SIGNUM: MARROW: side B

Efrim does appear to be freaked out by the band's growing pains and the media phenomena surrounding them. The press, accustomed as it is to a fair amount of sycophantic drooling from would-be subjects, falls into various camps when confronting such an earnest individual, one who is unabashedly opinionated about disliking music media, who'll talk to an interviewer about writers being lazy (well duh; after all, our job lets us sit around our houses in our bathrobes all day), and who goes off about the conundrums of corporate consumer society in general.

One article may suggest that Godspeed!'s political expressions are naive and pretentious; another celebrates the band as darlings of AlternaLand for being charmingly rebellious. Instead of going the usual celebrity route and clamping his mouth shut about these things, Efrim tries to strike back. He speaks openly about the press problem in interviews. Responding to snarky treatment by the Dutch press, he supposedly posts a counterattack online (I was unable to confirm authorship). "so, maybe from now on we keep our mouths shut some more, yeah?" proposes the rant. "leave the talking to the talkers, keep our heads down and lips buttoned, yeah? ok."

Signum: The word ‘apocalyptic’ has been used frequently to describe your music. I was wondering what your response was to that particular, strange word being chosen so much.

Efrim: I think it’s horseshit. I think the monologue in f#a# has everything to do with it, that and all the preacher samples we use. I think it’s lazy writing. The ‘apocalyptic’ thing is kinda dumb and lazy… I hate it, I think we all hate it.

There’s so much stuff that’s boring to read over and over again. It’s sorta disheartening. I just feel like so much music writing is just like when people cram and write essays the night before they’re due, that’s what it seems like. You just end up with that: ‘Apocalyptic blah blah blah,’ and a whole bunch of other things, the whole demystification-of-us thing, a weird bunch of Canadians who live in a compound in Montreal. And this whole thing about how we don’t do interviews, which is so obviously not true. It’s just all really boring, and it’s really constricting to be understood in that way. …

That monologue in f#a#? I wrote that in a point in time when I was obsessing about [apocalyptic] stuff, and it was a healthy thing to go through… But there’s no one in this band who thinks the end of the world is coming…

It’s a problem in the world, that this is how history is constructed, that it’s just supposed to end. It’s completely fucking terrible, and it’s a big reason why life is mostly shit, because if you don’t believe that things can get better, and you function as a cynic, then that’s how you look at Wall Street. That’s how you look at a corrupt politician, these huge global corporations that completely have the keys to the breadbox. That’s all enabled by this belief that history has an end, so you don’t really have to try to change anything.

So yeah, it’s disheartening to be called apocalyptic. We’re the opposite of that, I think.

Signum: Is keeping cynicism at bay a struggle for you?

Efrim: It comes in waves, right? … I mean, we’re all smartasses and ironic, and it’s a form of cynicism, but sometimes we’re good. You spend your whole life trying to not fall into that hole, and I don’t know whether we all make it or not; I guess that remains to be seen. Generationally, too, people our age – I don’t know what’s going to happen to all of us, outside of this band. It’s tricky, it’s really tricky…

Signum: The hope is really there, from what I hear you telling me right now. And in your music I hear a lot of hope and the sensation of change. I mean, why else would you bother to be touched by or angered by things that are going on? Do you see significant change as a reality in our lifetimes?

Efrim: Yeah! Yeah, of course. That’s the primary thing.…

This is a sidebar, but: I used to be a roofer. We had a Ford Econoline, and we’d do apartments. And I strongly believe that everything you own should be able to fit into an Econoline van because you should always, if everything goes down the toilet tomorrow, be able to move yourself, and you should never get attached to anything that’s too big for you, yourself, to carry.

I think it’s important to accept that everything in your own life can and probably will fall apart tomorrow, and the likelihood of that happening is directly proportional to the amount of importance you’re placing on transient things. Right?

Signum: Mm-hm.

Efrim: (With self-depracating sarcasm:) It’s amazing how nice I sound. (Avec irony:) But that’s what I think about change. Change is important, change is really important, accepting change is important, and uh, yeah.

Signum: (Giggling) Yeah!

Efrim: Is that a good answer?

Good enough for me! Change is important, hope is good, cynicism is tricky…so how do we get to this positive change? What actions do we take? And what about, like, The Man keepin' us down? These questions may be trite or naïve, but they have something to do with my attraction to Godspeed! It goes beyond just digging the music. Whether in a song, press quotes, or the filmic imagery accompanying their live shows, these guys seem to be struggling with the same stuff - and refusing to abandon it out of fear that they might appear unfashionably idealistic. If they've made it this far, maybe they've got some advice for the rest of us.

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Photo: Dave and Roger. Photo by Marshall Serna.