Beauty

Photo by Ming Wu.

Part of the Bands Undone live shows, The Belle Game played an acoustic set at Canteen Monday evening. It was so amazing to finally hear them play live! On top of them having charisma while performing , it is evident that The Belle Game is formed from a tightly-knit friend group! I had a chance to sit down with Alex, Adam, Andrea, Katrina, and Alisa to get to know these talented young folk!


Daycaller: With your members being situated between Montreal and Vancouver, did that effect the creation process behind the album?

Andrea: Well, when we recorded the EP, it was still just Adam, Alex and I. We were all in the same city at the same time.

Adam: ..for, like, two months we had together, and we decided to get it out as fast as we could. But since then, the writing's been a lot of e-mail between each other. Luckily Alex and Andrea can visit us sometimes in Montreal.

DC: So in the studio, it was just the three of you then? Was it your first time recording in a studio?

Adam: Yes, just the three of us...

Alex: Yeah, it was mine. And, was it yours?

Andrea: Yeah, I had never really done anything like this before.

DC: How do you feel differently as a creative person in and outside of the studio?

Andrea: More alive while performing. Not tired from twelve hour days stuck in a room with these people (laughs)! It feels way more relaxed [being able to perform in front of an audience]. We don't have long lulls of creating the same thing over and over and over again.

Alex: Yeah, we had this one line, "desire", that just...

Adam: Going into the studio makes you crazy! 'Cause you're there for 13 hours, and you're just drinking black coffee. There's this one line in "The Suitcase Song," (sings) - your desire! That one word I hate so much because I can't say it or sing it properly. So there was a good 4 hours of me going, "er! er!" So it was nice live, even if I mess it up, it's just one time. Then it's done.

DC: Do the songs that you spend so much time perfecting in the studio end up having less meaning when you perform them? Or is it different each time?

Andrea: I think it is different each time.

Alex: For me, I didn't really write the lyrics, right? So once we had them recorded, we would start playing them live, it meant more to me than when we recorded them. And I had that nice feeling of being in the studio with these guys.

Andrea: Aw, hey, thanks Alex!

DC: That's awesome! So, Adam, I found some of your solo stuff online - it sounds awesome!

Adam: Thank you!

DC: Does anyone else have any other projects, musical or not, happening outside of The Belle Game?

Andrea: Alex has an awesome solo album! He has a full album coming out. It's comparable, I'd say, to City and Colour.

Alex: (laughs) Well I mean, it was a little bit different, because I started recording it early last year, before The Belle Game even started. It's going to be a nine-song album, but it's not coming out until, I think, April. And yeah, City and Colour is a big influence on me. I recorded it in my basement, and then I got it professionally mixed and mastered. It's not studio, but it's going to be good.

DC: That's great!

Adam: Alex wrote and recorded that all on by himself, essentially, and it sounds amazing. It's so impressive that he did it all with his own gear. Figuring it out on his own.

Andrea: Probably one of the most dedicated, hard working artists I know. 'Cause he had the discipline to do it all on his own.

Alex: Yeah, there was a room downstaris where I just set up some studio speakers, a really nice mic, and recorded it almost all on that mic, with some nitty instruments.

DC: That's exciting. I'm definitely going to check you out. Do you have a myspace?

Alex: Yup, it's www.myspace.com/alexandrewmusic (also check out www.listen.alexandrewmusic.com)

DC: Amazing. Last question, what's next? Creating more music? You guys are touring now, right?

Adam: We're kind of touring. We're playing live a lot now. We finally put a full band together now. We're an eight-piece band now. So lots of show-playing and just song writing.

DC: Are you guys excited? I'm excited to see where The Belle Game goes!

Adam: I am the most excited I have ever been.

DC: That's great to hear! Thank you guys so much! I look forward to following your music.


Make sure to check out Bands Undone to be up on the know on these intimate acoustic shows! Also, check out Inaas' gallery space on Dalhousie.