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Interview: Jesse Matthewson (KEN Mode)

A lot of metal and hardcore bands pay lip service to the idea of perseverance. KEN mode has made it their calling card. After twelve years of tireless touring and three indifferently-received albums, this Winnipeg trio finally broke through to a broader audience with 2011’s Venerable. They received a Juno Award—Canada’s answer to the Grammies—for Venerable in 2012.

We caught up with vocalist and guitarist Jesse Matthewson during his lunch hour to discuss KEN mode’s upcoming album Entrench. He is not daunted by his band’s sudden ascendance to the big leagues. “Maybe I’m just cocky, but I don’t intimidate easily,” he says.

Last time you spoke to Invisible Oranges back in 2011, you mentioned that the band life was taking a toll on you. Since then, you’ve added a permanent bassist, signed to a new label, and won a Juno Award. Have things gotten easier for KEN mode over the last year?

(While eating turkey bacon): I’m living a life of luxury now.

In all seriousness, we have a few more pieces of the puzzle working on our side than we did before, but we feel we have a whole lot more ground we have to cover, and a lot more responsibility to give it our all, because of the successes we’ve had recently.

Aside from the recognition, has KEN mode received any concrete benefits from the Juno? Has anyone asked you to record a jingle for their company? Offered to Learjet you around the world to play swanky parties?

I wish. We’ve had zero hot-tub parties with models since our win. The most concrete benefit we’ve seen from the Juno win was exactly what I thought it would be: our elevated status within the Canadian music industry itself. With this comes much more ease and ammunition when it comes to applying for the variety of funding organizations that we have in Canada.

So you’ve been able to land more government arts grants and things of that sort?

Most definitely. Canada has some really great programs to support the arts, and we felt it would be downright irresponsible if we didn’t try to take advantage of them, given our new position. Organizations like Manitoba Film and Music and FACTOR have contributed to us seeing Entrench through to its full potential.

Have you experienced any backlash because of it? Underground music fans aren’t always kind to bands that receive such mainstream recognition.

I haven’t noticed anyone that liked us previously hating on us all of a sudden because we won some arbitrary award. But when we won, a LOT of Devin Townsend and Anvil fans were hating on us, like we won as a personal vendetta to smite their faves.

That’s mostly good to hear. In the US, DIY ethics warriors will turn on any band that gets a few bucks from Scion to do a tour.

Yeah, I’ve seen things like that. I guess it depends on the scene that you draw your primary audience from. That, and the Junos didn’t give us any money. I wish their sponsors shelled out some cash! TD Bank, open your vault so I can write riffs!

Streams of two new songs, tour dates and more of the interview on the following pages….

Entrench is the best-sounding KEN mode album so far, tone-wise. I understand that you spent more time in the studio than you have in the past. Did the more forgiving timeframe change the way you prepared for the recording?

Preparation-wise, not really. We like to show up to the studio knowing fully well what we intend on doing, and I have tones and the like already mapped out (which guitar goes where and what tone settings I want for every riff of every song).

We didn’t really intend to use the extra time to tweak structures going into it, but we definitely took advantage of it while in the studio. It wasn’t one of those,”Yeah man, we wrote this jam in the studio, and Matt was all ‘brilliant!'” things, or anything like that. But on the odd occasion, we’d cut repetitions, or add in different vocal ideas from what I’d originally intended going into the studio.

It’s really nice to have that kind of flexibility; you can usually feel the clock ticking at all times in the studio. Speaking of Matt Bayles, that guy has tracked a ton of great music. What did he bring to the table?

He brought a wealth of experience and opinion to the table. Part of why we wanted to work with him was his reputation for being really hard on bands to get the best performance possible out of them. It made for some entertaining exchanges when he thought he was being “tough” on us, as we definitely didn’t view it that way. I really didn’t feel like anything he did was even remotely unreasonable, and though the session was the longest I’ve ever been a part of, it was also extremely smooth and professional. It was really refreshing to find within the first couple days that Matt was on the exact same page as we were in terms of where this project needed to go.

What was the “tough” stuff that Matt did? I remember reading an interview with Mike Olender from Burnt by the Sun where Mike recounted Matt telling him that he sounded like a pussy in the vocal booth or something.

I honestly didn’t find Matt was tough on us at all, but maybe it’s because we’re also extremely self-critical. The most stressful parts of the entire session for me occurred when Matt and my bandmates rejected certain vocal parts outright, meaning that I’d have to re-write them and try again the next day, which wasn’t really something I was used to under such a time constraint. In the end, every spot that this happened in was 100% warranted and the end results were exponentially better than the original ideas I had.

We had a remarkably boring session with a guy who’s notorious for being pretty intense.

Entrench is also your first album with Andrew LaCour, who joined back in 2011, on bass. How did his presence affect the songwriting process?

It had a huge impact. We wrote Entrench in a pretty concentrated burst; really only two sessions—one in December 2011 and one in May 2012—each of which was roughly a week and a half long. Andrew, who was the main songwriter in his previous band, Khann, added a whole new flavor to the way we approached putting songs together. He is a very versatile musician and songwriter, and adapted quickly to the overall vision of where Shane and I wanted to go with the material.

We really hadn’t collaborated in the riff-writing department in this band since our original bassist, Darryl Laxdal, left in 2005. I’m used to being the primary riff generator for KEN mode, and have been for years. The majority of our songwriting tends to start with one or two riffs that one person has put together, and from there, the other musicians put together their parts, and things build. Historically, since our Reprisal album, I’ve had that first-riffs responsibility. On this album, Andrew brought a lot of material to the table from which foundations for songs were built. Obviously, having another cook in the kitchen has its difficulties, too, as we’re not always going to see eye to eye on things. Overall, though, I think the material that made it out in the end is that much stronger, having been torn apart by three people.

There are some amazing song titles on this album; my personal favorite is “Secret Vasectomy.” Can you shed some light on that tune?

We come up with a lot of song titles before any of the songs are even written–I actually keep a memo on my Blackberry where I write some of these ridiculous phrases down; they’re frequently mean inside jokes between Shane and myself. I’ll finalize the song names after I’ve written lyrics, tying in a commonality between the words themselves and one of the titles I have in the queue. It’s fun trying to draw parallels, and I rarely explain myself, which leaves it open for all kinds of interpretation.

“Secret Vasectomy” is one of my favorite songs, as the lyrics can be really straightforward, depending on the light you look at them in, yet they are bathed in the waters of black comedy. Ever have nothing to write about, yet HAVE to produce? There’s your starting point: shooting blanks all over the place.

Streams of two new songs, tour dates and more of the interview on the following pages….

Dave Verellen (Botch, Narrows) and Tim Singer (Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye) both do guest vocals on Entrench. How did you get in touch with them?

We played with Narrows at SXSW last year, and Andrew drank a bunch of whiskey with Dave at said show. Dave is friends with Andrew’s brother, Stephen, who played bass for Trap Them for a number of years, so Andrew and Dave hit it off right in Austin. When it came time to track our album, Dave was telling Andrew various things we had to do to Matt while he was in Winnipeg. Naturally, Andrew told him he should do some vocals on our record. Dave asked to see the words and hear the music, and made the call.

Tim and I originally got in touch when Kiss it Goodbye did that series of reunion shows last year, as Thom and Tim were looking to do a split 7″ with KEN mode later in the year. Unfortunately things didn’t work out for the new lineup of KIG, but we figured it’d be really cool to have Tim contribute some vocals to our album, so I asked. The Choke 7″ Kiss It Goodbye did was one of the reasons I wanted to record Entrench with Matt in the first place, so he seemed like a really logical choice for a guest vocalist.

We had no intentions of having ANY guest vocalists prior to entering the studio. Those guys made a really pleasant addition, considering that it was a pretty spur-of-the-moment decision.

KEN mode has toured extensively for the past several years and played with some big-name bands. You’re about to hit the road with Today is the Day, who are one of the most storied bands in heavy music. Do you find the prospect intimidating, or is playing with such big names a matter of course for you now?

I hope it becomes a matter of course for us. We’re set on world domination. Maybe I’m just cocky, but I don’t intimidate easily; I’d love to continue to have the opportunity to play our music for bigger crowds and get on tours with bigger names.

Considering the origin of your band name, I can only imagine that you guys are big Black Flag fans. What do you think about the upcoming BF reunions?

I wish Greg Ginn would put the energy into remixing and remastering the entire SST back catalog instead.

I almost break my volume knob every time I spin Damaged or The First Four Years.

He’s sitting on a gold mine there.

What’s the best misinterpretation of your band name you’ve ever heard?

We’ve had a few people who seem to think it’s related to Ken and Barbie. I don’t understand why. I’ve noticed people use that on Twitter too: “gonna get ma KEN mode on, where my Barbies at?” Some people think it’s a DJ named Ken. Others think that it’s a Street Fighter reference (as in, in one of the games Ryu can turn into Ken, and it’s called KEN mode). Only in the past year have I started to see people actually lay our name out properly. It’s KEN mode. We’ve had KENmode, kenMODE, kenmode, KENMODE, Ken mode, ken MODE, Kenmodecan… I don’t understand why people have to put the two words together. Our website is even ken-mode.com. Our name actually gets a surprising amount of hate, considering how neutral it sounds to me.

Is Winnipeg really a frozen shithole?

Venetian Snares is being melodramatic. Though, if you talked to me last week I’d say yes. We just got through our annual deep freeze, it would appear. We had a few good weeks where it was getting to around -45 F. I haven’t left the house much.

Doug Moore


KEN MODE – 2013 TOUR DATES
03/05/13 @ Port City Music Hall – Portland, ME
03/06/13 @ Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY
03/07/13 @ Middle East Downstairs – Cambridge, MA
03/08/13 @ The Studio at Webster Hall – New York, NY
03/09/13 @ The Barbary – Philadelphia, PA
03/10/13 @ Mr. Smalls – Pittsburgh, PA
03/11/13 @ The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
03/12/13 @ Backbooth – Orlando, FL
03/13/13 @ Siberia – New Orleans, LA
03/14/13 @ Tone Deaf Touring Spillover Showcase @ Korova – San Antonio, TX
03/15/13 @ Tone Deaf Touring SXSW Showcase @ Red 7 – Austin, TX
03/16/13 @ SXSW – Austin, TX
03/17/13 @ Spillover Fest @ Sandbar Cantina – Dallas, TX
03/19/13 @ Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
03/20/13 @ Rocky Point Cantina – Tempe, AZ
03/21/13 @ Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
03/22/13 @ Satellite – Los Angeles, CA
03/24/13 @ The Catalyst – Santa Cruz, CA
03/25/13 @ Elbo Room – San Francisco, CA
03/26/13 @ Rotture – Portland, OR
03/27/13 @ The Highline – Seattle, WA
03/28/13 @ The Shakedown – Bellingham, WA
03/29/13 @ Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, BC
03/30/13 @ Bailey’s – Kamloops, BC
04/01/13 @ Palomino – Calgary, AB
04/02/13 @ Amigos – Saskatoon, SK
04/04/13 @ Pyramid – Winnipeg, MB
04/05/13 @ The Aquarium – Fargo, ND
04/06/13 @ Triple Rock Social Club – Minneapolis, MN
04/07/13 @ Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
04/08/13 @ Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI
04/09/13 @ Ace Of Cups – Columbus, OH
04/10/13 @ Southgate House Revival – Newport, KY
04/11/13 @ Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
04/12/13 @ Magic Stick – Detroit, MI
04/13/13 @ Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON
04/14/13 @ Il Motore – Montreal, QC
04/15/13 @ Maverick’s – Ottawa, ON