Introducing: Laura Stevenson and The Cans

16 May 2011, 16:00 | Written by Tiffany Daniels

(Tracks)

Laura Stevenson and The Cans prove it’s possible to fuse melody, thoughtful acoustic music and punk without compromising their sound.

The resultant material is as phenomenal as it is undone. They’ve created a new genre for a new generation; an important development given the music industry’s tendency to rely on previous successes. Though The Cans’ style has not been covered before, their lyrics draw influence from the macabre, tongue-in-cheek lick of The Decemberists, and Stevenson’s vocal is not dissimilar to a matured Lisa Mitchell. Bound with ferocious and urgent intent, The Cans are an essential addition to your record collection.

Released in 2008, their D.I.Y. digital debut A Record made waves in the underground scene, and attracted the attention of Asian Man Records, who physically released the album in the United States at the beginning of the year. This was shortly followed by follow-up Sit Resist on Don Giovanni Records. Regretfully The Cans remain undiscovered on British shores, but with any luck that could be about to change, as Stevenson plans to tour Europe soon.

In anticipation of their takeover, we caught up with the project’s namesake to speak about branching out on her own, forming new alliances and whether she really grows barnacles in the bath.

How did you get into music? Who influenced you to start?

I was born into a very musical family, so I guess everyone influenced me to start playing. My Dad probably played the biggest role as far as exposing me to rock music, which I guess had the biggest effect on me.

Did you play in any bands before this?

I played in Bomb the Music Industry.

Do you still consider yourself part of their line up? How involved are you with the project?

They do so much touring without me because I’m doing this band all the time so, unfortunately, I’d say I’m not part of the current line up. But whenever we are all in the same place I will sing on some songs and play keys on some of the ones that I remember. There are so many Bomb songs.

How did Laura Stevenson and The Cans form? Was there a definite point when you became a band, rather than a solo act with support?

We formed pretty organically I guess. I began showing my songs to my friends (some were in Bomb the Music Industry at the time, some were friends I would go to shows with in high school) and they started playing along with me sometimes and we would just fool around. Then, in 2007 it got way more serious. That’s when Mike and Alex became full-time Cans and it really took off from there. Now we’re an actual band.

Did you consciously decide to release A Record digitally before you released it physically?

Yeah, Jeff had just started Quote Unquote and we were psyched to be a part of it in its early stages. After that release, we were making physical copies ourselves with a lot of brown paper, red yarn, and stamps. Then Asian Man picked it up and now we have actual CDs and records of it so that’s pretty nice.

What made you re-release it physically at the beginning of the year?

Mike Park from Asian Man was just really psyched about putting it out and we couldn’t believe it, we were so beyond psyched that he even heard it. So, yeah, it was awesome to have the physical version and then have the Cans become part of the Asian Man family with so many great bands.

How have you grown as a musician since A Record?

I think the writing has matured somewhat. I’m kind of attacking a lot of stuff that was really hard for me to deal with and figuring it all out. Sit Resist seems a lot more focused in terms of the writing, but the “all-over-the-place-ness” of A Record is something a lot of people really liked about it so…I don’t know. I’m still learning how to be a good writer.

How DIY were you when you first started to release records and how has signing to Don Giovanni Records changed this?

We were booking our own tours and making our own records. I drew the first shirt design and our buddy printed it. Friends did our recordings at their apartments and I etched the glass for the cover of the rerelease of A Record and our drummer, Chris took the photo.

Having this record come out with Don Giovanni is super awesome and has allowed us to involve more people into our camp, so we are getting a lot more help in terms of booking and recording but it’s all coming from people that understand how we want to do things and we can be involved every step of the way. So, it’s pretty awesome. We are
really lucky.

What inspired you to write the songs on Sit Resist?

A lot of different things. It really depends. There’s some family stuff, some romantic stuff, some band stuff, and then some crazy lonely time stuff. There was a lot of stuff to cover since the last record…and some things that happened before that that I couldn’t get into until now. There’s plenty more where that came from, so get ready!

Are your lyrics autobiographical or fictitious?

They are autobiographical for the most part. Sometimes I use metaphors to protect myself or others but yeah, with the exception of one or two songs they are all about things in my life.