Quick & Dirty - Shortpants Romance
By: Hollie Stevens-Cashion
Spend any amount of time with one-year-old Montreal band Shortpants Romance and I dare you not to be captivated by their passion for what they do. Even without having seen them perform in person, I'm still certain; it comes across in the way they talk about it.
Catherine Vien-Labeaume is the lead singer of this alternative rock (some would say punk) group. She is an art history student at Concordia University, but don't assume that means she wants to one day work in a museum. She's "not interested in the materials used to make art," rather she's interested in what learning about art has to offer her. "It helps in every aspect of my life," she says of her studies.
Guitarist Ralph Elawani is an English lit student at McGill. Why not study music? Music students, in Ralph's experience, appear to be less open minded to music and that's not the kind of path he wants to go down.
The third and final member of the band, drummer Simon Guerard, is an ex-student who "studied a bit of everything," including literature and politics. "School just wasn't something I wanted," he says. "It's not for me, at least not right now."
Two years ago Guerard and Elawani's band broke up. At that time, roommates Labeaume and Elawani began writing songs together and Labeaume discovered that she could, in fact, sing. They approached their friend Guerard with the idea of forming a band and thus Shortpants Romance was formed.
They're not quite what you would expect from a band that got their name from a Bob Dylan song, but I think that's part of their charm. They're not folk musicians, at least not yet, but with their music ever-progressing they may one day end up playing the kind of music their namesake plays. For now they're just happy not playing the songs from their self-released Sisters EP, a true sign of their growth as artists. "We're in such a different place musically now then when we wrote those songs," Labeaume says of the five-song EP. "We only play one of those songs at our shows, we're just so tired of the other ones."
As an unsigned band, they have that freedom; that is, to play the songs they want as often as they want. "If we were with a label, I'm sure we'd be tired of so many of our songs by now. I think it's a good idea for us to be independent, at least for the time being," states Labeaume.
What's the rush anyhow? They've only been together a year and have plenty of time to get signed and maybe make it big. They need to get a little more touring under their belts first. Having toured the Maritimes before, they are set to embark on their second tour of the Eastern coast of Canada, and they're definitely ready to step it up. Touring isn't the easiest thing for this trio, and things are sure to be different this next time around. "We're not sleeping in the van!" Labeaume states as a fact rather than a suggestion to her bandmates. "Simon puts up with a lot too, but he handles it perfectly," adds Labeaume. The bickering and teasing that has been present throughout our interview illustrates a sense of comfort and familiarity between the musicians as it only lasts a few seconds each time.
While looking ahead to the possibilities of their own tours, Elawani knows what past tour he would have loved to have been a part of: The 1991 "The Year Punk Broke" tour headlined by Sonic Youth and Nirvana, which also featured Dinosaur Jr., The Ramones, Gumball and Babes in Toyland. Quite fitting, as Sonic Youth is one of the bands that first came to mind when I heard some of their music. Shortpants Romance would have fit nicely into that mix of historic musicians.
While none of these talented youngsters know where they're going to be in five years, they all know for certain what they'll be doing. They'll be making music; not just for themselves, but for anyone and everyone willing to listen to heartfelt music from a group of music lovers doing what they feel they are meant to do. "I can't imagine myself doing anything else," Guerard happily states.
Watch out for these guys, I have a strong feeling that Shortpants Romance will soon be one of the most honest, passionate and matured bands to come out of this wonderful musical oasis we know as Montreal.
Catch Shortpants Romance at SoundProof's Pop Montreal showcase on October 4th at Bar-St Laurent II.
