-cheek, right? The five bouncy, bandana-wearing Royal Canoeists are tongue-in-cheek, right? I think so. Let’s just say they are and keep dancing, yeah? - Discorder Magazine

Winnipeg pop-wizards Royal Canoe will play Victoria’s Lucky Bar this Feb. 28 in support of its brand new EP Extended Play.

“If you want to come to a show and not think too much and just dance, that works,” says guitarist and vocalist Bucky Driedger over the phone from Winnipeg. “But also, I think there is a lot of interesting musical things going on if you’re someone who wants to listen a little more intently.”

This binary pretty well sums up the sound on Royal Canoe’s new EP. A four-song romp through looping samples, strange time signatures and infectious pop hooks, Extended Play jumps and twirls on a fine line between experimental and catchy.

In the genre-bending spirit of the era, the band ignores any notion of boundaries as it blends influences ranging from hip-hop to dream-pop. The songs on the EP, which the band chose from fourteen tracks recorded for an upcoming album, were labours of love that bordered on obsession.

“‘Hold The Metal’ has been around for two and a half years and has gone through many incarnations,” Driedger says of the EP’s leadoff tune. “Some of these songs, we’ve logged like a hundred plus hours on…. In some ways, it’s scary to let that process be done and say ‘here is this thing that we are going to put out into the world,’ but, at the same time, at some point we have to be done…. I think if we had our way, we would just work on these songs forever.”

The result of these long hours spent in the band’s notoriously “shitty rehearsal space” is a textually rich sonic experience.

Driedger laughs at the idea of trying to name all the instruments used on the album. He does, however, recall some of the more unusual tricks, such as using a bath to create drum samples and running a banjo through distortion pedals.

On the dynamic quasi-disco track “Bathtubs,” a funky bass line and variety of click-clacking beats introduce the song before sparse guitar picking and R&B-like vocals creep in. All of these elements seem to work on their own distinct time signatures, but instead of impeding one another, they work together like rhythmic cogs, creating audible movement. From there, the song flourishes into a mix of harmonies, vocal effects, chiming bells and a chant-along chorus about (you guessed it) bathtubs.

“There is a lot of different things going on in the songs on this EP,” Driedger says, “but we tried to give it a sense of space so that there was some consistency to the vibe. That said, all the records that we all really love … they have a lot going on and I think that is what’s exciting to us.”

At the very least, Extended Play is a sultry sample of Royal Canoe’s pleasantly bombastic sound. Grandiose pop without pretension, this EP explores intricate new soundscapes with an inventive artillery. It is also fun to dance to. - Monday Magazine

Royal Canoe’s new EP is all about Winnipeg, but instead of referencing the Golden Boy and provincial highways, the local rock band sings about bathtubs.

Bathtubs is the name of the second song on the disc, and with its refrain of “The bathtubs in the hallway are here to stay / The bathtubs in the hallway are in the way,” the song is, on the surface, about the building where the band rehearses – an apartment block whose suites have been converted into jam spaces for local bands.

At one point, the building’s owner took the bathtubs out of each suite and moved them into the halls. The members of Royal Canoe found themselves struggling to get their gear past the tubs whenever they had shows to play.

“I’m sure they put the bathtubs there with some thought that they might sell them at some point, but (they) just didn’t,” keyboard player Matt Schellenberg explains. “We were thinking, those great intentions are a great metaphor for Winnipeg, where you have to work really, really fucking hard at surviving the winter and getting through the obstacles that Winnipeg provides.

“I love this town, but we were just thinking how we would love to get past the bathtubs in the hallway.”

At the same time, guitarist Bucky Driedger points out, the lyric “There’s still a degree of celebration” shows that the song isn’t merely an indictment, but a celebration of Winnipeg’s complexities.

“It’s a pretty joyous-sounding song,” he says. “There is a sense where you can get slogged down, but there’s still some reason why we keep coming to this shithole (practice space) and keep wanting to write the best songs that we can even though there’s a lot of things in the way.”

The exuberant ode to surviving this city is a key track on the EP, titled Extended Play, which the band - Schellenberg, Driedger, singer Matt Peters, bassist Brendan Berg and drummers Derek Allard and Michael Jordan - will release with a show at the West End Cultural Centre on Friday, Feb. 17.

Extended Play is the follow-up to the band’s debut album, Co-op Mode, and even though it contains just four songs, it’s an eclectic EP.

But then, people familiar with the band shouldn’t find that surprising.

Over the past three-and-a-half years, Royal Canoe have established themselves as musical mad scientists, throwing rock, pop and hip hop into a blender to create catchy-as-hell, dance floor-ready songs with odd time signatures and distorted vocals.

Think of them as the child that would result, however inexplicably, if the Beatles, Peter Gabriel, Vampire Weekend, Outkast and Fever Ray had a hymn sing followed by an orgy.

When writing songs, the band usually starts with the drum beat. Building songs around rhythms is different from how they approach songwriting in their other bands, which include The Waking Eyes and The Liptonians.

“The idea of being in a band where the rhythmic aspect is not only a big focus but often the genesis of the song was just an exciting experiment at first,” Driedger says. “Through that, (I realized) how important rhythm is in pop music—almost sometimes more than the chord progression and the melody. The melody and the chord progression, that’s the stuff that grabs your ear, but it’s the rhythm that really energizes the song.”

Some of the songs took two-and-a-half years to perfect, with the band working 60 hours a week in their rehearsal space at certain points.

They tracked over a dozen songs during the two months they spent recording at Private Ear with co-producer/engineer John Paul Peters from November to January. They’re saving the rest of the songs for an album that will come out later this year or next.

For now, the band will drag its gear through the hallway where the bathtubs used to be to the West End Cultural Centre for the EP release show, and then on a tour that will take them across Western Canada, then to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and then to Canadian Music Week in Toronto.

“We want to do this, and we want to do it for a living,” Peters says. “We want to travel as much as we possibly can, we want to get our music out to people and we’re all really confident about what we’ve made.”

Now that’s cause for celebration. - The Uniter

The progression of popular music, or the lack of, has been a topic hotly debated on the CBC Radio 3 blog, and at N2D central as well. We're of the opinion that either through nature or nurture, our brains expect and desire certain conventions in music (the resolution, the major and minor modes, the 4/4 time signature, for example), and as long as music is held hostage by these structures (and the listeners that demand it), it leaves few places for composers of popular music to go.

That's why, as predicted, Winnipeg's Royal Canoe did indeed blow our minds at their show on May 12 at the Majestic's Garden Bowl in Detroit, for their ability to beautifully straddle (or paddle, as the case may be), the line between adventurous music and music that is eminently satisfying to both the ear and the brain. Founder Matt Peters (vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar) and the rest of the band-- Matt Schellenberg (vocals, keyboards), Bucky Driedger (vocals, electric guitar, percussion), Brendan Berg (vocals, bass, keyboards) and drummers Derek Allard and Michael Jordon (on both conventional and electronic drums)-- all came from other groups, but Royal Canoe "is our baby," says Driedger.

If you guessed that vocals play a significant role, you'd be right, from Schellenberg's angelic Vienna Boys Choir falsetto to Peters' tenor, but they're used more as additional instruments instead of the usual simple harmony. Songs on their (oddly unimaginatively-named) EP, Extended Play come with five beats to a measure, and even 15; it's a tribute to their talent (and their collective skill at hitting all the complicated rhythms) that such time signatures feel completely natural and never forced. That's the best part about Royal Canoe: they're writing and performing progressive music that appeals to our Pavlovian brains, like putting zucchini in brownies, or applesauce in chocolate cake. And the captivated crowd at the Garden Bowl ate it up, demanding an encore: the lovely "Dear June" from the first Royal Canoe incarnation, Co-Op Mode. - N2D S2W

If you’re one of those lucky bastards that is going to SXSW next week (anybody would think I’m bitter) then you’re also lucky enough to have the opportunity to see Royal Canoe. They’re a young group from Canada and have just released their debut EP, imaginatively called Extended Play. You can hear it below and there should also be a link to pay the very $5 to own it for your very self.

First off let me try to describe them for you though. We’ve got definite Animal Collective undertones here. If the band weren’t listening to ‘Brother Sport’ when they wrote opener ‘Hold on to the Metal’, then I will eat my words. ‘Bathtubs’ makes great use of a vocoder and I fucking love a vocoder when used well. The remaining two tracks, ‘Bloodrush’ and ‘Caught in a Loop’, showcase their versatility even further. Everything they’ve grown up listening to and been influenced by, Animal Collective included, has worked a treat. The EP is a wonderful 4-track advertisement and I have no doubt they’ll be taking Austin by storm. - Sock Formation

Empty out a swimming pool. Spray paint it in neon colors. Learn to ride a skateboard better than Tony Hawk. Ride your skateboard around the empty, painted pool. If you did this, the song you would need to listen to while doing so would be “Hold On To The Metal” by Royal Canoe. These Canadian rockers are the ones to play anytime you want to pretend like you’re totally cool and artsy, like the things you do are meaningful and will one day be in a documentary about a movement that changed the face of an alternative culture. Have I been watching Dogtown & Z Boys and thinking about graffiti and counter culture art too much? Maybe. Have I also been listening to Royal Canoe on repeat and thinking about how much I love summer and deadly psychedelic pop music? Yes. So, if these things appeal to you in any way, listening to Royal Canoe is a must. Download this song, listen to it once and decide to put it on repeat, because who knows what sort of movement you might start given the inspiration it provides.

The rest of the Royal Canoe EP which is brilliantly and ironically called Extended Play is pretty fucking good too. It’s been about 100 degrees in New York City and I just moved here from a place where humidity was a laughed about fact that East Coasters had to deal with and now I am one, so things have been, well a little rough. But, thankfully, music changes my mood and attitude more than any physical circumstance is able to, so this EP has been a life preserver of sorts. Their summer-infused rubix cube of sounds cut straight through the heat of summer and delivers it back in face-melting sweat-inducing dance tracks. I feel like I’m on a rocket ship trip around the earth, looking at the moon and Saturn and then speeding back through the atmosphere, only to find out it is still hotter here on earth than anywhere in outer space. To sum it all up, these songs are gun powder explosions into choruses designed for poolsides, ocean rendezvous and summer love stories. Eat it up. - Knox Road

Every once in a while, a wonderful artist or band sails right under my radar and I (re-) discover them sheepishly and present them to you. Royal Canoe from Winnipeg is my confession to you today. After releasing their debut full-length (Co-Op Mode) back in 2010, the dynamic 6-piece have crafted more earworm-worthy pop gems to tide you over until their next.
Debut single and opener “Hold on to the Metal” is experimental prog-pop at its most captivating, reminiscent of the playfulness of Chad VanGaalen and the expansive anthems of Broken Social Scene. (Stream above; download over on Soundcloud.) If this sounds like excessive praise, it’s not. So here I am, one track in, one eyebrow raised, wondering where the hell this band came from— in the best way possible. “Bathtubs,” the track that follows, is a raucous affair, with gang vocals, pounding percussion, swirling synth effects and a Flight of the Conchords vibe. I’m also reminded of a Jamie Lidell soul-influenced sound with less sex. Third track “Bloodrush” pounds in your head and hints at the wonder their live shows must be, where noise pieces are thrown into the mix, somehow all falling in place by the end of the track. The song that rounds out the 4-track EP, “Caught in a Loop,” cheekily describes what you’ll get in the track, a jaunty tune with looped vocals and a bouncy bass line.
I keep throwing influences around, ones that are all disparate sounding. An approximation at something that I can’t quite describe. Scratch all of that. If you take anything away from this review, it’s that Royal Canoe have deeply impressed with this strange, captivating, and imaginative EP, and I will be listening keenly for their next release with this current one on repeat. - Earbuds & Ticket Stubs

Caleb from Epic Concoction turned me on to this 6 piece from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Their 4 song Extended Play, available at their bandcamp, is a clever blend of aesthetics and genres executed with a confidence and expertise usually reserved for more established groups.

Reminiscent of a more jubilent Grizzly Bear, the 4 song EP is quite the impressively solid effort. I highly suggest you check it. - This Music Doesn't Suck

4/5 stars

This four-song slice of art-pop perfection comes as the follow-up to Royal Canoe’s 2010 debut, Co-op Mode, and it’s sure to get people salivating for band’s forthcoming sophomore album. While the aptly titled Co-op Mode was a collaborative collage built around songs penned by frontman/founder Matt Peters, Extended Play is the work of a well-oiled band. These are ambitious, hook-rich pop songs — think Dan Bejar’s best contributions to The New Pornographers — constructed from a mélange of inventive loops and samples. I dare you not to get hooked on the resplendent sugar rush that is Hold On To The Metal.
– Jen Zoratti - Uptown Magazine

4/5 stars

This four-song slice of art-pop perfection comes as the follow-up to Royal Canoe’s 2010 debut, Co-op Mode, and it’s sure to get people salivating for band’s forthcoming sophomore album. While the aptly titled Co-op Mode was a collaborative collage built around songs penned by frontman/founder Matt Peters, Extended Play is the work of a well-oiled band. These are ambitious, hook-rich pop songs — think Dan Bejar’s best contributions to The New Pornographers — constructed from a mélange of inventive loops and samples. I dare you not to get hooked on the resplendent sugar rush that is Hold On To The Metal.
– Jen Zoratti - Uptown Magazine

To say that Winnipeg's Royal Canoe make bubbly, lively pop music is a dramatic understatement. If one were to say that these particular bubbles were filled with deep substantial meaning, then that would be closer to the truth. This substance shines through on the band's new EP Extended Play. This substance is evident in the depth of their song composition – one song “Bathtubs,” is totally danceable, despite its peculiar 15/8 time signature.


There is artistry behind the pop-façade of Royal Canoe and their front man Matt Peters. Peters has assembled a band to fully embody his creative intuition. Royal Canoe boasts two drummers, a bevy of bass, guitars and vocals, multiple keyboards and effects pedals, and only the catchiest hooks in its songs. The diversity of sound that results provides for an interesting dimension of listening. Although this complexity and an as yet unsolidified distinct identity could prove problematic on a full-length LP, as an EP Extended Play provides for an excellent taste of Royal Canoe's creatively destructive approach to music. The song "Bloodrush" is a good example of this approach, when they so poignantly chant: "when you finally go, you're gonna explode". In other words, when the craziness ends, you will feel as if something has hit you very, very hard. - Earshot

Royal Canoe consists of six guys from Canada with an expertise in energetic psychedelic pop. They released their Extended Play EP earlier this year and I think it’s about time you give it a listen.

Here we have Royal Canoe’s first track from the EP, “Hold On To The Metal.” It starts off deconstructed, slithering and intriguing. Each instrument has its own place within the song; whether the instruments are weaving in between each other or jamming loudly into oblivion, this track has a style for everyone.

The twists and turns within “Hold On To The Metal” grasps a thoroughly entertaining style. At times it can sound psychedelically orchestral, and then a breakdown will ensue and this ADD-laden style will throw you for a loop. This is a song of many colors.

And this is only one track. Go on and give Royal Canoe’s Extended Play EP a listen. It’s perfect for this optimistic, spontaneous summer weather. - Indie Shuffle

Like most good pop artists, Royal Canoe puts rhythm first.

After that, the Winnipeg six-piece takes a sharp turn from the rest of the pop music world.

Royal Canoe will bring its experimental indie-pop to the Wunderbar Saturday night, alongside local opening acts Martyrs and Doug Hoyer.

Royal Canoe employs two drummers, one on a traditional kit and the other on a kit that triggers samples created from old records or by banging on bathtubs, garbage cans and other random objects.

“There’s a lot of attention paid to the rhythmic aspect of things. There’s a lot of drum programming, we make a lot of our own samples by running stuff through pedals and recording it,” says the band’s guitarist, Bucky Driedger.

“Oftentimes we’ll just load that up with samples that we’ve made and those two guys will play off each other and make a loop and then we’ll build a song on that, or we’ll program our loop into the computer and build a song off of that.”

Once the band has a solid beat in place, often in an unusual time signature, the songwriting process turns into a collaborative hodgepodge of sounds whereby any band member who happens to wander into the rehearsal space can add to the track until it’s deemed a finished product.

“It’s kind of a revolving door. Whoever in the band has time to go down, goes down and contributes,” Driedger says. “I play guitar but I don’t necessarily write all the guitar lines. If it’s good, then it ends up on the song.” Writing and recording can be a long, but fun process, as documented on the in-studio website series Royal Canoe posted on YouTube.

“We all really get excited by experimenting with sound. We’ll spend six hours playing with a pedal to get a funny sound that we use for one second in a song,” Driedger says.

Despite the band’s cluttered approach, its brand-new EP Extended Play is a cohesive piece of work with strong hooks and vocal melodies throughout, which can probably be credited to its members all having played in more conventional pop projects in the past.

Driedger says Royal Canoe’s lovably quirky sound is influenced by acts like Outkast, Beck and Fever Ray who have made careers pushing the boundaries of pop music.

But Royal Canoe will occasionally stretch past those boundaries. The song Nightcrawlin’, for instance, which is posted on the homepage of the band’s website with an accompanying music video, features singer Matt Peters singing through an octave shifter in a comically deep voice, backed only by percussion for the first half of the song.

“We wanted to write a song without having any chord progression. So we wrote the lyrics and the melody over a drone note just to give ourselves a reference pitch,” Driedger says.

“The tone of the lyrics and the tone of the melody, it felt like having this kind of sinister low-octave voice as a part of that would really bring the character to life … it made it a little more badass.”

Extended Play is the band’s first fully collaborative effort and a precursor to its second full-length album, which is currently in the mixing process.

Royal Canoe’s time-consuming experimentation is not always rewarding, but they figure it’s the only way to go.

“Sometimes we fail miserably and sometimes it’s magic,” Driedger says.
- Edmonton Sun

Remember when Vampire Weekend wrote the best two minute indie-pop songs around? This new track from Winnipeg’s Royal Canoe is sort of how Ezra Koenig & co. might sound now, had they not decided to become XL’s rent boy’s. Four minutes of unashamed, unabashed, rot-your-teeth-sweet indie pop, and boy is it addictive, if only they’d put it up for free download. Stream Hold On To The Metal Below and keep up with the group via their Facebook. - Crack in the Road

Regal portagers, Royal Canoe navigate their way to Radio 3 with "Hold On To The Metal" from Extended Play.

The genre-defying Winnipeg 6-piece unleash the restraints on inspiration allowing their sounds to traverse territory that more referentially self-conscious pop groups wouldn't cross.

"Hold On To The Metal" is an expansive, communal electro-pop experience worth getting a grip on. - CBC Radio

Regal portagers, Royal Canoe navigate their way to Radio 3 with "Hold On To The Metal" from Extended Play.

The genre-defying Winnipeg 6-piece unleash the restraints on inspiration allowing their sounds to traverse territory that more referentially self-conscious pop groups wouldn't cross.

"Hold On To The Metal" is an expansive, communal electro-pop experience worth getting a grip on. - CBC Radio

This album is the first one in a while that I truly had a lot of fun listening to. The album is from Winnipeg’s Royal Canoe, an idea in the making since 2006 by Matt Peters of the Waking Eyes.

Co-op Mode is an album that can’t be immediately categorized- it has equal parts pop and electronic in it, and these two styles make some really fun (and insanely catchy) tunes.It also has some crazy and unexpected falsettos.

Take “Me Loving Your Money” for example. This song has a mellow electronic groove in the background while the lyrics explore the theme of love amongst piles and piles of riches. Its tone is so ironic that this song becomes immediately memorable.

“Kasparov” is a song that should, if you know your history, conjure an image of the chess master. And that’s exactly what the song is about. It’s actually written as a love letter to Kasparov from Deep Blue, the computer he faced in 1996 and beat. The style of the song is one of an old 1950's love-song.

“How Do You Like my Body” is where the falsettos come in. In full force. Almost the entire song is sung that way, and if you were to listen to the song without knowing the artist you may almost assume you’re listening to either the Bee Gees or the Scissor Sisters.

“Soothsayer” is a good modern spin on the old “Hush little baby don’t say a word…” nursery rhyme. The chorus starts with “Soothsayer, soothsayer, don’t say a word/Daddy wouldn’t buy you a mockingbird.”

This album definitely keeps everything fresh with no song sounding much like the last. Royal Canoe seems to draw influence from all over the musical spectrum making for the first truly memorable disc in quite a while. Solid stuff. - Grayowl Point

Four years after Matt Peters of Winnipeg’s The Waking Eyes got together with a group of friends for some late night songwriting in 2006, it’s safe to say that most of those involved didn’t have high expectations of seeing the material released.

Yet, here they are, as Peters — along with a newly assembled band — has resurrected the recordings and are giving them a proper release, in the form Royal Canoe’s CO-OP Mode.

“CO-OP Mode is the same album [that was] written and recorded years ago,” says Peters. “All of the songs were co-written with friends from Winnipeg, hence the name. I guess you could say it’s something I’ve had on the backburner for a while and I’m really happy it’s finally seeing the light of day.”

On their first release, Royal Canoe features plenty of lyrically gifted, brainy pop with a near over-abundance of keyboards and sugar-sweet vocal harmonies. With the recordings taking on a new life, Peters is hopeful that the group will eventually outgrow its side-project status and morph into a full-fledged indie rock force.

“It has been really great working with people who feel as much a part of the project as I do,” says Peters. “The live show for CO-OP Mode is close to the record, but the other guys have brought such great flavours into the set — it’s really exciting. Having permanent members will probably have a big impact on the next record too, and we’re all looking forward to see how our sound evolves. If anything, I hope the next album focuses on what we’ve already started.” - Planet S Magazine

Four years after Matt Peters of Winnipeg’s The Waking Eyes got together with a group of friends for some late night songwriting in 2006, it’s safe to say that most of those involved didn’t have high expectations of seeing the material released.

Yet, here they are, as Peters — along with a newly assembled band — has resurrected the recordings and are giving them a proper release, in the form Royal Canoe’s CO-OP Mode.

“CO-OP Mode is the same album [that was] written and recorded years ago,” says Peters. “All of the songs were co-written with friends from Winnipeg, hence the name. I guess you could say it’s something I’ve had on the backburner for a while and I’m really happy it’s finally seeing the light of day.”

On their first release, Royal Canoe features plenty of lyrically gifted, brainy pop with a near over-abundance of keyboards and sugar-sweet vocal harmonies. With the recordings taking on a new life, Peters is hopeful that the group will eventually outgrow its side-project status and morph into a full-fledged indie rock force.

“It has been really great working with people who feel as much a part of the project as I do,” says Peters. “The live show for CO-OP Mode is close to the record, but the other guys have brought such great flavours into the set — it’s really exciting. Having permanent members will probably have a big impact on the next record too, and we’re all looking forward to see how our sound evolves. If anything, I hope the next album focuses on what we’ve already started.” - Planet S Magazine

It was a good thing for Winnipeg's Matt Peters that his band The Waking Eyes was going on hiatus. That's because he was busy with a new project, one that had been put on hold as The Waking Eyes continued to play in around the Manitoba capital.

While the slowing down of the band was bittersweet for Peters, one of its primary songwriters, it also gave life to Royal Canoe, which, until very recently, existed only as a few songs recorded for fun with friends.

So, while members of The Waking Eyes got caught up in other bands or moved away, Peters found some new friends, formed a band and began playing his new/old songs on stages across Winnipeg.

What Peters is doing now, he says, seems fresh even though songs he's performing songs that were penned a few years back.

"The songs are quite old, but they still feel fresh because there was such a long time between when they were recorded and when they found a new life in a live environment," Peters said.

Even though Peters concedes he had his doubts about the future of The Waking Eyes for some time, he insists his side project was only meant to be a project to busy himself during his spare time.

"It was really about writing songs and hanging out with some people I wanted to hang out with. I really wasn't thinking about anything more than that," Peters said. "I was just enjoying the collaborative process. But at the end of it, I realized that I had a record there."

He said it didn't take long for a group to form around his few songs, which were recorded in late 2006 and early 2007.

"I asked some friends who are in some other bands and they were kind enough to help me. We had a band pretty quickly."

Peters said the songs came as the result of an experiment with a blend of unique keyboard sounds, as well as the combination of acoustic and electronic drums. He said he didn't want the songs to be too serious, but also wanted to find a sound he was comfortable with.

"It's a blend of electronic and organic elements. In our shows, we have an electronic drummer and acoustic drummer," said Peters.

"I have a hard time deciding what our band sounds like. There are a lot of keyboards, and it's drum heavy. We use analog synthesizers, so it's brash and in your face sometimes, but it's also something that's danceable," he said. "But then I always have a hard time explaining it in a way that does it justice."

As for the subject matter, Peters appears to be following a similarly quirky theme. "Kasparov" is a love song, meant to express affection from the super-computer Deep Blue toward Russian chess player Gary Kasparov. Another song, "Dear June," is about a conjoined twin who wants to be separated.

When it comes trying find a genre for his music, Peters isn't sure.

"I don't really care what the trend is."

-- Andrew Matte - Leader-Post

Wow...what a great album. Royal Canoe is the band comprised of Matt Peters, Bucky Driedger, Matt Schellenberg, Joey Penner, and Jeff Bruce. Co-Op Mode is an extremely well crafted album full of melodic pop tunes with real staying power. A great deal of time and energy was obviously spent recording these tunes. These tracks have a nice slick classic sound and feel. The songs themselves would already be extremely strong...but they are made even more so by the extremely clever and inventive arrangements. That...plus the superb vocals...make this album a wonderfully inviting spin from start to finish. Canada is such a hotbed of incredible talent these days...and Royal Canoe is yet another example of how Canadian bands are beating the shit out of most bands in the United States. Killer cuts include "Saw An Arrow," "I Can't Lie Down," "Soothsayer," "Kasparov," and "The Last Ones Were Delicious." House in a beautiful digipak sleeve and includes a lyric booklet. (TOP PICK!) - Babysue

When The Waking Eyes put their band on hold, I was excited. Matt Peters and Rusty Matays are talented guys, but their band’s major label releases never lived up to their potential. Peters is now in the infectious pop act Royal Canoe — already an improvement over his previous band. They cover a lot of ground here, moving from anthemic indie rock on Red House Row, electro beats on Me Loving Your Money to Beatles-like pop on Kasparov. It’s all smart and engaging and the lush harmonies are excellent. The music isn’t perfect, but with a few tweaks this could be Peg City’s next big band. - Metro Canada

4.5/5

Begun as a just-for-fun recording project by The Waking Eyes’ flame-haired frontman Matt Peters, Royal Canoe has evolved into one this city’s most buzz-worthy bands. Co-op Mode is all about falsetto vocals, elastic keyboard workouts and hip-shaking hooks — but it could have worked just as well as a sparse alt-folk album. These songs have strong narratives and plenty of heart despite their, er, imaginative premises (see: I Can’t Lie Down, which is from the POV of a horse; Kasparov, which documents super-computer Deep Blue’s unrequited love for chess master Gary Kasparov; and Dear June, which is about a conjoined twin longing to live a separate life). This is a gem of a record.
— Jen Zoratti - Uptown Magazine

RoyalCanoe
Co-OpMode
Head in the Sand Records

Royal Canoe (a side-project from Matt Peters of Waking Eyes) has finally released their debut album Co-Op Mode. The album has been a work-in-progress that spans back to 2006, and has definitely been worth Peters’ time. Never pigeonholed into one specific style of music, Royal Canoe succeed in previewing the talents of the band through an assortment of musical genres, levels of upbeat and downplayed tempo, and an overall feel that never seems jumbled enough to disrupt the flow of the album. “Saw an Arrow” gently introduces you to the band with wonderfully produced studio structure and skillfully managed harmonizing. The creative quality of both the studio music plus the integration of clever and catchy lyrics drive the first half of Co-Op Mode in a comfortable and entertaining manner. By the time “Me Loving Your Money” comes about the tone changes and the expressive quality of a more ‘upbeat-versus-rich-soul’ charm takes over. The addition of a bold falsetto vocal element transforms the overall tone into something quite innovative with a mash-up of genres within the confines of a single track. The somber, acoustically-driven “Fabulous Mess” holds sincerity both lyrically as well as instrumentally through the soulful timber of Peters’ voice, elevating itself to heightened levels of intensity. Experimental qualities that Royal Canoe play with on their debut are commendable as well as surprisingly successful. Showing everyone what they are capable of making as a band seems to be the primary goal that Peters et al are trying to convey with Co-Op Mode. Their self-exploration of sound and style both creatively and technically manage to entertain effortlessly. “The Last Ones Were Delicious” beautifully ends the album on a bittersweet note, rivaling the likes of Ben Gibbard in the vocal department, easing the album down to the ground from where it all began. An excellent offering as a debut album, Co-Op Mode will easily provide Royal Canoe with an immediate fan base with a diverse spectrum of listeners. - Spill Magazine

RoyalCanoe
Co-OpMode
Head in the Sand Records

Royal Canoe (a side-project from Matt Peters of Waking Eyes) has finally released their debut album Co-Op Mode. The album has been a work-in-progress that spans back to 2006, and has definitely been worth Peters’ time. Never pigeonholed into one specific style of music, Royal Canoe succeed in previewing the talents of the band through an assortment of musical genres, levels of upbeat and downplayed tempo, and an overall feel that never seems jumbled enough to disrupt the flow of the album. “Saw an Arrow” gently introduces you to the band with wonderfully produced studio structure and skillfully managed harmonizing. The creative quality of both the studio music plus the integration of clever and catchy lyrics drive the first half of Co-Op Mode in a comfortable and entertaining manner. By the time “Me Loving Your Money” comes about the tone changes and the expressive quality of a more ‘upbeat-versus-rich-soul’ charm takes over. The addition of a bold falsetto vocal element transforms the overall tone into something quite innovative with a mash-up of genres within the confines of a single track. The somber, acoustically-driven “Fabulous Mess” holds sincerity both lyrically as well as instrumentally through the soulful timber of Peters’ voice, elevating itself to heightened levels of intensity. Experimental qualities that Royal Canoe play with on their debut are commendable as well as surprisingly successful. Showing everyone what they are capable of making as a band seems to be the primary goal that Peters et al are trying to convey with Co-Op Mode. Their self-exploration of sound and style both creatively and technically manage to entertain effortlessly. “The Last Ones Were Delicious” beautifully ends the album on a bittersweet note, rivaling the likes of Ben Gibbard in the vocal department, easing the album down to the ground from where it all began. An excellent offering as a debut album, Co-Op Mode will easily provide Royal Canoe with an immediate fan base with a diverse spectrum of listeners. - Spill Magazine