The Nursery

Toronto’s The Nursery have had a pretty good 2016. The band released their debut EP, toured Canada and the Northeastern United States, and took home awards for Best Indie Band and Best Music Video at the Toronto Independent Music Awards for their video “Digital Ashes”.

We are pleased to premiere The Nursery’s brand new video for “Everybody’s Famous,” from the band’s forthcoming debut LP. The song explores toxic celebrity culture, double lives, gender politics, and the modern obsession with fame. It was directed by Canadian artist Genevieve Blais.

“‘Everybody’s Famous’ is about the manic and warped obsessions of seeking attention through inauthentic means,” said Alex Pulec of The Nursery. “Social media tools are continually serving as a painkiller to pacify this twisted need to elevate our social statues to unrealistic heights. Fame should be the by-product of being remarkable at something — never the goal.”

“Everybody’s Famous” is the first single off of The Nursery’s upcoming LP Life After Wartime, out early 2017. - Indie 88

Just because the digital seems immaterial doesn't mean it's somehow permanent. The digital decays. It disappears. On their new EP Digital Ashes, Toronto new new wavers The Nursery explore the paradoxical fragility of the post-digital era through big and glossy, 3D-modelled, rose quartz- and serene-coloured pop music.

The four-piece recorded at GCR Audio, a converted monastery in Buffalo, with Justin Rose (James Taylor, Lil Wayne), and the dramatic space left its marks on the album, packed full with ambitious and dynamic pop compositions.

"The EP and title track are influenced by a number of digital catastrophes we've endured as a band while creating music, artwork and video," says guitarist and singer Alex Pulec. "Not a negligence thing from not backing up work, just random digital corruption and breakdown. At one point it had me questioning if we were doomed or something. Then I realized how much of our lives are lived, stored and experienced through these means."

Listen to the album streaming digitally below. It might not be around forever. - Chart Attack

I’ve spent a while trying to define The Nursery. At first they had a sound akin to bands like Nine Inch Nails, The Foals, and The Killers. Two songs later, it’s as if Depeche Mode hopped into the studio with The Aquabats and The Black Keys.

The Canadian four-piece is relentlessly creative and inspired, from their genre-spanning music to their thrillingly well-produced videos. At the bottom of each song lies an inherently profound message.

Who wouldn’t want to know more about these guys? Alex took some time to have a chat with me over the weekend. Lets just say, “interesting” is a severe understatement here. You’ll be hooked from the get-go.

MC: What made the name “The Nursery” stick?

N: Few years ago when I was thinking of a name so many bands were appearing and calling themselves “young” this or “young” that. Words like “youth” and “kids” were, and are still, used ad nauseam. I feel this is an era obsessed with youth so I decided to take that idea one step further to an absurd and darker place. The name became our sardonic commentary on a culture obsessed with death and paranoid of staying young and never growing up. So…with our tongues firmly planted in cheek, the name stuck for a while. Then we started discovering more reasons why it was special. Out in space, new stars are born into clusters called “stellar nurseries” and many die in the process. We are born in the nursery, we die in the nursery. It was the perfect name.

MC: What’s the message behind Digital Ashes that you hope people take away?

N: It’s one part a love letter to a pre-digital world and one part the crippling anxiety of entering a fully-encompassing virtual existence while trying to fit yourself in as a human being. An existence where tangibility is so rare that we’ll have to re-think what the word “vintage” would even mean anymore. Where all personal content like photos, video, your medical records, music, books, money and achievements are all digitized and you aren’t able to hold them. I’m not a luddite. I love innovative tech a lot, actually. But the mentality of putting everything that makes up your identity into a cloud, or a hard drive…at the rate we’re moving…things are about to get unreal.

MC: Your videos are incredible. How big of an outlet are music videos for the bands’ creativity?

N: We’ve got an amazing little team of film-makers who are the real people to take praise for the video work. Couldn’t do it without them. Myself and the band are all very visual people and use imagery to inspire a lot of the places we take the music. Visuals were especially integral to the song She Speaks the Wave, which has quite an abstract lyric. Have you ever been in a moment when somebody is speaking to you and suddenly every word that comes out of their mouth hits you like this crashing tidal wave? The anxiety might even make you feel like you’re drowning or suffocating. It’s all metaphoric, but the feeling is so real. Genevieve Blais who directed that one, did a really cool job of depicting the unavoidable truth of cycles constantly ending and beginning.

If you can visually tap into the mood of a song successfully musicians can create a much more profound experience. It’s about working all those human senses together. Now imagine if we can introduce smell, touch and taste into a listening experience? This is why live shows are still the best way to experience music.

MC: How much of the sound of Digital Ashes was influenced by the environment during recording?

N: We did the record in this old converted monastery in Buffalo, NY with Justin Rose. He really had us “use the space” by taking full advantage of the natural acoustics, nooks and crannies of the building’s architecture. The room gave the record a spacious, dramatic and hypnotic imprint that wouldn’t have been there if we had made it in a smaller conventional urban studio. That town has such an authentic dystopian feeling to it. Who knows what kind of spirits got in there.

MC: What do you guys enjoy doing in your off-time?

N: Vic surprisingly is the quietest of the bunch usually reading or covering himself in his tattoo designs. Jared is a live music champ. He’s seen so many amazing performers all over the country in totally unique environments. Josh is a horror movie nerd. High-budget, B-movie, psychological, slasher, you name it, he’ll know it…and the soundtrack. I’ve recently become fascinated in a community of psychics and mediums in Cassadega, NY. You need to be a registered medium in order to live there. I just visit and hangout with them as much as possible, but now I’m exploring studying mediumship. Cause really, how could that not be one of the most chill places to live?

MC: New or vintage instruments?

N: Combining new AND vintage instruments gets us the most interesting and unpredictable results. Though most of our stuff is analog or vintage, especially the synths. In Toronto we work with Mike Rocha and his studio is always full of unique obscure old stuff. So between his gear and ours it’s literally wall to wall covered. Some favorite pieces of vintage gear that have been essential to our recordings thus far are a Moog Source, DX7, Juno-60, CP-70, Korg/Roland Tape Echo’s and an Eventide Harmonizer to name a few. If you like nerding out on vintage gear and synths like us, check out vintagesynth.com. You’ll be hooked for days. Sorry in advance.

MC: What’s next?

N: We’re releasing the most satirical song we’ve ever written in the fall and sooo excited. It’s going to be on our debut full-length LP. The video concept we have going is our most ambitious yet. All I can say is that we’ll be reviving our favorite performers who are no longer with us. - Milk Crater

Described as an electro-spacepop band, this Toronto quartet was started by Alex Pulec (ex-Ruby Spirit) and Victor Ess in 2013. They’ve won Toronto Independent Music Awards as "Best Indie/Rock Band" (2015) and "Best Music Video" for the video "Digital Ashes" (2016), and toured Canada and the northeast US.

This new track will be included on The Nursery’s upcoming debut album, Life After Wartime. The group’s inspirations include early electro, punk and English glam rock, and the super-catchy cut is a refreshing mélange of these elements. The video for it is a grabber, and may well be a Prism Prize contender.

Industry types would be smart to check these guys out, as they appear highly worthy of their 15 minutes of fame, or much more. - FYI Music News

On November 15th, “The Nursery” premiered the video on Indie 88 for its newest single “Everybody’s Famous” which came out earlier this fall. The song is rumoured to be a part of the four-man band from Toronto, Canada’s upcoming album, “Life After Wartime” scheduled to be released early 2017.

Alex Pulec, the band’s creator and songwriter, explains “Everybody’s Famous” as being about “the manic and warped motivations of seeking validation through inauthentic means. Social tools are continually serving as a painkiller to pacify this twisted need to elevate our social statues to unrealistic heights…Fame is usually the by-product of being remarkable at something – It should never be the goal… mass validation is not something to be romanticized, celebrated or healthy to strive for.” (1)

“They kiss like a machine, tired eyes staring at stars through the screen”

Some of the most talented celebrities of the past, such as Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, make “guest appearances” in the video. The video might well be interpreted as The Nursery’s attempt to make us reflect on how our values towards art and success have shifted in modern times. Musically, the song is held together by a punchy drumbeat and it is super synth heavy and dramatic.

Alex Pulec, Victor Ess, Jared Roth, and Josh English form “The Nursery”. According to the band’s Facebook page, Pulec and Ess came together to create the beginnings of the band in 2013 after they both dropped out of music school. The “freak pop” band toured throughout Canada and Northeastern United States in 2016 to promote their first EP, “Digital Ashes”. This year, they have also received awards for Best Indie Band and Best Music Video for the song, “Digital Ashes”, at the Toronto Independent Music Awards. (2) - Nu

The opening riff off the latest from Toronto’s The Nursery is immediately enticing. By the time the vocals jump in, you’re already hooked.

‘She Speaks the Wave’ is the first song off the band’s two-track EP of the same name, released in March. And it’s a masterfully crafted song at that. The guitars and synths and drums and bass all lead into one another, yet remain separate, and together the music and vocals swell and soften in all the right places.

The second track, ‘Hexes and O’s’ is a wild raucous – it’s fun and dancey and poppy. It has more of a ska sound to it, pointing frontman Alex Pulec’s early days on the scene as the guitarist for now-defunct The Ruby Spirit.

The best thing about The Nursery, though, is their unabashed risk-taking. In an era where musical risks are had to come by, bands like this one stick out for all the right reasons. Whatever they’re doing, it’s working, and I hope it never stops. - Raz Mataz Magazine

Toronto indie-pop quartet, The Nursery, have resurrected some dead celebrities in their new video for “Everybody’s Famous.” From Michael Jackson to Marilyn Monroe to Amy Winehouse, there’s no shortage of music legends as the band explores the toxic scene of celebrity culture and the modern obsession with fame. The song is set to be featured on the band’s forthcoming album, Life After Wartime, in 2017.

Songwriter Alex Pulec stated:

“‘Everybody’s Famous’ is about the manic and warped obsessions of seeking attention through inauthentic means. Social media tools are continually serving as a painkiller to pacify this twisted need to elevate our social statues to unrealistic heights. Fame should be the by-product of being remarkable at something – never the goal.”

Check out the video for “Everybody’s Famous” below: - The Daily Listening

Have you ever thought of what Marilyn Monroe’s Instagram feed would like? How about Charlie Chaplin’s drive-thru order? Would Kurt Cobain have switched to vaping?

Toronto band, The Nursery, answers these questions in their newest video Everybody’s Famous.

Using a cast of eclectic celebrity impersonators from Michael Jackson to Amy Winehouse, the video vibrantly satirizes our contemporary obsession with fame and the toxic side-effects of it.

Directed by Canadian artist Genevieve Blais, this irreverent take on fame is equal parts surreal, unsettling, and beautiful. - Lost At E Minor

Seeing The Nursery live on stage, you could tell they were not holding anything back. On Friday, January 18th, they headlined their first show of 2017 in their hometown of Toronto at The Drake Underground. The show was colourful and ornate, transforming the dark basement of the landmark Toronto building into a new and “freaky” world for the evening.

Alex Pulec (vocals and guitar) and Victor Ess (keyboard) came together to create the band in 2013 after they both dropped out of college where they were studying music. “We essentially dropped out because we realized in order to do what we wanted to do, we didn’t really need school,” recounted Pulec in an interview with us after the show. Instead, they created a band that celebrates its oddity and encourages creativity - all on their own. Their overwhelming talent for inventing unique pieces of music is a direct reflection of their willingness to be vulnerable and the risk results in what Pulec describes as “divine expression”.

The Nursery has a truly special talent for exploring the human experience with an authentic bluntness. While thematically heavy, the songs are not angst-ridden. They find a way for their music to remain catchy, energetic, and relatable. The production provides a gateway to countless genres. It is a rich fusion of elements from music in categories of post-punk, electronic, indie-rock, psychedelic-rock/pop, synth-rock, synth-pop, alternative, and more. (1) Contributions of crashing drums - played with verve by Josh English from New York - hit you hard. Jared Roth supplies aspects of rousing synth, which impose a psychedelic feature to the sound as well. All of these elements, combined with the work done by Pulec and Ess, meld seamlessly to form a genre that the boys of The Nursery call: “freak pop”.

In our interview with Pulec, we discussed the come to fruition of the band, his goal of creating worlds with his music, and he unveiled some extra details about the making of their most recent music video for the song, “Everybody’s Famous”. It sounds like 2017 is gearing up to include more exciting times ahead for The Nursery. With the highly anticipated release of their debut studio album on the way, and even some experimentation with 360 VR, you’ll have to read the full interview below to get more information of what is to come from The Nursery.

Nu: Can you introduce yourself?
A: My name is Alex and I play in The Nursery. I play guitar, I write songs and I sing.

Nu: Your videos are very conceptually strong, is it you guys who come up with them primarily?
A: We work with very small, but amazing teams. Genevieve Blais is one of the masterminds of a lot of the videos. We sort of codirect with her but I pretty much have to give her full credit on creating the world. She’s a brilliant artist all on her own and you should definitely check out her stuff. We just see a video as just as much an expression as the song, and you should pretty much go as all out as you can and I like the idea of creating worlds.

Nu: It’s obvious that with everything in your music, you give it your all. Even seeing you live tonight, your music took on a new dynamic from seeing you in a video.
A: Well yea, someone hands you a microphone and you have to use it.

Nu: Do you have a favourite part of the creative process?
A: My favourite part of the creative process is when the idea hits you and you just never expected it. It just came out of absolutely no where and you know you have it and you know it’s going to go away so you have to write it down or work on it or flush it out at that moment. That’s really exciting, because that’s really divine. I feel like anybody who attempts to do something creative would feel like at some point. That’s my favourite feeling. When something just hits and you know it’s coming from a special place and you’re not forcing a song or an idea or a video. That divine inspiration. I live for it.

Nu: I have seen you guys describe your sound as “freak pop”, what does that mean?
A: I use that term because we like colouring outside the lines with our music. Essentially there’s always something catchy to hold on to. We love choruses, we love a good pop song so the whole pop thing has to be there, but we have been told by so many people “you’re like new wave, but you’re not,” “you’re like kind of 90s, but a weird version,” or “you’re kind of trippy, but like a weird version,” so why is everyone calling us weird? I guess, just call it weird, and embrace it.

Nu: Who writes the music?
A: I usually come in with a shell and a mood. I very much rely on the band to flush that out and give it its character. Also, Victor our keyboard player contributes a lot.

Nu: You two started the band, right?
A: Yea we both started the band. We we’re playing in bands, and then we went to college for music and other things and then we essentially dropped out because we realized in order to do what we wanted to do, we didn’t really need school.

Nu: Do you have an accomplishment as a band that you’re most proud of?
A: Just some of the shows we’ve played, and finishing this record. Pulling off some of these videos on the budget that we were working with - we never get FACTOR grants for anything. It’s always out of our pockets.

Nu: Where did you shoot Everybody’s Famous?
A: Right there! (Alex points to The Drake Underground sign) Also, some of it was filmed at Adelaide hall.

Nu: In the video, who is dressed up as whom?
A: Some of them are professional actors; a lot of them are amateurs. A lot of the females are actually men, like Amy Winehouse, and Divine is a drag performer. Marilyn [Monroe] is a professional “Marilyn”, Charlie [Chaplin] is also a professional “Charlie”. The weirdest thing when we were shooting was that it was Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Charlie Chaplin, and Elton John all together in a room. It was the closest thing to ever being a room with all of those people.

But yea, another artist from Toronto plays Michael Jackson, and he killed it. Also, Kurt Cobain isn’t an actor… it was me. We did the whole hair and makeup and everything for it. They made my eyebrows blonde.

Nu: Did you dye your hair?
A: It was a wig.

Nu: What do you guys have coming up for 2017?
A: We’re releasing our debut full-length record, and it’s been great. We’re going to tour in Mexico, in the spring-summer. We’re experimenting with 360 VR video, so it’s a live video if people cant make it out to a show they can kind of get a bit more of an immersive experience, it’s pretty oculus minded.

Nu: When is all of that scheduled to happen?
A: The record is coming out in February or March. We’re going to do a lot more VR videos. We already did one VR video already so that’s in the works. It’s very primitive but it works. - Nu

Opening for the Elwins were The Nursery and The Kents. The Nursery are a wonderful band that manages to be simultaneously danceable and relaxing. Between the trippy projections over the members and singer Alex Pulec’s emotional crooning, it’s hard not to get lost in the music. They are the sort of band that never leaves a breath or takes a break; One song flows effortlessly into the next, and there’s always something going on, someone holding that last chord or riffing between songs. Their sound really got the night started well – It just makes you feel good to watch. Also, protip: watch keyboardist Jared Roth. That guy gets really into it. - Live in Limbo

The Nursery have called their music “freak pop,” which is a good way to characterize their off-kilter sound. Their music is definitely catchy, but it’s punctuated by noisy outbursts and sudden dynamic shifts. The new video for “Everybody’s Famous,” a track from their forthcoming LP, fits their style perfectly. It features numerous Canadian impersonator artists acting as celebrities, screaming to be heard from a kitschy stage. It’s an idea that raises questions about originality and the need to be noticed in an over-saturated social world, with an appropriate musical twist. - The Deli

Toronto-based outfit the Nursery have a knack for blurring the lines between post-punk, electro-pop and psychedelic rock, and Exclaim! is pleased to premiere their latest offering — a new video for "She Speaks the Wave."

The group released their Carnival Nature EP back in 2013, but are gearing for a full-length debut later this year. "She Speaks the Wave" serves as the first single, and it's an energetic, synth-infused indie rocker.

The clip itself is a goopy one, with the band members taking turns getting doused in slime, but still managing to look stylish. The messier bits are interspersed with shots of sculptures (courtesy of Gosia), twins (with birthday cake), wilting flowers, clocks and burning dollhouses. It was directed by Toronto photographic artist Genevieve Blais.

A statement from the band explains, "The video for 'She Speaks the Wave' uses a unique combination of stop-motion, time-lapse and live-action to explore notions of temporarily and ephemerality. Images of degradation and destruction are juxtaposed with rebirth and reconstruction in tranquil colour palettes to create the uncanny aesthetic that challenges perceptions of time and time-based mediums. These disparate sequences fluidly merge into one another, exposing a liquid narrative that echoes both the musical and lyrical content." - Exclaim!

The Nursery was started by Alex Pulec (ex-Ruby Spirit) and Victor Ess in 2013 who both attended and quit York University’s music program together in Toronto, Canada. Inspired by the current post-internet music landscape and a steady diet of early electro, punk and English glam rock records, they quickly began building the pieces of a vibrant set of songs. They soon teamed up with synth nut Jared Roth and drummer Josh English from New York and started writing with a post-modern pop sensibility.

“dramatic”, “synth pop” “dreamlike” and “new new wave” are all words that have been used to describe The Nursery’s hard-to-define sound. Lyrically spinning conversational quips that tap into the human condition of living in 2016, exploring life’s contradictions while getting pulled between pure joy and sheer dread.

Alex explains: “‘Everybody’s Famous’ is a song about the manic and warped motivations of seeking validation through inauthentic means. Social tools are continually serving as a painkiller to pacify this twisted need to elevate our social statues to unrealistic heights. Media like TMZ and the paparazzi before them created a culture where it didn’t matter what you did as long as you were seen doing it. Fame is usually the by-product of being remarkable at something – It should never be the goal. If the deaths and destroyed lives of any of our beloved past stars can teach us anything about this, it’s that mass validation is not something to be romanticized, celebrated or healthy to strive for.”

They have now teamed up with IMPOSE Magazine to premiere the single “Everybody’s Famous” off of their upcoming album Life After Wartime due for release fall of 2016. - Next North West

Toronto’s The Nursery first captured my attention with 2015’s “She Speaks The Wave,” as it reminded me of some retro-pop with a modern synth twist. The band finally released their new EP, Digital Ashes, this week and I think they’re on to something here.

Opening title track, “Digital Ashes,” is somewhat reminiscent of Orgy‘s 2000 record, Vapor Transmission, but more upbeat, as we’re brought into a world of virtual reality in a post-digital age. “She Speaks The Wave” brings us back to reality with that much-appreciated aforementioned retro-pop that probably would have thrilled the masses back in the ’60’s.

“Hexes + Oh’s” keeps the momentum going while taking things up a notch, displaying the band’s versatility with an undeniable punky, ’80’s vibe guaranteed to get you up on your feet while the upbeat “Oceans Of You” foreshadows the events in “Crystal Beach” – a track even veteran ’80’s pop bands would be envious of.

Closing track, “Xyoto’s Dream” is a distorted synth lover’s dream as we’re beamed up into outer space. A possible hint of what their full-length will sound like? We sure hope so.

Listen to Digital Ashes below: - The Daily Listening

Toronto-based foursome The Nursery is one of those bands that can seemingly do no wrong. Their newest EP, Digital Ashes, was released at the end of July and is a short masterpiece in psychedelic electro-pop—which is to be expected, given the delightful first look we got with teasers like “She Speaks The Wave” and “Hexes and Oh’s”.

The album opens with the titular “Digital Ashes”. With its echoey harmonies, fun keys and lofty choruses, the soaring tune is as ominous as you can get with electro-pop.

“She Speaks The Wave” and “Hexes and Oh’s” follow, and they’re still as fun and as quick as ever. And, one right after another, they’ll get you dancing like it’s the first time you’ve heard them.

The intergalactic “Oceans of You” comes next. It’s a synth-heavy song with hazy guitars taking a calm backseat and drums that quite build in intensity as the song expertly dips into quiet—before springing into spacious envelopes of sound.

“Crystal Beach” is where fuzz-heavy guitars meet more classical-sounding keys for an almost ‘80s intro. It jumps into a fun chorus of the finest electro-pop you’ve ever heard. Pair that with the most nuanced details and gloriously dazed lyrics, and this track makes for one especially fun and dancey song.

“Xyoto’s Dream” rounds out the album. Its lucid sounds and twinkling keys wash over you as an eerie dream-induced voice asks, “Where are we going?” The song opens to metallic drums and distant hums before dropping off to silence. It’s the perfect outro to the album. - Raz Mataz Magazine

Toronto band The Nursery will brighten your day with the fun light-hearted track “Everybody’s Famous”. Look out for it on an upcoming LP. - Ride The Tempo

The Nursery recently released the video to their latest single “Everybody’s Famous”. And, as you’d expect, it’s delightfully weird.

The video features celebrity impersonators – everyone from Elvis to Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain to Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. They scream into the camera and enjoy cherry milkshakes in a dive bar.

It’s a simple enough concept, directed by Genevieve Blais, but you still can’t peel your eyes away.

The song, meanwhile, is just as enticing. The vocals dance between gut-wrenching screams and throaty tides. The synth-heavy melody streaks across the track, as the song descends into glorious mayhem. - Raz Mataz Magazine

The Toronto based, quirky band The Nursery release another flamboyant and sarcastic tune, “Everybody’s Famous.” The group, led by singer and frontman, Alex Pulec, is an eclectic mix of your parents record collection from the 1980’s and new age post-modern indie rock. It’s a little bit spacey, a little bit trippy, and most importantly, doesn’t neglect to add a few catchy hooks here and there. The new single represents this kind of “out of box” sound Pulec has so far captured in their previous releases. Don’t expect anything short of inventive from The Nursery.

Listening to “Everybody’s Famous” feels like a celebrity acid trip, one where, as a civilian, you don’t quite belong. Perhaps the lyricism gives way to this imagery: “Everybody’s famous except me,” sings Alex, outrightly commenting on the band’s obscure status. At times the song is fast paced, with an indie back beat driven by a quick roll of the high-hat and rhythmic guitar riff. Other times the song slows down, providing listeners with an outer space-like alternate reality.

The band, known for their colourful, neon imagery, and often bizarre music videos, also represents their Toronto background proudly. Pulec and bandmate Victor Ess originally attended York university for music. Finding their niche elsewhere in the musical landscape, the boys formed The Nursery. You can now catch the fun-loving, weirdo punk band at local concert venues around the city. - Nu

In case you’re unaware of who The Nursery is, they are an alt-pop band from Toronto, ON. We were more than happy to chat with the band for a brand new segment of Five Questions With!

Q: Care to introduce yourself to our readers?

A: The Nursery is made up of 4 close friends who grew up in the 90’s. 3 of us are from Toronto and Josh who plays drums is an American from Buffalo, NY and still lives there. We’ve been making music as The Nursery for 3 years and all come from various backgrounds of being in bands and playing music before that. We easily get obsessed with video game soundtracks and finding bizarro records to share with each other in long van rides.

Q: Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.

A: We have insanely eclectic musical backgrounds. We don’t like genres very much because they tend to reduce songs into small boxes with constricting labels and rules. Music is more organic than that! We love great songwriting with inspiring lyrics and inventive, catchy melodies. I guess that makes us “pop” or something. We all grew up listening to various forms of punk rock, proggy bands, English glam rock and electro – and it all finds it’s way into our music. If you need a word just call it Freak Pop.

A: These days I write down exactly what I want to say, then maybe add some chords that would support a melody. This way I find the point of your song or expression stays intact – raw and direct. We then all take the idea to our studio and create the atmosphere, feel, arrangement together. That’s where the song gets most of it’s character. We all contribute riffs, melodies, chords etc. We try and leave the ego’s at the door and work with the ideas that excite us most.

Q: Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?

A: We actually just finished up all our live shows for the year! Lots of great memories. Come 2017 we’ll be back with lots of touring. We’re recording a live 360 degree VR performance in December which I’m really excited for and plan to release the tracks for other musicians and producers to remix and twist our parts into something new.

A: For traditional shows we like to keep our performances organic and spontaneous – stretching out parts, improvising interludes and or bending the songs around. It keeps the live experience fresh and exciting night to night. More than ever a live show is still the best way to experience a band and their music. Our recordings can get pretty layered but every sound is played by one of us onstage, even if that means lugging another synth to a gig. The live projections we use change every show too.

Q: If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?

A: The song “Everybody’s Famous” sums up the spirit of the band really well. I feel music is best when you just open up, drop the pretentious veil of “cool” and let all the ugly, raw, intense and ultimately beautiful things come out. We all challenged ourselves to open up more than ever on this track. It does put an artist into a very vulnerable position – but one where you can connect with somebody beyond a superficial level because there isn’t anything to hide behind. From that track’s manic drums and bass – to the woozy synths – to me howling like (what I’ve been told) sounds like a screaming pig – we didn’t hold anything back.

Q: Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?

A: My favorite Canadian bands are the ones who allow their unabashed weirdness and unique qualities to shine through. I always feel that Canadian artists are excellent at distilling pop culture and flipping it on it’s head when they are confident enough to do so. Roboteyes is a new favorite, Kate has one of the best voices I’ve heard (check out their Klaus Nomi cover). Mother Mother’s early stuff is deliciously wacky. Timber Timbre are always getting more and more special. Friendly Rich and the Lollipop People and Grimes are great too. They all inspire me and prove that Canadian musicians do push boundaries and can lead instead of follow. - Canadian Beats

Alex Pulec is the circus leader behind the new hyper-infectious avant-pop group called The Nursery. On their debut album Carnival Nature the band mixes it up with six off-the-cuff songs that marry experimental ambition and pop sensibility. The music is incredibly original and in a lot of ways reminds me of Of Montreal in the way the hooks are so catchy and puts to shame most conventional pop. Pulec is no slouch with his lyrical dexterity either as he weaves in original thoughts, puns and metaphors throughout the album that polishes the creative endeavor with a final glaze.

The album starts things off with “Lysergically Yours,” which is a huge sounding song that splits into different sections that sound like bursts of creativity and energy. Take for example the bridge where the band goes from rocking out to seamlessly transitioning into a section that sounds a bit like a Russian circus. There is also the badass guitar solo that comes out of nowhere. Perhaps the most enjoyable thing about the song is the finer details. For instance, during the verse there is a moment of subtle brilliance with the vocal harmonies joining for just two words “Guilty, Guilty.”

The second song “It’s a Sin” is a cover by the Pet Shop Boys that the band contorts their style while not deviating too far from the original. “Lucy” is arguably the best song on the album. There are a lot of changes and wickedly inventive things happening within the first minutes. I’m not sure what I enjoyed more, the arpeggiated synth line or the guitar part that happens at the 55 second mark. Let’s not forget about the bass line that is a non-stop cascading assault of notes.

I thought “Domino” was going to be the most straightforward song on the album before I heard the breakdown where it sounds like you are trapped in a whimsical children’s story where Pulec is the mad villain as he declares “Now up in the clouds, I can follow you around and come down to haunt, deliver messages that I want.” The last song “I Was I Was Someone Else” is the calm after the storm and is free of any percussion. The melodic guitars worked especially well with the horns and proved to be a great way to close the album.

I really can't say enough good things about this record. The songs are exceptional and Pulec has proven himself a creative force not to be taken lightly. - The Equal Ground

In his recent interview with the blog, Pulec described The Nursery’s sound as “very colourful, fun, sardonic, upbeat pop, with a bit of a tilt,” and he couldn’t have described it any better. Right from the opening guitar solo and energetic keyboards of “Lysergically Yours,” it’s clear that this EP will be a good time. The song probably wouldn’t sound out of place with the Ruby Spirit catalogue, to be honest, and it wouldn’t be surprising if this was a song Pulec had written while still with the band. Still, he gives it a great twist with his lyrical and vocal stylings, and Victor Ess’ woozy synths add a nice dimension of weirdness.

The EP quickly takes a left turn with a cover of the Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin,” which manages to strip the song of its kind of cheesy 80s sound and updates it to something thoroughly modern. “Lucy” is just pure fun, though its chorus might come across as pretty depressing: “Lucy, she wants to cry/In the blue sea she wants to die.” Had the Beatles not already written a song about another Lucy who was in the sky with diamonds, they could have written this one.

“Domino” sees the keyboards play a much larger role in the song, and the choruses are reminiscent of something by Mother Mother. The song picks up even more steam toward the end as it adds in some great group vocals. “This Wild Heart” is a bit of a change of tone. With intergalactic synths taking over the background of strummed guitar, and Pulec’s vocals sounding half-whispered, the song takes on the appearance of a ballad.

The mood gets even gloomier with “I Was I Was Someone Else,” a very bare-bones song with swells of trombone courtesy of Christopher Butcher and just Pulec, his guitar and his voice. It’s a disarmingly simple and extremely effective ending to an EP that is always exploding with energy.

A wild carnival indeed. - Grayowl Point