Music

Styrofoam Ones Play Horseshoe, Talk New Album

by Ciaran Thompson

Tucked away in the back room of the Moonbeam Café in Kensington Market, Styrofoam Ones member’s Josh McGuirk and Alexander The sit, sip tea and chow on some comfort food. A trip to this joint isn’t unusual for the two as it has become a haven for brain food and a place to chill between jam sessions and recording. A few blocks away the band’s studio lair rests which seems to have more to offer than just location.

“The good thing about our studio is we don’t get reception in the basement,” Alexander says. “That’s one of the biggest benefits. No one can get a hold of us and we have the perfect excuse.” “It’s a great place to be in Kensington,” Josh added. “You walk out the door and it’s like a mix bag, it’s like potpourri.”

The Toronto band, which also consists of Clay Jones who plays the drums, has been a creative experiment on its own without the innovative juices flowing around their home base. Both Josh who currently plays bass and Alexander on keys, had previous to the creation of the band played different instruments. The two come from different ends of the city, Josh from Scarborough and Alexander from Etobicoke, but bonded over similar music tastes and aspirations.

“It basically started in a closet of a studio sitting there and we just started making beats together, more production style,” Josh said. “It just kind of flowed naturally.”

It seems long ago for them to recall the early years as they have already recorded and put out a self titled EP, changed studio locations and been to the other half of Canada to play shows. “He would ride his bike with his keyboard strapped around him and I would have my bass and ride up Dufferin…the worst,” Josh said of when the band had a recording studio that was “definitely far from civilization,” added Alexander.

But the bands EP shows how far they’ve come with the DIY attitude they adapted from the start. “The focus was to show where we were really at for that time,” Josh said. “I feel confident that that piece represents what we’ve been doing. When you’re heart is in it, it’s not fake, it’s real and it’s exciting.” “We have drums, we have bass and we have synths. The EP definitely orchestrates all of that,” Alexander said.

Having settled in their surroundings and supplied ears with their creation, the band will be heading back to the studio to start work on an LP. “In the next couple months we are going to be in the recording studio just to create,” Alexander said. “We’re anxious to do all that and start exploring more not only with what we already have as a core, but adding the guitar, adding the bongo…” “Basically it’s going to be playtime. Just turn off the outside world and get to work,” Josh added.

On this day however, the band was not thinking about recording, but rather preparing for the night’s gig at the Horseshoe and saying farewell to their drummer Clay who is playing his final show. Headliners for the evening, the crowd came out to offer their support for Styrofoam Ones and danced their asses off. Like one show they played out west where Alexander recalls seeing a member of the audience “literally five steps in front of me head banging the hell out of herself,” Toronto fans act no different. Evidence of this is clear in the aroma of shampoo and various hair product smells that fills the room. Josh’s bass rumbles as Clay demonstrates how beneficial it is for a band like Styrofoam Ones to have a live drummer. Eventually the band was joined onstage with second drummer Jamal as they blasted through songs from the EP and tested out new material. Called back onstage, the band completed what felt like a short set with two encores and the heart rate of the audience finally dropped back to normal. A possible inclusion on our bands to see sober? We shall see.