Picture of Jagjaguwar

Every once and awhile you come across a band that reminds you why music is the love of your life. At this year’s CMJ Music Festival, I came across such a band. I was eager to get a sense of who this band is, and what I learned is that they are a band of friends, who came together to do what they loved; making music that, according to them, is melodic and mellow at times, but also heavy at others, but mostly just straightforward rock and roll.

The band’s self-titled debut was released by Jagjaguwar last year and they have been touring in support of it ever since. I got to speak with drummer Ryan Peters about who Ladyhawk is and what the future has in store for the young band.

First off, I have to ask where did the name come from?
We were having a hard time coming up with something crucial. Duffy thought of Ladyhawk in a dream. We all thought it was dumb but we partied on it for a couple of days till it was less lame I guess. We just tried to imagine this big beautiful naked lady with wings flying around. Looking back now I guess we were feeling the same “animals are cool” vibe everyone else in the world was but at least our name isn’t Wolfhawk. Hey, that sounds like “we’ll fuck,” sweet.

How did you guys come together as a band?
We all grew up in this town in the interior of BC (British Columbia) called Kelowna. We all played in different bands there but never together. We all moved to Vancouver after high school and hooked up there.

How long before you signed on with Jagjaguwar?
We started out in Spring 2004 but didn’t sign with JagJag till September 2005. We had an album finished and slated for release in Canada early 2005 but it never really panned out, which rules cause that’s when JagJag heard us and signed us. They asked us to re-record it though, which was daunting but a good idea. So there’s an old version of the album floating around, the exact same album/different version with one extra song.

How did jagjag come into the picture? Did you pursue them or the other way around?
We only sent out one demo and that was to JagJag, and they sent us this thing back saying basically you stink, no just kidding, they were like “not our thing but thanks”. It was Jason Molina and Black Mountain that got them interested in us. We love those dudes and owe them a lot.

What was the deciding factor to go with Jagjaguwar?
It wasn’t like we had a choice of awesome labels to chose from. JagJag liked us and we liked them. Turns out JagJag rules and even if we did have a choice we’d still go with them. They’re some of the raddest people to work with.

So there weren’t any other labels interested signing you guys?
We had some offers for just Canada but only JagJag in the States.

How would you describe Ladyhawk’s sound to someone who has never heard you?
I don’t know really. People say we sound like The Tragically Hip. We can be heavy at times and mellow at other times. We just sound like meat and potatoes rock music, nothing fancy.

So what is Ladyhawk’s major influences?
Duffy loves the Grateful Dead and he listens to a lot of scary metal. Darcy loves Depeche Mode and Thin Lizzy. Sean loves The Band and Gram Parsons and I’m really into Prince and Harry Nilsson. Collectively though we’re probably all the most influenced by this band from Kelowna called Wonderboy. They don’t exist anymore but they were all of our favorite band growing up.

There are comparisons to bands like the Constantines and Dinosaur Jr. Do you think these comparisons have any merit?
It’s hard to review a record without comparing it to something else. Darius at JagJag wrote in our one page that we were influenced by Dino Jr, Neil Young and Silkworm, so now we get compared to them. We totally love those bands but that’s just lazy reviewing. On the other hand, we get compared to a lot of bands we’ve never even heard of. Constantines fucking rule, we’re touring with them across Canada in April.

Is there an artist out there today you guys would love to play a show with?
Most of our favorite bands or artists are broken up or dead. Neil Young would be rad.

In today’s world of satellite radio, dying “regular rock radio”, and social sites like myspace, what is the most important vehicle for an indie band to get themselves out there to the public?
Touring I guess. That’s all you can do.

I see that you are playing a few dates with Tapes N’ Tapes, Are you excited for that?
I haven’t heard their music yet but I’ve been told they’re rad dudes. It’s always nice bro-ing down with other bands on the road.

So you guys are from Canada eh? So other than there, do you have a favorite place to play?
New York and San Francisco are always rad. The best and maybe the most surreal shows we’ve played were in towns like Fargo, New Orleans or Youngstown, OH. The kind of shows where you know nothing about the town or anything like that but you leave wanting to move there.

Has there always been a thriving music scene from where you guys are from? Because lately it seems that Canadian bands are getting a lot of hype.
There has always been a thriving scene up here. Canada has just been under a microscope lately. A couple of years ago it was all Sweden.

What was the highlight at this year’s CMJ for you guys?
Getting to spend time with friends in New York. We played this Fader party that got a little out of hand, well we got out of hand. There was free beer, which to touring bands means playing shows you don’t get paid for. We walked out with 4 cases of Red Stripe and about 5 bottles of Whiskey. We turned into total pirates. We felt really bad about it the next day, especially cause we were so hungover. The camera man just emailed us and told us it was no big deal and that there’ll be more Red Stripe waiting for us at SXSW. We’ll never make it out alive.

At this year’s “Brahloween 2″ at Tonic for CMJ, at the close of your set I think it was Duffy who said “this concludes the emo part of tonight’s show.” Is that an accurate description for Ladyhawk, “emo”? Because in some indie rock circles, that label could be a death sentence.
I think Duffy was just being self-depricating. When we were young we never knew what emo was, it was all just indie-rock. I remember feeling violated when I first heard that term. I don’t really know what emo actually is I think. Guys who sing like they’re crying who have pokey hair cuts.

I know the new album is still pretty recent, but are there plans for a new album in the works?
There’s a 12-inch EP coming out in March called “Fight For Anarchy.” It’ll be vinyl only, and iTunes I think. Fader Magazine just put out a Ladyhawk/M. Ward split 7-inch. We’re about to record our next record in a couple of weeks. We’re doing it in this abandoned house in the middle of an orchard in Kelowna.

Where do you see Ladyhawk say in 5 years? Is there any desire to jump to major if the opportunity presents itself?
We’re all in our late 20’s. We have no money and no skills, so thinking about the future is kinda depressing. We’ll just keep doing this for a while till it doesn’t make sense any more. Signing to a major makes no sense.

Finally with this insane reunion craze going around, is there a band you guys want to see get back together?
I was asking myself that same question yesterday. I think it would be rad to see Boston back together, though I heard they kinda sucked live. A Byrds reunion would be cool, with Crosby of course.

Download: “War”

Tags: Interview, Ladyhawk //