Interview: TOPS discuss new album, track inspirations & more

David and I have been writing songs together for a while now. TOPS started a couple years ago when we heard our drummer Riley practicing at the space we were rehearsing at. We got together and we were really impressed by how tasteful and locked in his drumming is, it was the first time we felt like we wanted to write with a drummer. So we started getting together to play all the time. 

TTTOPSSS//TOPS//TTTOPSSS! 

TOPS is meaningless, the name itself doesn’t define the band, so people have to listen to get it. And I like the way the letters look together. I think people will find the music who are meant to find it. 

David writes guitar parts all the time, he’ll always have a few on the go. One night he was playing the guitar part for Sleeptalker and I was really drawn to it so I started singing with him, I wrote the song and the arrangement together and we decided to go to the studio to record a demo that night. What took a long time after that was getting a recording that captures the feeling of the song, the mood of it. We tried a few different things but we ended up making a very minimal recording that focuses on the vocals and guitar, just like when we wrote the song. 

Montreal has a different vibe than any other city in North America. You get a lot of people who kinda care less, so it is nice to be able to feel free in whatever you want to do. If I were visiting I would get in a taxi because the taxi drivers here are pretty nuts.

We recently downloaded this compilation Studio One Women, recordings with female vocalists at one of Jamaica’s first recording studios. I’m listening to Jennifer Lara right now, we found her on that. I want to do some covers so I’ve started making another songbook – I write down all the words to songs I like and learn how to play them on guitar, cheesy shit, it’s a nice way to practice. We like to find classic gems, soul music, a lot of Japanese music. I like to balance that out with really good rap and instrumental electronic music. To be honest I’ll get into a lot of different shit, I will devour music haha. 

Compact, imaginative and honest pop songs. There’s a wide range, some very dark soft songs with no drums and a lot of upbeat band jams. The songs were all written straight from the heart, and we spent a long time making sure that the playing on the record is as good as it can be. I engineered most of the drum recordings, David and I recorded everything ourselves at the Arbutus Records office, in a spare room they have. There was a lot of gear left there by Seb, who runs the label, so we set it all up and got to work. We tried to push the production as far as possible without losing the soul of the songs. It’s a warm record, even though a lot of the songs are about dark thoughts. We’re living in a pretty fucked up time, and life can be hard, but ultimately I hope it’s a record people can enjoy. 

It’s a lyric from the first song on the album, taken out of context. The song, “Way to be Loved”, talks about a lot of different types of people and perspectives, how you see the world and how others see you. That verse imagines the life of a lonely girl, but it’s an image that can only be projected by the singer, not lived or known. The record is very personal to me, but it only matters when people listen. A lot of the songs come from observations I’ve made about where we’re at, about how things have changed in Montreal, about the future. The vinyl comes with a poster that has the lyrics on the other side, if you look at that it all comes together. 

Hopefully not too much besides the music! I look at people when I sing, I like to get to know all the people there though it’s hard to remember everyone. Riley and Madeline, the drummer and bassist in our live band, take photos from the stage sometimes, it’s nice to look back on it later.

It’s a pop song, but we tried to make it kind of woozy and sludgy. It’s about falling for your friend, getting the most out of life. We filmed a lot on tour this spring, which was basically just a roadtrip with friends, and I thought the song fit well with the footage. 

Right now I’m working on a couple music videos. In the past we’ve just thrown together footage fromour friends, and we’ll use some of that, but I’m also working on some more conceptual videos, collaborating with friends who are doing cool stuff. It’s nice to get wrapped up the creative side of putting yourself out there. We have another albums worth of material in the works, I’d like to get going on that and put out another record as soon as we can. Our lives really started revolving around recording the past year, and now I just want to keep going with that. 

Picture You Staring:
1. Way to Be Loved
2. Blind Faze
3. Circle the Dark
4. Outside
5. All the People Sleep
6. Sleeptalker
7. Superstition Future
8. 2 Shy
9. Change of Heart
10. Easier Said
11. Driverless Passenger
12. Destination

http://www.tops.bandcamp.com