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Lawrence,
KS is Graced by Pope Factory Interview
By: Meredith Vacek (Lawrencerock.com Editor) |
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The
wandering Canadian band, Pope Factory, made it to the Bottleneck in
Lawrence Saturday, Sept. 1, outracing the speed of dwindling finances
to continue beating a living out of this crazy train called the music
business. Scott,
Phil, André, and Peter played the Bottleneck for the second time
in the last couple of months, and their small but stoic local fan base
(a few friends and I) were out in force to enjoy their musical talents
a second time. We were joined by new enthusiasts who couldn’t believe
how Pope Factory’s sound and stage presence resembled that of Pink
Floyd’s in their young days. Pope
Factory’s sound differs from that of the average indie rock band
with higher vocals, ethereal guitar, and a keen use of synthed piano.
Scot, called by other members the “poet of the band,” is responsible
for most of the lyrics, which are are dreamy tangle of words and sentence
fragments. Influenced by such bands as Sonic Youth, Grandaddy, and Pavement,
and oft compared to Pink Floyd and Radiohead, would-be fans are making
a safe bet when buying a Pope Factory CD. Usually the band makes greater
use of acoustic sounds, but not tonight, the acoustic instruments having
been thieved at a previous venue. Nevertheless excellent, a commendable
addition to their show was the video clips the band presented to complement
their music. The
purpose of the video was to be “eyecandy” because “we
got so many e-mails at first that we weren’t very interesting on
stage,” explains drummer André. Do-it-yourselfers,
the band’s recent release, Hibernation Generation, was produced
and engineered by keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Peter, and was recorded
in his basement. The members currently live out of a van and play shows
as opportunites present themselves. This makes for a grueling lifestyle,
as was noticed by one critic who commented that the band “lacked
energy” at the Bottleneck. Perhaps this can be explained by the
fact that they drove 16 hours directly from Cleveland arriving here
just before they were scheduled to play. How long will they be able
to keep this up? Phil says, “’Til we run out of money.” “We
do make almost no money,” added Peter, revealing that many venues
didn’t pay well or at all, and gas money from one venue to the
next often came from the CD sales on show nights. To shamelessly promote
an underappreciated band, it is this reviewers opinion that interested
parties check out the band’s two releases: Hibernation Generation
(2001), and the more straight-up rock self-titled EP (1999). These and
information on the band can be found at their website, www.popefactory.com. A
sweet concluding thought taken from my most enjoyable after-show chat
with the band: Reviewer:
“With all of the difficulties you guys face, why do you keep traveling,
playing more shows, and living this grueling lifestyle?” Phil: “This is what we do for a living, and we want to keep doing it.”
Meredith
Vacek ©2001
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