The PepTides

http://www.m3tv.ca/music/bluestfest-day-4-all-about-the-hidden-gems

This link is broken so we have take a photo of the article and posted it online. - MuchMoreMusic (M3TV)

“I hear a howling hail / a boy, a dog, a ghost, a whale?” From the Ottawa pop troupe, an exquisite arrangement of strings, sparse piano and chilled vocals. Concerning an icy adventure and a dog that goes with the floe, it’s one of seven potential theme songs to Stuart McLean’s new book, Revenge of the Vinyl Café. - The Globe and Mail

Release of Love Question Mark, by the Peptides

Date and place TBA

There’s considerable anticipation of Love Question Mark, the Ottawa band’s followup to the fabulous disc For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. That disc was a five-star barrel of richly layered and sampled fun, and it was No. 1 on the Big Beat 10 Best Discs of 2010. The Peptides have been performing some of the new songs on city stages, and it sounds like they have a real cracker in Love Question Mark. Listen to it, and your ears will pop. - Ottawa Citizen

Sample song: “I’m in Love” written and produced by Claude Marquis, performed by The Peptides
The Peptides are something to behold. They were voted “Best Live Show” by XPress readers in 2011, and by all accounts these people are kind of nuts on stage. A sort of fever-dream, their show combines elements of 1950s décor with Devo-esque ridiculousness. Energy and intrigue are staples of their live performance, and if the band’s flashy setup doesn’t dazzle, their sound surely will.
Their music is something of an anomaly – genre bending and strange, their electro-beats and synths collide head-on with swing and soul lyrical stylings. If a team of time-traveling scientists from the future decided to learn to play music by observing all of music history simultaneously, this would be the result.
Their band consists of nine perfomers, and we asked them to answer some very personal questions below. Their answers were confusing and strange.
How would you describe your sound?
pOpLiCiOUS, pOp-NOiR, reTRO-ZanY, JAzzY-CAMPy, THEaTriCAL-WAzoo, R ‘n’ BooBIEs
How did the band start?
Our sandbox of dreams was born when one man prophetically named his music project The PepTides—even though there was no band to be found. In time, talented humans jumped into the sandbox and began populating it with sand castles and seashell-breasted mermaids. In the process, they got sand in their underwear.
What can we expect from your Bluesfest performance?
Eerie trees and lavish furs, retro radios and vintage videos, come-hither ladies and swanky men. Most importantly, you’ll see 5 singers and 4 instrumentalists having a rollicking good time on stage with original music that is at once spirited and dark. We’ll be playing songs from our album FOR THOSE WHO HATE HUMAN INTERACTION and previewing a few tunes from our upcoming release, LOVE QUESTION MARK, including our hot new summer single “I’m In Love.” [listen to it above!] We are in love—are you?
How do you like your eggs?
Non-factory-farm fresh.
The Peptides play the Main Stage on Sunday July 8 at 3:00pm. - Apartement 613

Ottawa pop band The Peptides are making literary and music history.

After receiving a request from CBC Radio’s weekly variety program The Vinyl Café to write a new theme song last Spring, they were inspired to write a song for each short story in Stuart McLean’s new book.

“Stuart had mentioned on the radio that this is the first soundtrack ever written for a book in Canadian history,” said vocalist DeeDee Butters.

The album is aptly called Revenge of the Vinyl Café and features 18 tracks recorded in about six months.

“It came together really quickly,” said Butters, who was not familiar with McLean’s work beforehand.

“We’ve since become super fans,” she said, adding that the beloved book recounting main characters’ Dave and Morley’s antics is now dog-eared from use.

The Peptides have applied their signature sassy and genre-defying style to the often hilarious tales. The opening title track wallops you with James Bond-esque grandiose-ness reflecting the sometimes larger than life characters, while others will have you chuckling.

The story of Dave getting stuck on a preprogrammed treadmill is perfectly captured in the poppy-dance song Treadmill Race.

“The album is really playful and possesses a lot of humour,” said Butters. “Stuart loved it.”

Unlike their 2010 album For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, this album was a very collaborative process for the band.

“Everyone has their hands in composing this time,” Butters said.

Equally important to paying tribute to the nationally loved stories were the nine members’ interpretations in songs which range from funk to soulful ballads. Butters said the most fun thing for her was embodying the moment of a character.

“(You have to) put yourself in the framework in the character and make specific choices as a singer,” said Butters.

If that’s got you curious about what the new album sounds like you are in luck. The band will be performing at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield March 22 and 23.

You don’t have to be “super fans” like Butters to enjoy the music though.

“If you’ve ever seen or enjoyed a musical or retro-show or cabaret you will love this show,” she said.

Will a certain yarn-spinning CBC celebrity writer be in attendance at the show?

Butters said with a laugh, “A lady never tells.”

Either way, this is a show not to be missed.

If you go…

Two performances. Friday, March 22 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m. at the Blacksheep Inn (753 Riverside Drive), $10. More info: thepeptides.com.

News Worth Sharing:


By Samantha Everts
Metro Ottawa
- Metro News

It was hard to know what to expect based on the row of animal tail-dangling microphones that lined the front of the stage as Ottawa-based nine-piece the Peptides scurried around setting things up. All was revealed in the initial moments of their dramatic opener, however, as the well-choreographed troupe, decked out in vintage wear from the '50s and '60s, ran through a theatrical display of funny faces, statuesque poses and rehearsed exchanges laid over a moving collection of rock, funk and hints of soul. Songs that begin with a rigid, military stiffness suddenly erupted into swinging Latin jams, while the group's five singers each took their turn on lead, often melding harmonies while the others played in the background. The four musicians at the back of the stage anchored each tune with workman-like efficiency and were greeted with a respectable and well-warranted round of applause at the close of what was an interesting showcase that played a bit like a mini-musical without dialog. - Exclaim!

Well, this one got weird fast.

Let’s interview this cool band from Ottawa, we thought. They’re fun on stage! They dress in costumes! Their promotional pictures are hilarious, or at the very least strange, which is probably funny! They’ll be entertaining over Four Questions.

Well, we weren’t wrong about any of that. The PepTides, a group of Ottawa musicians who are performing at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield on 21 April, are nothing if not entertaining. They’re more than that too: they’re clever songwriters who embrace theatricality, to put it mildly. We emailed our Four Questions to two of them, and got this whole bundle of crazy back, complete with a fictional disclaimer about a hacker and some authentic-sounding comments from the band members. Also: some Russian! We’re not sure who really said what, how many members are in this band, what their real names are, or who channeled who’s grandmother.

But, out of the sheer goodness of their two-to-10 hearts, the PepTides sent along a free song: “For Those Who Hate Each Other” off of their latest album, For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. Click here to download the song as their gift to you.

Then buckle up for this one.

TOL: You guys are outrageous. We’ve seen your promotional material and concert footage, and we don’t need to do much more than read the names of your songs to see that you’re up to something. On the newest album, For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, the songs follow a “For Those Who Hate” pattern. Death. Memories. Each Other. Falling Tragically Madly in Love. Where does this come from? Do you just hate everything or what?

Moments before the interview, an unnamed British tabloid columnist hacked The PepTides’ email accounts and mobile devices and fabricated the following quotes:

DeeDee: “Everyone loves and hates—and we can love to hate things and hate to love things. This album is about what people hate. Our next album, Love Question Mark, is all about love and the song titles are just as preposterous: “I Love You Made In China,” “Homme Love Whore,” “Polyamorous Love.”

Claude: “The audience snaps its fingers in time with the annihilation of the human race!”

MJ: “I hate interviews. And interview-ers. And interview-ees.”

Scott: “I hate my grandma, but I love her too. Get it?”

TOL: We’re not being unfair to call the PepTides wildly theatrical, are we? But wait, that’s not the question. This is: why are you so wildly theatrical?

Olexandra: “It’s about creating a memorable show. Moreover, I get to raid my grandma and mom’s vintage wardrobes and strut the loot on stage, no questions asked.”

Olexandra’s grandma: “? ????, ??? ?? ????!” [Translation: I want that shit back!] {Ed. note: this is definitely not what that means.}

Becky: “I’m an entertainer—on stage, off stage, in the shower, at the grocery store, between silky sheets, or driving in my custom-designed Batmobile.”

David: “I had second thoughts about joining The PepTides until I saw the girls in the band dance. Oh, and Olex’s grandma’s got great hips too.”

TOL: Here at Thought Out Loud, we try not to attach labels to things. That means we usually shy away from jamming bands into genres or demanding that they jam themselves into one. But we’re going to do that here, because it’s a chance for you to get creative. Good luck with this one: What kind of music do you write? It’s jazz, right?

Aaron: “It’s basically a mix of sick and twisted lyrics plus whatever styles the band decides to tap into—although nobody in the group has allowed me to express my fetish for electronica-polka.”

Dale: “We jazz-jive, disco-boogie, military-march, r&b-grind, soul-swagger, slow-dance-sway, 50s-twist, 60s-groove, and 70s-hustle… but that’s about it.”

Andrew: “We don’t mind labels, as long as they make us look pretty.”

TOL: We’ve seen a few videos of your live performances. In one, a show at the Elmdale House Tavern in Ottawa, the crowd is sitting all around you and in some - Thought Out Loud

Chez Irene's with The PepTides
What better way to spend a Saturday than listening to The PepTides at Irene's Pub? Somewhat shamefully, Saturday 18th was our first trip to Irene's, which turns out to be a very cosy pub and live music venue. Extra plus points for having Waupoos cider on tap! Plus proper pint glasses! Savoured my first pint of Waupoos sat at the bar whilst DJ Memetic played a set. At that point I was sat quite far from the stage but didn't find Memetic's set any better than OK.

Second pint time and The PepTides came onstage. At this point I will own up to having forgot my camera (oops), however 'ThatOttawaGuy' has a whole host of photos. There were perhaps 120-150 people squeezed in for a fantastic show. Having seen this band 5 times (I think), the FTHHHI part of the set list is like enjoying a favourite record but finding something new every time. M reckoned that some of the FTHHHI songs had been slightly amended to make something of a long medley.. presumably to make room for the newer songs. Of the newer tracks, 'Be Happy How: Love' and 'Live Love Get High' are fast becoming favourites, whilst 'Homme Love Whore' is hilariously funny (see the Youtube video!). Conversely, Saturday's rendition of 'For Those Who Hate This World' almost had me in tears. My current conclusion is that the concept behind The PepTides is one of the most original I've seen for ages.

Sadly we will miss the next show at The Black Sheep Inn (21st April) but it will likely be a very hot ticket! For music and more, check out their Youtube and Twitter pages. - Prettyinscarlett

The PepTides are back.
A local force of nature, the group is set to play a rare full-band performance at the Mercury Lounge, including songs from their soon-to-be-recorded Love Question Mark album.

The new album, a 25-track project about love, is a companion recording to the group’s last concept album about hate – For Those Who Hate Human Interaction.

On Dec 15 Ottawa fans can see Claude Marquis, Deedee Butters and the rest of the 10-person band in all their kitschy retro-electro-queer glory, as well as get a sneak peek at some of the new songs they’ll soon unleash.

“For one, we’re going to do a song called ‘Love Live Get High.’ Sort of a disco anthem. We’re also doing another song called ‘Homme Love Whore,’” says Butters. “[Love Question Mark] looks at love as a consumer industry, as something people pine for . . . it looks at things that people don’t understand. Love from a gay perspective, from a familial perspective.”
The PepTides perform on Dec 15 in Ottawa.
(Promotional photo)

The idea for the albums on love and hate came to Marquis a few years ago while he was recording a folk album in Vermont. He says it all began with a local food pamphlet about good places for students to eat. One of the write-ups talked about a shawarma restaurant where students could eat great food and no one would talk to them. The writer suggested it as a place “for those who hate human interaction.” Thus, the project on hate was born.

“Claude has always wondered what’s wrong with the world,” says Butters. “Not in a melodramatic way, just that human beings seem to be discombobulated. It’s a weird thing that you would go to eat and not want to interact with anyone. That triggered this outpouring of songs about what people hate about human interaction — to shave and shower for a date, memories, falling tragically, madly in love. It’s all very tongue-in-cheek. To look at the good and bad things about people in equal parts.”

Love Question Mark, slated for release in 2012, will be the band’s fifth recording. This time around, the group has asked fans to underwrite the project via a Rockethub.com fundraising campaign. They hope to raise $5000 by February 2012 and say they are already one-fifth of the way there.

“I think it’s a really neat way to exist as a project — to have your membership purchase shares in our band,” says Butters, laughing. “It’s cool that the community can contribute to the art that we’re making. We’ve been fully independent up until now. Indie to the max.”

So what’s changed this time around?
Putting out another 25-track album weighs heavy on the wallet.

“The mixing and mastering costs are considerably higher than, say, an eight or 12-track LP,” says Butters. “It sort of triples the cost. And, as a performing artist, you make the majority of your money on your shows and not necessarily on album sales. We wanted to put it out there and say, let’s keep this project going.”

The PepTides were named one of Xtra Ottawa’s Indie Queer Heroes in 2009, and also topped the Ottawa Citizen’s The Big Beat List: Top Ten Records of 2010 for For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. They were also voted Best Live Show of 2011 by Ottawa Xpress.

The Deets:
The PepTides, with opening band Django Libre
Live at the Mercury Lounge
Thurs, Dec 15, 8:30pm
$10 - Xtra!

The Peptides’ Claude Marquis explains his dogged search for new musical horizons: back in 2006, armed with a home-recording laptop, a perfectionist’s zeal and a knack for singing beautifully about the fatal flaws in human nature, Marquis and his cohorts gave rise to The Peptides, a refreshingly bizarre blend of music-with-a-message and whimsical, retro-styled theatre.

In typical convention-defying form, The Peptides released not one but two albums this summer: For Those Who Hate Human Interaction and the pared-down North Hero. They followed 2008’s Stereo Stereo and 2007’s I’m a Spy.

The two new albums are quirky and original, but vastly different. One features vocalist DeeDee Butters (pictured). Xtra cornered Marquis to discuss the inspiration behind the social commentary of For Those Who Hate Human Interaction.

***

Xtra: With such theatrical, expressive music that spans a variety of genres, the first question that comes to mind is where is Claude Marquis from? Where and when did this musical fire ignite?

CLAUDE MARQUIS: I escaped Quebec City at 17 looking for a global perspective. I began writing songs as a kid, and the first tune I composed was something about being dragged to hell. Quite fitting, having been educated in the Catholic public school system.

But what is igniting my fire right now is the G20 debacle. There is a song on the album named “For Those Who Hate When Freedom Hurts,” but it has nothing to do with civil liberties being trampled upon. [Ed note: we wish it did!]

Xtra: You named the band for “addictive chemical neurotransmitters” after switching from painting to music. First of all, why was a switch necessary? And what did these addictive chemical neurotransmitters have to do with it?

CM: Apparently one can become addicted to certain peptides that release emotions. After 13 odd years and numerous exhibits, I had grown accustomed to the painting life, so I had to reprogram my brain, which initially was wary of change and fearful of investigating music. You know, like a crackwhore having to reform into a daytime desk job, for instance.

Xtra: You call The Peptides an art project. What do you mean by this?

CM: Rather than it being a gambit for fame and glory as some pop-music endeavours can be, this effort is an exploration of art within the confines of a fully realized music project. I’ve always believed that if every artist would simply keep their work concealed in their individual homes, it would make for an uninteresting and ugly industrial world. While not every artistic work is pleasing, it is nonetheless imperative to flash open your raincoat... or so say the voices in my head.

(Jonathan Hobin)
Xtra: Do you consider The Peptides to be also a social project, given that For Those Who Hate has an element of social commentary?

CM: The album is definitely a jab at humanity’s more disappointing features. I could have written another 30 songs with all the fodder available, but I actually had to eliminate tracks. There is a song on the cutting-room floor named “For Those Who Hate to Walk Alone,” with the lead vocals performed by local DJ and electronica recording aficionado Dan Valin. The tune was a finger-pointing poke at humanity’s incessant need to conform to religious beliefs for that ever-illusive heavenly hug.

But for Xtra readers, we know that historically most religions are at the very foundation of all worldwide homophobia. Canadian protocol seemingly binds us to politely discuss religious issues as if their dogmas must be forever preserved as cultural heritage. No, I won’t accept or tolerate the deranged superiority complex that believers grab hold of as they subjugate the queer community to a damnation of eternal fiery torment in their warped heads.

And the moderate believers are somehow worse! Would you join the KKK just because they stopped lynching and now have free daycare, yoga and Happy Meals, for instance?

Xtra: For Those Who Hate Human Interaction is deceptive. Such light melodies with dark, over-the-top lyrics. What inspired this, and how did you pull it off?

CM: I’ve been forever dumbfounded by the psychological trappings of human behaviour. So when I read a restaurant guide’s critique describing an “apathetic” burrito joint in Burlington, Vermont, as a good place to go “for those who hate human interaction,” it sparked a musical theme in my head. It would all seem destined for a dire and heavy output, but all of the songs are specifically catchy in order to trick one into humming along to humanity’s demise.

Xtra: You’ve said you move from recording project to recording project. What can listeners look forward to next?

CM: Moving helps quell the worrisome fact that as I lose myself in music, there is a great number of the human population scavenging for food and water. Our next gush, titled Love Question Mark, will be the mirror album of For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. We’ve got some ’80s electronica alongside a - Xtra!

The Peptides’ Claude Marquis explains his dogged search for new musical horizons: back in 2006, armed with a home-recording laptop, a perfectionist’s zeal and a knack for singing beautifully about the fatal flaws in human nature, Marquis and his cohorts gave rise to The Peptides, a refreshingly bizarre blend of music-with-a-message and whimsical, retro-styled theatre.

In typical convention-defying form, The Peptides released not one but two albums this summer: For Those Who Hate Human Interaction and the pared-down North Hero. They followed 2008’s Stereo Stereo and 2007’s I’m a Spy.

The two new albums are quirky and original, but vastly different. One features vocalist DeeDee Butters (pictured). Xtra cornered Marquis to discuss the inspiration behind the social commentary of For Those Who Hate Human Interaction.

***

Xtra: With such theatrical, expressive music that spans a variety of genres, the first question that comes to mind is where is Claude Marquis from? Where and when did this musical fire ignite?

CLAUDE MARQUIS: I escaped Quebec City at 17 looking for a global perspective. I began writing songs as a kid, and the first tune I composed was something about being dragged to hell. Quite fitting, having been educated in the Catholic public school system.

But what is igniting my fire right now is the G20 debacle. There is a song on the album named “For Those Who Hate When Freedom Hurts,” but it has nothing to do with civil liberties being trampled upon. [Ed note: we wish it did!]

Xtra: You named the band for “addictive chemical neurotransmitters” after switching from painting to music. First of all, why was a switch necessary? And what did these addictive chemical neurotransmitters have to do with it?

CM: Apparently one can become addicted to certain peptides that release emotions. After 13 odd years and numerous exhibits, I had grown accustomed to the painting life, so I had to reprogram my brain, which initially was wary of change and fearful of investigating music. You know, like a crackwhore having to reform into a daytime desk job, for instance.

Xtra: You call The Peptides an art project. What do you mean by this?

CM: Rather than it being a gambit for fame and glory as some pop-music endeavours can be, this effort is an exploration of art within the confines of a fully realized music project. I’ve always believed that if every artist would simply keep their work concealed in their individual homes, it would make for an uninteresting and ugly industrial world. While not every artistic work is pleasing, it is nonetheless imperative to flash open your raincoat... or so say the voices in my head.

(Jonathan Hobin)
Xtra: Do you consider The Peptides to be also a social project, given that For Those Who Hate has an element of social commentary?

CM: The album is definitely a jab at humanity’s more disappointing features. I could have written another 30 songs with all the fodder available, but I actually had to eliminate tracks. There is a song on the cutting-room floor named “For Those Who Hate to Walk Alone,” with the lead vocals performed by local DJ and electronica recording aficionado Dan Valin. The tune was a finger-pointing poke at humanity’s incessant need to conform to religious beliefs for that ever-illusive heavenly hug.

But for Xtra readers, we know that historically most religions are at the very foundation of all worldwide homophobia. Canadian protocol seemingly binds us to politely discuss religious issues as if their dogmas must be forever preserved as cultural heritage. No, I won’t accept or tolerate the deranged superiority complex that believers grab hold of as they subjugate the queer community to a damnation of eternal fiery torment in their warped heads.

And the moderate believers are somehow worse! Would you join the KKK just because they stopped lynching and now have free daycare, yoga and Happy Meals, for instance?

Xtra: For Those Who Hate Human Interaction is deceptive. Such light melodies with dark, over-the-top lyrics. What inspired this, and how did you pull it off?

CM: I’ve been forever dumbfounded by the psychological trappings of human behaviour. So when I read a restaurant guide’s critique describing an “apathetic” burrito joint in Burlington, Vermont, as a good place to go “for those who hate human interaction,” it sparked a musical theme in my head. It would all seem destined for a dire and heavy output, but all of the songs are specifically catchy in order to trick one into humming along to humanity’s demise.

Xtra: You’ve said you move from recording project to recording project. What can listeners look forward to next?

CM: Moving helps quell the worrisome fact that as I lose myself in music, there is a great number of the human population scavenging for food and water. Our next gush, titled Love Question Mark, will be the mirror album of For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. We’ve got some ’80s electronica alongside a - Xtra!

The racy beats and baroque ballads of The Peptides

"Claude Marquissssshhhhhh!" yells the answering machine. There's no denying we're dealing with a unique personality here. Later, when a meeting place is set with the fabulous duo, for recognition purposes Claude Marquis informs that they'll both be blonds. Indeed. Marquis and the buxom DeeDee Butters (her words, but apt) - Ottawa's glitter twins, a.k.a. The Peptides - are a couple of striking blonds and they are set for world domination... through music.

Releasing two albums simultaneously, one a folksy affair filled with choice covers (North Hero), the other a sprawling 60-minute, 25-song concept opus in three acts (For Those Who Hate Human Interaction), and a cover ode to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, may seem like a flippant career move on the part of multi-million-selling pop stars. But a local Ottawa act operating in relative obscurity? Absurd. Yet here it is: an audacious undertaking spanning copious music styles (funk, cabaret, vaudeville, cock-rock, lounge - you name it), delivered with a dash of moxie, a sprinkle of sass and marinated in plenty of savvy. Like K-tel records of old, it is 25 psychedelic fantastic hit explosions!

Claude Marquis In my mind I'm [already] there [a pop star]. Not in the media, press or fans. Just in my mind. The latest album started off with just one phrase: "For those who hate human interaction," which sparked a lot of frustrations I have with humanity. And I needed to expand that germ beyond that one song.

XPress Is this
Pick up a copy of Ottawa Xpress
just the first in a mammoth CD box set project dealing with humanity?

DeeDee Butters Definitely, there's so many things that people hate and perhaps that we hate about people in a "humans are fallible" way.

Marquis It's not about hating humanity. It's about hating human behaviour.

Butters There's a tongue-in-cheek aspect to it. Some of it is more of a commentary than angry spew.

At this point I notice Dee Dee Butters has dropped her fetching British accent and I call her on it.

Butters Oooh. That's my alter ego. I've always done a weird little British accent for some reason. I lived there for a short while. I have a few little characters that come back, like my Spanish lady. To give someone shit in an accent is far easier and more interesting. It takes the sting out of it.

At this point Butters dives into a kickass Rosie Perez rant. She's right - getting shit has never been better.

XPress Have you two always been The Peptides?

Marquis Actually for the North Hero album the female vocal is Pam Kapoor. I try to include as many singers as I can, especially for the Hate album. The more varied the better. But DeeDee is so capable with her accents and theatre background that she wound up doing most of the songs.

Butters It was fun. I like being challenged that way - to be the instrument rather than the focus.

XPress Who is your audience?

Marquis We'll find out Saturday.

XPress With an ambitious art-for-art's-sake feel to your work you will no doubt confuse the masses, but the arts community may appreciate it.

Butters I think they will. Recently I received an email from someone who after hearing the album got out of a three-month-long dry spell with regards to her art.

XPress There's a video for each and every song on YouTube. How did you manage that?

Marquis I find images and film clips on YouTube. There's a lot of public domain material available - plenty of cool retro stuff. We'll be playing those videos as we sing. It'll be a spectacle.

XPress Great, we need more spectacle! The record reminds me a lot of those grandiose, hippie musicals of the late '60s and early '70s like...

Butters (Over-the-top singing) Hair!

XPress Exactly. Hair, Godspell, Willy Wonka, Jesus Christ Superstar. In-your-face, fun, loud, funky, whimsical, bouncy, bombastic...

Marquis You got it! Bombastic. During recording I was urging DeeDee to be more bombastic!

XPress Over-the-top, audacious Broadway showmanship stuff! Where are you going to take this? What is the ultimate plan?

Marquis I actually sat down with a friend to lay out the play behind the record. The idea is there. The budget isn't. But who knows? Right now we're working on the next album, which is going to be about love. Which could turn into a super-duper Broadway love-hate play.

XPress Influences please. Where does all this madness come from? Was there a poster of Laurie Partridge on your bedroom wall?

Marquis Ah the Partridge Family. They certainly had that vibe, that '70s kitsch, those costumes. But it's not a direct influence. How do The Peptides sound? I'm not aware of any direct influences, but the first record I bought as a child was the soundtrack to The Graduate just for the song Sounds of Silence. Now that I look back, a lot of what I'm doing is very acoustic like the Simon and Garfunkel stuff. The rest of The Graduate is all over the map - cocktail music, - Ottawa XPress

A little more than a year ago, Ottawan art-pop duo The PepTides released their much-loved and still weird-as-ever concept LP For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. In less than a year, leader Claude Marquis' troupe have become one of the best local bands on stage. Last Saturday night the party was on at the Elmdale Tavern, where the 'Tides - after a colourful opening set by local Gypsy jazz band Django Libre - celebrated a newfound "mainstream-media" success as well as the birthday of their friend, local photographer Jonathan Hobin. Look for their new LP, out next spring.

Guillaume Moffet

Photo by: photo: Ben Welland - Ottawa XPress

Featuring:
Claude Marquis, DeeDee Butters, Olexandra Pruchnicky, Dale Waterman, Rebecca Abbott – vocals
Andrew Burns – bass
Scott Irving – keys
MJ McCann – rhythm guitar
Alex Mcfarlane – drums
David Campbell – Lead guitarist
Bio

The PepTides are a brilliant potion comprised of equal parts B-52’s, Henry Mancini, and Parliament/Funkadelic. This Ottawa band’s recordings are more like installations, its performances more like performance art events. Typically when a band is this far out there, listenability is sacrificed. Not here, Jack. This is some of the coolest music I’ve heard… ever. Full of sardonic wit and sarcasm, The Pep Tides’ latest opus “For Those Who Hate Human Interaction” is quirky, poppy, and epic. - Ottawa International Jazz Festival

Title: For Those Who Hate Human Interaction
Artist: The PepTides
Label: Independent
Rating: 5 out of 5
An album built on diverse musical styles can be an erratic failure or an eccentric success. Ottawa band the Peptides takes that gamble on the new album For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, and they succeed in spectacular fashion.

Even in a city with a vibrant indie music scene, For Those Who Hate Human Interaction raises the bar. It’s a crazy mish-mash of styles and instruments that defies categorization, and it’s so confident, so brassy and devil-may-care that it almost beggars belief coming from a relatively obscure, local band. Who are the Peptides, and how did they get so damned good?

The Peptides are, at the core, two people, Claude Marquis and DeeDee Butters, though seven other vocalists and one bass player are credited on the album. Marquis read the album title in a student newspaper, which recommended a quiet restaurant “for those who hate human interaction.” The album was recorded on Marquis’ laptop in his Chinatown living room — another surprise, considering the rich, spacious sound. (It was mastered by Jeff Lipton, who has worked with Arcade Fire, the Magnetic Fields, etc.)

The concept, or theme, is equally rich: it has 25 songs in three “acts,” each song titled “for those who hate” something or other — For Those Who Hate Memories, For Those Who Hate The Voice in Their Head, For Those Who Hate to Sing & Whistle To A Tune.

It sounds macabre but is anything but. The music is boisterous, exuberant and by times joyful. You’ll think of old and catchy movie themes — Bond films, Sergio Leone westerns, hopelessly romantic musicals. You’ll think of hot nights of funk at the Apollo Theatre, and nights by the radio before television. It’s cabaret, theatre, a staggering mix that was aptly described on a poster for the band’s recent sold-out CD release party at the Mercury Lounge as thus: “humanity’s demise set to racy beats and baroque ballads.” It’s at every step a lot of fun, just the thing to blow any party wide open.

The styles and influences are wildly diverse. Here is a very short list of the composers or performers I thought of this week while listening, over and over, to the Peptides; the B-52s, the Belgian electronica pioneers Front 242, Enrico Morricone, Rogers and Hammerstein, the Brazilian icons Os Mutantes, Al Jolson, Handel, Mozart, and James Brown et al, heard here often in the layers of percussion and bass.

There are guitars, bells, whistles, woodwinds, tambourines and most anything else that goes ding or blang or yoo-de-hoo-hoo. Strings and horns burble in the background and blast out whenever the mood strikes. It’s musical layer upon layer, some of it cooked up fresh by Marquis, and much of it from samples he mined from aged, out-of-print LPs and then manipulated on his laptop into something that is somehow both retro and contemporary.

The lyrics, in coherent statements or random phrases, come and go playfully, set loose like crazy birds to flap around the room. For Those Who Hate to Shower & Shave For A Date moves on a chorus of female voices that sounds like the Andrews Sisters on helium. Then it all gives way to an old-fashioned starter horn from a racetrack. Why? Don’t ask, just dance. It’s a hoot.

The artiness comes to Marquis and Butters naturally. He’s a noted painter, and has hung in some of the city’s reputable galleries. She’s an actress, and will appear next month in Crossing Delancey at Ottawa Little Theatre. They met a couple of years ago, introduced by Jonathan Hobin, the Ottawa photographer who took the album’s audacious cover photo.

“It was an opportunity to explore all those types of music from all the decades, like using a theme,” Marquis said this week, over juice and mineral water at the Raw Sugar Café in Chinatown. “I love all types of music, and I don’t think it would’ve worked if there hadn’t been a theme behind it, to glue it all together.”

He’s very laid back, and laughs when I describe him as “languid.” Butters is highly animated, prone to spontaneous accents and a menagerie of sounds that highlight and punctuate her sentences. She’s like a sexy cartoon character who’s been fired out of a cannon shaped like an exclamation point!

They’re unstoppable. Marquis is 17 songs into the next Peptides’ record, Love?, which will be “a mirror” to For Those Who Hate . . . And they’re trying to get a band together, searching for a few multi-instrumentalists who can reproduce the complex sounds live. (Recent shows have been theatrical, with recorded music and video and a row of live singers.)

I generally don’t give five stars out of five to new recordings, because a new recording needs time to prove its staying power. Yet it feels churlish to deny the Peptides the top mark. For Those Who Hate Human Interaction is not of this date or time or any date or time. It’s a gleefully exotic hybrid of just about everything, thrown at the wall jus - Ottawa Citizen

For those who hate boring rock and roll, there’s Ottawa’s cool band The PepTides.

On their last album, 2010’s For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, the synth and guitar art rock band fronted by Dee Dee Butters and Claude Marquis, came up with 25 things about interacting with other humans that gets on their nerves.

Like those who hate memories, those who hate the nuclear family, those who hate the voice in their head, those who hate the world, those who hate it when they wake up in the morning and those who hate falling tragically madly in love.

As you can see, it’s a pretty thorough and inclusive list, but that’s only the beginning. There’s way more dislikes on the retro-swinging dance album.

Theoretically, there are as many hates as there are people in the world, so the series could go on for a long time.

“I’m not great at confrontation and interpersonal conflicts, but it bothers me when people are brusque and rude,” Canterbury grad Butters admitted, albeit reluctantly.

“I think all people have issue about interacting with other people. It’s stressful and not always pleasant.”

“Ranking people is dehumanizing,” added Marquis, clearly the band’s songwriter, visual artist and The PepTide’s most philosophical member.

“We’re such emotional creatures.”

Their theatrical musical experience ended up on plenty of Top 10 music lists for 2010, an accomplishment they hope to duplicate on the follow-up album — Love Question Mark — scheduled to drop next spring 2012.

You can get a preliminary taste of it when The PepTides hit the Elmdale Tavern with a new show called 360 on Oct. 8.

Devised as a theatrical experience, the gig opens with The PepTide’s five vocalists including Becky Abbott, Dale Waterman and Olexandra Pruchnicky backing Butters and Marquis as The Travellers.

Butters describes the new 360 show as theatre in the round, theatre without a script.

Like For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, the new songs on Love Question Mark are sexily retro, irony-fueled danceables for those young enough to think that irony and looking good is vitally important.

Even though they’ve got loads of visual style, the tunes are not lame. The vision is as romantic as The Smiths, the music, retro-sounding electronica, as infectious as an television theme song.

If Ottawa had an award for band most often mistaken for coming from Montreal, The PepTides would be clear winners.

Where: Elmdale Tavern, 1084 Wellington St.
When: Saturday, Oct. 8, 9:30 p.m. - Ottawa Sun

Beating out the plethora of shows on offer at Bluesfest, not to mention the giants that were at this year's Jazzfest and Folkfest, The PepTides turned the tide on the competition with their Best Live Show 2011 winner at Elmdale Tavern (1084 Wellington). Pictured above is Olexandra Pruchnicky, a member of the mighty PepTides, getting off the hook with a tambourine. (photo: Ben Welland) - Ottawa XPress

If asked which summer festival created a funk and march-inspired retro variety show, “The Ottawa Jazz Festival” probably wouldn’t be your first answer.

But with their retro-style performance, The PepTides are just one of several unconventional and experimental artists to take the stage at this year’s festival.

“[The festival’s] always included a wide range of music,” festival programming manager Petr Cancura said, “but we are trying to move forward.”

A varied lineup not only reflects the growth in the genre of jazz, it also gives all different audiences and age groups something to get excited about, Cancura said.

Many artists with crossover appeal can be seen at the festival’s late night stage, where performances begin at 10:30 p.m.

These performances “are geared more toward dancing, without trying to impose on traditional jazz,” Cancura said.

The Ottawa band was the first group to perform at the late night stage June 23.

Five vocalists filled the front of the stage, decked out in retro formal wear.

Their choreographed dance moves did not lack in booty-shaking or exuberance. The stage was decorated with props including leaf-less trees and 70s-style home furnishings.

Front-woman DeeDee Butters described their sound as “multi-genre pop retro noir,” and likened listening to it with “that special weirdness of looking at an old photograph.”

Butters said they adapted their set for the festival by “jazzing it up a little” and making it less heavy on the classical elements.

Though The PepTides don’t see themselves as a strictly jazz outfit, Butters said they fit right in at the jazz festival because they can appeal to anyone — jazz purists, young people, or art geeks.

Cancura said another of this year’s acts with crossover appeal is Soulive, who rocked the late night stage on June 26.

Guitarist Eric Krasno said Soulive is definitely a “groove band,” but they shy away from genre labels.

“We try to stay away from classifying,” Krasno said. “We just play what we feel.”

Throughout their history, the trio has dabbled in hip hop, reggae, jazz, soul, funk, R&B, blues, and more that can’t quite be defined, like their release Rubber Soulive, a soulful, funky, and certainly groovy tribute to The Beatles.

“We’re unique at the festival,” Krasno said. “We’re all about people dancing, getting down.”

There are more unusual acts still to come at this year’s festival.

On July 2, Jaga Jazzist will perform in the late night series. Jaga is a 10-piece experimental jazz band with a fondness for electronics and synth-heavy pieces.

Additionally, Cancura said the festival is hosting two shows at Mercury Lounge as part of its club series.

The second of the series will also take place July 2.

For the more adventurous jazz fan, Cancura said the festival also puts on an improv series at the National Arts Center on June 30, July 2, and July 3.

Cancura said he thinks people react differently to the different aspects of jazz, so having a variety is important.

The definition of jazz can be stretched pretty far to encompass its ideals of creativity, originality and virtuosity and he doesn’t want to argue about whether an artist crosses the genre line, he said.

“The argument of crossing genres is not the focus,” he said. “Rather than focusing on huge crowds, we’re after quality music.”

He said he can understand why people debate whether the festival’s programming is jazz or not, but he’s not threatened by it.

“We’re still undoubtedly a jazz festival,” he said. “We [have to] be more open-minded.” - Charlatan

Even though The PepTides are from Ottawa, chances are you haven’t seen them play live.

Mainly because, though they’ve released four albums, PepTides mastermind Claude Marquis and accomplice DeeDee Butters really just got a band.

“Claude and I have always been involved in arts, but neither one of us had that much experience being in rock bands, as it were,” explains Butters.

The PepTides music is reminiscent of old-time Broadway or something that may have been performed by a dark and twisted Judy Garland circa 1930.

It’s one thing to pull it off for the sake of an album, it’s another to replicate those songs live.

“It takes a long time to adapt a sound like ours to be made by real people, visual players on stage,” Butters says.

But, the hard work has definitely paid off. “It’s so magical to hear these songs that were on the album transmuted into a band,” says Marquis.

Now, the PepTides live show is a spectacle not to be missed.

“The energy in the music is really special,” says Butters.

“You don’t hear this stuff all the time. So the dynamics of the show, not only visually, but for the music aspect, it’s a lusher show. It’s not a pared-down experience at all.”

More about Ottawa Jazz Festival - Metro News Ottawa

It’s a first for the Big Beat this year: a locally produced album sits atop my list of best records of 2010.

Readers can be forgiven for skepticism. Local media sometimes gives extra points to musicians merely for being local. Too bad, because readers can sniff out boosterism, and if they believe local musicians are being held to a lower critical standard they’ll be less likely to buy local CDs. Fair criticism is what helps a music community to grow, so when a truly great record comes from a city band it gets its rightful opportunity to shine. And don’t doubt that there’s great music coming out of Ottawa, and this year none better than . . .

1. For Those Who Hate Human Interaction – The Peptides: An infectious mashup of sounds and styles, created by Claude Marquis in his Chinatown, Ottawa apartment, with the principal vocal help of the irrepressible and wonderfully named Dee Dee Butters. It bursts with music and sound, from vintage radio slogans to walls of horns to vocals that veer gleefully from a soul-inflected “huh!” to an Andrew Sisters’ squeak. It’s the most fun you’ll find on a CD this year. Get the party started. - Ottawa Citizen

Album concept s’il en est, For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, du duo ottavien The Peptides, regorge d’idées fascinantes et offre, du même coup, un commentaire très à propos sur les revers de l’être humain. Entrecoupées de vignettes qui peuvent parfois enlever à la cohésion d’ensemble, certaines pièces s’avèrent agréablement déstabilisantes, se révélant d’une pertinence incontestable. Réalisé avec éclectisme (on passe du disco aux ambiances film noir en l’espace de quelques secondes), savoir-faire et minutie par son cerveau créateur Claude Marquis, For Those. fait feu dans tous les sens. Le duo atteint toutefois la cible au moyen de textes irrévérencieux et pince-sans-rire couchés sur des musiques pleines de trouvailles, au kitsch pleinement assumé. - Voir

Le duo The Peptides brandit fièrement son drapeau arc-en-ciel face à l'adversité et à la laideur humaine. Rencontre ensoleillée autour de quelques bières-déjeuners.

Curieux de voir à quel point on peut parfois se méprendre. En tout début d’entrevue, je laisse entendre que The Peptides, projet dont les troisième et quatrième albums – respectivement For Those Who Hate Human Interaction et North Hero – viennent simultanément de voir le jour, se révèle d’une dualité indubitable, lui (Claude Marquis, cerveau créateur et ermite de studio) représentant le feu et elle (DeeDee Butters, interprète et muse) tempérant les élans fougueux et viscéraux par sa force tranquille à l’image même de l’eau. "Vraiment? Attends de rencontrer DeeDee. Tu verras", m’assure Claude Marquis, un sourire en coin, derrière ses verres fumés, en s’asseyant à une table de la terrasse ensoleillée du Centretown Pub, sympatique pub gay du centre-ville ottavien. Ce cumul me semble pourtant magnifiquement mis en musique, principalement sur For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, un voyage auditif schizophrénique où iconoclasme rime avec commentaire social, qui se révèle hors de tout doute le seul album concept 100 % made in Ottawa jamais créé. Quelques minutes plus tard, DeeDee Butters fait son entrée et me fournit la preuve que Marquis disait bel et bien vrai. Je me suis trompé sur toute la ligne.

CES RENCONTRES DÉTERMINANTES
The Peptides existait depuis déjà quelques années quand Claude a fait la rencontre de DeeDee, une femme coup de vent d’une beauté féline, au vocabulaire varié, à la voix puissante et au rire communicatif. "On m’avait raconté que Claude faisait un genre de musique expérimentale, mais pas du genre "paowm paowm" où on ne comprend rien de ce que l’auteur veut dire", raconte la chanteuse, jouant de percussions imaginaires. "Non, je comprenais que Claude utilisait le vocabulaire pop pour arriver à autre chose", affirme DeeDee, en ajoutant avoir rencontré Claude au tout début du projet For Those Who Hate… "Ce qui m’a surpris le plus, c’est à quel point Dee s’est livrée au jeu – parce que c’était souvent le cas, elle avait à camper des rôles – avec abandon. Dès la première soirée, elle m’a complètement jeté à terre en interprétant, sur le spot et à plein registre, Mother de John Lennon. Pas comme John la chantait, mais comme Christina [Aguilera] le fait. C’est-à-dire FORT", raconte l’auteur-compositeur au moment où DeeDee entame quelques notes du classique de Lennon. C’est ainsi que le créateur s’est lié d’amitié avec l’interprète et a, ce faisant, donné à The Peptides un second souffle. "Conjointement, c’est le début du projet For Those…, qui est si grandiose, si ambitieux, et l’arrivée de DeeDee qui ont permis à The Peptides de réitérer plusieurs positions artistiques."

CETTE PERPÉTUELLE HAINE
For Those Who Hate Human Interaction – dont les 25 pièces débutent toutes par For Those Who Hate, exception faite de la francophone Pour ceux qui haïssent – est une lettre ouverte à propos de la haine qu’entretient notre société qui vit à l’heure des réseaux sociaux. "Prends, par exemple, n’importe quelle vidéo sur YouTube. Dans 90 % des cas, les commentaires publiés en bas de l’écran ne se révèlent être que des insultes et des messages haineux. Cette laideur humaine, cet anonymat cruel me fascinent autant qu’ils m’effraient." DeeDee Butters renchérit: "C’est ce manque de responsabilité sociale qui fait peur. Nous croyons communiquer, mais ça s’avère être une forme de discours unidirectionnel non responsable, parce qu’autrement, en société, traiter quelqu’un de sale pute en plein visage prend des couilles, de un, mais aussi laisse place à une réaction instantanée du récepteur du message ainsi que des individus touchés par cette affirmation, ce qui n’arrive jamais sur le Net." - Voir

The Peptides, DeeDee Butters and Claude Marquis, photographed in Ottawa’s Chinatown by Jonathan Hobin.

The Peptides will make a rare live appearance tonight, Thursday, at the Mercury Lounge. Some readers may remember that the Big Beat Best Albums of 2010 had For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, by the Peptides, as No. 1. You can read the top 10 list here. You can read the review here.

Here’s a new song that the Peptides will include on Thursday night’s setlist at the Mercury Lounge. It’s from their next, upcoming album, Love Question Mark, which, says head Peptide Claude Marquis, “is a mirror” to For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. Tonight’s performance is rare because the Peptides was not an actual full band, just, principally, Marquis and the multi-talented DeeDee Butters. Now they have a band together, and they’re getting some stage time in before their upcoming show at the Ottawa jazz festival. - Ottawa Citizen

The Peptides, DeeDee Butters and Claude Marquis, photographed in Ottawa’s Chinatown by Jonathan Hobin.

The Peptides will make a rare live appearance tonight, Thursday, at the Mercury Lounge. Some readers may remember that the Big Beat Best Albums of 2010 had For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, by the Peptides, as No. 1. You can read the top 10 list here. You can read the review here.

Here’s a new song that the Peptides will include on Thursday night’s setlist at the Mercury Lounge. It’s from their next, upcoming album, Love Question Mark, which, says head Peptide Claude Marquis, “is a mirror” to For Those Who Hate Human Interaction. Tonight’s performance is rare because the Peptides was not an actual full band, just, principally, Marquis and the multi-talented DeeDee Butters. Now they have a band together, and they’re getting some stage time in before their upcoming show at the Ottawa jazz festival. - Ottawa Citizen

There’s something totally apropos about getting the chance to interview The PepTides at Fringe. The local indie popsters – who, later this evening, will help kick off the first night of the Ottawa Jazz Festival – clearly embrace the theatrical side of life, both on the stage and in person. It takes a certain amount of moxie, after all, to release a 25-song album that veers from sample-heavy funk to tender acoustic balladry to faux-Cockney show tunes, all at the drop of a fedora. Oh, and did I mention said album is called For Those Who Hate Human Interaction, and that every one of those songs is called “For Those Who Hate (fill in the blank)”? Because there’s that, too.

In fact, I’d go so far to say that the band’s theatricality is near impossible to capture in a static blog post. And that’s why you should tune into CHUO 89.1 FM at 2pm today for our weekly radio show, Apartment613 Live – we’ll be playing an extended version of our conversation with charming PepTides vocalists DeeDee Butters and Claude Marquis. Winsome clapping and gleeful, over-the-top accents just don’t come across on the page, y’know?

Anyways, The PepTides play the OLG stage at Confederation Park tonight at 10:30pm – which means that you could conceivably make the case that the band’s opening act is none other than Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant, who hits the festival (albeit on a different stage) two hours earlier. If you’re jazzed (mwah mwah) to catch the action tonight, we may just have a ticket or two to give away, so you’ll definitely want to click through for all the details.

Apt613: So I’m joined by Claude and DeeDee of The PepTides -

DeeDee Butters and Claude Marquis: Yaaay! (clapping)

- and we’re here at the beautiful Ottawa Fringe beer tent, and we’ve got our mugs of beer in front of us. So you’re playing June 23rd, opening night of Ottawa Jazzfest, with Robert Plant as your opening act -

DB: Aaaarrgggh!

CM: Errrghghg!

DB: I’m not sure exactly that [Robert Plant is opening for us] but we are playing after him. And we are excited to be sharing Robert Plant’s hair energy.

CM: I wonder if he still has the long curly hair?

DB: He does.

CM: No!

DB: He does. His hair looks a lot like my hair. We could be sisters.

Apt613: What’s it like going on stage after someone like Robert Plant?

DB: Well, we’ve never been on stage after someone like Robert Plant before!

CM: It’ll be a new experience. Actually, we had an inaugural, a sneak-peek show at the Mercury Lounge last week, because the band – which we did get together in the last month – hadn’t played live yet. So this will only be our second time playing live as a band, a full band.

DB: But I don’t think you’d ever know it.

Apt613: You’ve got four albums out. But the last show was the first time you’d played live?

CM: With a band, yeah.

Apt613: How did you play before?

DB: What we had done before was we had a vocal ensemble. One of the things people notice about our music is that it’s realy vocally lush – we like to put a lot of harmonies on things, and have lots of different layers going on. So in lieu of attempting to [play the music live] we had chosen to just focus on the vocalists. At that time we had four vocalists, and we’ve expanded to five for our new live project. So actually what we have on stage at the moment is five vocalists and five musicians. It was really interesting to take a very orchestral, layered album and make it express those moments with only five musicians. But with the combination of the musicians and the vocalists, it’s a very full, fun sound – we’ve sort of reinterpreted a few of the songs and they’ve taken on a completely new life. It’s still an experimental, pop noir, “retooled-retro” kind of sound. There’s one song that was sort of a short baroque “moment” on the album -

Image courtesy The PepTides

CM: “For Those Who Hate Precious Time.”

DB: “For those who hate precious time / Hours wasted in line!” It’s now sort of a super dirty, nasty, blues moment with soul riffs. It’s really dirty and awesome.

Apt613: Your last album was called For Those Who Hate Human Interaction -

CM: Brilliant!

- and every song is titled “For Those Who Hate x.” How did you come up with that idea for an album?

CM: I got inspired just by that one title, concerning humanity. But I couldn’t stop there. I just had to go on. I just wrote as many songs as I could.

Apt613: Do people who hate things not have enough songs written for them?

DB: I don’t think they have enough songs written for them with this amount of tongue-in-cheek fingerpointing. It’s not exactly fingerpointing, but it’s definitely sort of an attempt to shine the light on humanity’s fallibilities and successes – in equal measure, but really with a sort of tongue-in-cheek jest. It’s a little bit sarcastic, a little bit sardonic, but also really kind of fun and playful at the same time.

CM: For a hate album, yes.

DB: Yeah, well, there - Apartment 613

OTTAWA — Catch one of Ottawa’s hottest musical acts at the Elmdale House Tavern Saturday, Oct. 8, livestreamed at ottawacitizen.com. The fun starts at 9:30 p.m.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Peptides+livestreamed/5500036/story.html#ixzz1ZsDIRHAe
- Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — Catch one of Ottawa’s hottest musical acts at the Elmdale House Tavern Saturday, Oct. 8, livestreamed at ottawacitizen.com. The fun starts at 9:30 p.m.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Peptides+livestreamed/5500036/story.html#ixzz1ZsDIRHAe
- Ottawa Citizen

Let me back up and say that The PepTides is an Ottawa-based up-and-coming genre-bending band. It played at the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival earlier this summer, and the event’s program described the group’s music as “equal parts B-52’s, Henry Mancini, and Parliament/Funkadelic.” My colleague Peter Simpson gushed about the group’s debut disc last year, awarding five stars to For Those Who Hate Human Interaction and ultimately choosing it as his favourite disc of 2010. The group gigs regularly — it plays Friday at Live Lounge on a double-bill with The Funktion — and makes slick videos like this one:

So given all that, what were six members of the PepTides doing last weekend with scores of amateurs attending the Ottawa-based JazzWorks jazz camp?

PepTides vocalist Rebecca Noelle, who attended the jazz camp last year, explains:

1. Why did you and the other PepTides attend the jazz camp?

photo by Brian Goldschmied

I think a lot of people see jazz as simply just another genre of music. But it’s not, it’s a state-of-mind. Jazz is an open ended music designed for open minds. I have never made music with anyone more open-minded than The PepTides. My experience at jazz camp last year changed me as a performer. I really wanted to share that experience with as many other musicians as possible. Naturally, my closest circle of musician friends were the ones I wanted to share jazz camp with the most. I wanted to see everyone grow as individual artists but also to absorb new ideas to bring back to our project. As soon as the rest of the band saw my undeniable enthusiasm about attending again, it didn’t take much to convince them that we’d have a blast there together.

2. How was the experience for you? What do you get out of it?
Well, prior to August 2010, I was a jazz camp virgin. My first time around, I really didn’t know what to expect. I’ve been performing Jazz on a professional level for years now, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure just how much I might benefit from the experience. [An explanation within an explanation: Noelle sings jazz regularly and performs frequently in London, Ontario, with her grandfather, the veteran jazz pianist John Noubarian -- PH]

Knowing full well that I’d be in class with individuals who might not perform music for a living, and even some who have never held a microphone before, I quickly realised that my ability to gain from this experience was not dependent on how much I already knew about jazz, or how much live experience I’d already had. That was irrelevant. It was about my willingness to open up as a performer. To allow myself to be exposed and to be vulnerable. To let people into my head, hear my ideas while they’re still raw and unpolished, and let my natural musical instinct drive my performance, instead of depending on my ‘technical’ musical knowledge or experience. I used to draw my musical ideas from logic, common sense and the science of reasoning. At jazz camp I learned to draw musical ideas from emotions, memories and instincts. It forced me out of my comfort zone and I’m sure it will continue to do so every August for years to come.

3. How might attending the jazz camp affect the music that the band makes, how it plays?
Jazz is about communication and improvisation on stage (among many other things). Jazz camp has already inspired us to be more spontaneous and experimental in just three short days. Over the course of the workshop we came closer together as friends. We learned more about each others strengths and definitely developed a deeper musical trust in each other. Which will naturally result in more risks being taken on stage and a higher level of comfort with each others spontaneity. Surprising the audience is one thing, but surprising your band mates on stage is a whole new kettle of fish! A good kettle.

The PepTides and The Funktion play Live Lounge (126 York St.) on Friday, Aug. 26, at 9:30 p.m.

PS: I hung out a jazz camp for a day back in 2008, when Ted Nash and Donny McCaslin were faculty members, and wrote this post.
- Ottawa Citizen

By Daniel Sylvester
Love Question Mark, the fifth LP from the PepTides, could very well have been titled 31 Love Songs, as the theatricality, ambition and thematic ingenuity imbedded within could hold its own alongside the Magnetic Fields' 1999 masterstroke. Split into two parts ("Electro Love" and "Retro Love") and with each of its 31 tracks containing the word "love" in its title, Love Question Mark feels like a celebration of music's most-sightseen theme.

Like that of Stephin Merritt, the ostentatious Ottawa octet's music is wholly indebted to the American musical; although Merritt may be indebted to Hellzapoppin, the PepTides prefer to channel Rocky Horror Picture Show. The group's decision to lead this sprawling collection with the synth-laden "Electro Love" portion seems either dubious or brave, as the PepTides seem much more comfortable on the groovy "Retro Love" side. Nonetheless, Love Question Mark brims with ideas and style — many that stick and some that fall flat — giving the listener an ambitious collection of fun, daring, unadulterated, true blue art.
(Independent) - Exclaim!

By Alex Hudson

When we first caught wind of the PepTides, we praised the group for their theatrical live show, and their new music video for "Love Lead Us to Sanctuary" does a pretty great job of capturing their over-the-top visual aesthetic.

The clip for this B-52s-style electronic art-pop number — culled from this year's Love Question Mark — was directed by the band's own Claude MarQuis. It's a brightly colourful affair full of glass fishbowl helmets, gaudy outfits, comical facial expressions, trippy projections, and high-contrast lens filters.

Watch it below. - Exclaim!