The Illuminati's Reign Of Rock

THE ILLUMINATI’S REIGN OF ROCK

“We’re total gear-heads. Me, I’m a Gibson man. I just got a tobacco-burst Les Paul Standard bass. I’ve been totally freaking out, I just love it so much.”

Anyone who loves guitars loves to talk about guitars, and in speaking with Nick Sewell I could not resist the impulse to chat about our babies. Sewell knows what he’s talking about. He is better known as the long-haired singer-bassist of perhaps the most important guitar band to come out of Canada since Rush, The Illuminati. If you’re among the quickly shrinking population of the uninitiated, The Illuminati were formed by Sewell and singer-guitarist Les Godfrey when they jumped ship from their long-time gig as the axemen for Tchort. This was back in 2002, after nearly a decade of owning Toronto’s metal underground. Tchort’s carefully defined sound had begun to leave Sewell and Godfrey with semis instead of hard-ons, so they decided to streamline things. The two friends first recruited drummer Jim Gering, (thereby completing the tri-fecta of lefties in the band), and with the line-up in place the new band set about filtering their love of rock, (southern, boogie, and classic), jazz, prog, and metal, into concise, explosive, and very singable tunes.

“We’re always looking for ways to do different things within those confines,” Sewell explains. “We try to keep things short and snappy because at live shows, people’s attention spans are short, so we write really fast, varied songs. Some songs have a southern lean, or some jazz parts, and some are really straight up rock. It’s really just about finding ways, within our formula, to mix things up, keep it interesting.”

With a new mission statement, and a new cache of songs in-hand, the Illuminati quickly released their self-titled debut EP, and shortly thereafter, their debut full-length, On Borrowed Time. Their bluesy, dual-vocal attack, pounding, rolling rhythms, and Les Godfrey’s relentless, masterful abuse of his custom made SG, (one he built himself no less), caught the ears of many rock-starved musos, and the band found themselves being toted as Canada’s new rock heroes. Ian Blurton was one such fan. He produced both records, (two bright, shining stars in his already massive catalogue of rock excellence), and helped the band to define what has become their signature sound.

“The man’s got a rep and bands seek him out, (to produce). He definitely gave us a lot of guidance. He was really good with helping us with the big-picture, you know? We kind of looked at things on a song-to-song basis and he could kind of step back and show us what the real objective of the album was.”

Whatever the objective, both records, (not to mention the incendiary, hair-swirling live show), have placed the Illuminati squarely at the forefront of a Can-Rock movement. Canada, it turns out, has the best true blue rock bands in the world, (well, Sweden is pretty good too). Blurton’s own C’Mon, Tricky Woo, Maximum RnR, and the Saigon Hookers all put out career defining albums last year, bursting at the seams with humongous no-frills rock, and the Illuminati are leading the charge.

“I’d say that across the board there are a lot of good Canadian bands right now. There are a lot of great rock bands, indie-rock bands, a huge scene in Montreal, it just seems like there are a lot of things happening right now for every genre. Personally, I think that there have always been a lot awesome bands here, but I think people are a little less afraid to look to Canada for great rock ‘n’ roll. It’s always been there.”

With their self-titled debut having been numerously re-released to the high demand, and On Borrowed Time about to be re-released in the States on hard-rock heavyweight label Liquor & Poker, (home to such kings of the genre as the Hellacopters, the Backyard Babies, and the Black Halos), it would be easy for the Illuminati to rest for a few months and enjoy what they’ve accomplished. But players love to play, and these dudes aren’t about to rest on their laurels.

“We’re actually just promoting a new record that we produced ourselves called The Illuminati and Their Cheap Powers. We just kinda threw it together ourselves. Very bare-bones, no gimmicks, fast and dirty, but it totally rocks. It’ll be out in Canada on March 14th on Rectangle Records and then On Borrowed Time will be out in the States on March 21st. We’re all gearing up for some dates that we’re doing across Canada with Tricky Woo, and then we’re going down to South By Southwest and a few other American dates. So everything’s just kinda falling into place right now.”

With many new adventures on the horizon, and three years of unprecedented success behind them, the Illuminati seem poised to live up to their namesake. As the legend would have you believe, a secret society called the Illuminati, (as in, “the enlightened ones”), actually exists and quietly controls the entire world.

“If there is an actual Illuminati, I think that they would be like, ‘Hey, these guys are a total distraction from what we’re really about. We should finance them!’ (laughs).”

However, when I propose that maybe Sewell and company are, in fact, the true Illuminati, slowly gaining control of the universe by virtue of the sheer power of rock, Sewell becomes a little more serious.

“I’m not at liberty to comment at this time.”

Go buy the records. Go check out the shows. Don’t fight it. The Illuminati may already control your very existence, so just put your fists in the air and worship at the altar of the most enlightened super-rock this land has to offer.

(originally published January, 2006. Gasoline Magazine. Toronto.)