Comic books, Morrissey and Korean Gut. These are just three of the many elements that make up Tough Age, the Vancouver/Toronto-based scuzz-pop quartet who are currently on the road touring their sophomore effort, I Get The Feeling Central. Released on the legendary Mint Records (New Pornographers, Neko Case, Jay Arner), the band is set to stake a claim in the world of indie rock, led by ex-Korean Gut guitarist/singer/songwriter Jarrett Samson (also formerly of Apollo Ghosts and Role Mach) guitarist Penny Clark, bassist Lauren Smith and drummer Chris Martell
I reached Samson by phone on a tour stop in Ottawa, just a few days after playing Northside Festival in Brooklyn, where a fortunate encounter with a border guard had the band sharing Morrissey sob stories like old friends, as opposed to the usual cross-examination experienced when musicians head down to the States for a show.
“He talked to us about how he went to Toronto in the ‘80s to see The Smiths. We hit the [border guard] lottery!” laughs Samson.
This is the power of Tough Age: they could be your favourite band, or your friend. And in most cases, both.
“If one person comes to our show because they want to see us, that means the world to me,” says Samson. “I want to respect that and give it back to them.”
I Get The Feeling Central has the makings of a classic. It was recorded by Felix Fung, Vancouver’s godfather producer of garage rock, soul and punk, in his Little Red Sounds studios.
“I knew that Felix often has a big hand in shaping [the production], and I liked the way his records sound,” says Samson of his admiration. “I wanted to go with someone who knew what they were doing, but could also challenge me.”
The album’s title track is a song that could easily find a home on REM’s 1983 album Murmur with its soaring chorus melody and lush, swinging beat, compliments of Chris Martell who “plays like Animal from The Muppets”. It has the groovy tunes, like “Flamenco Wiccan”, a song carried over from Samson’s Korean Gut days, or the instrumental “Landau, Luckman & Lake”, a song named after “a fictional holding company that was used in a lot of X-Men comics.” Samson draws on comic books for occasional inspiration, but in a very subliminal way in both his music and album artwork.
“I’d much rather be drawing from other art forms that inspire me in music than looking sideways and trying to directly draw from other music that I like” he says. “I’m very mindful of that. I know I’m not reinventing the wheel with the kind of music I make…”
This kind of charming self-deprecation is typical of Samson. Tough Age is arguably one of the most exciting bands to emerge from Vancouver in recent years, yet Samson rejects all stigmas that come with being a “buzz band”.
“I think people are waiting for the first opportunity to allow themselves to have an ego that lets them feel superior to other people” he reflects. “I don’t believe in that.”
Samson recently moved to Toronto with bandmate/fiancé Penny Clark, whose jangle-surf guitar and chimerical backup vocals give the band a shimmering aura. Beckoned by work opportunity and family (Clark is from Ontario), the band is now a bi-coastal unit, though their roots are still deeply implanted in Vancouver’s music scene, one he describes as “unreal”.
“[Vancouver] is such an oppressive city that if you’re still doing it, there’s a reason you are,” Samson says of his former home. “You’re driven to do it, because you would quit otherwise.”
But, as he points out, no matter what city you live in, at the end of the day, “everyone is going home to watch Netflix.”
Tough Age will continue touring their new record until Samson and Clark take some me-time to get married in July. As for the rest of the year, anything goes. Like your quietly brilliant best friend, Tough Age have a relaxed ease and fluidity about them that is backed by absolute, manic joy and talent.
“I’m really interested to see how [the record] lands, and what opportunities come up, but if not, I’ll just book another basement show tour as soon as I can. Always moving forward.”
• Tough Age play their LP release show on July 3rdat The Cobalt with Gal Gracen, Cult Babies and Kaz Mirblouk (Lolipop Records, LA) Doors at 9pm, show $8
