Pleased To Meet Me: Feeling Figures
Introduce yourself... (Where are you from, what band do you play in etc..)
Zakary Slax: guitar and vocals in Feeling Figures. Born and raised in A-dot, Nova Scotia.
Kay Moon: Hi! I’m Kay Moon, originally from a small town in southern Ontario (East Coaster at heart), and I play in a band they call “Feeling Figures”.
Joe C:The name is Joe C. I am from Montreal and play in Feeling Figures, Retail Simps, Hélène Barbier band and Chris Burns and His Going Concerns.
Thomas: I’m Thomas, I’m from Vancouver Island and I play drums in Feeling Figures.
Why do you play music?
Zakary Slax: Some primal compulsion; an uncontrollable urge since early adolescence, forever fused to sense of self and quest for connection on one’s own terms.
Kay Moon:Why do birds have wings?
Joe C: For kicks
Thomas: The bottom line is because I just enjoy it.
What was a major influence on you as an Artist/Band?
Zakary Slax: First hearing Eric’s Trip was a huge revelation, just at the time I was starting to take songwriting more seriously - the fact they were from the same little corner of the world as me was especially inspiring.
Kay Moon: In recent years, the healing qualities of music and art influence me to write from the healthier/higher parts of myself. I’m more inspired in recent years by artists who nurture their vitality and continue to thrive into their older age.
Joe C: Elvis, Minutemen and Jad Fair
Thomas: All the drums of the world, big and small.
What’s a favourite book or film?
Zakary Slax: I recently picked up ‘The Complete Illuminated Books’ of William Blake – the maximalist Blake experience.
Kay Moon: So many…film that comes to mind is “Abre los ojos” and book is “Women Who Run with the Wolves”. Also recently loved watching “The Holdovers”
Joe C: Aesthetics of Rock or The Animal
Thomas: My favourite book is The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan.
Do you prefer the recording process or performing live?
Zakary Slax: There are a lot of variables that could make either a better experience than the other, but when the stars align nothing beats live music.
Kay Moon: Though I enjoy recording, the process can feel a bit arduous (especially for a perfectionist). I’m becoming fonder of performance, but ultimately love playing in a practice space with friends where spontaneity abounds!
Joe C: Love it all
Thomas: These two things exist on a kind of spectrum, and I can’t draw a clear line between them. Often recording is a kind of live performance, and often performances are recorded, too. Having said that, practicing and recording in a personal space is my favourite part of playing music.
What would be a dream collaboration?
Zakary Slax: Jean-Hervé Péron & Werner "Zappi" Diermaier of Faust - barely missed the free improv session with ‘em at Pop Montreal ‘09..
Kay Moon: Maybe improvising with the B-52s?
Joe C: Playing in 4 different bands with close friends where everyone has a chance to contribute songs and try different instruments…oh wait a second.
Thomas: Playing with the Feeling Figures band.
Describe a favourite album.
Zakary Slax: One long player I can’t get enough of these days is Fairport Convention’s ‘Unhalfbricking’
Kay Moon:One is “No Loose Ends” by Dorothea Paas, but I tend to become
more obsessive over songs/pieces.
Joe C:The Beat of The Earth-S/T : One long hippie chant, not boring.
Thomas: I would describe my favourite album as being American Water by Silver Jews.
What's your favourite local haunt?
Zakary Slax: Any park or lurkable alley will do
Kay Moon: The pond at College de Montreal.
Joe C: Willenskys
Thomas: The haunted house at the corner of Cote de Liesse and Highway 40.
What's your strangest experience while performing live?
Zakary Slax: As one half of the blues punk duo Noise Hounds, I once played on the front steps of the Anne Murray museum in Springhill, NS, for her birthday. We included a Ramones-style happy birthday in the set. Everyone there was pretty bewildered; no one appreciated it except the museum intern who had asked us to play. We got paid in Anne Murray merch.
Kay Moon: Hardcore kids moshing to our slow songs (strange in a good way).
Joe C: Being really high and under rehearsed.
Thomas: Once I played a really big show but because of the lighting and the audio set up, I couldn’t see or hear the audience at all, so they were just like a big weird silent ocean, which gives me the heebie jeebies to think about.
What are some of your favourite aspects of being a musician in (your city here)?
Zakary Slax: Montreal is vibrant as hell - truly peerless peers
Kay Moon: I enjoy that there is so much diversity and variety at our fingertips. Also, so many beloved musicians play shows here that we’ve had the chance to capture, and we have lots of old friends from the East Coast that are here.
Joe C: Jamspace/venue/work=10 minutes from home. Less Cancon industry presence.
Thomas: Compared to the other parts of Canada I have lived in, Montreal is still really artist-friendly, and is a welcoming place to be making art that doesn’t make money.
Has the current COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine influenced your creative process?
Zakary Slax: At first it was a total momentum killer, but the pause(s) in all gatherings ultimately allowed space for the creative (re)birth of Feeling Figures
Kay Moon": Not really, I was busy working on an MA degree. Like many people it’s helped me to gain perspective, in feeling more gratitude and appreciation for having a creative process that involves friends and community.
Joe C: Gave me some extra time, but I worked the whole way through.
Thomas: I learned how to record music using old analogue equipment during COVID, which was extremely beneficial and enjoyable for me.
If you weren’t playing music in (your city here) where would you be?
Zakary Slax: Playing songs to seagulls on some rocky Nova Scotian shore
Kay Moon: Somewhere out there playing music.
Joe C: Hopping around
Thomas: I would like to live somewhere warm and sunny.
Any sage advice for young musicians?
Zakary Slax: Don't stop a-rockin'!
Kay Moon: Lean into vulnerability, keep finding what’s true for you, and sing your heart out!
Joe C: Keep your friends close and tell your enemies to fuck off.
Thomas: You have to enjoy yourself and to make music that you love to play.
You can order Migration Magic from K Records HERE.