Velour 3

Velour 3 once described their music as "a teddy bear with claws". Although it's an accurate description of their music (and kicks the shit out of that stupid label "alternative"), I would add another metaphor to their sound: velour underwear. Buttery soft, richly-textured velour underwear that caresses the buttocks and never rides up into crevices.

Paul Marcotte, Flavio Monopoli Jonathan Schubert and trumpet player Ben Van Slyke played at the pub the night of the freak snowfall. Although the threat of snow provoked fears that the pub would be deserted, the night was abound with patrons swishing in their undergarments.

The interview was conducted in the Peak dungeon, where Velour3 aired their laundry about music and superpowers.

How long did Velour3 take to record?
Flavio Monopoli: All in all, it took us six months to produce the CD, but we had to do it in trickles. We did four songs right off the bat in one studio and then the other five songs in another studio over the course of a few months. And then we met Ben and he got to improve on the horn bits already there. Say hello Ben.

Ben Van Slyke: Hello.

Paul Marcotte: Without Ben, two of the songs on the CD we would not have produced: "Fly with me" and "Peter Rabbit/Mother Strychnine."

Jon Schubert: He definitely added a lot of colour to the two songs.

Flavio: As you'll see tonight, Ben is kind of out secret weapon.

You mentioned that you recorded the album in two different locations. Did you have trouble finding a place a record?
Flavio: It's just that we were doing two different things. We were working with one producer at one point, he was great, but then we moved to another producer. And we did a different kind of thing in a different kind of studio, with a different atmosphere.

What was the difference.
Flavio: They were both great but different.

Paul: One was a analog studio that had a tape machine, an actual one inch-tape and the other one was adapt machine: the biggest difference was the technical specifications-- they were both basements in houses.

Flavio: The two people we worked with both had different approaches as well. The first producer that we worked with, his name is Michael Landolt, is very good at getting sound down to tape. That is his strong point. The benefit of working with Brent Calkin was he is a musician as well and he was very good at feeling out material and getting the feel and the emotion from the songs. And the two combined formed a really good record.

Jon: We're still exploring what we can do between the three of us. If their is a need for another sound, or another person or another colour, will make those changes as we progress along.

Paul:: They were all mixed in the same studio, so that's why there is a equal feel, and that's why it doesn't sound like it comes from two different sessions.

Jon: : A consistent layer of gloss.

Flavio: It's incredible what a small piece of plastic will do [for a band]. It was very difficult to gain attention before hand, but now that it's out, so many people are calling.

Who's calling?
Jon: Girls mostly.

The first track on the album, "Nahasapeemapetilon, "who wrote that song?
Jon: Paul wrote that.

Was it the sound of the word that attracted you?
Paul: Yeah....(starts to groove) "Nahasapeemapetilon....."

Flavio: Did you get the reference right away?

I read the word and it sounded like Apu's last name, and then I listened to the song and heard the line "squishes" and I knew then that it was Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. Why is that the first song?
Jon: Well, it's an in your face track...

Flavio: When you put together a record, you always look at the songs. You listen to the songs and you basically try to plot it out as to how you feel how the songs should progress and we all felt that "Nahasapeemapetilon" was probably the strongest.

Is your goal right now to see Velour3 distributed across Canada?
Jon: Across the world.

Flavio: The short-term goal is Canada.

Paul: For next week; the world next month.

Where do you see yourselves in two years?
Jon: Sipping pina coladas in Tahiti.

Paul: No, on tour.

Jon: No, I'll be sipping Pina Colada's, I'll send somebody else on tour.

Paul: A special computer?

Jon: Yeah. I'll program my base lines into a mannequin with a tape deck in the base.

Ben: I hate to interrupt here, but is anyone watching our stuff up there?

Flavio: Yes, Shelly is.

A collective sigh of relief escapes all four men, and they tell me about their recent problems with thieves.
Paul: We shot our music video ["Not the One"] at out rehearsal space which may have been to the root of the problem, we're not exactly sure. All we know is that we shot the video on a Sunday and on Tuesday all of our stuff was gone.

Flavio: Not all of our stuff. My drum set was stolen and John's bass and amp. [Paul's] pedals were stolen too.

Jon: The guys who we share the space with had a couple thousand dollars worth of guitars stolen as well.

Paul: Vancouver has a high rate of crime when it comes to musical equipment.

Jon: There are a lot of pawn shops around, and they'll accept [stolen goods]. They'll fence it.

Flavio: If you go along Hastings and Main, you'll see a string of pawn shops, two of which are apparently legitimate and 13 that are apparently not. There's always the option of getting that equipment back. But I feel bad for whoever it is who is using that equipment because I don't think any one of us has any qualms about going up to someone on stage "You know I'm really sorry, but this is my drum set. You may have paid however much for the set, but you bought it stolen, and now I want it back."

Do you see yourselves as a "bar band?"
Paul: (shuddering) Nooo....

John: You have to play in bars to promote yourself and that's where people to come to see you. But I think a bar band has a very limited life...

Paul: Unless you're Hootie and the Blowfish!

John: ...unless you're a international superstar bar band. But you don't hear about too many bar bands making it onto the hit parade. But in Canada that's a big thing. The Hip are the biggest band in Canada and they're pretty much a bar band. But I think were interested in creating works on CD and playing them live. It always works that way. We never make something for the stage and then putting them on CD. John: "Bar band" are dirty words, I think.

Paul: We take our songs to a new level live. We'll experiment with them and do a lot of jamming, etc.

John: But... we can rock.

Last question. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
John: I know Flav's superpower is x-ray vision and not past the skin. But my superpower would be omnipotence. I want omni-omni powers!

Paul: That's a hard question to answer... .If you can only have one, that's really difficult because, flight would be my first one. But flight without invincibility is foolhardy. You'll freeze to death as soon as you got up there.

(Always the benevolent interviewer) Okay, you can have two.
Paul: Yes! Invincibility and flight! All right....!

Ben (ever the trumpet player): Huge lungs. Huge lungs and huuuuge lips! Big, bad ass lips. You know how Superman gets that air going? I need that too.

Velour 3 is on sale at most record stores in Vancouver, including A&B Sound and Virgin. - Monique Harvey, The Peak, 17 February 1997.