A Breakdown Of Montreal’s Personal Brand
SHORT Q&A WITH A MONTREAL MUSICIAN I FEEL KINSHIP WITH
I asked Tyler Crawford from Reversing Falls a few questions about his relationship with the city of Montreal. I originally met Tyler indirectly and, for a while, perceived him, I think, as “merely a bro.” Then I met him again months later at a loud party and for no apparent reason we started talking about books and this led to emergent feelings of empathy and mutual understanding.
I could have tried “interviewing” a number of performers from the local scene I feel various degrees of kinship with (Anjela from Jake Finne or Mathematique or Devon from Majical Cloudz or etc), but decided to go with Tyler as his overall bro credentials seemed, to me, very impressive, and possibly unmatched. If there was such a thing as medals of bravery for bros, I would award Tyler one, or several, or all of them.
Q: How long have you been living in Montreal? Do you still feel “surprised” by the city?
A: I’ve been in Montreal about 7 years now. I moved here from Saint John (New Brunswick). Feels like living there was a completely different life.
Do I still feel surprised by Montreal… I went through a period in the last year where I considered leaving because I felt bored/tired of the city, but then I realized I was just being lazy and going through the same motions expecting different results. That’s the exact definition of insanity. I think everyone gets to the point where they feel like they’re always just seeing the same people and going to the same parties. I made a conscious effort to try to break into different social circles and it’s had good results. I have met a lot of new people and that has made life exciting again.
Q: When you pictured Montreal before moving here, what did you have in mind?
A: People making out everywhere in public (true), sex parties (I’ve only been to one “sex party” in 7 years and it was mainly just a loft party with a bit less clothes / 20% more making out), dudes with berets carrying baguettes (have seen this 3 or 4 times).
Q: Can you describe a weird space you played in, or a weird set you played, or simply a weird show you attended (in Montreal)?
A: Probably the weirdest thing was when we played at this Concordia Art Matters Halloween thing years ago. It was at an armory, the one near Des Pins/St-Denis. The space was really huge compared to the amount of people and it was guarded by military guys. A couple of our friends got extremely drunk and naked and came on stage and smashed a pumpkin. They were escorted out promptly by the military bros.
Q: Do you think “party culture” helps or hinders your art, i.e. being “around” parties a lot and sometimes feeling “trapped” in a seemingly neverending cycle of partying?
A: I think it helps. I have at least one song specifically about parties (Party Martyr). When you say “neverending cycle of partying,” it makes me think of Carles/Hipster Runoff. I think a lot of time when I go to parties, I feel like I am looking at it through a sort of Carles-type lens, but maybe not as bleak. The whole thing can seem a bit tiring, but also, like, there is no other option. For a while, I felt like I was just going to the same party all the time, like I had hit a “party plateau” and like “my partying days were over,” but again, I was just bored and tired of doing the same things over and over, so I made a conscious effort to escape that. Now I feel like I broke through the “glass ceiling” of partying and found “the next level.”
Q: If you had to condense your concrete, average experience of Montreal into a few words, what would those be?
A: Hmmm… I am terrified of not being able to accurately express how I feel in such a small amount of words. I just keep thinking the word “Loftzilla.” Actually, that might be pretty accurate. Or maybe “party zen.”