Hostage Life Talk About Endings

Hostage Life's Nov. 20 appearance at Toronto's Sneaky Dee's was originally intended to be the release party for the vinyl version their Centre Of The Universe sophomore effort, but will also double as their farewell gig.

The Toronto punk quintet announced last week that they were officially packing it in. Due to personal reasons they aren't discussing, vocalist Colin Lichti has to leave the group. Hostage Life decided it was better to just end things rather than continue without him.

"[The decision] came about because Colin had to get away from band life for a good long while," explains drummer Paul Miller. "All people really need to know is that there are no busted feelings and this was something that we had to do.

"It wasn't a fun or easy decision for any of us, seeing as we'd all put so much effort and time into being Hostage Life. We had fresh momentum going on amongst the band because we just released a new record and were concocting a bunch of plans for the near future.

"As a band you're always working toward something, even if you don't know what it is, and that's very consuming on time and creativity. Putting that stuff to rest when you still feel in the middle of it is a difficult decision."

Centre Of The Universe was issued as a free digital download on Sept. 30. The disc was recorded a few months ago, and Hostage Life went to great lengths to ensure the album's dozen tracks didn't mirror their 2006 Walking Papers debut. They cut back heavily on the distortion in their sound and sought out different ways to create songs that still had an urgent and aggressive edge.

"We hadn't put out a full-length in three years," says Miller. "It was ridiculous. So we had some brand new stuff and some slightly geriatric stuff. We combined them to make the best record we could. I'm happy with it.

"I don't really think this record is necessarily an appropriate last album — I feel like we definitely had another one in us at least. Maybe if we get older and terribly bored, we can go back to it. I doubt it, though.

"On the other hand, these were the best songs we had at the end of Hostage Life's writing period and I think it's a good representation of the band until they day we broke up."

Since Centre Of The Universe was already available digitally, the plan was to offer physical copies of the record on vinyl only. The LPs were going to be issued on Nov. 17, but realizing they wouldn't be able to properly promote them, the act will instead put out a limited amount of records as souvenirs for fans.

"We're making 100 bare bone keep-sake copies," Miller says. "The records will be in blank white jackets with blank labels, but we're going to hand stamp some info and number them. It'll be like a black market bootleg, only legit."

Miller states he wants to continue to make music. He says he's not sure what form it'll take and who he'll play with yet, though. He says he thinks his bandmates aren't sure of their post-Hostage Life endeavours, either.

For the time being, everyone is focusing on their final tour together. Lichti is only available for their last show in Toronto, so Hostage Life will perform their other gigs in Quebec and Ontario as a quartet with guitarist Patrick Mathers handling singing duties. Expect an equal balance between Centre Of The Universe material and older cuts along with an extended running time.

"I think we've always been in the Ramones school of thought where you play for 25 minutes tops and get the fuck out. That's more interesting to me than playing long bloated sets. I can't think of very many bands in the world that I'd be happy to sit through for an hour plus unless it was for a real good reason.

"Well, we have a real good reason — we're breaking up. So we're going to try and put as much as we can into this set. Having said that, it will still be relative to our various levels of physical fitness so it certainly won't be Rush length."

Here are Hostage Life's final tour dates:

Nov. 13 Montreal, QC @ L'Absynthe
Nov. 14 Quebec City, QC @ Echouerie
Nov. 15 Ottawa, ON @ Cafe Dekcuf
Nov. 16 Hamilton, ON @ Absinthe
Nov. 17 St. Catharines, ON @ 73
Nov. 18 Guelph, ON @ The Shadow
Nov. 19 London, ON @ Call The Office
Nov. 20 Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee's