Gazing Ahead – An Interview with Tearjerker

By: Daniel Gerichter (@ZenDonut) –

Tearjerker.

On a particularly sunny afternoon, Aesthetic Magazine’s Daniel Gerichter chatted with Micah Bonte of Toronto-based indie rock/shoegaze band Tearjerker. The band formed in 2006 with Bonte, Trevor Hawkins and Taylor Shute, and championed a DIY aesthetic across their crinkly, surging and atmospheric singles, EP’s and full-length albums. On their first release for SQE Music, Hiding, the band has put tremendous focus on cohesive, tangible releases that stay with their listeners, and pushed that aesthetic further forward.

Hiding is both a culmination of the band’s evolution to-date and a sneak preview of a larger, full-length release slated for later this year. We discussed the band’s creative process, their penchant for the DIY approach,  and why summer is THE perfect time for rock and roll.

How has your sound changed since Rare (your last EP) came out?

I think it hasn’t changed, but evolved a bit. The Hiding EP included some of the tracks that we didn’t put on Rare. It’s not so much that their sound had changed, but it’s more of a continuum. We tried to expand the sound, bring in a few new instruments – some bass and keys, cellos and string instruments, a little bit of banjo in the background. But we’re also conscious of not trying to stack too much in any one song.

What was your creative process like for this album?

Often times we’ll just start out with a melody in our heads that we might create a demo for. We’ll send that out via email. Thing is, if you have a good demo you know it right away and that helps build the framework. If the rest of the guys agree with that, we just go from there. Eventually,we’ll throw it over to Trevor to start creating the guitar parts behind a beat and build on that. We’ll get into a room and start jamming out the songs to get a feel for what they’re like live and, after we’ve got a feel for them, we’ll go our separate ways. We’ll record our individual parts at home, which removes a lot of the pressure of being on the clock in a studio.

So with ideas coming at any time, you’re open to putting them to paper when ever?

Exactly. It’s so nice to be able to work with those ideas wherever we are, as opposed to back in the day where we’d all have to converge  in some crammed studio space. It’s a great time to bemaking music.

If you had your druthers, would you consistently release EPs, or periodically release full length albums?

I think it’s really nice to stay prolific. We’re trying to just primarily get stuff out. Every band gets panicky, thinking “hey it’s been too long”. We don’t necessarily panic about it, A full-length record to us is something special – not just a bunch of songs. We think about how it all works together as a functional unit. I know that with my favourite bands, it hurts to wait three years before you get new material from them

You just described my entire youth.

I think that’s why we’re less focused on big tours, too. We’re mostly focused on getting the next thing out. And while it’s nice to be able to get a full package out there, with all the advantages of digital, it’s nice to be able to get what you’ve been working on directly to people when it’s fresh. Just because it’s not full-length, doesn’t mean it isn’t special.

Do you think it keeps your live shows consistently fresh?

Exactly. It means we’re not jamming the same old songs for months.

You guys are intent on each album having an underlying theme. What’s the theme on your new EP Hiding?

Music/lyrics-wise, we don’t really set out to do anything so cohesive like a theme record, but I do think we consciously looked at Hiding, and we thought of it as a tape/record. We thought about how the songs would blend into one another. There wasn’t a theme as such, but having the songs kind of fade and warp into one another was a big focal point for us.

You’ve also outlined the importance of each album being a cohesive unit. In your opinion, is it possible for an album to be both a cohesive unit AND a set of radio-friendly singles?

I don’t see why not. Some of my favourite albums are that way, whether it’s The Streets’ A Grand Don’t Come for Free or even the new Kendrick Lamar album, where it’s all about how the city has turned him into a bad kid. Every single one of those songs is strong on its own. And you saw with the Streets that the BBC played all of those songs as singles, or with Kendrick, maybe not every single song was a single, but a lot of them were. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. I think whether you’re working on a bunch of individual great songs, or even a concept album, there’s no reason why a record can’t be both.

The term ‘shoegaze’ is thrown around as a description for indie bands to a point where it’s become a sub genre. How do you feel about it? How do you respond to it as a description of your own sound?

Our music is loud, it sounds like we’re using pedals, etc., but when people ask me, I just say we’re indie rock. It doesn’t matter whether they call it ‘dream pop’ or ‘shoegaze’ or ‘indie rock’ If people are into it, they can call it whatever they want.

Tell us more about what a ‘DIY aesthetic’ means.

We love the fact that our music can reach the whole world on the internet, but I came up as a fan in Toronto constantly digging through crates for stuff like Lord Finesse or the Specials. So we really dig the physical aspect to collecting new music. And as an indie band, we really didn’t have much choice but to make our own stuff. That’s why we’re so focused on the artwork for our albums. It’s more than just a piece of paper you print out – it’s about that extra lovin’!

Who else (in your opinion) has that aesthetic today?

Eric’s Trip definitely has that. The Microphones are a huge influence. Phil Elvrum (from Microphones) started his own little shop In Oregon and he makes beautiful stuff. I think a lot of people do it well, but not many people do it better than Phil Elvrum. When you’re making something physical, you want them to see it, hear it, hold it, and for it to maybe take their breath away a little bit. We’re always hoping that our albums are this really nice package that speaks to them, but also mirrors who we are artistically.

What can we expect moving forward to your next full-length record?

We’ve got some new songs, and we’re just pushing everything forward. I think you know what happens in this city when the weather gets nice: everybody comes outside! So we’ve played a few small shows with some of our friends. I think best of all, we’re testing those new demos out with the car windows down. Summer’s short – you gotta enjoy it while you can.