A four-piece band putting the “WOO” in “dstock” and playing their garage/ surf/ pop punk for the masses. Their name, well, their name is the Less Unfortunates. Have a read of what is going on with them now.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Brent: We are from Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.
So…What’s Woodstock like?
It is a haven of lawn bowling and regular bowling. We also have a monument of a cow!
How did you meet?
Tinder.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Carl Senior (Crystal’s dad).
What are your influences?
Danny: Classic rock, 60s punk, Burger bands, the sailor moon theme song.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Crystal: Our music is essentially punk rock but we love to include surfy sounds in our set. We want it to be happy-go-lucky. The music that we have written is extremely lyrically driven and catchy. I think we’re unique because there is a big contrast of playing styles. Danny can bring the pump-up guitar solos for certain songs and we love to rely on Elliott to hold his own during song breaks with interesting bass lines. Brent is a pretty versatile drummer and tends to lean into the rock beats for a lot of songs. I try to keep it simple so I can punch melodies clearly through the mix. In short, B52s meets The Sex Pistols.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Danny: Yeah I’d say in a few songs there is a theme of struggling with love and the awkwardness that comes with trying to make a relationship work. There are also some completely less serious themes such as TV show plots and weird social interactions we’ve had in our lives as well as the love of condiments.
Explain the track “Cry Baby” – are you a fan of John Walters?
Danny: “Cry Baby” is one of our oldest tracks and also one of our most refined. The original birth of “Cry Baby” was nothing as you hear it today. It’s been shortened and simplified quite a bit. In most parts of the song you would hardly know I’m even playing guitar. “Cry Baby” was our first real attempt at a surfy vibe. I think you can hear that influence in the guitar work. It’s an interesting song lyrically. I like to think we managed to make a fun/happy song out of a dark set of lyrics. John Walters is hot! His moustache is TIGHT.
If you could describe your music in the form of a fictional character, who would it be?
Kevin McCallister from Home Alone.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Live shows are our forté, we have lots of energy and it gets the crowd going, we feed off of each other. Lord of the flies!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Brent: I pissed on a nightstand once.
Elliott: I once stage dove into an empty circle.
Danny: Tapping my foot to the beat of the music.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Kit: Yamaha Stage Custom.
Danny: I rock two Epiphones. One is a Les Paul Custom Silverburst and the other is your typical Jimi Hendrix style Stratocaster.
Elliott: Doesn’t matter
Crystal: I play a pink Kramer strat that has the words ZigaZig Ah written on it.
What are your plans for the rest of 2017?
Elliott: The rest of 2017 is going to be playing shows and writing music. I think we want to record a couple more tracks soon too but we are trying to get our live show up to our standards right now. Also we will be birthing some videos soon.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
Brent: We would love to be supporting a band like New Swears. And I would love to see a band like the Dateless Losers open for us.
How come, Superman can deflect bullets with his chest, but when a gun is thrown at him, he has to duck?
Superman has never needed to justify his actions to anyone. Of course, he could take being hit with the gun but why would he want to? Just because your Rolls Royce is armoured doesn’t mean you want people touching it all the time.
