Back in December, Boats—undoubtedly one of Winnipeg’s most fun indie bands—put out a three-song cassette tape as a prelude to their new CD, and now, come Feb. 2, they will be releasing their newest album, entitled A Fairway Full Of Miners.
“I think I had trouble deciding whether or not I should be writing more simple songs or more complex songs and ended up doing both,” said Mat Klachefsky, the band’s guitarist and lead singer. “This album is a lot more polarized – there are some six-minute meandering songs with no solid structure and there are some short and simple pop songs. The growly songs got more growly, the soft songs got more soft. It feels like we turned everything up.”
Klachefsky also describes the album as less optimistic than past releases and attributes it simply to growing up.
“A lot of the songs that are on our first album I wrote as a teenager and now I’m 31,” stated Klachefsky. “If I were to force a thesis onto our three albums it would be: first album, ‘everything is awesome so let’s bash our heads together in a field;’ second album, ‘that was stupid and painful and now there is blood everywhere;’ third album, ‘now we have brain damage and we are going to die in a field.’”
All too familiar with life on the road and grueling tour schedules, Boats spent the better part of 2011 touring North America and after this new album is released the band will be heading out once again to visit their fans in both Canada and the U.S.
“[Touring extensively] is extremely difficult. I work in a very understanding record store and I am also a substitute education assistant in elementary schools, so I pick my own hours. I have no idea how the others do it – their employers must be incredibly understanding. I know we often have to straight up quit and get new jobs when we get back.”
One thing is for certain – this band knows how to throw a release party.
With the demise of their regular venue, Lo Pub, Boats will be taking over the West End Cultural Centre instead, but bringing along Lo Pub’s most prized possession – a custom made, Winnipeg-themed arcade-style video game called the Winnitron.
“[This show is] going to [include] the Random Band Spectacular where 12 local musicians are forming three bands the week before [the show] and doing cover songs that they did not choose,” said Klachefsky. “It’s a killer lineup of locals, [including members of] Les Jupes, Rusty from Imaginary Cities, Jay Churko, Ricardo Lopez (Oldfolks Home), Ian La Rue, Alannah from Cannon Bros., and more. Also, the Winnitron will be there.”
Catch Boats, along with the Random Band Spectacular and the return of Winnipeg’s beloved Winnitron, at the West End Cultural Centre on Feb. 2.
