Sailboats are White...

26/06/06

Fans of Poptones’ newest sensations ask this vital question: we were so confused about your music; we didn’t know whether to dance or to kill the person next to
us,’in the latest article about Sailboats are White

To Shakespeare, music may have been the food of love,
but for Hamilton’s Sailboats Are White, music is best
used as fuel for an evening of punk-rock destruction with
a heaping tablespoon of disco dancing thrown in for
good measure.

Since the group’s formation in early 2003, dance-
punkers Sailboats Are White (SAW) have been steadily
building a reputation around Canada for putting on
shows that resemble a cross between basement indie-
rock love-ins and English soccer riots. A SAW show is a
raucous affair to say the least, combining the trashing
punk-rock abrasiveness of Black Flag and the high-
octane charisma of MC5, SAW always gets straight to
the poin, which gets people moving in one way or
another.

“We’ve had a lot of people come up to us after a show,
saying ‘we were so confused about your music; we
didn’t know whether to dance or to kill the person next to
us,’” laughs Kevin Wright, guitarist and co-founder of
SAW.

“We don’t have a sound really,” he says. “We go from
hardcore to straight-up punk to electro-pop clash, I
usually just sum it up as thrash-house.”
SAW’s lineup is as dynamic and unconventional as the
music they make. Joining Wright are Matt Bourassa
(bass) and Joel Elliot (guitar), with the propulsive,
danceable beats coming not from a human being, but
from the band’s I-POD.

“Our old drummer bailed on a gig at the last minute, so
that’s how the drum beat machine came into the music,”
Wright said.

Completing SAW is Kevin Douglas, a man who has
legitimate claim to being the most unpredictable and
dynamic front man currently in Canadian rock music.
Like the bastard lovechild of a young Iggy Pop with Joy
Division’s Ian Curtis, Douglas brings a manic energy that
both band and audience thrive on. With microphone in
hand, Douglas climbs monitors, throws himself into
band-mates, and into torrents of moshing audience
members, often emerging battered and bloody.

“He doesn’t really attack the crowd as much as the
crowd attacks him,” said Wright about the antics of his
singer. “People try and go onstage to tackle him, and
they spit beer and throw beer bottles at him. He takes a
beating.”

While the aggressive and untamed nature of their music
dictates that their audience will likely be as aggressive
and untamed, Wright has noticed that shows are
increasingly becoming out-of-control. When the band
played to small crowds, their explosive performances
were slightly more manageable. But now the band is
attracting much more attention (they recently inked
distribution deals in the US, UK, and Australia) and are
drawing more fans to their shows. Now that the crowds
are larger, the potential for violence remains in the back
of Wright’s mind.

“We’re still dirty punks, we’re not turning into a bunch of
hippies or anything,” Wright said. “But when people
bring out the fists, it’s kind of disturbing. We’d like people
to dance more.”
If their fans aren’t ready to dance, then at the very least
SAW is in the mood to. The band has a lot to celebrate
after signing with UK record company Poptones, a label
headed by none other than Alan McGee. McGee, when
he was with the legendary Creation Records, brought
Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, and The Jesus
and Mary Chain into mainstream conscience.

“It’s pretty exciting, it’s definitely an honour,” Wright said.

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