Drinking at Elks Lodge With John P. Sutton of the Weakerthans

The Weakerthans are a Canadian band. Not in the sense that they are ignored elsewhere on our continent (The Tragically Hip), not in the sense that they move south to pursue greater success (Finger Eleven), and not in the sense that they play big shows sponsored by Molson Canadian (Theory of a Nickel–Fault). They are Canadian in the way that they sound like Canada. Lead singer and guitarist John K. Samson’s voice evokes a sense of warm isolation that typifies life on the Canadian prairies. “We write the only songs we know how to write,” explained Samson in one interview, “songs that reflect the place we come from musically and geographically, the community we live in and the struggle for any one person to connect with another in a meaningful way.”
Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the band is comprised of veteran Winnipeg musicians including Samson who played bass in the legendary Propaghandi for five years and bass player John P. Sutton who has recorded “every Winnipeg punk band.”
The Weakerthans have managed to combine elements from their hometown’s two most famous musical exports: the breathy vocal stylings of Neil Young and the driving guitar rock of Randy Bachman. These influences are once again a prominent fixture on the group’s third LP Reconstruction Site. Bass player John P. Sutton in conversation via telephone from Toronto describes the album in typically modest fashion as, “On par with the other albums. The songwriting is basically the same idea, its the same group of boys writing the songs so it doesn’t stray too far off from anything that we’ve done before, but at the same time I think we put a ton of thought into it. It seems like we worked and worked and worked at these songs and hopefully that comes across.” The hard work does come across. The record boasts a cleaner (but not slick) production and much tighter or “cohesive” songwriting. Lyrically Samson took “a bit of a left turn” according to Sutton, moving away from the futon revolutionists of old into more “peculiar” territory with songs such as “Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call” and the first single, “Our Retired Explorer (Dines with Michel Foucault in Paris 1961).”
Reconstruction Site and its first single are accompanied by a new video. Set in the Antarctic, the band dances around with fake penguins among other things. Though unintentional, the video comes off as surprisingly humourous, somewhat of a change from a group that are often perceived as being quite serious artists. “I think we probably come across as quite a serious, straight–ahead rock band. Listening to the records you don’t really catch a lot of humour in there. I think there’s a bit more humour in the lyrics on this new album, but there’s also a lot of the same serious, heavy lyrics. We’re humourous people, I would think. We’re always joking around and we’re always having fun together. It’s good to make a video that brings out that side of us.”
The lyrical and visual turns are not the only change being ushered in by the new album. Reconstruction Site is being released on independent heavyweight Epitaph Records. “[Epitaph] is a great scene. Everyone was just so excited about their job and about music and it just seemed like a really great fit for us.” Sutton is quick to point out that relations are still good with the group’s old label G–7 Welcoming Committee, who still handles the group’s back catalogue. The move to Epitaph was motivated by a desire to consolidate the business side of the group. At one point Weakerthans albums were being distributed by no less than five different labels, making things exceedingly difficult to keep track of. The move was an issues of control. With Epitaph, Sutton explains, the band can now “walk into a studio, record an album without a record label, own the masters and just say ‘we want to sell it to somebody now. It’s our record, and we want to hold the rights and let’s find somebody to license it from us.’”
Control on the business side of the industry seems to be a key issue to bands these days. Internet piracy, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), is apparently the scourge of the industry. It threatens artists from the top down. However, Sutton doesn’t quite see things this way. “I have my own issues around it. I have my own rules that I make. I don’t feel that opposed to downloading major label music or bands that are long gone, like band from the 70s or 60s.” He goes on to point out that “it has so many elements to it. A lot of people have already downloaded our new record and when we played in London, England, it was evident that there were a lot of kids out there that knew the words to the new songs. On the one hand that’s pretty cool. They’re coming to the show and probably buying a t–shirt. They’re just so into it that they had to get the record before it came out. For a band of our size it’s not that big of a deal. Sure we may lose a few CD sales here and there but ultimately these people are liking it, hopefully, and they’re coming out to the show. As long as people listen to the music and like it that’s sort of the main thing.
The release of Reconstruction Site will see the Weakerthans embarking on a “trans–continental expedition” that includes two shows in Vancouver on September 10 and 11 at the all–ages Mesa Luna and the Commodore Ballroom, respectively. “[Touring] is everything you can possibly think of. Somedays are so fun, and some shows are so great and other days you just don’t want to get out of bed. It can be anything.” says Sutton. “I’ve done every possible extreme on tour, from having a perfect day to breaking down in the middle of nowhere and freezing or sweating to the point where you just want to pass out. You know some shows you just get up there and the last thing you want to do is play a show but you gotta do it… its something I really enjoy.” The all–ages show is a conscious attempt by the band to allow younger fans to come and see them. “We’ve been doing that for a few years now. We try to do that in most of the bigger cities in Canada and the U.S. We just find that we all grew up in the punk rock world and our best experience of seeing bands has been at all–ages shows. I really like all–ages shows. I go to them all the time still. I would feel weird if we were going to a city and a lot of the kids couldn’t come out.”
The Weakerthans continue to spread the word on life on the Canadian prairies. But will this unique experience be lost on the new audiences that wider distribution will surely bring? Who knows? Go see them, though. They’re really good, eh? •
The Weakerthans play Mesa Luna on Wednesday, September 10 and The Commodore on Thursday, September 11. Reconstruction Site is in stores now.