Interview Wes Marskell of The Darcys

Wes Marskell is in a good mood. He has plenty of reasons to be. His band, The Darcys, just released their self-titled album to favourable reviews from critics and fans alike, including The Globe & Mail’s four-star review. The indie-rock band—which consists of guitarist Jason Couse, bassist Dave Hurlow, guitarist-organist Michael Le Riche and Marskell—also shot a live video for every song on The Darcys and released the videos on different websites. That’s not bad considering the album almost didn’t get made. The A.V. Club recently sat down with Marskell ahead of the band celebrating its album at a Nov. 18th show at the Horseshoe to discuss the making of the record, signing to Arts & Crafts, and coming up with new ways to market the band. 

The A.V. Club: What do you think about the reactions the new record has received so far?

Wes Marskell: The response has been overwhelmingly positive. We have received some very kind reviews, but what matters most to us are the people who have reached out to tell us they liked the record and subsequently shared it on their Facebook, Twitter, blog, and so on. I think many were surprised to see the record available for free, but it has allowed the album to be heard and shared easily between friends—this strategy is also part of what people are responding to. It was important for us to have this album heard, and it seems that people are listening. 

AVC: This record has been a long time in the making. Was there ever a point where you felt like it would never see the light of day?  

WM: The past three years were spent bailing out a sinking ship. Looking back, I am surprised we pushed forward, because for a long time a proper release seemed next to impossible. Even after signing with Arts & Crafts, I was reluctant to accept that our record would ever really come out. When it finally did, I had a lot of mixed emotions.

AVC: How would you describe your feelings now that it’s out?

WM: I feel relieved, however this record is a document of a band three years ago and is being used more as a tool for moving forward. We thought long and hard about not releasing this record, considering our next few releases represent where the band is today, but we needed to get past this release in order to continue as band. We are playing catch up with an old record, but we will be releasing something new very soon.

AVC: You guys met and began working on the record in Halifax. How does Halifax’s music scene fare against Toronto’s?

WM: I find the Halifax scene to be extremely nurturing and the community is willing to spend the time to foster a band’s growth. In Toronto, due to the number of great shows on any given night, it is important that a band finds its voice and sets itself apart. It’s not that Toronto is indifferent to its bands, but the market is oversaturated, which decreases people’s patience with developing acts.

AVC: Listening to this album, there’s a real sense of distance and place. Did you set out to capture these themes originally when writing the songs, or did they fall into place with the music?

WM: On tour, when you eat the same food and stay in the same type of hotels night after night, each new place becomes more and more similar to the last. The individual locations can lose their distinctiveness, leaving you with a sort of placelessness. Our record tries to recreate place through different textures. We exploited sounds in order to dictate a unique mood and atmosphere for each song, creating a series of auras to represent the distinct sentiments of certain times and locations. Before we went into the studio, Mike and Jason built pedals to produce specific sounds, which in turn came to define the sound of this record. The goal was to create a recording that took you somewhere. In the end, I think of this record as a place rather than a collection of songs. 

AVC: What was it like working with producers and The Dears frontman Murray Lightburn?

WM: Murray brought a sense of economy to this record. The first thing he did was cut the useless and excessively long sections of each song. He questioned a lot of our ideas, and challenged us to think beyond them. We went into the studio with a very ambitious and sprawling record and an even more ambitious agenda of furthering those ideas. He managed to slow us down and focus on the most important aspects of each song, where we subsequently found our theme and the core of this record. The process was extremely challenging at times, but we ended up with a record I am extremely proud of. 

AVC: Whose idea was it to release the 10 videos on different websites?

WM: We always wanted to release some performance-based videos, but the idea of releasing them via ten different media sources was something that Arts & Crafts conceived of. The marketing strategy is quite interesting and [Arts & Crafts co-founder] Jeffrey Remedios wrote a letter on the label’s website detailing the objectives and ideas behind our release plan. The basic premise is that we opted to grow our fan base, or try to, rather than to get a few dollars from early sales. We wanted people to hear the record and be able to share it easily. If they really love it, the vinyl is available for purchase, and hopefully they will support us at our shows.

AVC: How has signing to Arts & Crafts affected the way you market yourselves as a band?

WM: It is not every day that a label lets you release your album for free, but Arts & Crafts has been extremely supportive and allowed us to pursue some creative and insane ideas. I consider our next release more of an art project than a proper record.