Rara Avis : The Lovely Feathers Sighted Again
The Lovely Feathers
When we last left off, the Lovely Feathers were soaring. They’d exploded on to the music scene after winning ROCmusic’s and le Swimming’s second annual Indie Rock Contest in 2004. As if from nowhere, the band’s name was on everyone’s lips – dancey, hook-laden, frantic, poppy, exuberant music that sounded like nothing else around. By 2009, they’d played major festivals, toured with big names, released their third album Fantasy of the Lot, put out a music video, and then, disappeared.
Bands come and go for many reasons. Life happens. As far as I knew, the Lovely Feathers had gone extinct. Until now… turns out the band has been sighted again!
I talked to drummer Ted Suss about the current state of the Lovely Feathers.
Rachel Levine (RL): What’s up with the Lovely Feathers?
Ted Suss (TS): A lot of different things. It depends on the person you’re asking about. We’re all in different cities, doing different things. We kind of get t gether once in awhile and play when Mark (Kupfert) comes to town. He’s in Toronto — a bunch of them are there — my brother (Daniel Suss) is with Mark and they opened up a restaurant there. The co-vocalist Richard (Yanofsky) is also in Toronto and he’s a psychiatrist and medicating crazy people all day. David (Buzaglo) and I are in Montreal. One of us in Detroit and one is in New York.
RL: As spread out as you are, do you get to play together?
TS: It doesn’t happen. The last couple of years, Mark Kupfert, David Luzago, and I learned how to play a set with just the three of us. David plays keys, and he’d hold down a bass with his left hand. Before that, Mark Shortt was our bassist and we did two tours with the four of us. Me, Mark, Mark, and David.
It’s funny that we have a bunch of shows coming up: Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. We might be in New York too, but we’re not sure. We have no idea who is going to play what. The only two people who can play all the shows are me and Mark, but nothing is confirmed yet. We’re pretty flexible, though.
I continued to pursue music. I’m going to be opening for the Lovely Feathers as well with my other band where I play bass and sing. We don’t have a name yet, so it’s under my name so far. I don’t want to settle [on a name] and then change it. No one wants to do that.
We are all good friends, many of us since high school. We know each other’s families. We go way back. There’s something beyond the band that we have that holds together, much more than a band can. When we get together, we have a good time. We don’t see each other that often, but we have this added bonus of playing music together, and understanding each other musically.
RL: Could this be the start of the return of the Lovely Feathers?
TS: Well, Mark is a restless guy and whatever he’s doing, give him a couple of months and he wants to be doing something else. We haven’t been playing much but he’s been kind of getting more into it. He booked the shows and every time he comes to Montreal we get together and jam.
We have about ten songs unrecorded since our last album and they’re good songs. You’ll hear a bunch of them at the show. They’re as good as if not better than anything we did in the past. We want to lay them down and move on. We want to record them for posterity, almost
Now that we’re rehearsing a bit more, it’s time to keep that momentum while we’re in shape and it’s still fresh.
It could be the start. With us, we never know. We never know what happens. We all work full time. We have commitments so it’s hard to say. After doing these tracks, we don’t have any plans, but you never know. We never had plans.
The Lovely Feathers with Ted Suss and Two Year Carnival play at Casa del Popolo (4873 St. Laurent) on May 31. 9 p.m. $6/8
