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sometimesalwaysmusic · 6 years ago

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SPACE COYOTE

Space Coyote (SC) is Ashton Cavanagh (AC), Paddy Greene (PG) and Ryan Dempsey (RD). The indie-rock band, who occasionally incorporate flute and brass, released their debut EP You’re Living in the Past in December 2018. Read on about their love of Midwest Emo, their favourite parts off the new release, and of course their thoughts on Spider-Man.

VITALS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spacecoyoteband/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacecoyoteband/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/spacecoyoteott

BandCamp: https://spacecoyoteband.bandcamp.com/

Latest Release: You’re Living in the Past (EP, Dec 2018)

Upcoming Shows: Saturday, April 27 - My Friend PJ & Space Coyote. Queen St. Fare, Ottawa, ON.

SA: How did Space Coyote start as a band? SC: Ryan was fresh out of the pop-punk band “Remember the Arcadians” and was looking for a new project back in late 2016. It just so happened that Ashton was also fresh out of his old emo band “Bankshot”. The two knew each other from occasionally playing shows on the same bill with their old bands so Ryan messaged Ashton with their similar musical interests in mind.

We jammed a few times and honestly it was pretty awkward and not very good, haha. Two or three talented but uninterested bassists later, then high schooler Ryan finally turned to a trumpet player in the school's band that he was in. Fortunately, this trumpet player (Paddy) enjoyed similar music, and played guitar outside of school so Ryan convinced him to learn bass. Months of on and off jamming in between everyone's schooling led to writing and recording the recently released EP “You’re Living in the Past” with Scoreboard Recordings.

SA: Who are your biggest influences, musically or otherwise? SC: We all started off being inspired by Midwest Emo music (e.g. American Football, Cap’n Jazz, Mineral, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Appleseed Cast) and then took more inspiration from the Emo Revival scene (e.g. Foxing, Tiny Moving Parts, Modern Baseball, Snowing). Ryan and Paddy share a love for Jazz and Paddy and Ashton share a love for experimental music. Lyrically, Ashton draws from folk music and singer songwriter with direct metaphorical lines. (e.g. Elliott Smith, Conor Oberst, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, Mount Eerie, The Microphones)

SA: Thus far in your career, what has been your biggest success? SC: Honestly, we’ve been blown away by the warm reception we’ve received from the music community in Ottawa when playing shows and in general. Playing shows and getting our music out there has enabled us to meet some amazing and like minded people in the music scene, who have helped us along the way. More specifically, our track Homebody has received many compliments so we're very proud of the stuff we've created.

SA: On the other hand, what is the biggest challenge you've faced, and how have you dealt with it? SC: We all live far apart from each other so practices and gigs have been hard to organize since day one. We have be very diligent to make sure the band keeps going. Additionally, with everyone in post-secondary and secondary schools, it can be hard to find the time to get together. Ashton’s car is also horrendous bucket of bolts, which makes getting to Stittsville (where we practice) from Merrickville slightly more than a jaunt and a half.

SA: How do you approach the songwriting process? SC: Ashton typically writes a skeleton of a song with a basic structure of rhythm guitar and vocals. He then usually brings it to the jury of Paddy and Ryan for their approval. If it fits our sound enough and actually sounds better as a full band, we then work on fleshing it out more. Ryan tries to find drum parts that complement the music and tie everything together. Paddy then writes bass parts, as well as occasional lead guitar, piano, horns and backing vocals. Ashton writes the majority of the lyrics with occasional creative input from Paddy if the song is about something they both have experienced. All three of us add inputs to the specific structure of the tunes.

(Sidenote: the flute part in Running Red Lights arose when Ashton said “This needs a flute part, something like:” then proceeded to sing a line. Ryan then played that part on flute, and it was finalized.)

SA: What are your thoughts on the Ottawa music scene? SC: It's a really great community. We meet unforgettable people at every show, without fail, and always have a great time. It's really easy to enjoy yourself when everyone around you is kind and having a common passion, bringing everyone together.

SA: If you had to choose, what is your favourite moment off of “You’re Living in the Past” and why? AC: I’ve always loved the instrumental with trumpet at end of Homebody. Out of parts I’ve written I’m decently proud of the way the two lead guitar lines mesh on the second verse of January. Lyrically, the second verse of Norman! You’re Out! RD: I really like the way the first verse of Norman portrays a sense of dreary hopelessness, mostly by the timbre of the vocals and by the imperfect movement of the melody. The way the piano ties it all together by the end adding major tonality kind of adds hope and I really enjoy that. The gang vocals at the end of Homebody are also a really fun ending and were really fun to record too. PG: The drum opening of Static is a cool start to the EP and the piano at the end of Norman! You’re Out was really enjoyable to write. Both are quite memorable for me.

SA: Do you guys love Spider-man genuinely, or jokingly? What is it about Spider-Man that inspires you so much? SC: 99% genuinely, 1% jokingly. RD: For me, I just love Spider-Man because he's the most down to earth superhero. He's got grades to worry about, a job, a love life, his aunt May to worry to about, and all the usual yet considerable struggles of an average kid. With all this on his shoulders, he still chooses to use his powers for good and add more to his plate because it's the right thing. There can honestly be something learned from his sense of responsibility. On the other hand, he screws up like anyone else--he's not perfect, and he knows it. There's something great about the genuineness of it. The Sam Raimi trilogy captured this pretty well (except for the third) and honestly their cheesiness is part of the charm. His powers are also, simply put, fun. (The meme videos are great too). AC: Yeah, what he said. Also, those Sam Raimi movies were my entire childhood and I’ll fight anyone who takes a shit on my childhood by saying the Andrew Garfield ones are better. I love em completely unironically (except 3 I probably do love that ironically). PG: Little of both, they're fun stories but can be a bit cheesy at times.

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