Here is the text from an interview I had with Angela Scappatura prior to the Birthday Cakes' CD release. The text was cut short in the paper, but here is the full interview:
Birthday Cakes release CD tonight at the Townehouse
Posted By ANGELA SCAPPATURA, THE SUDBURY STAR
Posted 23 days ago
Sudbury-based band The Birthday Cakes is releasing a new CD at the Townehouse on Saturday night.
The group, comprised three brothers -- Clayton, Carter and Cameron Drake -- combine pop hooks with "as many choruses as possible" to produce their "spastic rock" style.
Their sound is described on their Myspace page as "Saturday morning cartoons mixed with Internet videos and brains over stimulated from playing "Burnout" for in excess of 500 hours."
Clayton Drake spoke to the Sudbury Star from a Northern Ontario gold mine, where he is completing a co-op for a Laurentian chemical engineering program.
Describe your music. A.We have as many choruses in the songs as possible. There aren't many lyrics and the songs are really short. It's music made for people raised on Sesame Street and doesn't require long attention spans.
Any given songs range from a melodic ballad to a noise jam to a hardcore breakdown in the middle of it.
What is your songwriting process? A.We usually write them together. Some I come up with in my dreams and others Cameron and Carter come up with together.
Four came up in my dreams. Usually, I wake up in a half sleep and I come up with lyrics, or I am falling asleep and I can't get a riff or pattern out of my head.
What are some of your themes?A.There is one song, "When Good Bears Ghost Bad," about being chased through the woods by ghost bears. It's about not having to do something just because it's expected of you.
Another is called "Junior Scissors [sic]," about a young pair of scissors, which is straight up pop. The songs are pretty non-traditional. It's in no way trying to be ironic, we're trying to be as sincere as possible.
What can people expect from your show? A.We're going to try and bring as much intensity to the stage as possible and cram as many songs into a 30-minute set.
Do you have any tours planned? A.We just came off a two-week tour. I think it was a rousing success.
We went to Quebec and we had six dates booked in the States and came back through southern Ontario. We didn't make it into the States, so we had to take a six-day hiatus.
Why didn't you make it into the U. S.? A.This is the first time we've done (a tour) and we didn't know we needed documentation -- work visas and stuff -- even if you're going to play for nothing. So, we got turned away at the border. So, we went camping and played music for people in the streets.
Next time I'll know better.
Tell me a little about the cooperative you are trying to organize. A.I'm trying to organize a PA cooperative. I'm trying to get investors together to purchase a PA because the cost of renting a sound system can be pretty prohibitive. It will help to build a more diverse music community.
You are a fan of all ages shows -- why so passionate? A.The kids are usually the ones most enthusiastic about the music and they are the diehards and the ones who will be making the innovative bands in the future.
They can't all play bars and having a diversity of venues will help expand the cultural pallet.
I would just like to take this opportunity to do something that is going to last for years and years. Without all ages shows, all you have is bar gigs. Lots of times, the bar gigs are not as much about the music.
All ages shows are usually about the music and it's kind of the purest performance you can get.
