On The Line W/ Second Harbour
The Most Dangerous Game
We stopped scrolling the moment we heard Xavier Morency scream, 'I Feel My Head Emptying,' from their blistering song 'The Most Dangerous Game.' It felt legit, raw and honest. While their music can be labeled in many ways, it ultimately speaks for itself. We liked the authenticity of the lyrics and their delivery. We were stoked get some time with the band, featuring Xavier Morency vocals and rhythm guitar, Vincent Morency on bass, Alex Toupitch on lead guitar, and John Muggianu on drums.
GOOD CALL PRESENTS: "ON THE LINE" w/ Second Harbour
Hometown?
Born, raised, and currently operating in Montreal.
Montreal is a beautiful city. A city with a long history of great punk bands. Have you ever heard The Nils who were active in the 80's? Incredible band. What's the current music scene like? Any bands you hang with?
Montreal’s an amazing place to grow up in! We haven't, but we’ll definitely give them a listen. Music scene here’s unfortunately taken a big hit here lately. The smaller scale, local venues seem to be closing left and right making it harder and harder for up and coming bands to get out there. You also face quite a bit of animosity as an English performer in Quebec, but luckily the city of Montreal’s much more open and welcoming. As far as hanging with other bands, we’ve met loads of lovely people, but we’re all introverted homebodies. We aren't big party people, but any band we’ve ever played with is more than welcome to join our book club
Can you elaborate on facing animosity as an English performer in Quebec?
Besides the shows we've played on the island of Montreal, we’ve ever played a show in Quebec where we haven't been heckled by a french-speaking audience member. The division's unfortunate and unquestionably one of the biggest hurdles english-speaking artists face in this province. We have ample respect for french-speaking artists, we just don't have any interest in writing our music in french. We're all bilingual but it's not for us, and that's okay!
Wild! I don’t think a lot pop people outside of Canada are aware of that.
Who was the person that got you into music? Are you still in touch with them?
Our dad had us hooked on everything from Blink to Depeche Mode before we gave up our pacifiers. He bought us our first drum kit when we were kids and always encouraged us to do our thing. If it weren't for him, I don’t know that we would’ve ever fallen in love with music the way we have. Shoutout to our dad.
Big shout out! Great job dad! What's been the biggest non-music inspiration for you lately?
When we started taking this seriously a few years back, we realized we needed some kind of escape from music. We couldn’t put down the guitars and put on a record the way we did as kids. Sometimes, we needed something different. I dove headfirst into the world of comics and graphic novels, and Vince found his love for movies. I mean our entire place is filled with trade paperbacks and VHS tapes. I think the drama in most comics and movies really helped shape the storytelling in our songs. It’s always a matter of life and death in our songs and the stories we consume alike.
'The Most Dangerous Game' and "The Worst Kind of Panic' videos are great. How has the response been? You released those on Dreambound. Can you tell us a bit about Dreambound?
Thank you so much! Being his brother, I might be a wee bit biased, but Vince is genuinely a visionary when it comes to all things visual media. He’s been making our single cover art for a while and more recently he’s taken over handling most of the video duties and he’s absolutely killing it. The response has been overwhelmingly positive too. We’d love to be those laid back guys that never look up the comments on their videos, but our curiosity gets the best of us. Clicking on the comment section to our videos and seeing how much these songs mean to people outside of our rehearsal space feels so damn good. There aren't enough words in the world to articulate how grateful we are for all the love. We first found Dreambound a few years ago just browsing through youtube and it blew our minds. Just a hub for amazing music and the coolest bands. Working with them was such a huge goal of ours and to have the relationship we do with them now is a dream come true. Love Dreambound!
What is the biggest challenge you've had to face as a band thus far?
Relationships in bands can be tough. It’s such a delicate balancing act. You can be the best of friends, but if you aren't on the same page, things might not work out. How do you tell your best friend you can tell they haven't practiced their instrument in a month? How do you approach one of the guys who’s showing up an hour late every practice because they see this as friends hanging out instead of practice? It’s tough to find like minded people. Luckily, Vince and I grew up together, so our foundation’s always been rock solid. It might’ve taken lots of searching, but finding John and Alex really paid off. Their contributions to this band can’t be overstated.
“A steady pour
I feel my head emptying
The cherry floor's soaked
I'm seeping through the next ceiling
I'm nearly gone
I've nothing to hold on to
A while longer and the mess here'll be gone too”
- “The Most Dangerous Game”
Is there anyone you'd like to collaborate with? Other artists to appear on a song or even a visual artist for an album cover or merch?
Robert Smith. We’d kill to have the greatest voice of all time on one of our songs. Besides him, were we ever to feature somebody on one of our songs, it’d be someone with a drastically different voice than my own. Were he still around, we’d have loved to work with Moebius on some merch. Alex is a huge fan of his work and his style’s just so unique.
What's been the best thing that's happened since you started releasing music?
The fulfillment that comes with doing this. We feel so lucky to get to create together. Making something that’ll outlive us whether it’s listened to in a hundred years from now or not. We’re making art we’re proud of as a collective. No greater feeling than that.
Have you had an "it happened for a reason" moment in the recent past? Something you weren't happy about at the time but turned out to be a good thing?
We have plenty! Vince and I’ve always written our songs in an unconventional way. I’ll sit down on drums and he’ll sit in front of me on a stool with a guitar or bass, and we’ll come up with an idea no matter how small and build on it. Sometimes it’s a handful of chords, sometimes it’s a drum fill. Doesn't matter. Him and I’ll trade instruments and bunch. It’s a very chaotic process. Sometimes, some of these songs sound a certain way with the two of us playing a half baked instrumental, but come demoing them, they sound quite a bit different than what we’d intended. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes not so much. We had 2 of our 3 most recent songs locked in and we had a few weeks to get our third in before travelling to Toronto to record them. We put all our eggs into one basket and worked our asses off on this one song. 4 days before leaving, we found ourselves with a song that was cool but didn't sit well with us. It just wasn't it. We spent the next 4 days working harder than we’ve ever worked to come up with our third. After those gruelling nights, we ended up with The Worst Kind Of Panic.
What platforms have been the most helpful with getting your music heard? Bandcamp, YouTube, IG etc.
Instagram’s been helping us chug along since the beginning. We’ve met so many wonderful people there. Youtube, more specifically Dreambound’s, been a lovely second home for us as well.
What (if any) are some of the difficulties with touring these days?
Just like anything else in life, shows can be financially tricky. Gas gets pricey when you’re driving hours and hours lugging around loads of heavy gear. Not to mention gas stations are few and far between in some places. Plan ahead as much as you can! Besides that, being confined in tight spaces with the same people 24 hours a day makes maintaining relationships even harder, so make sure you all take time to reset as best you can. Take turns taking walks or visiting tourist attractions you’ve never seen. Anything that keeps your brain feeling good and healthy!
How would you define success?
Success to us is about getting as good as you possibly can at as many things as you possibly can. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin, but don’t be afraid to try your hand at things that might seem daunting. Every person in our band plays more than one instrument and has extracurricular skills they’ve developed over these past couple years here. We push each other to work hard and we find ourselves achieving things that seemed impossible to us years prior. Carve out a reality you’re proud of. That’s success.
Is there new music on the way and if so, how will it be released?
We’ve got a new single coming out soon and it’ll be followed up by our new EP later this year! We’ll be dropping videos for all the singles, and for the first time ever, we’ll be dropping physical versions of our music. Kinda have to since we’re all big time physical media collectors here!
Can you share one of your lyrics from your songs that sums up your state of mind RN / feels representative of you?
We have a lyric in The Most Dangerous Game that goes “a while longer and the mess here’ll be brand new.” No matter how messy, difficult, or chaotic writing and piecing these songs together gets, you can rest assured we’ll always be back in the thick of writing sooner than later. I don’t think we’d be able to stop writing if we wanted to. This is who we are.
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