As 'Strap-on Tools' say "A Toronto based band skilled at rocking socks off!" Who would disagree with a bold statement like that? Once you listen to their music you entranced into the sound that only fire can enrapture into your soul and bring out the adrenaline. Strap-on Tools have chemistry not only playing but in real life as well. I'd say these guys are probably one of the best, but hey I guess you already knew that with their bold statement.
Here is some Q&A and with their in-depth answers you can guarantee that they not only have the passion and will to succeed but also the talent and intelligence to.
1. Name of Band Strap-On Tools
2. How did you guys form the band? In 1999 I had spent the past decade playing drums for various bands, but all the while had been writing music of my own and finally decided to explore an outlet for that music. Over the 7 years since the band has seen it's share of members come and go, but has now formed into a cohesive group where all aspects of the band are shared equally.
3. What made you go into this kind of music? Fate, I suppose... We never really planned what we were going to do, we just wrote music together, and this is the music that comes out. We've got very diverse backgrounds, but I think we just all appreciate what makes for good, fun pop music and bring our different backgrounds together to create what we have now.
4. How did you learn about this music? We picked up our instruments, and after years of trying, this is the music that came out!
5. When did you start? Personally? I started music at a young age, piano lessons at... I think 8 or 9 years old... The interest wasn't quite there, but the seed had been planted... in 1991I joined the 48th Highlanders Pipes and Drums, which spawned my interest in music, as I translated snare and tenor drum into bashing away on a kit, to joining various high school bands. The other guys have similar stories. Dunk took 8 years of blues guitar lessons. Chaddy played heavy metal, and writes some killer riffs. Mikey... well, he's from Chatham, so I don't really know what he did over there...
6. Where are you guys from? I was born in North York, which doesn't exist officially anymore, so let's just say "Toronto", I currently live in Thornhill. Chaddy was born in Flint, Michigan, and now lives in Woodbridge (but works at Toronto City Hall if you want to stalk him...). Dunk is from Port Dover, but now called The Beaches (Yes, THE BEACHES, not THE BEACH) his home. And as I said Mikey is from Chatham, but now lives in the High Park area...
7. Where did you learn to play this music? All over the place. My piano teacher when I was in grade school, Music class in Jr. High and High school, independent lessons, and just picking things up as I went along. I can't really get into great details about the other guys, you'd have to ask them specifically...
8. What do you do now with your music? Well, aside from writing, recording and playing our stuff live, we also run our own record label (Label Records, www.label-records.com) which takes up a lot of time. Getting all our stuff ready for Warped Tour this year has been taxing. We had to get a new CD finished in a short period of time, as well as getting T-Shirts, Pins and other merch ready. I'm hoping we can calm back down shortly and get back into a nice rhythm of playing shows, and getting another CD in the can.
9. How do you compare your music to others? Is it better? The same? No difference? I'd be lying if I said I didn't compare us to other bands. I have to say that there's no band I like more than us right now, but that's basically because if I didn't like us the most, I would be doing something different than what I'm doing right now to make us the band I like the most. There are a lot of bands I respect greatly, both major and independent, right now, and there are also some bands that I feel are a complete blight on the music industry, but I will refrain from naming names... Okay, I'm sorry I have to take this time to single out Magnetta Lane, they're horrible and I'm sorry, but I just don't understand what anyone could possibly see in them, I'm sure they're very nice girls though. That's the only name I will mention. I definitely don't think we're "the same" as any other band out there. If we were just here to regurgitate music we might as well be a cover band. I think we bring something different to our genre of music. Not to say we're totally unique, as we do have our influences, but we definitely have facets of our band that differentiate us from our peers
10. Do you have any albums? We released a 6 song EP (No Stone Un-Rocked) in 2005, and we've just put the wraps on a new CD (Phase Thirty-Nine) that we're having pressed specifically for our Warped Tour appearance. When the fall rolls around, we'll be getting to work on a new, full-length album.
11. Do you have any competition in the genre? Of course, but that's not exactly how we look at it. Sure there are other bands in our genre, or rather, other bands whose fans we share. But it's not a competition. Otherwise we'd be sabotaging our competitor's equipment, and making them suffer. Believe me, you don't want to compete with us, we're BRUTAL!
12. What are your group's goals? Our short term goals right now are to get on that stage in Barrie and show the Warped Tour crowd what we're made of, hopefully pick up lots of new fans, and some new friends. Maybe parley that into some more high profile gigs, and keep climbing the ladder, as it were. Longer term we'd like to hit the road again, go back out east maybe (we loved it out there), get another album done and see where things go. We'd really love to make this our careers... Not be rich and famous "rock stars" or anything, but be comfortable without having to work a day job.
13. Where do you see your group in 5 years? 10 years? I expect we'll have a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame, and for at least one person to cover one of our songs for an audition for Canadian Idol.... Or, more seriously, I expect that in 5 or 10 years we'll still be making music. Maybe not with SOT, but hopefully. These guys are my friends, and while we don't always see eye to eye, I'm very proud of what we've done musically so far, and I think it can only get better from here.
