Very few bands can sound timeless and modern at the same time. With an ability to channel the sound, vibe and energy of the great classic rock bands of the 1970s, but with a 21st century twist, Canadian rock duo The Standstills have taken a slow and steady approach to their career, gigging as often as they can, honing their craft as incendiary onstage performers, while at the same time working tirelessly at creating original music that is melodic, memorable and powerfully evocative – songs that etch themselves into the hearts, minds and souls of all who hear them.
That includes fans at the annual Empire Rockfest concert weekend in Belleville, Ontario which kicks off on Thursday, July 26 with The Standstills opening for Billy Talent.
Vocalist/guitarist Jonny Fox and powerhouse drummer Renee Couture met in 2008 and soon began writing, performing and recording together. After a self produced, self-titled EP in 2009, the band recorded two full-length independent albums: The Human Element in 2011 and Pushing Electric the following year. That landed the band a record deal and lead to the critically and popularly acclaimed From the Devil’s Porch EP, which was released in 2015, garnering lots of attention thanks to the exceptional single/video Orleans.
Continuing to play almost incessantly, both as a headliner in clubs and opening for an impressive array of established rock acts, Fox and Couture were also working on new songs. The most recent of which, the single and video Wild, released in the spring of 2018, raced up the rock charts. It is the band’s first release in nearly three years and is the first tease of a new Standstills album, which Fox said he hopes will be released this fall.
“On this tour we also have a vinyl product which features another song from the album, but it’s not available digitally. It’s a special thing for people coming out to see our shows where they can go home with the new song, called Cold Blooded Killer. The album itself is done and in the can. What we’re trying to do right now is to get all our ducks in a row as far as a proper release and how to do that,” Fox said, as he explained why the gap between new material.
“We have gone through a little bit of a shift with agents and label since the release of From the Devil’s Porch, which is why things have been taking a little bit longer. The agency we were with has changed over twice and the label had a merger, so we’re being patient with them right now. But things are happening, and we are moving forward. We’re hoping the album will be released in October or November, but there’s nothing concrete until we kind of iron everything out.”
The Standstills reunited with From the Devil’s Porch producer James Robertson but took the recording process to the next level as Fox and Couture sought to ensure a truly authentic organic classic rock song in which to imbue their cutting-edge musical creations.
“This time around we had a lot more time and we were fortunate enough to have a bigger budget with the label, so we treated it as an opportunity to go for everything we’ve ever wanted to do in the recording process. So, we went to Nashville and we used a lot of old-school gear, a lot of analog stuff. It was basically put together and finished and mixed in Nashville on gear that has a lot of character and a lot of feel to it, and there were all these cool ghostly things happening in the recording while we were there, which gives the album a real cool vibe,” Fox said.
“There’s a real living breathing feeling on the songs, and really next-level performances within the mix and the production, which we’re really excited about. And, actually, we hear it more on the vinyl version that we do the digital. When we listen to the vinyl, it’s like we’re back in the studio. So that’s what we did this time. We were aiming to make a classic rock album, something that people can enjoy for 20, 30, 40, 50 150 years. That was our goal – to try and make the kind of album we fell in love with when we were young.”
Fox said that the time in between recordings was well used in terms of he and Couture developing, evolving and honing their abilities as songwriters, incorporating their increasing prowess as onstage musicians as well as both the life experiences and experiences throughout their career journey into their songs.
“As artists it’s a matter of learning and taking what’s great and putting our own stamp on it and giving something new and fresh for people. I think if we just duplicated our older material and the songs that inspired us, it would be boring. I personally do not like to listen to music that sounds exactly identical to something that already exists. That to me is just being a cover band,” he said.
“We are artists; when it come down to the craft of it, we’re very serious. As much as we like to joke around and have fun, that is something that is very serious to us; it means everything. It’s why we are doing this. We want to create something that’s beyond our abilities and everything that we have absorbed over the years, we want a little bit of that in our recordings and everything else too. It’s definitely something we spend a lot of time talking about – always putting new twists on stuff that’s already great by using the blueprint or the skeleton of what has come before as kind of the first step, and then adding on top of that.
“And the process changes every single time we write something. It starts with just an idea or feeling and working off that we just continually progress until something begins to take shape. When that starts to take shape, we analyze it a little bit, while trying not to overanalyze it, and let it be what it needs to be. And it changes all the time because we’re always learning new things. We’re living life and that makes a difference. So, every experience that we have on the road, and every experience that we have in life plays a part in the writing process. It’s always changing, we’re always progressing which is great and really exciting because I think if we stopped progressing than we should call it a day at that point.”
In the band’s most recent promo material, Couture is quoted as describing the music of The Standstills as if Clint Eastwood had a sound. Fox said it is in reference to the strong, uber cool persona the legendary actor/director brings to all his roles, but it is his first famous foray in the so-called Spaghetti Westerns (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, Hang ‘Em High etc.) that really inspires the tone of the band’s music.
“We are very into the Wild West which is what we feel rock and roll is and always has been. It’s always been about the outlaw, the sound and sight of that mysterious cowboy rolling into town and running into trouble – that’s rock and roll. That to me and Renee is rock and roll in a nutshell and the grand scheme of the whole music industry. It’s like The Man with No Name.
Fans in parts of both Canada and the United States had the privilege of witnessing the power and energy of The Standstills live when they opened for Canadian hard rock legend Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row) during his recent North American tour, which wrapped up last week. Fox said it was an exciting and revealing tour for he and Couture.
“It went better than we could have expected, to tell you the truth. I could probably go on about it for an hour it was so awesome. Overall the crowd response has been incredible and the biggest thing we have noticed is Sebastian, being an older artist who has been touring for 30 years, he has an older fan base, but that older fan base is made up of hard core rock and rollers,” Fox said in Chicago, shortly before the tour finished.
“It’s really, really cool to perform to these people and have them become fans and stuff like that. It’s been a really positive experience. When it comes down to it, any opportunity to play, to perform to new people that have never heard us or seen us before is a great opportunity. We definitely have opened for more established acts quite a bit.”
Many Canadian fans learned of the awesomeness and innovativeness of The Standstills a few years back when they were taken cross-country by The Tea Party, whose audience revels in both the emotional intensity of a performance, but also the musicality of the musicians themselves. On both counts, The Standstills won over those fans night after night, building their own reputation as a must-see attraction. Since then, Fox and Couture have also shared the stage with the likes of Pop Evil, Theory of a Deadman, Seether, Eagles of Death Metal and Big Wreck.
“I think when we open for these bigger, more experienced bands what we’re learning the most is about the well-oiled touring machine and all the working parts involved to pull it off. It takes a team of people to make the show successful. And as much as the performance is number one, everything else that goes into it plays a part in that performance. Which is what we have been exposed to with these more established acts. We’re learning that all of the behind the scenes stuff, like working with venue staff, dealing with the promoter, is very, very important.,” Fox said.
“With Sebastian Bach, throughout this whole tour I was blown away by his stage performance. He is just so good, I had no idea. When we were asked to jump on this tour I knew Sebastian’s stuff, but Renee wasn’t really familiar, because he is older, which is fine. It is what it is. But I didn’t really understand he was such a fierce live act, which is incredible.
“And we absolutely learn from these more established acts every time we go out. We watch them and pick up new things and see how they really build their show and make it a high level of entertainment. And that’s what we’re striving to do for ourselves. As much as we’re performers, we are also audience members as well; we love to see that sort of energy and performance, it’s very entertaining for us and it fuels our fire.”
That fire will be further fueled as The Standstills open for Billy Talent on July 26 on the opening night of the Empire Rockfest series in Belleville. Night two, Friday, July 27 features Matt Mays opening for The Arkells, while The Beaches open for the scintillating Glorious Sons on Saturday, July 28.
For more information on Empire Rockfest visit https://empiresquarelive.com/empire-rockfest-2017/?mpce-edit=1.
For more information about The Standstills, including other tour dates and updates on the new album, visit http://www.thestandstills.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COp9W5FAP84
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