A Conversation with USS

Posted by Universal Perspectives Media on March 20, 2011 · 1 Comment 

By Sam Rashid

UP: How did you get your knee injury?

ASH: I was playing volleyball on Monday and there was some contact at the net and I went down with a twist and I heard a pop and a crunch, ’cause I’ve torn ligaments in both knees already in various performance capacities … so I’m looking at potential surgery. And the amazing coincidence is that the last time we played Phoenix, I tore my ACL in my right knee playing at MTV Live, jumping off a monitor. So I’ve got a bit of a history with knee injuries and this place. But I feel great and the show is going to be awesome.

UP: You guys haven’t really played around Toronto in a bit, how does it feel to be playing Canadian Music Week?

JAY: Pretty amazing man. There are 800 bands this year and some of our good friends are playing at it. Essentially Canadian Music Week is a showcase … and we’ve never played CMW. But yeah, It’s cool to see the buzz online and with our Edge support, people are so excited because it’s kind of like we are breaking new ground by playing some new material. And just starting to get back into the cycle again, we have our cross-Canadian tour in May and it’s the first show of the year as well.

ASH: It’s actually our first time playing our new songs too. They’re brand new!

UP: How do you guys prepare for your live shows before going on stage? Do you have any rituals or anything?

ASH: I like to hum. I had a vocal instructor that told me to just [tilts his head back and begins to hum]. So I like to hum whatever Paul Anka song I was listening to that day.

JAY: I usually listen to really aggressive music and I usually cruise around and spy on the crowd to see what the energy is going to be like and the vibe of the people … which is always a good measure to me. And just pace [laughs].

UP: Do you guys get nervous before you go on stage?

JAY: No, not any more. But in the beginning when we got on the radio I kind of got the jitters, only because it was just like, you go from playing The Cameron House on Queen Street West, and The Hideout, to like basically The Sound Academy, and public scrutiny and radio and industry folk and two guys. You know, an unconventional duo, as opposed to a conventional rock n roll band.

UP: You guys are really well known for your crazy and energetic live performances. I was just wondering how you maintain that for an entire show.

JAY: I don’t know. At first it used to be Ash playing and singing and me cueing tracks and just DJing. Then it just kind of …

ASH: I think we harnessed our inner jocks [laughs]. Well ‘cause we were both very athletic growing up. And we were up at 5 a.m. to go to practice kind of guys. And I think that we just translate that athletic energy into a performance. So we are both very inspired by athletics in all capacities.

UP: What kind of stuff did you guys do?

ASH: I played football and hockey. And Jay was an incredible point guard.

JAY: It’s like he was there.

ASH: We went to rival high schools but we didn’t know each other. And we didn’t play the same sports so we didn’t cross paths.

JAY: So random [laughs].

UP: So watching your live shows, you and the audience really connect. Just wondering how you keep them excited and pumped up.

JAY: It used to be just go and deliver the songs. But because we are not an actual band it’s like my role as hype man is to compensate for the fact that I’m not holding a bass guitar, playing drums. So it’s like bringing the songs up more so he can focus on playing and singing.

ASH: If you watch a dictator in a doctoral country command an audience, it shows you that in most capacities, humans want to be led. And want to be inspired, and want to be coached, and want something to kind of answer to. You know what I mean? We do. As much as you can be open minded and divergently thinking, and want freedom, there is a comfort, whether it’s through religion or your dictator, or music group or whatever, we like to think we do that in a sunny capacity. In like a jump out there and help your grandma fix her wheelchair kind of way.

UP: Back in 2008 you guys headlined The Edge’s next big thing concert series. Now in 2011 you guys here at The Phoenix headlining Canadian Music Week. What does that kind of success mean to you guys?

ASH: It’s means that I don’t have to get up and put on my roofing clothes anymore [laughs].

JAY: I just find it interesting for us because we had to play catch up ’cause we just slipped on the radio based on good will hand shakes and grass roots shows.

ASH: And karma.

JAY: And promo and good songs. Like as Zeke at The Sound Academy put it, we started at The Sound Academy and it was completely backwards. There was no escalation.

ASH: It was like going to get your assess and pilot’s license and like, you’re going to Mars! [laughs]. Ah, I’ve never been in a plane, never mind the space shuttle that was just retired.

UP: After the release of your EP, Welding the C Drive, you both parted ways. Then you get a phone call from a friend saying that The Edge was playing your song heavily. How did it feel to get that phone call?

ASH: It was kind of like, happy birthday. Like a surprise party. You pop open the door and there is streamers and balloons. Except you’re in your friend’s dorm room in Texas, in a generic room. And there’s no streamers and balloons. But it felt like there was streamers and balloons everywhere. It was like, I could just feel those many many, hundreds of dozens of mornings of playing shows and not sleeping and going right to work and just doing whatever I had to do/whatever we had to do. And it kind of all in the moment, just kind of, like the gold star being put on my report card of life.

JAY: Yeah, it was just crazy man. Just the initial shock wave. Because it happened so organically, which is so unheard of nowadays. And just being told that, not only were they interested in blogging about, but they were going to add Hollowpoint, which they thought was the best single, into rotation. And then it went heavy a month later and we still hadn’t even played a show to support it, let alone make a music video for it. It’s very strange, a great feeling though.

UP: Since then you guys have toured all over Canada, parts of the States and even the world. Tell me about the craziest thing you’ve seen happen on the road.

JAY: I think one of the crappiest things, I guess you could call it crazy, was when we were on the road with illScarlett and we were in Winnipeg. And while they were on stage, their van got broken into. And that sucked. It was really bad. It was minus 45 outside.

ASH: And one guy lost everything. It wasn’t like everybody lost a little bit of stuff, one guy lost everything. All he had was the clothes on his back, and it was so cold. We also played this one show where Jay was doing a handstand—the whole table collapsed.

JAY: [laughs] In Ottawa!

ASH: And the music didn’t stop. He looked like the Wicked Witch of the West, like half his body was covered. And I’m still playing and was like, ‘Should I keep playing?’

JAY: And it was Anti-Venom too, which is a high energy song.

ASH: And all the equipment slide and didn’t miss a beat. And somehow our tech ran out and pulled Jay out. And I think there might have been a defibrillator involved [laughs]. Zapped him back to life and

JAY: That, dude, I think that might be the craziest moment. ‘Cause it was the first time we ever had a malfunction like that.

ASH: And this one time, he had a seizure on the way to Newfoundland, on our way to the East Coast on the plane. And uh, he went right to the hospital and I did all the sound check. And I was like, ‘Is he alive?’ No calls. They’re like, the back up plan is you play acoustic.

JAY: [laughs hysterically]

ASH: So I’m on stage, ready to play acoustic. And he comes running in and he’s like, ‘Hey dude!’

JAY: I’ve still got the hospital bracelet on.

ASH: ‘Doctor says I’m fine!’ It was funny.

UP: You guys have also had a chat with Gene Simmons. How would you describe that?

JAY: It was interesting because Bookie had asked us to play his anniversary for his New Music night. And it was us, Mobile and Waking Eyes – two stellar Canadian bands, rest in peace Waking Eyes. And then Bookie told us Gene Simmons was in the house. And I saw him in the crowd when we were playing. But then our publicist said that Gene wants to talk to you guys. And me and Ash were just so beat. We were sitting down on the bench, sweating it up, and he sits down between us. He’s wearing like $800 diamond incrusted boots and he immediately went on the offensive to Ash. And I just kind of his buffer for shitty jokes. I mean, he was trying to give us advice.

ASH: There was just like, cameras, lights, microphones, reporters. Everyone from upstairs came downstairs in a room like this size (very small). There was like a hundred people rammed around us. And we’re just sitting in these bright lights, talking about degrading women with Gene Simmons. But more being on the defensive, of like, ‘No, we respect our moms.’ [laughs]

UP: But in the fall, you guys played the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange project event. And you represent Canada for India. Just wondering how did it feel for you to represent Canada on such a large platform?

ASH: Well, one of my dreams in life was to be in the Olympics. I always wanted to represent Canada in some capacity or another. So in that regard, I did get to represent Canada in that capacity, so I can check that one off the list. We really wanted to play at the Olympics to tell you the truth. That was like getting dumped by your … like dating your favourite aunt. But you still have to see her at events, and she is married to your uncle.

JAY: It was amazing because they chose, Smirnoff has been working with us since the summer of 09, and they took us to New York, they took us to Calgary, and to Montreal and Toronto. And they sent us to India. And it’s amazing because we’re still kind of like the little band that could. And they recognize that and they also feel that we’ve been representative of like, a cross section of society that you can relate to. And then what we’re doing is night life oriented. We’ve done very well in the last three years, and they see that. And to be asked by a company that size, out of all the others in Canada that could have represented the country, and then to go to India to represent, it was an honour. Food was great.

UP: What do you think it is about your music that really draws people in? Why do they like your music?

ASH: I think that there is something harmonic going on at the subconscious level. That is just beyond logic and beyond rational thought, that we just couldn’t really explain. And Jay’s haircut [laughs]. No, true story. There’s something going on. There’s something going on in the room, there’s something going on in the listening experience. And we are just having as much fun as we can, before all the glaciers recede and we have so much fresh water to drink.

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Read our review of USS’s CMW performance.

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Featured image by Jonathan Hutchinson

Filed under Canadian Music Fest 2011, Conversations, Music · Tagged with Canadian Music Fest, Canadian Music Week, Gene Simmons, Jonathan Hutchinson, Sam Rashid, Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange project, Toronto, USS