Fucked Up Talk Polaris 2009 Nomination

07/07/09 3:25pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Fucked Up discovered last year's The Chemistry Of Common Life had been short listed for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize when they were crossing into Croatia on Tuesday.

The band had spent the night in Munich, Germany after playing a "family day" event (yes, seriously — Europeans are really weird) in Rotterdam, Netherlands on Sunday.

CHARTattack spoke with vocalist Damian "Pink Eyes" Abraham (who was using Skype) about their nomination and what it's like to be the only "rawk" act amongst the 10 nominees.

CHARTattack: How do you feel right now?
Damian "Pink Eyes" Abraham: Um, pretty ecstatic. It's funny 'cause we went over the other bands there and stuff, so we were actually surprised by a lot of bands that got it versus bands that didn't get it and stuff.

If you could pick anyone from amongst your peers who was nominated today to win if you didn't win, who would you most want to win?
I don't know. It's kind of hard to say.

It's weird because there were other bands that were definitely on the long list that I was like, "Oh, they're definitely going to get nominated" and I was surprised that they didn't.

I guess I'd probably give it to Joel Plaskett 'cause he's the iron horse in the competition, long overdue. It's really weird because as we talked about it in the band when the long list got announced, we were so sure who the 10 were going to be, and to our surprise — some of them got it.

Like, we were pretty sure K'Naan would be nominated and Chad VanGaalen and Patrick Watson probably would be nominated again, but there were a lot of bands that we thought, "Oh, they're a shoe-in," and they're not on the short list. It goes to show you can never fully prepare.

Which bands were you thinking would be shoe-ins that weren't on there?
I thought Pink Mountaintops would definitely be there, I thought $100 had a good shot, too. I thought Arkells might be there. I was hoping Bison B.C. would be there and Japandroids also, I thought would be there. Junior Boys, too.

It's weird because around this time every year you're, like, "What were the big records of the last year?" and sure enough, when you see them all laid out in front of you, you're like, "Wow, there were a lot of big records in the last year."

What was and is your favourite part of The Chemistry Of Common Life? Is it the whole record? Was there a particular moment while you were making it?
It was a really weird recording process 'cause we took so long to do it. We tried not to rush it like we did our last record, so it kind of, like, all is one long eight month dream of touring and recording, you know?

My favourite part was probably going into the studio and eating Ethiopian food because we were pretty close to Queen Of Sheba [in Toronto]. It's an amazing restaurant and the last time we recorded, we mainly recorded in neighbourhoods we weren't too familiar with, and this time we recorded right around the corner from our houses. We knew all the spots to hit up for food and stuff.

It was actually a really enjoyable recording experience because we weren't all together. Last time we were, like, breathing down each other's necks and this time it was all real mellow. We had people coming to do the guest spots and they'd just hang out for a bit.

How do you feel about being the only "rawk" act among the 10 nominees. You guys are arguably the heaviest thing on there.
I don't think it's that surprising in a weird way. I don't mean that we're the only rock act, but that there's only one rock act. I think the Canadian music world is pretty heavily entrenched with indie music, you know? That's not to say we don't have our own indie undertones, but it wasn't like... as I said, I was kind of shocked that Bison B.C. wasn't on there, but I wasn't that shocked because they made a pretty heavy record, you know?

It's weird 'cause as much as I respect all the musicians on this list, you know, that's why these lists are so fun. You're bound to have "Why isn't this there? Why isn't that there?" elements, you know. I think that makes half the joy.

Let's dispense with all forms of modesty. Why do you think you made an awesome record and why do you think you should win?
I think we should win because I think we'd be the first rock act to win — the first heavy rock act to win, I should say.

As far as why we made an awesome record, I think we were just in the right place at the right time. We happened to be able to spend so much time working on a record. We've never been able to get any of the government money that so many Canadian bands enjoy, so we found a label that was able to give us the money that we lacked to take the time to record. Plus, we had a lot of friends that were willing to come in and help — who, I might add, all receive a lot of government money, so I guess that's our way of getting our little chunk of it.

It just kind of was an experience where the band was kind of becoming something unto itself. It was becoming not so much a hobby as the primary focus for us, during the time period of writing that record. We were given a lot of opportunities by timing and by the support of Matador and stuff that we hadn't had previously. I think that's why the record came out as layered and luscious as it did.

It's funny to say that it's awesome, because you can never say that it's awesome when you're that close to it. All I can hear are the headaches and arguments of trying to come up with lyrics.

If you guys win, it's kind of an obvious question, but what would you spend the money on?
We kind of talked about this as a band and stuff. We'd probably throw a big free party — actually, scrap that. It wouldn't be free, it'd be a charity party, but we'd be able to make it 100 per cent, all the proceeds would go to it and we'd pay for all the expenses and costs...

It's just free money that you earn obviously making a record, but you know, it's like you go and all this stuff you do like touring and trying to sell records and playing shows — well, on top of that, here's just another bunch of money that you can have because we liked your record.

So it's like when you get free money like that, you better give some of it back to someone.