"Ummph and Sizzle": An Interview With Fried Records Trio BBQ Pope
Last week, we got to hear all about Goodbye Honolulu's new single. (read the interview here) This week, Purple Glow Mag had the pleasure of interviewing a different Fried Records band, BBQ Pope!
Meet BBQ Pope! This high-energy, garage psych punk trio formed only two years ago, but has been rocking the stage strong ever since. The BBQ Pope boys attended Toronto art schools (represent!) where they continued to cultivate their talents, bonded over mutual musical interest, and eventually, started BBQ Pope. Sean, Reid, and Duncan have many performances lined up for the next few months, so if you're a fan, or a soon-to-be fan, keep your eyes peeled for more "Ummph and Sizzle". If you're around Toronto this summer, or nearby cities, make sure to check out their Facebook Page, or read on below for more info!
1. Hey BBQ Pope! To begin, tell us all the BBQ Pope basics! How did you all meet? When did the magic begin? And of course, where did the name come from?
We started the band almost two years ago now, right at the beginning of Summer in 2015. Sean and Reid met in Grade 4, which is when they originally decided to start a band. They formed The Hunch, which lasted all the way up to Grade 10. Sean and Duncan met in high school at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, where they both attended the music program, and found friendship through their mutual interest in ROCK N’ ROLL! After Grade 10, The Hunch had broken up and Sean had gone off to join another band called The Operators (now Fade Awaays). However, Reid was still writing songs and wanted to start a new project with a little more Ummph and Sizzle to it.
The name BBQ Pope comes from the Butthole Surfers song, ”Bar-B-Q Pope”; Reid thought it would be a cool name for a band. Reid approached Sean with the idea of forming a new group under that name, and Sean asked Duncan (who plays bass in Fade Awaays) if he would be interested in Drumming. We actually formed the band just one day before our first show, which was held in the schoolyard of Hillcrest Public School on Bathurst. Initially, we weren’t super serious. We tried our best to act ridiculous and make people uncomfortable, but it kinda backfired because people ended up really liking it…
2. Purple Glow Mag loves Fried Records, the 100% Toronto independent record label, courtesy of the boys at Goodbye Honolulu. What's it like being part of such a cool group of TO artists?
It definitely feels good. Goodbye Honolulu was the band that we really looked up to when we were in high school, so to be recognized and supported by them is super fulfilling. We think Fried Records is a great place for us to be because everyone is coming from the same place of garage rock influence, but each band has their own twist on it. We like that because we are interested in both punk and garage music, and even just pop rock, but when we first started out we weren’t sure where we would fit in. Fried is super cool, and everyone works really hard and comes out to see each other play. We’re all good friends. We also really like that Fried Records does things like the Halloween EP each year because it keeps bands writing and keeps them in touch with other. It’s tight.
3. For the BBQ Pope newbies out there, how would you describe your sound?
We like to say that we play garage psych punk, which is really just because those are the three main genres that we generally draw from. It’s high energy, it’s intense, but also melodic and fun rock n’ roll. This gives us more creative freedom in our songwriting process as we don’t have to try and replicate the same thing constantly, so we can explore different sounds. We could premiere three songs, each a bit different at the same show and people would still dig it.
4. Does BBQ Pope have any musical role models? Any artistic influences?
Yes of course! We are all definitely influenced by a lot of modern-day garage/punk bands like Fidlar, Together PANGEA, White Reaper, No Parents and Fuzz. We also each listen to different things on our own. For example, Reid really likes exploring hardcore punk and indie punk through Bandcamp, some recent favourite discoveries being Cherry Death, Vanity, and Ajax, and a longtime favourite being VCR. Sean likes bands like King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Twin Peaks, Thee Oh Sees (or just Oh Sees now…), Minor Threat and King Tuff. Duncan loves all music, but some of his favourites are definitely Radiohead, Homeshake, Snarky Puppy, jazz bands, rock bands, punk bands and all the above.
5. Is it hard, being a student and also having a music career?
Yes. But it keeps us in touch with each other even when we’re super overwhelmed with assignments. It also teaches us how to manage multiple things, and we know that to have a career in the arts means you’ll have many jobs. We’ve been very lucky though because we all attended arts-based high schools where we had lots of opportunities to perform and got support from our teachers. So far, in our post-secondary experience, we’ve been able to use school to continue benefiting the band. For example, this year, Sean studied songwriting and Performance at Seneca College and was able to use our band as the focus for a lot of his projects, such as making our website and writing new songs. Reid studies acting at York, where he has learned more about vocal control and body movement, which he has taken with him to the stage. It’s stuff like that that makes doing it all seem reasonable.
6. Tell us about your upcoming summer tour with The A-Listers!
We are going on tour this summer from July 3rd to 9th. We organized the whole thing ourselves by researching different towns, looking into venues and talking to different people who have organized other tours, such as Zoe Smith. Also, last year the Pentagon Black Paper Compilation came out, which was a compilation put out by some people in Montreal which featured bands from all over Canada. It included groups from smaller towns like Peterborough and London, which are both towns we’ll be hitting on our tour. This helped us research local bands to play with, and put us in touch with people who could help us build each lineup. We are super stoked The A-Listers are coming with us, and we have finally figured out all our shit. You can check out the dates on the poster below, which our good friend Nicky Koro drew for us. We hope you come out to a show!
7. To finish, give us some future events that fans can keep an eye out for.
Well… we are going to be releasing our debut album hopefully before we go on tour, we’re hoping for July 2nd. So keep that date in mind and look out for our album! Also, we've got some other shows coming up before and after our tour, June 25th we’ll be playing at FAITH/VOID with Erik Nervous, Prom Nite, and Sour Key. And on July 24th, we’re playing the Monarch Tavern with The Jins, The Plodes and The Mightabins! Gonna be a great summer of Rock n’Roll!
- BBQ Pope :)
Check out the links below for more BBQ Pope: