Interview with Andy | By Ridge Briel
Coming in from Montreal, Canada, The Boids are a bare bones pop-punk band that takes their cues from the greats and infuse it for a new generation. Each song on their new record We Stalk Each Other Like Animals has a completely different flow and style that is both old and new at the same time.
First and foremost, where does the name Boids come from? It strikes me as a Bostonian way of saying birds or something.
Believe it or not, it came to us while we were in the midst of any musician’s favorite activity: spending long hours in a hot stinky van. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to remember exactly what stream of conversation lead us there, all I can tell you is we discovered a complete summation of everything we were as a band: BOIDS. Some people like to think it’s an accent-thing, some people claim it’s an acronym but, to us, it’s BOIDS for the sake of BOIDS!
I like the no holds barred, no gimmicks punk you guys play. It strikes me as a cross of the Dead Kennedys and Off With Their Heads. Where do you guys personally draw your musical inspiration from?
Everyone’s got their own bit of flare that they add to the mix in terms of individual influences. Aside from the obvious heavy hitters (Ramones, The Clash), we try to pay tribute to the classics of pop-punk and hardcore. Nomeansno has always been close to our hearts as a band, but we’re all psyched on contemporary groups like OFF!, D4, and Dead to Me as well.
With song titles like “Gamma Rays,” “Hong Kong Candy,” and “Shadow,” where do you draw your lyrical ideas from?
From a whole slew of different things! It’s hard to say. I guess whenever there’s something worth writing about, the process begins. Quite often it’s a blend of personal experiences, mixed with local/world events that may have been happening around the same time. “Shadows” is about looking over your shoulder, about the obvious and unseen forces that govern the world, and how we struggle with them, distrust of power and government. While “Gamma Rays” is about wanting a simple life, but getting caught up in the grind of the big city, and also there’s nuclear fallout poisoning our world! [laughs] Montreal is a bit of a party town, mobs of people wandering around aimlessly looking for excitement, “Honk Kong Candy” is about people’s desire for something new, thrilling or exotic, be it sex, drugs, or just a really great poutine!
If I had to pick a favorite song, it would definitely have to be “Runaround.” It’s really got a skating punk sound to it, like it belongs on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 OST. Tell me about that song and how you guys came about creating it.
Andy had the main riff kicking around for a while. He’d tried it in different styles, but when BOIDS got a hold of it, it finally clicked. Even though it may be one of the “weirder” songs on the record, it was actually one of the easiest to write. Bad relationships and a love for trashy skate punk, et voila!
What kind of musical background do you guys come from?
This one’s a tough cookie. Two out of four of us are originally from Montreal, having cut our teeth on punk and metal, eventually finding ourselves in the ska-reggae scene. The other two are from Wild Rose Country (Alberta) and, after many musical endeavors out west, decided to both emigrate to la Belle Province (Quebec) independently. Once here, they ALSO found themselves in the ska-reggae scene (Montreal’s got one of the best, dontchya know), which is how we all met. I could provide you with a laundry list of bands we’ve been in, past and present, but let me say this instead: Imagine our JOY and elation, after years spent fine-tuning heavy dub and reggae, to find ourselves all together, playing the music we grew up listening to!
Who would win in the fight between the cobra and the rat that graces the cover of your latest album We Stalk Each Other Like Animals?
It’s worth mentioning that it is, in fact, a mongoose on the cover…. Not quite a rat. Although the fight itself originates deep within the Jungle Book (Rikki-Tiki-Tavi and Nag the cobra), we’d like to leave this one open to the listeners’ imagination. One would assume that a cobra would destroy a mongoose, no questions asked… but, life’s more complicated than that! Kudos to the mongoose for challenging such a superior predator. David DID kill Goliath, didn’t he?
Any last words for the fans and those who haven’t heard Boids yet?
We’re heading out on tour with Real McKenzies in March, for their annual Paddy’s Day tour. It’s only a matter of time before we hit YOUR hometown, and you become a BOIDS, just like us…
www.facebook.com/boidsmtl
boids.bandcamp.com
