IME's Jag Tanna and newbie Brian Byrne: Fashion
Tips, Fitting In, and "Best of Luck" to Edwin
by Rachel Ong
Photographs by Anita Zvonar
Jag Tanna of IME |
It's 1999 and I Mother Earth is back with a vengeance. Armed with a new lead singer and an upcoming album (due in June), IME guitarist Jag Tanna promises that their new stuff will "kick people in the teeth."
IME's new frontman. Brian Byrne, is loving every minute of it. "I think people are in for a shock [with Brian]," says Tanna, "because the Canadian scene is getting really tired... It's gotten really serious and nobody seems to be having too much fun."
When we all meet, Brian is tossing around a volleyball while talking guy stuff with Jag. The two have an obvious joie de vivre about them and it's infectious. When we get to talking about image and clothing, Brian pipes in, "I'm definitely not, anytime, going to wear a suit." He pauses. "Not that it's a bad thing [wearing a suit]."
Learning from their past, Tanna admits that IME was once a victim of a clothing craze.
"When we started to sell records, all of a sudden we started wearing nice shirts and after awhile I was, like, 'No more.' Brian's already threatened all of us. He said, 'If I see any of you guys in any button-down nice shirts, I'm gonna kill you.' We're just gonna be ourselves [this time around] and see what happens."
"The worst thing I've worn onstage was a frown," jokes the new kid on IME's block. The two burst into another round of boisterous laughter at this comment and then calm down.
"I don't think we actually go for trying to fit in," says Tanna. "You just do it, and if it fits in, it fits in. As long as we get to make another [album], I really don't care if this one sells. I hope our fans love it, because that's who we're playing for."
Speaking of fitting in, Byrne tells us that easing into this already-established band was not as bad as he thought it'd be.
"I was intimidated at first," he admits. "But we all got along really well and as time went on, I took on a definite role within what was already there. [Now] I have a definite confidence with the band, musically and friendship-wise."
