victory chimes

Most local music lovers probably know Jeff Louch, a celebrated go-karter who has played keyboards and bass for the Royal Mountain Band, Moufette, Vox Crosby and more. Hell, he's probably even in your band and didn't tell you.
Well, the Louch has a new outfit, Victory Chimes, a moody, spacey affair filled out with a support group of equally band-slutty local greats. He launches the LP next Thursday, Sept 25, at Lambi. - brendan murphy, the hour

Victor Chimes
Divan Orange
November 2008

If it weren’t for the pain killers I wouldn’t have gone out. An old lady at the community centre where I was chasing down a lead slipped me a muffin laced with nature’s own and the next thing I knew I was leaning on the bar at Divan Orange staring at my black reflection in the pint of stout. It was a typical night for November. Shitty and wet. But these are ripe conditions if you’re the kind of person I am who enjoys a solid band in a near empty venue. I know it’s terrible if you’re the band and need bread to make rent, but with a head full of cannabis, apples, and cinammon, and the earth’s core accelerating its gravitational pull on my entire being, I felt right at home by the uninhabited sofas. Most of my favourite bands I’ve been lucky enough to see play empty venues. That way, two years later when my friends ask me to pay 25 bucks to see them play a venue of five thousand or so, i don’t have to feel bad when I mask my poverty with a refusal to go on the grounds that I got to see a way better show way back in the day.

Speaking of back in the day, if there’s one band that could pull off a reunion record without ever having released an actual album, it’s probably Montreal’s Royal Mountain Band. At a time when the city felt saturated by candy striped bands relying on a over-glossed sense of irony to make up for their fear of taking a chance with their talent, The Royal Mountain Band, or RMB as they came to be affectionately abbreviated, stood tall with soaring three part harmonies and gut wrenching 70’s arena rock athems which eventually scored them a role as The Band in the Dylan biopic starring the late Heath Ledger and my soon to be girlfriend Cate Blanchett. But like any great band they disbanded and now somewhere on a desktop is their nearly complete never-to-be-released record.
Why does this insignificant piece of trivia matter? Well, because it’s natural to wonder what becomes of these bands, especially a member who, according to a MacLean’s Magazine article, worked so hard to keep the band together. In Victory Chimes, RMB keyboardist, Jeff Louch, takes lead vocal duties in songs characterized by a refreshing dissonance and reservation, proving that a band does not need to overplay to have an epic sound. Victory Chimes are like a good Dickens novel; they don’t underestimate the intelligence of their audience. They sort of get it. They realize that you don’t need a big beat and all-or-nothing stage show to move an audience. They use their sonic space wisely to create a terribly moody soundscape reminiscent of early 80’s UK post-punk. But if there’s one thing that 80’s UK brand of music did not have and if there’s one thing Louch has been wise to bring with him from his past band is the attention to harmonies that made the RMB such a memorable band. Former RMB singer Tavis Triance helped Louch out with some tracks while recording in Montreal’s increasingly important Breakglass Studios. He was also assisted on guitar by Rich White of the Besnard Lakes and Bucky Wheaton on drums (formerly of Land of Talk). On stage the cast might be different, with Alex Formosa, Tony Spina and Tyson Scallman, but expect a memorable show. Add Michelle Tompkins to the mix, whose presence and vocals evoke the musical presence of Victoria Bergman of the Concretes (she’s also the voice who basically made Peter Bjorn and John famous) and you’ve got a band more than worth waiting in line in the cold to see.

Sydney S. Pistol

- matrix magazine