Volcanoless In Canada

Volcanoless in Canada - After spending far too much time having a Neon Showdown in my mind yesterday, I decided to check out this Saskatoon-based pop band. For much of their set, the band played acoustic guitars as loud and energetically as I have ever heard. And if the music alone hadn't won me over, the band's lead singer Mitch Lysak's enthusiasm is enough to make almost anyone a believer.
- Paste Mag

One-on-One with Volcanoless in Canada
Posted on June 22, 2010 by glasspaperweight


The guys of Volcanoless in Canada.

by Michael

Continuing the circuit of North by Northeast interviews, I had the chance to sit down with Joel Hryniuk and Levi Soulodre from Saskatchewan’s acoustic-based dance-punk band Volcanoless in Canada.

You read that correctly- the band uses three acoustic guitars on top of bass and drums to create a sound that is not usually heard from acoustic guitars which are often associated with country and folk.

The idea for Volcanoless in Canada first came from Joel and lead singer Mitch Lysak. The two were heavily into punk bands like Getup Kids and Sunny Day Real Estate in their younger days and knew that they wanted to create a punk sound with the use of an acoustic (rather than electric) guitar. Eventually they met with Levi to complete the guitar trio, and they had a rather unique way of putting their songs together.

“We used to go into a pitch-black room and just play our guitars. It had to be completely about just feeling it… It made our guitar playing so much tighter,” Joel said.

Eventually they joined forces with Enver Hampton and Brad Heck, and Volcanoless in Canada was born.

As for the name itself, Mitch got it from a friend who was taking a geography course in university. Her MSN name for a while was “Volcanoless in Canada” and Mitch thought it was a great band name. Joel also recalled liking it:

“When Mitch came to me I was like ‘That’s fucked up! Let’s roll with it.’” he said. Neither Mitch nor Joel cared about the fact that there are volcanoes in Canada or that “volcanoless” isn’t actually a word. It was more about the interest value- it’s a name that will make someone look twice at them.

Levi said that its catchiness wasn’t the only reason they chose the name either. “I think [the name] works in favour with our music,” he said. “Perhaps it’s not so nonsensical as it is uncategorizable. It reflects on the name that it’s something different.” As a three-guitar acoustic dance-punk band is not something you see every day, Volcanoless in Canada fits perfectly in its uniqueness.

As for why the guys decided to go with three acoustic guitars, it’s because acoustic guitars have “a lot of soul,” in Joel’s words. Also, Mitch and Joel had (and continue to have) a strong belief in them.

“We’ve always felt since the beginning that the acoustic band is what we wanted to be,” Joel said. As well, playing an acoustic guitar is a lot more challenging. “When I used to play the electric, the distortion hid a lot of things that you can’t hide with an acoustic. We’re definitely all perfectionists in the band, so it challenges us to keep on top of our game all the time.”

Not that the guys have anything against electric guitars- they do manage to show up in a few songs.

“I think we play [our acoustics] as if they’re in electric guitars in a lot of respects; [we use] the chording and the types of strumming to give it that heavier punk sound,” Levi said.

The heavier punk sound is one you can hear in their insanely catchy track “Mexican Circus” from their sophomore album The Way Forward. I described it as a battle anthem and it was a summary that Joel and Levi agreed with.

The opening notes of the song came to Levi when he heard, funny enough, Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” The song is meant to be a portrait of “the ugliness and the zeitgeist of a home town.”

Joel said that his hometown has a tendency to adopt the “party hard” attitude. “We’ve seen that and we’ve moved away from it a little bit,” Joel said. They even took a live recording of a raucous bar and added the recording to the bridge of the song.

The band have been enthusiastically supported since making their debut and already have a few interesting gig stories. For example, they played a show in Swansea, Wales just as Kings of Leon were becoming huge. A girl in the front row asked them to play a Kings of Leon cover but they insisted on the fact that they’re not a cover band. They also played at the Asessippi ski lodge in Manitoba (outside, in -30 celsius weather).

In the future, you may even see Volcanoless in Canada moving to Ontario.

“Population-wise in Saskatchewan it’s hard to get to a large group of people. The whole population of Saskatchewan is like a million people, where you have that in part of Toronto,” Joel said. “We’re really focused… on getting out to Toronto and hitting up these more populated areas. To expand, progress, move forward.”

The band is certainly doing just that, having opened for Thrice as well as sharing the stage with great acts like Rah Rah and You Say Party!

“We’re still trying to stick to our roots and we’re always trying to create something unique and interesting that people can grab onto and listen to,” Joel said. - Grayowl Point Blog

Volcanoless In Canada (Independent)
Rating: CCCC
by Virginia Harper

After the first listen through of this album, in fact, by the beginning of the album, I was prepared to be effusive beyond all reason. I was going to say "This band is amaz- ing … the perfect hybrid of all that is indie … buy, buy, buy the album … et cetera." Then I listened to it again. And … I felt the same way. But in the interest of sparing you the heights of my enthusiasm, here is the toned-down version. Volcanoless in Canada, although fairly new and still based in the oft-overlooked prairies (Saskatoon), do not suffer from this geographic fate. If you've attended one of their live shows there is no doubt that they have the chops to do this thing called music. But they've also managed to pull off a great-sounding album that captures the essence of what they do - lyrical quality plus musicianship by guys who know what they're doing.

There is no unnecessary background filler here; the talent is allowed to take center stage and the album thrives because of it. Highlights of the album for me were "She Moves," an angst-fueled and yet dance-inspiring good time, and "Monster," which I believe is the song that in the live show features a shaken box of KD as a maraca. These round out a great track listing, faltering only with the slightly melodramatic "Addictive Electricity," which suf- fers from unnecessary swearing and mentions of bullets and cut throats. But any small criticism aside, this is a fantastic album. I can only complain that it is too short. Buy, buy, buy!!!

- U of R Students Union - Virginia Harper

4. Volcanoless In Canada
"She Moves"

A car-dance-wor-thy good time from a newly minted, but far from amateur sounding Saskatchewan band. Then song manages to be both self-indulgent and ironic- a recipe for pop perfection the emo kids can love, too. - University of Regina's - The Carillion

Spotlight: Volcanoless In Canada
Posted 8/1/2008 12:15:00 PM

Volcanoless In Canada formed in 2006 at the University of Saskatchewan.
The three acoustic guitarists in the band excel in both the rhythm and melody departments, and they are both creative and subtle in their use of each instrument.

Lead vocalist Mitch Lysak has a pure voice, and a knack for writing clever, meaningful lyrics, and the band utilizes some of the best elements of folk and rock.

Volcanoless In Canada just came back from a well-received six-week tour of the U.K. that included an appearance at The Great Escape Festival. Now, the band is getting ready to work on their second album.

Here’s “Monster” from Volcanoless In Canada, the self-titled debut. I think that the song highlights the band’s considerable strengths.

For more, go to: www.myspace.com/volcanolessincanada. If you like what you here, the record is available on iTunes and CDBaby. I highly recommend it.
- Adam Morrison

Volcanoless In Canada -
Volcanoless In Canada
There is a certain innocence and maturity to this self-titled record that I can’t quite put my finger on. Here
lies a completely raw, sexually driven album with no reservations in and of itself; yet when the multi–layered
acoustics that encapsulate it take you from a walking pace to breakneck speeds with such veracity,
that you’ll be left wondering how you’ve never been on such a journey before. The opening track ‘Lithic’
grabs a hold of you from the start and never shakes you loose. Through the placid tracks such as ‘Funny Like Strange’, and ‘Addictive Electricity’, to the fast track, bounce in your step hits such as, ‘She Moves’ and ‘Monster’, Volcanoless In Canada have a knack for cutting through the mundane and go straight to the guts of it all. The closing track ‘Invincible, Invisible’ slows everything down finally giving us a chance to take a deep breath and think about the importance of make–out records such as this. A no–brainer decision
makes this the album of the month. - Concrete Powder - Kelly Litzenberger

Last Night's Gig: Eruption of Rock In Regina!
Posted by Amanda Putz on Feb 25, 2008

An explosion of pop-rock took place in the Queen City last night at The Club. Saskatoon's Volcanoless in Canada flowed a steady stream of tight acoustic melodies and sing-shouted harmonies to the crowd of 60s plus (that's numbers, not average age).

I don't actually recall ever having seen a band with three acoustic guitar players madly strumming, picking, and scissor-kicking away, with no electric guitar in sight.

Only the bass required any kHz, and Enver's constant smile and bopping head of curls made him seem more acoustically-inclined than any of his other four band mates.

Mitch on lead vocals was flanked by Joel and Levi. Joel often held the quintessential wide stance of a hard rocker, and turned to play to Kyle's triplets on the backline. Levi could barely stand still long enough to do his part on back-up vocals, running around the room jumping off chairs, scissor kicking, and at one point picking up a box of macaroni to keep time when the guitar's cord became too cumbersome. I constantly had to remind myself that all three were playing acoustic guitars!

VIC are going to be in Toronto at the Cameron House on March 7th for Canadian Music Week after crossing through Winnipeg, and playing various other Ontario dates. You would be doing yourself a great disservice to miss the smiling, sweaty pop show.

[Pictured: A post-show sweat on Levi Soulodre and Mitch Lysak in Regina.]
- www.newmusiccanada.ca

The barren Canadian province of Saskatchewan probably isn’t the first place you’d go if you’re looking for jovial party pop-rock, but after hearing The Way Forward, the debut full-length from Volcanoless in Canada, you might start looking at Saskatchewan a little differently.

The crisp, beach-party vibe of the record runs as far away from the traditional notions of the province as possible and keeps the torch burning the entire way. A clean, radio-ready-production value gives the potent harmonies of the three acoustic guitarists a nudge in the right direction, as the rhythms aren’t complex enough to warrant sufficient meddling. The band has perfected the art of transitions as the vocals keep a stellar pace over a variety of bridges, choruses, and the like. The Way Forward stems from unlikely sources but is guaranteed to keep your toes tapping.

<http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/117189-volcanoless-in-canadathe-way-forward/> - PopMatters - Joshua Kloke

Volcanoless In Canada
The Way Forward
Self-Released

Volcanoless in Canada is a five-piece indie-rock/dance-punk band from Saskatoon. The band consists of three acoustic guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer. This unique sound is immediately noticeable, as the triple-guitar attack constantly engages interweaving melody lines that are backed by an aggressive dance rhythm section. Their sophomore release, titled The Way Forward, is an enthusiastic and progressive album that entwines pop, folk, punk, and even Latin-rock genres for an intense and energetic sound.

The Way Forward was mixed in Brooklyn by Alex Newport, famous for his work with The Mars Volta, At The Drive-In, and The Locust. A majority of the album was written while in London, England, and later recorded back home in Saskatoon. This may explain the diverse cultural feel which resonates throughout The Way Forward. The CD begins with two extremely strong tracks, “Make Up Your Mind” and “Mexican Circus”. Unfortunately these songs may exemplify the climax of the album, as the initial distinctiveness of the sound slowly becomes redundant. Nonetheless, The Way Forward is a great eclectic mix of styles by an interesting and passionate band.
By Marshal Hignett
Dec 6, 2009

<http://www.earshot-online.com/reviews/DisplayReview.cfm?DiscID=86685> - !earshot - Marshal Hignett

IN A NUTSHELL

If there's any justice in the world, The Way Forward will make Volcanoless in Canada one of the biggest bands in the country...and beyond.

THE STORY

As anyone who has read this blog for any length of time has probably noticed, I've long been saying that Saskatchewan is the next great hotbed of talent, the city (well, province) that's suddenly going to have a "scene" that everyone tries to get a piece of. And, obviously, thus far that hasn't come to pass; as far as I know, there aren't really any places talking about the "SK Sound", or playing up a rivalry between Saskatoon and Regina.

Having said all that, and recognizing it as a cautionary tale against making predictions of this sort, I'm still going to say this: if any band is going to put Saskatchewan on the map, musically-speaking, it'll be Volcanoless in Canada. It's not that they're any better than any of those other bands (I'd probably put them behind, say, Rah Rah and Library Voices, but ahead of Polymaths and Ultimate Power Duo), but rather, they're by far the most accessible band I've ever heard out of the province.

For that matter, they're one of the catchiest, most accessible bands I've ever heard, period. I've been searching my brain to figure out who Volcanoless in Canada remind me of, and -- apart from brief moments where I thought the answer might be Fall Out Boy or Panic! At The Disco -- I really can't think of who it is. In large part, I guess, this is because the world isn't exactly overflowing with dancefloor-friendly rock bands whose primary instrument is acoustic guitar (three of them, in fact).

And part of it may just be that The Way Forward is filled with songs that are so instantly catchy that they just sound like you've heard them countless times before. I mean, take a song like "Mexican Circus (March To The Holly Dome)". It's got a pretty simple melody, but it's so irresistably fun that it's hard to not want to dance the moment it comes on. Further, the same could be said for any number of songs here, from "Make Up Your Mind (Rm. 5)" to "Forevermore (Wah! Oh!)" to "Invincible (Charmed)". This is just one of those albums from which any song could conceivably be dropped into the playlist of any music-playing outlet in North America, and it would not only sound like it fit in, it would also stand out.

Obviously, that's not something everything will enjoy. There are some people who just have an aversion to hooks (as is obvious to anyone who read the Metric comments in this year's Hottest Bands poll). But for everyone else...I have a feeling that this time, I'm going to be right when I say that Volcanoless in Canada are going to be huge, for the simple reason that The Way Forward is guaranteed to stick in your head forever.

November 3rd, 2009

<http://www.iheartmusic.net/serendipity/index.php?/archives/1729-This-weeks-feature-Volcanoless-in-Canada.html> - i(heart)music

If @herohill wrote twitter reviews, instead of wordy, overlong summations of the Canadian music scene, reviewing the new Volcanoless in Canada record would be a lot easier. Something succinct like"Hot Damn! This is fantastic. #Acoustic_Summer_Dance_Party" would give most readers enough insight as to why The Way Forward is going to burn up the charts this summer/fall and help this SK band take get some much deserved shine.

But that’s not how we roll, and a few glossed over sentiments aren’t enough to describe what just might be my favorite record of the summer when push comes to shove. Even the setup of the band is perplexing. Three acoustic guitarists? At best, it seems like overkill right? At worst you might think this is some guitar noodling, masturbatory jam session. Wrong. The three acoustics fly around the intricate melodies, bobbing and weaving with a remarkable precision – almost like watching the Blue Angel fly wing to wing, you foolishly start to assume the beauty, control, and precision they display are something that comes effortlessly, without years of practice – but the band refuses to waste notes or let a song linger too long.

The melodies power forward with rapid strums and complex transitions, but the band never loses focus on making the crowd move. Throw in some heavy bass lines and huge drums and the Saskatoon 5-piece really starts to blend the lines between a punk rawk, mathy prog outfit (Mars Volta perhaps) and a band that could have stages at folk festival bouncing and dancing in one shape shifting cloud. Make Up Your Mind (Rm.5) start out like an acoustic, hard core song, but Mitch Lysak staccato delivery transforms the track into an infectious jam that has you reaching for the volume knob and nodding along instantly. When the group harmonies kick in with “make up your mind, MOTHER FUCKERS!” it’s over. If you don’t start loving this band you really are trying too hard.

But for me, the record really takes shape on Mexican Circus (March to the Holly Dome). The Spanish influence is paired with an urgency that showcases the creativity of the band. Even sitting in your chair, you start the urge to move and pump your fist. They keep the pace blistering and the intensity peaked on another intricate anthem (House of Souls (Artistry VS Fame)) and after the quick hitting three + minute jam, you are firmly entrenched in the record...

<http://www.herohill.com/2009/07/reviews-volcanoless-in-canada-way.htm>
- Herohill.com

by Jeffrey Thiessen
(December 2009)

The presence of outright legitimacy in a dusty metropolis may be tough to spot, but it's always well worth the effort, and when found, it's truly spectacular to reap such benefits.

It's easy to settle, but I've always loved to fight to find something worth fighting for. That's why I feel I lucked out big time by finding Volcanoless in Canada, a group that has been operating from my neck of the woods for the last several years (Saskatoon, Sask, Canada). They've just finished recording their new studio-offering entitled The Way Forward, and without a doubt, this is one of the most uniquely transferable records I have ever heard.

I gotta explain one thing before we go on. It's a five person band, with a fairly standard setup of a singer, drummer, and three guitarists, only the guitars are all of the acoustic variety. Please don't assume this is just the product of five, plugged-out hippies joining forces after an evening of ganja and listening to Damien Rice records. There are folk sensibilities present here... but they're processed through an inherent need to obliterate every note, every track, every live show they commit themselves to. Remember when Chuck D vowed to 'Shut 'em Down!' on Apocalypse 91? We're left with absolutely no choice to not only believe his chaos theory, but subscribe to it wholeheartedly, and it's really the same thing with VIC.

It's not a layering thing with this band- instead the guitars weave in and out of each other at will, sometimes going off in different directions yet always ending up at basically the same place. It's also a matter of backing each other up when the music is in danger of losing some of the persistent aural punch that's achieved throughout the album, yet never forced. I'm hip to the communal competition that fuelled so much of the '80's punk explosion, so I asked the band if that sort of thing existed here in Saskatoon, a local scene I've always sort of deplored. Guitarist Levi Soulodre responded by telling me there's a lot of polarization here (something I was aware of) but then went on to clarify that what he was referring to wasn't in terms of tangible success, but instead to a multitude of different musical styles.

He had every opportunity to spit at some of the shameless, no-talent windbags that take up so much of Saskatoon's limited and extremely coveted stage space, but instead focused on the eclectic array of approaches, and it became very clear why so much of VIC is simply a fusion of nearly everything. Instead of pushing their own path and others in their way, they simply absorb everything they encounter and mosey on down to their next gig, which all but ensures that each show will be different then the one before it.

I once read that you could see The Replacements perform twenty shows, in twenty nights, and there would be nothing in common between any of them. The same can be said for Volcanoless, but while The Replacements relied on booze-fuelled helter skelter, VIC rely on subconsciously-channeled spontaneity. Talking to the guys made it clear that assimilation wasn't a hobby or mission in their music- it's their enthusiastic embrace of anything musically that serves as a literal extension of their very existence. This all but ensures this will be a band that will continue to evolve and transform, whether they know it or not.

Levi has this weird way of talking, sort of in a laid-back manner that evokes a lot of patient, tolerant thought processes. But that pattern of tranquility is frequently interrupted by biting annotations that makes it obvious that he could be capable of a lot of seething wrath. I actually did see some of that contempt boil over at times (in the most un-alarming way possible), but it was never directed towards his surroundings (suffice to say, Saskatoon has no CBGB's circa 1977) or other acts (like I said above, I tried to extract some vile, and for the most part failed) or even the god-awful commerce of the music industry (which deemed it necessary to sue an American woman for millions, due to the fact she had twenty-four downloaded songs on her hard drive). None of these topics bred contempt with him. In fact, the only time I did see him revel in disgust was when he mentioned certain unflattering scenarios involving the band in their future years. No shit- this is a happy band. Not only do they not rape the irreversible for angsty song-inspiration, but they don't even fucking acknowledge these grim realities exist. This isn't the stuff of a good band, this is the stuff of a GREAT ONE.

Mitch Lysak (lead vocalist) and Joel Hryniuk (guitar) are the founders of the group, and are immediately likable. They grew up together in a town even smaller and shittier then Saskatoon, and while they still have that sort of yuk-yuk village bond only they will ever share, there is an aura of forbearance about them that enthusiastically acknowledge the numbing restraints of small-town suburbia, while still a bit delighted at their liberation from the shackles of the rural hum-drum. The happiest I saw either of them during our afternoon together was when I asked Joel about his influences- he fondly recalled their days of their youth, where him and Mitch would just sit in cars for hours and listen to albums.

To some, this over-the-moon memory might be interpreted as glorified nostalgia over an event that really isn't that monumental in nature, but those people have clearly never grown up in a remote town. When you grow up in a place where the downtown can be sized up in one Polaroid that's fifty yards away, life-changing events are proportional to the surroundings. That is to say sitting in a car listening to punk music might seem small in nature to some, but to people like Mitch and Joel, it's liberty, compactly contained in a 5,000 pound rust bucket parked out by some dude's ranch. The Way Forward is filled with seemingly multifarious disinformation like this example, but upon further inspection, the music not only makes it seem relatable, we also start to wonder how we could have seen it any other way. Like I said, shut 'em down.

Enver Hampton is another guitarist in the band and I got the sense that if shit did ever go down between any of the band members, he would be the rock that straightens everyone the fuck out in a heartbeat. He sort of warbled around in a very unassuming way, and come to think of it, he looked like Hillel Slovak with facial hair, but he also seems least likely to morph into anything different than the Enver I met that one afternoon. This isn't to say that he doesn't have the capacity to change, but it will always be personal evolutions that will always fit neatly within the framework of Volcanoless. I have seen a lot of groups come and go, and many of the ones that fail don't have an adhesive like Enver- he is the glue that will keep all these very distinctive threads firmly together. If he isn't around, then I'm sure new guy drummer Brad's blasting of '80's hair metal will overpower the squabble.

The music of Volcanoless in Canada isn't just a screwy recipe with a bunch of random ingredients that somehow turned out cool. All the love, hate, joy, despair of their world, is filtered through a sensibility which the boys in the band are always fully aware of, and it's the need to dance, or more specifically, the need to let our bodies become a product of an idyllic milieu. It's not exactly out of the races and onto the tracks; instead it's a reasonable extension of how they see music, their world, which ostensibly, turns out to be the same most of the time. Take "Mexican Circus" for example: it's carried from beginning to end with a pretty streamlined form of euphoria, and when Mitch calls the rest of the guys to join in the anthemic chorus, we feel like we all should be joining in as well. There is a keen, although sublime dramatic sense throughout the track, and it's not 'til we stop tapping our foot and humming along that we realize we're out of breath, not just because as a listener we are forced into intricate involvement, but we also have a terrible time actually keeping up. Hang out on a lunatic fringe all you want, or surrender to the feral rhythms and be in a position to almost hug it out with the gifts VIC leaves you with... Both approaches have one thing in common: they will begin to understand personal truth comes in many forms, and in the case of Volcanoless in Canada, it will most likely be blood on the dance-floor. I don't know how they did it, but they inherited a sense of life we can only hope to hungrily claw at. The sixth track on The Way Forward is "Make Up Your Mind (Rm.5)," and it finds the band skewing the usual ambiguous approach of allowing the music to push nebulous slurs as something we feel intrinsically connected to- here the attack is more direct, and in comparison to the rest of the album, which is a loose exchange of ideas and experiments, the edge here almost seems diabolical.

It's not though. The carefree hi-jinx of The Way Forward is infectious to say the least, but it's pretty startling to see "Make Up Your Mind" taking such an assertive tone, and it's also a convenient reminder that VIC maintains a much stronger iron fist over their music then most will give them credit for. I'm sure they wouldn't have it any other way. The vocals are pushed way up in the mix while the band furiously tries to catch up, and nearly succeeds. It's a rapidly combative song in the most harmonious way possible.

There's an undertow here, but the ragged glory of The Way Forward is no trick of the heart- the places it takes us to are real, and the people we meet along the way are real. Failure to comprehend that is a failure to recognize the fragility of the human condition and subsequent embrace of how easy it actually is to shape and shift to your liking. It's probably tremendously difficult to achieve such a thing, but VIC makes it seem absurdly simple. There is no clearer example of this than on "Just Tell Em Yr Alright (Lost and Hollowed Through)." This track, like so many others on the album, works not because of what the group says to us, but instead for the way it makes the mundane and trivial seem joyous and momentous, all filtered through inherited stories of a lethal acknowledgment pointing towards the inescapable fact that all of us listen to music in context entirely too much, and not in its distilled form on a primal level.

It's possible to not like the music of VIC, if you're the type of person that sends a goat to protect the cabbage. That is to say, if you go out of your way to make amazing things in life wrought with complications. With that said, The Way Forward taught me something. VIC really didn't yearn to be in this position, but the whacked-out transcendental, idyllic nature that bleeds out of every single part of the group made me see that it's pretty pointless to seek the truth in mundane details- it's only really captured in the essence of life itself, and that can only be examined in cases where life is interpreted in a million different ways, but never as a vacancy.

No one gets out of here alive, but there is no reason we can't yearn for more than a painless, relatively guilt-free existence. Yesterdays will always haunt us, but Volcanoless in Canada will always (read: hopefully) be there to keep our memories vague. I believe in their music, and until you invite them into your lives, the world will never truly be your dance-floor. Time to get off skid row, folks.

<http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/volcanoless.html> - Perfect Sound Forever - Jeffrey Thiessen