Youth Are Awesome had the chance this weekend to meet up with Inner City Elegance at Tubby Dog to ask them a few questions about music, their upcoming show and everything in between. The Calgary-based trio Inner City Elegance is one tight ‘bromance’ with a high-energy sound that is uniquely theirs. Brazilian front man, Bruno Rodrigues and two high school friends, bassist Justin Parsons and drummer Spencer Kathrens burst through Calgary’s music scene in late 2008 and have recently recorded their first EP, “Hot & Dangerous”. Inner City Elegance will be playing a FREE show on Saturday, December 5th at Tubby Dog. Doors open at 7:30 and this is going to be a show you won’t want to miss!
Youth Are Awesome: Where and when was the first time you played together as Inner City Elegance?
Justin: Our first show as ICE was at the Distillery last January or February.
YAA: Is it difficult to find venues in Calgary?
Bruno: All ages venues yes, but bar shows are a lot different then all ages shows because people go to bars to get drunk not to listen to you sing.
YAA: How did you guys come up with the name Inner City Elegance?
Spencer: That one was tongue and cheek for sure, its kinda named after the house where we jam, its this old house just on the outskirts of downtown.
YAA: If you could use one word to describe ICE what wouldn’t it be?
Bruno: Love. Haha.
Justin: Let’s say flakey, we like to put it all out there.
YAA: Who plays what role in the band?
Spencer: That’s the great thing about this band, that everybody pulls their own weight. It’s not like there’s one guy doing everything.
Bruno: We always talk to each other before doing anything. We try to keep it a good marriage like that.
YAA: If you were a family what role would each of you play?
Justin: I’m gonna call dad because I always drive them home at the end of the night.
Spencer: I’m gonna man up and call mom because I get agitated quickly; Justin’s more level headed.
Bruno: I’m definitely the dumb kid.
Spencer: Bruno’s the family dog. Haha.
YAA: What song do you guys want to cover?
Spencer: That’s something we’ve been trying to think of actually – what our next cover is going to be – we’ve done some covers in the past.
Bruno: We just try and do more original songs. Every time we do covers, it’s just a little part or line. Like with our one song, “Jager Baby”, we start singing part of “I Kissed A Girl.”
Spencer: If it doesn’t make us laugh we’re probably not going to do it.
YAA: Who was your favorite artist growing up and who is your favorite artist now?
Spencer: My favorite artist growing up was Green Day and my favorite artist now is Green Day. I think I made a pretty good choice.
Justin: Now? Queens of the Stone Age. Back when I was a kid, I listened to a lot of comedy music like Arrogant Worms.
Bruno: I used to listen to metal or bands like Green Day, Blink 182, Offspring, and then my friend came to me all dressed in black and said, “No man those guys don’t know how to play instruments. Here you go,” and he gave me an Iron Maiden CD. And then I sold my soul to Iron Maiden and everything I had was Iron Maiden. Then one day it clicked and I was like Green Day’s awesome, but I guess Foo Fighters are my favorite band.
YAA: What was the first concert you ever attended?
Justin: Probably the Teddy Bear Picnic.
Spencer: I was in Gr. 9 and I went to Edgefest. It was like Sum 41, Blink 182… it was the biggest punk rock blow out you’ve ever seen.
Bruno: A band from Brazil called Anger. They were a heavy melodic metal band… my mom took me.
YAA: When did you guys first start playing music? Were you born with music or was it something that you had to find?
Justin: I just picked up the guitar in high school and fiddled around with it and when I got out of high school, I met Bruno, and wanted to start a band. Then once we had that started I just learned the bass.
Spencer: There wasn’t a whole lot of music around me growing up, but I started playing drums in Gr. 9 and I started getting into punk rock and stuff like that. I play guitar too.
Bruno: One day I was just like, “I want to buy a guitar,” so I bought one. My cousin tried to play and she broke a string and I wanted to beat her up because I thought she broke my guitar. Then I figured out you could fix it and I didn’t want to beat her up. I had a lot of bands and then I met these guy and it was perfect.
YAA: Why is it important for you guys to stay close to your fans?
Justin: I think it’s really important because you want them to come to your shows and bring their friends.
Spencer: You’re totally screwed if you don’t have any fans show up.
Bruno: We always want our fans to feel apart of whatever it is we’re doing. There’s no reason to play a show if kids don’t come out to watch us. I spend a lot of time talking with the kids that come to the shows.
YAA: Do you guys have anyone else playing with you saturday?
Bruno: When We Were Dinosaurs.
Spencer: I used to play with Dave [the guitarist and lead singer for When We Were Dinosaurs] a few times before and then we got something good going here, so we thought we’d ask them to play for us and hopefully everything goes smoothly. Well, set up is going to go smoothly and then we’re going to rock the audiences’ faces off!
YAA: On a scale of one to unicorn, how excited are you for Saturday’s performance?
Justin: I would have to say two unicorns.
Spencer: I would have to say T-Rex.
Justin: Where is he on the scale? Is he in the middle part of the scale or above the unicorn?
Bruno: I sprained my ankle and I don’t really care. I’m going to jump around and it’s going to be a fun night.
YAA: What is your favourite type of cheese?
Spencer: Cheddar. Final answer.
Bruno: I’m a cheese enthusiast!
Justin: I like the Cracker Barrel stuff, but now I’m lactose intolerant, so no cheese.
Bruno: I like all cheeses except the ones that smell like feet. I eat a lot of cheese and most of the time I never even read the label.
Don’t forget to head on down to Tubby Dog this weekend, Saturday, December 5th at 7:30 for one heck of a show by Inner City Elegance. Head on over to their myspace to hear some pretty grrreat tunes!
