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April 27th, 2009
Listening to the quirky croonings of Adam from Adam and the Amethysts makes me want to go to a cottage. His recollections on the subtitlties of youth are wittilly playful and possess a perfect homemade quality that evokes shining charm and sincerity. His songs will make you want to leave the soot of the city and travel North to greener and thicker horizons. I caught up with Adam to get his dish on everything from growing up in Thunder Bay to what’s new and brewing in his current city of residence Montreal.
Recommended Track: Stupid Ocean from latest release Amulet (Pome Records)
Why The Amethysts? Where is the name from?
Amethyst is a stone (purple quartz) that is found near my home town. It reminds me of home, and also has a mystical protective quality that appeals to me, at least on an aesthetic/symbolic level.
Tell me about growing up in Thunder Bay and how it influenced your writing?
I guess since so much of my life took place there (I moved to Montreal 6 years ago), if I’m going to write songs about my life experiences, a lot are going to be taking place there. The Boreal Forest, Lake Superior, and other natural Northern Ontario stuff really resonate with me and affect me on a deep level, so it’s only natural that they creep into my songwriting.
You are a member of many other bands, Miracle Fortress, Telefauna…how do you find the time?
Disbanding Telefauna helped. Also, it seems like everyone in my other bands are in 30 other bands as well. So for example if Think About Life is really active, then Miracle Fortress will be inactive, because Graham Van Pelt (Miracle Fortress) is in both bands, and I’ll have time to take the Amethysts on the road or whatever. Being in tons of bands means that you’ll always have some kind of project to be working on, which I need. It’s simultaneously a blessing and a curse, but I think some of our city’s vibrancy can be attributed to how prolific and incestuous everyone is.
Montreal has been perhaps tirelessly touted as a breeding ground for the next big thing in indie music - has this passed? What are you excited about that’s coming out of that city?
I think Montreal (like Toronto and many other cities) has always been a breeding ground for good music and hopefully always will be. Everyone seems to be trying so many things, and occasionally people just strike gold. Some people who have struck gold recently are Tune Yards, Sister Suvi, Elfin Saddle, Clues, Mussaver and the Coal Choir, The Luyas, Shapes and Sizes… there are too many to list. I’m not sure any of them will be the “next big thing” (although my bets are on Tune Yards) but they all make great music, and hopefully people will recognize that.
What are you currently listening to?
I recently discovered this amazing psychedelic record by Judy Henske and Jerry Yester called Farewell Aldebaran, that is creepy, dark, jubilant, and generally mind boggling. Also, summer’s coming so I’ve been listening to a lot of Jay-Z and Beyonce.
What can we expect from this project, touring, new record?
You can expect both of those things.
Toronto vs. Montreal who wins?
Wawa.
Tags: adam and the amethysts, interviews
Posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 5:09 pm by Casey and is filed under The New Music.
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