run chico run are important
Expanded Interview
words by Chris Long
photos by Matty Conrad
Expanded Interview
words by Chris Long
photos by Matty Conrad
Run Chico Run are important. The multi-tasking, esoteric duo of Matt Skillings and Thomas Shields are lynchpins in Victoria’s independent music community and are currently still traveling around the whistling block; they thankfully haven’t figured out when to stop. On top of adding a third member (!) and releasing the excellent Rocket Surgery EP earlier this year, the two Chicos have continued to help record many artists (Vincat, Japandroids, among others) and managed to become members of Chet! Talk about restless. I chatted with each of the Chicos about their new third wheel, the group's latest project featuring Calgary’s The Cape May and Thomas’ moonlighting gig with Velvet...
MATT SKILLINGS
Who’s the new guy?
MS: Dallas Budd. He’s a fucking dude. He’s too good for our band. He’s been playing since he was in diapers, he sings and he understands scales, you know, he’s that kind of guy. When we’re working on harmonies, I’ll be trying to pick out my line – it takes me a while sometimes – and he’ll just pick out my line and sing it to me. He’ll say “you’re trying to sing this,” and do it.
After being a duo for so long, I imagine it was a conscious decision to add the third member?
Yes. We recorded an album with our buddies from Calgary, The Cape May, and we did a couple of sessions with five people playing and we just loved it. And I’ve really been missing getting two hands on the drumkit. It just takes so long to learn songs when you’re learning two or sometimes three parts on your own. It’s so inefficient. I loved [being a two-piece] and I love where we took it, but it’s totally unnecessary.
I guess there’s the threat of it becoming a gimmick…
Oh yeah, that fucking sucks. You get so tired of people saying, “Wow, I can’t believe only two dudes make all that sound.” It’s like, that’s your only comment? Did you hear the songs or what? It gets old. People notice that your playing drums and bass at the same time, but they ignore the melody [your playing] on the bass.
Tell me about the new record.
I don’t even know what we’re calling it yet. We recorded an album with The Cape May. It’s super nice, very pretty, a little rockin’, a bit schizo. It was really fun making the album. When Thom and I make our albums it’s like two solo projects coming together; we work on our own shit, we know what we want. We’ll add bass lines or whatever to each other’s tunes but we’re not sitting there picking it apart note by note. We work on some things together, but songs usually only get finished when one of us takes the bull by the horns.
But this new album with The Cape May, it was six people sitting around listening to each other’s tracks, learning how to critique something without shooting it down. Someone would sing a song for the first time ever and I’d be like “I didn’t like it when you sang like this.” It was neat. You have to be both comfortable and confident.
It’s basically a studio project since we don’t live in the same city. But we loved doing it and so we’re gonna release this one and then try to find time to get together again in the winter.
I still really like playing live but I am enjoying recording more right now. Touring has lost a bit of luster. It’s not new anymore. I mean, I don’t mind getting hammered every night [on tour], it’s fun I guess, but when it’s all said and done, you spent $1000 on gas and you played to barely 75 people each night.
And I just love recording. It’s fun. It can be boring; there’s a lot of sitting around. But it’s great to have this communal project. That’s what was so great about this project with The Cape May; it felt like a group effort.
How long has Run Chico Run been together?
Aw man, since 1997. Thom and I played together in high school before Run Chico Run. I remember, we could play half of [the Red Hot Chili Peppers’] BloodSugarSexMagik like two months after it was out, ya know?
How important is your remote musical community?
It’s always been big for me. I mean, you can’t avoid your biases right? When you like somebody and then you find out that you like their music too, it rocks you. You can’t really compare someone like Radiohead or The Rolling Stones to the people that you know and make music with, it’s a totally different thing. [Your musical community] is so beneficial and you learn so much from each other.
THOMAS SHIELDS
I was a bit surprised to find out that you and Matt write the bulk of the RCR material individually, sometimes even recording whole songs that way?
TS: Yeah, we used to write from jamming a bit more, where one guy would bring a song that was part done and the other guy would just say “Here, I’ll finish it.” But lately we’ve tended to write individually.
How’s it been for you with a third member in Run Chico Run?
It’s been great having a third member. I’ve heard some mixed reviews from a few people, but that always happens anytime we change the format up at all. For Matt and I, it’s nice being able to relax a little bit on stage as opposed to constantly thinking “Don’t fuck up! Don’t fuck up!”
So you’re also in Velvet. My perception is that most people involved in the indie scene that you’re so closely tied to think that Velvet is…
Kinda corny? I guess, but I’ve always just loved dance music. For me, Velvet is a completely different approach to music, improvising, watching and reading the audience. I play drum machines, drums and keyboards. Playing with guys like Rick May, I’m just happy to be up there listening and playing.
How are things with Chet?
Super fun. It’s really neat playing the bass in that band, cos through rehearsals, I was coming up with these cool bass lines and melodies. But when it came time to record and I could really hear what everyone else was playing, I was like, hmmm, maybe I’ll just go dooommm. I get to listen and relax and play. Everyone is musically mature enough that there’s no stepping on each other’s toes. There’s the rare occasion, but yeah, it’s been great.
What’s the new Chet material like?
It’s great. One song is fourteen minutes, another is eleven; they’re just these odysseys. It’s a lot more manic. Ryan [Beattie, Chet’s frontman] kinda has either manic or morose songs, and there’s a bit more of the manic in the new material. There’s still the brooding side, but I think Ryan, as a person, is just a bit happier right now.
Being that you’ve been playing music for so long, are you ever challenged to find inspiration?
My inspiration [occasionally] wavers. I’m usually totally stoked on music but sometimes I’ll be like “Man, I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore!” Recently I had a pretty big breakthrough with Velvet. It’s getting a lot more improvisey lately and the lineup’s stayed the same for a while now; it’s just going in a really nice direction. The level of communication is getting really good. At the end of most Velvet sets now I’m just like “Whoa!” So it’s nice to have both sides; Chicos is more challenging for me and there’s less improvisation, but it’s equally satisfying. I need to have those two sides.
MATT SKILLINGS
Who’s the new guy?
MS: Dallas Budd. He’s a fucking dude. He’s too good for our band. He’s been playing since he was in diapers, he sings and he understands scales, you know, he’s that kind of guy. When we’re working on harmonies, I’ll be trying to pick out my line – it takes me a while sometimes – and he’ll just pick out my line and sing it to me. He’ll say “you’re trying to sing this,” and do it.
After being a duo for so long, I imagine it was a conscious decision to add the third member?
Yes. We recorded an album with our buddies from Calgary, The Cape May, and we did a couple of sessions with five people playing and we just loved it. And I’ve really been missing getting two hands on the drumkit. It just takes so long to learn songs when you’re learning two or sometimes three parts on your own. It’s so inefficient. I loved [being a two-piece] and I love where we took it, but it’s totally unnecessary.
I guess there’s the threat of it becoming a gimmick…
Oh yeah, that fucking sucks. You get so tired of people saying, “Wow, I can’t believe only two dudes make all that sound.” It’s like, that’s your only comment? Did you hear the songs or what? It gets old. People notice that your playing drums and bass at the same time, but they ignore the melody [your playing] on the bass.
Tell me about the new record.
I don’t even know what we’re calling it yet. We recorded an album with The Cape May. It’s super nice, very pretty, a little rockin’, a bit schizo. It was really fun making the album. When Thom and I make our albums it’s like two solo projects coming together; we work on our own shit, we know what we want. We’ll add bass lines or whatever to each other’s tunes but we’re not sitting there picking it apart note by note. We work on some things together, but songs usually only get finished when one of us takes the bull by the horns.
But this new album with The Cape May, it was six people sitting around listening to each other’s tracks, learning how to critique something without shooting it down. Someone would sing a song for the first time ever and I’d be like “I didn’t like it when you sang like this.” It was neat. You have to be both comfortable and confident.
It’s basically a studio project since we don’t live in the same city. But we loved doing it and so we’re gonna release this one and then try to find time to get together again in the winter.
I still really like playing live but I am enjoying recording more right now. Touring has lost a bit of luster. It’s not new anymore. I mean, I don’t mind getting hammered every night [on tour], it’s fun I guess, but when it’s all said and done, you spent $1000 on gas and you played to barely 75 people each night.
And I just love recording. It’s fun. It can be boring; there’s a lot of sitting around. But it’s great to have this communal project. That’s what was so great about this project with The Cape May; it felt like a group effort.
How long has Run Chico Run been together?
Aw man, since 1997. Thom and I played together in high school before Run Chico Run. I remember, we could play half of [the Red Hot Chili Peppers’] BloodSugarSexMagik like two months after it was out, ya know?
How important is your remote musical community?
It’s always been big for me. I mean, you can’t avoid your biases right? When you like somebody and then you find out that you like their music too, it rocks you. You can’t really compare someone like Radiohead or The Rolling Stones to the people that you know and make music with, it’s a totally different thing. [Your musical community] is so beneficial and you learn so much from each other.
THOMAS SHIELDS
I was a bit surprised to find out that you and Matt write the bulk of the RCR material individually, sometimes even recording whole songs that way?
TS: Yeah, we used to write from jamming a bit more, where one guy would bring a song that was part done and the other guy would just say “Here, I’ll finish it.” But lately we’ve tended to write individually.
How’s it been for you with a third member in Run Chico Run?
It’s been great having a third member. I’ve heard some mixed reviews from a few people, but that always happens anytime we change the format up at all. For Matt and I, it’s nice being able to relax a little bit on stage as opposed to constantly thinking “Don’t fuck up! Don’t fuck up!”
So you’re also in Velvet. My perception is that most people involved in the indie scene that you’re so closely tied to think that Velvet is…
Kinda corny? I guess, but I’ve always just loved dance music. For me, Velvet is a completely different approach to music, improvising, watching and reading the audience. I play drum machines, drums and keyboards. Playing with guys like Rick May, I’m just happy to be up there listening and playing.
How are things with Chet?
Super fun. It’s really neat playing the bass in that band, cos through rehearsals, I was coming up with these cool bass lines and melodies. But when it came time to record and I could really hear what everyone else was playing, I was like, hmmm, maybe I’ll just go dooommm. I get to listen and relax and play. Everyone is musically mature enough that there’s no stepping on each other’s toes. There’s the rare occasion, but yeah, it’s been great.
What’s the new Chet material like?
It’s great. One song is fourteen minutes, another is eleven; they’re just these odysseys. It’s a lot more manic. Ryan [Beattie, Chet’s frontman] kinda has either manic or morose songs, and there’s a bit more of the manic in the new material. There’s still the brooding side, but I think Ryan, as a person, is just a bit happier right now.
Being that you’ve been playing music for so long, are you ever challenged to find inspiration?
My inspiration [occasionally] wavers. I’m usually totally stoked on music but sometimes I’ll be like “Man, I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore!” Recently I had a pretty big breakthrough with Velvet. It’s getting a lot more improvisey lately and the lineup’s stayed the same for a while now; it’s just going in a really nice direction. The level of communication is getting really good. At the end of most Velvet sets now I’m just like “Whoa!” So it’s nice to have both sides; Chicos is more challenging for me and there’s less improvisation, but it’s equally satisfying. I need to have those two sides.