Meet The Juno Nominees: The Most Serene Republic

Ryan Lenssen from Milton, Ont.'s The Most Serene Republic may have been the happiest Juno Awards nominee at the press conference, or perhaps that was just the free sample of Newfoundland Screech he was enjoying.

The Most Serene Republic are first band signed to Arts & Crafts that aren't from the Broken Social Scene family tree, and have a Juno nomination for their video for ...And The Ever Expanding Universe's "Heavens To Purgatory." The clip, directed by Ben Steiger-Levine, also features member Adrian Jewett, but not April Wine. Which is exactly as it should be.

CHARTattack: Don't be modest, how do you feel about being nominated?
Ryan Lenssen: I think it's great! We're just two normal guys. We grew up. We had a tough time. Well, not tough exactly. We're just normal guys. Then all of a sudden we got this!

What was your musical highlight of the last year?
RL: Last year was pretty dark, actually.
Adrian Jewett: When the album came out and was in our hands. That's very satisfying.
RL: But that was this year. This year is way better. 2009 spelled backwards it's "poos."

Awards show producers love medleys. If you were invited to perform at the Junos in a medley with one of the other nominees, who would you want to collaborate with?
RL: Howie Beck! Oh, and Charles Spearin. That would be great. Do you know how epic that would be?

April Wine are this year's Canadian Music Hall Of Fame inductees. What's your favourite April Wine song?
AJ: Let's see... darn it. I have no knowledge of April Wine. If you name a song, though, I'll probably recognize it immediately.

Well, they had "Just Between You & Me." "Sign Of The Gypsy Queen" and "Could Have Been A Lady."
AJ: Wow. I must seem so ignorant! My dad probably listened to them back in the day. He might have the vinyl so I should do some research.

Name something you'd do with your trophy other than put it on your mantle.
RL: Oh, I'm going to give it to my parents. To put it in their case of expensive things. Because all parents have a case of expensive things, even if they're just relatively expensive.
AJ: I'm going to use mine as a bookmark.