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LAST LIMIT FREEDOM - INTERVIEW
July 17, 2006
PiK (Chris White): Who are the members of Last Limit Freedom, where are you from and what instruments do you play?
Jhere Masurkevitch: Vocals. Im originally from Baltimore Ont. where I played in a few bands for about 6 years before moving up here.
Nick Hart: I grew up in a rural community on the St Lawrence called Morrisburg. I moved to Kingston 5 years ago because I thought it was the BIG city. Enough said.
Dann Bertrand: Im originally from Nanaimo, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. I moved around on military bases a lot early on until landing in Kingston at age 9. I pretty much grew up in the area. I play bass.
Will McLellan: I've been all over the place, I'm a Canadian. I did my high school in Brockville, then took off to live in various places in Canada and the US. I've only stayed in Kingston for the last three years in order to play drums in this band.
PiK: When did Last Limit Freedom come together? Who met who and how it all started
Will: You mean who met whom. I joined last so I can't really tell you. Jhere phoned me.
Jhere: I moved to Kingston to start something new and met Nick through a housemate. We had the same taste in music and started a band called Sleepwalker, which is where we met Dann. After our drummer from that band mysteriously vanished, we called a number that was on a bathroom stall and that night William came to my job and said: "Hey I'm Will and Play Drums." Rest is History.
Nick: I met Jhere after a metal band i was trying to start fell through. im pretty sure he was confused and on drugs at the time.
PIK: You've played in a number of different places around Southern Ontario and Western Quebec, where do you enjoy playing the most?
Dann: Brockville for me. Our recent trip up to Smiths Falls was a great time as well.
Will: I've really enjoyed our Montreal shows, and the ones in Kingston that had a lot of people at them.
Jhere: Brockville, Montreal.
Nick: I love going east of Kingston, there is a completely different mentality the further you get away from the GTA.
PiK: You've played alot of gigs, which are your more memorable experiences?
Jhere: Bandslam was pretty sweet. Big ass stage and cool light show, always a good time
Dann: Playing the Scherzo over capacity was pretty sweet. Our bus trip to Hamilton was also a great time.
Nick: I love any concert where the audience shows as much enthusiasm and energy as we do. You can feed off of each other and it becomes a totally different experience. Id rather have 20 people totally into than 300 with their thumbs up their asses. This goes back to the whole east of Kingston thing, total enthusiasm.
PiK: Last Limit Freedom competed in the 2006 K-Rock 105.7 Bandslam; what were you expectations before entering this showcase and afterthoughts?
Dann: We looked past the competition part of the event and showed up to play. Thats what its all about really, playing the show. Its unfortunate when people / bands cant see past the competitive aspect and just enjoy themselves.
Nick: I didn't expect much going into the competition knowing that they were really looking for a band that could be sent on to Toronto representing KRock and Kingston. We really arent that band.
PiK: Music in general, and I know their is a very broad question, what is your opinion of the state of radio today?
Will: In a misguided effort to appeal to as many people as possible, music has sort of evolved into this bland, one-size-fits-all, nothing special mentality. Everything in the music industry is geared toward the average and nobody is innovative anymore; it seems most bands are content to write the most formulaic tracks.
Jhere: Yeah, I have to say that music is more of a market than an art form. Its unfortunate that its now a huge industry geared towards Pre-teens and really anyone under the age of 19. Really theres too much to say about it, I could go on forever.
Nick: Well i know that most people will play the finger pointing game about how its the fault of the major lablels as to the situation music is in. But in reality the music buyers have the power, and people just arent buying albums anymore. Alot of great bands are out there, all you have to do is buy their albums and you create the demand for integrity and relevancy in the industry.
PiK: What would you say to radio stations to improve their product for Canadian bands including Last Limit Freedom?
Will: I'd say stop trying to appeal to everybody all of the time. Cut back on the KISS and AC/DC because you know, it's not 1979 anymore. Maybe have more of a college radio format, where you play specific things at specific times, for, say, an hour or two at a time. Finally, play more local 'undiscovered' talent, including LLF for sure. I heard one of the DJs on KROCK complaining - now he might have had his tongue in his cheek, don't get me wrong - but the night Bedouin Soundclash came to town, and he said they couldn't come down for an interview, they were 'too good' or 'too busy' for KROCK now. Well maybe so, but when did you ever support them before? Why does a band have to 'prove' itself by getting signed to a major label before you'll give them airplay and on air interviews?
Nick: I think maybe stations still throw those 70's golden era of rock tracks out there because they miss ROCK on the radio, so do I.
PiK: You guys have been together now for 3 1/2 years, you must have some memorable moments away from the stage to tell everyone about.
Jhere: We don't hang out.
Nick: Yeah off the stage we are sort of like 4 separate entities. That and Im lame. Im like the old man of the band.
PiK: Who first influenced you to play music? Do you remember how or when this happened?
Jhere: Nirvana, Our Lady Peace, Marilyn Manson, and Korn got me into singing
Dann: Motley Crue in 1986 started it all for me. My older brother had an extensive CD / tape collection. I seriously grew up with a fascination for electric guitars; however, the ability to play one seemed almost unattainable to me until I started high school. While there, a friend of mine lent me the book "Come as you are" which inspired me to pick up a $50 bass at a local pawn shop. I later smashed it on my driveway.
Will: Jethro Tull, ever since I was small. I knew this would always be music that would influence me, make me happy, but I never set out to be a musician until it occurred to me in my late teens that I could, and then it was unthinkable to play anything non technical.
Nick: Id say The Tea Party, I was always fascinated with music from other cultures and they were kind of east meets west.
PiK: Is their one supergroup out there you would enjoy sharing the stage with and why?
Will: Again, Jethro Tull, just because that'll always be the dream. System of a Down as well because they'd be a better fit with us stylistically and in the kind of crowd that would appreciate both bands. Also because they have a real political awareness, and for me, my artistic integrity demands that not only do I try and write the best songs I can, to reach people that way, and/or influence them to go out and play music of their own, but also to use the band to raise awareness of certain situations, or to call together like-minded people. Tastefully, I mean, not in such a way as to subvert the artistry by being overtly political or a cause-head or anything like that, and obviously we write songs on a wide variety of themes, but the band's tagline, if you will, is 'what is the last limit you would allow somebody to put on your freedom?' and there are other interpretations of it in that those are three loaded words, but the bottom line is that we try to write good songs and/or get people to think objectively a little bit, so if somebody leaves our show with one of those songs stuck in their head and/or they're thinking about that question, I'm happy.
Dann: I would say The Mars Volta. Theyre just a really interesting band and apparently put on quite the show. It's not that big of a deal to me though. I enjoy alot of different bands at any level. Then again, opening for Pink Floyd would be surreal.
Jhere: Fantomas
Nick: Tool
PiK: Right now in your music collection, what is your favourite record or cd?
Jhere: The new Tool album, Peeping Tom, Clann Zu, Fantomas
Nick: Clann Zu, Pierre Bensusan.
Dann: Pysiedius and Rozea Haven.
PIK: You've been working on your debut CD over the past year or so, where is it being recorded?
Dann: We've been travelling to Hamilton over the past year or so to record at Mastermind Studio in Hamilton. We've also been doing some recording over at the Sonic Bakery in Kingston with Joe Crunchmeister Gilker.
PiK: Who's writing the songs for this forthcoming CD and does it have a working title?
Dann: We've always stuck to pretty much the same process. Everyone writes their own parts and we work on song structure / ideas at practice; eventually the ideas take shape.
PiK: How would you reflect on the studio experience and do you see a release date in the near future?
Dann: It's been a long process. Hopefully soon.
Jhere: It was definately a learning experience. Driving 3 to 4 hours to record an album is a bad idea. I think it's always best to stay close to home.
PiK: Are their plans for a supporting tour?
Dann: Not immediately following the release. Were looking at doing some more travelling next summer.
Chris: Music samples and more on Last Limit Freedom visit www.lastlimitfreedom.com
- partyinkingston.com
Discography
Currently set to release debut EP this summer (2006). Last Limit Freedom have been recording with Mastermind Studio in Hamilton, Ontario.
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Bio
Last_Limit_Freedom: What if you sold or lost your house and 99% of your possessions. All these limits tying you down, and just left to travel around somewhere. I've done that and I miss it. It feels so good when all you have to your name is a pack on your back, a few articles of clothing and a sword, never forget the sword.
"The enemies of freedom will be defeated." - President Bush, 2005
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo, 1971
The following happened on Feb. 9 of this year. The scene is the Little Falls branch of the Montgomery County Public Library in Bethesda, U.S.A. Business is going on as usual when two men in uniform stride into the main reading room and call for attention. Then they make an announcement: It is forbidden to use the library's computers to view internet pornography. As people are absorbing this, one of the men challenges a patron about a Web site he is visiting and asks the man to step outside. At this point, a librarian intervenes and calls the uniformed men aside. A police officer is summoned. The men leave. It turns out they are employees of the county's Department of Homeland Security and were operating way outside their authority. We are indebted to reporter Cameron W. Barr of The Washington Post for the account of this incident, which, in fact, did not happen in China, Cuba or North Korea. Rather, it happened a few days ago across the border in freedom's land. There are those of us who'd say the country has become less deserving of that sobriquet in recent years. They would point as evidence to the detention of U.S. citizens without charges, counsel or recourse, to laws empowering the government to check up on what you've been reading, to revelations of illegal eavesdropping. And there are others who'd say, "So what?" They're in the 51 percent, according to a recent Los Angles Times/Bloomberg poll, who say we should be ready to give up our freedoms in exchange for security. Apparently, they are ignorant of what Benjamin Franklin said: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Apparently, they're also unversed in something Mr. Bush said as a candidate in 1999: "There ought to be limits to freedom." Mind you, this nugget of wisdom wasn't dropped in a discussion of national security. Rather, it was the future president's reaction to a Web site that made fun of him. Seven years later, he's clearly getting his wish. It chills to know that doesn't alarm more of us. Indeed, of all the many things unfathomable, is the ability to be sanguine at the threatened abrogation of rights. The only way It can be explained is that freedom - the right to do, say, think, go, "live" as you please - is so ingrained in our psyche, has been such a part of us for so long, that some are literally unable to imagine life without it. They seem fundamentally unable to visualize how drastically things would change without these freedoms they treat so cavalierly. What would it be like to need government approval to use the internet, take a trip, watch a movie or read these very words. If that sounds alarmist, consider again the experience at Little Falls, where an agent of the U.S. government literally read over a man's shoulder, Big Brother-like, and tried to prevent him from seeing what he had chosen to see. The fact that there is a war out there doesn't make it OK. The fact that they are panicked doesn't make it OK. The allegation that the material is unsavory doesn't make it OK. Look, freedom is a messy business. It is also a risky business. But it means nothing if it is surrendered at every hint of messiness and risk. That's cowardly. You'd think that would have been learned after the Sedition Act of 1918, the excesses of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the surveillance of the Rev. Martin Luther King. But apparently the lesson requires constant relearning and vigilance. -Reuters
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the U.S. National Security Agency may have read this message without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight.
'What's the last limit you would allow to be placed on your freedom?'
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