A Conversation With: Clothes Make The Man

Recently off the high that was their EP Release Party (for reviews, click here, here, or here), Clothes Make The Man seem to be back on track with a second EP under their belt and another album in the works. Under the guidance of Audio Blood/New Rose head honcho Sari Delmar, the band could be pushing out more shows (and possibly new material) before we know it. With a Christmas showcase coming up on December 11th (for more details, click here) and likely more Ontario shows — if they’re lucky, maybe a gig at a Leafs’ game? — on the way, keep an eye out for the Toronto band in the coming months.

That’s not to say they are completely focused though. Distractions are what makes this band fun, which is what I learned when interviewing them before their show a few weeks ago. Ryan McLennan, Scott Henry, Ross Machon, and Phil Wilsen (and Sari, intermittently) talked about the band, rap dreams, the EP, nicknames, touring in the Maritimes, and hockey. Sense a pattern yet? There’s more, of course, but what came across most was the incredible camaraderie amongst the band, which makes you want to root for them all the more.

And it’s available for you in it’s entirety. Below.

Tell me something about Clothes Make The Man that I probably don’t already know. And don’t say that you’ve been around for almost eight years.

Ross: We’re all really good hockey players. We gave up Junior B to play in the band. Junior B hockey team. We gave up our hockey dream.

Ryan: We should divert this question to Sari, I think. She can probably speak on our behalf.

Sari: Um… I don’t know. I keep thinking of things but then I’m like, “That’s not real!”

Scott: Why are we so bad at this?

Hockey is good enough for me. I didn’t know that.

Ryan: Cool.

Sari: Ryan secretly wants to be an MC.

Phil: Yeah. That’s true.

Sari: He’s just playing rock and roll to keep people happy.

Ryan: My rock and roll music funds my rap dreams.

Sari: His MC name is Wisdom Teeth.

Phil: Nice! I didn’t even know that. Wisdom Teeth. [laughs]

Ryan: This is very inside. And current.

Phil: [to Ross] What’s yours? You had one recently.

Ross: No. It’s long dead.

Sari: That’s not a lie though. You can use that. I didn’t make that up.

Ryan: Maybe I should get my rap projects going now.

Sari: There you go. Get some press.

Scott: We found Phil on the internet.

Phil: Yep. Bought me off’ve the internet.

Scott: But you might know that already.

Ryan: For free though.

Phil: Yeah. I asked for money, and they said no.

Scott: You can play for free, and we get your cut.

Phil: That’s not true.

So this is your second EP, but you’d previously released a second album that was only available at shows, and not online.

Phil: Yeah.

Is this EP comprised of songs from that album, or new material?

Phil: Nope. The songs are from that.

Scott: It’s a collection of songs from the album.

Ryan: Which is no longer available anywhere, basically. The album… There was a limited time where we made it available. Then we decided to do a proper, or more proper release of just an EP. That’s what this is now. The album is still made; it’s ready. But this is sort of a teaser before we release that properly.

So by properly you mean online, or in stores?

Ryan: Yeah.

Why now, then? What pushed you to do this now, as opposed to earlier or maybe sometime in the future?

Ross: Sarth Vader.

Phil: I was just going to say. Sarth Vader told us to. [points to Sari, who is immersed in her Blackberry and oblivious to the conversation]

Ryan: When we’re going on tour, it’s always nice to have something new for our fans. And like I said, we didn’t want to do the album just yet. We just wanted to do something we could manage better. And it was time to hit the road, and we needed an EP to promote.

You’ve been touring out east. How was that?

Scott: Great. Fun. Wild.

Scott: You know, tripping. Wonderful.

Phil: Well, there were lots of moose in Newfoundland. But we didn’t see any.

Ross: What was the question? How was the tour?

Yeah. This wasn’t your first time going east, was it?

Ryan: This was our fourth time going east. We love going to the East because the people like to dance and have fun, and that’s what we’re all about too. Playing live is what we love to do, and they love to see live music. So, major joy to go out to the Maritimes every time.

Scott: It’s a little bit different of a vibe too that playing a more major market, like Toronto. It’s sort of like, close the bar down and we’ll keep playing. In St. John’s, for instance, a guy in stilts came up and played through the roof.

Phil: Literally through the roof. Not like…

Scott: He removed the ceiling so that he could fit onstage and play Rocking in the Free World. With Filth, Ryan, and myself.

Phil: Filth.

Is that you?

Phil: Yeah.

Are there other nicknames as well?

Ross: All kinds.

Phil: Too many.

Scot: [laughs] Too many, yeah.

Ryan: For Scott there’s –

Phil: For Scott there’s Tiny Tunes, Scotch, Scoth –

Ryan: Wet Rag –

Scott: Soft in the Stone Hands –

Ross: Hoover Dam –

Ryan: Nic Cage.

Phil: Nic Cage is a good one.

Scott: Scooby –

Ryan: Scoothington. Whoremonger.

Phil: Nic Cage isn’t even a nickname. It’s just someone else’s name.

Okay, back to the tour for a moment. What’s the strangest story from this tour?

Scott: Story from this tour?

Or any tour, if you want.

Scott: It’s strange, but seeing an actual moose accident. Where it’s like, “I bet you there’s a moose accident.” But then actually looking up the street and being like, “There’s a dead moose.”

Ross: There’s the strike car.

Scott: Yeah. It’s like, no ambulance.

Ross: There’s some people laying on the ground.

Ryan: Then it’s was like, “Slow right. This is scary now.”

Phil: That was pretty strange.

Scott: It’s not that strange, but –

Phil: What about the joker guy? He was pretty strange.

Scott: Ryan and Phil smoked weed with this joker guy in his truck –

Ryan: Oh yeah…

Scott: And it was like a horror movie type scene. He told me they did that after and I was like, “Dude. That’s how you die.”

Phil: Yeah. We went in an eighteen-wheeler with this sixty-year-old man with no teeth.

Ryan: He was the inspiration for the entire tour.

Phil: Yeah. He was. He loved the band. He was like, “You guys are going places.” [imitating a gnarled old voice]

Ryan: He thought Phil was “Fucking awesome!”

Phil: Yeah. He did. He takes us on the truck and tells us his buddy Ronnie’s asleep, but he’s actually asleep like right where we’re sitting.

Scott: And smoking weed.

Phil: Yeah. I don’t remember the rest. Ryan doesn’t either.

In terms of fan base, how does the east coast compare to Toronto? The band is based here, but you kept talking about the energy of the shows you play out east.

Ross: Nothing really compares to Toronto. We have the best crowds here. But it’s super fun going out there. The crowds are still decent, but just in terms of sheer population, there’s more people here and there are going to be more people at shows here.

Ryan: But what’s different though is the enthusiasm on the East is like –

Scott: There.

Ryan: It can’t really be touched in Toronto, where’s everyone’s like… It’s a big city, right? The vibe is more guarded here. We have great shows here, but the Toronto nod is a little but more in effect. People will dance in the Maritimes. They kind of just don’t give a shit. They’re there to have a good time, and that’s really nice to go to play music for.

Phil: What about when they play the tambourine in your face for the whole song?

Ryan: One guy though, almost got his ass smacked. His head dented in. Have you ever seen the cowbell sketch? With Will Ferrell? This guy was playing tambourine like that. And uh… Well that’s just one of literally thousands of people that have played tambourine with us. Well, not thousands.

Phil: Hundreds, probably.

Ryan: Again, his enthusiasm was matchless.

Enthusiasm-wise, do you have any good fan stories? I mean, you’ve been around for eight years.

Ryan: We have some psycho fans.

Scott: We do. Especially out east.

Ryan: We’re not going to name names. Because they’ll read this. And then put it on their wall and kill us. Start crossing off our faces. Voodoo.

Phil: Yeah.

What are you guys doing in the coming months? Apart from promoting the EP?

Scott: Writing. Writing more.

Ross: Writing songs.

Ryan: Just doing some new songs to just bring some new energy to the group. We’re going to play a ton of shows around Ontario. I don’t think we’re going to tour for the winter though. Because you have to be crazy to do that. But shows in and around Ontario for sure. More new songs. Hanging out. Going skiing. Ross will probably take a trip somewhere.

Phil: Snowboarding. Ross will finish his tattoo probably.

Ross: Perhaps.

You’ll play hockey too, right?

Ross: A shit ton of ice hockey.

Ryan: Work on our power play systems. They’ve been struggling lately.

Ross: We’re trying to implement a new rule in hockey in that players are no longer allowed to raise the puck in the NHL. Or slap shots.

Scott: It’s a safety thing.

Ross: Also, get rid of the blades. Because they’re really dangerous. Get rid of the ice. Make the puck a ball.

Phil: [laughing] Get rid of the blades?

Scott: Get rid of blades! Get rollers on there.

Ross: So many people get their throat cut and stuff. That’s so dangerous.

Ryan: We’d like to sing Oh Canada at a Leaf’s game too.

Phil: Sarth! We’re looking at you! [waving at Sari, who’s still on her blackberry].

Ryan: So hopefully if this interview gets us anywhere, it’s there. Right Sari?

Sari: [looks up, finally] Leaf’s game? Oh yeah, it’s done. Hockey Night in Canada.

Is there anything else you want to plug, while you’re here?

Scott: Audio Blood!

Phil: Yes. Plug it.

Scott: Plug it like a drug.

Okay, last question. Three people that you could have a conversation with; who would it be?

Scott: To drink with?

Phil: To have a conversation with? Conan O Brian. Because I look like him, but not really. And I think he’s funny.

Ryan: I’ll go with Max Weinberg. He’s a fabulous drummer.

Phil: Really? Come on! From the whole world, you’d choose Max Weinberg? You could sit down with anyone in the world and you’d sit down with Max?

Scott: He’s the drummer for the friggin E Street Band!

Phil: “What’s Springsteen like?” “Oh. Great.”

Ryan: And then someone could have said Andy Richter and we could’ve been chatting with people from Conan’s show.

Phil: You should’ve picked the other guy. Max isn’t on the show anymore.

Ryan: Yeah you’re right.

Scott: I personally — but the band’s not invited — would like to sit down with Neil Young. Just me and Neil Young. Because I think that would be a weird dynamic since he sings really serious.

Phil: Did you hear about Neil Young? Half his house burned down yesterday.

Scott: I don’t care.

Ross: That’s where he keeps all his shit.

Scott: Why would I care about him?

Phil: Didn’t you just say Neil Young?

Scott: I think it would be an interesting dynamic. Me and him.

Phil: That’s why I just told you that he had a fire.

Scott: Why would I fucking care?

Phil: I don’t know. Because I just read about Neil Young and I heard you say it.

Ryan: Okay so what did we answer?

Ross: Rick Tocchet.

Ryan: Uh, Samuel L Jackson’s sister.

Scott: Her first son, Gordon.

Ross: Her first son. And…

Phil: Max Weinberg.

Ryan: Whoever invented Ebay.

Ross: Curt Harnett.

Ryan: The Olympic cyclist?

Phil: He’s a cyclist! The Pert Plus guy.

Ryan: We’re derailing this question. What did we answer?

Scott: Neil Young for me, for real

Ryan: Neil Young, and for Ross, Curt Harnett.