Mobile's Move Pays Off With Record Deal And Intense Fans

Every band have a different story of how they made it.

Some groups, like the Constantines, have that one small, superlative bar show that swirls in the minds of everyone who was there for years to come. Others, like the Meligrove Band, patiently maintain their day jobs and build up a towering resume of gigs until their fan base eventually explodes.

Then there's Mobile, a band who moved out of their hometown just as it was becoming a musical hot spot, left families and girlfriends behind, sold all their possessions and moved into a basement. In short, they literally had nothing left to lose.

Nine months after moving, the group signed with Universal Canada. Singer Mat Joly exhales softly as he recalls his band's long, slow claw to success.

"I remember doing this showcase in New York. It was our first big showcase. There were 15 labels there, and we had the most lukewarm response. We had to pay for everything — our own transport, everything — and almost every label passed on us."

The NYC debacle was particularly hard on the band, who still cultivated an impressively resolute sense of self-worth despite the let-downs.

"We knew we were going to get signed, we started to feel that sense of momentum," Joly says. "We've been together since 1998. We were pretty well prepared for what happened."

The band's decision to move to Toronto three years ago was entirely motivated by this kind of optimism. Joly affably says he's "almost sick" of talking about why the band moved, and he remains a great supporter of the Montreal scene.

"I think it's great Montreal is doing really well right now. I buy Q every month, and I read about how well The Dears are doing, playing Glastonbury, and the Arcade Fire, of course. Montreal has never been so hot as right now. But for us, Toronto was the industry."

It's natural to guess, then, that Mobile's first single, "Montreal Calling," with its bridge of "Take me, take me, get me out of here" might be alluding to the band's hasty departure from their beloved city. Joly, however, explains that the song's actually about a girl.

"I had a fight with my girlfriend over the phone. It was, of course, all my fault. We were living in Toronto then. I yelled at my roommate to give me the keys to the car because I had no choice. I had to go to Montreal right then. I had to make sure everything was all right.

"I had the demo of the song and I was listening to only that for the six-hour drive. I wrote the lyrics on the way home."

These kinds of romantic, nomadic tendencies are garnering a lot of attention for Mobile, though sometimes in the wrong way.

"We love our fans," Joly insists. "We haven't had too many crazies.

"But there was this one girl... I invited her to a show we were playing, and she arrived and started following me around, putting her arms around me and asking why I wasn't paying attention to her. I was like, 'I don't know you.'

"Oh well. Some people are just psycho."

Mobile are playing on March 3 at the Horseshoe at midnight as part of the Chart/CMW showcase.