Why people think you’re Canadian?

I don’t know. My only guess is that the first label we were on is Canadian, so people thought we’re from there as well. On our last European tour, I believe it was in Munich, someone in the audience was waving big Canadian flag and I was like: “OK, cool, but we’re not from there!”<smiles> Hmm, considering current situation in Middle East, maybe it’s safer to declare ourselves as Canadians < laugh>

Vancouver is across the border from Seattle. Actually, it is a Megapolis now. Any differences between the cities?

They are very similar cities. Vancouver is bigger and bit more lay back, like marijuana laws are more lax, eventually it will be decriminalized. So it is going to be like North American Amsterdam…

Does ‘Seattle weather’ bother you?

No, I love it. Seattle’s reputation of being a rainy city is exaggerated. Seattle is stuck between two mountain-ranges and it seldomly gets cold enough for snow, so we get rain in the winter. But the summers are really beautiful.

Prospects of positive vibes from Assemblage 23?

Probably not. For me, a lot of the writing is a way of getting things out of my chest, dealing with negative emotions versus carrying them around. I think it is much healthier to exorcise them through writing or painting… That is why a lot of people who just hear my music, when they meet me are surprised to find that I am upbeat, laid back person. I guess they expect to see me in the corner wallow in my self-pity… The thing that I can write about those things is making me a better person; I don’t have to carry them with me everywhere I go…

And your lyrics. Where do they come from, poetry, literature, art?

Lyrics are very difficult for me. Even though it is very gratifying when you finish the song and it is shaped the way you wanted, writing lyrics is my least favourite part of song creating process.
I do read a lot, and it has had some influence on lyrics. But, whereas the music comes easy for me, writing the lyrics takes a lot of effort. It has gotten easier as time goes on, but it is still the most difficult part.

While on “Contempt” and “Failure” the lyrics are turned to you, introverted, on “Defiance” there is a shift. They are more open-ended.

I think that is probably pretty valid. “Contempt” is the least focused of all the albums because the songs that made it were 3, 4 years old, and I just took the best of them and put them into an album.

“Failure” is probably the most focused, the most of the songs revolve around the death of my father. And “Defiance” is more open-ended. Although I still use metaphors very heavily, so sometimes the songs might not be about what they seem to be on the surface. I like to write that way because it leaves the things open to the person who is listening to the song... (continues on next page)