REIGNING SOUND at the Horseshoe (370 Queen West), Saturday (October 25), doors 9 pm. $16.50. HS, RT, SS, TF.
When I ask Greg Cartwright of North Carolina-via-Memphis garage rockers Reigning Sound what the biggest difference is between working with a small indie label like In the Red and a big indie like Merge, he points to our interview.
“The biggest change is stuff like this,” Cartwright says from his home in North Carolina. “Like, right now talking to you on the phone. With Merge, there’s a whole apparatus built in that’s ready to just gear up and push a record.”
At Merge, Cartwright finds himself rubbing shoulders with heavies like Bob Mould, Spoon, Superchunk and Arcade Fire. With their latest record, Shattered, the band remains true to Cartwright’s roots: simple melodies and foot-stomping rhythms give shape to tender songs about love and love lost.
It’s the kind of music that’s ebbed into the mainstream thanks to major-label artists like Jack White and Black Keys. Talking about Memphis-influenced garage-pop bands packing stadiums, Cartwright chooses his words carefully.
“Jack White and the Black Keys, they’re willing to add a lot of other components to make it something more… chart-ready,” he says. “There’s a lot of pressure to make big Billboard hits, not soulful, weird garage records. It’s interesting to see what they add – techno and hip-hop and rap – to what they do naturally to make something that’s chart-ready. But I’m not doing that. I’m not in a situation where I have to.”
If Cartwright’s records are at all “chart-ready,” they’re about five or six decades too late, hearkening back to a golden era of roots, Memphis soul and straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll. They’ve found their admirers despite Cartwright’s tendency to play hard-to-get, rebuffing the sly come-ons of major labels.
“I’ve been called by some people at majors,” he says. “But I don’t really take them very seriously. It seems like a lot of work. More work than I am willing to do. The thing smaller labels afford is the freedom to make whatever you want.”
music@nowtoronto.com
