The Hypnotics

by Allison Brown • Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 10:13 am • Posted in Downtown>Events>Music

Friday night at FM Lounge (otherwise known as the Fish Market), garage rock fans can find out what all the “fuzz” is about as Windsor trio, The Hypnotics, release their first full length recording, Static Fuzz Radio with a show also featuring James OL & The Villains, The Nefidovs and Paul Jacobs.

Fronted by brothers Mike and Dave Konstantino, along with drummer TJ Dowhaniuk, The Hypnotics deliver a straight ahead rock sound with garage influences ranging from The Beatles and Rolling Stones to The Clash and Sloan. Considering the band was formed by two brothers, one may assume a long history of sibling collaboration created the foundation for The Hypnotics, but Mike and Dave only started playing together as recently as 2009 when they began recording their first EP, Soul At Seven.

“I actually started playing first, and I kept bugging Dave to learn how to play and he finally did,” said Mike. “We decided to do a recording project, then it turned into a band.” Originally Dave and Mike wanted to record some of their songs, and weren’t creating the music with live shows in mind. “We couldn’t find a drummer,” Dave explained.“So we put out an ad online saying that we wanted to do a recording project, an EP.” When TJ Dowhaniuk answered that ad, adding rhythm to create a more cohesive sound, the trio knew there was more than an EP’s worth of music in The Hypnotics’ future.

Still, the band was searching for an elusive fourth member to round out to more standard rock instrumentation with a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and drums. “We wanted to be a four-piece,” said Dave. “But we couldn’t find a bass player and we never found anyone.” Versatile musicians with two vocalists/songwriters, The Hypnotics were innovative in finding a solution; Dave explained, “Me and Mike would just alternate on bass and rhythm guitar, so if there was a song that I wrote, I would sing and play guitar and vice versa.” As a three-piece they are able to streamline their sound, “It helps us get straight to the point.”

The Hypnotics are excited about releasing their first full-length recording, Static Fuzz Radio that pays homage to some of their “old-school” influences. The band recorded at Toronto’s Chemical Sound over five days in July 2011. Working with Dean Martino and Jay Sadlowski, The Hypnotics recorded Static Fuzz Radio entirely on two-inch analog tape reels. The brothers were particularly excited to record at Chemical Sound, as an influential record on The Hypnotics’ music, Sloan’s Navy Blues was recorded in that same room equipped with all kinds of vintage gear. Mike said, “We had a lot of fun up there, did it all old-school and went straight to tape, so if we made a mistake we just went over it again. There were hardly any computers, it was a lot of fun and it sounds better too.”

Recording to tape has its challenges, but for Mike and Dave the resulting sound pays off. “Must be a musician thing,” Mike said, “I’m very picky about sound and what I listen to if I hear a modern recording and it’s all digital to me, it sounds static-y”.

Dave added, “There is noticeable differences, if you’re not an audiophile and you don’t listen to music all the time, you won’t notice, but if you do listen to music, and you care about music, and you want quality music, you will have some records and be championing vinyl.”

Straight to analog tape recording does lend itself to the sweet sounds of vinyl records, so The Hypnotics decided to press both CD and vinyl copies of the latest album. Mike said, “I’m an audiophile and at home I have all vinyls and I was obsessed with having my vinyl in the collection with my favourite records.” Mike is excited that the process of pressing vinyl is becoming more accessible to independent artists.

Although The Hypnotics have released Static Fuzz Radio on both CD and vinyl, there on the front of the album cover is artwork featuring our long lost friend, the cassette tape. Dave did all the artwork for the album cover and has a fond nostalgia for the cassette tape, “Art-wise I’m kind of obsessed with cassettes. I still have my old cassettes – they’re still analog but not as feasible as CDs or vinyl but I think they’ll always be around in a small way.” It started out as an old show poster, but Dave re-created it to reflect the album’s title, “It’s relevant to Static Fuzz Radio, maybe something universal like the state of mainstream radio. There’s a cassette tape on the front, cassettes are kind of dead – take from that what you will.”

Campus radio is in no way unraveling for The Hypnotics, as Static Fuzz Radio was on the Earshot! Campus Radio charts at number 11 across Canada just last week; they reached number 1 on the CJAM charts here in Windsor for the week of January 24. Dave hosts Revolution Rock on CJAM 99.1 on Tuesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon, and hosting the s - www.ourwindsor.ca

Josh Kolm
ARTS EDITOR

Despite their rookie stature as a band, brothers Mike and Dave Konstantino of Windsor’s the Hypnotics are far from going into this music thing blind.

Dave has been hosting a program called Revolution Rock on CJAM 99.1FM for the better part of the last decade, focusing on unknown and obscure garage and punk bands from the last 40 years. Finding enough material to fill an hour and a half every week requires a large knowledge base to pull from.

“He knows more than I do,” Dave said of his brother. As a contrast to Dave’s punk background, Mike cites 1960s and 1970s British rock along the lines of the Beatles, the Kinks and the Clash as major influences.

Despite their combined wealth of musical knowledge, this is the first time either brother has had the motivation to form and play in a band. The reason for that is very simple.

“[Mike] used to play, and I didn’t,” Dave said. Mike had been teaching himself to play guitar and bass for years and eventually taught Dave. The brothers began playing together when Dave needed musicians for a project, and they found something they liked.

“Basically, we said, ‘Let’s just try to make a record,’” Mike said. “Once we did it, it was fun, so we kept at it.”

Even though playing together was fun enough to continue, the typical markers of a fraternal relationship have sprung up.

“[Drummer] TJ [Dowhaniuk] is always in the middle,” Mike said of the tiffs the Konstantinos can have. “Sometimes when we argue—not crazy, Gallagher arguments, just normal brother arguments.”

Dave interrupts. “He has a Burger King mask. He’ll put in it on and when we look at him we just start laughing.”

Much in the same way Kim Deal came to join the Pixies, the Konstantinos found Dowhaniuk through an ad they placed. A mutual friend had actually already referred the band to Dowhaniuk before.

“I think I lost his number, but he ended up being the first one to contact us,” Mike said. “The cool thing about TJ is that he can play a lot of different styles, so when we started playing it fell together.”

Dave’s idea meant they would be working with Dowhaniuk very briefly, but once again, they had stumbled onto something they liked.

“We told him we just wanted to do a recording project. It was supposed to be done after we did our EP ‘Soul at Seven’, which came out last year, but we just kept playing, writing music and playing shows.”

The continuation of their work led the Hypnotics to release their first full-legnth album, Static Fuzz Radio, in December. The record has received airplay nationwide, peaking at number 11 on Earshot!’s campus radio charts.

The band traveled up to Toronto to record at the renowned Chemical Sound studio. It has been a place that has seen some legendary albums come off their famed vintage recording machines, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s Lift Your Skinny Fists, Constantines’ Shine a Light and Death from Above 1979’s You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, among others.

“One of my favourite albums, Sloan’s Navy Blues, was recorded there,” Mike said. “We figured if we’re going to make a record, let’s do it the proper way. We recorded to analog tape. It was all done the old-fashioned way, just like all the bands we like.”

The record was engineered and produced by Dean Marino, who plays in Paper Maps, and Jay Sadlowski, who has worked on albums by Born Ruffians and Tokyo Police Club.

Static Fuzz Radio was put onto vinyl records at Rainbo Records in California, a company that has pressed records by everyone from the Beach Boys to Snoop Dogg. All the same reasons that brought the Konstantinos to Chemical Sound seem to have driven them to vinyl as well.

“I’m an audiophile, but a lot of our favourite albums we listen to on vinyl,” Dave said. “There’s something about the aesthetic of being on vinyl, having the album in your hands, the big record. And we thought that so long as we’re doing this, we might as well use the chance to put out records.”

With Static Fuzz Radio swinging from punk with Dave behind the mic to British rock when he switches with Mike, the album seems to reflect the breadth of the band’s taste to a far greater degree than ‘Soul at Seven.’

“That was pretty much straight ahead garage rock,” Dave said. “This one, we wanted to still have that but wanted to try some things, so we expanded a little bit. Mike did a little blues, I did some slower new wave stuff.”

Mike added, “We wanted to make it as varied as possible. We both like so many kinds of different music, so we tried to throw as many of them as we could on an album.” - The Lance

Introducing The Hypnotics, a three member garage punk band that will cause you to hustle your cassette player proving punk’s not dead. This three man band from Windsor, Ontario is fronted by two brothers Mike and Dave Konstantino along with the drummer TJ Dowhaniuk. Hypnotics’ killer ten track release Static Fuzz Radio encompasses inspirations from The Buzzcocks and Violent Femmes to The Ramones. The Hypnotics recorded Static Fuzz Radio, a well-crafted and unpretentious album was recorded entirely on two-inch analog tape reels giving them that hypnotic /retro punk sound.

The first song, Here She Comes Now, is catchy and body twisting. The second song, TV Blues, reminds you of New York’s Velvet Underground with their electrifying blues guitar molded with phlegmatic drum beats. As soon as they hit the straightaway, though, they floor it and the only description that works for Lipstick On My Collar and Holiday In The City is punk, punk, punk! Fast, punchy, foot-stomping, fist-pumping nirvana. The album ends with Paradise Beach where the raw vocals convey a sense of urgency with the parallel, tingling guitar and rich seventies drum melodies. Although the album is a little simplistic in nature and doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the table, the hooks and nuances draws the listener in without a stale moment.
- Vandala Concepts

For a group that planned only to be a for-fun recording project, The Hypnotics really don’t have much to complain about. Their first full-length album has already reached number eleven in the Canadian College Radio Charts, hit number one in Windsor multiple times, and received airplay in cities across the country. All of this even before it’s official release.

Static Fuzz Radio is the follow-up to the bands debut EP, Soul at Seven, which came out in October of 2010. Their new album was recorded at Chemical Sound in Toronto, a studio known for it’s use of analog gear, and has recorded such acts as The Black Keys, Hunter Valentine, and Tokyo Police Club. It was produced and mixed by Dean Marino (of Papermaps) and Jay Sadlowski.

Set to be officially released this Friday, February 3rd at FM Lounge (156 Chatham St. W. Main Level) The Hypnotics will be joined by James O-L and the Villains, The Nefidovs, and Paul Jacobs (now working under the moniker Raised By Weeds). Admission to the show is free, and the album will be available in both CD and vinyl formats.

This CD is a great ten-song collection of vintage-sounding surfy garage rock. Moving through the songs you’ll find a lot of varying influences that the two song writers draw from. The Brothers Konstantino, Dave and Mike, handle the bulk of that, and leave the beat-writing to drummer TJ Dowhaniuk.

Opening with Here She Comes Now, listeners are treated to some lovely fuzzy bass before the full song kicks in with some new-wave sounding garage punk. The bouncy sound of the song fronted by Mike’s adorably unique vocals makes this song the epitome of the band’s sound, and a great introduction to what they do.

TV Blues is one of my favourite songs, and I first had the chance to hear it when they played an opening spot for Orphan Choir at the 2011 Harvesting the F.A.M. Festival. This was a great gig for The Hypnotics, exposing them to a larger audience than had previously been able to enjoy them. This track I find to be particularly enjoyable for it’s terrific guitar riff and fuzzy tone, played at a moderate, plodding pace. All elements really fuse together to create a spectacularly groovy tune.

Getting a bit more punk, Lipstick on My Collar is a much different feeling, missing a lot of the higher sounds you’ll find in previous tracks. Still with that new-wave sound to it, this track features a nice guitar solo, a beautiful bass lines, and ends with a surprising and amusing “cha cha cha!”

Holiday in the City is an example of Dave’s songwriting and vocal abilities. This is a song that requires some dancing shoes, for sure. A very fifties-inspired sound, there are some great drum fills on this one, and the whole thing rolls through it’s boisterous two and a half minutes with a lot of energy.

By this point in the album it’s very easy to see why college radio stations are eating it up, and now we’re into a song about love gone wrong, which could only be expected. Nobody But You features some of the best drum-work to be found on the CD, providing an interesting background and really helping the song to stand out. TJ’s diverse musical background is now really becoming apparent in his playing with this group.

The second side of the vinyl starts with Radio City, a heavily rock-influenced piece. A very 60's sound and more aggressive performance gives this song a unique feel. A great mix of all elements, this track can easily be imagined as a live performance.

One of the more popular songs off the album so far, Our Generation is The Hypnotics’ song about the current state and mindset of young people in our society. Think Bad Religion’s 21st Century Digital Boy done with a surf-rock feel, and you’ll get the idea of this track.

She Gives Me Everything is another rock song, one with some great sing-a-long lyrics. Upfront vocals,atop a bed of punky guitars, fuzzy bass, and quick drum beats.

Seemingly a follow-up to Nobody But You, A Modern Romance is asking for another chance. This is one that will likely induce dancing in listeners, with it’s poppy rhythm and quick beats.

Closing off the disc is another one I highly recommend, Paradise Beach. A very different sound that it’s preceding songs, it’s got watery sounding coming from the left, and an altogether stripped down feel. A good one for swaying along to, this is a low-key track with a great groove and feeling to it.

To pick up your copy of Static Fuzz Radio, visit The Hypnotics on Bandcamp, or go to their show at FM Lounge this weekend.
- Windsor Zene

Josh Kolm
ARTS EDITOR

Their reputation and first EP may have pigeonholed the Hypnotics as a garage-rock band— which they are, with their guitar driven melodies and shouting vocals. But on Static Fuzz Radio, they manage to find a lot of creative wiggle room within that definition.

Ranging from Buzzcocks-meets-Ramones garage-punk at some moments and contemporary British pop-rock at others. What’s interesting is how easily the band swings from one side to the other, seemingly driven by whether it’s Dave or Mike Konstantino behind the microphone.

Take the beginning of the album as an example. It starts with Mike’s “Here She Comes Now,” which is a bumping page out of Sloan’s book that transfers into the Kinks-y, blues-y groove of “TV Blues.” Then Dave comes in with “Lipstick On My Collar” and “Holiday in the City,” which are fast, punchy and fun, but are still a lot more nuanced than they are simplistic.

Despite the propensity for garage-associated bands to be repetitive, Static Fuzz Radio has nothing but personality enforced by the fact that listeners can put a voice behind each style being exhibited. It not only differentiates the band from others in their crowded genre, but from themselves, which means there isn’t a single stale moment.
- The Lance

Josh Kolm
ARTS EDITOR

Their reputation and first EP may have pigeonholed the Hypnotics as a garage-rock band— which they are, with their guitar driven melodies and shouting vocals. But on Static Fuzz Radio, they manage to find a lot of creative wiggle room within that definition.

Ranging from Buzzcocks-meets-Ramones garage-punk at some moments and contemporary British pop-rock at others. What’s interesting is how easily the band swings from one side to the other, seemingly driven by whether it’s Dave or Mike Konstantino behind the microphone.

Take the beginning of the album as an example. It starts with Mike’s “Here She Comes Now,” which is a bumping page out of Sloan’s book that transfers into the Kinks-y, blues-y groove of “TV Blues.” Then Dave comes in with “Lipstick On My Collar” and “Holiday in the City,” which are fast, punchy and fun, but are still a lot more nuanced than they are simplistic.

Despite the propensity for garage-associated bands to be repetitive, Static Fuzz Radio has nothing but personality enforced by the fact that listeners can put a voice behind each style being exhibited. It not only differentiates the band from others in their crowded genre, but from themselves, which means there isn’t a single stale moment.
- The Lance