DO MAKE SAY THINK at the Church at Berkeley (315 Queen East), Friday (June 15). $12. 416-532-1598. Rating: NNNNN
It’s unfair to say the pressure’s on Toronto space rock combo Do Make Say Think, but it’s true.
With their last recording, 2000’s excellent Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead, praised around the globe as something of a minor masterpiece, the sextet’s immediate task is to come up with something as good or better for their next release. Yikes.
Do Make’s guitarist Justin Small insists the group hasn’t given much thought to living up to anything, but midway through recording the band’s third album — due out this fall — he already thinks they’ve got something special on tape.
“This record’s being done a little differently than the last one,” Small offers. “We went into the studio with no songs and no idea what we were doing. We broke up into songwriting pairs. Someone would come up with a rhythm or a riff, and then we’d start building from there. So far, it’s working, I think.
“It hasn’t meant a huge change in sound for us. So far, the real standout is an incredible drum performance. Those guys have really lost their shit this time.”
An area where the Do Makes are interested in one-upping themselves is the frequency of their local live shows. The group’s first Toronto show since last year’s Bloor Cinema extravaganza happens Friday (June 15) in the Church at Berkeley.
Small promises that the group will play more regularly in town and at more conventional venues, but in the meantime he hopes Friday’s show is massive.
“The Church is a beautiful space, so we want to do something small, with no bells or whistles,” he explains. “We could play a club, but this is about taking our sound and putting it into this different environment.”
