Just before We Are the City's explosive performance on the Main Stage in Skiers' Plaza (review here), I sat down with the prog pop trio in the green room in the Pan Pacific Hotel. The band was joined by three of the four members of Henry and the Nightcrawlers, whose bassist Zachary Gray chimed in with occasional comments.

 

With such a large group of friends gathered, the interview soon veered away from the pre-written questions, moving on personal anecdotes and candid revelations that shed a light on everything from bathroom habits to a friendly male model named Vick.

 

Thanks to guitarist David Menzel for agreeing to us publish his "off the record" comments.

 

 

Alex Hudson: Could you guys introduce yourselves?

 

Andrew Huculiak: Andrew says this is Andrew. [Voice cracks] This is Andrew.

 

Cayne McKenzie: Voice crack guy. My name's Cayne McKenzie. I play piano in the band and singing.

 

David Menzel: And I'm Dave, I play guitar.

 

CM: Dave? David. David.

 

Alex H: I saw you last night when you were performing on the runway at the fashion show as the models walked around you. That must have been a memorable gig for you guys.

 

CM: It was unlike anything we've ever done. Very cool though, actually. When we were going into it we didn't really have an idea of how exactly it was going to play out, so we were just a bit worried about it, a little bit. And then, at the end of the night, it was like, "That was very cool." I really liked the feeling. We had to cut lots of parts out of our songs and end songs halfway to match with the models, or add on parts. It wasn't like a show. Actually, this is what we could compare it to: one time, Andrew and I did the music at school for a Shakespeare rendition of The Tempest. And it was a terrible play. And we did a terrible -- well, I didn't do that good.

 

Andrew H: No, but it would be like if we had played well. It was the same kind of thing. Just going with the play. And actually, you know how at the end of the play, the last night, people always do pranks, if there's a lot of cast members? Our prank was that we were in control of the smoke machine as well, and so for this one scene, we put so much smoke on stage that you could not see the scene. You couldn't see the scene at all.

 

CM: And one of the guys was really mad. He was so mad.

 

DM: Dan. Don't say his last name.

 

Andrew H: Dan Shepherd! [Everyone laughs]

 

CM: Oh, Dan Shepherd was so upset. Afterward he came and he was like, "Guys, that was not cool." That was his only lines in the play!

 

Alex H: Last night, did you performance give you an opening to talk to the models after the show?

 

CM: One male model.

 

DM: Vick?

 

CM: Yeah, Vick was his name.

 

Andrew H: Mick?

 

DM: We met Vick.

 

CM: It was Vick. 

 

DM: I know it was Vick, I said Vick.

 

CM: It sounded like you were like, "Sick!" 

 

Andrew H: I wish I would have talked to any of the models and just been like, "Hey good job."

 

CM: Good job on walking.

 

Andrew H: Well, putting on the clothes and looking great. It's an art. It's definitely an art. But I didn't talk to any.

 

Alex H: Switching gears a little bit, last year you won $150,00 in the Peak Performance Project. What was the first thing you did with the money?

 

CM: It was this year. But the first thing we did was we went on tour for two months. We toured with our friends the Zolas.

 

Alex H: Have you guys bought anything really frivolous with the money?

 

Andrew H: The first and possibly the last frivolous thing that we just recently bought was a brand new snare for me. It's definitely a necessity but it's nice.

 

CM: It was really expensive.

 

Andrew H: Don't let people minds go crazy. it wasn't THAT expensive.

 

DM: $20,000!

 

Andrew H: It wasn't a new car.

 

CM: But it wasn't a trip to the candy store.

 

Andrew; Nope. It was somewhere in between.

 

DM: It depends what kind of candy you're getting.

 

CM: The rarest kind.

 

Andrew H: What's that kind in The Simpsons where Homer takes it off the girl's butt?

 

DM: What is your problem? [Everyone laughs]

 

Andrew H: Dude, the candy! The gummy!

 

DM: You're a pervert.

 

Andrew H: The Gummy De Milo. The Venus De Milo gummy. He takes it off the babysitter's butt, man! [Everyone laughs]

 

CM: That's it. That's all. That's it.

 

Alex H: Winning a competition like that is a pretty huge career landmark. How are you guys going to top it?

 

Andrew H: Well, I know even know how it happened for us, so I don't know how we're going to top it, because I don't know how it happened.

 

CM: I think somehow we tricked them into letting us win. So we'll have to trick everyone into thinking that we're doing something crazy. Like hire David Blaine. Use all the money to hire David Blaine and Criss Angel to have on stage with us.

 

Zachary Gray: But just to make out.

 

CM: They're just making out the whole time. Or, they're just playing bass. Both of them are playing bass.

 

DM: Two bass players. But they don't have basses. 

 

CM: Yeah, it's like, "Where is the bass coming from?" We just have a track playing and they're like: [Mimes playing bass]

 

Andrew H: The worst illusion ever.  [Everyone laughs]

 

Alex H: You've undergone a rite of passage by doing a cross-Canadian tour in the winter. Were you guys afraid you were going to die?

 

CM: At first, but then it turned out there was no snow on the road the entire time. Not one patch of snow the entire way. Actually, no -- when we went on tour with the Zolas from the beginning of February to the middle of February, there was some snow on that tour. But then we went on a month-and-a-half tour with Aidan Knight and there was no snow. We went at the end of February and all of March. But Canada's very cold. It's so cold. There was one time when we had to fix our trailer lights in Saskatoon, negative 28, and then there's wind chill. I was fixing this wiring outside, and you can't have gloves on to do it. So I was rolling these wires and I just remember I was yelling. Yelling as loud as I could because I was so cold. So to give you a hint... That's it. I don't know what the point of saying "To give you a hint" was. 

 

Alex H: What's next for you guys?

 

CM: This summer we're going to play a few festivals hopefully.

 

Andrew H: We're actually flying to Toronto to do a few shows with the Zolas, and then we're going to hopefully write. But no pressure on us. We don't want to put any pressure on ourselves.

 

DM: We are working on some new stuff already, though.

 

Andrew H: We are, yeah, but, if we put pressure, then--

 

CM: You wouldn't know, but they're making fun of me by saying 'We don't want to put any pressure."

 

Andrew H: No, I'm literally not putting any pressure because I don't to put pressure on us.

 

CM: But I'm the only one who feels pressure. So you don't have to say it.

 

DM: It's like if someone's yelling at you when you're going to the bathroom and you just can't get it out.

 

Andrew H: When did that happen? 

 

DM: The other day actually. I was going to the bathroom -- this is off the record, by the way. I was going to the bathroom. I can hear my girlfriend running from outside, and they have a huge house.

 

Andrew H: Were you doing number two?

 

DM: No, number one. But I haven't really started yet. And she's running and she's going, "David! David! David!" She runs in the house and she's like, "David."

 

Andrew H: Were you standing or sitting?

 

DM: I'm sitting. I'm like, "What?" And she's like, "The ice cream truck's coming!" And so she's yelling my name, like "Hurry up, hurry up," and now I really can't get any out, but I need to go. And so we missed the ice cream truck and she's yelling at me, no ice cream and a very unsatisfying pee.

 

CM: Man, that's a really disappointing story. Why didn't you just hold it, go get ice cream, then come back?

 

DM: Why does she have to run in? Why couldn't she just go get me ice cream?

 

ZG: Here's another question. It's weird because I do this too. Why were you sitting? I sit too sometimes, but I don't know why.

 

DM: I'll tell you why. Because in this particular bathroom there's a window right by the driveway. So if I'm standing and someone drives by and they look at me and I look at them, there's no ducking down or anything.

 

CM: I'll tell you something I'm not ashamed of. I pretty much, unless I'm at a urinal, only sit. There's never a mess on the seat, and you're sitting. It's great! So comfortable.

 

ZG: If you sit too far back there's a mess. [Everyone laughs]

 

DM: I think Alex has more questions.

 

Alex H: They don't matter anymore. This has taken a life of it's own.

 

CM: That's usually how it goes.

 

DM: [To tape recorder] That was Cayne McKenzie who sits down while he pees.

 

Andrew H: It usually means that you conduct a good interview, when we go off on a tangent. It's not that we're being disrespectful. I hope it doesn't come off as that.

 

Alex H: No, it doesn't at all. I was going to ask you guys if you were going to go on the slopes at all while you're here in Whistler.

 

CM: Unfortunately Andrew's terrible at skiing and snowboarding.

 

Andrew H: I've done both a few times.

 

ZG: At the same time?

 

Andrew H: No. But skiing I really did pull some muscles that I would not like to ever pull again.

 

CM: David was a hot snowboarder back in the day.

 

DM: I wasn't hot. I would do the ski moguls. That was fun.

 

Andrew H: With your snowboard?

 

DM: Yeah. They just bounce you out.

 

CM: I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I did do giant slalom downhill ski racing for many years. But no, we won't be going skiing.