The Dears: Polaris Pessimism And Their Last Two Concerts This Year

When you're a musical force as passionately powerful as Montreal's The Dears, your devout devotees tend to be almost equally passionate. And for good reason. The band have become infamous for their live shows — well-crafted, rapturous pop assaults that have been likened to, on this very website, being the sonic equivalent of seeing the face of God.

But now, for those eagerly awaiting their next exposure to the 25-minute emotional exorcistic onslaught that "Pinned Together, Falling Apart" has become, well, we've got some bad news for you.

Unless your itinerary for this weekend includes time amongst the masses at the Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ont. on Saturday or at the Rogers Picnic in Toronto's Fort York on Sunday, you can forget about seeing the rock noir sextet for quite some time.

"These are the last two shows of 2007," says frontman Murray Lightburn over the phone while stringing his guitar. "After this, it's back to the laboratory."

Of course, "back to the laboratory" suggests Lightburn and his comrades in arms (bassist Martin Pelland, guitarist Patrick Krief, synthesizer player Valerie Jodoin-Keaton, drummer George Donoso III and pianist/vocalist/blog star Natalia Yanchak) will keep busy.

While Lightburn has had some downtime (he just subjected himself to an entire viewing of Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin opus and he's been doing a lot of Little Mermaid-listening with his young daughter, Neptune), there's still no real rest for the wicked. While other rock musicians stay up until 4 a.m., that's when Lightburn's internal alarm wakes him to work on new songs.

Of course, what better way to cap off a long string of tours in North America, Australia and Europe (where the band performed for the keen Keane faithful) than to dive back into the studio and figure out a way to approach a new record and do it all over again? Especially since the last album, Gang Of Losers, has become a bit of a critical darling by being named one of the 10 finalists for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize.

The news of such a nod would make most bands swell with feelings of importance or, at the very least, burn with a quiet sense of triumph or vindication that one's unfettered artistic vision was being recognized. But Lightburn honestly seems more pleasantly bewildered than anything else.

"I was incredibly surprised. I feel tremendously honoured our name's there — it seems to be pretty decent company to be in, to say the least," he says, before pausing.

"I don't think we have a chance of winning. It's like anything we get nominated for. We don't have a shot of winning. I don't like to get my hopes up."

Lightburn should also prepare to not get his hopes up for Le Gala De L'Alternative Musicale Independante Du Quebec (otherwise known as the GAMIQ Awards) in September, for which The Dears are up for best international career and best indie rock album.

It's not yet known whether their now-gestating follow-up record will follow in Gang Of Losers' footsteps — both in terms of critical success and, uh, early distribution.

"I'm both terrified and looking forward to making another album... Gang Of Losers was the first album of ours to be leaked [online], and I didn't know how to deal with it," says Lightburn. "From where I was sitting, I was kind of disappointed, but then I was also flattered people were anxious enough to download it before it comes out.

"But maybe they just wanted to hear the songs because they weren't supposed to have it yet. Technology's bringing a sense of empowerment to some people. It's creating a kind of chaotic situation for the music world."

But before The Dears can consider the chaos, there's still the matter of those two shows. On the one hand, we have the staunchly independent gathering at Hillside (where other players include Ani DiFranco, Ron Sexsmith and Emily Haines). On the other, there's the slightly less grassroots picnic named after Canada's media giant.

"You've got to choose your battles," Lightburn says, when asked about whether he and his bandmates have to deal with the oft-thrown-out charge of selling out. "From where I sit, something like the Rogers Picnic is harmless enough.

"What are you supposed to do? The whole thing has become completely corporatized in every way."

Besides, playing the Rogers Picnic can only be a good thing for the band. They're part of a varied menu that includes The Roots, The New Pornographers, Bad Brains and Bedouin Soundclash. Firebrand preaching to the converted only gets you so far. These types of festivals help people discover new groups and enable bands to tap into new fanbases.

So how do The Dears plan on capitalizing on the opportunity? Play around with their set list to include as many radio-friendly pop tracks as possible? Accentuate the overtly positive songs? Introduce more friendly banter with the audience in between each song?

Nope.

"Like George says, we just do what we do," says Lightburn. "The frustrating thing about The Dears is we do what we do, sing what we sing and play what we play. That's it."

When it comes to seeing The Dears this weekend (or any other night in 2008 and beyond), don't expect to hear any covers — ever.

"If there was a Dears rulebook, that would be rule number one," Lightburn says. "No covers.

"I loathe covers. I really do. It's just another thing about the modern world I can't deal with. If I had a dollar for every time something came across our desk asking if we want to be part of this Beatles tribute or whatever...

"In high school, I cut my teeth on covers — R.E.M., the whole fucking bit. But when I discovered how to do songwriting, well, that's when I wanted to create my own stuff. Besides, we take enough criticism over our own songs. The last thing I want to do is take criticism for someone else's."