We Built This Foot | Well, we’re sure The Octopus Project at least had a say in it, anyway.
DETAILS
THE OCTOPUS PROJECT
Aug. 22 (9pm). Velvet Underground (10030-102 St).
Tickets available through Ticketmaster (451-8000/ticketmaster.ca).
Every band with a unique name gets quizzed where it came from. It’s certainly the first question I ask Toto Miranda of The Octopus Project—on the road in California “somewhere between Visalia and L.A.,” and his response sums up the band pretty well. He explains it’s the name of a 1950s Danish cartoon, which no one in the band has ever seen.
“We really just liked the way the words sounded together,” he admits. “For us, that was enough reason. It’s always funny to have to explain that when someone who is familiar with the show comes up to us and asks us about the cartoon.”
Two things are obvious, then, about The Octopus Project: they have a sense of humour, and they dance to their own tune. These noise rockers are involved in all aspects of their craft, and not just when it comes to their experimental sound. (Think of them as a more accessible version of Battles—less math rock than WTF rock.) They design their own artwork, their own merchandise (including t-shirts and posters), and even the stage design for their concerts.
When I ask him why The Octopus Project keeps doing it all themselves when so many other bands are happy to hand over the reins to their label, Miranda, who (mostly) plays drums for the quartet, ponders a moment before replying.
“It’s always seemed like something that we should be doing ourselves,” he shrugs. “We know a lot of amazing artists, and would definitely be up for working with other people, but the first idea for anything is always ‘Why wouldn’t we do that ourselves?’ I know that’s how most bands do it, but to hand in an album and then not have anymore input would seem very strange to us. We try to address every detail of the project on our own, and it really is a project. There is music at the forefront of the project, but it’s just one part. But it was never a conscious decision. You know, ‘Well, we better do this all ourselves.’ Those were the avenues we had used to explore our creativity, and that’s the way we got used to doing things. It has turned out to be really satisfying, though—we love the level of control over the entire operation that we have.”
For a band that likes to maintain such firm control over their careers, The Octopus Project doesn’t exactly make the most, shall we say, structured music in the world. Their latest effort, Hello Avalanche, may be more melodic than their previous releases, but you still get the feeling that chaos could erupt at any moment.
“It keeps things interesting,” Miranda says about the band’s brand of organized improvisation. “If there were fewer things that could go wrong when we were coming up with these songs, we might not be as engaged in the process. Being a little bit nervous about the whole thing keeps you in the moment.”
