The Balconies

If you know The Balconies, you probably know how to bust a move without any inhibition. If you’ve seen them play a show, you’ve probably already marked the next one in your calendar. And if you’ve met any of the band members, you’re probably hopelessly in love.

If you’ve never heard The Balconies, I suggest you vow to get down with the fierce, focused, and fashionable trio. Whip out your sequins and tassels, ‘cause they’re going to teach you how to rock like you never have before.  Here, I sat down with Jacquie Neville (guitar/vocals), Liam Jaeger (drums/vocals) and Stephen Neville (bass/vocals) to hear more about what’s in store for this Toronto-based group.

Tell me about The Balconies. You were all doing different things before. You were in school, you were in little bands, you were in big bands, and you were getting masters degrees…

JN: Steve and I started playing music together when we were really young – Steve was fourteen, I was sixteen. We had a band called Jacquie in the Kitchen, and when we went to university I started something new called Jet Planes of Abraham. I met Liam in university and everything kind of happened simultaneously. We shared a similar band member, started dating and realized we wanted to start writing music that was all our own. We really loved song writing and we knew that music was what we wanted to do… forever. The energy and the chemistry was all there, so we decided to get The Balconies together. We’ve been together for four years now.

Tell me about the 7-inch. Why did you decide to release it, and why these two songs?

JN: Its kind of an ‘Amuse Bouche’ if you will, setting people up for the new record. It gives people a little taste of what to expect.

LJ: Also, we knew that the record was going to take a long time to finish. So we thought, if we take songs off the first record that we’ve played a million times, we could re-record them with some genius production. Then, we could release it as an advance in order to buy us some time. The 7-inch now sits as a certain point between the first album and the second album. We like the idea of it being a transitional, crossover piece.

Tell me about the new record that’s coming out, it obviously has a very different feel from the first …

JN: We spent a lot of time working on it! There’s a lot going on as far as song writing. It’s gone a lot heavier, but it’s also gone a lot poppier. I realized this year how I want to be evolving as a songwriter, and I feel like Steve and Liam have evolved with me in that way. We can almost predict what the other is going to do now. I feel like we’re all growing together as songwriters, and as instrumentalists, and as a group. It’s now a Balconies flavor overall.

LJ: In this record everything was done together. A lot of it was jamming together and making the songs just happen. There’s a lot of raw energy in these songs.

JN: We wanted to capture that live energy that I guess is what people notice about us.

LJ: There are a lot of extra textures on the record that are things we hear when we’re playing, but aren’t necessarily there with us when we play live … they’re the holographic instruments that we hear when we play. There are a lot of parts that are never going to happen live. But from my experience, when you listen to a record, and then you go to hear a band play it live, you hear all the things that are going on in the recording anyway, even if they’re not actually there.

We play so damn loud! We try to just overload people’s senses when we play. That’s the experience we’re going for. We’re hoping that people will listen to the record a lot, so when we play the songs live they think they hear all of these other things.

Does it freak you out when people in the audience aren’t dancing?

JN: It can be tricky. In my case, I like it when people are giving as much as I’m giving. Because you feed off the live energy, right? When I look out at the audience and I see that they’re sweating as much as I am, I feel like “Yeah! We’re doing this together! This is amazing!”

SN: You can gauge it. Its not just dancing that shows an audience is involved with your music. [Sometimes] between songs there was just a calm hush that I really loved.

How are you finding the move from Ottawa to Toronto?

JN: I feel like the city has set the bar really high. As far as standards go, being tight, working hard. The industry is cutthroat, but there is such an inspiring community in Toronto.  I feel like its inspired such a creative shift in me. There’s so much exciting chaos in the city – it’s new and it’s different. I’m really happy we made the move. Ottawa is always going to be my home and I’m very connected to the city, but I think this was the smartest move we ever made.

SN: Moving to a new city as a unit helped us solidify the group dynamic. We’re in this together for the long haul.

What band would you most like to play with?

JN: Fleetwood Mac. I really look up to Stevie Nicks.

LJ: Blondie in the 70’s.

JN: Heart! I would love to play with Heart!

SN: That’s a hard question.

JN: I’m going to give you 10 answers now.

And where do you most want to play?

NS: We want to play everywhere.

As a band you have a very distinct style – heavy emphasis on the rock and roll these days. What inspires your look on stage?

JN: I’m really into sequins, tassels, anything fringed. I just purchased an amazing pair of sequined shoes. I call them my Michael Jackson shoes. Its not that I’m going for an androgynous look on stage, but for the longest time I was wearing dresses and high heels – trying to look girly, because on a regular basis, that’s how I dress offstage. But, I realized that because the music is getting heavier and darker, I’m dressing the part. I’m very influenced by Michael Jackson – I love his style. I take little bits and pieces from everyone.

LJ: I really like Elvis Presley. I like rockabilly – they just wore t-shirts really well. I feel like the 1950s are really influential, because that’s when rock started. All those guys were just doing what they wanted to do, being new and different… but simple. It was all about how you wore your completely normal pants just a little bit rolled up.

What’s the best part of being in the Balconies?

SN: We’re three people who are actually making contributions to one another. We have similar points of reference, and we can communicate with one another.

LJ: There’s a really strong feeling of trust. Every single thing that we do – we know that everything’s going to be OK.

JN: The fact that I can never be homesick. I never feel too far away from home, because my brother is here, my boyfriend is here, and we’re all making music together.

The Balconies release their 5-song EP, Kill Count, on February 7th

Members of The Balconies play Toronto’s The Garrison tonight for the Modernboys Moderngirls 2nd Annual 50’s Rock n Roll Party