Hey Toronto, hey hey Toronto, The Cribs will be playing your queen Lee’s palace and they are inviting you for a royal visit.

To enter for a chance to win a pair of tickets all you have to do is stay tuned to our Twitter account on Monday April 09 at 2 p.m.

In the meantime, download a 5-track sampler of The Cribs’ forthcoming album In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull – out on May 7th through Wichita Recordings.

And/or watch the video for their newest single, “Come On, Be A No-One”

The Cribs Tour Dates:

4/3 Portland, OR Holocene
4/4 Seattle, WA Crocodile Café
4/7 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Eatery
4/9 Chicago, IL Schubas
4/10 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room
4/11 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace
4/13 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
4/14 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall

Brooklyn-based quartet Caveman play a stripped down version of their ethereal tune Easy Water for us. This one-shot clip was filmed in the basement of Toronto’s the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern.

Though they were briefly derided as a casualty of the famed early 2000s New York rock scene, The Walkmen have persevered far beyond their few minutes of indie-rock mega-fame from last decade (a run that included a memorable guest appearance on The O.C.). In fact, their two most recent albums, 2008’s You & Me and 2010’s Lisbon, are both criminally underrated gems beloved by the band’s fiercely loyal fan base.

Before the show, bassist/organist Peter Bauer talked to Tapedek all about growing old, why he thinks their forthcoming album will be the band’s greatest success yet, and how The Walkmen recruited Fleet Foxes singer Robin Pecknold to sing a few sweet harmonies on the new disc.

The Walkmen are only doing four shows to celebrate the band’s 10th anniversary. Why did you pick Toronto as one of them?

Well, we wanted to do something on the east coast, and we didn’t want to do New York or Washington.

Why is that? Hometown crowd too stressful for you?

We didn’t want to play old stuff in New York, for some reason. We’ve played there so many times, it’s sort of like, it’s not that fun to play to those people. Even though there’s new people and stuff—it’s a lot of fun playing in New York, it’s the most fun—but playing the old songs, it really feels like you’re rehashing something.

There’s something about playing in New York; that you’ve got to present your brand new thing. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because we started our band there. You want to present something brand new every time.

Ten years on from your first album, what’s the biggest change The Walkmen have been through?

I think we’ve changed a lot—we’ve changed our sound, we’ve changed everything over the years. That’s a long time! But we grew up together, and we lived together when we started the band, and we recorded every day together.

Now we all live in separate cities, and we have separate lives. We treasure those, but I think we’re very proud that we continue to do this as friends. There’s not a lot of groups who have lasted as long as us, with all the same people. It’s nice to kind of…grow old together.

Is that how it feels sometimes? Have you really grown old?

That’s definitely how it feels today, yeah. Like, moving the [upright] piano in. It’s like, “…Thirteen years of this.”

Your new record is in the can. Can you tell us what it sounds like?

It’s really great! I think the songs are a lot better than the last record, and probably than all the other records. It’s 13 songs long, and there’s a lot of rock ‘n’ roll music on it. It just so happened this time we have 6 or 7 real rock ‘n’ roll songs. And then we’ve got a couple slow songs that I think are the best slow songs we’ve done, so it’s a nice mix.

I think the production is a lot different, and a big step in the right direction for us. We did it with this guy, Phil Ek, and he just did a knockout job: everything’s in tune, nothing’s as needlessly harsh as it usually is, we’re all playing on rhythm, which is a really big step. You know, basic steps that most people probably take before they’ve been doing this for 10 years.

Did Phil Ek help with those little details?

He was a real slave driver with that stuff. I mean he’s really great at recording things, so he made it very effortless to get going and do what you want to do. If you want to add something, it’s not a battle to do it. Very easy to play to the way he recorded things. That’s a pretty fantastic thing for us.

There’s a lot of harmonies on it, which is very different as well. We went on a long tour with Fleet Foxes last year, and we had a really shared spirit with them. A couple of the guys did stuff on our record: Morgan [Henderson] does some percussion, and Robin [Pecknold] came in for one day and just did a really knockout job.

Those are the main differences, but I think the quality of it is actually pretty awesome for us. I’m certainly more proud of it than I’ve been of the other ones.

More proud than Lisbon? That was a pretty great album

Yeah, much more. Comparatively, I like the You & Me one the best, and I think I like this one better [than Lisbon]. It’s got more of an atmosphere, more of an overall effect, and it’s really long. It’s 50 minutes long, and that’s without any bullshit on it.

How did you feel about the way Lisbon was received?

I was really excited about that, because I thought it was kind of a small record. I like the songs, but I never thought it was grandiose at all. I thought that was one of the nice things about it, but things like that tend to get lost right now. It was nice people still picked up on it. The last two [records] have set us up to make one that’s maybe a little more grandiose, which this [new one] probably is. It’s a little more bombastic, with big rock beats and stuff.

And would you say it has “hit potential”?

I sure as hell hope so! Once you’ve been doing it this long, you always have hope that… things will change.

I think it’s more palatable to a lot of people because the recording technique is so much better. Things we would do in the past that were irritating aren’t irritating. Which is nice. I think we got away with a lot more because of the way he recorded it.

What exactly do you mean by ‘irritating’?

Well it’s a hard band to record because there’s no mid-range. The singer has a high voice and the guitar is really high-pitched, and I’m running a vacuum cleaner back there with these combo organs. So it’s a hard [sound] for a million people to like, which is good and bad.

So when you can find a way to record that where the high-end of the guitar is pleasing, which is what it’s supposed to be (sometimes it’s just punishing), it’s nice, it makes a big difference to people [in terms of ] understanding where you’re coming from. It’s still a Telecaster with the treble up to 10, there’s only so many ways it’s gonna be. [laughs]

So when’s it coming out?

I think it’s June something, but they’re still fine tuning that.

One last thing: 10 years later, how do you feel about “The Rat”?

I wish it was a hit!

Crocodiles singer Brandon Welchez sits down with Tapedek to discuss his criminal record, why he despises Pitchfork and why his band’s third album is “the best one yet.”

Tapedek: Before this year, Crocodiles were largely anonymous here in Canada, which is strange because you’ve been around for a number of years. The Pitchfork coverage on you guys goes as far back as 2008…

BW: [laughs] Negative Pitchfork coverage…. [laughs]

That must have been weird. What was that like?

BW: What? Being negatively reviewed?

Yeah.

BW: Yeah, in a way, that was cool. I don’t care, I mean I’ve never given a shit about them anyway, you know, so, yeah it’s not a big deal. It means a lot more to us when a kid comes up to us after a show and says, “Your record means something to me,” than what some idiot at Pitchfork thinks.

Do you feel that distain for other critics as well?

BW: This is always touchy to talk about with journalists, but you can sort of tell a level of bitchiness with certain critics and certain journalists who have an agenda. You can just tell, some of them, they just really hate music. They hate music because they want to be musicians but they don’t have musical talent, or they do have musical talent and they tried, and they failed, and they’re really resentful. And then there’s really good music critics out there. It’s all relative, everyone’s an individual.

What was it like transitioning from your old band [mid-2000s post-hardcore outfit The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower] to this one?

BW: Our old band broke up at the very end of 2006 and this band played its first show in May 2008, so it was quite a while between [projects]. That band was obviously very abrasive and discordant. While that band was going I had started a side project that was an exercise in how to write pop music. It was more influenced by Buzzcocks, it was just my first attempts at trying to write songs with melodies and trying to understand how a hook works. So that was my learning process, not that I know what I’m doing now.

A lot of bands who rose to fame in the recent noise-pop movement are releasing second LPs now that sound much more polished. Bands like Girls, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, even the Dum Dum Girls new album, it all sounds much glossier. Why do you think that trend is happening?

BW: Number one, I don’t think there were any more noisy or lo-fi bands two or three years ago, whenever the wave happened, than there were at any other time. Bloggers and journalists decide what is going to be a trend and what’s going to be a big scene. Obviously, bands have something to do with it. But in the age of the internet, it’s not localized scenes like in the 90s or the 80s, where there might be a big influential band in a city, and all the bands sound like that in that city, and it’s all very contained there.

With things like GarageBand, people were able to record themselves at home, and it’s much easier to make an interesting sounding “shitty recording” than it is to make something slick. So it would come across as more genuine to do that. And there just happened to be a few interesting bands as the same time, and so some journalists caught on and made it into something.

I think there was probably also a reaction going on to bands like Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend, who sound really, like, I’m not insulting these bands, but quite clean, quite safe. So I think that if you feel you don’t have any access to that world, which me and my bandmate didn’t, you start feeling like, who really gives a shit what your recording sounds like because no one’s going to listen to it. Let’s make something that sounds cool to us and our friends.

Most of those bands, like us, Dum Dum Girls, probably Girls, I don’t really know about them, did their first albums on a budget because they didn’t have labels. And the label contacted them after the fact. So there’s no recording budgets. Once money and things like that come into it you’re able to make something….

[At this point the noise from the guitar techs testing the microphones becomes too much for Welchez to bear. He suggests we go sit on the curb outside the tattoo parlour next to the venue.]

BW: I guess we can sit right here. Do you think these guys will get pissed?

Nah, I think they’re just laid-back tattoo guys. So do you think there’s an element of accessibility, and the search for bigger success, that plays a role a band in polishing up their sound?

BW: Maybe. I think a lot of band’s first recordings are shittier than they intended because they didn’t know what they were doing. There’s a realization too: if you intentionally make a shitty record even though you have the money to make something more decent, it’s going to come across as fake.

Most of these bands are intelligent people and they recognize like, if someone gave us 10 or 20 or 30 thousand dollars to record, and it sounds like we recorded on a boombox, and we’re on Matador or Fat Possum or Sub Pop, everyone’s gonna know that it’s inauthentic.

Have you ever seen The Clash documentary? Westway to the World? They’re taking about writing lyrics for their second album, and they’re talking about how they can’t really write about career opportunities anymore, because now they have a career. And they can’t really write about being on the dole, because they have money. To some degree, it’s the same thing. These bands have a support system now so its not going to be as DIY sounding as it once was.

Have you considered that sound debate for your next record?

BW: We’ve already recorded our third record. We did our first album by ourselves, and our second record we did with Arctic Monkeys producer, you know? It’s the same thing, we had money. I guess we could have pocketed some of that money.

This time, we recorded it ourselves, but we did it with in a proper studio with a proper engineer. And it sounds like a proper recording, it doesn’t sound like a home recording at all.

What does it sound like? How would you describe it?

BW: Umm….it’s…..our best work yet? I don’t know. [laughs]

Catchier? Dirtier?

BW: It’s poppier. I think the songwriting has improved in a pop sense. We’ve gotten better at twisting shit around. More surprising. I hope.

What took you guys so long to get to Canada, anyway?

Uhhhh….we have…uhh… criminal records, so it’s like, if it’s not impossible, it’s really expensive to get in. NXNE 2011 was the first time we were getting paid enough to make it worth our while to cross the border. We have to eat and pay our bills and stuff…

The Facts:

Crocodiles are the latest noise pop contenders. The duo released their sophomore album, Sleep Forever last year. They’re also the second band to be put through the Tapedek Questionnaire™.

The Participant:

Brandon Welchez – Singer

Rolling Stones or Velvet Underground?

Velvet Underground. They’re better, they’re more clever. I love the Stones, but they’re not in my top 10 favourite bands. Velvet Underground are in my top 3.

Who else is in your top 3?

It would have to be a top 5. It’s all pretty obvious stuff. In no order: Velvet Underground, Beatles, Supremes, The Smiths and Roxy Music. It’s obvious stuff, but I think those bands are obvious for a reason, because they’re better than all the other bands.

My Bloody Valentine or Jesus and Mary Chain?

Jesus and Mary Chain. Actually, I don’t know. People overestimate how much we listen to both of those bands, neither of them are in my top 10. I mean, I like them both, I love them both, but I don’t think I like either of them more than the other, really.

Nirvana or Pearl Jam?

Nirvana. Pearl Jam’s fuckin’ cheesy. Pearl Jam’s totally cheesy and Nirvana’s amazing. I don’t think they’re comparable bands. Nirvana has more in common with The Beatles and Sonic Youth, and Pearl Jam has more in common with jam bands like Phish. I’m not insulting that, if that’s what people are into, but that’s not my thing.

Number 1 band you’d like to start a feud with?

[laughs] I don’t know. There’s a ton of bands I hate, on personal levels and on musical levels. But I’m not really in the business of starting things like that. I don’t know, I’m not really a shit talker.

Cocaine or heroin?

Cocaine. Heroin kills creativity.

If you had to put your band into one of those stupid buzz-word categories, which would you choose?

Rock ‘n’ roll?

Really? No nu-wave-grunge-pop-noise thing?

No. I hate that shit. 100% of bands don’t think in those terms. It’s only journalists that do that. That’s not the way musicians think.

Who would you most like to collaborate with?

We really want to work with Scientist, the dub producer. And my wife, I’d like to collaborate with her. We’ll both be off tour, and we’ll be snowed in, so….

Will it be just the two of you? Or a Dum Dum Girls/Crocodiles collab thing?

I think it’ll be a different band, just something that she and I will do. It’s not gonna be like other husband and wife bands. It’s not gonna be cute, I hate cute shit.

All the submissions are in. Don’t forget to vote people.

Also, you can check out what myself and the other blogger panel are sayin’ right here

Here’s the deets:

Dixon Hall Presents Whisky Rocks:
Featuring Big Sugar, Divine Brown and Rehan Delal.
In Partnership with LCBO.

Tickets on sale now!

Ages 19 years or over. Proof of ID required. Management reserves the right to refuse entry. Ticket price includes performances, light hors d’oeuvres, pop, water. No cash bar available during this special event.

Remember a couple of years ago when everyone on the Internet was getting signed because they did an acoustic cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody”? Well, it’s that time again. Except, instead of that two chord song it’s Ian Thornley’s “Fade Away” and instead of a record contract it’s a full day of recording at Vespa Studios in Toronto (valued at 10k, which is more than you’d get for a record deal now-a-days). So basically, you’re welcome.

Indeed, Tapedek has teamed up with Aux and the LCBO (the people that you buy alcohol from) to bring you the Whisky Rocks Contest. By executing a great cover version of the song “Fade Away,” you could just, er, walk away with the big prize (and booze?).

As part of a team of blogger judges, I’ll be discussing my favourite entries on the site. So basically, I’ll be Simon, Indie Music Filter‘s Chris Budd will be Randy, Nicole Villeneuve will be Paula and Anne Donahue will be William Hung, natch.

For more info and to enter the contest head here. Note, the contest closes for submissions on October 21st.

Add Michael Cooper of 77 Admiral Rd as a person you should get to know. A TIFF event organized by Paul Haggis’ Artists for Peace and Justice at Mr. Cooper’s (very lovely) home this week featured performances by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder (in town for his band’s Cameron Crowe directed doc ‘Pearl Jam 20′ as well as two Neil Young-guesting shows at the ACC) and Arcade Fire’s Régine Chassagne (in town because…she loves her some glam?). At some point, the duo, along with AF buddy and man-about-town Owen Pallett, turned their tuneful attention to Bruce Springsteen’s poignant ‘My City in Ruins.’

Apropos of 9/11′s 10 year anniversary, here’s Springsteen and friends performing the same song nearly a decade ago at a WTC Benefit.

from MADE Blog on Vimeo.

And speaking of How To Make It In America. After a way too long hiatus the show is finally coming back in October. Check out this preview of what is sure to be a sylish second season