By Valerie Franklin (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: September 3, 2014
art-rock to Vancouver on October 4. (Photo courtesy of Indigo Joseph)
What is Indigo Joseph? Who is Indigo Joseph? Described as everything from “hillbilly electronica” to “moon rock,” the up-and-coming Saskatchewan band consists of Etienne Fletcher, Sean McCannell, Eric Tessier, and Byrun Boutin-Maloney. Three singles and an EP are available on iTunes, and their debut album, Collage, is set to be released September 12.
The Cascade spoke with Eric Tessier, who plays drums and also manages some business aspects of the band.
Congratulations on the upcoming release of your debut album! What can we look forward to with Collage?
I think the biggest hint is in the name, Collage. It’s got three French tracks, three that are more electronically inspired, one that’s an acoustic instrumental, and some down-tempo dance tunes. It’s kind of all over the place, and I think that that was our intent.
What makes Indigo Joseph’s sound unique? How would you describe it to someone who’s never listened to you before?
The first pitch I would always give is “rock and roll meets dance music,” because that’s a really easy, digestible way to describe it. You get an energetic feeling from that. I think that definitely our live shows have been characterized by an upbeat party atmosphere.
As a band, who have your biggest musical influences been?
I think bands like the Pixies and the Talking Heads have been ongoing themes that we all collectively come back to and marvel at the music those artists have created. And Arcade Fire, we all really liked their new album, too — that popped up and shook our tree a little bit … as far as what we listen to the most when we’re touring, those three bands are pretty high.
You’re set to go on tour once your album comes out. Where will you be going?
We’re going to go coast-to-coast and try to play as many shows as possible to promote our album and see a little bit more of the country that we haven’t seen yet.
Are you coming to Vancouver or the Fraser Valley, by any chance?
We’re going to be [in Vancouver] on October 4… I think if people go on our Facebook page or our website, there’s a link to an Exclaim! article that has all [ our tour] dates listed.
Tell me a crazy story. What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you on the road?
I’ll tell you a story from our very first tour … We all got into the van, packed up and got ready to go, and we were all really excited to get on the road. We stop, get the last of the gear, and pick up Byrun, and we’re getting ready to leave — and it smells like dog poop in the car. The van’s heating up, it’s getting worse and worse … I guess Byrun had just stepped in dog poop before he got into the van, and he ground it into the carpet … We ended up taking the whole back carpet strip out and leaving it in our jam space. We didn’t even get a chance to leave the city before we messed up the van!
Where does the name Indigo Joseph come from?
I think it’s probably best described as “old meets new.” I think there’s a lot of different connotations. It was a bit of a daydream, and there’s this idea of bringing together something that’s rooted in history and something that’s maybe yet unknown.
What’s the best way for people to access your music?
iTunes has all of our current released stuff, and will have the album on September 12. YouTube is really cool too, because there’s some stuff that you wouldn’t necessarily see on iTunes or on our Facebook. And Facebook is good too.
Do you have anything you’d like to say to the readers of The Cascade?
I love to hear people’s thoughts on our music … so if they would like to contact us, I mentioned a couple of great ways of doing that. And if you’re a listener, thank you very much, and enjoy the new album!
