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Since 2002’s EP Transfer Trachea Reverberations from Point: False Omniscient, southern-Ontario boys The End have created molten-lava soundscapes, intense grooves and airy, ambient moods alike, releasing two albums(2004’s Within Dividia and this year’s Elementary) and touring constantly with the heavy hitters of the scene. The D stalked vocalist Aaron Wolff and guitarist Andrew Hercules.
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sd: One thing I always thought when I listened to Within Dividia - and this went through my head hearing some of the new stuff - was that it was so heavy, and so intense, that sometimes the melodies kinda got lost. I strained to hear them, 'cause I knew they were there, but now it seems like you guys have done something to make them a little more upfront, building the songs around them. Was that intentional on your part?
Aaron: That's a good observation, actually. That's one of the main things we always thought about our older songs; peoples' reactions seem to be that they're surprised there's so much melody in the new stuff, and they don't understand where it came from. It's always there, but I just don't think we've ever stressed that, and with the new record we just brought it way more to the forefront than we ever have in the past. It's not like we're changing our whole way of operating and doing things; we just kind of put more focus on the things that were always there that never really got any attention, you know what I mean? The melody has been a big part of the new stuff.
sd: Who writes the music?
Aaron: We have a very democratic way of doing things. People contribute in different stages of the writing process - I write the lyrics, but we work on them to make them into the songs. I write the melodies and the patterns, generally, but our drummer will write something, or Andrew will write something. The most important, and the most difficult challenges, aren't necessarily just in the basic riffs or anything, but more in the structure and flow of the songs.
sd: I can't nod my head for more than a few bars at a time - because you're on to something else.
Aaron: I think with our new record, we changed that. We definitely wanted to focus on having more impact with the songs.
Andrew Hercules: Hence the title - Elementary.
Aaron: We don't want people to struggle to listen to what we're doing. We do, in a sense, but the problem with our last record...not the problem, but what we did is very abrasive. And we like that, but I think we've kind of put it into new ways on our new record.
sd: Kind of like how Dillinger did with Miss Machine?
Aaron: There's maybe a similar foundation in thinking, but I think we both come from really different directions. Between us, it's funny, because we hear that all the time, and I'm hoping that now, in magazines and stuff, our name will not be sitting beside Dillinger. We're not the only band that's been sitting beside that name, because they've made such an impact. It's not a BAD thing - the press needs to throw in something that makes sense to everybody, and that makes sense.
sd: When the last album came out, everybody called it a concept record - was it?
Aaron: Yeah. Every record we’ve done or will ever do will be a concept record.
sd: Every record has to be about something.
Aaron: When someone even hints at "concept record," it just gets thrown into this upper echelon of friggin' "concepts."
sd: People automatically think, like, Yes and Rush.
Aaron: It's funny, 'cause I was gonna say Yes, and I was gonna say Rush. *laughter* Most of the time, concept records are just records; they're not really any different from most records, they're just suddenly called concept records. Sometimes the lyrics don't even necessarily really relate directly to "the concept." They're more abstract, but it still maintains that "concept" title. Really, all our songs have always had relevant meaning; every single note, every single word is a concept.
sd: Production-wise, and even in a live setting, it doesn't seem like there's as much tension [on the new album] as Within Dividia, which was like a bomb going off from beginning to end. Pierre Remillard(Cryptopsy, Ion Dissonance) produced that album - who did the new one?
Aaron: A close friend of ours named Greg Dawson from Brampton; he did Transfer Trachea and a bunch of stuff for us, and we were able to spend almost three months recording with him. It was just perfect - close to home, comfortable environment, we could do everything we needed to do.
sd: I don't see a lot of mentions of The End on message boards from various parts of the world - I see a lot of talk of Buried Inside, who are from here, and also on Relapse, and it makes me wonder - have people forgotten about you?
Aaron: Well, we were inactive for quite some time. We took, like, a good year off, so that's a big gap. And now that the record's out, we have a lot of new press coming out and we're gonna be on the road nonstop.
sd: Do you get a lot of feedback on the lyrics? Because it's not like some kid who's into Yellowcard will walk into your show and be like, "Oh, I know exactly what they're saying."
Aaron: Our content is rather heavy, and I feel like it's things that people experience on a day-to-day basis, and that anybody can relate to, but it's probably more mature in nature, I guess. It's not something that people would take to lightly.
sd: If every record is about a concept, what's the concept of the new one?
Aaron: It's about trying to reach the purest part of human sensation. Really, it's just about passion.
sd: How do you reach that?
Aaron: Well, for most people there's this driving force in their lives that will pretty much dictate what they do with them, how they'll act, decisions that they'll make. Whether it be a serious psychological factor, or social status or religion, all that shit - people have something. That thing will be so amazing in their lives, but will also blind them to a lot of things. We all suffer from that, in one way or another - you're a fool to think you don't, and you'll stumble over your own fuckin' ego, you know? I think this is the most personal music we've ever written, and the lyrics are more personal than anything we've ever done. The record we're talking about is mainly about the things that we’ve dealt with in our personal lives, and things we've absorbed.
sd: You realize that when you're on stage, it's almost like church for some people?
Aaron: Well, that's what music means to us. Music is the driving force in our entire existence - it is our Bible. We throw our hearts and everything we have into it, and we expect that when we play our stuff, people will get that impression from us, and that they feel it too. And if they get that response from what we're doing, and it's their experience as well, then all the better.
sd: Do you think it's over a lot of peoples' heads though? I was watching the crowd, and it seemed like people respected your skills, but...
Aaron: Everything that's not very genre-typical, at first listen, is gonna be like that. It doesn't even have to be extremely complicated. Anything that's not totally like, "Oh I know this, I've heard this song before"....how do you judge the people that are getting into it? We've been on tour for three weeks now, and just because people aren't moving around doesn't mean they don't like it. Last night we played in Montreal, and there was a huge crowd for us, but nobody moved the entire night-
sd: Because it's like church, almost!
Aaron: That's what I mean - people absorb it through their eyes, rather than freaking out, which is fine, and it may look like some people may not be getting it, but - for instance, we sold quite a bit of merchandise tonight!
Andrew: We want people watching. We're definitely trying to connect.
sd: I always wind up watching [guitarist] Steve [Watson] the most, like, "He's somewhere other than here."
Aaron: Yeah, well, that's the idea. We should all be somewhere "other than here" when we play our music.
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