Weaves: Car Swaps And Team Bonding On The Road To The Future

"Sometimes it feels like bands aren't necessary, like they're not the ones pushing music forward. I think we're trying to hopefully prove that bands aren't boring. If we are going to be a band and if we are going to do this guitar, bass and drums thing then we might as well see how much we can fuck it up."

Jasmyn Burke made this statement a month prior to the release of Weaves’ self-titled debut in June. By the time it hit shelves the Toronto indie-punks had been working on the record for as long as they had been together. The result was 11 tracks that documented their history to that point and set out their clear intentions to continue pushing their own boundaries outside of predisposed moulds.

When we got hold of Burke to find out what the road from their debut into the future was looking like, she was sat in a small car during a seven hour drive between Wiesbaden and Vienna as part of Weaves’ European tour with fellow Torontonians Dilly Dally. Despite expectations for ‘Weaves’ being high, she admits she didn’t really feel any pressure prior to, or after, the album coming out.

“I don’t know if it’s pressure or just excited to work on new music,” she said. “I guess I didn’t really feel like there was pressure to put out a record. We worked on it for a few years without any real label. So it feels more like a relief, more excitement. We’re proud of it.”

Though very much a unit on the road, Burke confessed it’s not her natural habitat in which to create. Progress on new material will have to wait until the miles aren’t being clocked up with such regularity. “I haven’t written on the road, no,” she said. “We’re in a little car right now and it’s a little strange. I like to write alone at home. I loop with my guitar and come up with melodies and verses and then Morgan [Waters, guitar] will go through the song and come up with a demo. I’ll come over and we’ll work on it together.”

Although venues and car seats may not be the ideal places for her to put pen to paper and set the wheels in motion for their sophomore LP, it is clear touring is essential to the growth of the band. Alongside Dilly Dally, Weaves will soon hit the UK for another bout of dates, having already played on these shores during the summer and as support to Philadelphia punks Beach Slang.

“Pushing each other live and being different every night is exciting for us. Pushing the songs to different places,” she said. “I think the more you tour the more you get comfortable with each other and start to explore different elements of the songs. So for us that’s kinda the exciting thing.”

A self-confessed introvert, Burke admits the stage is also a place she can step out of herself, even if only for a 30 minute set. “I think when you’re a quiet person in your day-to-day, when you’re onstage you’re able to express yourself  how you can’t in real life,” she explained. “You’re just being a different version of yourself, I guess, so it takes you out of that shy or awkward person.”

But, understandably, she cannot always reconcile the two sides of herself on stage. This is where the band's more verbose bassist Zach Bines and drummer Spencer Cole enter the fray. “It turns into a fun experience on stage,” Burke said. “Zach and Spencer are the talkative ones, but they talk shit. They’ve got that covered.”

Their forthcoming UK shows, which get underway in Nottingham on Saturday, will be their last before returning home to Toronto. Despite the positives Burke draws on, it’s clear from only a short time on the phone that she’ll be glad to be home.

“There’s lots of driving,” she said. “You wake up, eat a sandwich - you eat a lot of sandwiches on the road - and then you go drive for nine hours, or seven hours, then get to the show. Soundcheck, eat dinner, go to bed, do it again the next day, and the next day, and the next day.

“But you get into a rhythm and you get used to being in the car a lot. Then you have kind of a burst of energy on stage. It’s been fun with Dilly Dally. We’ve been able to swap cars. Katie [Monks, Dilly Dally vocalist and guitarist] was in our car yesterday and Zach was in their car. So many venues, they have like eating and sleeping areas, so we were saying it’s kind of like going to camp. We all hang out and bond, it’s fun. It’s nice to tour with a band you know, it makes you feel a little more like you’re at home.”

On Tick, the opening track of their debut, Burke tells us: “This is just the beginning of what I want to say.” So, seven hour drives and sandwiches aside, is a new record imminent? “It’s hard to think about the next record,” she said. “But we have October off, so I think we want to start writing as soon as possible and ideally put out a record next year. I wanna get home and write. I feel like maybe I have two songs in my head that will work on it, but I don’t know, we’ll see. It’s hard to tell because you’re kind of zany on the road. I think as soon as we get home we’ll start working on the next record.”

Weaves Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:

Sat September 17 2016 - NOTTINGHAM Bodega
Sun September 18 2016 - BIRMINGHAM Hare and Hounds
Mon September 19 2016 - MANCHESTER Soup Kitchen
Tue September 20 2016 - CARDIFF Globe
Wed September 21 2016 - BRISTOL Exchange
Thu September 22 2016 - LONDON Scala

Click here to compare & buy Weaves Tickets at Stereoboard.com.

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