Over the past few months we have been posting interviews with women from across the country who have had a phenomenal impact on the underground Canadian punk scene, with hopes of putting it all into print by the end of 2010 ( the name “push mosh” was suggested)  This is an interview with Sandy Miranda, bassist for the globe trotting, Polaris Prize winning punk 6- piece Fucked Up.

Who are you?

I am a thirty year old female, born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I am a sister to my two older siblings, Aida and Tony, and daughter to my mother, Valentina. I am caregiver of a white Persian-turkish van cat by the name of Buster. I am the bass player in a rock band called Fucked Up.

What do you do?

For employment and enjoyment, I play bass in a band. I started playing bass in 1996 when I was in grade 10. A couple of friends of mine wanted to form a band and needed a bass player, so I rented a bass for a month and taught myself how to play by listening to some of my favourite songs by the likes of Rancid and Green Day. A year later, I was kicked out of the band because I didn’t fit the skate-punk image that my band mates wanted to personify. Then four years after that, in 2001, I found myself playing again in a dingy rehearsal room in an industrial part of Toronto with Mike, Jonah, and Josh – all of whom I had known from going to shows in the latter part of my adolescent years.

Who are your influences?

Inspiration comes at me from all sides. My mom inspires me to be a better person; when I was young, bands like Bad Religion and Green Day inspired me to get into music; the world around me inspires me to capture pictures of it. It’s kind of hard to say what inspires me because I don’t really think about why I do the things I do: I just do them because they are fun and bring me some level of satisfaction.

When and how did you get involved with the punk scene? What originally attracted you to the music?

I got into punk when I was 16 through some friends of mine at school. I remember listening to “The Cause” by NOFX and thinking it was rippin. (To my amazement, that album still holds up to my aging ears.) Eventually I started playing in a band with these friends, and it was great fun. What attracted to me was the speed and energy of the music, because all my life I was a hyper-active child. I learned about zines through punk, so because of my hyper-energy and enthusiasm, I decided to do a zine for a couple years. Looking back, it was one of the best things I could have done as a teenager.

How has your relationship with the punk scene changed since you were a teenager?

Now that I’m 30, lots of things have changed. I’m not an angry kid trying to change the world. Unfortunately, I have become more apathetic. I feel like there’s nothing I can change, so I just focus on making my life the best it can be. I never really identified myself as a punk kid, ever. Never dressed the part, save for band tshirts. I was just an odd girl with a lot of energy and an insatiable curiosity. As an adult, I’m still odd and very curious, but with less energy and furvour. I might be in a punk band, as I was when I was 16, but I’m not doing it to rebel: I’m doing it to bring pleasure, for myself and the kids that like our band. That sounds lame, but it’s the truth.

Punk and hardcore are often labeled as male-dominated subcultures. Would you describe contemporary punk as gender-inclusive?

Punk and hardcore are male-dominated, but I don’t think it’s that big of an issue. There isn’t going to be a perfect balance of both men and women in all communities; certain things interest certain people for specific reasons that don’t relate to people’s sex. That said, I find that there are a ton of girls going to shows and performing nowadays, making punk and hardcore less male-dominated. I also find that I’m being asked the question of the male domination in punk and hardcore, so that’s a sign things are shifting.

For you, has punk subculture been about individualism, or a group and collective experience? Or a balance of both?

Punk subculture is about both individualism and the collective experience. To me, punk brings together the people that feel alienated by greater society, people that have no interest in following the great trends of the day. You can be a unique weirdo in a group of other weirdos that are unique in a way different from you. What I like about punk is that it embraces the nerds, and in my mind, nerds are way cooler than cool kids.

Has the internet and digital technology changed the way you produce the work you do?

Technology has always played a part in our music. The majority of our work has been recorded directly to computer and edited digitally simply because it is the cheapest and the easiest thing to do. Granted, recording to tape is a very romanticized notion, and it does good, too, but I can’t fault something that makes my life easier. Technology is not the devil.

Do you feel that making/doing creative work within a punk context has served as a springboard to larger projects that have reached a broader audience?

Well, evidently, it has! The first punk-related thing I did was help out a local punk label in the mid-90s called Raw Energy Records. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew that I wanted to do something, so I’d help the label at the office once in a while. Then I decided that I wanted to do radio, so I wrote an empassioned 5-page letter to Jeff Cohen, who hosted “Mods n Rockers” on CIUT, asking him to let me go on. I ended up doing that radio show for four years, while doing a zine as well. And now, I’ve been in this band for nine years that has taken me around the world. It’s kind of crazy, but I think all those steps I had taken as a teen, from the label, to the radio show, to the zine, has led me to be in this successful band. It makes me believe in manifestation: that with enough will and hard work and luck, you can create your own future.

Sound Pollution 2010

more after the jump

About Manafest:

Over the past seven years, Chris Greenwood has used the moniker Manafest to organically build his fan base playing over 1,000 shows on four separate continents and selling over 100,000 records worldwide.  He’s had multiple videos on high rotation on MuchMusic accompanied by live appearances, has impacted radio stations with numerous singles, and has garnered multiple television placements including with So You Think You Can Dance and a Nike Rewind video.  His 2010 project is his most aggressive and sonically evolved to date with the catapulted success already set to overdrive, he’s taking the world by storm.  For more info: www.manafest.net

About White Lung:

White Lung are a punk band from Vancouver, B.C. They have put out three 7 inches, Local Garage (Hockey Dad Records), Magazines (Deranged Records) and Atlanta (Deranged Records). They have an LP “It’s the Evil” (Deranged Records) which will be released in June 2010.

Cedar are a four-piece indie rock band who bring their rural roots into the heart of Toronto.  Weaned on open fields, lush forests and riverside campfires, the band draws influence not only from the early 90’s alt. rock they grew up on, but the organic surroundings from which they originally called “home”.  Natural instrumentation and smooth wandering vocals engage and encompass the listener with the familiar, straying only from the long worn foot path occasionally to see what’s beyond the next hill.

Cedar, who have previously seen a good handful of member changes over the years, cites the connection made between its four current long standing members for their upcoming third full-length album’s more coherent and consistent sounds.  “This is the band’s first album written entirely by the same guys who recorded it.  The four of us identify with each other’s influences much more than we’ve seen in the past, it’s made for a very positive experience”, says the band’s drummer, Jeremy Drury.  Rounding out the rest of the band are Pete Nickerson on bass, Brett Trider on lead guitar and Craig MacLellan on guitar and vocals.  Cedar’s upcoming, yet-to-be-named album is scheduled for regional release in the fall of 2010.

About The Noble Rouges

The Noble Rogues have been told they could drown out an orchestra. Starting as a duo, the Rogues spent half a year in England, helping spread a new wave of rock, blues and soul. Now, back in their native Canada, Iain Wills (drums) and Shane Saunderson (vocals & guitar) have been joined by good friend Ian Blechschmidt (bass) to bring the rock home and remind Toronto, and the rest of the country, that music can set you free.

There is a saying that is being thrown around in Canada that “Hip Hop Aint Dead…..It Lives In The North.” That statement is no longer being said by a bunch of Canadians with inferiority complexes hoping to seek the attention of their American counterparts.  Because the truth is….. that statement is now a matter of FACT.  With Toronto’s own Drake now dominating the radio & video airwaves across the United States (and soon to be Soundscan charts) and the recent international success of Toronto’s other top dog Kardinal Offishall, the eyes & ears of the hip hop world are now focused north of the border to find out just exactly how these “nice, friendly & passive Canadians” are dominating the American born & bred craft of Hip Hop.

Based on his recent buzz, it seems the next batter on deck out of Toronto is 24 year-old Peter Jackson, who has come out of nowhere in the past year to establish himself as Canada’s next slugger out of the box. Peter Jackson’s debut CD “In My Life” is set to be released July 6 through Richmond Street Records/Fontana/Universal. His CD has an eclectic mix of guest appearances including Royce da 5’9, Naughty By Nature, Sizzla, Crooked I, Joell Ortiz and (Warner Music) hard rock band Die Mannequin as well as Toronto based heavy weight producers Boi 1 Da & T-Minus who have recently laid down beats for the A-List of hip hop (Drake, Dr.Dre, Ludacris etc). Peter’s lead single off his album “Ma Ma” featuring Die Mannequin (think Eminem & Dido style collab) was just released to radio & video across Canada and his recent internet leak of his album track “Do That Boy” featuring half of Slaughterhouse (Royce da 5’9 & Crooked I) has the internet blazing and asking “who the f**k is the is white boy from Canada?” “Do That Boy” has people questioning why cats like Royce da 5’9 keep messing with another white boy….this time from Canada? Peter explains “I’ve toured Canada coast to coast twice in the past year with Royce, so we have started to build together from just being on the road. On our last tour in April (where Peter opened up 14 dates across Canada for Slaugterhouse & Pharoahe Monch) I was able to travel on the tour bus with Slaugterhouse for 3 weeks & we had a studio on the bus & in our hotels, so we got a lot of music done including “Do That Boy” which I managed to squeeze onto my album last minute. As well as a track with Joell Ortiz & Showtyme (Pharoahe’s singer).”

Peter’s approach to success is moulded after the success of punk or rock bands by simply touring non stop and building his fan base one person at a time at his concerts. In just over one year, Peter has played almost 100 shows across Canada from small to clubs to arena shows touring with some of hip-hop and R&B’s biggest names. His recent tours include the 14 cities in April with Slaughterhouse & Pharoahe Monch, a 15 city tour in March with Tech N9ne, 9 dates last August with Busta Rhymes, 12 dates in March of 2009 with Naughty By Nature & 15 dates in November of 2008 with D12, Royce da 5’9 & Joe Budden as well as various spot dates opening up for Akon, KRS-One, Raekwon & now an upcoming July tour with Joe Budden. Surely an exhausting schedule for an MC that hasn’t even put an album out yet!

Peter explains how some of the relationships he has built on the road have really helped make his career vision much clearer. “That tour with Naughty By Nature really changed my focus. Treach kind of took me under his wing and he sat me down and just explained the business of hip hop to me. When a guy who has been in the game as long as he has speaks….you listen & take it in. Treach still stays in touch & keeps encouraging me in my career. It’s a blessing.” Treach makes an appearance on Jackson’s album on the track “Certified” which was produced by another Canadian heavyweight Classified (from Halifax).

Peter went on to explain how his focus right now is to “simply establish himself in Canada” first before he starts to really focus on furthering his career south of the border. Based on his current buzz, Jackson is definitely in his way to be the next MC who’s “style is off the thermostat, plus I’m coming from the cold.”

Find Peter Jackson Online

www.myspace.com/peterjackson905

www.youtube.com/user/PeterJacksonTV

Sound Pollution 2010

Rape Revenge is a feminist, straight edge, vegetarian band from Calgary Alberta, Canada. We have a 7″ record out on XTrueX Records. If you would like to order one, please to go: www.xtruexrecords.com

When these mid-west moshers came to Toronto in early May, I was speachless.  Polite, classy, and modest would barely describe it; they treated the promoters and their fans with respect, they returned every smile with 3, they held doors open for eachother, and they totally ripped the stage apart with their frantic politicized grindcore.  This is the phone interview we did with xRapeRevengex on The Sound Pollution Roundtable, for Indie Love Radio on Monday May 3rd/2010.

Sound Pollution 2010

About Patrick Christopher:

Patrick Christopher found his passion for hip hop, lyricism, and production when he was an early teen in the year 2000 and began his music career with friend Ryan Robinson under the name of ‘Morbid Concepts.’  In 2003 Classified hooked them up with Dub J of Q It UP Records and the EP “The Arrival” was released. The CD featured Canadian talent such as; Classified, Divo and Sharky. Shortly after “The Arrival” was produced, Patrick and Ryan were invited to bring their lyricism to Divo’s sophomore album “The Evolution Theory.” The duo then recorded a collaboration with ex Brassmunk member; May One 9, now formerly known as Broadway. The track was remixed with Divo and added as a single on his “This Iz Bizness” album which hosted many other Canadian hip hop headliners including; Bishop, DL Incognito and once again, Classified.

About Trick of Disaster:

Rafe Malach performs under the alias Trick of Disaster. Trick of Disaster has appeared on Much Music’s “Dis/band” and will be appearing on an upcoming episode of Master Tracks on Aux TV. Trick of Disaster’s song ‘Little Bit of Wisdom’ was featured on explore music with Alan Cross. Rafe has recently completed his first year at Osgoode Hall Law School.

It never fails to amaze me: artists who have the opportunity to speak out about political injustice in this country, choose to abuse our civic right to free-speech by remaining silent.  When Sound Pollution issued a “call to action” for sound bites and panelists for our anti-summit broadcast, we were greated with a lot of fear, hesitance, and the typical “I don’t know anything about that stuff”.  Having a microphone is a privelage.  Use your artistic voice and vehicles now to speak out about this political infiltration of our city.