KIDSTREET with DOLDRUMS at Wrongbar (1279 Queen West), Saturday (September 3), 10 pm. $10. TW. See listing.
Waterloo synth-pop band Kidstreet release their debut album, Fuh Yeah, on Nettwerk in a few weeks, which means the sibling three-piece have a much bigger publicity machine behind them now. Unfortunately, that comes with the side effect of slowing things down.
“We’ve actually been working on that deal for at least a year now,” says guitarist/keyboardist Cliff Snyder.
“We’re always recording new stuff, so whenever we release something, it was probably made a year or two ago. The album is the best work from that time, and it had to get released at some point. But I think the most recent song is at least a year old.”
While most bands from smaller Ontario cities jump ship for Toronto or Montreal the moment their career heats up, the Snyders don’t seem particularly eager to leave Waterloo. Unlike most university towns, it has an arts community that’s independent from its academic institutions.
“There’s always been a concentrated art scene, but it’s never ballooned outside of Waterloo. The universities don’t play a big role in it. In other places, you wouldn’t play if the schools weren’t there. Here, you can still play a show in the summer and people will come out.”
Kidstreet’s raucous live shows are one of the first things people mention about them, which is fairly unusual for electronic acts. The group focuses on making their gigs feel like big parties rather than concerts. They’re not, however, overly concerned with playing everything by hand, even though Karl is a mean drummer and Edna ably handles keys and vocals.
“It was a conscious decision when we started the band to have electronic drums playing over top of real drums. That’s how we record, so that’s how we wanted to approach it live. The bass lines tend to be sequenced, too, because they’re really quick and chopped-up, which could turn into a mess if we tried to play them live.”
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com
