SAINT EVEN
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SAINT EVEN

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"Saint Even Does the Bytown"

by Jamie Harkins

Saint Even is bringing its Winter Weekend Getaway tour to Ottawa Feb. 7th, when the three piece will celebrate the release of its new LP at the Bytown Tavern.

Steve Bick, 24, is the Saint Even guitarist, keyboardist, main songwriter, and Carleton political science graduate.

He said a flowing, "not too in your face", psychedelic sound will be in the air when he, bassist Matt Jackson, and drummer Nathan Seamen take the stage.

"We're going to bust out a little drum and bass, but I think we're going to stick mostly to the rock set", Bick said. "With a three piece, its like a standard rock package. We play dancehall reggae, kind of rock stuff, and its kind of pop oriented."

Saint Even has been hitting the road practically every weekend this winter as it tries to drum up interest in its first self-titled LP.

Bick said the band has and will play "anything and everything" including a 'crazy barn party' in peterborough this past New Year's.

"The kind of stuff that we made before this was kind of just to do it," Bick said, referring to the numberous EPs the band has released since it got together four years ago".

"This new project was just to do it so people would want to listen to it and kind of buy it sort of thing. I don't know how else to put it".

But its new LP took some real consiideration and turned out to be a find-tuned blend of its signature style.

"The work we put into this was triple the amount of work we put into the other stuff," Bick said, "The other EPs were just off the floor live stuff - random recordings - but this record is more focused".

Bick said the group took a songwriting approach, trying to put its songs together in a more cohesive format, making the album a smooth listen from front to back.

"You know when you used to make mix tapes on tapes and take your favourite songs, you put them in an order that you think will flow well," he added. "That's how I think this record works".

Saint Even will play the Bytown along with local bands Clepto and Speakeasy. The gig will also mark the EP release for Speakeasy.

"The first band that is playing is Clepto," Bick said. "Those guys, they're based in Ottawa, and I think most of them go to Carleton actually. Their whole deal is that they're a punk band, but on Thursday they're playing an acoustic set, so I don't really know what to expect from that".

But Bick said that he and the rest of Saint Even want to tear Ottawa a new one. Make the women shake their dime pieces, agitate the people out of their chairs and onto the dance floor."

"We play hype, new music, but this night at the bytown is a Rock show I guess, so that's the deal with that".



~~This article was written from a telephone interview with Steve Bick while he was playing Risk and doing keg stands with his brothers in Sudbury Ontario.~~

- The Charlatan (Carleton U)


Discography

2004 - Saint Even: Slangin' Folk Rocks
2005 - Saint Even Goes Apeshit EP (Surf-Core)
2005 - Saint Even: Mood Food EP (Reggae-Dub)
2005 - The Saint vs. The Sinna EP (Hip Hop)
2005 - Slip Records Mixtape: Twenty Oh Five(Various Styles)
2006 - Saint Even: Good (Various Styles)
2006 - Saint Even: At the Monk Inn (Acoustic/Country)
2006 - Saint Even: Slip Mix Two Kay Six (Hip-Hop, Reggae, Dub-step)
2007 - The Pangea EP (Indie-Rock, recorded in Montreal)
2007 - Saint Even : Diamond Vehicle EP (Dancehall Reggae)
2007 - Saint Even: Live at Wing Sang Sound
2007 - Saint Even - 2008 (LP)

Photos

Bio

Saint Even sponged every rock, reggae, and rap sound between 1994 and 2008, and remixed it. We have played energetic sets in innumerable area codes, spreading dance and our records wherever we go. During a weekend tour in November 2007 we played 4 shows, two live radio sessions, and a 6 hour recording session.

That weekend we played to Indie-rockers at Zaphod's in Ottawa, an acoustic session on Ottawa University Radio, and then a late night sound system party in Hull, where we played our reggae tunes. The next day we went to montreal, our drummer got stuck in the Metro during a power outage, so we recorded to a click track. He came to the recording studio just as we were leaving for the radio. While Matt and Steve drove to the station, Nathan one-taked all the drums, cabbed it to the radio station, and met us for our on-air performance.

We then went to our first gig of the night, at La Sala Rosa. The crowd was mostly hip-hoppers, so Steve rapped in french for half the set. Then we ate Ramados chicken. If you're in Montreal, seek this bird out. At about 2am we headed to our next gig, an after-party in a loft on Saint Laurent. We played until four, packed our gear, and drove back to Ontario. That was one weekend tour in November, but Saint Even started some time ago.

The following is an exerpt from an interview in VIEW magazine in Hamilton, Ontario:

"I'm 24 now, and decided it was time to put
something to the public ear," explains Bick via a series of emails. "So most songs on this new Saint Even LP were selected from my EPs, as I write daily, and record almost as often. To date, I have released nine EPs in the last three years, but all really lo–fi, off the floor sort of things. I typically play all the instruments on the EPs.

The people that heard these EPs kept asking when my album was coming out. I thought that was a funny question at first, I was just compulsively writing and recording, but after thinking about it, I figured it would be a great thing to polish the songs that I like best and put them out on one disk with some fresh art."

With the help of local musicians, including members of Slow Hand Motem, The D'Ubervillies, Jen Militia and Frantic City, Bick twiddled down his collection of recordings into a taut few, set to
be released on his own Slip Records this week at The Casbah. A collection of songs encased in punk, lo–fi freak–out folk, rock and conscious hip–hop, Saint Even's self–titled EP is a long time
coming, but well worth the wait.

"This album was made for a lot of reasons," continues Bick. "I am trying to make a record that I would want to buy and listen to, plus I think it is the type of disc you could put on at a party and let it play through. Plus I have started a recording company and after a lot of mix–tapes and EPs, this is our first real release. I hope it will take me to places like NYC and London and Amsterdam and Halifax and Vancouver.

Musically, I was trying to bring something a little different, even though I know that is a whole cliché. The album has some odd time signatures, fast tempo songs, a couple of really popped out
tracks and some beat driven songs. I live for thick beats and bass, so there is lots of that too."

Many Saint Even fans have heard these songs before, including "Living in Skin," "Noon on the Moon" and "All We Got", but the recording techniques and musicianship is different. Plus the lyrics are compelling and in some ways, the strongest elements of the record. "The songs fit together in a new way," adds Bick. "There are a lot of different genres of music colliding on this
record and what ties them together is the words. There's a cynical side to all that I see, as I've always found everything to be humorous, laughing at un–funny shit." I try to keep it light though, as I really wanted to write a record that could be played front–to–back and make you feel good.

For pictures, unreleased music, and tour dates, visit www.myspace.com/theevenemcee.