Republic Of Safety Talk About Their Break-up

01/22/08 7:30pm

by Cameron Gordon (CHARTattack)

The break-up of a band is always a sticky subject, but the guys and gals in Toronto's Republic Of Safety seem to be taking things in stride.

The group recently announced that their Jan. 26 show at Toronto's Sneaky Dee's with Elbow Beach Surf Club, The Blankket and Lex Vaughan would be their last. While sitting around the back room of a favoured Queen Street watering hole, they seem pleased that their split will be more than amicable.

"I had a really bad band break-up a few years ago," says bassist Marlena Kaesler with a bit of a grin.

"I kid you not. My last words to them were 'Karma will get you in the end!' Luckily, I never reached that level of drama with these guys."

Republic Of Safety formed in early 2004 and featured a series of stalwarts from in and around the Toronto indie rock community during their four-year existence. Vocalist Maggie McDonald and guitarist Jonny Dovercourt were the two constants throughout. Their friendship dates back to the heady zine underground of the mid-1990s.

They were pen pals for years and finally met in person at a Hidden Cameras gig in 2001 (McDonald was actually under a sheet on stage at the time, yet somehow managed to pick her fellow scribbler out of the audience). Talk soon turned to forming a band, aided in large part by a marathon drive from Toronto to Winnipeg that the duo shared. McDonald was playing with The Barcelona Pavilion and was invited to open for The Gossip in the 'Peg, Dovercourt tagged along for the adventure, using the miles logged to lay the groundwork for what eventually became Republic Of Safety.

The band specialized in sharp, shouty post-punk that took cues from Gang Of Four, Sleater-Kinney and various members of the Dischord Records family. Not surprisingly, Republic Of Safety became known as much for their politics as they did for their music by playing protest shows in mall parking lots around Toronto and rallying in support of anti-consumerism and women's rights. Their aims were by design, and McDonald says that the band always sought to keep their tunes as poignant as possible.

"It was really important for us all to play music that was meaningful, especially since there seems to be a definite lack of good political music these days. There is so much amazing musical talent coming out of Toronto at the moment, but very little of it has much of a political slant or focus. And let's face it, the world is going through some dark times right now, so it's something we need to hear more of — not just in Toronto, but everywhere."

"We never wanted to come off as too preachy about politics, so we always kept a sense of fun and energy to anything that we did," adds Dovercourt. "We aimed to keep the finger-pointing to a minimum and, instead, looked to draw a lineage between us and bands like The Parachute Club and Fifth Column, in terms of being Toronto-based and having something important to say."

The band still feel very strongly about these mandates, but outside interests and evolving musical tastes ultimately forced Republic Of Safety to call it a day. McDonald is a published author and playwright and member of The Hidden Cameras. Dovercourt is the artistic director for Toronto's Music Gallery. Kaesler is being wooed by a number of local bands. Expect them all to maintain high levels of activity within the Toronto arts community.

"It's always been a bit of a juggling act, but we're all basically overachievers, so somehow it managed to last as long as it did," says Dovercourt. "The fact is that we've stopped agreeing on what our songs should sound like on a really basic level.

"And when you reach that point with any band, you really need to make a call one way or another — which is pretty much what we did."

Republic Of Safety will miss their ritualized cookie snacks, poutine parties and nacho feasts, but will celebrate their achievements alongside friends and peers with one last show in Toronto. The gig will double as a release party for a four-song EP titled Succession, which effectively caps the Republic Of Safety story. The disc will be issued alongside a silk-screened print project, with artwork from McDonald and handiwork from Simone Schmidt of the Punchclock studio collective. It's a fitting epitaph for a band built upon friendship, hard work and unyielding artistic ideals.