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Billy Talent really need no introduction at this point; if you listen to rock radio at all you've likely heard their current single 'The Ex' (the video for which was shot the night of this interview at Ottawa's Capital Music Hall), or the band's breakout single from 2003, 'Try Honesty'. Having toured with the likes of 30 Seconds to Mars and I Mother Earth following their signing to Atlantic Records a couple years ago, the band are currently storming through the U.S. with Sugarcult, Simple Plan and MxPx - all bands with whom Billy Talent share pretty much zero musically, but there ya go. We waited for over an hour, freezing our keesters, while BT vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz and his bandmates kibitzed with the MuchMusic video crew - and then we got our piece of him. Ta da!
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sd: What's it like to be the big buzz band? Surrounded by the hype machine?
Benjamin: We don't believe any of that. For us, it's a matter of whether people come and enjoy themselves, and actually take what we're doing and our music seriously. For us to roll into Ottawa, especially being in the nation's capital, is a very cool vibe for us. We're very proud to be Canadian.
sd: You guys took your name from the character in Hard Core Logo; what's it like knowing that a lot of these kids have never even heard of that movie?
Benjamin: I don't know; whoever likes the music likes the music, and for whatever reason. I can't really control or dictate, so if people have a good time, they have a good time.
sd: Where are you going from here?
Benjamin: We're gonna be touring for probably another twelve months at least.
sd: If I said I'd never heard the Buzzcocks, what would you say?
Benjamin: I'd say it's definitely something you should check out.
sd: Every review of your record I've seen compares you to the Buzzcocks, especially vocally, and I've never heard them. Who else do you get constant comparisons to?
Benjamin: I get a lot of Mike Patton from Faith No More, I get Perry Farrell. Robert Smith from the Cure. I don't really care if people need to associate my voice with something or someone else to digest it better.
sd: How old are you now?
Benjamin: I'll be 28 soon.
sd: You don't look 28.
Benjamin: It's 'cause of my haircut.
sd: The haircut of an eight-year-old boy.
Benjamin: I got Finding Emo. *wild laughter* That's what I call my haircut.
sd: *to kid with camera* Don't take pictures of me! I'm not the rock star!
Benjamin: Man, I'm not a rock star either.
sd: Are you getting used to this?
Benjamin: No, it's very...humbling and weird and nice and crazy.
sd: How long were you guys together before you broke huge?
Benjamin: Ten years.
sd: Are you joking me?
Benjamin: We were playing together for ten years. Things have progressed pretty well for us.
sd: Ya think?
Benjamin: We've worked really, really hard, and we really like what we do, so if it takes that long for people to appreciate it and get to know it...
sd: Are there songs on the record that are from that time period?
Benjamin: No, these are all new songs.
sd: What were you guys before? Same style?
Benjamin: We were called Pezz. It was like a prog-rock-punk-weird thing. The sound now's a lot more focused, a lot more defined.
sd: If I said I thought 2004 is the year you guys exploded, would you think I was crazy?
Benjamin: *reply drowned out by guys wearing shoulder-vacuum leafblowers on the street corner*
sd: *to leafblowers* Are you KIDDING me??
Benjamin: They're wearing, like, Ghostbusters backpacks! "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"
sd: Were you guys with any other label before you signed to the big one? Or did you go independent?
Benjamin: Ten years independent, or nine, I guess.
sd: Did it come out the way you'd hoped? The record and stuff?
Benjamin: Yeah, the record turned out very, very well, but the thing that we're happiest about is just having people come out to see us play, and for the album to be in stores.
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