treble charger Article From Chart Magazine June 1997
treble charger Charging Ahead
Stay in school they tell us. Get an education and get a job. Don't stray from the beaten path lest you get lost. Sage advice for most of us, but if your Greig Nori, singer/guitarist for treble charger, you can defy the planners and the moralists, drop out of school, roister in sloth. You can even bring a friend along for the ride. Just keep it in the back of your mind that your going to start a rock band and be rich and famous. Simple, Huh?
"There was a long period between moving from the Soo [Sault Saint Marie] before this band started," confesses Nori. "That was the grey period. I don't know what the hell I was doing. I was living in Windsor and had dropped out of school [University of Windsor] and was going to shows: Pixies and Punk rock shows. And Bill [Priddle] was doing the exact same thing at Queen's University. I think he was delivering pizza with borrowed cars or a bicycle and that was his only source of income. I just called him one time and asked him what he was doing and he was like, 'Wasting away' And I was like ' Well come do it here!' So we lived together and hung out. And you know what? We didn't write any songs even though we knew what we wanted to do. All we were doing was discovering music. This is right when the Pixies and Sonic Youth were taking off. It was an exiting time, I remember that."
And the exitement continues today, because, as we know, Nori and Priddle (along with friend and bassist Rosie Martin and original drummer Morris Palter) did finally start that band and are now the ones making music and driving music lovers to distraction. Not that the journey hasn't had its bumps. Following the indie success of nc17 and Self=Tittle (released by Sonic Unyon), Palter was asked to leave the band, setting in motion a rock 'n' roll passion play that has Morris still communicating through his lawyers. Despite the pall cast by the situation, treble charger's remaining members are enthisuastic as they prepare to release a major label debut, maybe its me (RCA/BMG), an album chock-full of radio friendly hooks, that bodies a bright future for this band.
And it is exactly that future that Nori and new drummer Trevor MacGregor have come to discuss on a sunny Thursday afternoon inside a quaint British pub in the heart of downtown Toronto. Nori arrives on time to play his part, sporting a short but unruly ahircut and looking like someone who had a few too many drinks last night (which he did.) On the other hand, MacGregor looks the model of responsible youth, fresh-faced and clear-skinned with only a tattoo on the inside of his right forearm hinting a wilder side. Sitting down MacGregor and I order drinks while Nori sticks with chowder.
"We are extremely happy with the album," begins Nori. "It's the best thing we have ever done to date. The best songwriting we have ever done, best production, best singing.
"We are hoping it is the most sucsessful, but who knows what will happen," adds MacGregor.
Which roughly encapsulates the history of treble charger what began in 1990, when, without knowing what would happen, Nori and Priddle left Windsor to move to Toronto and form a band. Recruiting Palter from an ad in local entertainment weekly Now, the trio became known as nc 17, a name they liked until reciving a cease and desist order from a similarly named California hair band which itself apparantly ceased and disisted soon after sending the legal missive. While known as nc 17 (1992-93) the band mainly practiced and wrote songs, playing only a few shows. The most important achivement of that period was the recording of a three song demo at a local studio, Signal to Noise; a demo which included the future hit "Red," which, despite its relative infancy, was voted #8 on Charts "Top 50 Canadian Singles of All Time" [March 96' issue].
By 1994, after inaugurating the treble charger name at a Canada Day show on July 1, the band was quickly becoming the hottest indie act around. Toronto area radio station CFNY and MuchMusic had already picked up "Red" (from the cheekily tittled nc 17, released earlyer that year) and both were playing it in heavy rotation. Then CFNY nominated the band for a CASBY for best new artist in 1994 and taking home the $25,000 second prize in the talent serach, "losing" out to veteran act Change of Heart, which recived the $100,000 greand prize that many thought treble charger deserved. Nori is gracefull about the whole ordeal; well, as much as can be expected.
"I just always felt, and I am not in any way putting down that competition, I just felt that $100,000 could been divided up between five bands. Twenty thousand dollars can reprisent a lot. We recorded a whole album and put a three hour CD-ROM on it."
That release was Self=Tittle, which contained the hit "Morale" and helped up the band's ante even further. Major label intrest was raised to a feverish pitch and while the band has so far resisted corperate overtures to remain with Sonic Unyon, in March 96' the guys found the deal they were looking for and signed a worldwide agreement with RCA Records out of New York (a deal which includes a licencing agreement with BMG in Canada).
"We pretty much ignored most of the other record companies that came after us from the States 'cause we knew that we would never find the backing and support of a president," sais Nori. "[RCA President] Bob Jamieson was pretty much putting his stamp on us and saying ' I'll take care of you boys,' and we knew he was pretty secure at that company for at least five years so that was a built-in security because the person who signs you can be gone in six months. That type of thing happens all the time; in fact, that is probably the most common reason why bands dont make it, because their biggest fan at the label leaves."
While the album is not yet released when we're talking of it, so far the major label expirience has been a posative one for the band, without much change except a lot more money for promotion and a little more time for leisure.
"It's just a bigger scale now, but its pretty similar, right?" says MacGregor, looking at Nori.
"Yeah, it's been good," agrees Nori with a smile. "Really, it is the same kind of thing. We're able to call the shots, everything goes by us. The nice thing is we can tell them to spend a lot of money on things we can throw out into the audience. For this record's release party we talked them into renting out the Sega City Playdium and giving away free video games. Its not that different than when we were on Sonic Unyon and did pretty much everything ourselves except distribute the album. We stll do everything but now we can delegate more. It is kinda nice because you can come up with ideas and just phone them in and have someone else do it."
As happy as the band is, treble charger is not naive to the realities of the buisness, describing the new deal as "exceptional" in one breath and calling it a "typical fuck-the-artist setup" in the next.
"Our contract is typical. It is very unbalanced, but all the record contracts are unbalanced, and not in the artist's favour," begins Nori, warming up to his subject. "The percentage we end up retaining is a joke compared to the money that is kept by the record company. If you look at the history of record companies, it was [about] white people exploiting black blues music in the United States. The entire thing was usually run by crooks and it sort of evolved out of that type of thing so naturally the entire record industry is based on trying to fuck the artist. It has come a long way, but it is still an extreemly unbalanced thing."
What is in bablance these days is treble charger's songwriting prowess. Blessed with the gift, the band has been creating relentlessly hummable songs from its beginning, playing a unique blend of "charged" guitars and melodic vocals. With a string of catchy singles, from "10th Grade Love" through to the latest "Friend Of Mine," the consistency and cohesiveness of this band's output is all the more impressive considering Nori and Priddle are songwriters. (Priddle for example authored "Red" while Nori wrote "Freind Of Mine.") With the lazy days of Windsor behind them, the duo now spur on each others creativity, instead of each other's apathy.
"There is a certain creative tension between Bill and Greig," explains MacGregor. "There is a differance in the way they write songs which is great because I love the way both of them write. Greig seems to tap into the harder pop side of treble charger while Bill has definitely lached onto the more melodic, softer side. But sometimes you think you have their songwriting style figures out and then they throw you a curve. I was there when Bill wrote "takes me down," and that seemed to be an almost 180-degree turn from the stuff he had been writing recently."
Not that Nori or Priddle try to take complete credit for "writing" any one song. The accepted method of composition is for one member of the band (usually Nori or Priddle) to present the seed of a song, typically a verse, chorus and lyrics, and let everyone write their own parts and make suggestions as they hash out the songs form. And while some bands pay lip-service to the ideal of communal composition, Nori has a true understanding and appriciation of the contribution that the band dynamic can have on the ultimate form a song takes.
"I just rented a Jean-Luc Godard movie that he did on the writing of the Rolling Stones' song 'Symapthy for the Devil' It goes over two days and all they do is jam on that song and it was unbelevable what that song turned into, man! They would be jamming along and Keith Richards would say 'Maybe we should take this song twice as fast' and everyone would say 'Yeah, sounds like a good idea' and suddenly the song would have a real groove. And for, like, two days Charlie Watts is being very quiet and keeping the beat which I thought was very admirable because alot of drummers after a couple of hours would just say, 'When you guys have your shit together call me back.' But you could tell this man was a machine. He was great!"
All of which brings us convieniently to the topic of drummers and what could be politely be called the "Morris situation." Specifically. the minor furor the band endured when original drummer Morris Palter was relived of his drumming duties in the middle of recording maybe its me. (Morris appears on four tracks with a session drummer playing the remaining songs.) When the issue comes up, Nori is, as expected, defensive, while MacGregor shifts restlessly, being put in the unenviable position of having to comment on a miserable situation of which he is a direct benefactor. The affair has not been helped by the lack of official comment from treble charger (which has only issued one terse press release) or Palter, who has also not yet commented, but is said to be deeply upset.
"You know what? At this point I don't really want to comment on it," starts off Nori with a winced look. "It was just a falling out, it was as simple as that. There was no label pressure, it was something that was very much internal. There isnt as much dirt as people think and want there to be. It sort of pisses me off that people are focusing on this. This happens all the time in bands and I havn't heard anything about it or anybody blowing it out of proportion. I don't know why we are getting so picked on. We've had three people leave this band since we were nc 17. I don't know why all of a sudden the third person is such a big issue."
Nori pauses, so I ask him if it was soley a personal clash as he is implying.
"oh, it was also a musical thing," he continues. "If it's a musical thing it will eventually become a personal thing, or if its a personal thing it will eventually become a musical thing. It all just sort of rolls up into one big ugly monster."
As unhappy as the band members were with the previous situation, everyone seems happy now, none more so than MacGregor. Perhaps the harmony comes from a common academic history with MacGregor being another college drop out (Harris Institute). As for how he was recruted into the band, the truth is rather prosaic.
"While I was finishing up my first semester I saw Barb Sedun [creative director of EMI publishing] whi I had met a year before and I just asked her if she knew of any bands that were looking for a drummer and she toled me treble charger was and she gave me [the maneger's] number and we set up an audition. Basically, I had to learn six songs in two days and I went in and they said 'O.K., it is between you and this other guy.' I went back and everything went O.K. and they said, 'well there was no other guy.'"
"What?" interjects Nori. "Oh, no, no. There was another guy. It was down to the two of you. It was a close call."
MacGregor looks slightly perplexed saying, "Oh, I didnt know that."
Perhaps the two are just at the tail end of the feeling out process that began in October last year when Trevor joined the band, because everyone seems to be comfortable with each other. At one point in the interview Nori says he is talking too much and moves the tape recorder in fron of MacGregor in a gesture of solidarity and equality.
Further fulling kindship between the two is an appriciation of electronic music, with both Nori and MacGregor claiming to be inspired by the burgeoning scene. In fact, when it comes to music, the two are opinionated and voluble about almost any form. As we wind up our afternoon Nori becomes expansive, riffing on his theories of musical cycles and how they affect popular music and, hence, treble charger.
"We are at the end of that five year cycle, or you could say we are the sixth generation in the wave behind Nirvana. Every five years a band comes along that changes the face of music and it leaves a wake for either six generations or five years. By the end it is just saturated with such shit that everyone is dying to hear something refreshing or new and that's where we are now. We have alot going against us right now but I belive that really well written pop music will float to the top and will always touch people."
The music currently "touching" Nori includes everything from the new Wilco album to classic Rock by the Rolling Stones, but his real enthusiasm is saved for a truely up-and-comming band.
"Can I do a shameless plug here?" queries Nori. "There is a band that Marc Costanza [of the group Len] and I recorded called Some 41. The members are all from Ajax and they're all 17. It's sort of a punk rock band but with a really strong sense of melody. I can't go on enough about them. If we can help them get their shit together, they're gonna do something. To think that they are writing these types of songs at that age is one of the most excting things because when I was that age, and I was playing music, too, there was no way I could have [written] the kinds of melodies and guitar stuff they are writing. We already went out and recorded them and pretty much paid for it ourselves."
So now that Nori is living the life of a successfull musician enough to help others, does he have any thoughts on the rock life?
"It sucks!" he blurts out. "I mean, no, it doesnt suck, but it is not as glamorous as people think. It is the most gut-wrenching job I have ever had"
Which makes all the sense in the world when you remember school is not a job.
- By Robert Furse from Chart Magazine June 1997 Issue #84
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