Hamilton's Favourite Sons Are All Grown Up

Picture perfect (from the left): Nick Dika, Max Kerman, Mike DeAngelis, Dan Griffin and Tim Oxford.

“What advice would I give to aspiring, young musicians? Oh man, that’s a good question…” Mike DeAngelis pondered from the Arkells’ tour bus.

DeAngelis and the rest of the boys were on their way to Edmonton continuing their tour promoting their new record Michigan Left, when the Arkells’ guitarist was gracious enough to spare some time to chat. I patiently wait on the other line as he searches for the right phrasing.

“I’d say treat it very seriously, never take a day off and always give 100 percent for live shows because that’s where it counts,” DeAngelis thoughtfully responded.

Words of wisdom from a man whose lived by them. The Arkells’ success didn’t happen by accident. The guys had played together for years honing their craft on countless stages until they were ready to take their place on the altar as the messiahs of Canadian rock n’ roll, seated at the right hand of Sam Roberts. Yet despite a debut album that would be the envy of even the most established of acts, Arkells remain one of the hardest working bands in the biz, furiously writing and touring as if their careers depend on it.

“We’ve been writing songs for this album since Jackson Square came out, so you could say we’ve been writing for a long time,” DeAngelis laughed, “but it only took us about a month to record it. So we had a lot of time to experiment and fiddle around with lots of different sounds.”

Sounds that range from the electronic styling of Tokyo Police Club to that of indie favourites such as Spoon and Phoenix to the colourful music of the 80’s, an era that DeAngelis said greatly influenced him on this new record.

“We were experimenting with a lot of 80’s guitar sounds that at one time we would’ve thought were cheesy,” admitted DeAngelis, “we’re now seeing why it was so popular and cool back then and why it really is still cool today.”

If Arkells were influenced by 80’s new wave, you’d never be able to tell from listening to Michigan Left. The album is covered in the Arkells’ signature sound that first made them so popular and cool, accompanied by the same bold attitude and levelheadedness that still makes them cool today.

“We’re really happy that people have been digging the new record and accepting it,” DeAngelis beamed, “to see people singing along at the shows…it’s very rewarding to know that people are liking what you’re doing.”

More and more people are clearly liking what they’re doing as the Arkells’ fan club continues to grow. The word has spread across the QEW into the Maritimes, out into Western Canada and even as far down as the Southern States. It’s official. People like the Arkells…a lot. The feeling is clearly mutual. The guys have had so much fun on tour that they’ve decided to add some dates for the New Year.

“We’ve recently added several dates in the East Coast and in the U.S. for the tour.” DeAngelis explained, “we’ve also got a whole bunch of new dates all over Ontario, so we’ll be hitting up a bunch of cities that we didn’t get the chance to on the last tour. The guys are all really excited about it.”

With good reason; Michigan Left has been received well in the United States so far and has only been building on its hype. Perhaps it has something to do with the more identifiable album title? Why Michigan Left?

“Because we love those kind of questions,” DeAngelis began, “it was similar to when we brought out Jackson Square. Basically anybody who wasn’t from the Hamilton area had no clue what Jackson Square is,” he laughed, ”we like hearing other people’s take on it.”

For the record, a Michigan Left is a traffic maneuver (dubbed so in honour of Michigan’s famously confusing highways) where you have to turn the opposite direction in order to get to where you’re going. The band thought that was a cool concept, so they named the album after it. Non-coincidentally, many of the songs on Michigan Left deal with just that: persevering through tough times and handling change with grace and dignity in order to progress and grow as people.

Tracks like “Kiss Cam”, “One Foot Out The Door” and “Bloodlines” all seem to center around dying relationships and the characters involved as they desperately try to salvage what they can. The message that could be taken from these songs is that sometimes we have to let go in order to move forward.

To focus purely on the topic of love and relationships, however, would be committing a large injustice towards this diverse record. Some of Michigan Left’s best moments are simple storytelling at its finest.

“Some songs on the album are definitely more out there than others,” explained DeAngelis, “I mean, “Whistleblower” takes place in another world entirely, where songs like “Book Club” are a lot more straightforward.” He paused, “but we always like to leave something to the imagination, it’s nice to have people give us their own interpretation of the songs.”

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever listened to Jackson Square that their latest offering contains another healthy dose of Hamilton references hidden throughout the lyric book. Surely this can be no coincidence?

“A lot of the settings and the stories are based in Hamilton,” DeAngelis admitted, “Many of the protagonists in the stories are inspired by people we knew in Hamilton. We love it there. Most of us grew up in Hamilton, it’s home.”

If Hamilton is a family home, the Arkells would be the eldest sons who have flown the coop and gone on to bigger and better things, but still come home to visit with enough regularity. Which is often forgotten judging from the thunderous applause they regularly receive every time they come walking through the door.

One could go as far to say that the relationship between this band and its city isn’t much different from the relationship Hamiltonians share with the Tiger-Cats. The immense feeling of pride and joy that Hamiltonians exude towards a rock n’ roll band is something special that is all too rare nowadays. And where a football team will sometimes take on an identity that is similar to that of its city and the people living there, it’s fair to say that the Arkells have taken on an identity to that of the hardworking, blue-collar people of the city they call home.

So when keyboardist and founding member Dan Griffin decided to take a sudden leave of absence last month (temporarily trading in rock n’ roll for law school), the Arkells did not panic. The Arkells did not cancel dates. The Arkells did not take a break. They endured, made adjustments and got back to work; because that’s what good, honest Hamilton boys do.

“I feel like we haven’t really skipped a beat,” DeAngelis confessed, “we kinda had to relearn all the songs after going through the recording process so we were all on the same page. Anthony [Carone] is a great player, we can’t say enough about the job he’s done filling in.”

DeAngelis was quick to add that Griffin is still very involved in the band.

“Dan’s still a part of the gang,” he declared, “and even though he can’t tour right now, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him up on stage in the near future.”

Even with all that the Arkells have accomplished thus far in their career, it’s easy to forget that Michigan Left is only their second album. However to suggest that Arkells are susceptible to the “sophomore slump” is absurd. Michigan Left is good…really good. The growth they’ve shown as songwriters is remarkable while the musicianship is consistently top notch. With this record they’ve paved themselves a promising road into the future. The Arkells are on their way to becoming one of the biggest bands on the planet, but they remain people first and rock stars second.

“We feel very fortunate to be able to drive across Canada and see all these places we haven’t been to before and to have all these people we don’t know come out to see us,” considered DeAngelis, “we’re really blessed.”

Humble to the core, Arkells are one of those bands that are very difficult not to like. Just ask anybody that has had the pleasure of meeting them after a show and they’ll tell you not only how personable they are, but how genuinely delighted they are to chat with their fans. The Arkells are on their way to superstardom, but please don’t make a fuss over them, they’ll only shrug it off. What else would you expect from a bunch of good, honest Hamilton boys?