After playing a showcase at this years Canadian Music Week, Rob and Dan of Sandman Viper Command talk about recording their full length, the importance of networking and all of the help they have got so far as a band.

So how was the band started?

Dan: Well we all were friends through high school and Matt our drummer is a year older than us, but we've all sort of known each other through social circles for a long time. The band was just sort of a result of that- hanging out doing various things, jamming being one of them. Rob and I had formed various bands throughout high school and did small shows, sort of like a different band every show, different people playing. We eventually landed on a line up and vibe that seemed to work, and it took on its own sort of thing from there.

So what was it that made you decide to really go for it with the band?

Rob: We all sort of came back from our first year of post-secondary, and we all kind of wanted to put everything into the band so that we didn't have to go back. We wanted to try and get as far out of there as we could as quickly as we could.

Also, we just had a really creative summer. We were jamming a lot in a lot of empty houses, and it seemed to be the right time for us to make the push if we were ever going to do it.

Dan: Yeah, the ball sort of got itself rolling, and we decided to kinda see where it went so to speak.

Dan: In terms of influences we have fairly mixed and typical musical backgrounds. We definitely owe a lot to the classics, bands you'd expect to hear -
Beatles, Rolling Stones, bands like that. Each member sort of has their own unique backgrounds that can help sculpt the overall sound. So it's a pretty broad range, we like experimenting with different sounds and trying different things all of the time. We kind of pick and choose our influences as we go.

You guys recorded in a barn over a period of time for this record. Tell us what that was like.

Dan: Yeah, we recorded in this barn studio - the guy who owns it is a guy named Dave King. He saw us at a local bar and we weren't the sort of act you'd normally see at the local bar scene at the time, so he though to invite us to his studio for a few demos. It was this really old gutted out barn turned into a studio, with a kitchen in it, guest room and a very picturesque locale. It had tonnes of vintage gear, and it was probably the best opportunity we could have hoped for to get the ball rolling.

Rob: The way it's all gutted out it almost has a church vibe to it, with high ceilings and all. It's a pretty incredible studio, and the owner of the barn, Dave King has been doing a lot with it lately because it's such a prime location. It's pretty low-key but has quite a history to it.

So what was working with Dave King like during the recording process?

Rob: It was pretty sweet, he's sort of like our band guru. He did it all and he's a pretty prolific drummer, he's played with a lot of people. He riffed off stories all the time, and working with him was really cool.

Dan: He is definitely a big well of experience that we can draw from.

Rob: The way we recorded the album, we did a lot of live off the floor and he was really instrumental in whipping us into shape so to speak. He made us do take upon take upon take until we finally got things up to par. Since then our live show has improved a tonne, just in terms of having the ear and knowing how to push us and refine our performances.

Yeah, it sounds like he really helped to fine tune what you came to him with already.

Dan: Yeah, exactly. We had a lot of the ideas and everything, a lot of the creative bases for what we were trying to do. On a lot of the songs, he didn't even change anything, it was just the execution that was improved.

Rob: Yeah I don't think he really changed anything in terms of structure or anything major.

Dan: I think he just saw a certain potential in us that he wanted to try and unlock in the songs as they were.

Had you ever done any serious recording before working with Dave?

Rob: Our drummer has a studio in his basement, that we were just demo-ing in, and playing around with different songs and trying to get something going. But that was definitely our first real recording experience yeah.

So tell us about debuting one of your songs on Bob McCown's show. Did you guys actually get to be on the show?

Rob: No, unfortunately we haven't been on the show ourselves. We played a show at McMaster University which Stephen Brunt (who is the co-host of the show) happened to be at, and I saw him and was actually debating whether to go and say something. I ended up going and introducing myself, and he said he had just seen me play on stage. We got talking, and I told him there was a song "Yo Bobcat" on the record that wasn't necessarily about Bob McCown but the catch phrase was inspired by one of his callers that said "Yo Bobcat" when he called in. So we borrowed the title and he brought it in, he played it and they gave us a nice little promo for our upcoming show. Since then they've brought us up intermittently in different flashes here and there.

Dan: Yeah, it was a pretty fun moment when they played the song on the show.

Rob: My dad raised me on the whole sports side of things, and I was always listening to the Fan 590 as a kid growing up, so to have that actually played on the station was kind of a personal victory (laughs).

What have been some of the challenges for you guys as a band?

Dan: I think just getting enough push behind your band to do the shows that you want. You need to put in some time before you can do the things the way you want to go do them, so I guess just getting our feet off the ground. It's all gone pretty smoothly for us though, we have been happy with how
things have been going lately.

Rob: Yeah, I mean you get those bands where things explode in the first few months of being together, and that'd be wicked if it could happen to us, but at the same time it's really cool to be able to build it all ourselves. So we figure doing it this way will give us a much stronger foundation anyways in the end if we don't skyrocket into this thing.

To follow up, what has made things a lot easier for you guys as a band so far?

Rob: It's been everything from meeting Dave our producer, to the people we work with now, it comes down to meeting the right people. Even if you think that a show is not turning out to be much, if the one right person is in the crowd it can change everything for you. Our biggest asset is all of the people around us with more experience, they know what they are doing and give us advice. It's really awesome to be able to draw on that.

You guys recently played the Audio Blood showcase at this year's CMW. Tell us about the show.

Dan: It was a great night, it was an awesome bill. CMW is just a lot of fun in general.

Rob: It was our first one - we lost our CMW virginity to the Audio Blood showcase (laughs).

How important is a festival like CMW to a band such as SVC?

Dan: Well, I don't know if festivals are 'make or break' for your career, but they help and definitely help and CMW is a great networking opportunity.

Rob: Yeah, I think if you want to be taken seriously and put yourself out there as a real up-and-coming act in the country, you have to play it. I think these are just the type of things that you have to be doing if you want to make a career out of it.

So I would assume lots of touring is upcoming for you guys to support your album 'Everybody See This'?

Dan: Yeah, we are just going to keep on plugging away. We're playing tonnes of shows, and hopefully other projects too, get more music going, and getting any creative ideas we have out there.

Rob: This Friday we are playing in Barrie, and then Sunday we are playing Peterborough as well. We are hitting all the little towns in between the big towns and the big towns as well.

Are there any plans to go outside of the province right now?

Rob: We're planning a tour to go out east, that's in the works right now. So hopefully in the summer we'll be able to get out there, but right now we're just going as far as we can.

How did you guys come with the concept for the album cover?

Rob: We were actually just taking some photos with our photographer Brian Ulrich, and the tape was just hanging on the door.

Dan: At the time we had an idea for album art, and we incorporated those ideas into the finished product. But we were taking a bunch of pictures and thought let's just have fun with something else, and we found the painters tape, and one thing led to another (laughs).

So it was really just goofing around is what it was.

Dan: Pretty much (laughs). It wasn't a big artistic vision behind it (laughs).

Rob: Yeah, thats pretty much it but it's a wicked shot in terms of composition and we just really dug it.

By Nick Barfoot
http://www.myspace.com/sandmanvipercommand