I had a few good reasons for wanting to interview Still Life Still. Speaking with Toronto indie rockers (like the Dinosaur Bones) about other local goodies, Still Life Still is generally mentioned.

They also have a show coming up on February 27th at the Silver Dollar, so I knew that I'd be able to catch them there with The Paint Movement - and I do enjoy The Paint Movement.

The third, and probably the most prominent reason, was that I recently heard little birdie whispers in the wind that Still Life Still was about to sign a contract with Arts & Crafts. Signing to Arts and Crafts would put them alongside some of the biggest names in the Canadian indie rock scene.

I met up with four of the five bandsters at Nirvana and it was the drummer, Aaron, who did most of the talking. I started with their upcoming album. Based on the fact that they have no officially released recordings, I figured that they must be working on something.

"Yeah, we're working on the album right now. In fact, we should be finished recording it this week. We have to get up tomorrow and head up to our secret studio in the Ontario hills. It should come out in the summer of this year."

They declined telling me exactly where it was, pointing out that once they did, the studio would no longer be "secret". I guess that makes sense.

Then I gently prodded about this possible Arts and Crafts business.

"It's not official, but... they are paying for us to do this album..."

Aaron claimed credit for the connection, although he admits their music may have had something to do with it as well. Reluctantly.

"I just kept going to shows and I kept running into Kevin Drew from Broken [Social Scene] over and over and we would chat a lot. And eventually I was like 'come see my band' and he did. Then he came to our next seven shows and he was like 'let's do this', and we were like 'alright!'. Then he took us to the studio and we started recording."

At the time of the interview, the roster for Edgefest '09 had not yet been announced, but Still Life Still will also be playing the second stage at Downsview Park on June 20th with their friends the Dinosaur Bones.

I forgot to mention that this band has been together for ten years. TEN YEARS! Damn right they deserve some success. I don't even have close friends that have lasted ten years. (Huh? What does that say about me...)

"We've had line-up changes, but there's always been the core four."

The "core four" all reside in East York. Actually, they all live in the same block. No house is further than a two minute walk.

"[Playing together for ten years] is not so much an edge, but we're just more comfortable. There's no real worries now; we've played great shows, terrible shows, and we just know what to expect now. Well I guess maybe a bit of an edge... we've gone through a lot of songs... hundreds of songs, to get to these last ten or eleven."

Touring is next on the list. While other band mates said they were up for anything, Aaron had room in his heart for only one place this summer.

"Tokyo! Yep, gotta go to Tokyo. I'd like to tour through some Asian places. That would be cool."

Well, Tokyo or not, I'm sure Still Life Still have quite the summer ahead of them. Starting with their new record deal... er... possible new record deal...

Photo by Stuart St-Amant.