but hey, who's on trial?

every now and then i find myself at a show where i'm actually not scared to be there. this doesn't happen that often, gutted i'm terrified of being trampled at those awful club shows in toronto where other teenage kids squash your face into someone else's back just so they can touch _________________ (insert teeny-bopper j14 star of relatively good band), nor of those arena-sized mosh pits of sweaty idiots. just because you want to look like an ass does not mean i want to. the point is: sometimes you go to a show and the bands that play are so insanely creative and so impromptu, so suddenly beautiful that i, for example, sort of float above it all. the lusty piles played their first (impromptu and suddenly beautiful, none the less) show this past saturday, in a tiny youth centre, to a small crowd, and it was just that: imperfectly perfect.

i also remember seeing a band called travel by owls a few months ago at a show randomly with a friend, and we were sitting on chairs away from everyone, and this band gets onstage. and it turned into one of those shows, where i wasn't creeped out. they tell us, they're what were the architects, because some british band took their name, so they changed their namesake and became travel by owls. namesake and timepiece no matter, there's been another name change: trevor james & the perfect gentleman.



good to have you home: for those of us that can't be bothered to read your band's biography (minute yes, it is myspace), could you explain why you're called trevor james & the perfect gentleman?

trevor james: we decided after the departure of yet another member that it was time to have the project under my name- Trevor James. i've always written all the material and have been working at this project in out of many outfits for so long. i grew tired of having to explain when certain members jumped ship and why our band was again renamed. the perfect gentleman is the band. the members will hopefully stay the same but if not the perfect gentleman can be replaced. (harsh but true)
gthyh: you've been composing since the age of twelve. first off: that's brilliant. second: were you trained classically beforehand, or was this second-nature must-do?

tj: i was never claissically trained. i just literally picked up a guitar one day and started teaching myself how to make it work. i then began writing original material. upon some pretty positive feedback at this young age i decided I'd stick with it. it wasn't until roughly the age of 16 or 17 that i decided i wanted to make music and songwriting a career.

gthyh: ben lee? seriously? what was that like?

tj: yea Ben was coming through town on his last canadian tour and the promoter showed his management my stuff and they asked me to open the show. it was pretty exciting. i learned a great deal watching Ben work his magic with the crowd. all in all it was fun night. i shared a dressing room with Ben and got pretty drunk.

gthyh: as of november 11th, your record "is also pretty close to finished". any name drops, any ideas on how it'll be recieved?

tj: our record is close to finished, however it's not due out until spring. a lot can happen between now and then, so we still might record more. we'll see. pop culture recs here in canada is planning on putting it out, so we're in pretty good shape. in terms of how i think it will be received i'm pretty optimistic however i know there will always be haters. i love it!

gthyh: why do ryan adams and jeff tweedy hate each other, really?

tj: ryan adams and jeff tweedy are two of my greatest modern songrwiting heros. i like them both for different reasons. Some of those reasons making up why they likely dont get along. i'll let you research any further details. CLUE: ryan adams' voicemail on tweedy's answering machine.

[note: on ryan adams' archive, 88.8% of polled posters (ironically enough, i know, i know) said they think adams has a better body of work; HOWEVER: "11 AM, december 19th..."]

gthyh: it's been a while since your other project, travel by owls, has been around, which makes sense. is a continuation of the band something that will happen?

tj: the continuation of travel by owl is simply what we are now. trevor james & the perfect gentleman. not much has changed other than the fact that i have my baby back and no one is going to tell me how to write my songs. except maybe jeff or ryan if they felt so inclined [...]

gthyh: once the record under trevor james & the perfect gentleman is released, any predictions on what's to follow?

tj: following te release of this record the only sure plan is a fuck load of touring. and then ... then writing another record

gthyh: favourite song, right now is _______________________ ?

tj: fav track at the moment. kind of a hard q to answer. but i'd have to say it's a tie between ryan adams' "two" and winersleep's "archeologists".