There's another two-piece in town. They're loud, rowdy, and they are armed with a killer sense of humour. To promote their new full-length, Harsh Words, Little Foot Long Foot has hit the road and is midway through the East coast leg of the tour. They will be heading out West for the first time this summer, but not before stopping in Toronto.

When I spoke with Joan Smith (guitar, lead vocals), they were about to play their third show in Halifax and I had some questions for her; questions regarding tracks like 'King Hipster' and 'Half Man Half Mule'; questions about the murderous plot on the inside-cover of their album; and questions about the deadly photos on the album, which depict Joan, armed with an axe, finishing off Isaac Klein (drums)...

Why so much violence? Where's the love?

"Our friend does all the photo shoots for Harlequin romance novels, so we just got this idea for the cover to make it like a novel. We also wanted to juxtapose it on the back, which is why you seem me murdering Isaac with an axe. Then we realized that we should make it look like a book on the inside. It's a story I wrote in five minutes, which made the demented CD cover all come together."

The story basically outlines how Joan's character will need to murder Isaac's character (her lover) in order for her father to by her that "damned miniature horse". It's messed up.

Joan continues "Haha... yeah, if I could find some miniature horses... then the whole next album would just be Isaac and I with little horses and other tiny animals."

Some of their songs definitely possess an element of humour to them; take 'King Hipster', for example. (It is very fashionable to make fun of hipsters.)

How do songs like this develop?

"The tune will come about and we'll start making jokes. Like how that guy - I would never name names - needs to get over the fact that he's not a real cowboy and that he grew up in Thornhill [referring to the track 'Fake Cowboy']. Part of us [LFLF] getting along so well is by making each other laugh."

But there are so many hipsters in bands. How do you avoid them?

"Well I guess if you're a hipster, the song can come off as 'oh you guys are douchebags, leave us alone', but we're honestly just like 'you don't like what we do and we don't like what you do', but there's nothing wrong with that. It's just the way it is. Some of my best friends are hipsters."

I should make it clear that LFLF is a rock band. There are elements of the blues, alt-country, but the bottom-line is unquestionably full-on rock. They sound like the type of band I want to see live - and I probably will. They are having their official CD release party tomorrow night at the Rivoli.

Do you have anything interesting planned for the Rivoli?

"We're actually getting a bunch of our friends' bands to open up and cover our songs. It'll be fun. We've got a ska band covering, we've got a singer/songwriter pianist playing a song... stuff like that. It should be a big party."

On a trivial side note...

The advantages of touring as a two-piece band, according to Joan:

1) "Gas is way cheaper..." (They travel by hatchback + roof rack.)
2) "If we're crashing at somebody's place there's only two of us. It's not like we're a big smelly band."

Photo by Tim Fennell