Clips Aren't Quitting Their Jobs...

08/01/08 5:59pm

by Quinn Omori (CHARTattack)

VANCOUVER — …but it's certainly not a reflection on the quality of their music.

In fact, the Vancouver quintet — who boast a structural engineer, an IT networking specialist and a video game designer amongst their membership — are poised to give their Matterhorn debut a proper North American release.

"We funded the record ourselves and did it as cheaply as possible and recorded quite a bit of it in a backyard garden shed, over the course of springtime," says bassist Andrew Seeton.

After self-recording the LP, The Clips (rounded out by drummer/violinist Jeremy Gruman, keyboardist James Steidle, guitarist Mike Jones and keyboardist/vocalist Edo Van Breemen) self-released Matterhorn last year to a supportive local fan base. But after catching the ear of Unfamiliar Records, they're ready to let the rest of the country (and the U.S.) know what they've been missing.

"When we did our CD release show, we played with The Paper Cranes, who have been on Unfamiliar for a while," says Gruman, explaining how they caught their label's ear. "They told [label boss] Greg [Ipp] about us, and he listened to us and we got a call from him a little while later."

Unfamiliar has already made the record available as a download, and a physical re-release follows on Tuesday.

The band have been busy filming their first video for Matterhorn track, "Space Kidz."

"The concept evolved over the course of the shoot," says Gruman of the video.

"Originally, there was a love story… like in Bollywood," adds Seeton.

"Now, there's light and there are space kids," explains Gruman. "That's the extent of the concept.

"The video could stand alone. It's not like Van Halen's 'Hot For Teacher,' where you clearly see kids that are hot for the teacher."

The "Space Kidz" video will be out soon, but if you're in Vancouver, you can catch the band in the flesh on Friday night with Faunts at The Sweatshop.