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Lazy Slang By: Matt Parkinson Click to hear a track from Lazy Slang: Garden City (4.6 MB)
If fun-loving rock-reggae is something you dig, then you have to check out Burlington, Ontario’s Lazy Slang. With creative and incredible bass lines, high-energy, complicated drumming and intensely complex yet melodic guitar riffs, Slang is easily propelling themselves up the personal playlists of those that know them. It's something about the way the sounds come together, it's addicting and the more you listen, the more you love it. With only a few big shows under their belt, you would be hard pressed to find any traces of nervousness or shoddy showmanship. Whether Tyler is hammering out fast and innovative drum patterns, Mick is grooving to the tune of his original bass beats, or Ryan is loosing himself in his lyrics and fantastic guitar work, it looks as though these guys have done it hundreds of times. 
Mick grooves on while Tyler wows the crowd with his intensity.
How did Lazy Slang come into existence? Where did the name come from? (MICK) Ryan and I played in a band called the Freetones in high school; it was mostly ska, with some attempts at getting the feeling for reggae music. During that time Ryan was also playing in a punk rock band called Durfey with some of the other guys. Tyler had been drumming for quite some time by then, and mainly just kept himself busy jamming with a random assortment of friends. We knew him, but didn't find ourselves in the same places and never really thought to get a jam down. After a few shows the Freetones split for university, I went to Brock, and Ryan stayed in Burlington to work fulltime at the arena. Ty also went to Brock, and through mutual interest in good times and past ties, we started to hang out more. Ryan often came down for parties at Ty's house, as they where often legendary, and at some point we just figured that we should jam. I had been playing with other guys in my Rez buildings, and felt the need to take my 4x10 cabinet out of my 6'x12' room. We started to seriously jam in the summer of 2004, and wrote our first song Garden City somewhere soon after. (RYAN) As for the name, It's a long story that no one agrees on, and I'm really too lazy to get into it. What has been your best learning experience as a band? (TY) Well...When playing at bars a lot of people come out and support bands. Bar shows are great because people get drunk, let loose and have a good time. People aren't afraid to yell for you to cover their favourite song, or in some cases even climb up on stage and join in singing what lyrics they know. The only problem is that most bar owners aren't out to have a good time, but rather to make money. I guess people trying to get something for nothing could be expected, but getting stiffed by club owners after playing hours of music sucks. I would say that our best learning experience is the realization that to some, music is more about business and making money than performing and doing what you love to do. You must be willing to question people’s motives, especially those benefiting from your bands performance. We're all easygoing guys, especially Mick and Ry, but at some point you realize to keep an eye out for people because some will walk all over you. (RYAN) I suppose I have realized that we can pretty much do whatever we want musically. We keep getting better playing together and we try new things constantly so there's no stopping us. 
Every word Ryan sings, he does it with passion and skill.
When creating something new, what is the main aspect of a song you guys try to focus on? Creating outstanding music, or influential and creative lyrics? (RYAN) The ideal is to have a mixture of both. Writing music is always a collaborative effort amongst all of us with the music and song writing both growing together. We want to write a good song but we all want to try and show off a bit too and explore our skills. Also, we don't want to write the same song over again so we always experiment to try and let each song have it's own personality. Our musical influences are broad so new ideas are always floating around. Lyrics on the other hand are generally more of a personal reflection and have to be poetic and thoughtful. Yet in the end we are comfortable collaborating on lyrics if it doesn't work well with the music. As a vocalist, I have to attempt to write solid, thoughtful lyrics and at the same time explore the voice as an instrument of melody and work it within the music. If you had a time machine and could jam with any band or musician, who would it be? (TY) I'm a big fan of the band Snot. I never got the opportunity to see them play because of the death of their singer Lynn Strait, but I wish I had. They're a really hard lounge metal band, but the reggae and hip-hop influences are definitely present in their music. I credit them for the introduction of mixing hip-hop and reggae music with rock and metal. They're pretty intense. (MICK) One day I’m going to track down the guys from Equalizer. I can only find a dozen or so songs by them, and I know for a fact that they no longer play together. They played this really solid reggae acoustic style with great harmonies; it's so damn catchy. A friend of mine was doing an open mic night in Ottawa and covered an Equalizer song, turns out the horn player was in the club, and they hung out all night. But so far I think I’ll have an easier time building the time machine and jammin’ with Lee Scratch Perry before he went mad. (RYAN) I strive to be as good, song writing and such, as the late Joe Strummer. He was excellent. However, there’s so many past musicians, even musicians today, that would warp my mind to have a little session jam, that its hard to name just one. You know, Sublime, 311, those are my personal favourites. What can we expect to see in the future for Lazy Slang? Big gigs? Small clubs? Beach parties? (MICK) Really, we'll play anywhere. We love house parties; they are always the most fun you know? If anyone out there needs a solid band for a party, we'll do it. We are primarily working on the music, and the opportunities come as they may. So all of those places sound great to us. If you want to check out Lazy Slang, head to Big Buck’s in Burlington on January 29th, 2006, where you’ll find them on the bill alongside indie phenoms, The Salads. Hit up http://www.myspace.com/slangers to find the latest info on Lazy Slang, and to hear some more songs by them. Lazy Slang is:
Mick Parkinson
Ryan Makin
Ty Guerriero All pictures are copyright 2005, Jason Matos |
