CMW 2010 Hot Acts: Green Go

Stiff upper lip, down and out bands of Canada.

At the beginning of 2009, Guelph, Ont. dance-electro-rocking party impresarios Green Go had a finished album, but didn't have anywhere to release it.

Feeling that the end may have been nigh, they decided to release it themselves anyway, but not before attracting the attention of a label and voracious dance-rock music lovers nationwide.

Borders came out on Pheromone Records last April and since then the upstart quintet toured western Canada and released a remix record (with another on the way). This summer, they'll also record their follow-up, so let it be known going Green can have an immediate positive effect on your environment.

Hometown:
Guelph, Ontario

Members:
Ferenc "Fez" Stenton (vocals, guitar)
Jessica Tollefsen (vocals, keyboards)
Kyle Squance (bass)
Mark Andrade (drums)
Adam Scott (drums)

Official Website: www.greengomusic.com

So, you're about to play the big industry event that is Canadian Music Week. What's the most shameless thing you've ever done to promote your band?
Jessica Tollefson: I think voting for ourselves for the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards. I voted for us because I had my own CBC Radio 3 account, but that's pretty tame, I guess. We didn't win, either.

What's the hardest part about being an up-and-coming band?
Money. Money money money money. We work really hard and sometimes hard work can only get you so far — you do need to have the money to promote yourself.

Like going to Texas [for South By Southwest], that costs a lot of money, or going to Europe. There are things like maintaining the band and paying for practice space, per diems and all that kinds of stuff. And new instruments and gear, too. That would be nice.

How important is it for your band members to circulate and flirt with the audience before or after the show?
It's pretty important, I would say.

I have interesting experiences with that. Being the only girl in the band, people in the audience are a little intimidated to come and talk to me, which I find very strange because if you know me you'd find out I'm a big goof.

It's pretty important to walk around and talk to people though. Fez is good at that and I'm friendly, so I encourage people to come say hello, but often it doesn't happen, so I'll head to the merch table and work from there.

Have you ever stolen from someone else's rider? If so, who was it and what did you take?
When we get riders, we try to share as much with our friends as we can. If there's leftover food, I'll take that — well, I'm guessing most bands do that because when you're on tour you need as many snacks as you can get in the van. But that's from our own rider.

I did take from a beer from a band that was much bigger than us, from the States. They weren't very nice people, and they used all the dressing rooms for their dancers... not even people in the band. They were rude to us, so I didn't feel bad about stealing one Heineken from their giant rider, which we got nothing from.

We're pretty good people, so stealing sometimes seems like a bit much. I only stole one beer from a band that was mean to us... they rhyme with "Wisherfooner."

Have you ever been graded before according to ChartAttack.com's Rock 'n' Roll Report Cards?
Yes we have, and we've done pretty well. I think we've averaged a B+ or an A-. [They received an 89 during NXNE 2009.]

Have you done anything new or interesting this week?
I would say watching the Canada/U.S. gold medal hockey game at a bar. I've never done that before. I didn't really follow the last Olympics, but these ones I really got into. I guess that would be my new and interesting thing. The energy in the bar was really great. Fun and new, new and fun.

Green Go play the Horseshoe Tavern on Thursday, March 11 at 10:10 p.m. as part of the annual CHARTattack/Horseshoe/Canadian Music Week showcase.