Elliott Brood: Best Of 2008

01/06/09 2:56pm

by Scott Bryson (CHARTattack)

Elliott Brood's Mark Sasso slept through his scheduled interview with CHARTattack, but there was a good reason to forgive the guy. On the day in question, he'd returned home at 6 a.m. and had spent the preceding nine weeks on the road.

Such exhaustive missions were par for Elliott Brood's course in 2008. After the June release of their second full-length, Mountain Meadows, the death-country trio (rounded out by Casey Laforet and Stephen Pitkin) spent more time abroad than they did in their Toronto homes. They criss-crossed Canada, dipped into the U.S. and traversed the ocean for dates in the U.K., Switzerland, Spain and Italy.

Sasso eventually woke up and made a return call, and here's what he had to say about Elliott Brood's year:

CHARTattack: I was at your CD release show, and my first impression was that your sound was a lot more powerful than it had been in the past.
Mark Sasso: It's kind of the evolution of the band. We've grown together, and you kind of find your way and find different sounds, and that kind of factors into it. It factored into the album and it also factors into the live show.

When you record, you obviously want to be able to translate live, and I think that has come out in a bigger sound and heavier stuff. Not to say we don't like softer songs, but yeah, I think we're a heavier band at the moment.

You guys have been touring pretty relentlessly this year, right?
Yeah. It has been nine weeks straight of touring right now — since September. It has been almost non-stop since the release in June.

Was there anywhere that you were able to go — that you hadn't been before — that you were especially excited about?
The one thing that I was looking forward to was going to Switzerland, and we got to. We'd never played there before, and the crowd was pretty amazing. We were opening up for another band, and sometimes the opening band can get stepped on or stepped over, but it was actually pretty great, so we're hoping to go back there.

Are you looking forward to a rest now?
Well, we have a week-and-a-half off and then we're touring a bit more, but I think for the most part we're done until the beginning of February. We're trying to take some time for ourselves.

Were you happy with the reception Mountain Meadows received?
Ultimately, we're really proud of the album. We think it was a step up for us. You can't really rely on what other people say, but I think it was taken pretty nicely. We've gotten some really nice reviews.

Ultimately, you have to please yourself, and I think we did that. The critics, on top of that, just reaffirm what you thought in the first place.

Is it evident by fans' reactions at the shows that they're into the new material?
Yeah, it is. We kind of released it a bit ahead of time, playing some of the stuff on MySpace. When you get there a week or two weeks after it's released, people are singing the songs. Last show — we hadn't played in London [Ontario] for a year or a year-and-a-half or maybe longer — people were singing the songs. So they've obviously been paying attention or they purchased the album.

How long did you work on Mountain Meadows?
We had started it a year previous, but had taken time off because we were touring. So we started recording it between tours and actually sat down last December to really try and hash it out... Then it took us a good three months to finish it.

All told, it took almost a year-and-a-half. It was a long process — longer than I'd thought it would be — and I think that taking that long didn't hurt it. It allowed us more time to think about the album and put on songs that probably wouldn't have been on there. In hindsight, I think it benefited the album.

Were there any albums, aside from your own, that you and your bandmates were enjoying this year?
I actually enjoyed The Weakerthans' Reunion Tour. That one hasn't left my stereo. The new Sadies album [New Seasons] as well. Casey always listens to The Deep Dark Woods. Their latest album, Hang Me, Oh Hang Me, we played quite a bit, actually. It was one of the only CDs we had in Europe with us.

Have any idea what 2009 has in store for Elliott Brood?
I don't. I'm just looking forward to the time off and maybe writing a bit. Just kinda get back into the regular life as opposed to being a tramp — an itinerant person. It's a nice life, but travelling that much can kinda weigh on you, so it's good to be home.