Friday – On the Verge With Throwback

Relix Magazine: How indicative of the live sound is the studio album?Throwback: The album was cut the summer prior to us hitting the road for our first intensive U.S. tour, so a lot of the songs have developed significantly since they were recorded. Plus, it represents an earlier period of the band’s repertoire. The live shows these days feature a lot of non-album material-what we consider more sophisticated songs, more developed instrumental parts. We’re proud of the record – but safe to say that recording some of the more current material is a priority for us.RM: How would you best describe your sound and musical philosophy?TB: That is probably the question we get asked the most, and the one we answer the least. It’s not so much a pre-determined formula as it is just aconsequence of a very wide spectrum of influences. Take the artists we grew up on: Steely Dan, Phish, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, Led Zepplin, CSNY, Fleetwood Mac – add some of our college dorm favorites: Guster,Dispatch, Ben Harper – throw them all into a blender and serve with one of Micah Shapiro’s [drummer] beatbox solos and you might get something that resembles Throwback.RM: Was the name Throwback intentionally used because your sound harks back to more song and melodic music of the 70s?TB: Partly – The name was actually kind of a spur of the moment thing… At the time we were a lot more acoustic based – no bass or drum kit. It was one of those “we’ll figure out an interesting story for it later” things. But it seems to work. The idea of being rooted by acoustic instruments and vocal harmonies really linked our sound to some of the great artists of the 1970’s; such as CSNY, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, and The Eagles. Since the music we were creating at the time had a somewhat nostalgic feel thename “Throwback” seemed fitting.RM: What do you see as the next step for band?TB: In the most immediate timeframe, definitely a new album. And just continuing to make more people familiar with our music. We’ve also been concentrating a lot on a few American markets; Burlington, Boston and New York City. We’ll try to keep that up, but at the same time focus on the hometown scene in Montreal. There’s a lot of potential in this city. It’s a great town for music. We’ve currently got 2 members in school full-time. So hopefully we’ll continue forward momentum until all 4 of us have our diplomas, and then frustrate the hell out of our parents by hitting the road again.