Junos: Idle Sons Agree, Nelly Furtado Capable Of Maneating

02/07/07 7:00pm

by Caitlin Hotchkiss (CHARTattack)

We've had some pretty big names in the rock world come out of unlikely Ontario towns — Ajax had Sum 41, Norwood had Three Days Grace — and now Burlington has sons to be proud of: Idle Sons, that is.

Having been together since high school, the tattooed quartet have had more than their fair share of hard knocks, but now their work has paid off. Their Sixteen Seasons album has earned them a new group of the year Juno Award nomination.

ChartAttack had a chance to chat with band members Mike Eastick, Ryan Barkwell and Bruce Nicol at Tuesday's Juno nominees' media conference in Toronto:

ChartAttack: We're sick of the whole Canadian modesty thing — can you give us some blatant self-promotion to justify your nomination?
Mike Eastick (vocals/guitar): Well, we worked really hard to get our record out, so it's nice to have people acknowledge it. We're proud of that.

Ryan Barkwell (drums): Yeah, like Mike said, we've worked hard and we've been in front of peoples' faces for so long that we just hoped it would rub off eventually. And this nomination is a nice little sign of that, so hopefully it continues.

If you win, where will you keep your Juno?
RB: In my bathroom. Right behind the toilet.

Bruce Nicol (bass): I'm going to convert mine into a chandelier and hang it over my bed so I can bask in my own glory.

ME: I'm going to get some knock-offs made and put them in every room in the house.

Which Bryan Adams song best describes you? Why?
RB: "Summer Of '69," definitely.

BN: "Cuts Like A Knife."

ME: Did Bryan Adams have a song called "Reckless," or was it just an album title? That'd work for me.

If you win, what are you gonna do to celebrate?
BN: So many options.

RB: What's that one club called that we went to in Saskatoon?

BN: The Roxy.

RB: There's this cool club there called The Roxy, so we'll probably go there.

Isn't there a club called The Roxy in every city?
RB: Yes. It's a rule.

BN: You can't go wrong if it's called The Roxy.

RB: But this one has 300 different kinds of chicken wings.

Who's the first person you'd call if you won?
ME: I'm gonna leave my cell phone at home that night. But when I get home, I don't know, my mom?

RB: We could just send text messages from the stage.

ME: I'm gonna call the bands that lost.

Are you going to prepare a list in case you win?
RB: No, if we prepare a list, we'll be afraid it'll jinx it.

ME: The best ones are the ones where they just act natural and pretend like they didn't prepare anything.

Nelly Furtado is hosting. Do you think she's actually evil enough to eat a man if she had the opportunity?
BN: I think if she were hungry enough, it could be a possibility.

RB: She looked pretty serious about eating men in that video. She may have had a smile on her face the whole time, but she's not fooling anybody.

Do you watch the Junos when you're not nominated?
ME: We have in the past, yeah. It's getting better and better every year. Last year they had Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas... it was great. Maybe this year they'll get Justin Timberlake.

RB: When we go to other places in the world, we find that the Junos are really well known. When they bring in international acts like Coldplay to play the ceremony, it becomes a pretty big deal.

If you win, is there someone in your life who will stop nagging you about your career choice?
BN: My mother.

RB: My grandma.

ME: I don't think I'll stop getting nagged about my career choice until I can support myself financially. So a Juno would be nice, but I'd probably sell it to pay my rent.