YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN
at FME 2018, DIRT
YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN’s Facebook about section describes the band as “a Noh-Wave prog collective, a black-and-white (and sometimes red) theatre company, an operatic psych cult, rock band and the speculative prophets of humanity’s impending doom.”
That’s a lot to take in. And if we’re being honest, it barely touches the surface. I had the pleasure of sitting down with this group at FME for an entertaining round table. Take six unique individuals, add five curious music journalists and watch the sparks fly.
YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN is Alaska B on drums, Ange Loft on vocals, stage design and costumes, Brendan Swanson on keys, Joanne Delos Reyes on vocals, gongs and guitar, Hiroki Tanaka on guitar, and Brandon Lim on bass. There have been many changes over the past 10 years including where the band calls home. Now completely Toronto-based, the band is touring to support their latest release, DIRT. They’ve got a few Canadian and American dates, coming up and then they’re headed across the pond to The Netherlands, England, Germany, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden before heading back home to finish up at Mills Hardware in Hamilton. If you’re in Montreal or Toronto you can check them out before they head out.
The band arrived at Centre musical En sol mineur in a great mood and sat down at the table ready to chat.
The conversation was deep and serious and then it was fun and light. It was interesting and they were very open and willing to share. When it was time for our first question, we asked, “Can you tell us about the first live show you went to see?”.
Ange
“I was like 13 and I went to, I don’t know why I was allowed to go but, I was allowed to go with some older high school students to an outdoor concert that had Live and Fastball playing for free outside. So I went to go see and I got pressed in this stupid mosh pit, like with the dolphins cry. It’s cool to be in a big crowd like that when they squish you together and make you cry. It was such a goofy thing but it was fun. Outdoor free concerts are important. For access.”
Alaska
“My first show was an all ages punk show. I was around 14 yrs old. A popular local band Runic was playing. Someone unloaded a fire extinguisher into the hallway and shut the whole show down.
Runic always played a cover of The Proclaimers – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) and they used to do this really high speed, hardcore cover. And I remember hearing that and thinking, you can do this? You can play that song like this? I just remember that being a very formative experience.”
Brandon
“I think one of the very first show experience I can recall, I would have been around 13 years old. Now I don’t know if this was just in Toronto, or other parts of Ontario but there was this promotional event company called Supernova and they were notorious for putting on, a series of… basically high school battle of the bands but not just in high schools. it was a battle of the bands thing. I went to see my friend’ James Durrant’s older brother at the Opera House. He played in a band called Atrium. They were a Nirvana, grunge thing. That was one of the first shows I went to. Eventually I’d play at them.”
Hiroki
“What I remember was I was really young, like 3 or 4 or something like that. There’s this place called the Bain Coop near Broadview and Gerrard. And they had shut down the entire neighbourhood to do their own live show. One of my family’s friend’s daughter sang “Baby You Can Drive My Car” by the Beatles. That’s what I remember. It’s such a nice community. I do remember being really amazed by my god sister, thinking wow, she’s on stage. And then thinking, maybe I can be on stage.”
Brenden and Joanne arrived later so we didn’t get a chance to ask them. Maybe next time we see them.
We left the interview knowing that we needed to make it to their set and planned around it.
YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN’s played their Saturday night show in the basement of Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Noranda. It was a very, very hot room, but that didn’t slow the band down at all.
The six members of the band attacked their set with precision. Ange’s vocals were on point and well complemented by Joanne’s back-ups. The stage decorations meshed perfectly with the band’s costumes and makeup. This was a full production, with each instrument and each visual making a difference.
Throughout the show YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN connected well with the audience. They rolled through a great set that included songs from DIRT as well as their previous albums. It was a great mix, and the FME crowd loved it!
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Toronto Music Blogger
