As far as I’m concerned, one of the highlights of this year’s inaugural Planet Caravan festival was getting the chance to see Bison B.C. at what was essentially a club show. Just down the block at The Orange Peel was the main stage, but at Mo Daddy’s, the vibe was less festival and more killer bar night. Since Bison are from Vancouver, it’s not like they get to Jersey much, and after grooving on their 2008 Metal Blade debut, Quiet Earth, the tectonic riffage and beery/beardy good times were most welcome in Asheville.

A short while ago, it was brought to my attention that the four-piece — James Gnarwell and Dan And on vocals/guitar, Masa Anzai on bass and Brad MacKinnon on drums — are currently in the studio working on the follow up to Quiet Earth, and it seemed like a cool idea to check in with them to get some quick thoughts on the new material and how everything was/is coming together. Gnarwell was kind enough to field the email interview, and the resulting Q&A is after the jump. Enjoy.

How was Planet Caravan for you guys? I managed to catch your set there and it looked like you were having a good time. That?s a heck of a ride from Vancouver. How did it all turn out in the end?

Planet Caravan was rad. And playing a packed burrito joint with people dancing and getting into it is way better than playing a half-full auditorium with people standing around looking at their beers. We also got to see a lot of old friends. I do believe we got really drunk with some new friends as well. Saw great bands too, and Asheville is cool. I mean, we come from the land of hippies, so it was like a little slice of home.

When did you start writing new material? How do you think it compares to the songs on Quiet Earth?

We started right before the Kylesa tour, so I guess mid-August. As far as the new material goes, I think it maintains a sound that we have cultivated, our style is definitely there. There?s some faster shit, and some doomier shit for sure, but we have also dabbled into a little melody, guitar-wise that is. It?s gonna be brutal as fuck. No theme though. It?s just a good old fashioned batch of songs. I think it?s gonna be a pretty punk record.

What?s your writing process like in general? The songs have a pretty natural feel to them on the records, and after catching your set, it translates well from one to the other. How do the songs start to take shape?

I bring in the skeletons, the band adds the flesh and blood. It all starts with ideas, and they get hashed out over a bunch of beers. The hardest part of writing is arranging, I mean if you have an ear for arrangement, you can turn five minutes of shitting in a can into Dark Side of the Moon. So to speak. Writing lyrics is a whole other story? it usually involves a bottle of whisky and puking all over a page, then waking up the next day and sifting through it all to find the golden chunks.

How would you define the power of the riff? What makes a certain part work for you guys when you?re writing as opposed to something that wouldn?t?

Being able to tell if the songs flows or not, or if its jarring, it comes in a good way. When it sounds right you just know, if it doesn?t, it will keep me up at night. It?s gotta make you smile, want to bang yer head, play it over and over.

After Earthbound and Quiet Earth, is there something you want to do differently this time around?

I think we want to explore the guitar sound more, like texture and different tones? usually we plug in, play big and go home, but I think we want some different textures. But then again, maybe we just want to go loud and get drunk.

What can you reveal about the album and the songs? Is there a title yet? Does it have anything to do with earth? Do you have some idea when it?ll be out?

Well, there is no theme per se? there is no title yet? there will be a ?Wendigo Pt. 3? though. At first I was interested in a theme of mental illness, which perhaps will be loosely represented, but not concrete throughout. I wanted to write about whatever I wanted, I have a song about a hunted elephant, and a song about liking sad songs. It?s pretty eclectic, I think. You know, there will be some end of the world shit as well, a favorite topic of mine.

How has it been for you guys working with Metal Blade? You certainly stick out on the label.

Metal Blade are great, the fact that they support a band that sticks out like a sore thumb and makes them no money is awesome. I think they like that we are dirt bags? Canadian dirt bags.

What is the touring situation going to be for the new album? How was your time on the road for Quiet Earth? Any stories you?d want to share?

Tour is always memorable. The last tour we had to say goodbye to our beloved van, The Blue Bitch. We had to leave her in Spokane, WA, with a douchebag mechanic and rent an equally douchey SUV to tow our trailer the entire Kylesa tour. We called her the white whale. Other than that we always have fun, and if we eat shit, we bounce back pretty quick? Hey, it?s not always gonna be coke and strippers right? We will tour the fuck out of the new record? all over the globe hopefully hitting continents we haven?t been to yet.

How is the scene in Vancouver? Are there any local or unsigned acts up there people should know about? Anyone you especially enjoy doing shows with or any clubs you prefer to play?

Well, other than culturally important and iconic punk clubs getting shut down (like The Cobalt, R.I.P.) No Fun City is pretty raging, especially for a place with archaic liquor laws and a gutless greedy government who bow down to the rich and to the ideals of corporations backing waste of money endeavors like the Olympics, especially when homelessness and drug abuse and untreated mental illness is still a prevalent part of our downtown eastside community.

Oh, and there are rad bands? like — Haggatha, Sorcerers, Congress, Mass Grave, Fear of Tomorrow, Bogus Tokus, Needles and Pins.

Any other plans or closing words you?d like to mention?

Thanks for caring, and see you in the future. Oh, check out all those bands I mentioned, they all have one of dem dar MySpace thingamajigies? Peace on earth.

Bison B.C. on MySpace

Metal Blade Records

Tags: Bison, Metal Blade, Planet Caravan, Vancouver

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.