UIGG:

An exercise in Deli Meat, 4Chan, and Metal Debauchery

In an exclusive interview with The Semantic, local metal band divulges motives, inspirations, and bad habits.

Dani Dowling: Everyone get in here!
(TrevorQ, Chris Doucette, Ryan Hale, and Craig St. Jean push each other, fighting for optimal position on the couch)

The Semantic: Anything you guys would like to say before we get started?

TrevorQ: Yeah, i got something to say. Don't you think this paper/print format is obsolete? I don't know why we're wasting our time with something that's ALREADY obsolete.
Dani: He's a little chippy today.

The Semantic: So what's the title of the upcoming album? I don't think it's been mentioned yet. Care to give us the exclusive?

Craig: It's gonna be called "Donairs and Beers". Strip away the pretense-- fuck it. We like donairs and beers.

Ryan: We just wanted to give credit to our influences.

Dani: That's TOTALLY true, but it hints at a much larger theme lying just below the surface. You see, we live in a society where consumption and over stimulation pollute our minds on a daily basis to the point where no one can take pleasure in the “little things” anymore. No one wants to enjoy a beer anymore; they want to see some guy on youtube smashing it over his friends head while listening to My Chemical Romance. I blame the internet 100% for all of the world’s problems.

Craig: We're nothing if not succinct.

The Semantic: What's the songwriting process like for you guys?

TrevorQ: Let's not kid ourselves, it mostly all comes from me. I really think that collaboration is becoming obsolete, and so my single-handed approach is far more modern.

Ryan: I like his mom's singlehanded approach:

Douce: ... (smirks, then continues to smoke silently)

Craig: Seriously though, Douce brings in some sweet shredding tunes too. But yeah, individual songs are mostly written by either guitar player, and then we develop them as we jam. Usually most of our time gets spent thinking up retarded names for the riffs, though.

Dani: I guess they don't want to admit it, but the way we really operate is this: I bring some lyrics to Craig, and say something like "dude, I want you to read these lyrics, and write drum parts that reflect the deeper societal issues at play here." And most of the time the issues are too deep for Craig to fully grasp, and that's part of the reason he fucks up at least one or two songs during any given live set. But yeah, whatever drum part he comes up with then gets put alongside guitar parts that both Douce and Q come up with individually after I show them my lyrics. I guess it stands as testament to the strength of my message that these guys independently come up with parts that, for the most, tend to work perfectly well together.

The Semantic: What's the biggest misconception about Uigg?

Craig: That we don't do the stuff you think we do. Oh, we do it.

Douce: …(begins rolling another smoke)

Ryan: All of it.

TrevorQ: Well maybe not all of it

Ryan: Definitely ALL of it.

The Semantic: While I was sitting in with a couple of the other journo's during the listening session, I couldn't help but notice a preponderance of imperfections in the recording. Care to explain this?

Dani: See the problem is not the imperfections, but the fact that people don’t seem to understand where something stops being a recorded collaboration of like-minded musicians, and starts being a chef-d'oeuvre. The album sounds exactly the way it needs to, to properly reflect the underlying themes associated with the music we create. We’re not dealing with lollipops and unicorns here, this is some heavy stuff. It’s not the local “metalcore” band’s off key crooning about summers long past and unrequited love. The subject matter is far from perfect so why should the production and recording be pristine? This is not the latest Avril Lavigne or dare I say, Lil’ Jon Record so why should it sound like we recorded with a million dollar budget in some studio in LA or Toronto with leather sofas and girl that brings you Fiji water with a lemon wedge in it? We did everything we could to make the recording process as hard as possible for the band because we knew that the end product would be something that we had slaved over and the sound of the album would reflect that. One of the dominant themes on the album is self-destruction, which is a messy, imperfect process. So, the sound and performances on the album reflect that.

The Semantic: Brilliant. Any final words?

Craig: I want to thank you for not asking us about THAT THING we pre-agreed you wouldn't ask us about.

* Uigg will be releasing their first full length album this fall. In the meantime, keep an eye on http://www.myspace.com/uigg for updates and new music.*