A/S/L features online chat interviews with musicians. Get it? The internet.

Vancouver indie-rock trio The Courtneys are one of those bands that I’m destined to be friends with—two of the three members (Jen and Sydney) lived in Calgary when I first moved here from Vancouver. Soon after, they moved to Vancouver and became friends with many of my old friends (including my dear friend and B-Lines frontman Ryan Dyck, who runs Hockey Dad Records), while I’ve become friends with their Calgary friends. It’s all one big happy family!

Anyway, I don’t know Sydney or Jen that well and I’ve never even met the band’s namesake, Courtney. So it’s not all weird friendly nepotism here—I mostly wanted to talk to them because their self-titled debut crams eight quick, to-the-point pop songs into a slab of vinyl that’ll likely wear out your turntable by the end of the summer. I tried to make our entire Gchat about television, but it didn’t totally work.

Josiah Hughes: Hey I’m here now! You guys still there?

The Courtneys: Yep! Sorry just wrapping up with Mish! hahaha

Josiah: Oh no prob! Tell me when you’re around, no rush.

The Courtneys: NOW! Hahahaha.

Josiah: SWEET. How was Mish? Let’s shit-talk her.

The Courtneys: She’s a babe, it was a fun Gchat session.

Josiah: How could you tell she was a babe via chat?

The Courtneys: You can tell a lot by chat.

Josiah: So is that all you guys are doing today? Huddled around a computer chatting away?

The Courtneys: Courtney’s taking an extended lunch break, I’m unemployed, and Sydney has some errands to do. We’re going for pancakes after this.

Josiah: Oh so is it just Jen here?

The Courtneys: No, we’re all here!

Josiah: Oh I get it now.

The Courtneys: hahha

Josiah: Extended lunch break from where? What if your boss reads this?!

The Courtneys: Don’t tell him! Her office is pretty much next door to my apartment, which is where we are conducting this chat

Josiah: Cool! So tell me about The Courtneys. Why are you so obsessed with Keanu Reeves, first off? He’s not even that great. Pauly Shore is better.

The Courtneys: We’re actually not that obsessed with Keanu Reeves! Jen writes lyrics about whatever is going on in her life at the time, and sometimes that is what TV show she is watching. Jen’s favourite actor is Harrison Ford.

Josiah: Oooh! Much better. Actually I fuck with Keanu Reeves too.

The Courtneys: hahahahhaha

Josiah: I was just trying to push your buttons, I was hoping you would get really mad if I said he wasn’t that great.

The Courtneys: You failed!

Josiah: Well what makes The Courtneys mad? I want to fight with The Courtneys via chat.

The Courtneys: It’s really hard to fight with us! I guess if you insulted Harrison Ford, Jen would be mad. If you walk slow behind us. If you mess with our crew. I MEAN IN FRONT OF US!

Josiah: I think we basically have the same crew, and yeah I was gonna ask — why that would be a problem walking behind you at a slow pace.

The Courtneys: In front! In front! You can walk as slow as you want behind us.

Josiah: Phew thanks! Back to TV, did you watch the episode of Awkward. that you were on?

 The Courtneys: Yes we all got together and watched it.

Josiah: Did you like it? It was such a great part to have your song — after she farted.

The Courtneys: Yeah, great farting scene, especially since the lyrics of the song are “I’ve got a feeling and it’s bottled up, I’d let it out but I think it’s stuck.” Hahahaah 

Josiah: Hahahahahah! Amazing! Hahahahaha!

The Courtneys: We laughed pretty hard.

Josiah: You guys should watch that show from the start. It’s really, really good.

 The Courtneys: Courtney and Sydney are too busy for TV, and Jen has too many shows on the go already.

Josiah: Man how are we s’posed to be friends? This is a complete disaster.

The Courtneys: We don’t even know what to say to that.

Josiah: Hahaha. I’m just teasing. Last TV question — how did y’all end up on Awkward.?

The Courtneys: It’s a secret.

Josiah: Damn. Are you in the illuminati?

The Courtneys: Yeah man, we like mystery. We would have to take you out on a cruise ship before we tell you anything, and it costs $10000000000000000.

Josiah: Just like any cruise would, I imagine.

The Courtneys: That was a nod to Scientology. 

Josiah: OH DUH.

The Courtneys: We outsmarted you!

Josiah: Three against one! No fair! My bad, what’s that Scientology thing called again? Sea something… the Sea Org or something.

The Courtneys: Tom Cruise.

Josiah: Ok I’m sorry for asking such dumb questions. Tell me when The Courtneys started and how.

The Courtneys: Sydney and Jen were in a band together in Calgary called Puberty, and then Sydney moved to North Carolina to be a neuroscientist at Duke University, and when she eventually moved to Vancouver (where Jen was) we formed the band. Jen had already been jamming with Courtney. It was like an ’80s synth-pop duo.

Josiah: Whoa really? How did it evolve into what it is now?

The Courtneys: It didn’t evolve! It was one jam and there was a creepy dude hanging out in the jam space, and we were afraid to jam in front of him. The Courtneys are really influenced by ’80s synthpop, though.

Josiah: Hahahaha are you being serious or joking?

The Courtneys: Serious. Mostly New Order hahaha.

Josiah: ’80s synth pop without the synths!

The Courtneys: We also are greatly influenced by the smooth electronic band Air

Josiah: Hahahaha. That song “Sexy Boy.”

The Courtneys: So sexy.

Josiah: From Musique Plus or whatever. What’s the french Muchmusic?

The Courtneys: Oh yah! I can’t remember.

Josiah: Okay so Sydney moved back, two of you were already jamming… how did you end up with the name The Courtneys?

The Courtneys: We wanted to name the band after the most modest member.

Josiah: Did Courtney just type that about herself?

The Courtneys: Hahaha.

Josiah: When was your first show and how did it go?

The Courtneys: Our first show was our friend Luna’s birthday. It went as good as any first show. We didn’t have a lot of the vocals done, so it was very instrumental hahaha. Oh and that was in June, 2011.

Josiah: Sweet. What has changed since then?

The Courtneys: it was over a year after we formed, but Courtney moved away for about eight months so when she got back we literally had two weeks to practice. We’ve developed our songwriting a lot, and we try to challenge ourselves more.

Josiah: Awesome! Did you have big plans when you started? Do you have big plans now? Or do you just take the band where it goes naturally in terms of making plans or whatever?

The Courtneys: We like to be natural — like Herbal Essences shampoo. We do what we think is cool and fun, and if other people think it’s cool and fun too then that’s great!

Josiah: Yes! Tell me about your LP. Are you calling it an LP or a 12″ or an EP? Let’s get that out of the way first.

The Courtneys: We’re calling it an album hahahaha

Josiah: Okay sweet. So when did you record that? And why did you decide to re-record some songs from your tape?

The Courtneys: We recorded it in November 2012 at The Noise Floor with Jordan Koop. It was the best time. It was like a weekend sleepover party. We decided to rerecord some songs off the tape because many of those were demos of the first songs we wrote, and we wanted to give them a proper release so that we could move on to writing new songs.

Josiah: Rad! In that sense, do you feel like you’re sick of these songs now, or are they still special to you? Are they still fun to play?

The Courtneys: No, they are still special and fun to play! We have lots of new songs though! We’re halfway through writing our next album.

Josiah: Wow cool!

The Courtneys: We’re creeping on your Facebook right now.

Josiah: OMG

The Courtneys: Hahahhaha

 Josiah: What did you find? Do you like my cover photo?

The Courtneys: Yeah, what a cutie!

Josiah: Hahahahaha. Ugh I forget what I was going to ask. Oh I know — are you excited for people to hear this record or is there any part of you that’s nervous?

The Courtneys: We are stoked! We are really happy with how it turned out. Remember that brand No Fear?

Josiah: Hell yes I do!

The Courtneys: Words to live by.

Josiah: You guys should make Courtneys No Fear shirts!

The Courtneys: Hahahahaha

Josiah: Speaking of… your hats are amazing. That’s not a question, but it’s a fact.

The Courtneys: Thanks!

Josiah: Where did you get them made?

The Courtneys: That’s another Scientology secret.

Josiah: The Courtneys is a heavily guarded entity. But you must have a pretty serious hat budget, what with the back of your LP as well.

The Courtneys: Well, we made the hats to take the photo for the LP cover.

Josiah: Will you ever wear the hats out of that context? That would be awesome. A hat that just says “Nu Sundae” at the top.

The Courtneys: Hahaha. No we’re keeping them in pristine condition to sell on eBay in 20 years.

Josiah: Wise investment! Another very awesome thing is that your LP is bringing Hockey Dad Records out of retirement! How did that come about?

The Courtneys: We love Hockey Dad! Ryan Dyck, who runs Hockey Dad, has been very supportive ever since he saw us at our third show!

Josiah: Sweet! Do you have plans to tour for the album?

The Courtneys: Yes! We are doing a west coast tour at the end of June beginning with Sled Island.

Josiah: Sweet! Sydney and Jen — what is different about being in a band in Vancouver vs. being in a band in Calgary?

The Courtneys: It’s not that different There are more places to play here! And we can go to the beach after jam.

Josiah: What would you like to accomplish with this band in the long run? Have you thought about it much?

The Courtneys: We just like to have fun! Like that CyndI Lauper song. Also we’d like to eat pancakes! That is something we’d like to do in the future. The very near future

Josiah: Okay tell me where you’re going and what your order is and then I’ll let you go.

The Courtneys: We are going to Deacon’s Corner in Gastown. Sydney: Pancakes and bacon, Jen: short stack, Courtney: doesn’t get any because she had to go back to work.

Josiah: That sounds amazing. Afternoon pancakes. What a delight.

The Courtneys: Yeah, well we’ve had a busy morning.

Josiah: Gchattin’ it up!

The Courtneys: So many Gchats.

Josiah: Well is there anything else you’d like to add?

The Courtneys: