Music

Q & A: The Darcys sign to Arts & Crafts, talk new record

by Sam Sutherland

Today The Darcys will be announced as the latest signing to Canadian fortress of song, Arts & Crafts. The band, responsible for 2007’s sleeper critical hit Endless Water, has been quietly assembling their self-titled follow-up ever since. Scheduled for release on October 25, the self-titled album was produced by Dears frontman Murray Lightburn and mixed by Dave Schiffman (whose credits run the gamut from Johnny Cash to Rage Against the Machine).

The road to the final release of The Darcys hasn’t been easy though. The band clashed with Lightburn so severely during the tracking of the record that it nearly derailed its completion. Early in the process, their vocalist quit, forcing them to regroup and re-record with guitarist Jason Couse stepping into the role of lead singer. They were then dropped by their publicist, unsure if they would even finish their album, which left The Darcys sitting on a collection of songs they had poured the better part of four years into. It was only a few months ago that the band found their current home with Arts & Crafts, and with the release of The Darcys just a few weeks away, they suddenly have more than a few reasons to feel a little optimistic about the future.

Check out a new song by the band, “Shaking Down the Old Bones,” available as a free download at the bottom of this post.

AUX: I’m not even sure where to start, because I know so much about the whole saga.

Drummer Wes Marskell: We demoed this record in our basement on Dovercourt in Toronto. Most of it before [two mutual friends] even moved in.

This record began before I even knew you—

In Halifax in 2007. And I got a mastered, final record on March 1, 2011. Going from starting to record demos in late spring of 2007, that’s a really long time. And to go from saying, “I’m walking away from the project.” To another person actually walking away from the project. To this mix isn’t good enough. This master isn’t good enough. We have to rerecord this. To have it done was… it was like we could quit there. Just finishing was such a major hurdle, anything after is just icing.

I’m not sure if the disagreements between you and the producer [Dears frontman Murray Lightburn] are on or off the record.

I’m not going to dispel any of the classic rumours about Murray’s personality. He was challenging at times, but he also challenged us, as goofy as that sounds. He got a lot of great sounds and performances out of the record. The record is sprawling, at times, but our sense of economy came from him. He did a lot of great things. After we recorded, everyone had their agenda. It was his first real production project, so I think between what we wanted and what he wanted, he wasn’t sure he was going to keep doing it. Then all of a sudden he showed up and said he could help us fix it, and brought in Dave Schiffman… who was a godsend.

Between that and your singer quitting, you had two major hurdles that might break up any other band. Were there times that you considered just walking away?

After a while, I decided it was a lost cause. Until it’s in a record shop available for purchase, I’ll feel that way. Maybe a truck will roll over, maybe the label will go under. Until that moment it’s in stores, it will feel like it’s still not going to happen. I think the record was something we considered walking away from, but the band never was. We wrote a whole new record while working on this record. It was really encouraging to rely on each other to push forward through it. Once Dave Schiffman was on board, we were blown away that he would even touch the project. And once we heard what it sounded like with him working on it, we knew it would work out.

So what was the timeline like for connecting with Arts and Crafts?

Aaron [Miller] runs a website called The Untold City, and he shot a segment on us about our singer leaving. Weeks later, he said, “Do you want me to help the band at all?” Being a young band in Toronto, you get that a lot. But at the end, he was like, “I work publicity at Arts & Crafts.” And I was like, “Why didn’t you tell me THAT?” And he said, “Why do you think I didn’t tell you that?” But it wasn’t until July of this year that they actually came on board.

There aren’t a lot of labels that do what Arts & Crafts does anymore. In my mind, they’re kind of a relic, in the sense that they still have an audience that buys their records. They have a viable business plan. They don’t really have a sound, but they have an aesthetic.

They’re really genuine. It seemed like the top, to me. When they said okay, I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather put the record out. And it’s home, it’s Toronto. Now it feels like we have to work that much harder. We have to keep doing weirder, crazier things to justify someone like that helping us out. It feels wonderful, but it also feels like I have a job now, and I need to work hard to keep my job. In the best way possible.

So what happens now?

The record comes out October 25. We do a bit of touring with Besnard Lakes and Plants and Animals in October, and we’re still solidifying things for November and December. We have something big to announce in January as well. It’s going to be quick. We’re behind, you know? It’s like when you squeeze a hose and you let it go and all the water comes out at once. Maybe that’s not the best metaphor, but we have everything ready. We have so much just sitting at home ready to put out, and now it’s all going to come out.

THE DARCYS ON TOUR

SEPTEMBER 24 • MONTREAL, QC • CASA DEL POPLO (POP MONTREAL) *
OCTOBER 12 • HAMILTON, ON • CASBAH ^
OCTOBER 13 • TORONTO, ON • LEE’S PALACE ^
OCTOBER 14 • KINGSTON, ON • THE GRAD CLUB ^
OCTOBER 19 • FREDERICTON, NB • THE CAPITAL %
OCTOBER 21 • HALIFAX, NS • NORTH STREET CHURCH (HPX)
NOVEMBER 10 • OTTAWA, ON • RITUAL ^
NOVEMBER 18 • TORONTO, ON • THE HORSESHOE TAVERN

* w/ Trust & Bishop Morocco
^ w/ Besnard Lakes & Malajube
% w/ Plants & Animals