ANTI-HERO
FRIDAE MATTAS April 6, 2007, 02:12 AM   ANTI-HERO The Interview
BY: FRIDAE MATTAS
As I walked into the venue I prayed they were good live because I thought they would just stand there like a number of bands I have seen, especially female fronted bands it seems like the ladies are afraid to rock out. Each member of the band has a presence their instruments do not play them; they play the instruments. After their set we went into the dressing room, it was the size of an oddly shaped box, I don’t know how they fit a couch and a few chairs into that box but they managed. This room was directly behind the stage and another band was about to start their set so it was going to get very loud. As Anti-Hero finished the packing of the instruments Nic asked if she could go clean up her fingers, they were bleeding quite a lot and cut up really bad from the heart, soul and rock n’ roll she put into her performance. Of course, there was no hesitation on letting her go bandage up her bloody Bass fingers. I sat and started talking to Rose getting a feel of what her persona is like, she seemed very down to earth and jibbery, you could tell she was feeling the rush of adrenalin that comes after performing a killer set. Once Nic got back we started things off with a quick introduction of the band, I knew who they were from the research but I had to double check, I was not about to make a fool out of myself again that day. The band is Rose Perry “The Mouth” – Vocals and Rhythm Guitar, Nic Vanhaverbeke “The Boss” - Bass and Backing Balls, Jesse Tomes “The Body” - Lead Guitar and Arranger and last but indubitably not least Todd Stewart aka T-BAG on the Drums. Jesse seemed quiet at first but once we got into the interview, he was quite vocal not afraid to speak his views. Nic was chill, she was just kicking back with a beer enjoying the adrenaline rush and Todd was the quiet one, only talking when he felt like he needed to add his two cents but he seemed comfortable not talking much letting the others take over. They all had great auras interesting personalities full of depth, and the chemistry that bounced off each member was fitting like a puzzle.
FRIDAE: “What is your mission as a band?”
ROSE: “I guess the biggest thing about us is that we are a band that can play just as good if not better live, than on a cd. We are here to ROCK and here to show that chicks can rock just as hard as guys can. I know that sounds ultra feminist, obviously, we are not crazy women who want men caged up and only brought out for breeding purposes. We have Men in the band, we respect them, but we feel that the music industry does not respect women rockers the way that they should. There is a distinguishing factor there and there shouldn’t be. A musician is a musician whether you’re a guy or girl, black or white it doesn’t freakin’ matter, you play, you play”.
FRIDAE: Are you all from Ontario or from within the country?
ROSE: “Jesse is originally from Hamilton but moved out to London, Nic was raised by a bunch of bikers,I am a rich bitch from London Ont. and Todd here, is from Scarborough.”
FRIDAE: Your album dropped in 2005, are you working on new material?
ROSE: “We are working on a whole bunch of new material right now. We do plan on going into the studio, but what happened was in the summer of 2006 we were picked up for a distribution deal through Fontana North - Universal and they wanted to continue promoting our album. But we don’t have all the material yet to record because we have been touring so much we really haven’t really had the chance to. You can check it out in 2008 the new stuff kicks ass.”
FRIDAE: You have had some local success in London, Ontario. How do you feel about the Toronto music scene?
JESSE: “Unpredictable, but it is pretty cool, we’ve played here before and it’s been packed and then we would play the next week and it’s empty. We don’t know how to predict it.”
ROSE: “There are so many venues and on any given night, there is what like five-hundred shows, how do you advertise anything? You put up flyers and they’re ripped down in five minutes, the media only wants to focus on the bands at the Air Canada Centre they don’t give us the time of the day.”
JESSE: “I can say with confidence that in our area of Ontario we haven’t played a show that hasn’t been pretty full in a long time but almost every other time we come to Toronto we experience that.”
ROSE: “It’s a very disheartening feeling so it really sucks”.
FRIDAE: How would you describe your sound?
NIC: “We haven’t really labeled ourselves but we are all so diverse with our musical influences that we take a little part of everything. So if you want to round it up into anything we say ROCK!”
ROSE: “We all come from very different backgrounds and it’s really hard to bottle all of that, so whose to say who we are and what we say it’s all up to a matter of perception.”
NIC: “Music is Art, it is whatever you want it to be.”
ROSE: “Exactly that is your interpretation it’s your idea if you like it then that’s cool. It is whatever you want it to be, that’s all that matters to us.”
FRIDAE:Very well said you can’t really define your sound because you are all differently influenced.
ROSE: “Well it is like in English class and the teacher tries to explain the meaning of a Shakespearean play did they know the man personally “NO!” okay how the hell do we know what he was actually implying by the different ovations and metaphors he mentions it’s all art and it’s all the same.”
JESSE: “All those books he wrote on those coles notes (laughs).”
ROSE: “Yeah Exactly this is what I mean why is things like that different. It’s the same kind of art form right, same with a painting you can’t sit there and say well I knew Picasso, it doesn’t make sense people should stop labeling things and categorizing them in nice little pretty packages that’s not how artistic expression works.”
NIC: “Maybe if society would start labeling it as ART instead of a trendy little thing that’s going on a lot of people would accept it more and be more open to it”.
JESSE: “They can’t do that because then it won’t sell.”
ROSE: “They won’t do that because they won’t make their money. Love Art for Arts sake!”
FRIDAE: With the track “Unpretty”, what is the message you are trying to convey through the song?
ROSE: “Well the reason why I wrote it is because I was commenting on myself and how I consider myself not pretty. I am not what society would call pretty, you know I’m not perfect, I’m not blonde, I’m not big breasted I’m not the perfect woman and so to a lot of people that would be considered flawed I would be considered “Unpretty”. At the same time I don’t want to sit here going insane trying to be that idea, I want to be myself and the fact is that in the minds perception beauty is what you make it, it’s not fitting into a mold. What I’m trying to say is be yourself, be happy with who you are if you are not pretty according to society it doesn’t matter. ”
FRIDAE: Why did you leave your previous band “HER” with their star rising?
ROSE: “I didn’t leave them, don’t put that one on me!”
FRIDAE: What Happened?
ROSE: “We had a whole bunch of labels scouting us I do believe the three girls decided to go to school without telling me. They went off entirely behind my back and I was so faithful. I was all for it and clearly we had different perceptions of where the band was going. They didn’t take it seriously so which I can’t blame them, you know obviously their hearts weren’t in it. At the same time it kind of hurt because we were totally on the brink of something there and it really sucked to have it thrown back into my face after all the hard work I put into the band.
FRIDAE: I would be pretty pissed off if that happened to me.
ROSE: I lost my three best friends in the process I was devastated I was really down. You know, I was young when I started the band I was fifteen and let’s just say I grew up pretty fast.
FRIDAE: That is sad, but with experiences like those that is the way you learn.
ROSE: Those experiences are what make you the person that you are today without those experiences I wouldn’t be able to learn and I wouldn’t be who I am and I wouldn’t be able to come up with another album .
JESSE: “We would never be here.”
ROSE: “That’s true! Thanks to them!”
JESSE: “Well not so quickly anyways.”
ROSE: “They produced a lot of good inspiration for our record.”
FRIDAE: Just write it all down.
ROSE: I needed to get that animosity out somehow and it is a lot better to go through a healthy outlet like music as opposed to getting all drugged up to try and forget about things.
FRIDAE: Well ok, as long as you are not all cracked out all the time you should be fine.
ROSE: I’m straight edged so you’re preaching to the wrong choir *Laughs*
JESSE: “She’s the only one though.”
NIC: “Ironically.”
ROSE: “I’m sitting in a group with a whole bunch of people drinking beer, *laughs from everyone* I don’t care what other people do but if you need to rely on substances in order to get through your day there’s a problem there. You are an addict you have a weak mind, and a weak personality. There are a lot better means to get over what you are going through. And yeah it sucks everybody has tragedy in their life but turn to a healthy outlet write.
NIC: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!”
ROSE: “Exactly we all have tragedies and I think that if I didn’t have music I probably wouldn’t be here right now.”
JESSE: “Although I think even though we differ in lifestyles we do share the same opinion that even though I’m one to drink and I’m one to get high I agree that you can not rely on any type of substance, so if you are addicted to something that is not cool at all.
ROSE: “It’s not just drugs if you are addicted to anything! Absolutely anything.”
JESSE: “Caffeine, cigarettes.”
NIC: “The sad thing is that all these young kids growing up wanting to be in a band think you have to get all F****d up all the time (pardon my frenchery) to be a rock star. It is really sad because their never going to get themselves anywhere not realizing you know this is holding them back they are not going anywhere.
JESSE: “If you have the peace of mind to be able to drink or get high or whatever and do it as a choice and not do it when you want to that’s fine, that’s cool with me but if it stops you having a choice then that is not cool at all!”
ROSE: “You’re on dangerous ground there and I guess the problem that we have with so many of the bands out there is that they really set a bad example. You know the sex drugs and rock n’ roll thing isn’t cool, with the rampant freakin’ verge of STD’s out there you don’t want to be submitted to it. I am sorry I think it’s a dangerous world, nor do you want to be twelve and get knocked up ruining your whole life you know. Nor do you want to be f****d up all the time like seriously it should just be about ROCK AND ROLL and I know that its the image that goes along with it but I don’t think it’s a positive one, especially not for kids.
FRIDAE: No, it’s not, at all.
ROSE: “Like, experimentation is going to happen but at the same time these are the people you look up to they should be setting better examples.”
FRIDAE: They should, they really should, half of them are dead because of it.
ROSE: “But people think it’s cool!”
NIC: “People call them Icons because of it.”
ROSE: “It’s so sad, what is wrong with our culture when we are worshipping these people who drown in bath tubs because they were so high! That is not cool at all I think it is so stupid.”
JESSE: “You weren’t there man!”
FRIDAE: Who runs the business side of things?
ROSE: “Well that would be me!”
FRIDAE: How did you start that?
ROSE: Well it started with my first band “HER” I decided that in order to take ourselves to the professional level like I said I have always wanted to be in music, music is my career. I didn’t want to release a demo CD and be like everyone else, I wanted to release it on a label right from the get go and of course I had help from my parents to make it all legal. I have made “HER Records” to what it has become today, all the publicity, Artist management, and booking. That’s me it drives me crazy but somebody’s got to do it.”
FRIDAE: All that hard work will be worth it in the end.
ROSE: “Oh for sure!”
NIC: “We love her because she works her ass off for us!”
ROSE: “I do and you know it is really nice to finally be appreciated because that was one of the things that was really lacking from my other band I do all these great things and to them it doesn’t really matter. It is so nice to finally get a band that is more mature they understand my point of view. Yeah, I’m a harsh person, I am assertive I’m hard to get along with but they know where I am coming from and they know that I’m only trying to do the best for the band.”
NIC: “It is not that we don’t work to get to where we are we all work our asses off you know what I mean there are so many bands out there that do not practice put absolutely no effort into it and they have no idea. We all hold each other up we keep each other strong to go out there and keep doing what we love. It’s the dream of any kid you know.”
ROSE: “We just haven’t grown up! *Laughs* We are getting older but we still have the mentality of a 14 year old!”
FRIDAE: I think every musician is secretly a 14 year old.
NIC: “But you know what I find that most people who are like that who are very artistic do not loose that sense of that creativity and that is one thing you shouldn’t loose. A lot of people really take that for granted and they just throw it away as they get older and I really don’t think they should do that, at all because it helps you feel so much better about things. Sometimes if you just kick back and play a song, you feel twenty times better. Without music in general I probably would be dead by now.”
ROSE: “I feel very much the same way, I could be having the worst day ever and we would go and play a show I would scream my ass off I would play so f**ing hard and it feels so good to get that out of my system. Like I said it is all about having a healthy outlet.”
FRIDAE: Who are you all as individuals how would you describe your personalities?
JESSE: “It is a hard question to answer, to sum it up I would say I am a contradiction I guess.”
ROSE: “Oh God, shut up!”
JESSE: “It’s true, it’s definitely true. I don’t know how to explain that it’s a weird question, everything about myself that I enjoy I have an opposite side to that is sort of the opposite side.
FRIDAE: You are like day and night?
JESSE: “Yeah definitely day and night I am someone who is definitely a happy person but the things I enjoy the most are dark underground type of things so I don’t know I’m opposite of myself does that make sense? It doesn’t at all.”
FRIDAE: You have an alter ego, basically.
JESSE: “I guess I am day and night completely, that’s the best answer I can give.”
NIC: “Myself I have a lot in common with Jesse where pretty much we have a lot of the same attitude that’s how I actually came to be in the band because we had enjoyed the same things that we loved to do. I have my days and my nights mostly days I’m pretty outgoing pretty easy to get along with anybody but in the long run if you **** me off look out! Look Out!
ROSE: Don’t wake her up either.”
NIC: “Do not wake me up in the morning let me tell you that.”
FRIDAE: Not a morning person eh, I feel you.
NIC: “No! Basically, I am just a person trying to enjoy life, trying to make the best out of it because everyday is its own and I think that in order to do that I need to take it a day at a time I’m just trying to enjoy life.”
FRIDAE: You live every day to the fullest.
NIC: “Yup!”
ROSE: “You have to do what makes you happy otherwise what is the point of working. Like, what by the time you retire at sixty - five and then do what you want to when you are not capable because you’re not physically able to anymore. If you want to do something, do it because you never know what could happen. Don’t let people hold you back it doesn’t matter what people say, I’ve had so many people like my old band, I hate to go back to them but they told me my career was over and I would go nowhere without them, all this total bullshit being really immature about it. Forgetting the fact they left me high and dry so it really makes no sense and look at me now F*** that! I don’t need anyone to tell me that I’m not going to be good enough or that I’m not going to do it, I will do it if I god damn want to.”
JESSE: You haven’t answered the question yet!
ROSE: “Who am I? Well I’m an Enigma *laughs* if you can be a contradiction, I can be an enigma. *JESSE: "BUT I AM"* Truthfully one word I am a bitch, I don’t like a lot of people I like working all the time I’m very dedicated I am very ambitious I don’t take shit from people anymore I don’t have the patience for it in my life. I surround myself with the people that I love and that I care about and that’s all I need. I wanna do what makes me happy and I don’t have the patience for anything I just don’t! I can’t deal with it anymore!”
TODD: “Basically, what I am doing right now is who I am, playing in a rock and roll band! I would not be me if I wasn’t in my element this where I am happiest just playing in a rock and roll band.”
FRIDAE: What would you be doing if you were not in a band?
ROSE: “We all would be dead!” *Laughs*
NIC: “Hating my life!”
JESSE: “I probably would be playing Sports.”
FRIDAE: What sports?
JESSE: “Football, I play football in my spare time right now. That is what I would be doing.”
NIC: “I have a second answer to that, I did want to become a fashion designer I had all the credentials but no money to go to school So I’ve been working on getting the money to become a fashion designer.”
FRIDAE: OSAP!
NIC: OSAP!
TODD: “I think I have already done everything else.” *laughs*
ROSE: “He’s got a few years on us.”
JESSE: “Just enjoy the Pink Floyd rip off!”
ROSE: “I feel the same way I’ve pretty much done everything.”
FRIDAE: Where can people pick up the album?
JESSE: EVERYWHERE!!
ROSE: “Stores all across Canada, you can go into any music store if it is not in stock that means they sold out, just ask the cashier for a copy of ANTI-HERO’s “UNPRETTY” it is the best kick ass album you’ll ever get. You can also download it on ITUNES LEAGALLY or if you are not from Canada, you can go to MapleMusic.com - Promoting Canadian Music, Bands and Artists and order it online.”
"It's not ANTEE it's ANTI! There's a point distinction! -- ROSE PERRY www.myspace.com/antiherocanada OFFICIAL ANTI-HERO WEBSITE
Last edited by FRIDAE : April 7, 2007 at 12:07 AM.
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