Land Of Talk Have Mad Hook-Ups

09/19/08 2:56pm

by Jen White (CHARTattack)

Land Of Talk might only be releasing their full-length debut, Some Are Lakes, in October, but they're no strangers to the music industry. The Montreal trio were on the road for a solid two years following the release of their Applause Cheer Boo Hiss EP, and have recently signed to Saddle Creek to release their debut in the States. But vocalist/guitarist Liz Powell's connections go back to her teens. ChartAttack spoke to Powell over the phone from her home in Montreal about touring and her single degree of separation from Tapes 'N Tapes, Patrick Watson and Broken Social Scene.

ChartAttack: You recently capped off touring in support of your 2006 EP, Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, with a European tour opening for Tapes 'N Tapes. What was it like touring with them?
Liz Powell: It was awesome! Those guys are awesome. You can't always choose who you're touring with, who you're opening for or who your supporting band is. But we had a mutual friend who does sound for us. Our sound guy Drew also does sound for them, and I think he just kept putting the idea out there. We have really cool T-shirts, and I think he used to wear the Land Of Talk T-shirt all the time when he was touring with Tapes 'N Tapes, and that's probably how the conversation started, like, "Whoa, that's a neat T-shirt!" I think Drew did the rest by always talking about us or calling us when he was on tour with them. I think that's how it worked out. It had nothing to do with Land Of Talk. It ended up being an awesome tour. It was pretty brief, only being about two weeks, but they were great. I would love to tour with them again.

You're about to head out on the road again for a U.S. tour with Broken Social Scene. How did you hook that one up?
I think when I was around 15, I was dating a musician who was playing in By Divine Right, and Brendan Canning was the bass player in By Divine Right. And back then, Brendan was also known as DJ Champ and I think he used to DJ at Gypsy Co-op, this little club in Toronto. I remember my mom would drive me down to Toronto with my little overnight bag and drop me off at Brendan's place, and we would do maybe an hour of work, like I would just record some house tracks, like (starts singing) "Oooo baby, I've got my reasons," like really bad — no sorry, I mean, really awesome shit. And he would put the vocals to his house music, and anyway, our friendship blossomed and ever since then, he's always looked out for me. He always sort of asks me what's going on and he's always supported me.

Once I started Land Of Talk, he loved the album, and then we worked on The Tracey Fragments soundtrack together and I did that Patti Smith cover [of "Land"] and another two songs, and then we just bumped into each other in Montreal and he said, "Oh, I'm about to record some songs for my new album. Come on up." So then I recorded on his solo album, and then I started hearing about The Tracey Fragments doing well, and his album, and I said, "Hey, if you ever need an opener, I would love to!" I think the subject heading [of the email] was "My band wants to open for your band," and he immediately wrote back and said, "Of course!" I definitely was instrumental in that hook-up, but that hook-up took about 13 years. We had to nurture that one.

I also noticed that you helped out on the last Karkwa album.
Yes, I did! You know Karkwa? I love Karkwa!

How did that collaboration come about?
I am good friends with Patrick Watson, and I sang on his album, and we were always sort of hanging out in the same circles, and I think Patrick Watson and Karkwa are so close that they went on a tour and billed it as… They did like a "Brangelina" thing. They called it Karkwatson, so they were all touring together like some morphed two-headed monster. I think we would always end up at Karkwa shows backstage and I was completely blown away by their set. And Louis-Jean [Cormier, Karkwa's guitarist/vocalist] emailed me one day and I immediately dropped everything so I could record that track because I love them. Plain and simple.

So you're pretty connected, hey?
I guess. I guess that's what happens... As much as I play guitar, and that's sort of my main instrument, there's never a shortage of guitar players in bands or session guitar players. But people I guess are always looking for a female vocalist to lend their higher range, so I think sometimes once you get on one person's album, you're just part of this sort of [snowball effect], like, "Oh, you sang on Patrick Watson's album, why don’t you sing on mine?" But yeah, I guess I am connected, just by hanging out at the same bars and playing at the same shows.