Tofu Stravinsky

MONTREAL — A new year opens, with all of its inherent promise, and without any of the possibly triskaidekaphobic curses of the one we just buried. Good things happen in years ending in 4s, right? After all, 4/4 is the official time signature of rock ’n’ roll. Forth we go, into the new.

There’s the central challenge, as Montreal’s rock/pop/indie/folk/whatsit bands face the year ahead: How do you renew what you do and keep it passionately, progressively fresh, of interest to you as much as to the people who buy your tickets, T-shirts and (yes!) vinyl? When your scene is no longer the cutest international thing, you need to do that.

As near as I can figure, there are three ways to do so.

Firstly, you can be new. Fire/Works and Tofu Stravinsky (see below) are relative novices on the scene, facing the creative challenges, enlightening experiences and romantic intrepidity of working ensemble as a crew of aspiring popular musicians. Disappointment — in the business, in the people, in yourself — is a distant mirage on the limitless sea of possibility. For a good eight months.

Or you can go mega — you can become a massive, globally celebrated band. And yes, the success rate is exceedingly, inversely slim compared to the desire for same. If you are Arcade Fire, your career engine thrums with the constant inbuilt energy of new or renewed conquests. Your latest album soars to the top of the charts with a ravenous pre-sold audience waiting. The numbers are practically pre-counted. The world’s major festivals await. And you do so with most of your avant-pop cred intact, notwithstanding the carping of a few people who don’t like dress-up nights.

Or you can follow the old, hard dictum: When there is no wind, row. Because despite Woody Allen’s line that 80 per cent of success is showing up, the math really reveals that 80 per cent of success is doing things when you don’t entirely want to do them right now. Even Bruce or Bono has surely felt that very occasional chink in the messianic armour: Christ, not “Meet Me Out Where the Streets Have No Name” again. And they’re getting paid, in every possible way. Most of you aren’t. So on the hard nights, “rowing” means finding new tactics or strategies, and that means finding new inspiration to drive them.

And so in the zillion emails and calls I gratefully received in cobbling this list together, there was one from Rick Trembles of local lifers the American Devices, who have been post-punk for many times longer than there was a post-punk. He refers to some upcoming shows that will deconstruct the band’s old set into “instrumental versions of (their) most convoluted songs, the ones that are especially hard to sing and play at the same time.” Why? Because the band would like to “isolate the most convoluted single riff each of these songs has to offer, slowing it down and cycling it for a minute or so into a deliberate hypnotic loop, stretched out until it’s practically unrecognizable, so that when the same riff reappears in the faster-paced version, listeners will only subliminally be able to recall it.”

OK. There’s brilliance in that. Finding the new thing in what you did/do and reanimating it for yourself and anyone who listens to you. Keith Richards used to talk about playing Jumpin’ Jack Flash night after night (after night) and finding something new in the riff every time. That’s partly Keith self-mythologizing — but then again, even that requires the ability and need to even bother to do so. Point taken. Point hopefully delivered: You get to discover, and make it up and remake it up whenever you so choose. Hey, I think I just defined rock ’n’ roll. Now it’s your turn.

The American Devices, Montreal’s ranking post-everything survivors, will rewire their obsessive, 3½-decade-old sound and arcane time signatures in springtime shows “unencumbered by vocals.”

Arcade Fire will play Toronto March 13 and Ottawa March 14 before headlining the Coachella (Indio, Calif.) and Glastonbury (U.K.) festivals, and will wrap up their global tour at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Aug. 30.

Digital faux-folk duo AroarA will have a compilation due of all 14 of their songs (EP plus album) inspired by American poet Alice Notley’s book In the Pines.

Brilliant Band descendants the Barr Brothers follow their debut with work on a sophomore album, and will play some low-key shows.

Terrific neo-garagists Dead Messenger record a followup to 2013’s Recharger, called The Owl in Daylight. “In the meantime we will still be touring the country in our van, solving crimes and playing shows.”

The Dears have ignited the kindling for a new record, with no set dates for anything, because they don’t need to have them.

Electrocuted punkers Duchess Says have nine songs done for a new album, and a European tour in May.

Raga-rockers Elephant Stone will demo and record in February and March and release in October, with a North American tour in late April/early May, followed by Europe in June.

Electro-psych-funk band Filthy Haanz have a new album due in May.

Montreal dream-folk darlings Fire/Works will release their second LP on Coyote Records in May, following on the acclaimed Grand Voyageur.

Danceable, sophisticated wavoids First You Get the Sugar have a self-produced EP due, and shows in the works.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor — whose album ’Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! won the Polaris Music Prize in the fall — comes to Metropolis for eagerly awaited shows on Jan. 18 and 19.

Monstroband GrimSkunk is touring Australia and will then record a new album.

International breakout group Half Moon Run is in Australia, but will also tour Canada in May with City and Colour. There are some festival dates this summer, including Hyde Park in London with Neil Young and the National in July.

The Hellbound Hepcats head off on a European rockabilly tour in June, plan the release of their third album for September, and anticipate an exhaustive 200-gig year (including Feb. 1 at Club Soda).

Post-psychedelicists the High Dials are finishing a full-length album and will release a series of digital EPs. (The Yestergraves EP is available on iTunes.) The band has a new live lineup and has begun playing again after a hiatus.

Transplanted B.C. singer-songwriter Kandle (daughter of 54-40 frontman Neil Osborne) follows the spooky video Demon with a debut album due in March.

Montreal Beefheart-soul man Karneef launches an album in February.

Patrick Krief will have an autumn album partly recorded in a 17th-century Dresden castle converted into a studio. There will be a few U.S. dates in May. He’ll also play in Jay Malinowski’s Deadcoast project across Canada, including a show at Lion d’Or on April 5.

The punky Leamers follow the “postcard flexi-disc” Summer Cream by recording a new seven-inch for the Talking Skull label, followed by spring and summer tour dates.

Parlovr sits tight while two of the three members (Louis Jackson and Jeremy MacCuish) join friends in an assaultive, propulsive project called Nanimal, to be released by the summer.

Three years in the making, Roy (Choyce) Vucino and garage-gospel Satanists Red Mass complete their debut album, A Hopeless Noise: The Story of the Diamond Girl, a lo-fi/hi-fi tale of delusion, vice, madness and a Lost Girl, featuring guest musicians including Mike Watt, John Kastner and Evan Dando.

Gothwitch sonic exorcists Sacral Nerves release their first official recordings on cassette, offering a limited number for sale at the launch show with an optional download code for MP3s attached. MP3s will also be available online for a small fee.

Slaves on Dope have written songs and are working lyrics for a spring release, to be titled Horse (released by Cobraside). “It sounds like Slaves on Dope meets the Phantom of the Park,” says singer Jason Rockman.

“I’m pretty sure this will be the first time most of your readers have said ‘Tofu Stravinsky?’ to themselves,” says Tyler Toews, “so the band’s first goal is to bring the Tofu brand of indie-chill soul-rock to as many Montrealers as we can.” They’ll play a show here every month, join Sloan in March, head to the Maritimes in April, release Fondue in May and tour the West in the summer.

Electro-primitivists We Are Wolves follow their recent sold-out gig at Cabaret Underworld with a major Quebec tour, loping back into town March 1 at the Cinémathèque québécoise. - Montreal Gazette

MONTREAL — A new year opens, with all of its inherent promise, and without any of the possibly triskaidekaphobic curses of the one we just buried. Good things happen in years ending in 4s, right? After all, 4/4 is the official time signature of rock ’n’ roll. Forth we go, into the new.

There’s the central challenge, as Montreal’s rock/pop/indie/folk/whatsit bands face the year ahead: How do you renew what you do and keep it passionately, progressively fresh, of interest to you as much as to the people who buy your tickets, T-shirts and (yes!) vinyl? When your scene is no longer the cutest international thing, you need to do that.

As near as I can figure, there are three ways to do so.

Firstly, you can be new. Fire/Works and Tofu Stravinsky (see below) are relative novices on the scene, facing the creative challenges, enlightening experiences and romantic intrepidity of working ensemble as a crew of aspiring popular musicians. Disappointment — in the business, in the people, in yourself — is a distant mirage on the limitless sea of possibility. For a good eight months.

Or you can go mega — you can become a massive, globally celebrated band. And yes, the success rate is exceedingly, inversely slim compared to the desire for same. If you are Arcade Fire, your career engine thrums with the constant inbuilt energy of new or renewed conquests. Your latest album soars to the top of the charts with a ravenous pre-sold audience waiting. The numbers are practically pre-counted. The world’s major festivals await. And you do so with most of your avant-pop cred intact, notwithstanding the carping of a few people who don’t like dress-up nights.

Or you can follow the old, hard dictum: When there is no wind, row. Because despite Woody Allen’s line that 80 per cent of success is showing up, the math really reveals that 80 per cent of success is doing things when you don’t entirely want to do them right now. Even Bruce or Bono has surely felt that very occasional chink in the messianic armour: Christ, not “Meet Me Out Where the Streets Have No Name” again. And they’re getting paid, in every possible way. Most of you aren’t. So on the hard nights, “rowing” means finding new tactics or strategies, and that means finding new inspiration to drive them.

And so in the zillion emails and calls I gratefully received in cobbling this list together, there was one from Rick Trembles of local lifers the American Devices, who have been post-punk for many times longer than there was a post-punk. He refers to some upcoming shows that will deconstruct the band’s old set into “instrumental versions of (their) most convoluted songs, the ones that are especially hard to sing and play at the same time.” Why? Because the band would like to “isolate the most convoluted single riff each of these songs has to offer, slowing it down and cycling it for a minute or so into a deliberate hypnotic loop, stretched out until it’s practically unrecognizable, so that when the same riff reappears in the faster-paced version, listeners will only subliminally be able to recall it.”

OK. There’s brilliance in that. Finding the new thing in what you did/do and reanimating it for yourself and anyone who listens to you. Keith Richards used to talk about playing Jumpin’ Jack Flash night after night (after night) and finding something new in the riff every time. That’s partly Keith self-mythologizing — but then again, even that requires the ability and need to even bother to do so. Point taken. Point hopefully delivered: You get to discover, and make it up and remake it up whenever you so choose. Hey, I think I just defined rock ’n’ roll. Now it’s your turn.

“I’m pretty sure this will be the first time most of your readers have said ‘Tofu Stravinsky?’ to themselves,” says Tyler Toews, “so the band’s first goal is to bring the Tofu brand of indie-chill soul-rock to as many Montrealers as we can.” They’ll play a show here every month, join Sloan in March, head to the Maritimes in April, release Fondue in May and tour the West in the summer. - Montreal Gazette

Nelson band, Tofu Stravinsky, are set to play the Grateful Fed on August 30th. The five-piece band, which developed out of a solo-project started by guitarist and vocalist Tyler Toews, makes a brand of jazz infused indie-rock. Currently on tour, the band’s stop in Kelowna may be their last for a little while. That’s because after the conclusion of their tour – in Ottawa on September 25th – Tofu Stravinsky will be relocating to Montreal on a permanent basis. In addition to the move, Tofu Stravinsky have an album in the works too. The record follows BTTRMLK, an EP that was released this past February. As you might imagine, it’s a very exciting time for the band, and I was eager to find out more when I put a few questions to Toews and lead-vocalist, Sarah Orton, recently. Check out the interview below…



Vincent Jones) For people who aren’t familiar with Tofu Stravinsky’s sound, can you describe your music in one sentence?


Sarah Orton) Enjoying the music of Tofu Stravinsky is like sipping good red wine from a coke-can.



VJ) If you had to pick one Tofu song that best encapsulates your sound – which would it be?


Tyler Toews) Hmmm... [it’s kind of] like picking your favourite pet or child. I think the song "Mexico" really features a lot of the things Tofu Stravinsky is about: a great groove, distinct guitar and keyboard work, Sarah's disarmingly dynamic vocal performance and tight harmonies. Plus it’s a song about being out on the road, a theme which often comes up in our song writing.



Have a listen to “Mexico” here:






VJ) How did Tofu Stravinsky begin, and what is the meaning behind the name?



TT) All five members of the band met in Nelson B.C. while attending the music college there. We partied and jammed together a lot before actually deciding to focus our efforts in the same direction. [As for our name], Stravinsky was a powerfully dynamic classical composer who was making music at the turn of the 20th century. Tofu is slang for cheap, raw and plentiful. You do the math.



VJ) Your upcoming Kelowna date is part of tour that takes you eastward. Once the tour is over, you’re going to be staying in Montreal for good. You must be incredibly excited - what inspired the band to make the move and what are you hoping to gain from it?



SO) For a very long time I've had this idea in my head that Montreal is where I need to be. I've never been before, or have any clue what it's like...it’s just calling my name. So I somehow convinced the guys to relocate there. We've all only heard great things... people speak very highly of the place.



TT) We want to expand our horizons. Meet new people, have our minds blown open (again and again) by new music and culture. Montreal seems like a fun place to do those things... I'm also a sucker for a cute French accent.




(Photo: Electrify Photography)

VJ) Do you have a tour van? If so, what is the name of the van, and what is the reasoning behind the name?



SO) Yes, we are rocking a GMC Safari and it's been a very luxurious ride thus far. We had a contest on Facebook to give it its title... [the name is] Priscilla Stravansky.



VJ) Looking ahead, you have an album on the way. Where is it at as of right now?



TT) Tofu Stravinsky is at the same place Led Zeppelin were [at] in 1968 - the year before Led Zeppelin I was released - we are a fresh band with a batch of cool songs. Over the next six months, we are [going to] play them over and over in front of audiences across the country until they are perfect. Then we are going to step into a good studio and make a really good sounding album.



VJ) I read in another interview that there’s a definite theme to your upcoming album – can you tell us what it is?



SO) The album is going to be called Smooth Crunchy. We're not yet ready to publicly release any more info than that.



VJ) In your opinion, what’s the biggest challenge facing emerging Canadian bands today?



TT) Themselves. I may be stealing this from a self-help book but I believe the only thing between you and your dreams is hard work. You need to live and breathe it. There are a million ways to make music a huge part of your life (writing, recording, touring, teaching, playing in cover bands, busking, building guitars, etc.). You just need to be focused, work hard and be prepared to sacrifice some "comfort" from time to time. Canadian songwriter Stephen Fearing once said to me "Going to work on no sleep after staying up all night to finish writing a song will always feel better than going to work having put the song idea aside."



VJ) What are you passionate about outside of music?



SO) Art. Being happy. Staying sane.



TT) Family, friends and travel. I can also quote every line from the movie Wayne's World.


- Kelowna Now

Today we shine the Radio West Spotlight on Nelson band, Tofu Stravinsky. Rebecca spoke with band member, Tyler Toews. - CBC Radio West

Today we shine the Radio West Spotlight on Nelson band, Tofu Stravinsky. Rebecca spoke with band member, Tyler Toews. - CBC Radio West

Describing their music as “smooth, crunchy,” Tofu Stravinsky is set to release their latest EP — BTTRMLK at The Royal.

Never intending to cook up the naturally evolving food theme, the band of local musicians feels their music feeds the soul.

Indie rock meets jazz; the latest Tofu album is a collaboration of Tyler Toews on guitar and vocals; Sarah Orton singing; Quillan Hanley playing bass; Malik Mourah on drums and Jon Perry — their third and “best” synth player.

“There are some really talented and committed people here. I’ve been playing music for a long time and this is really special,” says Toews. “We’ve found people who are on the same page.”

Also known for his work with Miss Quincy and Val Kilmer and the New Coke, Toews has one album previously released under the Tofu Stravinsky name. The solo project introduced Orton on a few vocals. Described by Toews as “one of the coolest voices in Canada,” it was the beginning of their creative collaboration.

“It just worked well. We clicked,” said Toews. “Everything we do just kind of makes sense.”

Opening for Hey Ocean and more recently Tequila Mockingbird last month at The Royal, the band still feels excited — and a bit nervous to share the stage with some bigger names.

But sensing they’ve made something “real and true,” the Kootenay Crew is ambitious and confident — ready to showcase BTTRMLK, says Orton.

“I love Nelson but the opportunities aren’t here,” says the self-professed shy girl clearly comfortable on stage. “I am ready to leave to make this happen.”

BTTRMLK features lyrics considering perspective of the human experience. Orton, also a painter, contributes a picturesque feel to songs that are an artistic take on life, says Toews.

Yet, the music remains accessible — described as “good red wine in a coke can.”

The sophisticated album sound will explode onto the stage next week with many new songs getting play.

“If you buy this album after listening to us live, you aren’t going to hear the same thing,” says Orton.

The February 28 release party at the Royal marks the end of the yearlong endeavor by Toews

“Tyler is the king of time,” says Orton. “If he thinks something is going to be beautiful, he’ll give it his time.” - By Kirsten Hildebrand - Nelson Star