Hostage Life Won't Hit The Road In The Cold
Wednesday February 27, 2008 @ 03:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

By Cameron Gordon

Screaming. Scheming. Growling. Scowling. It's all in a day's work for Toronto's Hostage Life, purveyors of no-nonsense modern punk rock goodness. The band recently released their first ever piece of vinyl, a snappy four-song seven-inch titled "White Jesus," and drummer Paul Miller took a few minutes to shoot the breeze with ChartAttack about the allure of vinyl, Wire, up-and-comers and his band's plans for 2008.

Hostage Life

ChartAttack: You guys somehow managed to cram four songs on to your new seven-inch. I guess the band subscribes to the "less is more" philosophy.
Paul Miller: Sure, there are a ton of really short songs that I've always really liked. "Good Intentions" by Gorilla Biscuits, "What We Do Is Secret" by The Germs… all these songs are less than 45 seconds and all are really awesome. Seriously, there is no need to draw things out if the point has been made.

Were there ever any concerns that it was too short and that you should maybe be holding out for a full-length instead?
No actually, it was perfect for us. My day job is running a vinyl brokerage house called SAMO Media, and I tell bands all the time: for a seven-inch, try to get between 4 to 4.5 minutes per side if you want to be the best sound. We had four songs and it worked out to eight minutes in total, so it all just fit. And actually, the idea behind this whole thing was to make an EP fit a seven-inch, and not a seven-inch that would fit an EP.

Was this something to appease your fans until the next full-length? And when might we be seeing another long player from you guys?
We had talked and talked about doing a 12-inch for our Walking Papers album, and it got as far as the test presses before it died. We just didn't have the money to finish it, but talked about Hostage Life on vinyl to anyone who would listen. After we were sure the idea was dead, and got antsy about wanting to put out some new stuff, a seven-inch was the obvious choice. But definitely, we're marking to get another full-length recorded before the end of the year, even if it kills us.

There's a cover of Wire's "Mr. Suit" on the EP. How long was that song part of your set list and when and why did you decide to record a studio version?
Man, we've been playing that song as long as I can remember. It's been at least three years. It had been in and out of our sets for so long, and we recorded crappy demos for it twice and it still just sat around. We didn't want to put it on a full-length, so this was a good outlet for it. It was really fun and easy to record, actually.

At the risk of sounding like a total rock snob, do you prefer the more punk side of Wire or their more arty side?
I think that even Pink Flag is an art rock record. Some of it sounds like fairly traditional punk rock, but their art school side definitely takes the record in some weird and really good places. I never got into the darker, stranger side of the later Wire records. I was pretty put off by Chairs Missing when I first heard it and, actually, I haven't gone back yet.

You guys are shifting into middle age as a band and are now hopefully in a position to help other bands who are coming up? Any new-ish bands that ChartAttack readers should be checking out?
Middle-aged? I don't feel middle-aged... although we have been around for about five years, so I know what you're saying. All that time and one full-length record — we're underachieving and we're sure aging ungracefully. Anyway, there are a ton of really cool bands coming up. There's this new band from Hamilton, Slow Hand Motem that are amazing… they might be the new Gary Wilson, if that helps. The Little Millionaires, Sailboats Are White, Lunchmeat. There are just a ton of local bands right now making really fun, really awesome music.

When and where can your Canadian fans expect to see you on the road for the rest of 2008?
We really want to go on the road again, but we're pussies and have been waiting until the cold weather quits. We don't have a full tour lined up just yet but we'll definitely be on the road come May or so. And we'll have the new record with us. I don't mind announcing that cause someone else is paying for the production this time.