It takes some real cojones to include the word 'Masterpiece' in your album title, but Josh Ramsay isn't too worried. "I suppose I could be digging myself into a hole calling the record Masterpiece Theatre," he chuckles, "but it's tongue-in-cheek. And I'm not the kind of person that people would assume as being an egomaniac. I hope not, anyway." Given his feverish imagination and comprehensive musical gifts, Ramsay could probably get away with a little egomania. And with the release of Masterpiece Theatre, the frontman of Vancouver's Marianas Trench makes a iron-clad case for a prodigious set of talents - both his own and those of his bandmates, guitarist Matt Webb, bassist Mike Ayley, and drummer Ian Casselman. Marianas Trench had already elevated itself above the rest of the pack with a 2006 debut, Fix Me, that showcased a knack for colouring outside the lines of factory-issue millenial punk, shrewdly-built pop, and super-adrenalized modern rock. The single and in particular the video "Shake Tramp" was enough to demonstrate these qualities, coupled with Ramsay's uninhibited urge to be the complete song-and-dance man. But with both the industry and the fans beating down the door for a quick second album, the Trench decided to put on the brakes. "All of a sudden you have six months to do your next record," Ramsay sighs. "So I really had to just put my foot down and say, 'No, I need the time to do this.' I was not interested in putting something out for the sake of putting something out." Two years later, Marianas Trench has re-emerged with Masterpiece Theatre. And not surprisingly, it's a work of soaring ambition and decisive technical prowess – that easily might not have happened. "It's one thing when you're Chad Kroeger and you just finished writing 'How You Remind Me'," Ramsay states. "I didn't have some mega-platinum song to back up my argument with, so I was lucky that the band and the label trusted me enough to do it." By "it", Ramsay means he was allowed to indulge a high-concept fantasy for the band's sophomore album, which is built, for starters, around a song called "Masterpiece Theatre". Adopting Brian Wilson's notion of the 'pocket symphony' and then running with it, the three distinct versions of “Masterpiece Theatre” dotted across the record feature an almost perfect balance between the vocal theatrics of Queen and the more hymnal qualities of the Beach Boys. By the time “Masterpiece Theatre” is reprised for a final, climactic time, every other song on the album is quoted and incorporated into an intricately constructed dramatic revue that swings from pristine pop, to propulsive riff rock, to quasi-doo wop, to robotic new wave, and finally into a wholly satisfying thematic payoff. "You know in the climax of a musical, there's always that medley at the end, and I thought that would be cool on a rock record," explains Ramsay, "but it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. I wrote it in the studio as we recorded it, and it took about three weeks." After a beat, he adds, "But really it took me two years because it draws from all the songs on the whole album." Bassist Mike Ayley readily admits, "I don't think any of the three ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ songs could have gone on Fix Me had they been written at the time. ‘Masterpiece’ 2 and 3 in particular are amazing songs that really explore the potential of Josh's writing. You really have to hear them to get it. It's like trying to explain ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ to somebody who has only heard Kanye West and Katy Perry." Ramsay agrees. "I really wanted to have a 'Good Vibrations'/'Bohemian Rhapsody’ style song on the first record,” he says, “but I don't think I was a mature enough writer to have written it yet, and I still feel like I was in over-my-head when we did this one, and I just barely made it." Ramsay is unnecessarily modest; the whole of Masterpiece Theatre demonstrates a startling compositional maturity compared to the Marianas Trench of two years ago. "Beside You" is a panoramic exercise in big emotions, with a dash of the Dream Academy's "Life In a Northern Town”. "Acadia" begins with a clipped, bright acoustic guitar, and blossoms into something like the Who reconsidered by U2, reimagined for the net generation. In the crunchy "All to Myself", the power ballad "Lover Dearest", and the strident "Good to You" (in which he duets with Kate Voegele), Ramsay pulls out the kind of honeyed vocals more attuned to modern RnB than white, adolescent rock. "I always had that aspect in my voice but the first record just didn't have songs that were conducive to me singing that way," he states. "I think it's from growing up listening to a lot of Michael Jackson. With these songs, it made sense to stretch out a little more." On "Cross My Heart" and "Celebrity Status", the band conjures up a kind of perfect pop crossover. Producer Dave 'Rave' Ogilvie was responsible for the latter track, which

At age fourteen, Faber’s dad bought him a drum kit which Faber promised to practice on every day. “Coming from a family of seven kids, this was a huge deal,” he remembers, “seeing as how my dad could barely even afford to feed us.” Faber may not have kept his promise, but that’s because he put down the drum sticks to become frontman and founding member of Faber Drive, one of Canada’s hottest young bands. After beating out more than 500 other artists from across Canada to take first place in a radio competition, Faber Drive started opening for notable acts such as Nickelback, Simple Plan and Hedley. With the release of their pop-punk infused debut album Seven Second Surgery, Faber Drive hit #1 on Much Music, saw 3 top 10 radio singles and was nominated for the Juno award for Best New Artist in 2008. However, the Faber Drive that appears on its sophomore album can'T keEp A SecrEt is a band that has progressed beyond the Juno nominees of 2008. Where Seven Second Surgery laid the ground work for the Vancouver-based band’s career, can'T keEp A SecrEt now builds and evolves, deftly bringing bright colors, edgy tones, and more emotion into the fold and crossing the borders between Faber Drive’s punk rock roots into electro-pop mixed with epic balladry. “We wanted to take a risk with can’T keEp A SecrEt and move forward without forgetting our original sound or our dedicated fans,” explains bassist Krikit. “We wanted to write songs that would stand the test of time, and we wanted to have more control and coproduce with several different producers.” To that end, can'T keEp A SecrEt is a who’s who of the Vancouver music biz A-game, including Dave Genn (Matthew Good/Hedley/Marianas Trench), Dave “Rave” Ogilvie (Marilyn Manson/Nine Inch Nails), Brian Howes (Daughtry/Hinder/Hedley) and the insurgent likes of Josh Ramsay (Marianas Trench), Colin “Crocker” Friesen, and Jeff Johnson. Faber comments, “We don’t have a lot of ego. There’s a lot more that you and I can accomplish together than I can do alone. If you look at all the greats, its all about working together; Lennon and McCartney, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Bono and the Edge.” Still Faber Drive is guilty of undue modesty. can'T keEp A SecrEt is bonded by the coherent force of a band ambitious enough to challenge itself and possessing the confidence and poise to actually pull it off. The first single “G-Get Up and Dance” was written and produced by the band in Faber’s barn, with Rave brought in as a coproducer and mixer in the final stages, helping launch the song to a platinum-selling iTunes grand slam in only 2 months. On the opposite pole, album closer “By Your Side” is both beautiful and melancholy, beneath a vocal performance from Faber that hits you like a punch in the gut. “It’s a little hard for me to listen to sometimes,” reveals the singer, who penned the song late one night while thinking about his father, who passed in 1995 of stomach and lung cancer. “It’s basically about how someone important in your life will always be a part of you, even once they’ve left this world.” Producer Dave Genn heard the demo and immediately fell in love, while also manning the boards for two somewhat more rambunctious numbers: “Never Coming Down,” barreling into view on a thumping backbeat and keening U2 guitars, with a chorus of amped-up whoa-ohs. “When you’re young, you don’t really have a place to go,” Krikit comments on the lyrical content, “You get your license and you end up driving around all the time. That’s your freedom and that’s your place to go.” And “Our Last Goodbye”, the perfect pop punk throwdown, which cites the influence of old favorites like touring partners MxPx, and Green Day -- who also happen to turn up in album opener “The Payoff”, referenced alongside Oprah, Queen, and Rick James. Faber is quick to admit that FD gets a little “goofy behind closed doors”, and “The Payoff” somehow walks the line between tongue-in-cheek and triumph, celebrating the band’s success with an irresistible sing along pop-rock anthem. Faber was also in a nostalgic mood when he hacked out the song “Forever,” composing the number as he pulled the graveyard shift on a cross Canada tour with Simple Plan. When band decided to record two songs with Josh Ramsay, the resident Marianas Trench songwriter they chose “Forever,” and the second single from can’T keEp A SecrEt, “Give Him Up.” “Give Him Up” is doused in super-fat bass synths and galloping percussion and takes some lyrical direction from American Hi-Fi’s “Flavor of the Week.” “Usually what happens is you’re writing a song and it reminds you of another song, so you draw on that for inspiration,” Faber admits. Likewise, the Jeff Johnson-helmed “I’ll Be There” derives its message from Bill Withers’ classic “Lean On Me.” “We wa

www.myspace.com/marianastrench www.marianastrench.net

www.marianastrench.net www.myspace.com/marianastrench