Black Lungs

18.08.2008 | Cam | 0 Comments

It’s like the Canadians are rubbing our faces in it. First they gave us Alexisonfire, which in turn spawned the soulful, acoustic sounds of City & Colour and now AOF axe-man Wade MacNeil has delivered a top-notch record with his side project Black Lungs.

Wade was kind enough to donate some of his rare downtime to us…

Interview w/ Wade MacNeil (Vocals/Guitars) of Black Lungs (Canada)

Hey Wade, how are you today man? 

I’m great Mr Chambers, how are you? 

Ha ha, I’m good man. Mr Chambers is a bit formal though dude, you can call me Cam if that’s easier? 

Nice, ha ha. I was trying to get a little informal with the operator before… she’s called me like, three times today for all these interviews and yeah, she wasn’t having it, ha ha. 

Both Alexisonfire and Black Lungs are off the road at the moment, what’s been keeping you busy? 

Well, I’m kind of actually going nuts doing shit for both of them at the moment… just not in the full on, touring sense. 

The Black Lungs record just came out and we’ve been doing shows all round Ontario and we’ll also be doing the Warped Tour in Canada. We’re actually playing this Sunday as well! Alexis are working on a new record right now too, so it’s just music, music, music, man. 

Considering how much time you’ve spent touring over the last few years does it feel a little strange to be chilling at home? 

It’s a bit of a mind fuck really. When we came back home and to not play every day… man, we’d been on tour for five months straight up to that point and yeah, to get home and not see the guys every day and wake up in my own bed… it’s a strange feeling. 

It’s strange to wrap my head around because we’ve kind of stopped dead and just taken some time away, we didn’t even practice, no nothing! But I’ve been loving it and just barbecuing every day, ha ha. 

Living the life man, ha ha. 

Right on man  

For those that are new to Black Lungs, the band actually started quite a while ago however you’re the sole original members, correct? 

It’s kind of gone through a couple of different incarnations, but its definitely frustrating trying to find people to play. I did as much as I possibly could on my own and I’ve just had whichever friends I could play shows for me… it’s been a revolving door of Ontario musicians.  

Taking into account how busy Alexisonfire got, did you think a Black Lungs record would ever see the light of day? 

It’s actually been done for close to two years, with the artwork and everything, but with Alexis touring so much there was no point putting it out if I wasn’t able to do anything with it. 

So yeah, it’s just been sitting on the shelf and now I’ve got more than enough songs for another one. Now that Alexis have some time off I’m finally able to tour the record, so I’m just glad it’s finally out there. 

Usually you’ve got four other band members to bounce ideas off but Black Lungs is just yourself and Sammi Bogdanski. Were you nervous about stepping into the studio and showing the rest of the world your songs? 

Definitely man. It’s like that whenever you play a show or put a record out… it’s definitely all on me. It wasn’t someone else’s voice, it was my voice. I’d be like, “oh yeah, I definitely fucked up that guitar part”, ha ha. 

Whether it’s praise or criticism it’s all on my shoulders so it’s a little stressful, but I didn’t really think about that kind of thing in the studio. Fuck it, ha ha. 

Who are some of Black Lungs key influences and do you approach your song writing in a different way compared to when you’re writing for Alexis? 

The thing that makes it clearly a Black Lungs song is the simplicity of it all, and lyrically I wanted to strip the songs down and just make them easy to grasp. They’re simple songs… that’s the aim, you know, just three or four chord songs that would sound great even if there wasn’t stuff on top of it.  

The message is still the same even though everything is stripped down… I just wanted it to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and I definitely didn’t want to go off on the deep end and make it too complex.  

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but members of the Cancer Bats, Moneen and George from Alexis have been acting as your band for Black Lungs live shows yeah? 

Well, this Sunday I have two of the guys from Bedouin Soundclash playing with me and then the organ player from The Archelles, who are another band from around here. We’ve got some shows coming up with Anti Flag and then the Warped Tour, where I’ll have a few of the guys from The Creepshow playing… they’re this great psychobilly band from around here and then one of the Bedouin Soundclash guys again.  

Is it hard to get all of you in the same place at the same time or do you just accept that you’ll have a different line up for every show, ha ha? 

Yeah man, completely different line up for every show. Last weekend was with different people too. I had Ian from Attack In Black playing drums and Ian’s dad Dave played lead guitar, ha ha! 

It’s awesome coz he wailed, ha ha. I phoned Ian’s place to see if he was available and his dad Dave answered and yeah, he wanted to play so I said “sure Dave, come have a solo”… and he did! 

The record’s been receiving a lot of great reviews since its release man, what kind of reception were you anticipating for it? 

I wasn’t really sure. It’s a bit of a stretch from Alexis and I think that a lot of people would be surprised that I eve know how to sing, so I don’t know, I guess I was going into it with lowered expectations, ha ha. 

If it gets  a good review I’m like, “that’s nice”, even if they say something that doesn’t make sense and compare me to The Clash or something, even if it’s not the truth you’re like “yeah, good times”, ha ha. If someone cuts you down then you’re like “fuck him, what does he know”. He probably doesn’t even play music, ha ha. 

You just do it because you want to do it and because you’re passionate at the end of the day, so I’m not too concerned.  

Your voice is instantly recognizable which gives “Send Flowers” a sense of familiarity, but did you think fans of your other band would embrace something, which is rooted in more traditional punk and rock n roll? 

I don’t know. I want people to know it’s me but at the same time I don’t want to use the Alexisonfire trump card, you know? That always comes up in interviews, like, “you’re doing a solo project, is it like Dallas’ solo project”? So those two things almost do me a disservice.  

It’s kind of funny though, at a show the other week this kid came up to me and was insulting Alexis and saying he wasn’t into it but then he was like “loved the show” and then he’d go back to cutting down Alexis. You can tell me once you don’t like the band and I’m glad that you like Black Lungs, but take it easy, ha ha! 

August and September sees you hitting the road with Anti Flag for a small run of shows, do you have any other touring plans for the rest of 2008? 

Well, I have a headlining tour in the UK after the summer and then hopefully we can get over to Australia sometime in the fall, so that would be October. I’d love to spend a whole bunch of time in Australia you know? Just play one show and then just hang out.  

The Canadian and Australian governments seem to like each other so it would be pretty hard to extradite me, ha ha.  

We’re going to finish up with a quick few questions if that’s cool man? 

Of course! 

Favourite place you’ve travelled to with the band?  

I don’t want to sound insincere because I’m doing an Australian interview, so I wouldn’t want people to think I say this to everyone, but Australia is definitely my favourite place to play. It’s like Canada on Spring Break! 

It reminds me home, expect that it’s a home that’s way more beautiful and has an interesting accent.  

What’s your favourite gig that you’ve attended as a fan? 

One of the most eye opening things I’ve ever seen was The Misifts playing when in was the ninth grade… that’s what got me into punk rock. There were people getting into fights and it was long enough ago that there were still Nazis at shows and then the Sharp skins were beating up the Nazis! 

It was dangerous and wild and I wanted to be around that more often. It’s started my love affair with punk. It was weird people and there was loud music and it was dangerous! 

Favourite album at the moment? 

My favourite at the moment? Oh my god! Ha ha 

The new Constantines record man, I’ve been playing that like crazy so I’ll have to go with that! 

Most ridiculous thing you’ve done for a dollar? 

Ha ha ha, I’m not that guy. I’m not that guy that drinks tons of hot sauce or maple syrup, nothing that outlandish. I’ve never done anything for one dollar though, I set my sights around $100! 

Best hangover remedy? 

Greasy food man! Bacon and eggs and a huge fountain of coke!  

Most embarrassing onstage experience? 

When we started the Warped Tour about two years ago man. As soon as we started I jumped off the drum riser and didn’t just split my pants down the crotch, but I pretty much ripped my pants in half, ha ha. 

I don’t know how it happened! Aside from being lit on fire I can’t think of anything worse, ha ha. It was like I was wearing ass-less chaps! One minute I was on the drums and then I jumped and then bang, I was wearing ass-less chaps, ha ha. 

That’s all we’ve got time for man, anything else you’d like to add? 

Listen to Otis Reading man.