This is an exclusive interview I did with Paper Bag Records' You Say Party! We Say Die! roughly a month ago, but I never got the chance to publish. So here it is in all it's (outdated and unedited) glory! It's also a tad lengthy, so grab a bag of popcorn or something first and get comfortable.
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British Columbia’s You Say Party! We Say Die! have always been known for their hard work, endless touring and extra efforts in keeping in touch with friends and fans. It has been a hectic year for the whole group. In the duration of the year, the band signed to Canadian indie power label, Paper Bag Records, released their highly anticipated follow-up to 2005’s Hit the Floor, Lose All Time, and toured non-stop since the end of August. Well, with the exception of the U.S., from which they’re still serving their 5-year ban. But even without any scheduled shows in the states until October 2011, the band had a handful of shows elsewhere to occupy them for months, accompanied by an equal handful of touring woes. I was fortunate enough to catch up with the band as their tour finally winds down to an end, and they rest in Winnipeg before taking the stage later on that night for their third last show of the 2007. Band leader, Stephen O’Shea explains the band’s love for live shows and what they really think of MySpace and Facebook.
PPS: How was your high school experience like?
Stephen O’Shea: It was so pleasing. [Laughs] It’s hard to think back, actually. I graduated in ’99, when cargo pants were really popular because it was the late 90’s. And girl groups would get together and watch those last couple of seasons of 90210. So I guess I was a social outsider. I went home for lunch, so that didn’t make me popular either. Because if you stuck around during lunch hours, you would have friends. But I would have a particular love for fresh sandwiches. Like, I can’t handle when you make a sandwich first thing in the morning, and it would sit in your locker all day, and then hours later you ear it and it tastes horrible! I lived close enough to the school that I would just walk home for lunch. But yeah, I think we all had really different high school upbringings. We grew up in the suburbs of Vancouver, in a place called Abbottsford. So you can imagine some sort of terrible suburban unhappiness; always finding boredom and being frustrated.
PPS: Yeah, I know what you mean. I live in the suburbs too.
SO: Yeah? So you can totally relate!
PPS: Oh Yes!
SO: You know, I actually left Abbottsford and I moved to Vancouver and I had a good time there, but I moved back to Abbottsford because as much as the city’s a great place to be, I actually find that the boredom of living in Abbottsford is something that I thrive on. I need to be bored and not entertained by the many things going on in the city to actually get creative work done. Like, “Well nothing’s going on tonight. What do you want to do? Well let’s write a song!” It’s actually been really good to me in that sense. I’ve got no beef with the suburbs. I don’t think I’m your typical prototype suburban.
PPS: Yeah, I was going to point out the influence Abbottsford had on the creation of the band. So if you guys didn’t live there, do you think you would’ve started You Say Party! We Say Die!?
SO: Well, I’ve been in other bands before in Abbottsford, but I guess, technically, no. I wouldn’t have started this band because I’ve lived in other parts of Canada and I hitchhiked across the country and never started bands that got anywhere. [Laughs] Like, I had another band that was kind of similar, but it didn’t have keyboards. It was called The Knives, which I think there’s been like 30 bands called the Knives, and it was just dancey garage rock and it was good but it never got off the ground with more than two shows. Then everyone went on a break, and when I moved back to Abbottsford, it was where I found the other members. Abbottsford has a notorious sound, which is an Abbottsford sound.
PPS: Really?
SO: Yeah. And the reason why nobody knows it is because there are not a lot of established Abbottsford bands that have gone on to do what we’ve been doing. There’s another band in Abbottsford that has since broken up called Fun 100.
PPS: Yeah, I know of them.
SO: Yeah, but there’s a bunch of other Abbottsford bands that haven’t really moved on to anything too significant. Abbottsford bands are sort of known for being really heavy but also very poppy as well. I guess it’s kind of just the way they’ve all been. I guess I should specifically say for our scene because Hedley’s technically from Abbottsford.
PPS: Really?!
SO: Well, the lead singer is, his band isn’t. But he grew up there and he really has nothing to do with You Say Party! We Say Die! or Fun 100, other than the fact that he went to high school there. So I would never really include him in anything we’re talking about. [Laughs] But yeah, we’re technically the second most popular band from Abbottsford!
PPS: [Laughs] Well technically, I guess. But speaking of teenage years and teenagers, I read somewhere that you love doing all-ages shows?
SO: Yes. That is not a lie.
PPS: Why is that?
SO: Because all ages kids know how to dance. They’re actually oddly challenging in a certain way because you have to get over this certain awkwardness. You’ve got to coax them into coming to the front of the room. Got to get them to be comfortable enough and not just standing around with their arms crossed. Because usually, they’re not like bar crowds where they actually think they’re too cool; they’re actually just more too nervous. Which is totally fine and I just find that we have a really good time. I don’t think a band should ever play exclusively bar shows. I think we’ve been kind of stuck, particularly in Ontario, specifically Toronto, playing bar shows. There’s not a lot of all ages venues in Toronto.
PPS: Well it depends on the venue and band.
SO: If you’re as big as Alexisonfire, you can convince any venue and promoter to close down the bar and they’d be happy to do it because it’s them. But when you’re as small of a band like us, you can’t really do that and be like, “All right Lee’s Palace, you’re not going to sell alcohol tonight.” They’re not going to agree to that and do an all ages show! But it’s really fun and I think it goes even beyond all ages shows and particularly, we’re just big fans of playing basements and playing alternative venues. There’s nothing I love more than loading my gear in somebody’s house and meeting their mom and shaking her hand, saying, “I’m sorry that we’re about to make this racket in your house in the next hour or so.”
PPS: So if I invited you to play at my house, you would do it?
SO: I would definitely do it and I would work my best to convince the rest of the band to do it. [Laughs] We’re totally into it when it works. But usually, we say no. Not because we’re not into it, but because there’s lots of conflicts. But if you’ll have us play at your house, we’ll probably play!
PPS: If I could arrange it, I would do it but…
SO: That would be fun! We just really like doing alternative places, different from all ages halls or bars. There’s a lot of neat places to play.
PPS: Well the connection I was trying to build up to was that the younger crowds that attend those shows are also the more predominant audience using MySpace nowadays. So how important do you think it is to keep in contact with fans through MySpace and updating your blogs, since that’s something you do a lot of.
SO: It’s great that MySpace let’s people instantly communicate with bands, but I think it also destroyed things like fan clubs and stuff like that, which is the more organic way to do thing in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. Up until then, and then the internet took over. I would never say it’s a terrible thing, I’m not saying I’m against MySpace. It hasn’t changed anything, it’s just allowed for more instant communication with people. Sometimes we go month without updating our blogs, sometimes we go days and it’s just based on what we have to say, what’s going on, and how tired we are or not. It’s great, but it doesn’t replace the fact that its way more fun to see them live and talk to them at the show. Slowly more and more people are going to live their lives on the internet and not in real life and that is something that I’m not excited about. I love when fans post, “Hey, I just got back from your show and it was awesome!!” because then you know that people are coming out and seeing you live. There’s more interaction. That’s why the band was started – to interact with fans and friends.
PPS: So what made you start a Facebook account then?
SO: We didn’t have a deep discussion about this or anything. But for the longest of time, Facebook was humans only and then just recently, we noticed that you can add bands. And as new platforms come, people jump from platform to platform. It’s not like we’re giving up on MySpace, it’s just another way of meeting more people.
The music listener is always changing. There’s going to be a day when we’re not selling CDs anymore and we’ll probably see on iTunes and maybe USB sticks and vinyl. I know as a band that we’re going to stop putting out CDs in like, five years, and that’s we’re going to make vinyl and we’ll probably go back to making cassette tapes. And we’ll probably have it so when you’re at our show, you can download the album, straight off of us, into your iPods. Technology is changing and people are consuming music in different way. We don’t mind changing a little bit. We really like playing live because that’s what’s important to us. Records are great so that people know what your songs are and they can be anticipating them when you play them live, so that way they can sing and dance along. Record sales are important to other bands…and I’ll say if my record label is reading this, it’s important too! [Laughs] But I think a band’s job, first and foremost, is playing live and playing well.
PPS: So in your bio on your un-updated website (Stephen, the main provider of online updates can’t update the official website due to lack of knowledge of the html codes on the site), there is a quote, reading, “If you are doing what you really love, then life feels like a party.”
SO: Yes, Becky said that. That’s probably the only part of the bio that I like!
PPS: Do you feel like your life is still a party? Especially like, at shows.
SO: Oh yeah! We love playing shows. I tell people that working in a touring band, I work 24 hours a day because we’re always away from home. But I put up with 23½ hours each day, just for that ½ hour I get to spend on the stage everyday. That’s the best part of my job for sure. We’ll give our energy and when they give their energy back, that’s when it becomes a party and that’s totally worth it. We still love it, just like the quote says.
PPS: Well I know who’s not feeling the party – the States!
SO: [Laughs] We’ve served one year, four more to go!
PPS: Are you looking forward to 2011?
SO: Yeah, I am. Mostly because I want to prove to the States and prove to anyone who doesn’t like our band and thinks that we’re not going to beat this that we will. Nothing will be more satisfying than getting back into the states and playing just to prove that we’ve outlasted a 5 year ban and it didn’t hurt us.
PPS: How was your high school experience like?
Stephen O’Shea: It was so pleasing. [Laughs] It’s hard to think back, actually. I graduated in ’99, when cargo pants were really popular because it was the late 90’s. And girl groups would get together and watch those last couple of seasons of 90210. So I guess I was a social outsider. I went home for lunch, so that didn’t make me popular either. Because if you stuck around during lunch hours, you would have friends. But I would have a particular love for fresh sandwiches. Like, I can’t handle when you make a sandwich first thing in the morning, and it would sit in your locker all day, and then hours later you ear it and it tastes horrible! I lived close enough to the school that I would just walk home for lunch. But yeah, I think we all had really different high school upbringings. We grew up in the suburbs of Vancouver, in a place called Abbottsford. So you can imagine some sort of terrible suburban unhappiness; always finding boredom and being frustrated.
PPS: Yeah, I know what you mean. I live in the suburbs too.
SO: Yeah? So you can totally relate!
PPS: Oh Yes!
SO: You know, I actually left Abbottsford and I moved to Vancouver and I had a good time there, but I moved back to Abbottsford because as much as the city’s a great place to be, I actually find that the boredom of living in Abbottsford is something that I thrive on. I need to be bored and not entertained by the many things going on in the city to actually get creative work done. Like, “Well nothing’s going on tonight. What do you want to do? Well let’s write a song!” It’s actually been really good to me in that sense. I’ve got no beef with the suburbs. I don’t think I’m your typical prototype suburban.
PPS: Yeah, I was going to point out the influence Abbottsford had on the creation of the band. So if you guys didn’t live there, do you think you would’ve started You Say Party! We Say Die!?
SO: Well, I’ve been in other bands before in Abbottsford, but I guess, technically, no. I wouldn’t have started this band because I’ve lived in other parts of Canada and I hitchhiked across the country and never started bands that got anywhere. [Laughs] Like, I had another band that was kind of similar, but it didn’t have keyboards. It was called The Knives, which I think there’s been like 30 bands called the Knives, and it was just dancey garage rock and it was good but it never got off the ground with more than two shows. Then everyone went on a break, and when I moved back to Abbottsford, it was where I found the other members. Abbottsford has a notorious sound, which is an Abbottsford sound.
PPS: Really?
SO: Yeah. And the reason why nobody knows it is because there are not a lot of established Abbottsford bands that have gone on to do what we’ve been doing. There’s another band in Abbottsford that has since broken up called Fun 100.
PPS: Yeah, I know of them.
SO: Yeah, but there’s a bunch of other Abbottsford bands that haven’t really moved on to anything too significant. Abbottsford bands are sort of known for being really heavy but also very poppy as well. I guess it’s kind of just the way they’ve all been. I guess I should specifically say for our scene because Hedley’s technically from Abbottsford.
PPS: Really?!
SO: Well, the lead singer is, his band isn’t. But he grew up there and he really has nothing to do with You Say Party! We Say Die! or Fun 100, other than the fact that he went to high school there. So I would never really include him in anything we’re talking about. [Laughs] But yeah, we’re technically the second most popular band from Abbottsford!
PPS: [Laughs] Well technically, I guess. But speaking of teenage years and teenagers, I read somewhere that you love doing all-ages shows?
SO: Yes. That is not a lie.
PPS: Why is that?
SO: Because all ages kids know how to dance. They’re actually oddly challenging in a certain way because you have to get over this certain awkwardness. You’ve got to coax them into coming to the front of the room. Got to get them to be comfortable enough and not just standing around with their arms crossed. Because usually, they’re not like bar crowds where they actually think they’re too cool; they’re actually just more too nervous. Which is totally fine and I just find that we have a really good time. I don’t think a band should ever play exclusively bar shows. I think we’ve been kind of stuck, particularly in Ontario, specifically Toronto, playing bar shows. There’s not a lot of all ages venues in Toronto.
PPS: Well it depends on the venue and band.
SO: If you’re as big as Alexisonfire, you can convince any venue and promoter to close down the bar and they’d be happy to do it because it’s them. But when you’re as small of a band like us, you can’t really do that and be like, “All right Lee’s Palace, you’re not going to sell alcohol tonight.” They’re not going to agree to that and do an all ages show! But it’s really fun and I think it goes even beyond all ages shows and particularly, we’re just big fans of playing basements and playing alternative venues. There’s nothing I love more than loading my gear in somebody’s house and meeting their mom and shaking her hand, saying, “I’m sorry that we’re about to make this racket in your house in the next hour or so.”
PPS: So if I invited you to play at my house, you would do it?
SO: I would definitely do it and I would work my best to convince the rest of the band to do it. [Laughs] We’re totally into it when it works. But usually, we say no. Not because we’re not into it, but because there’s lots of conflicts. But if you’ll have us play at your house, we’ll probably play!
PPS: If I could arrange it, I would do it but…
SO: That would be fun! We just really like doing alternative places, different from all ages halls or bars. There’s a lot of neat places to play.
PPS: Well the connection I was trying to build up to was that the younger crowds that attend those shows are also the more predominant audience using MySpace nowadays. So how important do you think it is to keep in contact with fans through MySpace and updating your blogs, since that’s something you do a lot of.
SO: It’s great that MySpace let’s people instantly communicate with bands, but I think it also destroyed things like fan clubs and stuff like that, which is the more organic way to do thing in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. Up until then, and then the internet took over. I would never say it’s a terrible thing, I’m not saying I’m against MySpace. It hasn’t changed anything, it’s just allowed for more instant communication with people. Sometimes we go month without updating our blogs, sometimes we go days and it’s just based on what we have to say, what’s going on, and how tired we are or not. It’s great, but it doesn’t replace the fact that its way more fun to see them live and talk to them at the show. Slowly more and more people are going to live their lives on the internet and not in real life and that is something that I’m not excited about. I love when fans post, “Hey, I just got back from your show and it was awesome!!” because then you know that people are coming out and seeing you live. There’s more interaction. That’s why the band was started – to interact with fans and friends.
PPS: So what made you start a Facebook account then?
SO: We didn’t have a deep discussion about this or anything. But for the longest of time, Facebook was humans only and then just recently, we noticed that you can add bands. And as new platforms come, people jump from platform to platform. It’s not like we’re giving up on MySpace, it’s just another way of meeting more people.
The music listener is always changing. There’s going to be a day when we’re not selling CDs anymore and we’ll probably see on iTunes and maybe USB sticks and vinyl. I know as a band that we’re going to stop putting out CDs in like, five years, and that’s we’re going to make vinyl and we’ll probably go back to making cassette tapes. And we’ll probably have it so when you’re at our show, you can download the album, straight off of us, into your iPods. Technology is changing and people are consuming music in different way. We don’t mind changing a little bit. We really like playing live because that’s what’s important to us. Records are great so that people know what your songs are and they can be anticipating them when you play them live, so that way they can sing and dance along. Record sales are important to other bands…and I’ll say if my record label is reading this, it’s important too! [Laughs] But I think a band’s job, first and foremost, is playing live and playing well.
PPS: So in your bio on your un-updated website (Stephen, the main provider of online updates can’t update the official website due to lack of knowledge of the html codes on the site), there is a quote, reading, “If you are doing what you really love, then life feels like a party.”
SO: Yes, Becky said that. That’s probably the only part of the bio that I like!
PPS: Do you feel like your life is still a party? Especially like, at shows.
SO: Oh yeah! We love playing shows. I tell people that working in a touring band, I work 24 hours a day because we’re always away from home. But I put up with 23½ hours each day, just for that ½ hour I get to spend on the stage everyday. That’s the best part of my job for sure. We’ll give our energy and when they give their energy back, that’s when it becomes a party and that’s totally worth it. We still love it, just like the quote says.
PPS: Well I know who’s not feeling the party – the States!
SO: [Laughs] We’ve served one year, four more to go!
PPS: Are you looking forward to 2011?
SO: Yeah, I am. Mostly because I want to prove to the States and prove to anyone who doesn’t like our band and thinks that we’re not going to beat this that we will. Nothing will be more satisfying than getting back into the states and playing just to prove that we’ve outlasted a 5 year ban and it didn’t hurt us.
PPS: What’s the first thing you want to do when you get back into the US?
SO: Play Belington! Which is the city just south of Abbottsford, like 50 km away. And then the second thing is that I want to play Seattle and then I want to go down the west coast and I want to get to a Whataburger! I really like Whataburger. In fact, if an American would want to Fed-Ex me a burger, I’d be the happiest man on Earth! Like, if you can mail it up to Canada and it can get there overnight, it’d be the best thing ever. It’s the one thing I miss more than anything – a Whataburger.
PPS: So your tour ends in a few days?
SO: Yes, Saturday is our last show.
PPS: Are you excited?
SO: I’m excited for these last three shows and I’m excited to see my family. It’s been a really long time. I’ll be home for about 3 days and then I’ll be like, “OK, I’m rested. Let’s go!” And I think that’s just what this tour has been. We went for so long without going home. If we could’ve stopped and taken a break at home, even for a week, we could’ve probably gone even longer. But it’s good to take a break and we’ll probably write our next record though the rest of the winter and spring. So it’s exciting. We’ve definitely worked hard at recording Lose All Time and I think a lot of people found out about us that didn’t know us after the first record and we’re looking forward to doing it all again.
PPS: So have you decided on what the next record will be like?
SO: No, because I don’t think we’ve written a single song for it yet. And that’s kind of exciting. We attempted to write some stuff, but I didn’t really like them. It’ll be one of two things. It will either be something we’ve never done before or it’ll be a healthy mix of the excitement of the first record put together with the song writing of the second record. That’s kind of what I’d like to see, but I know other members have completely different views over what they want from the next record. What I do know is that they have said adamantly that they don’t want to rush into the next record and they will make sure that they’re proud of every single note, every single lyric, and every single second of the record! [Laughs] So it could be a while before we all agree. But I believe in taking the time to make sure that we all agree on making the best record ever. That we’ve ever made…not the best record of all time. No one can make a better record than Led Zeppelin. But yeah, we want to make a really great record.
SO: Play Belington! Which is the city just south of Abbottsford, like 50 km away. And then the second thing is that I want to play Seattle and then I want to go down the west coast and I want to get to a Whataburger! I really like Whataburger. In fact, if an American would want to Fed-Ex me a burger, I’d be the happiest man on Earth! Like, if you can mail it up to Canada and it can get there overnight, it’d be the best thing ever. It’s the one thing I miss more than anything – a Whataburger.
PPS: So your tour ends in a few days?
SO: Yes, Saturday is our last show.
PPS: Are you excited?
SO: I’m excited for these last three shows and I’m excited to see my family. It’s been a really long time. I’ll be home for about 3 days and then I’ll be like, “OK, I’m rested. Let’s go!” And I think that’s just what this tour has been. We went for so long without going home. If we could’ve stopped and taken a break at home, even for a week, we could’ve probably gone even longer. But it’s good to take a break and we’ll probably write our next record though the rest of the winter and spring. So it’s exciting. We’ve definitely worked hard at recording Lose All Time and I think a lot of people found out about us that didn’t know us after the first record and we’re looking forward to doing it all again.
PPS: So have you decided on what the next record will be like?
SO: No, because I don’t think we’ve written a single song for it yet. And that’s kind of exciting. We attempted to write some stuff, but I didn’t really like them. It’ll be one of two things. It will either be something we’ve never done before or it’ll be a healthy mix of the excitement of the first record put together with the song writing of the second record. That’s kind of what I’d like to see, but I know other members have completely different views over what they want from the next record. What I do know is that they have said adamantly that they don’t want to rush into the next record and they will make sure that they’re proud of every single note, every single lyric, and every single second of the record! [Laughs] So it could be a while before we all agree. But I believe in taking the time to make sure that we all agree on making the best record ever. That we’ve ever made…not the best record of all time. No one can make a better record than Led Zeppelin. But yeah, we want to make a really great record.
PPS: There has been quite a lot of political content throughout your music, so will we see more or less politically charged songs on the next record?
SO: That’s a good question. Becky, throughout the first and second record, became the sole lyric writer, but she still allows me quite a bit of influence in what I can suggest to her. I personally would like to see us go back to more politics, but not every member of this band is a politically-minded person. So it’s kind of an unfair representation of all of us. So we’ll see.
PPS: I was reading a Toronto Star article about you guys a while back and I think it was Krista who said, “None of us are itching to be Bono anytime soon.”?
SO: [Laughs] Yeah, we’re not that out-spoken.
PPS: No! I’ve got a new name! It’s a little long, but you’re the “Dancey Bono in disguise, on a smaller scale and quite possibly, with better sunglasses”!
SO: Oh right! That’s a good one. I like it!
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Since this interview, the band has ended their neverending tour and are now in the process of preparing for a new record at home. They are playing a few shows within Vancouver though. Dates for those shows are avaliable on their MySpace. And if anyone reading this actually wants to send a Whataburger to Stephen, please send me one too. I'd like to see what this hype is about.
Myspace!
Facebook!
Youtube!
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