PRP: Lets start off with the basic's, how did the band get together?
Peacfire: Long story, confusingly short: Me and Mallory go hooked up through his ex-bassist who was my ex-bassist, then hooked up with
Mallory's ex-drummer, and finally completed the lineup with that same ex-bassist. We recorded the
Universal Hood EP around five months later. A month after we released it our ex-bassist turned bassist, turned once again ex-bassist. A few months later another ex-bassist of mine joined to become bassist and will soon turn ex-bassist as well. Our drummer will be turning ex-drummer, again, soon. Some people don't have the drive or want to do something big with their lives, and well, good for them.
PRP: You seem to have had a lot of trouble finding the right bass player, are you confident this is the solid final line-up?
Peacfire: No. We are currently going through line up changes as I've said. Our current lineup will be together until the end of the summer. We are looking for a replacement bassist and drummer. We hope to continue the neva sound with solid, open minded players who are willing to do whatever is neccessary for the band.
PRP: Is there any significance behind the name "Neva"?
Peacfire: Yes, "Neva" is the way that some people tend to pronounce the word
"neve". "Never" is a very strong word, being both emotional and defiant, as our music is.
PRP: Who in the band was the biggest Degrassi fan?
Peacfire: I'll have to say I was. In grade 7 & 8, I was totally into it. I was Joey F. Jeremiah in many ways. I especially wanted to go
"all the way, with Stephanie K". She had an attractive bitchiness about her. Mr. Raditch used to go to my grade 7/8 school and came to my class to talk to us about the show. That was very cool. I went to the same elementary school as the bully who got HIV. Once, when he was in grade six and I was in grade three I almost got into a fight with him, threatening him that my brother (also in grade six) was going to beat him up. My brother took me aside and told me not to do that because my brother wasn't nearly as big as the bully, who was nicknamed "Bull". Now, living in Toronto, Degrassi spottings keep it going for me.
Mallory: That bully works with some film company on their crew now and just finished shooting a movie with
Jennifer Lopez, just outside my work. I'm glad he didn't beat me up. Jennifer Lopez is hot.
PRP: You guys are currently moving from Canada to an unspecified city in America, do you find that this is a necessary path to take as Canada's scene for louder music has been somewhat unsupportive? Or is this just a personal choice?
Peacfire: The absolute fact of the matter is that Canada has the talent in all genres of music, but most A&R aren't wearing there glasses and don't have fire in their belly enough to stand up and push something worldwide. Probably 90% of what Canadian record companies deal with is American product. It's much more of an adversarial system between unsigned artists and labels here than in the States. Even if you sign to a large multi-national label in NO WAY means that you'll even be released in the U.S. Gold in Canada is 50,000 units. 50,000 units in the States on a major means you're dropped. You have to be where the loop IS to be able to be in the loop- and that's in the U.S.
PRP: Just how supportive is the Toronto scene?
Peacfire: Passively supportive. The predominant bands in the scene don't work with
each other enough, and don't realize that we need a strong collective to get the American eyes upon us, and on another level- to build up the number of people that are into the independent scene here. The younger bands coming into the scene are injected some vital energy and cooperative spirit into things which will hopefully continue to turn the tide. The fans that do show up are always amazingly supportive. We need more of the jump around fans, and less of the sit down and clap kind.
PRP: You guys have a somewhat disjointed funk/ska element to your sound, are there any bands that were a big influence on that aspect of your music?
Peacfire: Instead of funk/ska, we tend to think of what we're doing as reggae meets hardcore. On our
Universal Hood EP, our reggae was more of the feel good vibes of Bob
Marley, but our newer songs are more influenced by what I think of as city reggae, where the vocals are much more aggressive. Dancehall, dub, and drum and bass elements have crept into our new styles, as well.
Mallory: I wouldn't say that it was necessarily funk- that probably stems from the reggae influence. But, as with everything that we're influenced by, we try our best to make it our own style. We have a lot of different influences, hence the disjointed sound.
PRP: Animal feces or human feces, which smells worse?
Mallory: Human feces after New Ho King (on Spadina).
Peacfire: Human feces, after 4 burgers at Bubba's in South Hackensack, New Jersey and 9 burgers at White Castle within the same day.
PRP: What bands out there currently do you guys respect?
Peacfire: Taproot, Asian Dub Foundation,
Deftones, Neurosis, Spineshank, Will Haven and sooo many more.
Mallory: Sevendust, Glassjaw, Asian Dub Foundation and
Taproot.
PRP: While most bands are still trying to figure it out, you guys have taken a very supportive approach to technology, who came up with the idea to put out an enhanced portion on the EP?
Peacfire: I did, because I knew that I could put it together. It was such a rare thing at the time for even major label artists to have an Enhanced CD and we always like to stand out from the crowd.
Neva CDs will all be enhanced. The next one will have video and live songs and well as some other cool stuff.
PRP: The group has apparently went through some line-up changes since the release of the EP, just how different of a new sound can we expect?
Peacfire: We are always further refining our music vision. We are going to incorporate more junglist MC styles, dub, dancehall, drum and bass. Our sound is more textured with effects. The vocals will sometimes sound more like a DJ with this box I had built. More intense, moving heavy parts with more insane vocals.
PRP: If your name was Joe, would you be Canadian?
Peacfire: I don't include myself in ethnicity, culture, race, religion or nationalism. I like that cities like Toronto are made up of all of the world's people in one place. Canadian's need more umph in their confidence on the world stage, like Donovan Bailey when he went up against Michael Johnson in that hyped up 150m sprint at Skydome. Yah, he may have seemed cocky, but that's because he didn't back down from Michael Johnson's typical
"USA #1" attitude. Don't just shoot for a medal, shoot for gold.
Mallory: No comment, bad past experieces with with
"Joe's "(or atleast Jo-Jo's)
PRP: Musically there's a very diverse element at work in your guys music with a lot of shifting between melody and screams, where does this come from?
Peacfire: I think it's beautiful to blend a heavy part with soft, melodic vocals or a soft, melodic part with screaming. It's the nature of the emotions that go into our music. Sometimes you cry, sometimes you scream at the sky with clenched fists.
Mallory: It usually stems from the feeling we get from the crowd.
PRP: Trapped in a room full of respectable people with an urge to cut what could be a very loud fart, do you desperately try to hold it in or say the hell with it and let it out?
Peacfire: If it's wet, hold it. If it's dry, let it fly. Wait- am I attracted to any women in this room? I wouldn't want to scare them away from my
genitalia...
Mallory: Let it go. Let them witness our power.
PRP: Some turntable work appears on the album, is there any plans to incorporate this into the bands sound permanently?
Peacfire: No. We may incorporate it in recordings again, and have remixes, but otherwise, unless we found someone who is a songwriter first, and turntablist second, we wouldn't expect to find someone that would fit our vision. But hey, we''re open minded. But we try to distance ourselves from the whole crossover thing.
PRP: How do you feel about the whole success of rap meets rock music as of late?
Peacfire: It was really cool at first, and there can be so much more done with it. Just take a look at all of the different MC styles in hip hop, from
Juvenile to Busta Rhymes to Q-Tip (whose real name interestingly enough is
Jonathan Davis). Most of the crossover stuff I see being done is too formulaic. Sooo much more could be done with it, so hopefully their will be better stuff to look forward to. We need poineers, not replicas.
Mallory: It's been done. It's the next level past what
Faith No More was touching on.
PRP: Trapped in a dark alley with a Menacing Smurf on one end and an evil Snork on the other, which one do you face to escape and why?
Mallory: The Snork, because he's out of his element. He's out of water and can only last so long.
Peacfire: Whether it's a blue Smurf or blue Krishna, I'll take it down with Pankration (ancient Greek fighting art). Besides that snorklelike thing on their head could feel real nice...
PRP: How do you feel about Napster and the current mp3 situation?
Mallory: I totally embrace it. I want as many people as possible to hear our music. It's great for everyone. If you''e a band that has already made it, then you don't have to worry about making money because you're already making it. Unless you're greedy.
Peacfire: Who's losing money? Lower the price of CDs, or increase the royalty rate for artists. You can tape a song off of the radio, or a video off of TV, does that mean you''re not going to buy it. Not likely. What's likely is that the more you hear something the more likely you will be to buy it. That's why record companies spend the artists money on
"independent promotion" to pay the fucking radio stations to play their shit in the first place. Add value to the CD and people will always buy them. If they don't, then they probably would never have
anyway. At least they will buy band merch and concert tickets- which is where the artists make their real money.
PRP: Peacefire isn't the most common name, yet it fits the spiritual vocals, is it a birthname or nickname?
Peacfire: It's my legal name. I changed my name to reflect who I am- both the quiet, reflective, caring side of me, and the intense, fierce side of me. I have tattoos on my forearms that relect this as well. They say,
"tender warrior". It's all part of me being my own.
PRP: You guys have risen pretty fast in the Toronto scene, are you afraid that your core fans will feel you're abandoning them with the move?
Mallory: No. We've always said we're trying to make it worldwide and those that know us, know that and support that.
Peacfire: We will come back for shows on a regular basis, so we're not truly leaving. With all of the wonderful support and encouragement from our fans, we want to take it to the next level. We need to put Toronto on the map, and the world needs to know Canada has talent in the hard music community.
PRP: You guys like to go all out with your website, do you find it an important way to connect with the fans?
Peacfire: Absolutely. Take whatever opportunities are afforded to look. Find them. Make them. Utilize them. Nothing gets handed to you. My whole life has been as the underdog, whether with money growing up, or now as an artist from Canada, I've had to carve my own path. Technology and the internet gives tremendous power to the underdog. For us, we are so connected with our fans, both on the street and on the web.
PRP: Which member of the band is most likely to have a bath in cottage cheese?
Peacfire: Steve.
Mallory: Steve.
PRP: With a move to the state and a lot of good buzz, what do you see in the near future for the band? Is there any plans for a new release?
Peacfire:We will either release another EP within a couple of months with the neva songs that we have recorded ourselves, but never released, re-recording some guitars and vocals, OR record some of those songs and new songs with our new lineup as an EP a few months from now.
PRP: That's about it, any shoutouts?
Neva: Twinfold, Overstand, Invoice,
3rd Degree, :sik:, Lorraway and all of the bands we've played with and will play with.
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