Sex, Drugs, Growing up and Rock’n’Roll
I
’m sitting in a local pub with a decent beer and two modern-day rock stars. Reid MacMaster and Owen Wolff, the guitarist and drummer from Toronto garage rock band Fade Awaays. It’s just a few hours before they’re set to perform with Goodbye Honolulu and The Beaches at the Guelph Concert Theatre, and their other bandmates, Sean Hackl and Duncan Briggs, are loading gear into the venue.
I asked where they get inspiration for their music and they told me they draw from many contemporary bands, such as Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, The Strokes, and in particular, Twin Peaks. “We found rock’n’roll coming out in the past 15 or 20 years is just as alive as music in the 60s or 70s,” Reid said. Fade Awaays’ sound takes on elements of indie rock and garage rock with each band member contributing to the make the sound their music.
We spoke about life on the road and pre-show rituals, and rather than the grand tradition of chugging a bottle of vodka or having a warm-up orgy (which I thought may have been the case for four handsome, young Torontonians on the road), Owen told me that they stretch their limbs, think about their future performance, and practice vocal exercises together. “As kids that are 20 and 21 years old it’s difficult to put down the stogie but we realize we gotta be mature about this if we’re trying to make a career out of this,” Reid said.
“We started doing vocal warm-ups as a group pretty recently, just in the past few months, and we have found a mega difference,” said Reid. These guys are not living that typical rock’n’roll lifestyle filled with sex and drugs. Instead, they are really in this for the long haul and want to have their name and sound succeed in the music industry.
As the opening band for The Beaches, there was a lot of apprehension and tension in the air to get the show started, but the Fade Awaays brought the heat. On stage, these guys absolutely killed it, bringing high energy and engaging with the crowd throughout the entire performance. Overall, the show was filled with orgasmic energy that pulsated through the crowd. Everyone was in a great mood, singing and dancing along. It was pretty rad that all three bands are Toronto-based and representing what Canada has to offer the music industry.
While Fade Awaays say they have no immediate plans to release an LP (they have a single and an EP) they are working to keep rock’n’roll alive for us kids stuck in the past. Keep your eyes out for the next time they pass through. They are not to be missed!
Photo by Alex Vialette
A version of this article appeared in print in The Ontarion issue 188.3 on March 12, 2020
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