I Am A Rock, He's An Island: The Interview

It's been a while since the Simple Mission checked in with Islands, the Montreal-based pop troupe led by former Unicorns Nick Diamonds and Jamie Thompson. Since June, when the two were kind enough to let me post some of their then-new music on this site, lots has done changed. For starters they recorded an LP, made the internet go nuts and got to open for Beck at the Pop Montreal Festival this past October for their first ever live show. And now, just a few months later, they're touring the US with a full band that includes two violinists, a bass clarinet player, a second guitarist and a bass player. Wow. That's a lot. FULL STOP.

Last night, the newly expanded Islands played their first New York show at the Knitting Factory and if I may take the liberty of saying so, did a bang up job of making a lot of people very happy. Over the course of their hour long set, the Islands ensemble performed a selection of nimbly arranged pop songs that wove intricate keyboard and string arrangements and slippery world riddims into Diamond's imaginative tales of innocence, experience and um, volcanoes.

Without being word fancy, it was a very happy music, but one that was clearly informed by getting older and realizing that the good times, well, they're harder to get to these days. Something in the tender way Diamonds sang his songs seemed to be asking "why is the world like this? When did everything get complicated and confusing?" but the richness and sheer joy of the deliciously ambitious pop music he and his band were making asked a more important question—"why can't life be like this all time?". Most people would tell you it can't, but Islands manged to put it out there that it's worth working for. And maybe that's all we needed to hear.

Nah. But I couldn't get into all the heady stuff with Island number 1 Nick Diamonds after he'd played a full set and two encores. So to keep things more manageable (and transcribable at 3AM), the Simple Mission sat down with Sir Diamonds to find out about what's what with his new group and get a handle on what we can expect from them soon come. Here's what he had to say.

The Simple Mission: First off, congrats on your show tonight. Not everybody gets asked to do two encores for their first New York show.

Nick: It was crazy. And very nice.

TSM: What’s the response been to the music so far? Aside from one of the tracks you guys had given me back in June, all the songs you played tonight have never been released.

Nick: We’re very happy that people have been coming out to see us and that they’ve taken a chance with our work. It’s hard sometimes when the crowd doesn’t know the songs and they’re not familiar with the music, but everyone’s been very patient and respectful and responsive and…generally very nice and cool.

TSM: What are you guys going to work on when you get home?

Nick: Perfecting our live show to the point where the people playing with us are integrated into the band and are Islands. The group started as just Jamie and I, so right now we’re looking to have a solid group together and make all the musicians in the band feel valuable—as opposed to hired guns.

TSM: Can you tell me how this incarnation of the group came together? You’ve added a lot of new instrumentation since I had last heard you.

Nick: All the musicians in the group are seasoned players, so it was really amazing to get such an eclectic group together to be in Islands. Jamie met our bass player Patrice when he was playing in an African group in Montreal and asked him to join the band as a touring member based on how great his playing was. Since then, his role has evolved to be more of a full time member. As for our violinists, the Chows—Alex and Sebastian—we met them through our producer Mark. He had recorded them when they were studying at McGill and had recommended them to me when I told him I was looking for violin players for a new group I was putting together. The rest of the musicians, like our bass clarinet player and our guitar player, we’d known for a while through the Montreal music scene and asked them to be in Islands because we really respected their talents.

TSM: What’s your process been like so far to incorporate all these new musicians into the music you and Jamie had already written?

Nick: The Patrice played bass on our album, so he knew all the material before we played it live. As for the other musicians, they started playing the arrangements we’d written very strictly at first and then began to add subtle nuances that better reflected where they were coming from. We’re very into having our songs executed democratically. Everyone we play with is very creative and so it’s very important to us to have them add their voices to the mix.

TSM: Are they going to be more involved in the songwriting process in the future?

Nick: We definitely don’t want to plan anything out too much before we head into the studio. We’re just excited to see what happens as it happens.

TSM: Can you tell me about the album you’ve recorded?

Nick: It’s called Return To The Sea and it’s going to be coming out in Rough Trade in Europe in March. We’re talking with a few people right now about a North American deal. Umm, what else…it’s got 10 songs and it’s going to be pressed on double vinyl because everything sounds better that way.

TSM: Wider grooves. Excellent. Did you guys produce it yourselves?

Nick: It was a collaborative effort with good friend Mark Lawson, who produced the last Unicorns records. Mark had been our sound man for the Unicorns too and was really into what we were doing with Islands, so it worked out well. Oh yeah, there's a bunch of Montreal musicians like Richard Reed Parry and Sarah Neufeld on it too.

TSM: With the Unicorns dissolving so quickly and at the height of your popularity, a lot of people didn’t quite know what your next move was going to be. What was your idea going into this new band? What were you looking to do?

Nick: Islands started through Jamie and I’s mutual love of African pop music. We wanted to explore other musics outside the indie rock realm—which we never really associated with really—and take things up a level musically. We got more serious. The lyrics I was writing were a bit more refined and reserved. The Unicorns had a bit of a fun aspect to them that we just…

TSM: What do you most want people to know about Islands?

Nick: Really just that we’re a new band. We want to move things forward and continue to make pop music that challenges us. I think at the end of the day, we make accessible music. We’d like for people to take the music as they hear it. Hopefully they’ll feel that it stands alone.

TSM: What can we look forward to in the next couple of months?

Nick: We’ll be touring a lot and probably releasing a single in Europe. The people we’re playing with are so strong musically and pick up on things so quickly that we hope to head into the studio with them in March to write another album. We’re still sorting everything out, but we’re very excited about where things are going.

Comments

[J. B]

I was there. I saw the marvelous Islands. It was grand and endearing and fun. Just plain fun. The 'Corn Boys have moved from one special thing onto something just as special. These new musicians are all unique and talented. I cannot wait to catch them live whenever possible. I'm sure they'll do great things.

[Andrew Rose]

The record won't disappoint, either.

[Liam Hodgson]

Saw them in Philly at the church. Really great show. There were alot of Unicorns fans there, younger girls and whatnot, that I wasn't sure would appreciate Islands as much as they did. They pretty much got the whole place into the vibe and it was excellent.

[brian webb]

i saw islands at the beat kitchen in chicago and it was by far one of the best shows i had ever gone too. it u have to oppertunity see them now.

[Lauren.]

nick diamonds is hot. i saw the islands in concert at the commodor ballroom.