The Super Friendz

One of the most critically acclaimed bands of the last year, The Super Friendz, was in town a few weeks ago to promote their first release, Mock up, Scale down. The band was founded by Matt Murphy, Drew Yamada, Charles Austin, and Lonnie James. Between playing at the Arts County Fair and the Starfish room, I had the opportunity to speak to Matt Murphy.

Peak: Is it correct that 14 of the songs for the album were recorded in 10 days?

Murphy: We thought that 10 days would be a lot of time but once we got recording, we were really pressed for time. We actually tried to do 16 but we didn't end up with them all. Charles and I lived together in a house in the north end of Halifax and a friend of ours named Brendan McGuire came down with a 24-track studio, set it up in Charles' room, and then threw up some blankets and created a little sound studio.

Peak: How does it work with writing songs for the band? Is it an individual or group process?

Murphy: It depends on whose song it is. A lot of the time it depends on how finished the song is... for instance, Drew will bring in a song and we'll work the parts a little more... it depends. In fact, some of the best stuff is Drew's because we've all worked on it. We don't really jam for long periods, we just play the song again and again until we feel something.

Peak: You just played Arts County Fair-was that the biggest venue you've played?

Murphy: Probably. We played Edge Fest in Toronto last year at Molson Theatre. That was pretty big. In terms of area, that was the largest but we've played to more people before.

Peak: Do you prefer that setting or something more intimate?

Murphy: The Arts County Fair was a ball. It was pretty different and it was comfortable. If it's different, and you're comfortable, it's the best because it's not the same-old, same- old. Plus, playing outside you don't have to breathe in everyone's smoke.

Peak: What's the transition like from going and writing some songs in your basement, to making videos, and playing places like Thunderbird Stadium?

Murphy: It's pretty mild; we're not really busy, busy, busy. We're not running and catching planes or hopping on boats. We made a video and it's done a lot of work for us. We're just happy that we're content with the album we made, so we're not misleading people with a funny video. It may sound arrogant but we're pretty confident-if people bought the album they're not going to go "Ugh!" I think it's pretty consistent and we're happy with it.

Peak: What's the deal with going through so many drummers?

Murphy: Our first and third drummer was Chris Murphy. He's just obviously got his own business to take care of. Then there was Dave Marsh who's an excellent drummer, who I was with in another band, but he's into making films so he does that. I guess we had Cliff Dioff from Threshmen for a little while. But now we have Lonnie and I'm so happy about that. We were about to go on tour in October with Chris Murphy but he was freaking out because he didn't have any songs ready for recording Sloan's new album. So I called Andrew Scott, also from Sloan and he mentioned it to Lonnie, we flew him out (from Toronto) and he's been with us ever since.

Peak: What's up next for you guys?

Murphy: I have some songs to finish up and in May. Lonnie will come down to practice it, and then the band will go up to Toronto and record it. We have another video coming out, for "Rescue us from Boredom," fand we're ollowing that up with a tour in the States.

Peak: Are you satisfied with the response to the album?

Murphy: It's been pretty well accepted. We just wish the album was available in the States.

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