Toronto's Germaphobes are a brightly hued cocktail of thinking person's pop with a summery spritz of theatrical flair. Mix a cool glass of Orange Juice with two stiff shots of Talking Heads, a few drops of Roxy Music bitters, and a milky splash of Godley & Creme. Cheering in their debut full-length Fiji Whizz from local label Pleasence Records, Germaphobes have found a fitting collaborator with director Mike Reynolds (who previously shot/cut/bent their "Married Girls" video). His warped visions blending HD and VHS effects are a retromaniacal match for the band's cut-out bin of art-rock, new wave, and glam. "When I met with Germaphobes, we talked about the theme of miscommunication," explains Reynolds. "I ran with that. Unclear messages, crossed wires (literally.) I also wanted to humanize them. The extended close-ups feel intimate, like you're getting to know them. And you should, they're pretty great."Tune in to Reynolds' video for "Like A Ballet" below, featuring the mugging faces of frontmen Paul Erlichman and Neil Rankin, keyboardist/singer Lisa Carson, and drummer Aaron Mariash. Read about the band's upcoming tour dates with fellow Pleasence signees Blonde Elvis.Noisey: Paul and Neil, you guys are old hats at music videos, but this is the first one that features all four members. Was that a conscious decision to get everyone involved?Paul Erlichman: We love making videos. It's fun to try and find a middle ground between a boringly literal visual representation of the song and a live performance.Hopefullyour videos fit in there. Baby Neil's actually making one right now for another song on the album! The last EP and the new album both feature Lisa and Aaron heavily so it only makes sense to have them in the video and distract people from Neil and I'shaggard,haggard faces.
Lisa, you co-wrote this song. Can you shed some light on what it's about?
Lisa Carson: Neil and I wrote this song almost two years ago, while we working together on a project called Heirlooms. We were messing with some synths and a drum machine and wrote and recorded a few songs using a little tape recorder. The name of the song grew out of an autocorrect in a text that Neil sent me. He meant to say "like a baller" but his phone thought "like a ballet" made more sense. That grew into a back-and-forth of dark ballet-related lyrics.Who's the dancer in this video?
Carson: Her name is Amy Strizic. We did an internship together while I was in grad school, so I've known her for a while. She's magical and super talented, so we were mega grateful that she was willing to help us out. We wanted there to be a dancing theme throughout the video, but knew that it would look goofy if we tried to do that ourselves.This is the second video you've done with Mike Reynolds and I've seen him provide the visuals for your live shows as well. What else can you tell me about his work?
Erlichman: Mike's got an aesthetic all his own. A parallel between his work and ours is that he's taking a technology that's old but is kind of hip again and shaping his own world through it. And I guess in what we're doing (beardo-heavy guitar band - wheeee real original!) we're just trying to do something slightly new in a world that's already been explored pretty thoroughly. Every now and then he gets a piece of fun archaic equipment and we get to be his guinea pigs. Through friendship, we learn together.
Neil Rankin: Mike posted recently that when he was a kid he thought Weird Al was cooler than Kurt Cobain. I agree with him wholeheartedly and that's why I think we get along so well both creatively and personally.What's coming next?
Erlichman: We're going to be touring through the Eastern half of Canada in late October and early November with our friends Blonde Elvis. And then we're going to record the next thing this winter. We've always got a lot of songs on the pile. In another time we might have been one of those bands that churned out an album every eight months.Catch Germaphobes and Blonde Elvis on tour:
Wed, Oct. 19 - Montreal - Divan Orange w/ Eliza, Chairs
Thurs, Oct. 20 - Quebec City - Le Cercle w/ Aberdeen
Sat, Oct. 22 - Halifax - Art Bar (Halifax Pop Explosion) w/ Moss Lime, Mick Futures
Sun, Oct. 23 - Fredericton - Mazerolle Gallery w/ The Luyas
Tues, Oct. 25 - Charlottetown - Baba's Lounge
Thurs, Oct. 27 - Ottawa - Bar Robo w/ BB Cream
Fri, Oct. 28 - Sudbury - Townehouse
Wed, Nov. 2 - Guelph - E-Bar w/ So Young
Thurs, Nov. 3 - Hamilton - Baltimore House w/ So Young
Friday, Nov. 4 - London - The Loft w/ So Young
Sat, Nov. 5 - Toronto - The Baby G (Release Show)Jesse Locke is a writer living in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter.
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Lisa Carson: Neil and I wrote this song almost two years ago, while we working together on a project called Heirlooms. We were messing with some synths and a drum machine and wrote and recorded a few songs using a little tape recorder. The name of the song grew out of an autocorrect in a text that Neil sent me. He meant to say "like a baller" but his phone thought "like a ballet" made more sense. That grew into a back-and-forth of dark ballet-related lyrics.
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Carson: Her name is Amy Strizic. We did an internship together while I was in grad school, so I've known her for a while. She's magical and super talented, so we were mega grateful that she was willing to help us out. We wanted there to be a dancing theme throughout the video, but knew that it would look goofy if we tried to do that ourselves.This is the second video you've done with Mike Reynolds and I've seen him provide the visuals for your live shows as well. What else can you tell me about his work?
Erlichman: Mike's got an aesthetic all his own. A parallel between his work and ours is that he's taking a technology that's old but is kind of hip again and shaping his own world through it. And I guess in what we're doing (beardo-heavy guitar band - wheeee real original!) we're just trying to do something slightly new in a world that's already been explored pretty thoroughly. Every now and then he gets a piece of fun archaic equipment and we get to be his guinea pigs. Through friendship, we learn together.
Neil Rankin: Mike posted recently that when he was a kid he thought Weird Al was cooler than Kurt Cobain. I agree with him wholeheartedly and that's why I think we get along so well both creatively and personally.What's coming next?
Erlichman: We're going to be touring through the Eastern half of Canada in late October and early November with our friends Blonde Elvis. And then we're going to record the next thing this winter. We've always got a lot of songs on the pile. In another time we might have been one of those bands that churned out an album every eight months.Catch Germaphobes and Blonde Elvis on tour:
Wed, Oct. 19 - Montreal - Divan Orange w/ Eliza, Chairs
Thurs, Oct. 20 - Quebec City - Le Cercle w/ Aberdeen
Sat, Oct. 22 - Halifax - Art Bar (Halifax Pop Explosion) w/ Moss Lime, Mick Futures
Sun, Oct. 23 - Fredericton - Mazerolle Gallery w/ The Luyas
Tues, Oct. 25 - Charlottetown - Baba's Lounge
Thurs, Oct. 27 - Ottawa - Bar Robo w/ BB Cream
Fri, Oct. 28 - Sudbury - Townehouse
Wed, Nov. 2 - Guelph - E-Bar w/ So Young
Thurs, Nov. 3 - Hamilton - Baltimore House w/ So Young
Friday, Nov. 4 - London - The Loft w/ So Young
Sat, Nov. 5 - Toronto - The Baby G (Release Show)Jesse Locke is a writer living in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter.